Between the Thumb and the Index

The exercise is routine, and the actions always the same, that lead each time to this recognizable and desired condition: your middle and third fingers placed on top of the plastic case, the thumb slips under the 13 cards captive of their thin sheath, the index puts pressure on the top of the pack, and the index finger and the thumb, in perfect harmony, in two equal and successive tractions, draw the cards of the first board.

The opposable thumb, what a wonder! Has human being been created so they can easily draw cards from boards and play bridge?

At the same time you access this state, desired, anticipated, each time welcomed, this peace, this silence in your soul and your mind, this seriousness similar to that of children playing a game, or adults making love, this gravity before experiencing a deep pleasure.

You hear nothing, a protective bubble surrounds you and protects you from the world and its hype, while you place your 13 cards in colors, alternating red and black (but not necessarily spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs), the highest card on the left and the others down to the right.

You count your points at the same time, quickly, without going into details, and your distribution in the same way.

Once the cards are placed (how many hundreds of thousands of times have you repeated the same gestures for so many years?), you close your cards, then reopen them, deliberately, allowing the same regular intervals between them.

This time, you count your points accurately, make a provisional statement of your losers and take note of your distribution. Then, cards placed in a fan shape, held gently at the base of the fan between the thumb and the index finger of the left hand, you cross your right leg over the left and you wait for the beginning of the auction.

In anticipation, you look around a bit, who is and who is not there, but this panoramic traveling doesn’t distract you. It is one of those rituals immutable, inevitable, these gestures repeated at the beginning of each session, that carry you... elsewhere.

What is this place where you find yourself, because you're really in a place, but not palpable, non-localizable? You can talk to opponents, make jokes, talk with your partner, but you never leave this place, this space outside of time that you find each time you begin a bridge session.

At the beginning of the session, the gods of the bridge send you a 3NT hand, only to see if you are awake. The lead is a small spade. The view of dummy immediately brings a smile to your lips.



You immediately recognize the theme. You score +430 and notice that, played from your side, the contract will surely fail if declarer is not fully awake. You know them, they won’t plan ahead and will probably go down.

A bit later, you again play 3NT



The lead is the 9 of hearts. 7 sure tricks. Where can you find the 2 others?

In spades maybe, or with the diamond finesse. But you don't want to commit yourself too early. When you don’t know how to play a hand, it is sometimes indicated to let the opponents play for you. Here, you just have to cover the 9 of hearts with the Jack, and East will be in.

East wins with the Queen and thinks for a long time. He can't play back a heart nor a diamond nor a spade: he will each time give you a trick. He should then play a club, dummy's weakness. But he surprises you a lot when he plays back a spade! Why not a club?

You duck and dummy's 9 wins the trick. You then play club yourself and East plays the Queen: is she singleton? Maybe that is the reason East didn't play a club at the trick before. You duck that club Queen. East insists at spades and you win in hand.

Something tells you not to play a diamond and you have learned to listen to your instincts when you are in the zone. And your instincts tell you to beware of those diamonds, to avoid this inviting finesse, too easy in fact.

Maybe East had a stiff club Queen? Maybe he has a 4441 hand. You play the club ace to see what will happen: East plays the King. You thank him silently, you cash the club Jack, discarding a diamond from dummy, East doing the same.

The original hands were maybe like this:



And we are now here:



You now play the spade ace, all following. Spades were then 3-3.



You now play a heart to the Ace, all following. On the spade Queen, East pitches a diamond. You discard a club, West doing the same as you. King of hearts and a heart now endplay East, West discarding another club.

The position is now:



East, endplayed for the 3rd and last time, has to play a diamond, giving you 2 tricks in dummy and +430. Looking at the cards, you notice that the diamond king was with East. You were right then to resist the diamond finesse. And this discovery augments your euphoria. If the king had been under AQ, you would have been disappointed, it would have been to easy a play, accessible to all those finesse maniacs.

