"Look at the dummy Harlow bought on this deal," Unlucky Louie grumbled to me. The player we call Harlow the Halo is fortune's favorite. While rain clouds of bad luck shadow Louie, good luck shines in Harlow's face like good health. His finesses win, his key suits break well, and his errors never cost.
Louie had opened one spade as West. North tried two diamonds, reasonably enough, and East doubled for penalty.
"If I had run to three clubs on the South cards," Louie told me, "it would have meant the fire instead of the frying pan. But the Halo bid three clubs with serene confidence."
Louie doubled three clubs, expecting to beat it badly. He led the king of trumps - and was stunned when dummy appeared.
"I continued with the ace and a third trump," Louie said. "Harlow won in dummy and let the eight of spades ride to my jack. When I shifted to a heart, he took the king and led the queen of spades: king, ruff. He cashed the ace of diamonds, ruffed a diamond, conceded a spade to my ace, and claimed. I was minus 670."
Louie didn't realize it, but he had three opponents. Most pairs now use "negative" doubles at low levels, but even if East's double was for penalty, it was an error. East needed some high-card strength to double, not just good diamonds. The problem was that if the opponents ran to a different contract, West might double, expecting East to have more values.
East should have raised to two spades. Then East-West might have reached their cold game at hearts.
Sun., July 25th:
Note to ReadersBeginning next Sunday, The Philadelphia Inquirer will make some important changes to the Sunday newspaper.
First, we have heard you loud and clear, and your favorite comics will return to full size in a four-page, reader-enhanced, color broadsheet section.
In addition, we've decided to change with the times as our readers' habits have changed. Because television viewers now use their remotes to access up-to-the-minute schedules through their cable providers, we are discontinuing our Sunday TV section. However, the Sunday prime-time TV listings will move to the Sunday Arts & Entertainment section, while daily TV listings will continue to run in the features sections.
For our puzzle lovers, we will continue to publish four puzzles in the Sunday paper, including the popular TV crossword and Sudoku. Both puzzles also will move to Arts & Entertainment.
Sat., July 31st:
To Our ReadersAs we announced last weekend, The Inquirer is making some important changes to the Sunday paper. However, we've modified our plan to address some of your concerns.
Because of high reader interest, we will continue to publish the daily and Sunday bridge column.