Aristotle – the Jack of Spades
Aristotle (384-322BCE) was born in Northern Greece. He studied under Plato in Athens, though the two didn't always agree. Plato believed the female mind was incapable of handling complex issues. Obviously he never had to face Diotima in a debate - but that as they say, is another story.
In later life Aristotle was to become tutor to Alexander the Great.
Part of his philosophy encouraged the examination of items in detail rather than general. In Bridge he would have taught that it's not sufficient to know what card is led to a contract. The contract should be considered, as should the auction and current score. Even the abilities and temperament of the player who played the card can add to one's knowledge, as can cards which weren't chosen. The more detail one gains the better is one's understanding.
A notable trait of Aristotle is a lack of vanity. The original is quoted as saying;
"Mine is the first step and therefore a small one, though worked out with much thought and hard labour. You, my readers - if you think I have done as much as can fairly be expected of an initial start - will acknowledge what I have achieved and will pardon what I have left for others to accomplish."
| NS Vul. Dealer West | Cassandra | ||
| ♠ AK1043 | |||
| ♥ KJ107 | |||
| ♦ A4 | |||
| ♣ J10 | |||
| Hypatia | Aristotle | ||
| ♠ QJ5 | |||
| ♥ 9864 | |||
| ♦ 5 | |||
| ♣ Q9876 | |||
| Pandora | |||
| West | North | East | South | |
| Hypatia | Cassandra | Aristotle | Pandora | |
| 3♦ | Dbl1 | Pass | 4♦2 | |
| Pass | 4♠3 | Pass | 4NT4 | |
| Pass | 5♦5 | Pass | 5♥6 | |
| Pass | 5♠7 | Pass | 6NT8 | |
| All Pass | ||||
1. Take-out.
2. Tell me more.
3. Spades.
4. Roman Key-Card for spades.
5. Three key-cards (two aces and spade king).
6. Do you have the spade queen?
7. No.
8. Okay, 6 no-trump it is then.
North-South took four rounds of bidding to reach the final contact - which for the diamond team was something of a sprint.
Hypatia led the diamond king and dummy's ace took the first trick. Declarer called for the jack of clubs and Aristotle ducked, south following with the three and west the four. Next came the ten of clubs, which went to the queen, king and a diamond from west.
Declarer switched to spades, playing the two to Hypatia's nine and dummy's ace.
As Aristotle himself would say, "Don't forget - understanding comes from knowledge of details."
First, what's declarer's shape? I know she started with five clubs, partner's pre-empt probably shows a seven card suit which leaves three for south. So declarer has five major suit cards.
Where're declarer's tricks? She's three club tricks, one diamond, and almost certainly, four hearts. So she needs four from spades. If she's two or more spades we can't beat the contract as the suit's breaking.
Ergo, logic dictates I must defend on the assumption that south has a singleton spade, leaving four for partner, and looking at partner's nine that appears to be the case. Even then, in desperation Pandora will play ace, king and another spade, hoping against hope that I've been dealt queen, jack, small.
There's an interesting detail in the analysis though – the point of declarer's play in spades will be to establish two extra tricks. But what if I give her a trick in spades? For instance, if the spade suit looks like this, I can discard myself, the jack of spades under the ace, the queen will go under the king, which will make the ten a winner. However, south cannot establish her twelfth trick without letting Hypatia, who has a winning diamond, gain the lead.
| ♠ AK1043 | |||
| ♠ 9876 | ♠ QJ5 | ||
| ♠ 2 | |||
As this is a trifle complicated I had better review my thinking. Pandora has ten quick tricks, three clubs, one diamond, four hearts and two spades. Unless she has a singleton spade, we cannot defeat the contract. Given that's the case, to make her contract she needs two more from spades. If I keep a high spade I can take the third round of the suit but then dummy's ten and small will make. Alternatively, I can allow the ten of spades to make, and trust partner to win the fourth round while she has a diamond to cash.
Oh well, here goes, time to play the jack under the ace.
South was surprised to find her spade ten was a winner but when she played a fourth spade Hypatia won and cashed the diamond for one down.
The full deal:
| Cassandra | |||
| ♠ AK1043 | |||
| ♥ KJ107 | |||
| ♦ A4 | |||
| ♣ J10 | |||
| Hypatia | Aristotle | ||
| ♠ 9876 | ♠ QJ5 | ||
| ♥ 2 | ♥ 9864 | ||
| ♦ KQ109832 | ♦ 5 | ||
| ♣ 3 | ♣ Q9876 | ||
| Pandora | |||
| ♠ 2 | |||
| ♥ AQ53 | |||
| ♦ J76 | |||
| ♣ AK532 | |||
East-west sat silent and listened to the post-mortem
"I knew we'd go down on that hand. Have you forgotten Maggie's admonition partner?" asked Cassandra. "On no account were we to bid risky slams!"
"You know me, always hopeful, and you're so full of retrospective precognition", Pandora replied irritably.
"You might be hopeful, but I can foresee the punishment Maggie has in store for us, and it's not pretty!" said Cassandra grimly.
Cassandra was right to be worried.
To mark the fact that this was the 156th board of the match and the Quadrule had reached the quarter way point, the pack took a break to check the standings. While Ada tapped away at the computer Ma served tea and cake to calm anxious nerves.
Much to Maggie's ire, the spades had taken the lead on the last hand by bidding and making six hearts. The running scores were - Spades plus 64 IMPs, Diamonds plus 60, clubs minus 53 with the hearts trailing on minus 71.
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.