You pick up your cards, 10 vertical and 3 horizontal, you replace them in their original position and hold them in your right hand, as usual and always in the same manner: thumb towards you, index on the left side of the pack, 4th finger on the right, middle and 3rd finger holding the cards. When you approach your hand from the board, the 4th finger leaves the cards and sticks in air (like an English lady having tea at Harrod's), you put the 3rd finger on the board, the index applies some pressure on the middle of the pack so it is easier to slide the cards in the board. Once the front end of the pack is introduced in the slim casing, the index stays on top of the pack and the thumbs pushes the cards into the casing.

This ritual after, always the same, responds to the ritual before and maintains you in this special state.

You get up from the table, without effort, like if you were elsewhere. In fact, you are elsewhere, you are in this state of grace, this seventh heaven reserved to bridge players: this diamond King offside has justified your line of play and you know this is the reason why you play bridge, for this elation of the mind, this ecstasy of the intelligence, when you have resisted the easy play, when you resisted to laziness, when you have courageously counted, counted and counted.

You don't look at the traveling sheet, it is without interest really. You walk toward the next table, as light as your convention card... that you hold between the thumb and the index.

Never lie, didn't your mother tell you?

Partner opens 1♠ and you have:



What is your bid?

If you play pure Jacoby 2NT, you can't, you don’t have 4 trumps.
If you play 2/1, can you really bid 2♦ on that suit?  Maybe you can, but our style is a good 5-card suit, a source of tricks, not Jxxxx for example.  The only exception over 1♠ would be if the suit was hearts.
As for those who would bid 2♣ just to create force, how can opener re-evaluate his hand or honours in clubs if 2♣ could be artificial?
So we adopted Fred Gitelman's advice, 2NT natural, game forcing, stoppers everywhere outside opener's suit.  Simple, direct, very, very efficient.  If you have a fit in opener's suit, it can be only 3 cards.  So let's see how it works.



Wow, we have a double fit.  What do you do?  Do you give fit in spades or in diamonds?  Didn't you read somewhere that a 4-4 fit is better than 5-3 because, on the 5-3 suit, you will be able to discard losers?  So you decide to give fit in diamonds.   But wait… like in TV ads.
If you give fit in diamonds, partner won't know you have a spade fit.  If you have possibilities for a grand slam and it is you asking for key cards in diamonds, you will learn maybe that partner has AK of spades, but what about the Queen of spades? 
This is where bridge is so exhilarating: thinking, examining possibilities, ways of extracting information from partner, even if you have to lie to her.  So, you think, I have to fit in spades so I can ask for keys in spades, for I will learn, with King ask, if she has the diamond king.  But if I fit in spades and partner goes key card… but wait.  Partner cannot go key card, she has no control in clubs.  So if you bid 3♠, partner will bid 4♠ if she has a minimum.  If she has extras, she will have to bid something else saying: I have a good hand.  But wait, you say.  What if she bids 4♦ over 3♠, to show a diamond control, but no club control?  I say she can't.  We play that over 3♠ GF, 4♦ shows controls in both clubs and diamonds, as 3NT is available to say: Please cue 4♣ if you have a control there.  Simple, no?  Brilliant, I think.

So


Super! Partner has no control in clubs, but she has extras, which means at least a king more than a minimum.  So now all is in place.

Control your heart beat, relax, breathe in, check everything again, count: 5 spade tricks, 1 heart trick, 3 diamond tricks (3-2 break), 2 club tricks, 1 heart ruff in dummy and 1 club ruff in hand = 13.  If trumps don't break, heart finesse will have to work.  You reach out leisurely, take the 7♦ card in your hand and slowly place it on the table.  It is not everyday you bid a grand slam, so savour the moment.  And when is the last time you establish a false trump suit to reach a grand slam in another suit?

After putting the 7♦ card on the table, you look around the room, trying to find a pair that would bid like you did (isn't he so full of himself!).  You can't find one.  Everything worked like magic, but wait…   Partner is thinking (she always does that to me).  She examines her hand.  Every second that passes kills me.  Finally, finally, she puts the pass card on the table and you come back to life.  Everything broke nicely,  +2140.


