Si Tacuisses Philosophus Mansisses

Pages: Page 6 of 6

Dealer: North
Vuln: Game All
Scoring: Rubber
  1. spadeK 10 9
  2. heartA J 9
  3. diamondA K 8 6 5 3
  4. club3
  1. spade6 4 2
  2. heartK 10 7 6 5 4 2
  3. diamond4
  4. club10 9
club diamond heart spade NT
N 3 5 - 7 4
S 3 5 - 7 4
E - - 1 - -
W - - 1 - -
Green square in centre
  1. spade3
  2. heartQ 8 3
  3. diamondQ J 10 9
  4. clubK Q J 6 2

Contract: 7spade
Declarer: South
Lead: club10
  1. spadeA Q J 8 7 5
  2. heart—
  3. diamond7 2
  4. clubA 8 7 5 4
Double dummy analyser: makeable contracts
West North East South
1diamond Pass 1spade
Pass 3diamond Pass 3spade
Pass 4NT Pass 5NT
Pass 7spade End
Declarer basically adopted the second line by cross-ruffing three clubs and three hearts, which included ruffing heartA instead of ditching a club on it!!! This gave him the extra entry back to hand to draw trumps, and although he appeared to be a trick short the last trump squeezed East in the minors!!!!

The story goes that in the post mortem South admitted that ruffing heartA had been a mistake - he had meant to throw a club. North, a Latin expert at one of the famous English public schools, leaned forward towards his partner with this advice
"si tacuisses philosophus mansisses".
("Had you remained silent, you would still have a reputation for wisdom")
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