Queen of Diamonds by Foxymoron

 

The playing card which seems to feature most in art is the queen of diamonds, a symbol of both wealth and greed. Surprisingly it is the playing card that features most often in tattoos as well. 

It is not my favourite card, and I failed to guess who had it in a hand from last week.

I opened 1H on the North hand, and playing fairly simple methods my partner could do little other than raise to 4H. This can be a bit weaker than South had, and I decided not to make a slam-try on the North hand. That was prudent, as I would probably not have made it. I would have led the queen of spades on the East hand, but Raoul Fishman led a trump. I won and played a second trump and now it looked normal to lead the king of diamonds and another diamond. 

West played low perforce, and I had to decide who had the lady. I could play the ace and ruff a diamond. This would make 12 if the diamonds were 3-3 and at least 11 if they were 4-2. I could ruff a club, ruff another diamond, ruff a club and discard a spade on the long diamond. Perhaps the best line.

But knowing that the queen of diamonds was indicative of greed, I decided to run the jack of diamonds. Now I would have made 13 if the diamonds were 3-3 with the queen onside, and still 12 if the diamonds were 4-2 with the queen on. Sadly, East won and now played a spade and the defence had two tricks. I was still hopeful that if East had the ace of spades he would not play one, but not to be. He led a spade and West won his ace.

The good result of only conceding -650 helped Raoul and his partner David Evans to a fine win.