But wait ‼!  The heart finesse was on, so every card pusher could bid and make 7♠.

Don't lie, my mother told me, or you will get punished.

Timeo Danaos et dona ferentesI fear the Greeks bearing gifts

If you are like me, boarding school has left you with memories you cannot get rid of: bad meals (all you can eat style), boring lessons, spiritual counsellor (damn sex!). Latin and Greek were mandatory and we have learned there sentences that have stayed with us all those years.

Delenda quoque Cartago, repeated Catton the Ancient (We must destroy Cartago).
Arma virumque cano… sang Virgil. Upon learning that Aeneas was leaving her, Dido tore up her clothes (quick, to the spiritual counsellor).
Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra … shouted Cicero in the Senate. (Till when will you abuse of our patience, Catilina…)

Useless, all this culture? Not a bit. Every bridge player has repeated to his partner, who never listens: Delendo Quoque dummy (We must destroy the dummy). When declarer cashes 7 diamonds tricks in no trump, haven't you never murmured: Till when will you abuse of our patience?

We don't have a spiritual counsellor anymore (purity being a constant problem, we have chosen impurity) and, growing up, we have learned that, in all those classical stories just as in our modern life, everybody sleeps with everybody and that, in certain situations, if you rely heavily on your principles, they will finally cave in and real life can then begin.

In 1st seat you open 1♦:



At bridge, life begins at 4♠. What is happening? You had planned, after your partner’s probable response of 1♥, to jump to 2NT.

But those Visigoths, in the Radio Shack armour, are already at the top of the fortress. All your plans blow up in smoke, what can you do?

If you believe those hyper-aggressive Vandals, LHO should have at least AQJxxx in clubs and RHO, at least 7 or 8 hearts to the King. Your partner is left with KQ of spades and KQ of diamonds for her bid of 2♠ (promising at least 10 points).

The more you think, the more you feel, behind you, Achilles steaming with impatience. Him and Ulysses always fight when they have to establish a plan of action. In fact, Achilles always comes up with the same plan:

"Charge!!!"

In your situation, the Achilles approach seems to be best and you jump to 6NT. Your audacity surprises the Visigoths.

Looking at them, you see they received a scientific schooling: full of trigonometry, of canapés and asking-bids, they obviously never heard of Ulysses and Achilles. Perplexed, they pick their nose, study their hand and comment in their primitive language (sounds like American slang).

During all of this, your LHO, the index deep in his nose, examines his hand, undecided about what to lead. Finally, with all the sophistication he can offer, he "throws" the ♦8 on the table, and puts his index back where it was.

Apparently unfinished business, you reflect silently.



Dummy surprises you, your partner not having what her bid promised. And no heart finesse possible either. Ouch! But it could be worse, as my wife always says, you could be at work!

You understand suddenly LHO's problem: he was end played at trick one. The lead is therefore favourable. Dummy’s Jack forces the Queen from RHO and you win with the ace.

You count your tricks: 5 diamonds, 1 heart, and 5 spades if you find the queen. 11 tricks only.

If you cash 10 tricks (after having found the spade queen), LHO will have to keep AQ of clubs and at least 1 heart to avoid being thrown in and forced to lead a heart into your AQ.

At trick 11, if LHO has played well and kept 1 heart and AQ of clubs, you will have to play Ace of heart and a heart, down one… unless LHO's last heart is the king. Eureka! You shout in your mind...

Why didn’t he lead a heart, his partner's suit? Because he has the King. A squeeze is therefore your only option.

As you have to play spades before diamonds in order to be in your hand at trick 10, you play the spade Ace from your hand, small from LHO, small from dummy, heart 2 from RHO! Wow! You stop to think. Suddenly, RHO expectorates a "Sorry!" and spits a spade on the table.

