I was in the club lounge with my friend the English professor when a player approached him.
"Prof, I heard that only one English word ends in 'mt,' but I can't come up with it. Can you help?"
"Look at this deal," said the prof. "I led the six of clubs against three notrump, and East took the ace and returned the queen. South played low, of course. East shifted to the king of spades, trying to kill dummy's entry to the diamonds, but South ducked, won the next spade in his hand, forced out my ace of diamonds and took the rest. Making three.
"Suppose at Trick One East plays the queen of clubs," the prof went on. "South must win; he doesn't know who has the ace. When he starts the diamonds, I play low twice. When I win the third diamond, East pitches his ace of clubs! Then I run the clubs."
"That would be some defense," I said. "You can't blame East for not finding it."
"True," the prof nodded, "but I have often dreamt of having such a brilliant partner."
published Monday, May 25, 2009
The Philadelphia Inquirer