Bernard Marcoux of Montreal is the
1996 winner of the BOLS Bridge Press Prize. Here is
Marcoux's prize-winning article:
A MAN ABOUT
UNIVERSE by Bernard Marcoux
There are no child prodigies at
bridge. Why?
Because a bridge player needs certain
qualities that belong to an adult. The most needed
quality: the agility to think globally, to collect all
pertinent clues and to process them in order to obtain
an answer covering all bases --- all of them.
The great John Crawford once found
himself playing a grand slam, with trumps AKQTxxx facing
a singleton, and no losers anywhere else.
While he was pondering (yes, even
with 18 tricks, great players make a plan; do you!?) he
noticed that no kibitzer was moving away --- everyone
was following play intensely. Crawford reasoned that if
nobody was leaving there was a reason.
Looking at his cards, he found out
the only suit with a possible loser was trumps. That's
why the kibitzers were not leaving ---there might be a
problems in trump. Otherwise people, if able to count to
13 tricks, would have left. So he played a trump to his
10 for 13 tricks, RHO having started with Jxxx. That's
really collecting and using all the evidence.
You know the French expression 'homme
du monde' (man about universe), the former being
superficial and shallow, but the latter sagacious,
penetrating, intelligent, visionary. Valery also said
that daily events (which attract the socialite) are like
the surf on the sea; the really important events run
deep and only a man about universe, a visionary, a poet,
can see them.
You open 1
in fourth seat and find yourself eventually in 4
without interference. West leads the A.
Dummy
8 7 6
Q 4
A K J 7
T 8 6 3
You
A 4 3
A K T 8 6 5
T 8 2
Q
Fred Gitelman of Toronto shows us
here all the qualities of a man about universe. After
the A,
West shifted to the Q.
Fred ducked and West continued spades
to East's king and Fred's ace. A,
heart to the queen, everyone following. Club ruff to see
what's happening. Nothing. Really nothing?
Let's follow the thoughts of a real
bridge player, and if this trip doesn't leave you in
awe, you're missing life itself.
West has passed in first seat (first
technical step) and you know he should have 10 points:
AK and
QJ (second step). So he should not have the Q,
for he would have opened (third step). If East has the Q,
you are going down (fourth step). But, to make 10
tricks, you need three diamond tricks, without losing to
the queen (fifth step).
Fred concluded that, in order to make
10 tricks, the Q
had to be second. Every good technician would have
thought along the same lines. But Fred, man about
universe, a poet indeed, saw much further, much further,
and it is here that bridge becomes poetry.
Do you see a finesse in diamonds
(sixth step)? Read again, do you see a finesse in
diamonds when you know that the queen is sitting behind
AKJ7? How can you take a losing finesse and still win?
The majority of bridge players, 'hommes du monde' who
live at the surface of things, would have taken the
finesse anyway and complained afterwards of their bad
luck.
Fred pulled the last trump, pitching
a spade, and played the
AK (seventh step). East's queen fell, as it had to, but
Fred unblocked the 10 and 8 (first step of superior
order exclusive to men about universe, poets, real
bridge players)!!! Fred ruffed a club back to his hand
and played the precious D2 to the ever so precious 7
(ninth step) for +450.
You see, you needed a diamond finesse
all right and every socialite can finesse a jack; that's
a daily event, obvious on the surf. But only "homme
d'univers", A Man About Universe, can see so deep as to
envision finessing the 7, just for the beauty of it.
Just bidding 4
would have given Fred an aver age; +450 translated into
99% of the matchpoints. Why can't we obtain 100% when we
play perfectly? Even Fred will tell you that 99% is
quite all right, because as every man about universe
will tell you, the 1% left is a reminder that the game
is always greater than the players.
Do you know of a more beautiful game,
of a game that shows us so clearly the fathomless power
of the human brain?