Hoorah Henry by Foxymoron

The penalty of 1100 is sometimes known as a Henry after the seizure of the throne by Henry I in 1100. The above depicts Henry holding the Church of Reading Abbey in a miniature by Matthew Paris, c.1253. I was reminded of Henry on a hand this week from the Woodberry:

I know for sure that at least one West overcalled one of Two Diamonds, Three Diamonds or Four Diamonds. I think the middle one is "just right", as Goldilocks would say. Four Diamonds is too much and can be taken for 1100. At the table where this occurred, North-South were playing penalty doubles at the Four level and North had no difficulty applying the axe. He was too polite to call Hoorah when the hand was over, but West was really the Hoorah Henry (or Henrietta). Perhaps Damon Runyon was thinking of such bids when he wrote, in 1936, "He is without doubt strictly a Hoorah Henry, and he is generally figured as nothing but a lob as far as ever doing anything useful in this world is concerned." But bridge had not yet been invented and it is unclear why the name Henry was chosen. I guess it could have been Hoorah Harvey or Hoorah Harry.

At our table, we missed the chance to collect this penalty, as North did not pass over 4D and chose to double. South bid 4H which ended the auction. The top spot is 3NT which will normally make the same number of tricks, and North chose that when West bid only 3D.

To get a good score in either you need to make 12 tricks. There are various squeezes which can work, and much depends on whether both opponents guard spades or clubs. If West has only bid 3D, then you will probably play him to be 2-1-7-3 or 3-1-7-2 and will have to read the ending. Assume West leads a diamond, you run it round and now draw trumps and then duck a round of spades. They play a second round and you win with the ace and now cash the ace of diamonds throwing a club, come to hand with the king of clubs and run the remaining hearts. On the layout, East gets squeezed in the black suits. If West is also guarding clubs, he will be squeezed out of that guard by the threat of the jack of diamonds in dummy. Playing for clubs 3-3 is an alternative line, but that is putting all your eggs in one basket.

And I nearly forgot. F. Scott Fitzgerald was named after Francis Scott Keys, the composer of the Star Spangled Banner, so that tells you what the F stands for.