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Buster – The Three of Clubs

Joseph Frank Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966), better known as "Buster," was the Three of Clubs' alter ego. Buster is best known for his acting appearances in silent movies, though he was equally active behind the camera as a producer and writer. His trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".

He began his life as an entertainer at the tender age of three, when he was seen tumbling down a set of stairs, then getting up and casually walking away. The story goes that his vaudevillian parents turned his cat-like talent to fall without hurting himself into a stage act. His theatrically irate father would hurl young Buster off the stage while pretending to be annoyed. To the amusement of the crowd, the toddler would return a few seconds later, completely unharmed. One lesson the young star learnt at this point, was that the audience laughed more when he kept a straight face than when he giggled, and so his deadpan style of presentation was born.

Unfortunately, this character quirk was a great nuisance for the Pack's Buster. Whenever he tried to relate the story of one of his bridge disasters, of which there were quite a few, his listeners refused to take him seriously.

East-West Vul., Dealer East:

		Houdin
	Hippo		Freud
	♠ K73
	♥ AQ763
	♦ J65
	♣ 74
		Buster
		♠ 4
		♥ KJ108
		♦ 987432
		♣ Q3

	West	North	East	South
	Hippo	Houdin	Freud	Buster
			1♣	Pass
	1♥	3♠	4♣	Pass
	5♣	All Pass

Buster led his singleton spade to his partner's ace. At trick two, Houdin returned the jack of spades, Freud followed with the queen and Buster paused to think…

Why did partner return a high spade? A low spade would ask for a diamond, a middling spade says, "you decide" and a high spade suggests a heart return. As Houdin clearly doesn't want me to play a diamond, it's obvious Freud has no loser in the suit.

Houdin can't be void in hearts as Freud would have raised his partner's suit with four card support, so the answer is… Partner is simply trying to fool declarer into thinking he holds the heart king.

The principle in these situations is… If declarer has no option but to take the finesse, he'll take it, but if there's an alternative, there's a chance he might be persuaded to do the wrong thing. If Freud is looking at four red cards with one loser, will he take the finesse or will he hope I've no trumps left and attempt to discard the loser on the spade king?

Freud has a creepy knack of selecting the right line. Sometimes I think he can read my mind. But I've spotted a way to tilt him in the wrong direction. If I ruff with queen, the chances are he'll think I've no more trumps.

Buster had pictured the situation accurately – Freud rose with the ace on the heart return and tried to discard his third loser on the spade king, only to see south ruff with the Three of Clubs

Some pairs managed to play the hand in 3NT which rolled home.

The full deal:

		Houdin
		♠ AJ109862
		♥ 42
		♦ Q10
		♣ 86
	Hippo		Freud
	♠ K73		♠ Q5
	♥ AQ763		♥ 95
	♦ J65		♦ AK
	♣ 74		♣ AKJ10952
		Buster
		♠ 4
		♥ KJ108
		♦ 987432
		♣ Q3

Hippo chuckled at Freud's discomfiture and complimented Buster on his play: "Astute of you to lead through my heart tenace like that."

"You know 'tenace' is an interesting word. It has nothing whatsoever to do with a ten or an ace. No, it's etymological roots are buried in ancient Latin, and from there via the Spanish word Tenaza, meaning pincers or forceps."