Monster no match for Perseus in today’s game

“Here’s the proposition, my boy,” King Cepheus told the young hero Perseus. “Make six hearts and marry my daughter, the fair Andromeda. Fail and we feed you to that sea monster that has gulped down half the population. You see, Queen Cassiopeia was vain enough to say she was more beautiful than the Nereids, and Poseidon got quite upset.

“West leads a diamond. East wins and leads a trump.”

Perseus surveyed the North-South cards. To draw trumps and rely on the club suit to come in was clearly wrong. Instead, he could discard dummy’s jack of clubs on a high diamond and, if the queen didn’t fall under the A-K, he could set up the clubs with a ruff.

But Perseus saw a snag. If trumps broke 3-1, he could then take the A-K of clubs, but if no queen appeared, he would lack two entries to his hand to ruff a club and return for the good clubs. And testing the clubs before drawing trumps risked running into a ruff.

Luckily, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, gave guidance. Perseus won the first trump in his hand and took the K-Q of diamonds, pitching dummy’s K-J of clubs. He led to the ace of clubs, returned a trump to his jack, ruffed a club and led a trump to his ace. Perseus could then ruff a club, ruff a spade and win the rest with good clubs.

“Well done,” Cepheus said grudgingly. “What’s your track record against sea monsters?”

If the king had wanted to keep his daughter, he could have made the opening lead a club or spade. Then, not even Athena could have made the slam.