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Right Through The Pack
This brilliant fantasy features each card in the deck telling its own fascinating story.
- GenresGames
Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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August 26, 2018
Play the Cards!
Originally written by Robert Darvas and Norman de V. Hart with the Assistance of Dr. Paul Stern, and originally published in 1947, this book has been republished by Devyn Press of Louisville, KY in a more-recent year. The book contains fifty-two chapters, one for each card in a standard deck (pack) of playing cards. The book is not a textbook, and is not about bidding the game, but is a collection of stories about the play of the cards, both as declarer, and as defender. It revolves around the play of the game in the various bridge clubs that were found in the U.K. in the first half of the Twentieth Century, before the rise of Duplicate Bridge as the most commonly seen form of competitive Bridge playing. The book assumes that Rubber Bridge is being played, and often played for money, in these clubs.
After a long evening at the Bridge table, and after everyone else has left, the first-person narrator (Robert) imagines that the pack of cards has come to life as little “people,” each of which represents one of the cards in the pack. They call themselves the “People of the Pack.” They can read the thoughts and emotions of the Bridge players who play them, and they can appreciate exceptional play when they see it. Each individual card has a unique personality, and a unique story to tell. Each of the four suits represents a “tribe” with a Prime Minister (Ace), a King, a Queen, a Knave (Jack) and all of the other cards. Each “tribe” has particular character traits, with Hearts being “soft and sensitive,” while the other suits are shrewd, tough, devious, or gruff, for example. The People of the Pack speak with Robert, and with each other. Sometimes they argue and shout. Each is anxious to tell a tale from the Bridge table, and each, eventually, gets a chance. In addition to the usual descriptions of squeezes, end plays, coups and finesses, the book also describes some tricks and ruses that have apparently actually been seen at a Bridge table.
The book contains a total of fifty-two chapters, one for each card in the pack (deck) of standard playing cards. The chapters are not numbered, but are titled, instead. The chapter that tells “The Tale of the Seven of Diamonds,” for example, is titled “TWO SUPERCILIOUS KIBITZERS.” There are too many stories in the book for me to review each chapter, so I will provide an overview with a couple of highlights.
The story begins with a tale told by the Eight of Diamonds about a seemingly-impossible Grand Slam contract in Hearts played by a young man named Johnny after his partner and love interest, a young lady named Julie, confidently overbids her hand and places the contract at what appears to be an unmakeable level. Johnny begins the play and figures out how to make the contract. Naturally, the Eight of Diamonds plays a role in the play of the hand, and the story is told from his perspective. It is a brilliant example of making a description of the play of a very difficult Bridge hand both instructional and entertaining. I really liked it.
The author has developed a character who appears several times in the book called “Professor Hardacre.” The Professor is somewhat of an expert on Bridge, and his opinion is often sought, and his play is often watched avidly. In the chapter titled “THE DOG IN THE NIGHT AGAIN, The Tale of the Knave of Diamonds,” the scene is set in the cocktail bar of the Bridge club after the games are finished for the evening. A young man named Cecil Braithwaite thinks he is the best reader of the cards at the Bridge table that ever played the game, and he is not reluctant to brag about it. After listening quietly to the bragging for an interminable time, the Professor challenges the young man to figure out the best way to play a hand that the Professor had played the day before, and he went about setting up two hands of cards on his table in the bar. South is in a contract of four Hearts, and West leads the Five of Diamonds. The Professor’s lesson is about negative inferences. A negative inference is when declarer might draw an inference from what a defender does not do, rather than what he actually does. This is a Bridge strategy that is unknown to many players of the game, and young Cecil takes the Professor’s point and thanks him for his advice.
In his tale, the King of Hearts tells us about a team game in which one N-S partnership bids Four Spades and goes down two for minus two hundred points. At the other table, the N-S partners bid Seven Spades. They received the same opening lead of the King of Diamonds from the KQ10. At this table, declarer declines to finesse and makes his contract with a double squeeze. He drops the King of Hearts (which was offside) because it is the only way the contract can be made. In a later chapter, the author also presents triple squeezes and their successes.
On page #245, the author has Professor Hardacre present the probabilities of finesses, and it is an explanation that probably would not be intuitive to most players. He explains about when the finesse for a Queen should be taken, and when a play for the drop should be made. He shows the probabilities numerically, and he is persuasive in convincing us that a finesse is preferable to a play for the third-round drop of a missing Queen. (61.6% vs. 38.4%).
In the chapter titled: “A PSYCHIC DEFENCE, The Tale of the Ten of Spades,” that card tells us about a game in which a young husband-and-wife partnership finds a defense that defeats a contract that should never have been defeated. The husband plays two false cards that completely flummox the declarer. First, he sluffs in a way that convinces declarer that he has a Heart suit that is really held by his partner. Then, by sluffing the Nine and Ten of Spades on Declarer’s Club suit run in a Three Notrump contract, he convinces declarer to finesse his partner for the Queen. The finesse fails, of course, and the husband is able to lead a Heart to his partner. The contract is defeated down three.
At the end of the book, Robert hears footsteps outside the card-room, and the little cards all return to their normal state. The club steward enters the room and Robert sees that it is morning and the sun is bright. The steward assumes that Robert has slept in the card-room all night, and Robert agrees with him. He notices, however, that some cards that were upside down the evening before are now right-side up.
