Bridge: Aug. 14, 2022

Zeno (334?-261? B.C.) was a Greek philosopher and the founder of Stoicism. (Zeno of Elea, who formulated the famous paradoxes that vexed mathematicians for centuries, was a different Zeno; he lived in the 5th Century B.C.)

If you told a Stoic that his house would burn down next week, he would say he didn’t care; it didn’t matter. That attitude might help your composure at the bridge table, but it won’t do much for your scores.

In today’s deal, South leaped to four spades over East’s one club. True, North was a passed hand, but preempting with such a strong hand was questionable. North might have held 943,J765,KQ4,K42, or hands where North-South’s best contract was 3NT.

West led a club, and East took the K-A and led a third club. South won and cashed the ace of trumps; if East-West had followed, South could have reached dummy with the nine to pitch two diamonds on the A-K of hearts. When instead West showed out, South took two more high trumps and then led the ace and a low diamond, ducking in dummy. No luck: East took the ten and king for down one.

A Stoic would accept that result with resignation. Would you be satisfied to be minus 100 points? After South takes the ace of trumps and sees the 3-0 break, he should lead the king — and then a low trump; he must hope that East’s distribution was 3-4-3-3. Sure enough, East must win and lead a red card to South’s advantage.

If East had four clubs — his shape was 3-3-3-4 — South could still make four spades, but only by leading a low trump at Trick Four. That would be a remarkable play.

North dealer

Both sides vulnerable

NORTH

S 9 4 3

H A K 8 4

D Q 5 4

C 5 4 2

WEST

S None

H 10 7 6 5 2

D J 9 7 6

C 10 9 7 3

EAST

S 10 7 6

H Q J 9 3

D K 10 8

C A K 6

SOUTH

S A K Q J 8 5 2

H None

D A 3 2

C Q J 8

North East South West
Pass 1C 4S All Pass
Opening lead — C 10

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