The Hollow Needle

When I was 12 I discovered books and... Arsène Lupin, the brilliant, congenial and uncatchable thief created by French writer Maurice Leblanc.

Devouring thousands and thousands of pages, novel after novel, I was traveling everywhere in France, especially in Normandy, in this region called Caux, a triangle between Rouen, Le Havre and Dieppe, with all those poetic names, but one in particular, Étretat. How I dreamt of this name, Étretat, of that landscape, of that view.

In July 1995, and then again in 1998, I finally climbed the famous cliff that enchanted my youth and discovered, for the first time, the Hollow Needle.

At the summit of the cliff, a hundred meters above the sea, you find yourself at the base of a half circle of around a kilometre. To the far left, you see a rock called Magna Porta (Big Door); to the right, another big rock called Porte d'Aval (Door Downstream). They are called doors because the cliff, in both cases, throws an arm in the sea, creating a hole though which you can pass. The Hollow Needle, a rocky cone of around 80 meters high, is situated in that half circle, on the right side, about 50 meters from Porte d'Aval.

In this novel, "The Hollow Needle (L'Aiguille Creuse)", Arsene Lupin is chased by a young student, Isidore Beautrelet, who uncovers all his plans, only by thinking and logic. Young Beautrelet puzzles all veteran policemen with his unorthodox method of not looking for clues, but of imagining first a hypothesis and seeing afterwards if the facts correspond to this hypothesis.

"And if the facts don't comply?" asked the inspector, ironic.
"Well, they will be wrong and I will look for others more docile," responded Beautrelet.

First position, vulnerable, your LHO, a very capable player, thinks for a while and opens 3♠. Your partner, non vul, bids 4♥. RHO passes and you have:



For her 4♥ bid, partner should show a good hand. You Blackwood and end up in 6NT. LHO thinks again for some time and leads... a heart.



Oops! A bit high, no? But you're not down yet.

Let's apply the Beautrelet method, let's imagine a hypothesis, let's place cards in LHO's hand that will permit us to succeed. You see right away that he needs to have a stiff Ace or King of Diamonds.

On the lead, won with the Ace in dummy, RHO plays the 10, maybe a singleton. We need to extract the second heart from LHO's hand and then play a diamond. If he has a singleton honor in diamond, he will be endplayed, forced to play a Spade or a club. At the second trick, you cash the heart King. RHO signals violently in Diamonds.

You then play a diamond, small, small, King!!! LHO thinks. Wow, your hypothesis was perfect. The more LHO thinks, the happier you are. While he thinks, your mind wanders on the cliff of Étretat and the analogy strikes you: with AQ6 to the left of your hand and K10xx of Clubs to the right, like two open doors, will LHO play into the Magna Porta AQ6, or through the Door Downstream K10xx, the Hollow Needle being obviously Diamonds?

After a lot of thinking, he plays back... the club Queen, right into the Door Downstream. That play leaves you speechless.

Does he really have QJx in Clubs? Too easy!, would say my friend Arturo. Arturo came to this conclusion while we were looking for a parking place in Florence and came upon a big empty place. Let's go further. Would LHO play the Queen without QJx? It is a fact that we play the Queen only when we have QJx.

"The facts are the facts," the inspector said to Beautrelet.
"With ordinary adversaries, yes," responded the young man. But, if the enemy has some ruse, the facts are the ones he has chosen. All those famous clues upon which you base your investigation (like opponents' signals in defence), it is easy for him to give you phony informations (falsecards). And when the opponent is Lupin (or a good bridge player), you can see to what total ineptitude he can lead us."

You look and look at the club Queen, trying to calm your heart. Arturo's words spring again in your mind: Too easy!

"Really, you say to yourself, I only have to win with my King and play to the 9 in dummy and I will cash 12 tricks in this impossible contract?"

You give a look to your LHO. He kindly smiles back. Suddenly, you recognize him: behind this benevolent expression, it's him, Arsene Lupin, and his words come back to you:

"When you will think you're about to grasp victory, it will escape you. There will be something... a detail... the sand pebble I will have placed somewhere that you will have missed."

You call upon all your will in order to think and count.

IN BRIDGE, COUNTING IS THE ONLY ANTIDOTE TO STRESS AND ANGUISH.

