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Brother Cameron's Slams
David Bird
Lucius and
Paulo had been unavailable for the annual Martyr's Platter
encounter against St Hilda's Convent. Contrary to his better
judgement, the Abbot had been obliged to call upon the obnoxious
novice, Brother Cameron, and his partner. The Abbot was both
surprised and pleased to find his team held a 13 IMP lead at half
time.
'Disappointing,'
observed Brother Cameron. 'I keep a running estimate on my card.
I had us 37 IMPs ahead.'
'Did you,
indeed?' replied the Abbot. 'It shows how rarely you play against
strong opposition. Making 3NT on a combined 25-count doesn't
bring in a game swing at this level.'
The third set
saw the Abbot facing the Mother Superior. This was an early
board:
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'You alerted
the Three Club bid?' queried the Abbot, who was on lead.
'No need to,
I suppose,' replied the Mother Superior. 'Everyone plays the
same, nowadays.'
The Abbot
nodded. 'Sixteen points upwards, you mean?' he said.
'No, no, a
fit-jump,' said the Mother Superior. 'Your other pair plays
fit-jumps. I assumed you did, too.'
The Abbot led
the king of spades, won in the dummy. The Mother Superior drew
trumps in two rounds, then paused to consider her continuation.
Was there any way of making the contract if the diamond king was
offside? Ah yes, she could eliminate West's clubs and throw him
in with a spade. The opening lead had indicated the queen of
spades and the odds were high that West held the jack of spades
as well. The Mother Superior played dummy's two top clubs and
ruffed a club, West showing out on the third round. She then
exited with a spade. The Abbot won with the spade jack and
surveyed the scene with no great enthusiasm. Declarer's shape was
known to be 2-5-4-2, so the only hope was to find Xavier with the
diamond queen. His mind made up, the Abbot exited with a low
diamond.
'Twelve
tricks,' said the Mother Superior, facing her remaining cards.
'It's no
better if you give a ruff-and-discard, Hugo, I can throw a
diamond from the table and use two diamond ruffs to set up and
enjoy a club.'
'If you
hadn't bid Blackwood, I was going to bid it myself,' declared the
Mother of Discipline. 'Can't afford to be out of a slam on my
hand.'
Meanwhile, at the other table, Brother Cameron
had just reached a different slam.
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'That's
right,' replied Brother Cameron. 'Not a treatment that meets with
universal approval in our team.'
Sister Grace
smiled. 'Hugo's bidding always was ten years behind the times,'
she said, pushing a stray lock of white hair back inside her
wimple. 'I'm old enough to remember when he insisted that Stayman
would be a passing fad.'
Sister Grace
led the queen of diamonds against the heart slam. Brother Cameron
ruffed in the South hand and cashed the ace of trumps,
discovering the bad break. He sat back in his chair. What now? To
achieve a trump endplay, he would need to find West with at least
three spades. Yes, she would need to have 3-4-3-3 or 4-4-3-2
shape. He would have to test the spades first, to discover how to
play the hand. Brother Cameron cashed the ace and king of spades,
East showing out on the second round. He then cashed the ace of
diamonds, discarding a club. West followed suit when he ruffed a
diamond. A spade to dummy's remaining honour was followed by a
spade ruff and the top two clubs in declarer's hand. These cards
remained:
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Brother
Cameron now led the queen of clubs, facing his cards. 'Twelve
tricks?' he said.
Sister Grace gave a resigned nod of the head and returned her cards to the wallet.
'Who's South
at the other table?' she enquired. 'The MD hasn't a clue on hands
like that.'
'Fortunately
for us, I think she's sitting North,' Sister Thomas replied.
'The Reverend
Mother is South. She should make it, all right.'
When scores
were compared, it transpired that the Mother Superior's cardplay
had not been put to the test. The Mother of Discipline had played
the board in Six Spades, a contract that required no more than
two diamond ruffs in dummy.
The
monastery team's lead had been reduced to 6 IMPs as the last set
started.
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The Abbot led the jack of spades against 3NT and Sister Grace won with the queen in dummy.
