“I know the heart is an involuntary organ,” a club player said to me. “It works without conscious direction from the brain. I didn’t know the tongue was that way until I acquired my current partner. Except he’s now my former partner.”

“Partners do tend to speak without thinking,” I sighed.

My friend was today’s North.

“My first four bids had shown nothing,” he said, “so when my partner cue-bid five diamonds, I thought my king was enough to bid slam. West led the ten of diamonds, and partner won with the jack, accepting the free finesse. He drew trumps, took the A-K of clubs and the ace of diamonds, and led a low heart.

“East won with the eight and led a club. South ruffed and led the ace and low heart. He went down two.

“My partner savaged me. He strained his voice, and not because he was talking through a colander. He said my slam bid was nutty. I mentioned that, as he played the hand, five spades would have been too high. That was the end of our partnership.”

North needed a new partner. South’s comments were, let us say, extemperroneous. Six spades was a poor spot, but South could succeed. He wins the first diamond with the ace and leads a low heart. East wins and returns a trump, and South takes the A-K, goes to the king of diamonds, returns a heart to his queen and leads the ace.

When East, with the missing trump, also has four hearts, South ruffs his last heart in dummy and wins the rest.

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