Serendipity in Bridge
by R. Jayaram

Vivisphere, ISBN 1-58776-151-3, US$16.00 from www.vivisphere.com/squeeze/

I have always enjoyed travelling to foreign climes, experiencing a different lifestyle, meeting the local people and eating exotic food. So, I was pleased to pick up a chatty bridge book describing bridge in India, with plenty of colourful anecdotes of the great characters who play the game there. The deals are entertaining and instructive and there is more than a touch of humour in the narrative.

I was impressed by West's defence in the chapter entitled 'Glorious Hoodwink'. Kamal Roy sat South in the 2004 Indian Nationals, with Sukomal Das in the West seat:

K 9 6 4   8 7 5 3   K 6 2   K 5     A Q 8   A Q 2   Q 5 4   10 9 6 3   7 5 2   4   J 10 9 7 3   Q 8 4 2     J 10 3   K J 10 9 6   A 8   A J 7

West led the 10 against 4 and Kamal won with the king, seeing no value in a third club trick. When a trump was played to the jack, Sukomal won deceptively with the ace and returned the 8. With the trumps apparently lying favourably, declarer thought he could afford to lose two spades but not two spades and a spade ruff.

Since West was more likely to underlead the ace than the queen in this position, he called for dummy's spade king. The king won - mission successful - and Kamal led another trump, preparing to finesse and claim the contract. Not so fast! East showed out and the contract could no longer be made. If West had won the first round of trumps with the queen, declarer would have been forced to play him for the Q.

Serendipity in Bridge claims to be more than a collection of anecdotes and bridge deals. It is billed as: Book Three in the 'Two-Brain Bridge' series. By this, the author means that intuition plays a big part in bridge as well as logic.

Alaine Hamilton, in a very perceptive review of Jayaram's second book in English Bridge, noted that exponents of logic such as Reese and Kelsey would not agree with such views. Quite so, and neither do I.

What do you make of this sort of text in a bridge book: 'Though the unconscious is a sub-conceptual interactive system that does not help in building a concept level, rational description of the situation, it still guides effective or successful responses, sometimes made almost unthinkingly.' To be fair, it comes from a somewhat stiff guest chapter, written by a Professor of Strategic Management, whereas Jayaram's own writing style is very palatable. Nevertheless, I don't think the two-brain part of the book adds much of value for the reader. So what, if the left-half of my brain does this or that? How is that going to help me make this awful 6NT, where partner is a king short for his bid? Nor do I think that it is good advice to let your intuition override cold logic.

In conclusion, this is an enjoyable collection of anecdotes from the exotic world of Indian bridge. Flip quickly past the Preface and any paragraphs that seem to come from a brain surgeon's diary and you will have a great time.

David Bird

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