Lupin knew you could cash 7 heart tricks, 1 Spade and 2 Clubs, for 10 tricks. Why would he play the Queen of Clubs, giving you 4 tricks if he has QJx? Why would he play like that? Does he know something you don't know? You can't help hearing his voice, full of mockery:

"Who knows if the trap where you will fall inevitably is not already open?"

The club Queen is still on the table, shining brightly, so attractive. Almost ready to succumb, you succeed in breaking the fascination that paralyzes you and you decide to count RHO's hand: he has 1 heart, 7 diamonds. If he has 2 Spades, he has 3 little Clubs, which is logical with the bidding and LHO's club Queen. Too easy, says your instinct, too easy. There is something else, you're missing something. Go back to the bidding.

Suddenly, you have a shock, the light is so bright you have to close your eyes: LHO hesitated before opening 3♠. Did he open 3♠ with 8 cards because he was vulnerable? He would then have 8 Spades, 2 Hearts, 1 diamond and 2 Clubs. And RHO would have 1 spade, 1 heart, 7 diamonds and 4 clubs. If LHO had played back a spade, he would have submitted himself and his partner to a deadly squeeze and nobody would have been able to guard the Clubs. The only option left was to create an illusion, to try and make you believe he had QJx in Clubs.

This last hypothesis (distribution 1174 in RHO) being the one (if the facts don't comply, I will look for other ones, more docile, said Beautrelet) that will permit you to succeed, you then have to base your plan on that hypothesis and reject all other clues (attitude signals, count signals, preference signals, switch that seems to give you the contract, etc.) that opponents offer you. They are all false leads.

You win the club Queen in dummy with the Ace. You win the club Queen in dummy with the Ace. The situation should be this one:



You play first the ace of spades. Then you cash the 5 heart tricks in dummy, watching RHO's discards. He discards all his Diamonds, except the Ace. At trick 10, on the last heart, if he discards a spade, it will mean Lupin's got you. It is the moment of truth: you play the last heart and East pitches a... club. You discard the now useless Queen of diamond. The situation is now:



You play a club from dummy, small, 10 from your hand, winning. You cash the last 2 Clubs for +990.

Lupin gives you a look of admiration and murmurs:

"Well played, young man."

The four hands:

Transubstantiation

Do you know what is transubstantiation? Am I taking you too far back? It is the story they told us, when we were young, that, bread and wine became the flesh and the blood of Christ.

Is there transubstantiation at bridge? Look at this hand. I hope I am not offending anyone.



Only 11 points, but you open 1♣ obviously. Your partner bids 1♠. Your spade Ace is a nice card, but you still have only 11 points. You rebid 2♣ and LHO comes to life with 2♥. Your partner competes with 3♣. Do you still have only 11 points?

If you believe so, you don't know transubstantiation. More matter of fact, if you still think you have only 11 points, you simply don't know how to add.

Watch carefully: your 11 points are now transformed into... 8 tricks! That is really transubstantiation, and at bridge, you make contracts with tricks, not with points.

So wake up!!! How do you continue?



Here, a cue-bid would be of good taste. What would be 3♥? Forcing. As long as you don't bid a pathetic and unimaginative 4♣.



Over 3♥, your partner bids 3♠, no heart stopper, but something good in spades. Otherwise, he would bid 4♣.

So partner has the spade king. With 3NT out of the picture, you retreat to 4♣, waiting for partner's next move.

He bids 4♦, cue. Quite happy with that, you cue-bid 4♥. Partner then invokes RKCB. Your bid shows 0-3. Partner concludes with 6♣ and you await dummy with heart pounding, as always when you reach slam.

The lead is Ace of hearts.



Lead ♥A, you ruff the second heart and play 2 trumps. Then spade Ace, spade to the King. The Queen falls graciously and you claim. 12 tricks with 20 points (heart Queen doesn't count).

So you see: all those stories that you heard when you were young are true. Transposed in the world of bridge: with a fit, points become tricks.

It is called transubstantiation.

The Completeness of the Cross-Country Skier

Traveling in Europe for 5 weeks, I discover one day that I miss bridge. It is the first time I feel that way. Analyzing what I feel (I am not a bridge player for nothing), I identify that I do not miss the game itself, but the way I feel when I play bridge. I then experience a well-known phenomenon among long distance runners or cross-country skiers (skating technique): after the first 2 or 3 kilometers, the skier access a rhythm, a level (also known as second wind) where he doesn't feel the effort anymore, where he could ski forever without ever feeling fatigue.

