Dummy Reversal

Some hands count out easily to winners, some to a count of losers from either hand and some most definitely count out far easier from one hand or the other. In such hands, the closed hand is without question the most common one to count losers from, being that this is commonly the hand with the long trump holding. The problem arises when dummy clearly is easier to count from, for some declarers are so locked into counting from the closed hand that they cannot see how much easier -- and more productive -- it would be to count from dummy. Indeed, in an ironic twist, there are players given to transfer bids specifically designed to put the long trump holding in dummy who still cannot escape thinking they want to ruff in dummy if possible.

Below are links to a variety of illustrations of such failures to work out a hand from dummy. The first one here was such a naked display of this proclivity that it was the one that induced me to include this as a common reason for going down unnecessarily.

One Two Three Four

Five Six Seven Eight

Nine Ten Eleven Twelve

Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen

Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen Twenty

Twenty-one Twenty-two Twenty-three Twenty-four

Twenty-five Twenty-six Twenty-seven Twenty-eight

Twenty-nine Thirty Thirty-one Thirty-two

Thirty-three Thirty-four Thirty-five Thirty-six

One	Two	Three	Four
Five	Six	Seven	Eight
Nine	Ten	Eleven	Twelve
Thirteen	Fourteen	Fifteen	Sixteen
Seventeen	Eighteen	Nineteen	Twenty
Twenty-one	Twenty-two	Twenty-three	Twenty-four
Twenty-five	Twenty-six	Twenty-seven	Twenty-eight
Twenty-nine	Thirty	Thirty-one	Thirty-two
Thirty-three	Thirty-four	Thirty-five	Thirty-six