One over the Eight by Foxymoron

 

The earliest instance of the above phrase, meaning having too much to drink, I can find is the following, in a Surrey weekly on Friday 15th August 1919:

“ONE OVER THE EIGHT.”—At the Reigate Bench, on Monday, Frederick Powell, of Providence-terrace, London-road, Reigate, was charged with being drunk and disorderly on Saturday night.—P.C. Kimber proved the case.—Prisoner told the Court that he met an old uncle and had one or two drinks. He added “I suppose I got one over the eight, and I suppose I became a little quarrelsome.”—Fined 5s.

It appears to derive from military slang. One over the eight is nine of course. Which reminds me "why is six wary of seven?" Because seven ate nine, of course. But back to bridge. The nine capturing the eight was the theme of this hand from the EBU summer SIMs.

I opened Four Spades as dealer, North, and Roy Cooper, East, exercised prudence for the first time in his life and passed, so 4S became the final contract. They avoided the fate that befell Anne Catchpole and Ken Barnett who went to 5H over 4S and went for 1400.

Roy found the testing club lead and Harvey Fox, West, did well to play three rounds, giving North a dilemma. If East has three spades it does not matter what you do, but what if East only has two? Now it is right to ruff with the seven, and when East overruffs with the queen, you play for split honours and run the ten on the second round. When it is covered, the eight falls under the nine on the third round of the suit.  You will need the diamond finesse, of course, but the eight of spades is 3-2 on to be with the assumed three-card suit.

In last week's poser, the nine of spades also comes into the picture. In Four Spades, after two rounds of hearts, the right line is to lead a low spade from dummy, and if the queen of spades holds, as it did, then you play low to the ten, even if South shows out. North can win the king of spades and force dummy again, but you ruff with the ace of spades, discarding a losing club from hand. All you lose is two trumps and a heart. Other attempts such as prematurely releasing the ace of spades are fatal.

Euro Heartbreak by Foxymoron

I understand how England felt in the Euros. However, "Second place is no disgrace" is a backgammon saying that they should consider. That means, in backgammon, that saving the gammon but losing the game is often the right approach.

Wales would have settled for second place in the European Bridge Championship, but came 30th. That sounds ok, except that only 30 teams entered. Still your scribe did win a few matches. This was one instructive hand.

The bidding was illuminating, South was the dealer at game all. (2H)-Double-(4H)-4S-(All Pass). South led the king of hearts and North overtook to play a second heart. You ruff in dummy? What now?

I will let you "go figure" and give the solution next week. A few strong players I gave the hand to went off. 

The Eight of Clubs by Foxymoron

 

All the playing cards have some meaning. In cartomancy the eight of clubs represents a casual or open relationship, but in bridge it has little significance. It was, however, crucial on the following hand. 

I was disappointed not to be sitting East-West on this hand, as I might well have reached the top spot of Six Diamonds here. With a couple of regular partners we should have bid (Pass)-Pass-(Pass)-2C*-(Pass)-2D*-(Pass)-2H*-(Pass)-2S*-(Pass)-2NT-(Pass)-3NT*-(Pass)-4D-(Pass)-5C-(Pass)-6D-All Pass. 2C is strong, 2D a relay, 2H is hearts or balanced, 2S a relay, 2NT is 20-22 and 3NT is Baron, forcing for one round. Then 4D is natural and 5C is a cue and a slam try. With good controls, West would accept. Declarer can ruff two hearts in hand and only needs trumps 3-2.

No pair found diamonds, and the number of tricks made in no-trumps varied. The right line in 6NT is to try to find someone with Ax of clubs, and then to run the diamonds hoping either for the jack of spades to drop or to squeeze a defender holding the jack of spades and five hearts. But it is a poor contract, and cannot make as the cards lie.

4NT was a popular contract, and, indeed, has ten top tricks. But that was below average and you needed to make 11 for a good score. On a passive diamond lead, say that you guess to play a club to the queen at trick two. It loses and a club comes back which you win. Now the line for 11 tricks is to cash the two top spades, two top hearts, and all the diamonds ending in East. South has to keep Jxxx in spades and therefore has to bare the jack of clubs. Now you can throw him in by exiting with the eight of clubs. But that is very much double-dummy, but is one of the reasons 5NT is making. The other is that you can duck a heart, and then play a club to the king, North must duck this, but now you can cash all the pointed-suit winners, and this squeezes North who has to bare the ace of clubs. If you read it, you can duck a club and make eleven that way. Again completely double dummy.

There is a free podcast from the author at Games and Gambling with Paul Lamford - YouTube