The skis skating in tempo, arms pushing with the poles in perfect synchronism, you attain this eurhythmy that you don't want to leave: left, right, left, right, on a flat surface, you pace yourself to avoid becoming winded and you access eventually nirvana, you just float.

If you have never experience this sensation, you have no idea of paradise, you have never tasted eternity. We now know this sensation comes from a drug called endorphin, secreted by the hypothalamus, which has analgesic properties, suppressing the pain. At bridge also, this sensation exists. After the first efforts, your mind sometimes access this state of keen awareness and you become extra lucid.

Before the match, you feel this nervousness caused by the anticipation of pleasure, and also by a slight fear of mistakes which lies deep under this confidence you have acquired in all those years. You are capable, you know you are capable, but stage fright is always present, like before 20 kilometers at ski: you feel this little weakness in your knees, you apprehend the start, you wonder if your body will react properly, if the wax is the right one and if your triceps will respond with energy.

At bridge, after the first 2 or 3 boards, you sometimes access this second wind and the most obvious sign is a lucidity, a clearness of your thoughts which gives you, even right after the lead, the complete count of the hand.

Sometimes, you need to climb a hill and you have to be careful not to push: keep the rhythm, that is the most important thing. If not, you will be out of energy at the top. When you arrive at the top of the hill and start the descent, you have to refrain yourself also. Conserve energy till the last 2 kilometers, then you can go all out, pushing to the maximum in order to glide the fastest you can and intoxicate yourself with these few instants robbed to you own mortality.

At bridge, often, the ascent is tough because, at the beginning of the hand, you have only a few clues. You need then to take more time, think, pace yourself in order to count, imagine, visualize. After 4 or 5 cards, you access this plateau where you know all the elements, the count is clear and you just have to glide. But you cannot go all out, a mistake is always possible if you play too fast. When there are only 2 or 3 cards left, then you can press, you know if you will succeed or fail.

In 4th seat, you have: ♠J962 ♥xx ♦AKx ♣AK9x. LHO passes, partner passes, RHO opens 1♦. You overcall 1NT. Partner, after transferring to hearts, bids 3NT. LHO leads the 4 of spades.



First, count your tricks: 3 clubs, 3 diamonds, that's all. Well, the snow is good, and your wax is perfect, so don't rush, pace yourself, it is an uphill climb and don't exhaust yourself right away. First some warm-up exercises (to avoid tendinitis of the brain), analyze the lead: if it is 4th best, the rule of 11 tells you there are 7 cards above that 4 of spades. RHO then has 2 cards higher than the 4. Does he have AQ stiff? Possible. Or he has Ax or Qx. Anyway, you don't have to play the king from dummy. You call a small spade from dummy, RHO plays the Queen and plays back a spade. You play small, LHO plays the 3, confirming 5 cards. The King wins and... catch your breath.

Analyze now RHO's opening bid. What does he have? He has the spade Queen, the Jack of diamonds and the Jack of clubs. That's only 4 points; he needs to have then AK of hearts. He has opened in 3rd seat to make some noise, but you can analyze that noise and use it to your advantage. You need 9 tricks. You already have 1 spade trick, plus 3 in diamonds, that's 4 tricks, plus 3 in clubs: 7 tricks. You are missing 2 tricks and the position of AK of hearts tells you you won't make a trick in that suit.

Is the hill too steep today? Have you spent all your energy already? But, the weather is ideal, the wax is perfect, your legs are strong.

Analyze again. Do you see where to start? Pace your breathing, slow down in order to keep control.

Count again. You need 9 tricks: you have 1 spade, 3 diamonds and 3 clubs, 7 tricks. You absolutely need 4 club tricks to attain 8 tricks... Suddenly, you feel you have regain control, your breathing is normal again, all those hours of practice were fruitful. If you make 4 club tricks, it means clubs are 3-3. So RHO has 3 clubs, and you know he has 2 spades. Your mind sees now clearly: RHO has opened 1♦, he has to have at least one more diamond than clubs. How many diamonds does he have? Control your breathing, don't rush. RHO has most probably 4 Hearts and 4 Diamonds.

The 4 hands are then:



or


Analyze one more time: you need 9 tricks. You have 1 Spade, 3 Diamonds and 4 Clubs, 8 tricks. You need one more and the position of AK of Hearts means you can't make a heart trick. Still, you need ABSOLUTELY to make one trick in Hearts. Impossible, but it is the only way. The sphinx enigma, the Gordian knot, squaring the circle, a four-leaf clover, understanding women (and playing with your wife), all those impossibilities are spinning in your head. But, at the same time, you feel you are in control, you are calm. This feeling indicates you sense there is a solution.

As you cannot play hearts, cash your 4 club tricks. On the 4th club, LHO discards a diamond, you discard a heart in dummy, RHO hesitates, thinks, and finally throws the 9 of Hearts. THINK, breathe and visualize! If RHO has the 2nd hand:



All you have to do is play a heart and duck in dummy. East's Ace or the King will catch air, he will have to play back a diamond, you will win in hand and duck a 2nd heart, establishing 2 heart tricks in dummy for +430.

The 35 km sign appears in the distance, you breathe a bit more heavily, you are going to fast, control yourself. You know the 35 km sign is deceitful: at the top of a ascent, it seems to signify the end of the uphill, but it is an illusion. When you will attain kilometer 35, you will still have another kilometer of climbing before reaching Kilometer 34, the start of the real downhill. Don't rush, think again: is East really down to only AK of hearts? He would then give you the contract? No. So his hand has to be:



This heart discard from East shows he has 4 hearts, thus 4 diamonds. So all you have to do is cash AKQ of diamonds, then play a heart to the Queen: East will cash AK of hearts, then one diamond, but he will have to play a heart to the Jack in dummy for your 9th trick. A magical +400.

This stepping-stone play gives you a shot of adrenaline (enemy number One of the bridge player, but at this moment, you can afford it), and you push even harder on your skis and poles. What a rush!!!

Kilometer 34 sign appears and the descent starts till km 32. You have saved some energy for those last minutes of pure joy. At the moment you feel you are starting to go downhill, when your legs tell you that you are not going uphill any longer, when you don't fell anymore this burning in your thighs, you know you have succeeded, you know you will literally access heaven, you will get drunk with speed (skating technique allows speeds reaching 40/50 km/h).

The skiers in classical technique that you see going uphill are like phantoms passing by on your right and your left (skaters occupy the center of the trail), you are literally flying, on cloud nine.

You have conquered gravity, you have defeated your own weakness, your penchant to give up because it is too tough, you have vanquished your own imperfection, you live the completeness of the cross-country skier

The hand:

Card Sense (or how to finish a marathon)

How many mistakes are made in a bridge session at your favourite club?

Let's do the maths:

• Let's say one mistake for each player on each board (in the bidding, defence or declarer play, mistake meaning any inferior choice or a real blunder), which makes 4 errors par board.
• We multiply by 15 boards (for 15 tables) and we arrive at 60 mistakes per board, then you must multiply that figure by 2 (2 boards per round) and you obtain 120 mistakes per round.
• You then multiply that number by 13 (13 rounds) and you arrive at... 1,560 mistakes per session.

You think I am exaggerating? I don't think so.

The number of mistakes is probably even higher, closer to 2 errors for each player on each board, which makes (brace yourself) 3,120 mistakes per session at your local bridge club, roughly 1,000 mistakes per hour !!!

We are closer to the truth. Why all those mistakes ?

The main reason, I think, is that the immense majority of players are sleeping at the table. They hold their cards, they hear the bidding, they see dummy, but they don't listen, they don't look, they don't think.

Why is that ? I don't know. Probably they don't believe they can control what is happening at the table. I would say at least 8 or 9 players out of 10 think that way.

Basically, those 9 players out of 10 believe bridge is pure luck and that they can't do anything about it.

They don't believe they can count the hands. They don't believe they can know, for sure, the exact distribution of declarer or a defender.

And you see that in the way they play: they hesitate, choose a card, put it back, pick another one, go back to the first one, then throw it on the table, quickly, curious to see what is going to happen, like they have absolutely no idea of what can possibly happen.

The cards falling on the table are for them a constant surprise. For them, bridge happens all the time in the dark and the players who enjoy repeated successes are magicians who access a superior world they will never see.

