In Spades by Foxymoron

The expression "in spades" seems to be derived from bridge. Vanderbilt set out the rules of the modern game in 1925. "In spades" appeared in print around then and is often used to show a lot of something. Trivia Origin tells me:

The idiom wasn’t used prior to the 1920s, so it is said to be derived from the card game Bridge, which was popular during that time. Spades were the highest ranking suit in that card game, so the more spades you had, the more likely you were to win.

One of the advantages of being the highest ranking suit is that you don't need to bid one more than the opponents. The same number will do, and this was a lesson the three Souths who bid too many spades might have followed on this hand:

Four pairs made eight tricks in spades and four made nine or more, so the defence strayed on occasion. At our table, where the auction began 1C-Pass-2C, South bid 4S which ended the auction. I would bid 2S, but have no problem with 3S. If East-West compete to 3C you can then go to 3S. Accurate defence holds declarer to eight tricks. 

It is worth noting that partner could not bid.
Gregory: Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?
Holmes: To the curious incident of the 1H overcall.
Gregory: There was no 1H overcall.
Holmes: That was the curious incident.

Liz Clery and Ken Barnett had the top on the board when the defence against 4S doubled was very poor, with West leading the ace of hearts and then the ace of clubs. Now he played for East to have a singleton heart by playing another one, but when South had the singleton both diamonds went away. Anti-percentage as South is unlikely to have three hearts.

Andy Clery was the culprit, giving his sister an early Xmas present, but he did not discriminate and many of the other members received seasonal gifts during the evening. Next week is the Woodberry Christmas party and I hope that Andy will be in as generous a mood then!

The noblest art is that of making others happy― P.T. Barnum of Barnum's Circus

The Strip by Foxymoron

Americans like to have different words to us. A strip is a steak which we call sirloin. In the nineteenth century, striploin was a cut of meat in the US and now a New York Strip is famous.  Another interesting expression is The Strip, for a series of casinos in Las Vegas, the other side of the city to downtown. This seems to get its name from Sunset Strip, a stretch of the Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

In bridge, the strip (or strip squeeze in full) is a declarer technique which is usually a two-loser situation in which the opponent is stripped down to all working cards and then thrown in to be endplayed.

Nobody made 12 tricks on this hand, from the weekly game last night, and it is not clear to do so. We began 1S-(2H)-Double-(4H)-4S and everyone passed, although I think that the EW save in 5H should be tried and would force NS to go on to 5S. 

I just ran the ten of clubs at some point and had to lose two clubs. The line to make 12 tricks is pretty. Say East leads a top heart. You win in dummy and finesse the spade and draw trumps. Now you need to run all the trumps but one so that East has to come down to KJx of clubs and two red cards. Now you need to extract his exit cards so you cash the top two diamonds throwing a club from North, and ruff a heart if necessary. Now for the coup de grâce. You lead a club from North. East has to win with the jack but is then endplayed. You need to read the ending and know how many clubs East has, and playing the last trump too soon is fatal.

The phrase coup de grâce not unexpectedly comes from French, around 1690, and originally meant a merciful stroke finishing off a fatally wounded person, but in most games and sports it now just means the winning move or play.

Ruff and Sluff by Foxymoron

Pevensey Bay

The Woodberry Bridge Club held its traditional tournament at Eastbourne this weekend, and despite the wet weather, several hardy souls and one dog walked along the promenade to Pevensey. The event was splendidly organised by Shelley Shieff with the bridge being directed well by Nigel Freake and a good quiz run by Stefanie Rohan.

"Bridge is sixty percent bidding" is a quotation attributed to the great multiple world champion Benito Garozzo. Unfortunately, even good rules cannot help you reach the right contract, and on the following hand, Four Spades was quite a bit less than 60%, around 30% in fact.

I am all in favour of opening 11-counts at matchpoints, but the lack of intermediates might have deterred me on the West hand, but my partner opened 1D. North overcalled 1H and East doubled which in our methods showed four or more spades. South raised to 2H and this came back to East, who doubled again, still takeout. Now West bid 2S, and East, with a six-loser hand, raised to game in the known 3-5 fit. North led a heart and declarer played on trumps, North winning the second round. Now North exited with a club and declarer had nothing other than drawing the trump and playing a diamond to the king. An alternative and equally unsuccessful line was to duck two rounds of diamonds. Declarer could test North a little by cashing the ace and king of clubs, crossing to the ace of hearts, ruffing a club and only then playing ace and another spade. Now North has to find the winning defence of conceding a a "ruff and sluff". It is not clear where the phrase comes from but seems to have been invented by Oswald Jacoby. A ruff is a rare bird, and to sluff is to discard one's skin if a snake, but the combination of the two means a ruff and discard. When the opponents have a 4-4 fit, this is usually the right defence, as the fourth card is usually a winner anyway.

Curate's Egg by Foxymoron

In May 1895, the satirical British magazine Judy published a cartoon by artist Wilkerson, showing a timid curate and a fierce-looking bishop at breakfast in the bishop's house. The bishop says, "Dear me, I'm afraid your egg's not good!" The curate, desperate not to offend his host and superior, replies, "Oh, yes, my Lord, really – er – some parts of it are very good."

The expression "Curate's Egg" is now used for something which is "good in parts", and such was the case in our auction on the following interesting hand at the Wing Cup, an annual tournament in aid of the Alzheimer's Society at the Woodberry this week. As my mum died of that horrible illness, I always try to take part.

