Idnar the Amazing – The Five of Clubs
Idnar was a conjuror par excellence who liked nothing more than to entertain the Pack with his prestidigitatious skill. In appearance he resembled a slim Father Christmas with a pure white beard and robin redbreast waistcoat.
His passion, when he wasn't playing bridge, was to duplicate the illusions of charlatans and flim-flam artistes, except for an added twist - he would perform the magic backwards. Rabbits vanished into hats, bent spoons and forks mysteriously straightened in his hands and watches that had run for years ceased to work. And when his demonstration was finished, he would confess to his audience that what they had witnessed was simply an assortment of tricks - as was the case with this hand.
| Love All, Dealer South | Srinivasa | ||
| ♠ Q9 | |||
| ♥ K2 | |||
| ♦ AKQ1082 | |||
| ♣ 983 | |||
| Nimue | Idnar | ||
| ♠ A106 | |||
| ♥ J | |||
| ♦ 76543 | |||
| ♣ AK52 | |||
| Hypatia | |||
| West | North | East | South | |
| Nimue | Srinivasa | Idnar | Hypatia | |
| 1NT [12-14] | ||||
| Pass | 3NT | All Pass |
After a refreshingly short auction Nimue, led the eight of spades against South's game contract.
As always… pause for a moment and form a plan before reading Idnar's thoughts on the hand…
Right, let's count the points. Dummy has fourteen, I've twelve and declarer at least twelve, leaving two at most for partner.
Where are our tricks coming from? Partner's lead has shown a weak holding in the suit - the eight can't be from an honour - so the ace will be our one and only spade trick. From the point count, I know South holds the ace of hearts and a glance at dummy rules out diamonds.
So it's clear we need four club tricks to beat the contract.
If Hypatia has a doubleton club we can prevail provided I begin by cashing the ace-king. But the problem is… I know she has at the most two diamonds and I don't believe she'd have opened 1NT with nine cards in the majors.
When South has four clubs the situation is hopeless. Even if partner holds the queen-ten of clubs the suit is blocked and we can't manage more than three tricks. The conclusion then…our only chance is that declarer has precisely three clubs and we can scramble four tricks in the suit.
There are three significant cards; the queen, jack and ten. Qxx in Nimue's hand would be perfect. But what if partner has the jack instead of the queen?
| Srinivasa | |||
| ♣ 983 | |||
| Nimue | Idnar | ||
| ♣ Jxx | ♣ AK52 | ||
| Hypatia | |||
| ♣ Q10x | |||
In this layout we have to hope Hypatia misguesses and plays low on a small card from me.
We've no chance if declarer has the queen-jack, which leaves the case when partner has the jack-ten.
| Srinivasa | |||
| ♣ 983 | |||
| Nimue | Idnar | ||
| ♣ J10x | ♣ AK52 | ||
| Hypatia | |||
| ♣ Qxx | |||
With this holding, Hypatia has little option but to rise with the queen…unless that is, I can persuade her that the suit's breaking 5-2.
| Srinivasa | |||
| ♣ 983 | |||
| Nimue | Idnar | ||
| ♣ KJ | ♣ A10xxx | ||
| Hypatia | |||
| ♣ Qxx | |||
If she suspects Nimue has the ace-jack, ace-ten, king-jack or king-ten doubleton she might play low to block the suit. Okay, it's decision time, which card do I play?
Not the ace or king as this would signal to South that I can't have a five card suit headed by the one of the top two honours. The two also looks wrong, since it would indicate a four card suit and I want Hypatia to play low if she has the Qxx.
Which leaves my personal card… the Five of Clubs.
Idnar tabled the five of clubs and Hypatia thought long and hard before making the wrong decision and playing low from the Q74. When she reviewed the hand with Socrates after the session, he gently chided her for not reading the position. He pointed out that, as the clubs are habitual falsecarders, whenever Idnar held a five card suit headed by the ace or king he would lead his fifth highest to induce her to play the queen.
The full deal:
| Srinivasa | |||
| ♠ Q9 | |||
| ♥ K2 | |||
| ♦ AKQ1082 | |||
| ♣ 983 | |||
| Nimue | Idnar | ||
| ♠ 8543 | ♠ A106 | ||
| ♥ 1087654 | ♥ J | ||
| ♦ --- | ♦ 76543 | ||
| ♣ J106 | ♣ AK52 | ||
| Hypatia | |||
| ♠ KJ72 | |||
| ♥ AQ93 | |||
| ♦ J9 | |||
| ♣ Q74 | |||
The match was still a four horse race, but after this hand and some magic by Merlin on another board, the Clubs had taken the lead in the Quadrule for the first time.
Astute readers will have identified Idnar's alter ego as The Amazing Randi, the professional conjuror and skeptic. These days, much of Randi's time is spent investigating and debunking the paranormal claims of what he calls woo-woo artists.
In 1964, while being interviewed on a radio programme, a caller proposed that Randi "put his money where his mouth was." Accepting the challenge, Randi offered $100 dollars to the first person who could provide objective proof of the paranormal.
Over the years the rules of the contest have been formalised and the money has risen to $1,000,000. Currently, both sides must be satisfied with the protocol of the trial and the challenger must demonstrate their abilities in a preliminary evaluation process. Thus far over a thousand applicants have attempted the challenge, but as yet none have succeeded in claiming the prize.
Some have suggested that the Pack and their secret exploits should be entered into the contest. However, though all are agreed their clandestine activities qualify as supernatural, no one in the cupboard could imagine what they would do with real-world money.
Mike Chanter
This sequence of articles was written and conceived by Mike Chanter.
Mike has been a member of Suffolk for a long time despite no longer living in the county and retaining his connection by being an associate. He still has many friends in Suffolk and returns from time to time to play in local events. He would be delighted to hear your impressions of Bridge in the Cupboard.