Bridge | 29 November 2012

Ever heard of the ‘gum-wrapper coup’? My guess is not — as far as I’m aware, only one person has ever pulled it off, and that was about 80 years ago. I came across it while reading a book about the ‘father of contract bridge’, Ely Culbertson. Ely was a brilliant player but chronically impatient. He found it hard to sit still: whenever he was dummy he would lay down his hand as quickly as possible so he could get up and pace the room. On one occasion, the opponent on lead, David Burnstine, purposely dropped a chewing-gum wrapper on the table; quick as a flash, Ely laid down his cards — and Bernstine was able to have a good look at them before deciding what to lead.

He may have been a hopeless dummy, but at least Culbertson never rushed the play when he was declarer — a far more common form of impatience among the rest of us. This hand cropped up during a game of rubber bridge. Declarer saw dummy, thanked his partner, and immediately played the wrong card:

West led the ♥A, declarer played low from dummy and East discouraged with the ♥2. West switched to clubs. Declarer won, cashed the ♠A, then the ♣KQ and the ♥K — but then had to put West on play and eventually lose a diamond.

If South had slowed himself down at trick 1, he might have seen the need to play dummy’s ♥K under the ♥A. If trumps don’t divide 1–1 the only hope is to find West with a diamond void. Declarer can now eliminate hearts by coming to hand with the ♥Q and ruffing a heart — then exiting with a spade for a ruff-and-discard from West.