Moaning Mona Strikes Again
It was duplicate pairs at the Riverside. A series of boards with extreme distributions hadn’t gone well for us. Millie blamed computer dealing, but my belief was that we were simply playing badly.
We moved to the next table to find Monica and her put-upon husband Jim waiting for us. On our way, Millie remarked pointedly,
“Now, Wendy, try not to cause an incident with Moaning Mona today.”
I smiled inwardly but refused to react outwardly to the jibe.
The auction for this board seemed fairly routine, so I was hopeful that on this occasion there would be no incident to provoke Millie and Monica into conflict.
Dealer South. N/S Game
Auction
| West | North | East | South |
|---|---|---|---|
| Millie | Jim | Wendy | Monica |
| 1♥️ | |||
| 1♠️ | 2♣️ | Pass | 3♥️ |
| Pass | 4♥️ | All Pass |
As dealer, in the South seat, Monica opened an aggressive 1♥️.
Millie overcalled 1♠️. With his useful hand and good trump support, Jim forced with a 2♣️ cue bid.
I passed with the East cards. Monica bid 3♥️, showing her minimum values, and after Millie’s pass, Jim fixed the contract at 4♥️.
Millie led the king of spades, won in dummy with the ace.
A low trump from dummy to the king in hand produced the ace from Millie.
She thought long and hard before playing the queen of spades, following this with another spade. Monica ruffed in dummy with the ten, presumably in case I was now out of spades.
She then called for a low club, on which I played the four — at which point she claimed that she had asked for a small diamond, adding in no uncertain terms that Jim needed a hearing test!
The director was summoned and quickly determined that both Jim and I believed declarer had called for a club. However, the TD gave Monica the benefit of the doubt and ruled that the intended card was the two of diamonds, and deemed it played, with the three of clubs returning to dummy.
As a consequence, the director decided (rather harshly, in my view) that my two of clubs was now a penalty card.
I played the four of diamonds with the two of clubs remaining face-up on the table. Monica won in hand with the king and immediately led a small club towards dummy. Realising that the intention was to finesse the ten, Millie popped up with the king in case I held the queen or jack. The ace took the trick, but my queen of clubs took a subsequent one. Monica’s contract came home — but at least an overtrick was prevented.
When we discussed the board in the pub later that evening with Jo and Kate, it turned out that the auction had been rather different at their table
After a pass by South, Kate as West opened one spade. North doubled, and Jo bid two spades. South now bid two hearts — an insufficient bid. The TD was called and explained the options. South changed his bid to a strange pass. Kate’s pass ended the auction.
Auction at Other Table
| West | North | East | South |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kate | Jo | — | — |
| 1♠️ | Dbl | 2♠️ | Pass(1) |
| End |
(1) Insufficient bid of 2♥️ converted to a Pass.
Barred from leading a heart by Kate, North led the ace of spades and followed it with the ace of diamonds, crashing partner’s king.
Now North led another diamond, ruffed by South.
The contract of two spades slipped one off for a good result. Lucky them!
There was then some discussion about whether my two of clubs should have been classified as a penalty card. Millie’s solution was to email David Stevenson at Bridge Magazine.
It then took another half hour of debate on who would compose and send the email. I suspect it never got written. It was an evening of strange happenings — and a busy one for the director.
David Stevenson writes:
If Millie had written to me, I would have assured her that the two of clubs was not a penalty card. If dummy puts a card out that declarer did not name (as the director decided), then a card by the next player may be withdrawn without penalty.
