January 2010 - 61

Bridge with the Abbot
Brother Sextus follows
the rules
An early round of the Thursday evening duplicate saw the Abbot facing
the black-bearded Brother Zac and
his elderly partner, Brother Sextus.
"You will never believe what I saw
in the walled garden this morning,
Abbot," said Brother Sextus. "See if
you can guess."
The Abbot sorted through his cards.
"A herd of reindeer, was it?" he replied. "I really don't know. You'll have
to tell me."
Brother Sextus paused for dramatic
effect. "A pair of grey plovers, down
the far end," he announced. "That's
very unusual, so far from the coast."
The Abbot surveyed his colleague
disapprovingly. Had the man no work
to do? He was well into his eighties,
yes, but that was no excuse for wandering around the monastery grounds
all day.
This was the board before them:
Dlr: North  A J 6
Vul: N-S  A Q 6
 10 5 4
 A 10 7 2
8754
3
N
9732
 10 8
W E
K872
J963
S
3
KQJ985
 K Q 10 9 2
KJ54
AQ
64
West North
Brother Brother
Sextus Xavier
1NT
Pass
4
Dbl
6

East
Brother
Zac
3
Dbl
All Pass

South
The
Abbot
3
4

Everyone had something to say
during the auction and the Abbot
arrived in a small slam in spades.
Brother Sextus led the 3 and the
Abbot surveyed the dummy, assessing
his prospects. The diamond finesse
seemed to be the only chance. After
Brother Sextus's somewhat foolish
lead-directing double, however, it
could hardly be more obvious that the
K was offside. What else was there?
The Abbot won the first trick with
the A and drew trumps in four
rounds. When he continued with the
A and Q, both defenders followed
suit. Perhaps there was a chance,
thought the Abbot. He returned to his
hand with the K, East showing out,
and cashed a fourth round of hearts,
throwing a club from dummy. These
cards remained:

-
-
K872
-

-
-
 10 5 4
 10
N

W E
S

 10
-
AQ
6

-
-
J96
K

The Abbot played his last trump,
throwing a club from dummy, and
waited to see the card that Brother
Zac chose to play from the East hand.
He could not afford to throw the K
or declarer's spot card in clubs would
become the 12th trick. Like it or not,
he had to discard a diamond.

David Bird
In masterful fashion, the Abbot
continued with the A and Q,
West winning with the king. A look
of ecstasy came to his face when
East's J was pinned on this trick.
The Abbot pointed triumphantly at
dummy's last card, the 10. "Perhaps
you would be so good as to lead a
diamond to the dummy?" he said to
Brother Sextus.
The elderly West player duly
obliged and the slam was made. The
Abbot sat back happily in his chair.
Even by his own standards, it had
been a brilliantly played hand.
"Not the best of doubles," observed
Brother Xavier, turning to his right.
"What was the point of doubling four
diamonds when you would be on lead
against a spade contract?"
"I had the king of diamonds over
the ace," Brother Sextus replied. "My
partner had the king of clubs over the
ace. He plays lead-directing doubles
and so do I. It's an English Bridge
Union rule, isn't it, that both halves of
a partnership have to play the same
conventions?"
"If you'd passed instead, the Abbot
would have taken the diamond
finesse," continued Brother Xavier.
"The other play would be way against
the odds."
"I can't help that," declared Brother
Sextus. "An EBU rule is an EBU rule!"
January 2010 Bridge Bulletin

61
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2010
