The origin of this expression is interesting. The first appearance seems to be in 1802:
"The South" and "The North" are not bridge terms, as one might tell from the reference to the House of Representatives. The expression means that you cannot lose regardless and such was the case here:
East opened 1S, fairly marginal, but as a friend from the WLGBC is fond of saying, "I rate a stiff queen very highly!". West responded 3NT which this pair play as a balanced 3-card raise, quite sensible methods, and East has a normal removal to 4S. With a horrible lead to choose from Paul Thornton, who takes his sobriquet from the North Yorkshire village of Bentham, rather than the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham, led the ten of diamonds. Now it costs nothing to run this round to the queen. If, as is very likely, North wins with the king, you can later throw a heart loser on the ace of diamonds, and will still make the contract if the spade finesse is right, or if you can find a doubleton ace of clubs somewhere. When the queen wins, you can still throw a loser on the ace of diamonds, and are now cold. Some Souths led a club, which is also fraught as Jxxx is very dangerous, but if North puts in the ten, declarer should go down, but about half the field made game here.
Heads You Win–Tails I Lose is a song written by Brian Wilson and Gary Usher for the American rock band The Beach Boys. It was released on their 1962 album Surfin' Safari.
After Ken rose with the ace of diamonds, there was no way home: As the lyrics of the song said:
Heads you win, tails I lose
I can't get the upper hand no matter what I do
You'll always be the winner and I'll always be the fool
Heads you win, tails I lose
"I rate a stiff queen very highly!"
ReplyDeleteOo-er!
It may not be a thing of beauty, but doens't a heart lead scupper the contract? Declarer's now likely to lose a spade, a heart, and 2 clubs (if he has to open the suit himself).
On a different matter, what do you think of opening E's hand 2S, downgrading the singleton Q? I confess I did this (once in a while I'm allowed to be maximum!), but I'm prepared to be told I'm wrong. Kevin raised me to game, via an Ogust enquiry.
I apologise for the late publication of Ed's comment. I have been away, and I couldn't work out how to publish from my phone.
DeleteOn his substantive points - a heart lead would indeed defeat 4 spades provided North does not play his Ace of clubs on air. Fred Pitel and Mike Klein found this defence.
I would definitely not open 2 spades with the East hand. Firstly, the points in short suits are likely to be useful in defence. Secondly, if partner ends up on lead, he will undoubtedly make a disastrous spade lead with a holding like Kx. Only the robot had sufficient discipline to pass with the East hand - it did no good on this occasion, because it was easy for North to find a diamond lead against 4S.
Yes Ed is right that a heart lead also beats 4S, but of course is dangerous as it could be going round to the AJ or KJ. On the question of 1S or 2S, I prefer the former as there is too much outside spades for a weak two. So I agree with Ken calling a spade a spade.
ReplyDelete