The book is full of amusing anecdotes, and if you are fascinated by the various ways in which the cards can be played in the game of bridge, then this is a good book from which to learn. It is a light, easy read, and I highly recommend it to lovers of the game of Bridge.
After a long evening at the Bridge table, and after everyone else has left, the first-person narrator (Robert) imagines that the pack of cards has come to life as little “people,” each of which represents one of the cards in the pack. They call themselves the “People of the Pack.” They can read the thoughts and emotions of the Bridge players who play them, and they can appreciate exceptional play when they see it. Each individual card has a unique personality, and a unique story to tell. Each of the four suits represents a “tribe” with a Prime Minister (Ace), a King, a Queen, a Knave (Jack) and all of the other cards. Each “tribe” has particular character traits, with Hearts being “soft and sensitive,” while the other suits are shrewd, tough, devious, or gruff, for example. The People of the Pack speak with Robert, and with each other. Sometimes they argue and shout. Each is anxious to tell a tale from the Bridge table, and each, eventually, gets a chance. In addition to the usual descriptions of squeezes, end plays, coups and finesses, the book also describes some tricks and ruses that have apparently actually been seen at a Bridge table.
The book contains a total of fifty-two chapters, one for each card in the pack (deck) of standard playing cards. The chapters are not numbered, but are titled, instead. The chapter that tells “The Tale of the Seven of Diamonds,” for example, is titled “TWO SUPERCILIOUS KIBITZERS.” There are too many stories in the book for me to review each chapter, so I will provide an overview with a couple of highlights.
The story begins with a tale told by the Eight of Diamonds about a seemingly-impossible Grand Slam contract in Hearts played by a young man named Johnny after his partner and love interest, a young lady named Julie, confidently overbids her hand and places the contract at what appears to be an unmakeable level. Johnny begins the play and figures out how to make the contract. Naturally, the Eight of Diamonds plays a role in the play of the hand, and the story is told from his perspective. It is a brilliant example of making a description of the play of a very difficult Bridge hand both instructional and entertaining. I really liked it.
The author has developed a character who appears several times in the book called “Professor Hardacre.” The Professor is somewhat of an expert on Bridge, and his opinion is often sought, and his play is often watched avidly. In the chapter titled “THE DOG IN THE NIGHT AGAIN, The Tale of the Knave of Diamonds,” the scene is set in the cocktail bar of the Bridge club after the games are finished for the evening. A young man named Cecil Braithwaite thinks he is the best reader of the cards at the Bridge table that ever played the game, and he is not reluctant to brag about it. After listening quietly to the bragging for an interminable time, the Professor challenges the young man to figure out the best way to play a hand that the Professor had played the day before, and he went about setting up two hands of cards on his table in the bar. South is in a contract of four Hearts, and West leads the Five of Diamonds. The Professor’s lesson is about negative inferences. A negative inference is when declarer might draw an inference from what a defender does not do, rather than what he actually does. This is a Bridge strategy that is unknown to many players of the game, and young Cecil takes the Professor’s point and thanks him for his advice.
In his tale, the King of Hearts tells us about a team game in which one N-S partnership bids Four Spades and goes down two for minus two hundred points. At the other table, the N-S partners bid Seven Spades. They received the same opening lead of the King of Diamonds from the KQ10. At this table, declarer declines to finesse and makes his contract with a double squeeze. He drops the King of Hearts (which was offside) because it is the only way the contract can be made. In a later chapter, the author also presents triple squeezes and their successes.
On page #245, the author has Professor Hardacre present the probabilities of finesses, and it is an explanation that probably would not be intuitive to most players. He explains about when the finesse for a Queen should be taken, and when a play for the drop should be made. He shows the probabilities numerically, and he is persuasive in convincing us that a finesse is preferable to a play for the third-round drop of a missing Queen. (61.6% vs. 38.4%).
In the chapter titled: “A PSYCHIC DEFENCE, The Tale of the Ten of Spades,” that card tells us about a game in which a young husband-and-wife partnership finds a defense that defeats a contract that should never have been defeated. The husband plays two false cards that completely flummox the declarer. First, he sluffs in a way that convinces declarer that he has a Heart suit that is really held by his partner. Then, by sluffing the Nine and Ten of Spades on Declarer’s Club suit run in a Three Notrump contract, he convinces declarer to finesse his partner for the Queen. The finesse fails, of course, and the husband is able to lead a Heart to his partner. The contract is defeated down three.
At the end of the book, Robert hears footsteps outside the card-room, and the little cards all return to their normal state. The club steward enters the room and Robert sees that it is morning and the sun is bright. The steward assumes that Robert has slept in the card-room all night, and Robert agrees with him. He notices, however, that some cards that were upside down the evening before are now right-side up.
The book is full of amusing anecdotes, and if you are fascinated by the various ways in which the cards can be played in the game of bridge, then this is a good book from which to learn. It is a light, easy read, and I highly recommend it to lovers of the game of Bridge.
January 4, 2023
One of my most fun memory of reading bridge books in the college. I read it in Chinese at that time, and obtained an English copy some 20 years later. It could be one of the best book to recommend to people who might be doubting how fun the game of bridge could be. I miss the feeling of excitement about this game.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews