Debbie - The Two of Clubs
A point to note about Debbie is that her real name isn't Debbie, but Dorothy, Dorothy Young. The reasons for the change were to avoid confusion with the six of clubs, the other Dorothy in the Pack, and secondly, it's become the norm for Magicians' helpers to be named Debbie.
Debbie was a stage assistant to the famous Houdini. He would begin their act by showing an empty radio case to the audience. Then, after closing the box, a voice from within would announce the next performance would be "Miss Dorothy Young doing the Charleston" – at which point our heroine would magically emerge from the radio and dance around the stage.
At the end of the contract with Houdini she left to work as a dancer and film actress. She penned two books, one of which was made into a film, and she became a noted philanthropist, giving away millions of dollars that she inherited from her husband. And it's said she had a great pair of legs.
Game All, Dealer South.
| Charles | |||
| ♠ AQ109 | |||
| ♥ KQ108 | |||
| ♦ J75 | |||
| ♣ A3 | |||
| Guinevere | Debbie | ||
| ♠ 764 | |||
| ♥ A752 | |||
| ♦ 843 | |||
| ♣ Q102 | |||
| Ada | |||
| West | North | East | South | |
| Guinevere | Charles | Debbie | Ada | |
| 1♦ | ||||
| Pass | 1♠ | Pass | 1NT1 | |
| Pass | 3NT | All Pass |
1. North-South played a strong no-trump.
Guinevere led the five of clubs against south's 3NT contract and Debbie won the trick with the queen after declarer played low from dummy and south followed with the six. Would your thoughts echo those of this remarkable lady?
That's one trick in the bag, and the heart ace will be a second. What of the other three? A mere glance at dummy shows we're going to need club tricks to beat the contract. If declarer's ducked from Kxx I don't fancy our chances. As I haven't seen the four of clubs I'll assume Guinevere led the five from Kxx54.
Say I credit Ada with twelve points for her opening; adding my six and north's sixteen leaves six for west. Assuming three for the king of clubs leaves partner with enough for a high diamond honour, or the king of spades.
The good news is, if Guinevere started with five clubs to the king and a sure diamond winner, declarer cannot score nine tricks before we take five.
Can anything be done if partner has the spade king? With a running diamond suit, the ace of clubs and the working spade finesse; 3NT is unbeatable.
An advantage we defenders sometimes have is that we know which finesses are working and how the suits are breaking, so perhaps a little misdirection might help our cause. Three heart tricks, added to the black aces and declarer's diamond winners will be enough to make game. Given the choice, which of the two lines will Ada select – the spade finesse or establishing the hearts?
That's easy to answer. If she thinks clubs are breaking 5-3 she'll take the spade finesse, as she cannot afford to let us in to cash our four winners. But if she thinks clubs are 4-4, playing hearts will appear the safer option.
Therein lies the solution, I'll return my namesake; The Two of Clubs to create the illusion the suit is breaking 4-4. If Guinevere collaborates with the ruse, declarer is almost certain to go wrong.
For a player of Guinevere's talents it wasn't hard to join in the deceit. Debbie's play of the queen at trick one placed the jack* in south's hand, proving Ada started with three or four clubs. If it was four, there was little prospect of beating the contract. So Guinevere reasoned their best chance was Debbie had a club left, and the two of clubs was a misleading card. And since partner was trying to confuse declarer, she was honour bound to cooperate.
After Guinevere followed with the eight of clubs on trick two, Ada naturally took the "safer" line of establishing the heart suit.
The full hand;
| Charles | |||
| ♠ AQ109 | |||
| ♥ KQ108 | |||
| ♦ J75 | |||
| ♣ A3 | |||
| Guinevere | Debbie | ||
| ♠ K53 | ♠ 764 | ||
| ♥ 963 | ♥ A752 | ||
| ♦ 92 | ♦ 843 | ||
| ♣ K9854 | ♣ Q102 | ||
| Ada | |||
| ♠ J82 | |||
| ♥ J4 | |||
| ♦ AKQ106 | |||
| ♣ J76 | |||
While they waited for an errant board, Ada complimented Debbie on her defence and asked if she ever wished a good pair of legs were an asset for a bridge player.
"Oh, but they can be," remarked Debbie.
"They can?"
"Doubtless you've heard of Helen Sobel, one of the greatest bridge players of all time, but you may not know she began her working life as a chorus girl. Once, when she was asked how she managed such a high success rate when faced with a two-way finesse she revealed her secret… If she was playing against two men she would raise her skirt a little above her knees and watch her opponents' reaction. Apparently, the one with the queen would concentrate on the hand, while the other always took a peep."
* Of course, a member of the sneaky Club Clan would have followed the maxim "play the card you are known to hold" – in this case the Jack on the second round of the suit. This makes the position much less obvious to west, and improves the chance they'll play an honest card.
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.