Restoration by Foxymoron

The Stuart Restoration of 1660 saw King Charles II returning from exile in Europe after the Interregnum. Similarly bridge events are being restored face-to-face after a break due to Covid; the Woodberry Weekend at Eastbourne was a great success with a somewhat sleepy seaside town ideal for a weekend away from the pace of London.

The Newhaven Lighthouse, c. 1930

A 1660 in bridge is sometimes called a "restoration", and your scribe and his partner conceded this score at the Weekend:

This was a wild board, handled better by Ruth Stanley and Stephanie Raven than by my partner and I. Ruth opened 1H as South and West overcalled 2D. North now bid 3C, forcing and East raised the ante to 5D with such great trump support. South went on 5H and this went round to Muggins, East, who thought that 6D would be cheap at the colours. It was indeed but had the effect of South adding one for the road with 6H. East-West had the choice between passing this for no match points or bidding Seven Diamonds which would have earned one match point. Stefanie Rohan decided to double but played by South there was no defence and +1660, a "Restoration", was the result.

The event was brilliantly organised by Shelley Shieff and expertly directed by Nigel Freake. The main event of the weekend, the Allworth Salver, was won for the first time by David Burn and Frances Loughridge. David now has a trophy with his wife to add to his record eleven Tollemache triumphs.

The team event was won by Harvey Fox, Doug Dunn, Maria and Derek Essen. An excellent quiz, conducted by Andy Conway, was won by Harvey Fox, David Burn, Frances Loughridge, Ruth Stanley and Stephanie Raven.

Find the Lady by Foxymoron

The street scam known as Find the Lady or Three-Card Monte is very old, and comfortably pre-dates bridge.

The Game of Monte in the Streets of Mexico by Claudio Linati (1828)

The scam persuades punters to bet on the location of a queen with sleight of hand being used to move it from its original location before it is revealed.

There are three possible locations for the queen in the scam, but in bridge it can only be in one of two positions. Was there anything to guide Ken Barnett this week?

Graham Horscroft opened 1C. Ken Barnett, East overcalled 2S (weak) and South, your scribe, stretched slightly to bid 3C. Liz Clery's 3S ended the auction and the top spot was reached.

South led the four of clubs and North won with the king and switched accurately to the jack of diamonds. After three rounds of diamonds had been cashed, East had to "find the lady".

There is a saying in bridge "eight ever, nine never" which means that with eight trumps you should finesse for the queen, with nine, you should play for the drop. Ken played for the drop and had a very bad score as most made this contract.

The opening lead marks South with a club honour and the play showed that he started with the ace of diamonds. Would he have bid three clubs on xx xxxx Axx Qxxx? Maybe, but on his actual hand he was more likely to do so, and I think the odds favour playing South for the queen of spades. But then I would have slipped that card across the table using sleight of hand, wouldn't I?

North might have made it harder for declarer by winning the first club with the ace and later returning a low club after cashing three diamonds. If South has the king of clubs, he is much less likely to have the "lady".

Rara Avis by Foxymoron

 The heading to this blog was defined by Willie Rushton on Just a Minute as "A sports-car-hire firm", but those with some basic Latin know that it means an event that will almost never occur, such as a Spurs trophy win.

I remember posing at a Camrose evening "Which contract is most rarely doubled?" A bit of thought will give the clear answer "2NT". There is not much point in doubling it - usually game has been declined and the opponents have the majority of points. Also, they may run to three of their best suit, and finally beating it one is usually a fine result. But if it makes ....

Stefanie Rohan and Chantal Girardin scored a top here when West injudiciously doubled the final contract of 2NT and failed to find the winning defence. After 1H-Pass-Pass-Double-Pass-1S-2H-South bid a natural 2NT. West, Phil Mattacks, thought this would not make, expecting more values opposite, and indeed Ken Rolfe's competing with 2H on an 11-loser 0-count left something to be desired. The auction concluded 2NT-Double-All Pass.

West led a top spade, and declarer won the second round and won a diamond trick at some point. However, West then fatally switched to a heart after cashing the third and fourth spade. The defence has to be careful, as ducking even one round of diamonds would have allowed declarer to succeed as West would have been strip-squeezed.

The real culprit was not the mis-defence, however, but the double. Beating 2NT by one would have been 11 matchpoints out of 12, so double stood to gain little. The only other plus score was the pair who defeated NS in 2S by one after a struggle.

The moral is "2NT is not for doubling". Terence Reese would have said, "If you are going to double, partner, you should at least pay attention in defence."

Grand Illusion by Foxymoron

Renoir's 1937 film Grand Illusion contained the notion that somehow middle classes stand above the war. At the recent West of England congress there was a Grand Illusion of a different type. All the good players reached grand and went off. But they had done nothing wrong.

We had a good auction to the top spot. It started 2C-2D-2NT, which we play as showing 25-26 Balanced. We split the range so that with 20-22 we rebid 2H, Kokish, and then bid 2NT over the relay of 2S. And we open 2NT with 23-24 which seems to work well. An extra advantage of this method is that we can bid 2C-2H/2S as non-forcing, to play there opposite 20-22.

Now North transferred to hearts with 3D and South bid 4C, a cue-bid, promising four-card heart support. Then North jumped to 5D, and as this is above game, it is exclusion key-card Blackwood for hearts. North's next bid of 7H was the final contract, but the 3-0 trump break meant that this could not be made. 

One generally needs the grand to be about 67% and this one was around 78%, so it would seem that one wants to be there, but I am not so sure after looking at the traveller. Only six pairs bid grand - flat in 7H-1 in our match - and 6 pairs missed slam with the other 23 only in small slam. If that is representative one would need about an 80% chance to bid grand.

It was good to see so many Woodberry members at the West of England event, very well organised by Tony Russ, Colin Simcox and Frank Coltman. A highly recommended event with Weston-Super-Mare in a time-warp with its shabby-chic hotels, with Grand being a bit of a misnomer.

The winning team: 

Paul Lamford, Stefanie Rohan, Tim Rees, John Salisbury