Those 9 players out of 10 will tell you that the successful player has a "card sense", that he was born with that sense, and that his first words, when he was born, were probably: "I open 1NT and I will make 8 tricks on a club/heart squeeze against West".

Or they will say that player is lucky, which means they are not, obviously.

Let's make an analogy: can we say a marathon runner has a "marathon sense"? And if he finishes the race, will we say he was lucky?

If we accept that a bridge player can have a "card sense", then we have to accept also that a marathon runner who finishes the race has a "marathon sense", or he is lucky, obviously!! That reasoning is evidently totally absurd.

How can a marathon runner run 40 km? He trains for months, if not years. And you think you can play bridge without training? 9 players out of 10 think they can.



West opened 2♠, North passed and East also, 1st big mistake, that we see everyday in every bridge clubs all over the world.

All those players pass, even if they have every reason to bid: they have a fit, only 1 heart (opponents have at least an 8-card heart fit and probably a game; so they have to try and make life difficult for them) and only 7 losers.

After passing, if opponents reopen the bidding, they will now, of course, raise their partner, but it is too late. You have told them time after time to raise immediately, to rob opponents of space, they will never do it.

In 4th seat, you reopen with 2nt, instead of doubling, to protect KJ of spades. Your partner transfers with 3♦, doubled. You decide to jump to 4 ♥ (you also can make mistakes :) ) and everybody passes.

If you look at the hand, 4 ♥has no chance... but...

West leads the J of diamonds, his 1st mistake. This lead shows generally shortness, but these players play that a small card promises an honour. For them, the J is obviously not an honour.

You play small in dummy, East ducks (his 2nd big mistake), and you duck also, to cut communications.

East, if he listened, knows his partner has opened 2♠, he knows his partner has 6 spades, he knows declarer has 2 spades. He knows he has to try to win the diamond in order to play back a spade, but he ducks. WHY ? Mystery.

I can't explain and, if you ask East why, he won't be able to explain either. And if you take the time to explain all that to him, he won't put into practice what you told him. WHY ? Mystery again.

West continues diamonds (2nd mistake by West), instead of switching to a club maybe.

You win and play a heart to the King, picking up East's Queen.

So West has 6 spades, 3 hearts and 2 or 3 diamonds. East has to know you have 2 spades, 4 hearts, and that his partner has 6 spades and 3 hearts.

How did declarer discover all those informations? With his "card sense"? And if East has not discovered the same things, is it because he doesn't have a "card sense"?

You pull all the trumps and play a diamond, ruffing in dummy.

West follows! Thus he had 6 spades, 3 hearts, 3 diamonds and only 1 club.

East also is supposed to know the same things you know: your hand is 2434 and West is 6331.

You know you are going down. You can't avoid losing 1 or 2 spades, 1 or 2 clubs, added to the diamond already conceded. You can maybe save a trick by endplaying West with his singleton club. In hand, he will concede a spade or give you ruff and sluff.

So you play a club from dummy, East plays the 5. 3rd BIG mistake : he knows, if he is not sleeping, that you have 4 clubs; he has only to play the 10. You play the 7, which wins!

The rest is easy : club to the king, small spade towards your Jack. West wins, cashes the Ace and play back a spade, giving you ruff and sluff : +620.

Let's add : West has made 2 mistakes and East, 3 big errors. So 5 mistakes between them on one board: let's multiply by 26 boards and we arrive at 130 mistakes for this pair on one session.

Let's multiply then by 30 pairs, 15 tables, and we arrive at almost 4,000 mistakes in one bridge session.

Astounding, no?

And you thought I was exaggerating at the beginning of this article.

What is even more astounding is that those players play 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 times a week and they never ask themselves why they generally play 45%, and why, one day, they score 60% and, the day after, they go back to 35%.

Why don't they ask themselves those questions: that is the real question, it seems to me.

The trouble with beginners

I think you can double. Opener passes, partner bids 3♦, you rebid 3♥, opener passes, partner passes and responder continues with 3♠. All pass.

Partner leads club 8. As you have bid hearts and she leads a club, this looks like a singleton. As they say: if it looks like a singleton, if it smells like a singleton, if it behaves like a singleton, IT IS a singleton.



Not a very good 3♠, you mumble to yourself: 4333, 10 losers. If opener has AKQxx in spades, you can maybe beat the hand by one trick: 1 club, 1 diamond, 1 heart and 2 ruffs.

