OCR Text |
Show How to Play IK: BRIDGE rjTw Series jjay 30 by I wiMgr Wynne Ferguson J AuUor of 'PRACTICAL AUCTION BPJOCB ' Coprrlfbt, IM. by Hoyle. Jr. ARTICLE No. 26 t Absent-minded Bridge players are no rarity. The most extraordinary filings happen at the card table, things which are not even contemplated by the laws and (or which there can be no - legislation. I know a case where a - whole rubber was played with a pack r four cards short. As the deal came i right no one noticed the irregularity . until the rubber waa over. Not a single ' player troubled to count his cards. But : how tha shortage could escape atten--v i tioa In even a tingle hand is wonderful. Another authentic incident is of an absent-minded player who dealt five times in succession. The other players were to busy discussing the hands that his lapse wu not noticed. Occasions are tjuits numerous where players pick up cards from the pack not in use or where they play two cards to a trick or gather ajKj turn a trick which does not be Ion j to them. From a reader comes a singular case ( of absent-mindedness. "The cards were ! not properly dealt out, the hands not being tn front of the respective players, X with the result that A picked up Y's i I kuul Oin In V kfliui hum Ik. ing from the wrong hand. I think the declarer who persistently leads from dummy when the lead is in his own hand is distinctly irritating. It is a strange thing that as a rule the slower the player and the more he appears wrapped in thought, the more liable he seems to lapses of this kind. I remember playing with a very slow performer who wrongly led a card from dummy. When corrected he paused for nearly a minute, and then proceeded to lead another card from dummy. A further pause and he did the same thing again. In the scoring of honors there often is an extraordinary display of absence of mind. To remember how many honors one possesses is not a feat that imposes much tax upon the memory; yet disputes on the matter are frequent. The holding of the ten it most often doubted. "Who it tha liar with the tent"' used to be a slogan in one club where a member it reputed to have made an income by always claiming the ten. I have known players who forget tha holding of a hundred aces or five honors la a suit I , taoare, the mistake was not noticed until A had looked at the cards he had picked up. Z, the dealer, then de-i de-i (Banded that Y't proper cards (al-. (al-. though A had teen them) should be handed to Y, and that the game should proceed aa usual. There would seem to be bo objection to that course being taken, at Z and Y only were under a disadvantage through one of their bands having been seen by ona of the ; opponents. During the discussion between be-tween Z and A. however, Y suddenly said, 'Oh, all right. I'll have these cards! Instead,' and picked up A'a proper ' hand, which nobody had yet teen, and looked at it. A then refused to play the hand on the ground that Y had seen hit cards, and the hand wat eventually abandoned and a fresh deal made.'' ' Tha moat common absent-minded - fact art leading out of turn and lead- Absent-mindedness is, I am inclined to believe, catching. If you get a couple of absent-minded players at a table the other two get infected. How else explain the fact that no one knows whose deal it is or which cards belong to which side? More than one I have seen a hand played out by the one who wat the original declarer, and who ought to have been dummy, A case of this kind wat submitted to tha writer where, after two tricks had been played, the error wat discovered and the opponents oppo-nents claimed a fresh deal. It wat decided de-cided that the deal must stand, and that tha man who ought to have been dummy mutt oontinue to play the two hands. Travellers tell us that some savages cannot count beyond tea. I am iodised to believe that many Bridge phtyext I are similarly afflicted Auwtr to FroMem No. 21 Hearts 7 pubt $ rkUeam Ifcaru tt Oubs-.K.O.S.t Y t dub. Diamonds 0.10.5.4 I A Bl Diamonds ooa Spades boo i Z , t Spadta Q, , 1, , S Hearts J.S Club- A, J, 3 Diamonds 9, 7 Spades K Tan art no trumps and Z is In the lead. How can Y Z wia seven of the eight tricks against any defense? Sahstoat At trick one, Z should lead the Jack of club and A b thus forced la the lead with the queen of chibs. At trkk two, A can lead back a club (a) or the oueen of diamonds (b) or the four of diamonds (c). These possibilities lead to three different dif-ferent solutions, which will be considered con-sidered separately! 4a) Suppose at trick two A leads the even of clubs. Y should discard the L:ce of tpadea, B the five of spades and Z shoukj I win the trick with the ilcc of dubs. At trick three, Z should lead the nine of diamonds. A has the choice of playing a low diamond or the ten. If he plays a low diamond, Y should play the eight. If he play the ten, V should play the J Jack. In either case. B is forced to discard dis-card the six of spades. At trick four Y should lead a low spade if A played the ten of diamonds at trick three. If A played a low diamond at trick three, 2 should lead the king of spades at trick four, so the result is the same ia either case. Oa the king of spades, A can safely discard the eight of dubs. At trkk tve, Z should lead the seven of diamonds and Y will thus win this trick and trkk six with the ace and eight or the ace and Jack, according as A played the ten or a low diamond at trkk three. B is thus farced to make two discards. dis-cards. On trkk five be can discard the eight of spades, but what discard caa he make on trick shj? If he dUcards tha queen of spades, Y's four of spades and Z's jack of hearts will win tricks seven and eight. If B discard the nine of hearts, Z's Jack and five of heart wiU win trick seven and eight for oa trkk six, Z ha discarded the trey of dub. In either case, therefore, Y 1 must wia seven of the eight tricks. (b) Suppose at trkk two A should lead the four of diamonds. Y should play the eight, B should discard the five of spades and Z should wia the trick with the nine of diamonds. 1 should then lead the ace of clubs and the king of spade to tricks three and four. At trkk five he should lead the seven of diamonds and the play then follows a in (a). (c) Suppose at trick two, A should lead the queen of diamonds, Y should win this wick with the ace and Z should be careful to play the nine of diamonds. Y should then lead a spade, thus winning the third trick in Z's hand. At trkk four Z should lead the ace of dubs. At trick five, Z should lead the seven of diamond and the play follows as in (a). In every case, therefore, there-fore, Y Z must win seven of the eight trkk. |