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Charles – The Three of Spades

Charles modelled himself on Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who is universally known by his nom de plume – Lewis Carroll. Everyone is familiar with his books, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and others, but not so many have heard of his work – A Syllabus of Plane Algebraical Geometry.

There is an anecdote that Queen Victoria was so entranced with his stories that she asked Charles to dedicate his next book to her. It is said that he dutifully complied and dedicated his work An Elementary Treatise on Determinants to Her Majesty.

Sadly, like so many urban myths, the truth is less engaging. In Symbolic Logic (1896), Carroll wrote: "I take this opportunity of giving what publicity I can to my contradiction of a silly story, which has been going the round of the papers, about my having presented certain books to Her Majesty the Queen. It is so constantly repeated, and is such absolute fiction, that I think it worth while to state, once for all, that it is utterly false in every particular: nothing even resembling it has occurred."

Game All, Dealer East.		Alice
		♠ 5432
		♥ A105
		♦ Q3
		♣ AJ76
	Buster		Houdin
		Charles
		♠ KQJ108
		♥ Q9
		♦ A54
		♣ Q42

	West	North	East	South
	Buster	Alice	Houdin	Charles
			2♦1	2♠
	Pass	4♠	All Pass

1. Weak 5-9 Points

Houdin opened a weak-two diamonds, Charles overcalled in spades and Alice made a spirited raise to game. Buster led the six of diamonds and Charles paused to consider the hand…

I know sometimes I believe six impossible things before breakfast but I can't believe Buster has the king of diamonds; so the queen is dead whatever I do.

What tricks do I have? Four spades, one heart, a diamond and two clubs – that's eight. To bring it up to ten, I'll need to ruff a diamond in dummy and finagle an extra trick in clubs or hearts. There's a problem though… If I try to trump a diamond while West still has a low spade he'll be able to ruff ahead of dummy.

A possible answer is to duck the diamond lead and hope Buster has the ace of spades. That way I might be able to draw West's trumps before Houdin regains the lead.

Charles called for the queen from dummy and allowed Houdin to hold the trick with the king. He won the diamond return and played the king of spades. Unfortunately, East produced the ace of trumps and, as declarer had foreseen, Buster was able to ruff the third round of diamonds with the nine of spades.

How do you think Charles, the logistician would have tackled the hand from this point?

I was hoping Buster had the spade ace, but as Tweedledee once said, "Contrariwise, if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."

Still there's a smidgen of good news – East has shown eight points – so both the missing kings should be with West. If Houdin has the seven of spades, which seems probable as the diamond was ruffed with the nine, Buster will have to exit in clubs or hearts.

Okay, that means I'm not going more than one off, but is there still a chance of making? I'd better think this through carefully. What should I discard on this trick?

A club looks wrong – who knows – a club return from West could give me the contract if it's from three to the king. So I should throw a heart, but in a funny way that looks wrong too. If I throw a heart Buster can exit in the suit and I'll be left with a certain club loser.

Well, there's no rule that says you can't discard a trump so perhaps I should throw my personal card – the Three of Spades. That way I'll postpone the discard decision until the last round of trumps.

Say Buster exits with a club from a four card suit; I'll win the queen, draw East's trump, finesse the club and return to hand with a spade, then cash another spade, reaching this position…

		Alice
		♠ ---
		♥ A10
		♦ ---
		♣ 6
	Buster		Houdin
	♠ ---		♠ ---
	♥ K?		♥ ??
	♦ ---		♦ 10
	♣ K		♣ --
		Charles
		♠ 8
		♥ Q9
		♦ ---
		♣ ---

When the eight of spades is played Buster can't throw the club as that will promote the six, nor can he throw a heart as that will allow the ace and queen to make.

And if West returns a heart at trick four? Again I let it run to the queen, draw East's trump, cash the ace of hearts return to hand in spades, to reach this position…

		Alice
		♠ ---
		♥ 10
		♦ ---
		♣ AJ76
	Buster		Houdin
	♠ ---		♠ ---
	♥ K?		♥ ?
	♦ ---		♦ 109
	♣ K??		♣ ??
		Charles
		♠ 108
		♥ ---
		♦ ---
		♣ Q42

The crucial question is, where's the knave of hearts? Assuming he's not stealing tarts. If he's hiding with Houdin, Buster will discard his hearts on the spades and I'll be left with a losing club. But on the other hand, excuse the pun, if Lady Luck is smiling and Buster has the knave, I can squeeze him out of a winner. When I cash the spades he'll have to choose between throwing the heart honours and coming down to just the Kx of clubs.

Lady Luck was indeed smiling and, after Charles underruffed with the three of spades, the contract couldn't be beaten. Buster returned a heart after ruffing the diamond, but it was a simple matter for declarer to execute the squeeze.

		Alice
		♠ 5432
		♥ A105
		♦ Q3
		♣ AJ76
	Buster		Houdin
	♠ 96		♠ A7
	♥ KJ643		♥ 872
	♦ 62		♦ KJ10987
	♣ K1093		♣ 85
		Charles
		♠ KQJ108
		♥ Q9
		♦ A54
		♣ Q42

A passion shared by the Pack's Charles and the original Mr. Dodgson, was a love of puzzles and logic problems – a common trait amongst bridge players. So when Alice asked Charles to explain why he played as he did he replied: "Before I do that, you must first solve one of Mr. Dodgson's puzzles – rearrange the letters NOR DO WE into a single word answer. "

Answer next month.