Eight Maids Drinking Milk and Cookies

On January 1st I was invited to teach a bridge lesson to a group of eight girls.  In the previous week the girls had been learning about the opening bid of one notrump and responses.  So I decided to review the Stayman Convention with them and then let them play this deal.

 

I shuffled out the East-West hands making sure they weren’t too distributional.  All of my eight maidens were sipping some milk and munching leftover Christmas cookies. 

We talked about the Stayman Convention.  I reminded them that the response was two hearts with either four or five hearts.  If you didn’t have at least four hearts then two spades with four or five spades and two diamonds with no four-card major at all.

I watched one table and saw this bidding:

 These girls were paying attention!  The opening lead was a spade.  South, who was dipping her cookies in her milk, played very quickly.  The snack was obviously getting most of her attention.  She played off the ♥ A and ♥ K and was quite disappointed to see the trumps break badly.  As it turned out although the ♦ A was onside nothing could stop the defense from getting two diamonds tricks and two trump tricks.  This was the whole hand

 

 

 

 

 

‘It was just unlucky,’ I said.  ‘There was nothing you could do with the bad heart break; you had to lose two hearts and there was no way to avoid two diamond losers.’

When I checked the other table I saw that the girls were just starting the play.  They had thoughtfully decided to finish their snack before playing to avoid messing up the cards.  Apparently the auction had gone:

 

Here the opening lead was the ♣ 3.  Declarer, a pretty girl named Alice, won the club in hand and played three rounds of trumps ending in her hand.  West discarded a club on the third trump.  This was the position after four tricks.

 

 

In order to make the contract Alice saw that she was going to need a diamond winner, and so she played a diamond up towards dummy.  West hopped up with the ♦ A and got out with a small club won with dummy’s ♣ K.    Now Alice worked out that if she could play hearts for one loser she would make her contract.  She knew that if hearts were 3-2 she was home.  But if they were 4-1 she would still make it if the singleton was a heart honor.  She decided to cash the ♥ A and both followed small.    This was the position from Alice’s perspective: 

 

 

At this point, I suddenly realized that the hand was now a sure tricks hand – declarer has a 100% line to make the contract.  I wondered if Alice was up to it.  

Alice played the ♦ K and then another diamond.  Either East or West could win the third diamond.  Which everyone one of them wins this she is immediately endplayed if hearts do not break 3-2.  If they are the one that has no more hearts then they must give Alice a ruff-sluff.  If they hold all the remaining hearts and lead one it gives up a heart trick and Alice will by force win three heart tricks.

As it turned out West won the trick and played a heart but Alice was able to win dummy’s ♥ 10.     Alice had made her contract despite the bad heart split.

I congratulated her on her brilliant play and I decide not to mention that her correct response to Stayman was 2♥  not 2♠ .