Diotima – The Queen of Spades.
Diotima was a Greek Priestess and philosopher who is reputed to be the only person to best Socrates in an argument – and should any misogynists read this, we are not talking about who should do the ironing.
She also gave Socrates her definition of "Love". She said that Love is one of the spirits that holds the world together. As man grows, so grows his understanding of Love. Firstly he is attracted to the beauty of the youthful figure. Then he learns to see the inner beauty in all bodies. From this comes the love of structure, of form, of what lies beneath the surface. Finally there comes the love of understanding, of ideas, of knowledge and truth. So, she asserted, it is the force of love that guides humanity through life.
If her counterpart existed in today's world she would probably be the head of some worthy charity, employing her powers of analysis in the service of others. Visually she would be the archetypal business woman armed with her iPhone, Birkin handbag and dressed in a 'power suit'. And naturally she would play bridge to relieve the tension of her frenetic lifestyle.
| NS Game, Dealer South. | Aristotle | ||
| ♠ 432 | |||
| ♥ AQJ | |||
| ♦ 432 | |||
| ♣ A852 | |||
| Hippo | Romeo | ||
| Diotima | |||
| ♠ AQ105 | |||
| ♥ K10984 | |||
| ♦ 76 | |||
| ♣ K9 | |||
| West | North | East | South | |
| Hippo | Aristotle | Romeo | Diotima | |
| 1♥ | ||||
| Pass | 2♣ | Pass | 2♥ | |
| Pass | 3♥ | Pass | 4♥ | |
| Pass | Pass | Pass |
Hippo led the two of hearts and Diotima paused to find a route to ten tricks. If you wish to anticipate her reasoning, take your time and form a plan before reading how she tackled the contract.
My four heart bid was a tad pushy I know but I've only six losers, and the king of clubs fits with partner, and at teams it's right to push for vulnerable game contracts and, without being too immodest, I think it's right to add a trick for my declarer play.
Points-wise we've 23, leaving 17 for East-West. Not much of a clue there. West's failure to lead a diamond means he probably doesn't have a sequence of honour cards in that suit. This doesn't help much either, but these little clues are worth bearing in mind.
Counting tricks, I've five trumps, two clubs and the ace of spades – two short of the ten I need. Counting losers, I've two diamond losers and, from the point of view of my hand, three possible spade losers, making five. Alfred Sheinwold1, a truly great player from the past, recommended declarer should count winners and losers, and if they didn't add up to thirteen he should count his cards.
I can see at a glance where the best chance lies. To make the contract I'll have to conjure three spade tricks. The natural line looks to be to play a spade to the ten. There's also the possibility of ruffing the fourth spade in dummy. To be sure of doing the right thing, I'd better consider all the options.
It would need some double dummy play to make three spade tricks against a 5-1 break, and as Hippo might have led a singleton spade, I'll discount 5-1 splits from my calculations. That leaves 3-3 and 4-2. A second issue is that Romeo must hold one of the honours; if Hippo has the King-Jack I'm destined to go down.
One trick, if you'll excuse the pun, I like to use, is - plan the subsequent play if the finesse works, and form a plan "B" for when it fails.
| ♠ 432 | |||
| ♠ AQ105 | |||
Right, if I finesse the ten or queen and it holds, I must allow for the case where West ducks with the king and three small, which makes a second finesse risky. The correct play must be to follow a successful finesse with the ace and a small spade, then I can ruff the last spade with one of dummy's master trumps.
And plan "B", when the first finesse loses…
I'll draw a second round of hearts, if the defence hasn't already played one. Then, before drawing the last trump I'll play two rounds of spades, taking a second finesse if needs be. This combines two chances, one that spades are 3-3 and also the case where the defender with two spades started life with a doubleton trump.
So let's consider 3-3 breaks. Provided Romeo has one of the spade honours I'm destined to make the contract whether I play the ten or the queen.
What of 4-2 breaks? There are six 4-2 holdings where East has at least one honour - xx-KJxx, Jx-Kxxx, Kx-Jxxx, xxxx-KJ, Jxxx-Kx and lastly Kxxx-Jx
- xx-KJxx – Either the queen or ten will succeed.
- Jx-Kxxx – Here the queen will work. For the ten to succeed, when I follow plan "B", I'll need West to hold no more than two trumps.
- Kx-Jxxx – In this case, whichever card I play, to succeed I'll need West to be short in trumps.
- xxxx-KJ – Here covering the card played by Romeo works.
- Jxxx-Kx – Queen is best in this case. This time, for the ten to work I'll need East to have fewer than three trumps.
- Kxxx-Jx – Here, whatever I play, I'll need East to be short in trumps.
To summarise, in cases 1, 3, and 6 the ten and queen are equally successful. In case 4 I can't go wrong, but in cases 2 and 5 the queen is the better card. So the instinctive line of a spade to the ten is wrong, and I should play to the queen at trick two.
The full deal:
| Aristotle | |||
| ♠ 432 | |||
| ♥ AQJ | |||
| ♦ 432 | |||
| ♣ A852 | |||
| Hippo | Romeo | ||
| ♠ J986 | ♠ K7 | ||
| ♥ 32 | ♥ 765 | ||
| ♦ AQ105 | ♦ KJ98 | ||
| ♣ J64 | ♣ Q1073 | ||
| Diotima | |||
| ♠ AQ105 | |||
| ♥ K10984 | |||
| ♦ 76 | |||
| ♣ K9 | |||
Diotima would have failed in her contract had she played a spade to the ten.
1. Alfred Sheinwold also recommended that, "one should learn from the mistakes of others… as you won't live long enough to make them all yourself."
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.