The Cardturner (33 page)

I removed my cards from the new board and looked at my hand. If it hadn't been for the jack of spades, I would have had a Yarborough. There was no other card higher than a nine. I had all four twos.

I remembered Trapp once telling Toni that these were the hands that separated the experts from the average players. I believe his exact words were
Even Alton can win a trick with an ace or a king.

Okay, Trapp,
I challenged him.
It's your turn. Let's see what you can do with this one!

The guy on my right opened 1
. I didn't hear anything from my uncle, but I had a pretty obvious pass, and set a green card on the table.

Our opponents had a very sophisticated bidding system. They made so many bids I actually ran out of pass cards. For my last two bids, I just pointed at one of the green cards already on the table.

I never heard from Trapp. Maybe he trusted my ability to pass.

They bid all the way up to six clubs, and I was on-lead. I waited, but still got nothing from Trapp, not even fuzzy mumbles. I chose one of my deuces.

The hand was over before it got started. After the third trick, the declarer laid his hand on the table for us to see and claimed the rest of the tricks. He took all thirteen, making his slam plus an overtrick.

North recorded the score of 1,390, but surprisingly, he wasn't happy about it. "Everyone else was probably in six no-trump," he muttered. "Or seven clubs."

"Only because she had the king of clubs," South griped. "If he'd had it, instead of her, six clubs would be the only makeable slam."

Their bidding system was so sophisticated, they knew that six clubs was cold even before I played my first card. Other pairs who weren't such expert bidders would not have known that, and probably would have tried six no-trump. That contract would have gone down if I'd held the king of clubs instead of Toni.

The pairs who had bid six no-trump got a score of 1,440. And those who had bid seven clubs scored 2,140.

In other words, we got a very good result even though we didn't take a single trick.

74
The Final Hand

Toni and I had played 103 hands, not counting the side game. These were my final thirteen cards:

I've saved the hand records from the tournament, and have been using them to help me write an accurate account. But I didn't need to look at the hand records for this one. It's a hand I will never forget.

East was the designated dealer. Toni set the 1
card on the table. South passed, and it was up to me.

I had hoped that the reason I hadn't heard from Trapp on that last hand was because he knew it wouldn't make a difference, but I still wasn't getting anything from him.

I bid my longest suit, 1
.

North passed.

Toni placed the 3
bid on the table.

She could have just bid two clubs, so Annabel's jump to three clubs showed extra strength. Since I had an opening hand too, we definitely belonged in game, and possibly slam.

South passed, and it was back to me.

I could use a little help here,
I thought.

Maybe it had to do with the location of the table. Hell, for all I knew, it could have been the location of Jupiter, or the fact that the guy next to me was wearing a striped shirt, but for whatever reason, I was getting no help from my uncle.

I looked at my cards again, then at the bids on the table.

I thought about bidding three diamonds, but I was afraid Annabel might pass, and we needed to bid game. I could try four diamonds, but that would take three no-trump out of the picture. But if I bid three no-trump, we wouldn't get to explore for slam. I considered just taking a shot at six no-trump.

I wondered what Lucy had bid when she had played the hand earlier. She was also sitting in the West seat. Earlier in the session she had held these very same cards.

I decided on the safest action, and set the 3NT bid on the table. I wouldn't want to be in slam without Trapp.

North passed and it was Toni's turn again. She sat there a long time without making a bid.

I wondered what Annabel was thinking about. I wondered if it would make a difference if she knew I was her partner.

Toni reached into her bidding box and pulled out a green card.

The final contract was three no-trump, and I would have to be the declarer. North led the six of spades and Toni tabled her cards.

Opening lead:
6