With the exposed card, the impossible heart finesse becomes possible, 12 tricks glow. The Huns capitulates, Achilles blows his Oliphant (anachronism that will go unnoticed by all scientists), lamenting: What cowards, not even a fight; an exposed card, how pusillanimous.

Cassandra shivers in her diaphanous dress and utters the song of all oppressed people: Timeo Gringos and dona ferentes (I fear the Americans, especially when they offer gifts). As you all know (well, some of you), Cassandra, princess of Troy, was doomed to always tell the truth, yet never to be believed.

What would you have done?

Do you take advantage of the exposed card to play the queen and take the impossible heart finesse?

Or do you stick with your plan of squeezing LHO?

Do you ignore this Greek gift in order to play the hand as it has to be played, for the beauty of it?

In your head, all those great sentences that you learned in your youth, that sing heroism, courage, greatness of heart, and the beauty of the squeeze, soon drown in the ocean of amoral aphorisms that the Gringos have spread everywhere:

• There is nothing below first place;
• Show me a good loser, and I will show you a loser;
• Winning is not everything, it is the only thing;
• Take the money and run!

Is an elegant defeat worth more than a vulgar success?

The opportunistic ethics of modern barbarians finally wins the battle over the noble heroes of yesterday and you play the Queen of hearts. LHO wins the king and cashes the Ace of clubs, down one.



"O Tempora, O Mores … " said, I believe, Cicero, probably just before drinking the hemlock.

Philosophy in the boudoir

Why did human beings invent bridge?

Probably to prolong sexual pleasure. Oops! What am I saying?

Well, some will say: What a twisted mind!

How can we talk sex about bridge? It seems obvious to me.

As sexuality is limited in time, the human being was forced to create other games that would be as much fun as sex, but last longer. Hence the invention of bridge. QED.

When a sex session with your spouse lasts an hour or two (I know, I know, I embellish, but I am a man after all), it is a top (you see, we are not far from bridge).

At bridge, this pleasure with your spouse (!) lasts 3 hours or more, with several tops and several fiascoes, this last word used by French author Stendhal to describe precisely a sexual failure. You see again that sex and bridge are not far apart.

Between two or three tops per week in bed (I know, I know I exaggerate yet again), and 4-5 tops or more per night at the bridge club, there is no dilemma: quick, let's go to the bridge club! Especially when you take the pragmatic approach: tops in bed are exhausting, while tops in bridge -- you often just sit there and they fall from the sky!

Others tops, however, occur because they are conjured, carefully planned, they are created from scratch by the mere power of your mind. During such moments, one can have a very erotic experience!

LHO opens 1NT 15-17. Your hand:



Your partner passes, responder also passed and you decide to pass as well, your flat distribution is not appropriate for balancing. Your partner leads the 5 of hearts (3rd/5th).



This beginning does not look very exciting.

Declarer calls for small in dummy, you play the ♥7 and declarer wins the 8.

Declarer plays the ♠Q, partner plays the 8 (reverse count, showing three cards), dummy plays small, and so do you.

Declarer then plays the ♠J, ♠7 from partner, small in dummy.

Like the desire that sometimes arouses without warning, instinctively, you duck again, without haste or hesitation.

This flirt with danger excites you, especially as it is good bridge: you duck to have a chance to beat the contract (you are playing teams), to give declarer a chance to go wrong.

Indeed, South plays a third spade, your partner follows and declarer is at the crossroads: to play the Ace or not to play the Ace, as Hamlet would say? Two seconds pass, 6, 10, 15, 30 seconds, declarer hesitates, sniffing the air like an animal, trying to sense the danger.

The animal would not go wrong, but a human being cannot reasonably believe that you have stiffed your King of spades.

All your senses are awake. Your heart is pounding. You relive your first love at first sight. What intense pleasure! South finally calls for the 10 in dummy and you win your stiff King. First plateau of pleasure!

You enjoy this first success and take a deep breath.

