Bridge

“The grass may be greener on the other side of the fence, but that’s just from envy.” — Unlucky Louie

“I would do a lot better if I could choose which player at the table I wanted as my partner,” Louie grumbled to me in the club lounge.

Louie produced today’s deal from a penny game.

“I was South,” he said. “With my luck, when I hold 24 points, one of my opponents opens the bidding.”

Louie reacted to the injustice of West’s one-club bid by doubling after two passes, then leaping to 3NT over North’s response of one heart. West led the king of spades.

“You didn’t have much to complain about,” I observed. “Your partner put down a dummy with a queen, a jack and a decent fivecard suit. He might have been broke. You made 3NT, didn’t you?”

“Nope,” Louie said sourly. “I ducked two spades, won the third spade and led the ace and queen of hearts. West played low, so I next tried to sneak by with the ten of clubs. West rose with his king and cashed his good spade and the king of hearts.

“If West had been my partner, we’d have had a grand slam in clubs, spades or notrump. But the grass is never green at my table.”

It appears that Louie was miffed enough by West’s opening bid to boot the game. At Trick Four Louie leads the queen of hearts. West can win and cash a spade, but Louie has the rest. If instead West ducks the queen of hearts, Louie continues with the ace and queen of clubs. He has three clubs, two hearts, a spade and three diamonds and again has only four losers.