Suffolk Bridge

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Florence – The Queen of Hearts

Since notice of the Pack's clandestine activities has reached the bridge playing community a question has arisen over the disposal of worn-out packs. Club managers are being pressurised into retaining old cards in the belief that it's inhuman to discard our enchanted alter-egos.

These people are worrying unnecessarily for, although there may be a multitude of packs in the cupboard, there is only ever one "Pack" so to speak, and physically replacing the cards is no more traumatic for them than a haircut or manicure would be for us. But note, there is an important exception; replacing pasteboard cards with plastic is the cupboard equivalent of a frontal lobotomy.

Everyone's heard of Florence Nightingale, the Lady of the Lamp. Her heroic efforts in the field of nursing are common knowledge, but less well known is her ability in the field of statistics. In 1858 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and an honorary member of the American Statistical Association in 1874. As a child she had wanted to study mathematics which in those days was considered an unsuitable subject for a young lady. However, with the help of her father and against her mother's wishes, she got her way - a trait she would carry to adulthood.

Later in life, when she needed to convince the military that good hospital practice was beneficial, she did it by collecting and collating data and presenting the results in easily understood statistical diagrams. Had she tried to persuade the generals on humanitarian grounds she would probably have failed, but when she proved that military hospitals made economic sense, her battle was won.

As the Queen of Hearts adopted Florence as her model, she appeared as a hospital matron, rustling between the tables in a starched uniform. Full of compassion for her charges and with the ability to accumulate and analyse information before forming a cogent plan of action, a process which is demonstrated in this typical example of her skill.

		Little Mo
	Cassandra		Pandora
	♠ ---
	♥ K10863
	♦ 10542
	♣ J976
		Florence
		♠ 964
		♥ AQ72
		♦ KJ83
		♣ 82

East-West Game, Dealer North.

	West	North	East	South
	Cassandra	Little Mo	Pandora	Florence
		1♣	4♠	Dbl1
	Pass	Pass	Pass

1. Showing values rather than purely penalty

Florence led the eight of clubs to Mo's ten and declarer's three. When Mo continued with the ace of clubs, Pandora ruffed and played the king of spades. Mo won with the ace and pressed on with another club, doubtless trying to promote a trump in Florence's hand. But south ruffed with the ten and Florence discarded a diamond. Next came the queen and jack of trumps, Mo following once and then discarding a club.

With trumps drawn, Pandora paused before playing to the next trick. After a few moments consideration Florence noticed declarer seemed to relax somewhat.

Pandora is always hopeful, it's a way of life that's ingrained in her fibres, but I sensed her hope changed from the "looking for a miracle" to the "light at the end of the tunnel" flavour. Now I wonder why that was?

I know from the first five tricks that declarer started with eight spades and a singleton club, so she has four red cards.

Knowing Little Mo as I do, if she had a red-suit singleton she would have played that at trick two - so Pandora can only have one or two hearts and two or three diamonds.

If Pandora's missing the diamond ace we'd have two top tricks to cash, and she wouldn't be looking so happy. Similarly, if she's a singleton heart and three diamonds she'd expect to go down after we take the heart ace and return a diamond honour.

So the clues point to East being two-two in the red suits. If she's two diamonds, and I'm correct in thinking she has hopes of making the contract, her second diamond must be the queen.

Now I'm beginning to understand. This will be the situation before Pandora plays the last two spades.

		Little Mo
		♠ ---
		♥ xx
		♦ x
		♣ Qxx
	Cassandra		Pandora
	♠ ---		♠ xx
	♥ K1086		♥ xx
	♦ 105		♦ AQ
	♣ ---		♣ ---
		Florence
		♠ ---
		♥ AQ72
		♦ KJ
		♣ ---

I must keep two diamonds so I'll have to discard hearts. With four cards left Pandora will play a heart which I must duck otherwise all of dummy's hearts will be winners. So West will win with the king and play a second heart to my ace - forcing me to lead a diamond. It appears that we're the ones in need of a miracle now.

In summary, as I have to keep two diamonds I'll only have two hearts and if I win a heart trick Pandora will make her contract!

The solution is to hope Mo can win the heart instead of me. In other words, partner must have jack and another heart.

On the first spade I'll discard myself, the Queen of Hearts reaching this position.

		Little Mo
		♠ ---
		♥ Jx
		♦
		♣ Qxx
	Cassandra		Pandora
	♠ ---		♠ x
	♥ K1086		♥ xx
	♦ 10		♦ AQ
	♣ ---		♣ ---
		Florence
		♠ ---
		♥ A72
		♦ KJ
		♣ ---

Pandora cannot make by playing a heart at this point so she'll cash the last trump, on which I'll discard the ace of hearts.

Then, if South ducks a heart or plays king and another Mo will cash her club winners and declarer will be two off, so the best Pandora can do is to settle for one down.

Predictably Florence's analysis was correct and the contract failed. Equally predictable was her sympathetic post-mortem analysis - as she complimented Pandora on finding the best line of play, one which took a sharp defence to counter.

The full hand;

		Little Mo
		♠ A5
		♥ J5
		♦ 876
		♣ AKQ1054
	Cassandra		Pandora
	♠ ---		♠ KQJ107632
	♥ K10863		♥ 94
	♦ 10542		♦ AQ
	♣ J976		♣ 3
		Florence
		♠ 984
		♥ AQ72
		♦ KJ93
		♣ 82

At the other Heart versus Diamond table the bidding and early play was the same, but the defence was not so astute and Santa earned valuable IMPs for the Heart team.