I had arranged to meet my friend Bill at a local club, after he had finished playing in his weekly duplicate bridge tournament. I arrived to find him a little agitated, his partner Fred had received word of a domestic crisis (the premature birth of his first child) and, somewhat reluctantly, had left.
ÒItÕs the last hand of the sessionÓ, said Bill, Òand you will have to take FredÕs placeÓ.
ÒBut IÕve never played the gameÓ I protested. ÒNever mindÓ, Bill explained, Òjust tell me what cards you have in your hand, keeping the bids as low as possible. The pair bidding the highest gets to play the hand – then itÕs just a question taking tricks, like WhistÓ.
Now Whist I understand, so, somewhat relieved, I sat down in the South seat. We each picked up our hands and I found myself looking at:
♠ J3
♥ 432
♦ 8765432
♣ A
I had to
bid first, so of course I said ÒOne ClubÓ. West said ÒOne SpadeÓ, ÒTwo HeartsÓ
said Bill. East and West had nothing more to say as the bidding continued:
Me - ÒTwo
SpadesÓ (Bill pulled out a card which said ÒAlertÓ, I thought I was!)
Bill
– ÒThree clubsÓ
Me -
ÒThree HeartsÓ
Bill -
ÒFour No-TrumpsÓ
This gave
me an anxious moment. I didnÕt appear to have any of them!
However I
recovered and gaily finished describing my hand with ÒSeven DiamondsÓ.
They all
looked at me strangely, before West, with a pitiful expression on his face,
said ÒDoubleÓ.
West led the ♠ K and Bill laid down:
♠ A9
♥ AKQ65
♦ AK
♣ Q1054
The play
was easy for an experienced Whist player like me. I won ♠A in dummy, cashed ♦AK,
which drew the outstanding trumps, then ♥AKQ6,
throwing the ♠J
from hand. I then lay down my remaining cards saying ÒI appear to have the
remaining trumpsÓ.
West (who
Bill told me later was the most experienced player in the club, a Premier Inter-Galactic
12 star Maestro or some such) had been increasingly squirming in his seat and growing
red-faced during the play, then spluttered ÒI would like an explanation of the
biddingÓ. To which I replied, of course, ÒI was only describing my hand as Bill
askedÓ.
The full deal
was:
|
Dealer: South Both vul |
♠A9 |
|
|
West |
North |
East |
South |
|
♥AKQ65 |
|
|
- |
- |
- |
1♣ |
|
|
♦AK |
|
|
1♠ |
2♥ |
pass |
2♠ |
|
|
♣Q1054 |
|
|
pass |
3♣ |
pass |
3♥ |
|
|
♠KQ10842 |
|
♠765 |
pass |
4NT |
Pass |
7♦ |
|
|
♥J109 |
♥87 |
dbl |
All pass |
|
|
||
|
♦Q10 |
♦J9 |
|
|
|
|
||
|
♣ KJ |
♣987632 |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
♠J3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
♥432 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
♦8765432 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
♣A |
|
|
|
|
|
|