How can you now lead this to the ultimate point, like the surrealists would say? "Courage is something that needs to be organized," wrote Malraux. Like a top and sexual pleasure in bridge, or vice versa, as you like!

Now the King of clubs?... NO!

Keep your libido under control… and your nerves! Exit in diamonds, hoping that your partner has the Jack. Declarer plays the Ace (2 from partner, she likes), followed by the King.

Seeing the endplay coming (the fiasco), you throw your Queen under the King (are we not ready sometimes to drop everything for a flirt?)

South plays a 3rd diamond, Jack from your partner, who also cashes the ♦8, everybody discarding a club.

The position is now:



Everything is ready, ecstasy is approaching.

Your partner holds your destiny in her hands.

All she needs now is J10 of hearts (is it not fortunate that the heart is at the heart of this flirt?)

You are not asking for much, only J10 of hearts. You throw her a quick glance and her face, her allure, her posture, everything tells you she will play the Jack of hearts.

After the 8 of Diamonds, she puts the Jack of hearts on the table!

You cannot believe your eyes, you have succeeded.

Your heart skips a beat, you almost faint, you soar in the sky: the top is there, within easy reach.

You're ready to swear loyalty to her until the end of your days, or hers, or at least until the end of the hand.

Your bold flirt, brilliant and risky, has created tricks that were non-existent for the defense.

You already see the +50 that you will proudly show your partners (1 spade, 2 hearts, 2 diamonds and 2 clubs). Added to their +90 (you doubt that your opponents can play as well as you!), you will earn 5 beautiful Imps created by a flirt, a daring trap set for declarer.

While you float on cloud nine, inebriated by the fragrance of this intellectual orgasm, dreaming of your future glory (this hand will surely make the Bulletin), South ducks in dummy!? What's happening ? This play harshly brings you back to earth.

Forced to fall from your cloud, you evaluate the situation. What can you do?

The more you think about it, the more you see that there's nothing to do.

South's latest coup, so simple, cancels your two brilliant shots.

Upset, disenchanted, frustrated, you play a small heart on your partner's Jack. South wins the Ace and endplays you in hearts! It's over! South will write +90 instead of -50.

Very impressed by this beautiful play, you take a look at declarer and you notice for the first time that it is a woman.

Trying to make eye contact to compliment her on the quality of her game, you only see at first her magnificent rasta-style chestnut hair. Sensing your eyes on her, she turns her head towards you, her emerald eyes plunge deep into your soul (and even a little further) and she says:

"In these troubled times, isn't bridge the safest form of sex?"

Elementary, my dear Watson!

Dr. Watson was kibitzing his old friend Sherlock Holmes, who was playing a little rubber at their club in London. Watson didn't play bridge. Well, he did play but never with Holmes. In fact, nobody wanted to sit at Holmes's table. Everybody thought he could see through the cards: he always took winning finesses, always found a missing Queen and always made the right switch. Furthermore, Holmes had a nasty tongue that frightened all his partners. At dummy's sight, he would take out his magnifying glass, lean over the table, examining carefully his partner's cards and would almost always say: "My dear friend, even with a magnifying glass, I can't find what you promised me in the bidding."

The only players willing to play with Holmes were Jack the Ripper, Dr. Moriarty and Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard. Jack and Moriarty played together, naturally, and the inspector teamed with Holmes, the good against the bad, like when we were kids.

Left of Holmes sat Jack the Ripper. Holmes, 4th seat, opened his hand:



Jack led a heart.



When dummy hit, Holmes jumped on his chair, took out his magnifying glass, leaned slowly over the table and started to examine the cards. He hovered like a helicopter, going from the spades to the hearts, suddenly diving towards those two little clubs. He would then look at the inspector through his magnifying glass. The inspector, not a bit intimidated, opposed a defying grin that only all-powerful government officials can display.

