December 2006 - 62

Winsome & Loathsome
Tales of the Trail

Zeke Jabbour
jabbour@adelphia.net

Lyin' in winter
It's December and, as Ezra Pound
would put it, "Winter is icumen in."
Bridge is an outstanding winter sport.
Personally, I fancy myself a lion in
winter, an aging king of the bridge
jungle. I tried that out on Sharon.
"You mean lyin'?" needled Sharon.
She thinks that, even on my best day,
I more closely resemble a second
mouse, maybe lyin' in wait. That,
I would point out, beats being the
first mouse, which can be lethal, or
third, which is a disappointing underachievement. I guess I'd still rather
be a lion, but whenever I get a bit
grandiose Sharon injects that reality
needle.
Most of us are underachievers.
Heck, anybody can have a bad
century, but I, for one, could have
done a whole lot better. Like most
people, Sharon and I have had itches
that never quite got scratched. But
there's still time and, in spite of some
moments of sadness and painful disappointment, our life has been full of
laughter, happy times and, especially,
good friends in and out of bridge.
Nothing can replace friends.
When two of my friends are
matched against one another at
bridge, I am torn. I try to stay neutral.
At the Chicago NABC, my friend
62

Glenn Eisenstein was at the table
against another friend, a multi-world
champion. They are a couple of lovable guys who, to paraphrase Winston
Churchill, have the kind of vices I
most admire. At the table, Jimmy
Valentine himself would envy their
talents for larceny.
When friend confronts friend there
are two obvious objectives: The
first is to win, the second is to avoid
looking foolish. Glenn, sitting South
in a matchpoint event, opened the
bidding 1. His left-hand opponent
and world-champion friend made a
shapely takeout double, and Glenn
ultimately bought the contract for
3. This was the layout:
 10 8 3 2
652
872
 A 10 3
AKJ9
764
N
 J 10 9 8 7 W E  K 4 3
-
AJ43
S
J874
952
Q5
AQ
 K Q 10 9 6 5
KQ6
West cashed the top spades and
switched to the J. Glenn won the
Q and played the K, ducked
by East, as West showed out. Glenn
was cold for 3, but this was
matchpoints and a national event.
If he could get to dummy twice, he
could take 10 tricks, which had to
be a great matchpoint score. There
was one possibility: If he led his 6
to the 10 and the J was onside, he
could get to dummy twice. But the
expert defense against such a play is
for West to play the J when the 6
is led. As you can see, this blocks the
suit, and we're back to a single entry

to dummy!
Glenn led the 6 and no jack
appeared. Now Glenn knew that his
friend was aware of every expert play,
plus a few. So if he didn't play the
jack, did that mean he didn't have it?
There is no certainty in an uncertain
world. If Glenn got this wrong, he
could go down in three! But if he
played the 10 and it won, he would
have a great board and, more important, bragging rights for the day, a
rare occurrence against this particular
opponent. He knew that West, having shown a diamond void, had a
good chance of holding long clubs.
Doggone it, he should have the jack!
Glenn called the 10, held his breath,
and was rewarded when RHO played
low! Nothing could now prevent him
from making four.
Did West make a careless mistake?
Probably. Glenn had shown two
spades and at least two hearts and
was marked with a minimum of six
diamonds on the auction. He could
have no more than three clubs, in
which case the play of the jack was
not likely to cost. But it's not a play
that ordinarily occurs to one - even
among the best players in the world.
Knowing this, Glenn took a chance
that paid off. Would you have made
either key play? If so, you are a very
advanced player.
When he showed me the deal, I
congratulated him on a gutsy play.
"Given that opponent, I can't see anyone making that play!" I said. "You
really did that?"
"Are you gonna believe me," came
the wise-guy response, "or your lion
eyes?"
I wonder if he was spelling "lion"
the way I would.
Happy holidays, everybody!
❐

Bridge Bulletin
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2006
