You say that E “wrongly” encourages a spade continuation. Okay, but how is he supposed to tell his partner to shift to a C, rather than a D, at trick 2?

Hi David,

You, as usual, bring up a provocative challenge, quite often evident, while defending in bridge.

The correct answer is simply that he cannot vocally or otherwise legally tell his partner to switch to one minor or the other. However since West held the diamond jack, but not the jack of clubs, he might then consider that such a negative spade signal (while, of course, holding the ace) should show a clear preference to the minor which looked the most likely to achieve the best result (the KJ of clubs) wherein he could not have that holding in diamonds. Yes bridge fate itself, provided the jack of diamonds to be with West enabling that winning decision (but, alas, not to be).

However, before we close our discussion, your above question reminded me of a “real” bridge story from perhaps 40 years ago and involved a true elegant lady, Judy Jacoby, Jim’s wonderful wife and, of course, sadly now his widow of many years, Jim’s death occurring in 1991.

Jim and Judy agreed to play with a good older player in a famous European bridge tournament, who while approaching the finish line in life and in a wheel chair was a fierce competitor, but relished the idea of one last chance for bridge fame. The scene now switches to the well-attended mixed pair in an exclusive hotel in which Judy was now playing with our hero.

Of course, though the English language was the official speak of bridge (and still is) and bidding boxes were not universally used (at that time and in this tournament) Judy & partner were playing against a somewhat arrogant local pair (at least the male) who only spoke his language (certainly not English) and with his partner effectively bid 1NT Pass 3NT (in their native language), leaving Judy on lead, but not without conversing with his wife in his language during the bidding.

Our hero then, after sitting upright in his wheel chair, said softly but certainly heard across the table, “Lead a diamond Judy!” since he no doubt, felt his opponents, by being somewhat rude and haughty in their behavior, while sensing he was looking down his nose in disrespect to these Americans, but likely didn’t speak English at all. He also figured to get away with it (rightfully so since no later complaint), although Judy, to this day, has never said whether she led one or not nor whether it made any difference in the result.

In any event, perhaps Judy’s partner found a more direct and therefore effective way to, at the very least, attempt to get the right lead and get it done before he left this planet.

Bobby,
This weekend I learned of an initiative in New York City called “Chess at 3”. Chess is obviously very big in NYC and apparently someone has come up with a way to teach chess to 3-5 year olds. This approach combines storytelling with incremental teaching of how the pieces move and, later, strategy. It seems quite innovative and I was wondering if there was an equivalent for bridge.

Hi Slar,
I have a board game called BIDittle. The suits have only 7 cards, Ace to eight.
The Board is two-sided. On the simpler side, the players just bid for tricks and name the suit; on the other side there is a simple auction. There is no storytelling feature.
It’s supposedly for 10+ age, but I’d think any bright and engaged 5-year old could handle it. The very first time my grandaughter (then a nine-year-old) played it, she recognized that on one hand she had an “entry problem” (She didn’t call it that of course, but “she knew it when she saw it”! Little brother, then 7, seemed to quickly learn to figure out what his hand was likely worth, trickswise.

Hi Slar,

My grandmother taught me something called card dominoes when I was very small. It acted as a later introduction to whist (and basic numeracy) then bridge. The idea was simply to play cards making up all the suits from Ace to 2 in the middle of the table, with a player who runs out of cards first beign the winner. You got dealt a certain number of cards, the 7 of diamonds had to be played first (if anyone had it) then any 7 was played. Players then played another 7 (if held) or a card adjacent to any on the table or picked up a card if they couldn’t go. It is a glorified counting game but is a good way of getting numeracy into kids plus a little bit of basic tactics when you have a choice of plays. I reckon 4-5 year olds could cope.

Regards,

Iain

Hi Slar, Clarksburg, & Iain,

A virtual treasure trove of games featuring numbers.

Since IMO chess, because of the traveling of its pieces, is strategically ruled by numbers and the other games mentioned above, although unknown to me, at least up to now, seem to incorporate the same, we now have a natural competition.

Those who love words and their derivations and, of course, tradition vs. the random, but fairly simplified version of numbers and their application.

You show me a person of only average overall intelligence, but one who is ruled by numbers on a daily basis, and I’ll show you someone who could be really good at bridge, not to mention space, weaponry, arithmetic logic, engineering, architecture and even military strategy.

However the word merchants develop into writers, speakers, secretaries, teachers, historians, lawyers, and though sadly, politicians.

Who will be the first to develop a game which features a competition between those two talents? (with, of course, a betting line which will establish who will be the favorite, but, no doubt, will be rooting for the arithmeticians)