Hestia - The Eight of Hearts
Since the exposé of the Pack's activities, a large number of people have expressed scepticism at the veracity of this phenomenon! If those people require proof, the best time to catch the pack unawares is during their spring congress - the most avidly fought of their tournaments.
The investigator should extinguish all lights and seat himself or herself besides the cupboard at around eleven fifty-five on the evening of the 31st of March, being especially careful not to make a noise. It's recommended that they go armed with a stethoscope.
It may take a little time, but an hour or two after the witching hour, the unmistakable chittering of the Pack at play will be heard, and doubts of their existence dispelled once and for all.
Hestia, or Vesta as she was known to the Romans, was the Greek goddess of the hearth. At mealtimes a scrap or two of food would be thrown into the fire as an offering to her and when a child was born it would be ceremoniously paraded to the hearth in the temple and introduced to the goddess.
Within the Pack, Hestia naturally came to symbolise the home. She was the mother who put meals on the table, who sent her brood into the world in clean clothes and the one whose magic touch could heal a grazed knee.
| Freud | |||
| ♠ A64 | |||
| ♥ KJ107 | |||
| ♦ A984 | |||
| ♣ AQ | |||
| Hestia | |||
| ♠ 83 | |||
| ♥ Q82 | |||
| ♦ Q76 | |||
| ♣ KJ864 | |||
N-S Game, Dealer West.
| North | East | South | West | |
| Freud | Noor | Hestia | Boudicca | |
| 1♣1 | ||||
| DBL | Pass | 1NT | Pass |
| 3NT | All-pass. | ||
1. Playing 5 card majors and strong NT.
Hestia gave consideration to passing Freud's double but settled on the more descriptive bid of one no-trump.
Boudicca led the king of spades, which Hestia ducked, while Noor followed with the jack. West continued with the queen and declarer ducked for a second time as east played the five. The nine, ace, seven of spades and a diamond discard from south made up the third trick.
Clubs were the obvious suit to tackle next, so Hestia cashed the ace, on which Noor played the seven and Freud the five. On the queen of clubs Noor played the three and Hestia paused to consider her options.
Thus far the hand has played itself, I had to duck two rounds of spades in case Noor started with five and Boudicca had found the inspired lead of the king from King-queen-x. But since the two of spades hasn't appeared I am inclined to place west with that card. Noor's jack on the first trick, shows she holds the ten, and holding the jack-ten-seven-five-two she would doubtless have played the two on the second or third trick. So spades are presumably divided four-four.
What of points and tricks and things? Freud's eighteen points and my eight total twenty-six, leaving fourteen for east-west. As Boudicca opened the bidding she must hold the majority of these. Indeed, she assuredly holds both the ace of hearts, and the king of diamonds.
Counting tricks,in addition to the spade, I have five clubs, plus the ace of diamonds, making seven. As spades are breaking, I have time to establish two extra winners in hearts. Provided luck is on our side the defence will be limited to one heart and three spade tricks.
East-west are playing five card majors, so Boudicca could have opened one club on a three card suit, but Noor has followed to the first two clubs with the seven and three, indicating a doubleton, and as we all know, Noor is pathologically incapable of playing a false card.
Now I have a real problem, I cannot overtake the queen of clubs with the king as that will promote Boudicca's ten to be a winner. I must let the queen hold this trick and find an entry to hand.
One candidate for an entry is the queen of hearts, but I know the ace is sitting over the queen and Boudicca is far too good a player to play the ace on the king or jack unless she is forced to. Since I am assuming west has eight black cards it's not unreasonable to hope her ace of hearts is doubleton, or even singleton.
I have a sneaky feeling this line will fail; Boudicca looks far too confident for my liking, indeed she really does look happy and relaxed.
On the bidding I know she can't have five hearts, if she has four hearts the king of diamonds will be singleton, so that holding is precluded by her relaxed demeanour. Doubtless, she has calculated that I have less than four hearts and she's planning hold up the ace until the third round.
Technically there's no counter to this defence, but I can see a tricky play that might work. If Noor holds the nine of hearts and I play low from dummy, she mightn't realise the importance of playing the nine. Indeed, if she plays low to indicte a three card suit, myself, that is the eight of hearts, will be big enough to force the ace. Against perfect defence this plan has zero chance, but it looks like my best shot - especially knowing Noor's predilection for playing honest cards.
To say that Boudicca looked displeased when the she was forced to take Hestia's eight with the ace is something of an understatement. As the queen of hearts provided an entry to declarer's hand, nine tricks rolled home without further incident.
The full hand.
| Freud | |||
| ♠ A64 | |||
| ♥ KJ107 | |||
| ♦ A984 | |||
| ♣ AQ | |||
| Boudicca | Noor | ||
| ♠ KQ92 | ♠ J1075 | ||
| ♥ A53 | ♥ 964 | ||
| ♦ KJ | ♦ 10532 | ||
| ♣ 10952 | ♣ 73 | ||
| Hestia | |||
| ♠ 83 | |||
| ♥ Q82 | |||
| ♦ Q76 | |||
| ♣ KJ864 | |||
This is an example of why the pack have a saying. "Play poker with heart, but never with a heart".