The above expression is given in the dictionary as the "declarer hand in bridge", but I was surprised that two other meanings of which I was aware were not given. One is the acknowledgement of defeat (or the greeting at the start) in a two-player match such as snooker by the touching of a closed hand. The other, with a black closed hand, is the symbol of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
It is the first meaning that is the theme of this week's blog, which features an interesting hand from the SIMs at the Woodberry on Tuesday.
Three pairs reached the pushy slam. One was in 6H by East going off, one was in 6H by West making and finally one was in 6S by East going off. There is nothing to choose between the contracts you might think as all of them require guessing the spades. Let us say that you are playing 6H by East on the lead of the eight of clubs. You win and draw three rounds of trumps ending in West.
Now you lead the queen of spades from dummy and North covers perforce while you win with the ace. Now the right line is to run the nine. Suitplay, the omniscient computer program, tells me this is wrong and you should cash the jack. It is an excellent piece of software by the way. It is freeware and can be downloaded at SuitPlay (jeroenwarmerdam.pythonanywhere.com)
However, it has to make some assumptions about what the defenders do and do not know, and this is where the "closed hand" comes in to the picture. If a defender can see the eight and the nine, he or she should duck with Kx and cover with KT doubleton when the queen is led. If the defender cannot see the eight and the nine, he or she should cover with Kx. So, here, if you are playing it from the East hand, you should play North to have Kx (or singleton king) and run the nine on the second round. If you are playing a slam from the West hand, then you should play for North to have covered because he has KT doubleton, and play as Suitplay does and cash the jack.
There was not much difference playing in Six Spades, again by East on a club lead. Declarer crossed to the ace of hearts and led the queen of spades but David Herbert subsequently went off. As Pope said:
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing
Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring.
Oscar Wilde quipped: ‘There are two ways of disliking poetry. One way is to dislike it, and the other is to read Pope.’
Mike Bull and John Bernard were the beneficiaries of 6S-1 and this helped them to a near top, and a fine win nationally with 66.18%. And why should North cover from Kx, which Suitplay regards as "not optimal"? Well, just consider for a moment how you would feel if South had T9x or T8x and you duck ...