Odysseus, sailing home after the Trojan War, knew his ships had to pass through the Straits of Messina where waited the monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis.
“I need to practice steering amid two perils, neither of which can be avoided without risking the other,” the Ithacan king muttered. “Deal the cards.”
So the sailors sat down to bridge, and Odysseus soon had a dire problem. Against four spades West led a heart, and Odysseus, East, took the K-A and led a third heart. Declarer ruffed, drew trumps and let the nine of diamonds ride.
RUFF-SLUFF
Odysseus took the jack and looked doomed. A diamond return seemed suicidal. A heart would concede a ruff-sluff. A club risked finding South with the queen.
But the crafty Greek refused to panic: He counted declarer’s tricks. A club or heart return might be fatal, but a diamond would give South only nine tricks: three diamonds, five trumps and a club. East would still get his king of clubs.
Not such a Scylla defense!
DAILY QUESTION
You hold: S 7 3 H A K 10 7 4 D K J 3 C K 10 4. You open one heart, your partner responds one spade, you bid 1NT and he rebids two spades. What do you say?
ANSWER: If you consider this a problem, you need to study up on basic bidding. Your 1NT described a balanced minimum opening bid. Knowing that, partner signed off. Pass. It’s true you have attractive values, but if partner saw a chance for game, he could have jumped to three spades to invite.
East dealer
Both sides vulnerable
NORTH
S J 10 9 5
H 9 6 3
D A Q 10 5
C A 6
WEST
S 8 4
H J 8 2
D 7 6 4 2
C J 9 3 2
EAST
S 7 3
H A K 10 7 4
D K J 3
C K 10 4
SOUTH
S A K Q 6 2
H Q 5
D 9 8
C Q 8 7 5
East South West North
1 H 1 S Pass 2 H
Pass 2 S Pass 3 S
Pass 4 S All Pass
Opening lead — H 2
(C)2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