At first glance, Watson could count 6 losers: 2 spades, 2 diamonds and 2 clubs. He was prepared to listen to the chapter of insults that Holmes generally addressed to his partners who grossly misbid. But his cell phone rang. He had to go away to answer and, by the time he returned, the hand was over. He bent down to check the score sheet and saw 100 in Holmes's column. Holmes had made 11 tricks! Holmes sensed his old friend's amazement, turned to him and offered his most mischievous smile.

After the game, walking back to his flat on Baker Street, Holmes explained the hand.
"So, this hand, Holmes, how did you make 11 tricks?" asked Watson. "3 winning finesses, I imagine?"

Watson knew only finesses in bridge. That is the reason why Holmes would not play with him.

"No, said Holmes. I would say maybe one, if finesse means 50% chance of winning. Once the 1st finesse won, the rest was forced."
"Can you elaborate?"

"Heart lead," reminded Holmes. "The bidding has revealed that my friend Jack has 6 spades. Does he have a singleton heart? Not likely. He has 3 or 4. One cannot accuse Jack of being timid in the bidding either. With seven spades, I know him, he would have rebid 3. On dummy's small heart, Moriarty played the Queen and I won with the Ace. The heart Jack was then most probably on my left. To find the club king, I have to locate the Ace of spades first. It is the only play where I need to be lucky, 50%, to be exact. So I played a spade. Jack jumped with his Ace and played back a spade, Moriarty following with the Queen and the Jack. So, for his opening bid, Jack has 6 spades to the Ace, probably the heart Jack, the King of diamonds (with the Jack maybe) and the King of clubs. So, after the King of spades, I played a club to my Ace, picking up Jack's stiff King."
"Bravo, Holmes!"
"Elementary, my dear Watson!"
"So, a beer at the Piccadilly Circus, Holmes?"
"I have not finished, Watson. So far, I have only 10 tricks. How did I make 11?"
"One of them revoked?"
"I played the 9 of hearts, ducked in dummy. Moriarty won the 10 and played a club. I won in dummy with the 7. Everything is in place now for a trump coup."
"Donald Trump? Where, Holmes??"
"Not Donald Trump, Watson, a Trump Coup. This is the position:



King of hearts, Moriarty follows, I pitch a diamond and the Jack falls on my left. The 8 of hearts - which is big, Moriarty follows and I ruff..."
"Why ruff a winner? Have you smoked again?"
"No, Watson. To succeed, I have to reduce my trumps to the same number as Moriarty. In fact, here we have a Grand Trump Coup because I ruff a winning card in order to reduce my trump holding. So small diamond to the Queen."
"Ah ha! A finesse !!"
"No, not a finesse. A certainty. In dummy with the diamond Queen, I play spade, Moriarty discards and I ruff again."
"Again ??"



"Small diamond to the Ace and diamond. Moriarty is finished. That's what we call a Grand Trump Coup. With this coup, you pick up one of opponent's trumps without playing trump. It is a beautiful coup, rare enough to talk about it when it arrives."

At the corner of Oxford Street, they noticed a crowd near Selfridges, one of the biggest department store of London. They rushed over, sensing something had happened. The police, recognizing Holmes, let them through. On the sidewalk was lying Dr. Moriarty, dead, his chest ripped opened.

"What happened?" asked Holmes.
"Jack the Ripper left his card," he heard.
"You can say that again," mumbled Holmes.

On the corpse they found a playing card covered in blood.

"What card is it, Holmes?" asked Dr. Watson.
"Elementary, my dear Watson! It is the card Moriarty had to play to defeat 5 Clubs."

Phryne

Phryne before the Areopagus by Jean-Léon Gérôme, c. 1861
Phryne, Greek courtesan from the 4th century BC, mistress of master sculptor Praxiteles, was so beautiful that she served as a model when Praxiteles decided to give shape and face to the goddess Aphrodite.

Accused of impiety, Phryne appeared before the Heliasts, Athenian judges who sat at sunrise (the Greek word Helios means sun).

Her lawyer defended her to the best of his capacity, but failed to really convince the judges of her innocence.

