Monkey Business

What are the chances of an 8-card suit in bridge? Surprisingly small, at around 200-1. However, the chance of an 8-card suit (or longer) with someone in an evening of bridge is around even money, I think 51% in a 32-board sesssion, but only 30% in the shorter 18-board Woodberry Online Pairs. Generally it pays to pre-empt at the four level when you get one and this your scribe did on the above hand. David Burn's double showed "cards" in the modern manner, and Dr Frances Loughridge, with three aces, chose to take the money. North led a club and South cashed a second round and now cashed the ace of hearts on which David played the eight, normal attitude, so he probably has the king. South could reason that North had not opened a weak two, so probably did not have six hearts, and now the winning defence was to cash the ace of diamonds and exit with a spade. Note that playing a spade immediately is not good enough, as declarer can rise with the ace and exit with the king of diamonds, and a loser disappears as South does not have a second heart to play. Instead South played a third club, but North's trump trick did not need promoting and West escaped for 2 off and an average. Collecting the magic monkey was worth 90%, as that beats the game of 5C which South could make as long as she cashes the ace of diamonds at some point.

What was your experience on the board? Several left 4S play undoubled, and they scored poorly in the rough and tumble of matchpoints.