Soot

Hi all

The sleep comes in waves, Morpheus carries me to lands far, far away. I sense the presence of an alluring woman around the corner, her chatter and laughter teasing my head and heart. But there are no corners where I am. Then I hear words, words from a popsicle mouth.

I get to relive some tough 3NT.

West leads a small .

At the table I counted three and three after forcing out the Ace. I can set up a , and then a or hook to get to my goal. But East has placed a vulnerable overcall on a very poor suit, so it’s probably safe to assume all the important cards are offside.

I visualize a plan to endplay East.

West wins the second round of and persists in . I win and play a to the King and Ace. Another won by me and I complete the endplay, I think, by cashing the Queen (added bonus if the Jack drops) and two more . I see West pitch a and a . Great! I smile when I surrender my fourth to him. Bring that King to daddy!

No sugar, for West cashes out in and the Jack. Down one.

Still I refuse to put all my eggs in one basket (read: hook), I don’t want to take the hook unless it’s absolutely necessary. The idea of an endplay is sound, but my timing and plan were incorrect.

After East has won the second round of and returned a for you, you should indeed play a to dummy’s King. When East wins and goes back to again, you can win and grant East the he has been craving for. On the run of dummy can miss some number of . But if East started with just two the endplay will be for real now.

A fork in both red suits and communication available in . I should have ended up with three tricks in , three in and three in the red suits.

Now before all the smart asses say that East should duck the to the King. No problem, you cross in (and take the other , too) and play another to dummy’s Queen. East can take two hearts now but you still got your stopper. So when East grants you the lead again you can finally fall back on the hook (scoring three tricks, one , three and two ).

I wake up, feeling nothing but some crumbly soot between my fingers. But I smile.