Running out of arguments, he decided to undress the beautiful courtesan. The Heliasts, dazzled by her amazing beauty, immediately declared her innocent, as a woman of such beauty could only be a prophetess of Aphrodite and she must have been telling the truth.

Thus, truth is always beautiful, and beauty is always true.



You play 4♥, with opponents silent in the auction, and LHO leads the Queen of diamonds.

Count your losers: 1 spade, 1 heart, 1 diamond and 1 or 2 clubs. 5 losers, that’s a lot.

You probably can ruff a club in dummy, which eliminates a loser, but you still have to find the Queen of hearts.

After ruffing a club in dummy, you need to find the heart Queen. So with this line of play, you make 1 spade, 5 hearts (subject to finding the Queen), 2 diamonds, 1 club and 1 club ruffed: 10 tricks.

But this line doesn’t appeal to you, it lacks flexibility, it is not natural, it is complicated.

Moreover, after playing Ace of clubs and a club, opponents will return a diamond, establishing a trick in that suit.

You win the second diamond, ruff a club and then what? Spade to your Queen? Opponents take their king and cash their diamond trick and you still have to find the Queen of hearts. No, this line is not elegant. There must be something simpler, more natural, more... beautiful.

While you think, opponents waiting patiently, Phryne walks in your mind: to convince the judges, she just unveiled her charm and beauty.

You cannot stop thinking that the answer to your problem lies in these simple words: beauty seduces because it is the truth, and truth dazzles with its beauty. The judges, before the perfect curves of divine Phryne, could only agree: she was so beautiful that she could only tell the truth.

Perfect forms are perfectly smooth, without rough edges: curves, bends, harmony, music, perfect, eurhythmy. Your mind plays with these thoughts: just remove the veils and the truth will appear, naked, indisputable.

You count again but this time, your winners: 1 spade, 4 hearts, 2 diamonds and 1 club: 8 winners.

If the King of Spades is on your right, you will make your Queen, 9 tricks.

It means going to dummy to play a spade to your Queen. Then you must return to dummy a second time to cash the Ace (after unblocking the Queen in your hand).

Suddenly, your heart races, and the emotion you feel convinces you that you have finally seen the truth.

And this line is so beautiful, so smooth, it appeals to you immediately. You are certain this is the right course of play, the only one, the true one.

You play a small heart to dummy, LHO plays small, you insert the 10, it wins! Then, as in a dream, small spade to your hand.

RHO rises with the King and returns a diamond. You win your King, unblock the Queen of Spades and play the Jack of hearts.

LHO covers, dummy wins as RHO provides the 9. You then have the opportunity, what am I saying?, the luxury of playing a small spade that you ruff with the King of hearts.

Next you play a small heart to the 8 in dummy, cash your 2 good spades and claim 11 tricks !

What beauty, what incredible magic. The four hands:



You see that your first line of play (club ruff) would not work, getting overruffed by RHO. Even if you ruff with the 10, you go down.

Often, at the bridge, we refuse to see, to submit ourselves to the evidence, we choose to be blind and deaf.

Often, the cards tell us how to play, how to handle them: we just have to watch and listen.

Do cards have an inherent beauty, an underlying harmony, that we have to discover and follow, like a piece by Mozart or Bach?

Complicated lines of play resemble the convoluted language of lawyers, tedious, tortuous, where sentences end up not saying anything.

What is complicated is never beautiful. The Heliastes understood all that.

They refused all the lawyer’s quibbling which obscured the truth. When Phryne showed herself in all her splendour, they had to accept the evidence of the truth.

At bridge, cards always tell the truth. What about lawyers? Well...

The Apple - Law and Principle

The apple tree has always attracted human kind: Adam and Eve, Newton and... Eric Kokish.  What?  Yes, Eric has once written that if you shake an apple tree (well, a bridge tree?!), ten good dummy players will fall, but maybe only one good bidder.
 