At our table, East opened a strong NT, West transferred to hearts, and East bid 2S. This, a transfer break, showed a maximum with four trumps. West continued with 3C, natural, and East bid 3H, waiting, and showing a stronger hand than 4H. Now West's 3S and East's 4D were cues, and West bid 4NT, Roman Key Card Blackwood. In my partnership with Leonid, West, we play what is called 1430, and my 5C bid showed 4 key cards. Now West asked for the queen of trumps with 5D and I denied it with 5H. West, looking at a possible trump loser, bid 6H which ended the auction. I might have bid 6D on the West hand, asking partner to choose between 6H and 6NT, but that is with a considerable amount of hindsight and there was no guarantee East would get that right. He should, with the fitting Qxx of clubs, choose 6NT. Maria and Derek Essen scored the top here when they sailed into 7NT and made it. Unfortunately, they did not do as well on the other 23 boards!

The play in 6H was interesting. South will lead the queen of diamonds, perhaps, and declarer wins with the ace and lays down the ace of hearts. When South drops the queen, it is right, according to the principle of restricted choice, to play for this to be a singleton rather than QJ doubleton, and all the declarers in slam made 13 tricks. They crossed to the ace of diamonds and finessed the nine of hearts, getting a good score. Strangely all the declarers who languished in game only made 12 tricks.

Asking for More by Foxymoron

Oliver Twist was perhaps the most famous example of someone asking for more, when the soup he received was not sufficient and he asked, politely enough, for more. It is depicted in many Dickens articles:

Oliver asked for more by Harold Copping

"What has this to do with bridge?", I hear you ask. Well, when you have all the key cards, you can ask for more, in particular the queen of trumps and any kings. It does not quite stop there, however, and in our game this week Mr Bumble gave the wrong response to "asking for more". This was the hand:

South opened a weak 2D and our auction began quite well with West doubling as he is too strong to make a simple overcall. North might have raised but did not and East bid 2NT, Lebensohl, intending to show a diamond stop on the "slow shows a stop" method. West bid 3S, showing a good hand and East cued 4D, showing spade support and the ace of diamonds. Then West bid Roman Key Card Blackwood, 4NT, and East showed one key card with 5D. Now West's 5H asked for the queen of trumps, and anything more that East had to show. The right response to this was 5NT, saying that East does have the queen of spades, does not have any kings, and does have "more", being the two rounded-suit queens which West needs for grand. Instead East bid 6S, and West could not do more. We were surprised to find that 6S+1 was worth 75%, and I recalled Erasmus in Adagia: regione caecorum rex est luscus.

Second Bite by Foxymoron

Defence is the most difficult part of the game. Try the following defensive problem which was faced in the Metropolitan Cup today. When the opponent did not solve it, Dave Cleal made his contract, helping himself and his partner Paul Felton to the top spot on the Cross Imps with a fine average over 49 boards of +0.89. The Woodberry Bridge Club represented London B in the event, and were second behind Surrey B.

                                                            South

You are South and the auction is shown. Partner leads the three of spades and declarer plays low from dummy and your king wins. How do you proceed? The full hand shows that you need to lead a low club, which is a remarkable defence.

Real Bridge, which hosted the event, produces a colourful and informative record of the play. After South won the spade and not unreasonably returned a diamond to the queen and ace, Dave drew a second round of trumps. I think this is wrong as South surely does not have a second spade or he would have played one. Only now did Dave lead a club from dummy and South had a second bite at the cherry. If he had ducked this, declarer would have no way home, but when he won and cashed the king of diamonds, declarer was able to cash his winners and cross ruff for ten tricks. 

The phrase "second bite at the cherry" predates "second bite at the apple" which both originated in the mid 19th Century but a search of the Internet for the exact earliest use proved fruitless ...

Noli Me Tangere by Foxymoron

The above phrase, which means "Touch me not" was reportedly spoken, according to John 20:17, by Jesus to Mary Magdalene when she recognised him after his resurrection. It was depicted in art in a painting, also called Noli me tangere, by Correggio. This is in the Museo del Prada in Madrid, which is well worth a visit.

Its relevance to bridge is that one often has to decide whether two adjacent honours are touching or not, particularly when the opponent plays one. The principle of restricted choice is a key one in bridge; it states that when someone plays one of two touching honours, their partner is twice as likely to have the other touching honour. When I got this wrong this week at the Woodberry, I scored a complete zero.

We bid, P-(P)-1H-(2H)-3H-(3S)-4H-(4S)-P-(P)-5H-(All Pass). I expected a bit more for my partner's 3H bid, but we would have had a bad score for defending 4S, which only one other pair bid. Malcolm Morris, East, and Matthew Hendrickson, West, did well to push us to Five Hearts. East led the queen of diamonds which was interesting, and I thought that this was more likely to be QJ doubleton than a singleton, and definitely was not Qx. It is not clear that the rule of restricted choice applies here, as players very rarely lead the jack of a side suit when they have QJ doubleton as partner is likely to be confused. Also a singleton queen, on this auction, is a dangerous lead which might save declarer a guess. To cut a long story short, I drew trumps and when I discovered that East had one trump, I played for East to be AJxxx x QJ AQxxx, or the like, unsuccessfully. Had East led a normal jack of spades, and provided the defence cashed their club winner at trick two, I might well have gone off anyway. It seems normal to play for West to have QJx or QJxx in diamonds.  In the end, virtue had to be its own reward, a phrase that seems to have originated from Cicero.