Logo Sac

Both Vul
MPs
Dealer: South
Lead: 3

	lornic J 10 7 A 8 J 8 7 5 2 8 3 2
a-yummy — K 10 5 4 3 Q 10 9 4 K 10 6 4		sauron 8 6 5 3 J 6 2 A K A J 9 5
	Maestro A K Q 9 4 2 Q 9 7 6 3 Q 7

West Pass 3 Pass

North 2 Pass Pass

East Dbl 4 Pass

South 1 Pass Pass

Sacrificing used to be a simple matter of comparing the points you expect to lose by passing with the points you expect to lose by bidding, and acting accordingly. In today’s hand, for instance, Gee, South, opens a spade in first chair and hears a pass from West and a spade raise from his partner. East doubles, West, who ought to bid 4H straightaway, bids 3H, and East, who has no business raising hearts, raises to game anyway. Sometimes two wrongs do make a right.

Back to our hero. Does he sac?

Let us reason together. With a 2-2 spades break unlikely on the auction, South holds about 1 1/2 defensive tricks, which means North needs 2 1/2 more to beat four hearts. Not happening.

So how many tricks do N/S take in spades? Nine is the normal expectation; it sounds like North has a stiff heart. Ten is conceivable, and fewer than eight is just about impossible. Down 2 doubled is 500, vs. 620 or 650, so you sacrifice, right?

Wrong: you pass. Sure, West eventually finds the CQ and loses just two trump for 98% of the matchpoints, but there are more serious considerations:

a-yummy: lucky i think
Spec #1: crash test helmet
G: I swear I was about to bid 4S but I did not want to hear about bones double tomorrow morning
Spec #2: lol
Spec #1: excuses
G: you guys feed the ego of that maniac by sending him stuff he can hit me with
Spec #2: oh man
Spec #3: lol
Spec #4: pills stopped working
Spec #1: the only maniac with an ego is the one we are currently watching
Spec #3: rofl
Spec #5: we are looking for sympathy here?
Spec #5: it seems like the wrong place to me :)
G: I cannot play bridge under fear… I’d better stop after this hand… I am not playing my game
Spec #6: sigh
Spec #1: fear?
G: I am playing the game of that a**h*** aaron
Spec #5: anxiety attack — anyone have any prozac?

The pass, then, if I understand it correctly, hedges against the possibility of another Bones Principle logo appearing on the site, and what looks like a refusal to sacrifice turns out, in fact, to a be a deeper sacrifice — a logo sac, as it were. And just as I thought I was starting to figure this game out…