They decided to play a foursam, with Beetjoo and Jesper
playing together, and with Tjoobee and Knorras as their wing.
The score was 4380 to nothing, in the favor of the opponents when
Jesper picked up the final hand. Almost all cards seemed to be red,
and Jesper got an sudden feeling that a lot of Bleppic Pounds was at
stake. Jesper's side was in vulnerable, and his opponents were not.
(Not that that mattered for Jesper, who didn't understand what
vulnerable meant.) He sorted his cards nervously and saw:
[tex2html_wrap_inline1081] --, [tex2html_wrap_inline1083] A K Q J 10 9 8 6, [tex2html_wrap_inline1085] A K
J, [tex2html_wrap_inline1087] 5 2.
Jesper's examination of the crown on the king of
hearts, was interrupted by West, who was dealer, and who had
called 3 clubs. Jesper's partner's pass, was followed by a call of 3
spades by East.
Then it was Jesper's turn. Hearts seemed to be a suitable suit to bid,
Jesper realized. But what if he bid 4 hearts, wouldn't partner pass
then, even if he had some useful cards? According to the law of Murphy
he would. Then Jesper got an brilliant idea: Let's check partners
card. The only artificial bid Jesper knew was 4 no triumph,
as a question for aces. So, 4 no triumph Jesper bid with a loud and
clear voice.
After pass from West, Jesper's partner responded 5 hearts.
"Wow!", Jesper thought, "Two aces. We are going to take all cards if
he has two aces."
When he also realized that he wasn't going to be declarer he
confidently bid 7 hearts. However, the opponent to Jesper's left,
inspired by the zones, bid 7 spades. Two pass followed, then it was
Jesper's turn again. Jesper's first impulse was to double. Surely,
with all four aces they should be able to take at least one trick, even
with spade as a triumph. However, even Jesper realized that
one (or a few) under tricks would
not give many points. Then a thought crossed his
mind: " With all four aces the hearts could be good in no triumph
also. So, Jesper bid 7 no triumph.
The opponents doubled, and when it was
Jesper's turn to bid, he bid the only bid that forced all the other to
pass. The king of clubs was played
and when Jesper's partner spread his hand
Jesper terrified realized that he was going to be declarer. This was a
very bad omen. Jesper looked at the cards and saw:
[tex2html_wrap_inline1089] A D 7
[tex2html_wrap_inline1091] 5 4 2
[tex2html_wrap_inline1093] 10 6 4
[tex2html_wrap_inline1095] A 8 7 6
[tex2html_wrap_inline1097] -- [tex2html_wrap_inline1099] --
[tex2html_wrap_inline1101] -- [tex2html_wrap_inline1103] --
[tex2html_wrap_inline1105] -- [tex2html_wrap_inline1107] --
[tex2html_wrap_inline1109] K [tex2html_wrap_inline1111] --
[tex2html_wrap_inline1113] --
[tex2html_wrap_inline1115] A K Q J 10 9 8 6
[tex2html_wrap_inline1117] A K J
[tex2html_wrap_inline1119] 5 2
The bidding had been:
[tabular992]
Jesper, who sometimes could be a bit of a chauvinistic pig,
thought that no card with a woman could be better than a card with a
man. So, the
'J-man' was according to Jesper better that the 'Q-lady'. The 'K-man'
was the king Jesper knew, and a king was better than a 'J-man'.
Jesper saw a bunch (probably at least 13) high cards.
Jesper eagerly took the first trick with the ace of club, then the
second with the ace of spade. However, on trick two he needed to get
rid of one of the card from his hand. He knew that the lowest card was
usually the best to discard, so the 5 of club being lower
than the 6 of hearts, meant
that Jesper discarded the club. Then he played a diamond to the ace.
As mentioned Jesper thought that his three diamonds was the three
highest, but even if had known that the queen was higher than the
jack, he didn't know how to finesse, and would have played the card
the same way anyhow. He then took all his hearts, from
the top, then the diamonds. On the king of diamonds the queen fell,
and Jesper was home!
The full deal:
[tex2html_wrap_inline1131] A D 7
[tex2html_wrap_inline1133] 5 4 2
[tex2html_wrap_inline1135] 10 6 4
[tex2html_wrap_inline1137] A 8 7 6
[tex2html_wrap_inline1139] 5 4 2 [tex2html_wrap_inline1141] K
J 10 9 8 6 3
[tex2html_wrap_inline1143] 7 3 [tex2html_wrap_inline1145] --
[tex2html_wrap_inline1147] D 5
[tex2html_wrap_inline1149] 9 8 7 3 2
[tex2html_wrap_inline1151] K D J 10 9 4 [tex2html_wrap_inline1153] 3
[tex2html_wrap_inline1155] --
[tex2html_wrap_inline1157] A K Q J 10 9 8 6
[tex2html_wrap_inline1159] A K J
[tex2html_wrap_inline1161] 5 2
On the other table the final contract, as well as the lead,
was exactly the
same as on Jesper's table.
The declarer on this tables was the leader, and even though this was
the first time he played bridge, he was already
a master of the game. He had
successfully done two sided squeezes as well other advance tricks during
the previous hands. However, on this deal he had already realized that
everything hanged on a simple finesse. It was though very important
that he, after capturing the lead with the ace of club, took the ace
of spade, since there was no way for him to reach the table.
He then took the finesse in diamonds..... Unfortunately for East he had
to discard a high spade on the final West club, and the defense had to
saddle with 11 tricks.
So, the result on the two tables were: