Bridge & Humor: Skulduggery

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THE BRIDGE PLAYER'S BEDSIDE BOOK

Source: The Bridge Player’s Bedside Book  By Tony Forrester

How to Catch the King of Trumps

You find yourself in 7 doubled by your left hand opponent. This is the trump suit.

 Q 9 8 7 2
 A J 10 5 4 3

Clearly West has  K x, do you see any way to make the hand legitimately or otherwise? Try this … As soon as dummy appears, say to partner:

«How can you bid 7 missing the ace and king of trumps?»

Then win the opening lead in hand and play a low spade towards the queen. A greedy West might conclude that his partner holds A singleton and duck!

How to Find the Queen of Trumps

Another tricky play which was occasionally used when the trump suit was distributed in a fashion similar to that below:

 A 9 8 6
 K J 10 7

Declarer, who could afford to lose no trump trick, would announce «One hundred for honors, partner» as soon as dummy was displayed. Whichever opponent was so unwise as to record 100 on the score sheet could sit back and fume as declarer successfully finessed his partner’s queen.