Is the one good bidder the same apple that Newton received on his nose (ok, maybe it fell at his feet)?

The pain Newton felt prompted him to invent the Law of Gravity.  The pain of going down one has also prompted Matthew Granovetter to formulate the Law of Granovetter, or should we say the Law of Gravitynovetter: "Don’t bid a grand slam if you cannot count 13 tricks".
 
Well, after Newton came Albert Einstein who said that "Imagination is more important than knowledge" and that the fast ball Newton saw falling from the tree is actually a curve ball.
 
Then, in 1990, after winning a world championship in Geneva, Gabriel Chagas who often throws curve balls has invented the Chagas Principle: "If you're lucky or good on the first board, things are probably going to go your way".

So, all this gibberish means that if you think in straight lines, you are applying the Law of Gravitynovetter.
 
And if you think in curves, if you let your imagination sometimes supersede your knowledge, you are following the Chagas Principle.
 
In the second session of a Calcutta, you pick up your first hand:



Partner opens 1♣, you bid 1♥.  Partner jumps to 3NT, showing long solid clubs.  This is the time to imagine: if partner has Qx or even Jx in hearts, you have a chance in 6♥.  You have no means to know, you must imagine.
 
You were average in the afternoon, tonight you must make it happen.
 
The longer you think, the less you know and the more you find that you have to plunge.  You bid 6♥.


 
Dummy is one card short of your imagination but then again, dummies always lack imagination.  You take the ♦K lead with your Ace, go to dummy  with a ♠, play AK of ♣ to pitch a ♦  and a ♠.  The moment has come:  Q of trumps... holds.  You ruff a ♦ and, imagining Jx somewhere, you play K of trumps... for the J and Ace: +1430 (12 IMPS).
 
In the 3rd round, the opponents, after pre-empts (curve balls) from your part, play 6♠ and 4♠, go down in both contracts and you gain 17 IMPS.  You feel you can't lose now.
 
In the fifth round, white against red, you and your partner throw a rising fast ball, one can't always throw curve balls, can one?


 
Partner plays AK of ♥ and ♥.  Declarer pulls trumps and plays Q of ♣.  You cover.  She takes the Ace and plays... the J from her hand?!  A mean sinker.  One down: + 13 IMPS.
 
Is this possible?
 
In the 6th round, the opponents climb up to 5♣ vul, doubled.  Declarer can escape for - 200, but makes also a mistake and you reap +500, 6 IMPS.
 
After 7 rounds, you are + 61 IMPS.  Halfway to go.
 
In the 8th round, you pick up:


 
The bidding:


 
4♠ is KCB and 5♠ asks for specific king(s);  5NT shows the K of ♠ and does not deny another king; 6♣ asks specifically for the king of clubs and 6♥ denies it.  What do you do?  Do you know if partner has the Q of ♠ or the Q of ♦?  No.
 
You are at the crossroads: do you follow the Law of Gravitynovetter?
With this hand, you know you can count only 12 tricks.  Or should you apply the Chagas Principle?  Should you bid 7NT, even if partner has denied the king of ♣?  Should you imagine 13 tricks even if you cannot count 13 tricks?  Should you go against the Law of Gravitynovetter?
 
Yes, and you cannot miss:  from board one, luck was with you.
 
Everything you have done turned out right, opponents have given you tons of IMPS, you're riding a high wave of success.
 
In these special conditions, the Chagas Principle overrules the Law of Gravitynovetter, don't go against the good vibrations, remember the first board, you CANNOT fail, think in curves, not in straight lines,
 
Imagination is more important than knowledge, BID 7NT!!!


 
You win 10 IMPS and finish second overall, +84 IMPS.
 
In ordinary conditions, follow the law of Gravitynovetter:  Do not bid a grand slam if you cannot count 13 tricks.  A fast ball on the nose is a lot of pain.
 
In exceptional situations, forget Newton and follow the Chagas Principle, think in curves, imagine.
 
You cannot fail.