The Adventures of Poor Frank, Part CVII: A Forgotten Trump
By Ray Adams
frankandarchie@yahoo.com
Things looked very good for Poor Frank just the other night at the local duplicate club. At least right up to the point where Lucky Archie miscounted trumps.
North’s two heart bid is hard to explain, but once North made it, Lucky Archie could no longer be stopped from bidding a game few other pairs reached. West led a diamond. Poor Frank cashed two diamonds and declarer ruffed the third. Lucky Archie now drew trumps by playing the ace and king. When he saw Poor Frank’s jack drop, he thought he had picked up all the missing enemy trumps. He now turned his attention to clubs, cashing the top three winners of that suit.
Lucky Archie now cashed the ace of spades, then shrugged helplessly as he tossed another spade on the table. But something incredible had happened because Archie failed to draw the last trump. Poor Frank had to win the spade trick and had nothing left but diamonds and one club. He had to give declarer a ruff and a sluff. When he did, Lucky Archie tossed his last spade as he ruffed in dummy. He then claimed the rest on high trumps, not even noticing that West still had the five of hearts left.
“Thank you so much, Frankie baby,” Lucky Archie said to his rival. “I couldn’t have made it unless you gave me a ruff and a slufff.”
Poor Frank sighed and said, “Did you even know there was another trump out, Archie?”
“Frank, you poor thing,” the Lucky One said. “it’s no wonder you never beat me. You just can’t count up to thirteen.”
