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The hollow needle (L’Aiguille
Creuse)
by Bernard Marcoux, Ste-Adèle
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At 12, I discovered books and… Arsene Lupin, the brilliant,
sympathetic and uncatchable thief created by French writer
Maurice Leblanc.
Devouring thousands and thousands of
pages, novel after novel, I was traveling everywhere in France,
especially in Normandy, in this region called Caux, a triangle
between Rouen, Le Havre and Dieppe, with all those poetic names,
but one in particular, Etretat. How I dreamt of this name,
Etretat, of that landscape, of that view.
In July of 1995,
and then again in 1998, I finally climbed the famous cliff that
enchanted my youth and discovered, for the first time, the
Hollow Needle.
At the summit of the cliff, a hundred meters above the sea, you
find yourself at the base of a half circle of around a
kilometre. To the far left, you see a rock called Magna
Porta (Big Door); to the right, another big rock called Porte
d’Aval (Door Downstream). They are called doors because
the cliff, in both cases, throws an arm in the sea, creating a
hole though which you can pass. The Hollow Needle, a rocky
cone of around 80 meters high, is situated in that half circle,
on the right side, about 50 meters from Porte d’Aval.
In this novel, The Hollow Needle (L’aiguille creuse), Arsene
Lupin is chased by a young student, Isidore Beautrelet, who
uncovers all his plans, only by thinking and logic. Young
Beautrelet puzzles all veteran policemen with his unorthodox
method of not looking for clues, but of imagining first a
hypothesis and see afterwards if the facts correspond to this
hypothesis.
-
And if the facts don’t comply? asked the inspector, ironic.
-
Well, they will be wrong and I will look for others more docile,
responded Beautrelet.
First position, vulnerable, your LHO, a very
capable player, thinks a while and opens 3.
Your partner, non vul, bids 4♥. RHO passes and you have:
AQ6
Q73
Q103
K1032
LHO Part.
RHO You
3
4
p ??
For her 4♥ bid, partner should show a good hand. You Blackwood
and end up in 6nt. LHO thinks again for a certain time and
leads… a heart.
Dummy
4
AKJ9854
72
A95
You
AQ6
Q73
Q103
K1032
Oops! A bit high, no? But you’re not down yet.
Let’s apply the Beautrelet method, let’s imagine a hypothesis,
let’s place cards in LHO’s hand that will permit us to succeed.
You see right away that he needs to have a stiff Ace or King of
Diamonds.
On the lead, won with the Ace in dummy, RHO plays
the 10, maybe a singleton. We need to extract the second
heart from LHO’s hand and then play a diamond. If he has a
singleton honor in diamond, he will be endplayed, forced to play
a Spade or a club. At the second trick, you cash the heart
King.
RHO signals violently in Diamonds.
You then play a diamond, small, small, King!!! LHO thinks.
Wow, your hypothesis was perfect. The more LHO thinks, the
more you are happy. While he thinks, your mind wanders on
the cliff of Etretat and the analogy strikes you: with AQ6
to the left of your hand and K10xx of Clubs to the right, like
two open doors, will LHO play into the Magna Porta AQ6 or the
Door Downstream K10xx, the Hollow Needle being obviously
Diamonds?
After a lot of thinking, he plays back… the club
Queen, right into the Door Downstream.
That play leaves you speechless.
Does he really have QJx in Clubs? Too
easy, would say my friend Arturo, while we were looking for
a parking place in Florence and came upon a big empty place,
let’s go further. Would LHO play the Queen without
QJx? It is a fact that we play the Queen only when we have
QJx.
- The facts are the facts, the inspector said
to Beautrelet.
- With ordinary adversaries, yes, responded
the young man. But, if the enemy has some ruse, the facts
are the ones he has chosen. All those famous clues upon
which you base your investigation (like opponents’ signals in
defence), it is easy for him to give you phony informations
(falsecards). And when the opponent is Lupin (or a good
bridge player), you can see to what total ineptitude he can lead
us.
You look and look at the club Queen, trying to calm your heart.
Arturo’s words spring again in your mind: Too easy!
-
Really, you say to yourself, I only have to win with my King and
play to the 9 in dummy and I will cash 12 tricks in this
impossible contract?
You give a look to your LHO. He kindly smiles back.
Suddenly, you recognize him: behind this benevolent expression,
it’s him, Arsene Lupin, and his words come back to you:
- When you will think you’re about to grasp victory, it will
escape you. There will be something… a detail… the sand
pebble I will have placed somewhere that you will have missed.
You call upon all your will in order to think and count.
AT BRIDGE, COUNTING IS THE ONLY ANTIDOTE TO STRESS AND ANGUISH.
Lupin knew you could cash 7 heart tricks, 1 Spade
and 2 Clubs, for 10 tricks. Why would he play the Queen of
Clubs, giving you 4 tricks if he has QJx?
Why does he play in this fashion?
Does he know something you don’t know?
You can’t help hearing his voice, full of
mockery:
-
Who knows if the trap where you will fall inevitably is not
already open?
The club Queen is still on the table, shining
brightly, so attractive. Almost ready to succumb, you
succeed in breaking the fascination that paralyzes you and you
decide to count RHO’s hand: he has 1 heart, 7 Diamonds. If
he has 2 Spades, he has 3 little Clubs, which is logical with
the bidding and LHO’s club Queen. Too easy, says
your instinct, too easy. There is something else,
you’re missing something. Go back to the bidding.
Suddenly, you have a shock, the light is so
bright you have to close your eyes: LHO hesitated before opening
3.
Did he open 3
with 8 cards because he was vulnerable? He would then have
8 Spades, 2 Hearts, 1 diamond and 2 Clubs.
And RHO would have 1 spade, 1
heart, 7 diamonds and 4 clubs.
If LHO had played back a
spade, he would have submitted himself and his partner to a
deadly squeeze and nobody would have been able to guard the
Clubs. The only option left was to create an illusion, to
try and make you believe he had QJx in Clubs.
This last hypothesis
(distribution 1174 in RHO) being the one (if the facts don’t
comply, I will look for other ones, more docile, said
Beautrelet) that will permit you to succeed, you then have to
base your plan on that hypothesis and reject all other clues
(attitude signals, count signals, preference signals, switch
that seems to give you the contract, etc.) that opponents offer
you. They
are all false leads.
You win the club Queen in dummy with the Ace.
The situation should be this one:
Dummy
4
J9854
7
95
RHO
x
--
AJxxx
J87
You
AQ6
3
Q10
K103
You play first the ace of spades. Then you cash the 5
heart tricks in dummy, watching RHO’s discards. He
discards all his Diamonds, except the Ace. At trick 10, on
the last heart, if he discards a spade, it will mean Lupin’s got
you. It is the moment of truth: you play the last heart
and East pitches a… club. You discard the now useless
Queen of diamond. The situation is now:
Dummy
--
--
7
95
RHO
--
--
A
Jx
You
--
--
--
K103
You play a club from dummy, small, 10 from your hand, winning.
You cash the last 2 Clubs for +990.
Lupin gives you a look of admiration and murmurs:
- Well played, young man.
The four hands:
Dummy
4
AKJ9854
72
A95
Lupin
RHO
KJ10xxxxx
x
xx
10
K
AJ98xxx
Qx
J87x
You
AQ6
Q73
Q103
K1032
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