Dorothy – The Six of Clubs
Dorothy's dress sense caused the elegant Guinevere to despair. What sort of fashion statement Dorothy was making by wearing ribbons in her hair, ruby shoes and blue socks, Guinevere couldn't imagine. But that aside, she was a cheerful, bubbly character, always keen to lend a helping hand.
While her bridge skills could best be described as "adequate," there were times when she appeared to be living in a fantasy land.
| Game All, Dealer North | Guinevere | ||
| ♠ AJ9 | |||
| ♥ AQ62 | |||
| ♦ A5 | |||
| ♣ 9876 | |||
| Santa | Putto | ||
| Dorothy | |||
| ♠ KQ108642 | |||
| ♥ K4 | |||
| ♦ 6 | |||
| ♣ QJ5 | |||
| West | North | East | South | |
| Santa | Guinevere | Putto | Dorothy | |
| 1NT1 | Pass | 3♠2 | ||
| Pass | 4♠3 | Pass | 4NT4 | |
| Pass | 5♣5 | Pass | 6♠ | |
| End | ||||
| 1. | 15-17 Points. | |||
| 2. | Natural and forcing. | |||
| 3. | Three card support or better. Experience had taught Guinevere not to | |||
| complicate the bidding with cue bids when playing with Dorothy. | ||||
| 4. | Roman Key Card Blackwood. | |||
| 5. | Zero or three key cards (king of spades and the four aces are key cards). | |||
Santa led the king of diamonds and Dorothy won dummy's ace and next cashed the ace of trumps, both defenders following. She had been hoping to find the club ace in dummy which would make the slam a 50-50 gamble at worst. But a count of tricks, seven spades, three hearts and a diamond, eleven in total, meant the contract was far, far worse than an even money bet.
As I doubt anyone could duplicate Dorothy's thoughts I'll let her tell her own story.
Eleven tricks and nowhere to go for a twelfth so the contract is unmakeable.
The curious thing is… I recently had a dream or did I just dream I had a dream, or is this me dreaming that I dreamt it? Sometimes life can be so very difficult to follow. I recall singing a song, oh how did it go…
There is a way to fly over the rainbow
Once in a dream I saw the master plan
There is a place in time anyone can go
If you believe then you'll understand
Look in the mirror see the reflection
Gaze at the image of who you will be
Hold the glass near for a closer inspection
Here is the clue and the mystery
Well if I look in a mirror I will see myself so the dream seems to be telling me to play the six of clubs. I don't see why that would work as they can take two club tricks, hardly what I would call a master plan! But on the other hand, experience has taught me that it's best to go with the flow when I get these feelings.
Dorothy clicked her heels together (an annoying little habit she had), and called for the club six, which went to the four, queen and Santa's king.
Santa pressed on with a diamond which Dorothy ruffed. Five rounds of trumps followed reducing everyone to these cards.
| Guinevere | |||
| ♠ --- | |||
| ♥ AQ62 | |||
| ♦ --- | |||
| ♣ 9 | |||
| Santa | Putto | ||
| ♠ --- | ♠ --- | ||
| ♥ J85 | ♥ 10973 | ||
| ♦ J | ♦ --- | ||
| ♣ 3 | ♣ A | ||
| Dorothy | |||
| ♠ 2 | |||
| ♥ K4 | |||
| ♦ --- | |||
| ♣ J5 | |||
Dummy threw the club on the last spade, and as Putto couldn't bring himself to discard an ace, he parted with a heart. Four rounds of hearts landed the slam to the surprise of a slightly bemused Dorothy.
"Well played partner", enthused Guinevere, "of course you were quite right to reject the idea that Putto might hold both the club honours".
"Pardon", muttered Dorothy, who wasn't sure what her Queen meant.
"You saw of course that if Putto held both the ace and king of clubs, together with four hearts you could run all the trumps bar one to reach a position something like this..."
| Guinevere | |||
| ♠ --- | |||
| ♥ AQ62 | |||
| ♦ --- | |||
| ♣ 98 | |||
| Santa | Putto | ||
| ♠ --- | ♠ --- | ||
| ♥ xxx | ♥ xxxx | ||
| ♦ xx | ♦ --- | ||
| ♣ x | ♣ AK | ||
| Dorothy | |||
| ♠ 2 | |||
| ♥ K4 | |||
| ♦ --- | |||
| ♣ QJ5 | |||
"When the last trump is played Putto will have to discard a heart or one of the top clubs. The problem with this line of play is the bidding… if Putto held the club honours he would have made a lead directing double of my five club bid. And, of course Santa would have led one if held the Ace-King."
"So you played a deceptive six, safe in the knowledge that the club honours were divided and that the chances were that the opponents would continue diamonds. Then all you needed was for the player holding the remaining high club to also hold four or more hearts."
"Absolutely brilliant Dorothy, sometimes I don't know how you dream these plays up."
Dorothy just smiled and began humming an irritating tune.
The full deal:
| Guinevere | |||
| ♠ AJ9 | |||
| ♥ AQ62 | |||
| ♦ A5 | |||
| ♣ 9876 | |||
| Santa | Putto | ||
| ♠ 3 | ♠ 75 | ||
| ♥ J85 | ♥ 10973 | ||
| ♦ KQJ742 | ♦ 10983 | ||
| ♣ K32 | ♣ A104 | ||
| Dorothy | |||
| ♠ KQ108642 | |||
| ♥ K4 | |||
| ♦ 6 | |||
| ♣ QJ5 | |||
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.