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When Magilla (South) opened 1♥, Kong could not believe his eyes. He was a bit fearful his partner had meant to put down the 1♦ card, not noticing the error, but he didn’t know how to get him to look again. Monkee Micky (West) elected to pass after contemplating making an unusual 2NT bid for the minors, and it was up to Kong.
Kong did not recall Oswald Jacoby ever discussing how to support partner when holding eight trumps plus a singleton and a void. Perhaps I didn’t read that chapter, he thought. He decided on a rather interesting or maybe peculiar call of 4♦, a splinter bid promising at least four hearts, diamond shortness, and game going values.
Aside from ignoring the fact that his shortest suit was clubs, the bigger problem was how was he going to know what to do if his partner signed off in 4♥. Long ago it was assumed that if you bid Jacoby 2NT to show 4+ trump support, you did not have a singleton or void, but for the last several decades it has been recommended to show a splinter only if you were a minimum game-forcing hand. Despite Kong’s 9 HCP, his hand was a whopper!
It was finally time for Davy Jones (East) to get into the action, and when he put down the 5♣ card, his partner Micky, holding six of them, almost fell out of his chair. Magilla, in spite of his club void, did not really have slam interest, nor did he have any interest in defending 5♣, so he bid a quiet 5♥, hoping that the auction would subside.
Even though Micky had 6-card support and a heart void, he did not love the rest of his hand, so he elected not take a 6♣ save for two reasons: (1) non-vul 6-level saves over a non-vul 5-level game rarely pay off, and (2) he did not want to push his opponents into a makeable slam. His comment to me later: “Now I’m a believer… that the 5-level is for the opponents.”
Micky did not have to worry, however, since Kong was going to slam on his own. How could he possibly resist? After his 6♥ bid, followed by two quick passes, Kong suggested to Micky it was his lead. They all got a good chuckle when Micky said he hadn’t passed yet, and surprise of surprises, he finally decided to enter the auction with 7♣. As he put it: “Monkee see, Monkee do.”
After two more passes, Magilla wisely doubled, and once the others passed, he chose a brilliant opening lead. He recalled his partner’s splinter bid, so he immediately played the ♦A, planning to continue with a second diamond. As soon as declarer Davy saw the dummy, he started to giggle. Staring at his partner’s 6-card club support plus a heart void, he was the first to realize both pairs had 13-card fits -- the first time he and likely most of us had ever seen that situation!
Magilla wasn’t amused by Davy’s chortling and of course had no idea what was about to happen, but when he played another diamond and Kong didn’t play a trump, I think he understood. Declarer Davy smiled, conceded a spade loser, and happily claimed an excellent save for down two (-300) against the easily making 6♥ slam.
The lead of the ♦A seemingly cost the primate pair a chance to collect +500 but it may not have. Had Magilla led a heart instead, he would have presented declarer with a rare first trick ruff and sluff. Davy would have ruffed in dummy while pitching a diamond, thereby losing only one diamond trick plus the ♠A. Only the unlikely lead of a spade would have held the contract to ten tricks (-500 for EW), declarer having to lose two diamonds along with the ♠A.
At North Penn, the best NS results were those in 6♥, doubled or not, and the best EW scores went to those saving in 7♣ doubled, down two (-300). Notice 7♣ doubled also beats any EW pair that defended 4♥ or 5♥, making six (-480). No one stopped in game at North Penn, but some did in The Common Game.
Post Mortem Anecdote: The Amazing Kreskin, sitting North, was dummy in 6♥. Before tabling his hand, the well-known TV mentalist (who passed away last month at 89) advised his table-mates that he was absolutely certain he could predict his partner’s exact heart holding and asked if anyone would like to bet against him.
The others knew he must be up to his old tricks, so they naturally declined. That did not stop Kreskin from proudly announcing: “Declarer holds precisely the heart King, Queen, 9, 7, and 6,” thereby startling and very much upsetting his partner. Kreskin suggested that she hold her hand closer to her chest in the future. Then he put down his 8-card heart suit and everyone understood his “clairvoyance” was not exactly magical.
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