So you win with the Ace and play back your smallest club, the 2, suit preference for diamonds. Partner duly ruffs and plays back... a heart. Didn't you tell her over and over that when she ruffs, the card played by her partner tells her which suit to come back? Why does she do that to me, you say? Opener looks at you with a little grin (not really, you're on BBO :) ) and calls for a small heart.

Which card do you play? You are the expert, you have to keep your cool. With the lead and your suit preference, you could have beaten the hand if partner had played back a diamond. Now that defense is dead. You will make only 4 tricks unless... partner can come in again. Can partner really come in hand again? In order to beat that hand, you have to ASSUME that she will get in hand one more time. If not, you will not beat the hand. And the only card she can have to win a trick is the Ace of spades. That means you can beat the hand by 2 tricks: 1 club, 1 heart, 1 diamond, 2 ruffs and the Ace of spades! Wow.

So which heart do you play? All experts know that in 3rd seat, you force with the lowest of touching cards. With KQ, you have to play the Queen; partner can then think you maybe have the King (declarer can false card). But if you play the King, you absolutely deny the Queen. So in your expert head, you say to yourself: I will play the King, denying the Queen. If partner comes in with the Ace of spades, she will not play back a heart. I explained to her soooooo many times that lowest thing of touching cards in 3rd seat. Having seen the King, she will be sure I don't have the Queen, she will be forced to lead a diamond.

Opener wins with the Ace of hearts and plays King of spades. Partner wins the Ace. Wow, everything is working like you imagined.

Partner thinks and you tremble. She has to, she absolutely has to lead now a diamond. She KNOWS you don't have the heart Queen.

After some 20 seconds, she puts the 8 of hearts on the table.

You almost throw your cards up in the air (you can't, you're on BBO :) ). Please expert, keep your cool. What was the first heart she played? Now it's your turn to think and count and try to remember. Was the first heart she played a small one or a bigger one than the 8? You don't remember??? Expert, expert, you let your emotions get in the way. Pitiful. You're supposed to look at the cards and remember everything. And you didn't.

You play the heart 10 halfheartedly, hoping declarer doesn't ruff. He follows! So don't take any chances now. Ace of diamonds, then club for the 2nd undertrick.

The trouble with beginners is that they don't look. They think they look, but they don't. They have too many things on their mind: the bidding, what you told them about leads, play in first seat, play in second seat, play in third seat, everything. So looking at the cards of other players is too much for them for now.

The trouble with experts is that they sometimes get emotional and forget to look also! :)

Do you count points, or losers?

1st seat, vulnerable, in a team game, you have:



This is the final of the annual Montreal-Toronto friendly match which dates back to 1967. Montreal leads 23-22! The match plays at Irving Litvack's Regal St-Clair in Toronto. Irving has been a warm and perfect host for the Montrealers since Friday night. This is the Sunday morning session.

You play against Canadian champions. This is the 3rd of 4 quarters (24 brds per segment). You are behind by some 40 imps, which is not too big a deficit. If you can win this 3rd segment, you will be within striking distance in the 4th segment.

Board 21



1♠ with only 4 points, some would say? Yes, bridge is a bidder's game and you are behind. So bid first, think later. What do you do over 2♠?

If you were already shaking from fear when you bid 1♠, you will pass in a flash. But then you are not playing bridge and you lack some knowledge about re-evaluation. Maybe you don't read bridge books and magazines. If you did, you would have read Bergen's "Points Schmoints" and also a book called "The losing trick count". I won't enter into details but, when you partner raised you to 2♠, your hand, losing trick count-wise, is worth an opening hand. So what do you do?

First, how many points partner has? Can he have only 12 points?

No. Knowing you have already passed, there is no point in bidding 2♠, even with a fit, if there is no hope for game. So partner must have a good hand, like 14 points, to raise you to 2♠. You might have passed in first seat with 10-11 points. 11 + 14 is 25. But if opener in 3rd seat has only 12 points, 12 + 11 is 23, he would pass 1♠ and raise later if opponents compete.

So you are sure partner has a good hand. Do you still pass 2♠?

If you know the losing trick count and listen to Bergen's preach, you have to bid 4♠! With only 4 points, you still ask? Yes.

The lead is 8 of ♦.



