Little Mo - The Two of Hearts
Little Mo was called Little Mo for three reasons. Firstly, her given name was Maureen, secondly she was of diminutive stature and lastly, she was a keen tennis fan.
The original Little Mo; Maureen Catherine Connolly Brinker (1934 – 1969) was the first female tennis player to win all four Grand Slam tournaments during the same calendar year – 1953 – the Australian, French and U.S. Championships and Wimbledon. The story goes that, when she was a youngster, her parents found it a struggle to fund her passion for horse riding, and so they bought her a tennis racket instead. As a player she was described as a calm but fierce competitor with legendary mental concentration.
The Pack's Little Mo's defining characteristic was that she worried, and worried and worried. If a cloud with a silver lining was mentioned, she would worry that it would fall and hurt someone. She once lamented to Hypatia that it was depressing how the same players always seemed to win everything.
After a little thought Hypatia replied, "Imagine," she said, "A par bridge match where south has to play a difficult prepared hand and East/West always defend card perfect. There'll be three contestants: Santa who makes all his contracts, Hestia who makes 80% of hers and yourself, who makes about half your tricky hands."
The rules of the contest are these…
- Players draw lots to determine the order they take the declarer's seat.
- If a player makes their contract they can, if they wish, eliminate an opponent of their choice.
- The winner is the player left after the other two have been eliminated.
The question is, which player stands the best chance of winning, and what should their strategy be?
Game All, Dealer South:
| Santa | |||
| Thoth | Sophie | ||
| ♠ 109 | |||
| ♥ AK10754 | |||
| ♦ 962 | |||
| ♣ 65 | |||
| Little Mo | |||
| ♠ J43 | |||
| ♥ Q92 | |||
| ♦ AKQJ7 | |||
| ♣ KQ | |||
| West | North | East | South | |
| Thoth | Santa | Sophie | Little Mo | |
| 1♦ | ||||
| 2♠1 | Pass | 4♠ | All Pass |
1. Strong jump overcall.
Santa led the eight of diamonds and Mo took the trick with the jack. Thoth followed to the next two diamonds while Santa followed once, and then discarded the ten of clubs.
Here are Mo's thoughts as she considered her next move.
Why did declarer stare so long at the ceiling before playing to trick one? There're no structural problems up there; I know, I surveyed it only last week. Like all good players Thoth takes time to plan the play before making a move. But it does tell us something; if he's looking at ten sure tricks he would have had nothing momentous to think about, so we might have a chance of beating the contract.
If Santa has a trump trick I've nothing to fret about, that's provided I don't revoke! Declarer cannot be void in hearts; otherwise, with solid trumps, three diamond losers and a sure loser in clubs he would have nothing significant to think about at trick one.
All-in-all, I'm getting a good picture of Thoth's hand – I've seen three small diamonds, and deduced he's a heart to reach dummy. He's sure to have the ace of clubs, and the jack, thanks to Santa's informative discard of the ten. With three winners outside of trumps he can't have more than six spades since, with seven, he would have ten tricks.
So, assuming we can beat the contract, West's hand will be…
| ♠ AKQxxx | or | ♠ AKQxxx | |
| ♥ x | ♥ xx | ||
| ♦ 1054 | ♦ 1054 | ||
| ♣ AJx | ♣ AJ |
Time to establish our club trick I think. How will the play go from then on? After Thoth takes the ace of clubs and runs his trump suit, everyone will be down to three cards. Oh no, you can't be serious! If declarer started with two cards in hearts and clubs, there's no defence as I'll be squeezed. This will be the position with me still to play to the tenth trick.
| Santa | |||
| ♥ xx | |||
| ♣ x | |||
| Thoth | Sophie | ||
| ♥ xx | ♥ AK10 | ||
| ♣ J | ♣ --- | ||
| Little Mo | |||
| ♥ Q92 | |||
| ♣ Q | |||
Shame I haven't an ace to serve. I feel we're two sets down and five-nil in the third… But say declarer started with a singleton heart and three clubs…
| Santa | |||
| ♥ Jxx | |||
| ♣ --- | |||
| Thoth | Sophie | ||
| ♥ x | ♥ AK10 | ||
| ♣ Jx | ♣ --- | ||
| Little Mo | |||
| ♥ Q92 | |||
| ♣ Q | |||
Now we're okay - provided partner holds the jack, I can discard a heart on the final spade. Still, there's something troubling about the hand. What if west has the singleton jack of hearts? Wait… if I play my personal card at trick four, that's the Two of Hearts, Thoth can take the trick in east or lose contact with dummy. Either way, with no late entry to Sophie's hand, the squeeze cannot work.
For once Mo needn't have worried; once she played the small heart the contract was unmakeable.
The full deal:
| Santa | |||
| ♠ 65 | |||
| ♥ 863 | |||
| ♦ 83 | |||
| ♣ 1098743 | |||
| Thoth | Sophie | ||
| ♠ AKQ872 | ♠ 109 | ||
| ♥ J | ♥ AK10754 | ||
| ♦ 1054 | ♦ 962 | ||
| ♣ AJ2 | ♣ 65 | ||
| Little Mo | |||
| ♠ J43 | |||
| ♥ Q92 | |||
| ♦ AKQJ7 | |||
| ♣ KQ | |||
The Answer to the contest question…
This is a reformulation of the old Truel (three sided contest) poser, in which duelling pistols instead of bridge hands were the weapons of choice. Though one has to believe bridge players are generally intelligent enough to run away, rather than stand and face an expert shot who never misses.
Little Mo is the favourite to win – provided she declines to eliminate an adversary while both Hestia and Santa remain.
This tactic ensures she is declarer when only one opponent is left. When Santa remains, she has a 50/50 chance of winning as she is first to play. When Hypatia remains, Mo wins half the time when she makes her contract, plus half of the time when both she and Hypatia fail to make their first contact, plus half of the time when she and Hypatia fail on their second attempt, etc…
So Mo's chance of being the victor is a smidgen over 50%.
Confucius stopped by to ask Santa if he would be absent when the real Father Christmas turned up to distribute the presents from under the tree.
"Sadly, I'm afraid I might be," replied Santa.
"That's a shame. But talking of being 'afraid' what do you call people who are scared of Santa Claus?"
"I don't frighten anyone, do I," asked Santa, looking shocked?
"Just the Claustrophobics," laughed Confucius. "Anyway, we all know why you're always so happy."
"And why's that?"
"Because you know where all the naughty girls live. Happy Xmas everyone, see you at the party."
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.