Hippocrates – The Seven of Hearts
Hippocrates of Kos (ca. 460 BC – ca. 370 BC), the "Father of Medicine", is reputed to be the first physician to separate medicine from superstition. His innovative idea was to reject the belief that sickness was a consequence of the disfavour of the gods.
Most people know of Hippocrates through the Oath that requires physicians to swear by healing gods that they will uphold professional and ethical standards.
Over time, the form has changed to reflect the changing attitudes of society. Originally it was sworn to Apollo, Asclepius, Hygieia, and Panacea. Later these were replaced by God, Christ, and the saints, and in the modern version no deities are referenced. To some, it comes as a surprise that the oath is no longer sworn by graduating physicians.
The Pack's Hippocrates is known to friend and foe as Hippo, partly because it's a convenient contraction of his name, but mainly due to his manifest fondness for Ma's cooking.
A quirk of his personality is that he is a logophile who asserts he never lets a nychthemeron pass without learning at least a dozen new words. Some Pack members have suggested he was formed from the recycled fibres of an antique dictionary, whilst others assert his predilection for sesquipedalian speech makes him acataleptic.
Game All, Dealer North.
| Freud | |||
| ♠ AKQ42 | |||
| ♥ K1075 | |||
| ♦ J842 | |||
| ♣ --- | |||
| Bard | Genghis | ||
| Hippo | |||
| ♠ --- | |||
| ♥ 642 | |||
| ♦ AKQ1075 | |||
| ♣ QJ54 | |||
| West | North | East | South | |
| Bard | Freud | Genghis | Hippo | |
| 1♠ | Pass | 2♦ | ||
| Pass | 3♦ | Pass | 5♦ | |
| Pass | 6♦ | All Pass |
Following an auction reminiscent of times past, Hippo landed in a diamond slam and Bard led the spade jack.
Cerebration time again… I've six trump tricks and three tricks in spades - that's nine. The other three can come from club ruffs. One look at Genghis' erubescent hue is enough to warn me the ace of hearts is wrong. Indeed I sense the air's turned positively jumentous.
I'm not fluent in the archaic language Genghis is muttering into his beard, but the meaning is manifest, even to society's lowbrow fellows. He's opining Bard is the offspring of a pair of donkeys, and if he'd wanted a spade lead, he would have doubled. Undoubtedly he's looking at the ace-queen of hearts and he's underwhelmed with Bard's opening lead.
The simplest, and probably the best line, is to discard three hearts on dummy's spades, then crossruff in hearts and clubs. So that's what I'll do.
Two of Hippo's hearts went on the AK of spades, but Genghis ruffed the third round, forcing Hippo to overruff.
That's bothersome; Genghis lied about his spade length by playing the two-seven of spades promising an odd number. Oh why does every hand have to be so anfractuous?
What now? Assuredly, these adversaries will play a trump when they gain the lead, which means I've a heart and a club loser – not optimal in a slam contract. Normally I'd lead towards the heart king, but I've little dubiety that line is sure to fail. Still, there's a scintilla of a hope - the hearts might break 3-3.
So I'll play a heart and see what happens.
On the six of hearts, Bard played the eight, dummy the ten and Genghis the queen. As predicted, a trump hit the baize a fraction of a second later and west followed suit as Hippo took the trick in hand.
I was hopeful east didn't have a second trump to play, but I've spotted another line which might effectuate the desired outcome. If the cards played on the heart trick are honest, it's possible west started with the J8 doubleton and the suit now looks like this…
| ♥ K75 | |||
| ♥ J | ♥ A93 | ||
| ♥ --- | |||
I can reach dummy with a club ruff and force east to cover the king with the ace. If the jack doesn't fall, the chance of an even break in the suit remains. But if jack appears, I'll cross to dummy with a second ruff, and play my namesake, The Heart Seven. Then, if east follows with the three, I'll discard the troublesome club loser.
For once Hippo couldn't find the words to describe Genghis' look as the Seven of Hearts made declarer's twelfth trick.
The full deal:
| Freud | |||
| ♠ AKQ42 | |||
| ♥ K1075 | |||
| ♦ J842 | |||
| ♣ --- | |||
| Bard | Genghis | ||
| ♠ J109863 | ♠ 75 | ||
| ♥ J8 | ♥ AQ93 | ||
| ♦ 9 | ♦ 63 | ||
| ♣ K986 | ♣ A10732 | ||
| Hippo | |||
| ♠ --- | |||
| ♥ 642 | |||
| ♦ AKQ1075 | |||
| ♣ QJ54 | |||
Ernie, who'd played the hand in five diamonds, made the mistake of asking Hippo how he'd made twelve tricks.
"Well," he said, "I'm loath to claim it was an act of supererogation on my part, but the clue came from Genghis' demeanour. Had he behaved nonchalantly, I'm sure I would have failed. Actually, 'nonchalant' is an interesting word. It comes from the old French – non - plus chalant, the present participle of the verb chaloir, 'to be concerned.' Of course chaloir derives from the Latin calere, meaning to be hot. So nonchalant literally means to act cool.
Oh, she's absquatulated!"
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.