Told you partner had 14 points. You go up Ace, play the ♥ Ace, ruff a ♥, play small spade: King pops up. You make 5, losing one diamond and one club.

You feel good? I hope so. You think this might even be a swing board? Get real. You are not playing against Mom and Pop. No offense intended.

When you compare, you find out you LOSE 8 imps. Your partners doubled them in 4♠! Opponents were also in 4♠. They are champions, I told you. First they bid game and then they try to make the hand. In the long run, bidding game first and then look if the contract is makeable is the winning strategy at imps.

If you had not bid 4♠, you would have lost 13 imps. Will you pass the next time you have 4 points?

By the way, you win the 3rd segment by 11. So you manage to stay in striking distance for the 4th segment.

(WE lost in the end :( ).

Cappalligator

Cappalligator: prehistoric animal of noble extract who, when provoked, feigns to run away, then turns against his aggressor; he has developed this technique to combat his traditional enemies, the Cappellettians.

One school of thought teaches us to double 1NT with a hand of equivalent strength, or stronger.

Practitioners of Cappelletti will then double, penalty, only to hear their partner take it out because they have no points.

Here's a very good question, in my opinion:
"If Cappelletti is for penalty, why does your partner take it out?"

Cappellettians will answer:
"Because he has no points."
"Then the double is not penalty."
"Yes, it is."
"So why doesn't your partner leave it?"
"Because he has no points."
"So it is not penalty, it is optional."
"No, it's penalty."
"So, I say, a bit irritated, if your partner has 20 points and his RHO opens 1nt, 8-10, 10-12, 11-14, 12-14, 14-16, 15-17, 16-18, whatever, he will double and you will take it out because you have no points???"

Discussion with Cappellettians never ends. So I repeat my question:
"Is Cappelletti for penalty or not?"

Like the woman who played Lavinthal in defense, but not always she added (!), Cappelletti, as played by the majority of players, is penalty, but not always.

And if you have:



You won't double 1NT for penalty? You are certain to beat 1NT (unless declarer has 6 club tricks and the Ace of hearts), will you pass because you don't have as many points as the 1NT opener? Here is a good occasion to repeat that bridge is about tricks, not only points.

You open 1NT 15-17 with:



I know, I know, it is not perfect. Your LHO, Cappellettian of good family, doubles. Your partner passes and RHO, also Cappellettian of good standing, starts to think. You thank Heaven, Cappelletti himself and all the saints in paradise. At bridge, when a player starts to think after a Cappelletti double by his partner, it is always a good sign. Cappellettian daughter (they really look like mother and daughter) ends up bidding 2♠, you pass, Cappellettian mother passes and your partner doubles.



Cappellettian daughter asks about the double.
"Cappalligator!" You reply.
"I'm sorry?"

You resist the urge to explain her the noble origins of this extraordinary animal, skipping all the historic part, and go right to the point:
"My partner thinks we will kill you."
"Come again..."
"Penalty!"

You lead the heart King. Here is dummy, cause of Cappellettian mother's double:



Isn't that a Cappelletti of good extraction? Would not all Cappellettians double with this hand?

The heart King wins and you continue heart for dummy's Ace, your partner signaling doubleton.

Declarer then plays small club to her hand (!), you win the 10 and play Heart and Heart, your partner signalling diamond on the 3rd heart, declarer ruffing the 4th heart.

Declarer then plays another club, you win the Ace. You play the diamond Jack for the king and Ace from your partner. She plays back a diamond. Dummy wins the Queen. Declarer continues with the club King, partner ruffs with the spade 9, over ruffed with the Queen!

Declarer plays diamond, you ruff with the spade Jack, under ruffed by partner, and we have now the famous coup, the Alligator Coup, or Cappaligator. The Alligator coup is a small cousin of the Crocodile Coup. This last coup consists of playing a big honour, Ace or King, to overtake partner's stiff honour, to avoid him being end played. Cappaligator, which I have invented, consists of ruffing with the Jack, to allow partner to underruff. Rare, you say ? Very rare. Cappalligator is a very, very rare animal.

You play back a spade, your partner takes the rest, +800.



Poor Cappellettians! Cappaligator's revenge is really terrible, no?

Believe me, if you play Cappelleti penalty, but not always, you will have one day to face the wrath of Cappaligator, and you will repent!