'Queen of
diamonds, please,' she said.
Brother
Xavier won with the ace and returned a spade to the ace. When
Sister Grace called for dummy's eight of diamonds, Brother Xavier
could sense the danger of being endplayed. He rose with the king
of diamonds and exited with a third round of spades. With a
confident air Sister Grace cashed her two diamond winners.
Excellent! East had shown up with three cards in both spades and
diamonds. It followed that he had only two clubs and would not be
able to escape an endplay. She cashed the ace and king of clubs,
arriving at this position with only two tricks so far lost:
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Sister Grace now ducked a round of hearts, Brother Xavier winning with the eight.
'Two tricks
to me?' she said, facing her remaining cards.
Brother
Xavier smiled at his opponent. 'You played it well,' he replied.
'It was your
overcall that cost it,' declared the Abbot. 'Leave the auction to
them and they'd have played in Four Hearts.'
'Silly of
me,' replied Brother Xavier. 'Easy to take your eye off the ball
when you have 13 points and a good suit that you can bid at the
one level. We'll just have to hope they fall into the same trap
at the other table.'
'It's all
very well to joke about these matters,' persisted the Abbot.
'That sort of
overcall loses points time and again, though. You'll realise it
when you've played the game as long as I have.'
Brother
Cameron and Brother Damien had been making little headway at the
other table. After several partscore boards that offered little
hope of IMPs in the plus column, they had gone for 500 in a
phantom sacrifice. Brother Cameron feared the worst as he drew
his cards for the final board of the match:
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The Mother of Discipline led the heart jack and somewhat nervously Brother Damien displayed his dummy.
'Two
good cards,' he said. 'Not much else,though.'
Brother Cameron's eyes were alight. Brilliant! Unless trumps were 3-0 he would be able to ruff all three diamonds, losing just a heart.
'Ace,
please,' he said.
A trump to
the ace brought bad news. Brother Cameron sat back in his chair.
What on earth could be done? One thing was certain. If they went
down in the slam and it cost the match, it would be several long
years before they played in the first team again. The only chance
was to apply pressure on the West hand. Aiming to tighten the
position, Brother Cameron exited with his heart loser. The Mother
Superior overtook her partner's card and played a second round of
trumps. Brother Cameron won with the queen and cashed the ace of
clubs. This position had been reached:
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When Brother
Cameron led a third round of trumps, the Mother of Discipline had
to find a discard. If she threw another club, declarer would
clearly be able to set up and enjoy a long club. Hoping for the
best, she discarded a diamond. Brother Cameron won the trick with
dummy's king of spades, cashed the two top diamonds and ruffed a
diamond. A club ruff to hand allowed him to ruff his last diamond
good and the South hand was now high.
The final comparison was soon under way and not going well for the monastery team.
'And then
they kept out of trouble on the last board,' saidthe Abbot,
unable to keep the disappointment from his voice. 'Minus 650.'
There was a
pregnant pause. 'Well?' said the Abbot. 'What did you do on the
last board?'
Brother
Cameron was determined to enjoy the moment. 'We bid Six Spades
and all the suits broke badly,' he replied.
'Brother
Xavier foolishly warned them of this with a 2NT overcall,' said
the Abbot. 'They might have gone overboard too, otherwise.'
'Just the
1430 our way,' said Brother Cameron.
The Abbot
grabbed the novice's scorecard. Yes, there it was! A 1430 in the
plus column. The match was theirs by just 5 IMPs.
'Well done,
Abbot,' said the Mother Superior, as she presented the
silver-rimmed Martyr's Platter to the winning captain. 'There was
no need to doubt your new team-mates. They played splendidly.'
'I expected
nothing less,' replied the Abbot. 'If there's one thing designed
to improve one's game, it's having a strong pair at the other
table.'
Sister Grace,
a distant cousin of the Abbot's, smiled at this piece of
pomposity. 'And these two boys managed to play well with you at
the other table,' she said. 'A memorable achievement, indeed!'
ŻŻŻ
