Friday, June 6, 2003

Column #62

American (2003 NMJL card). You've heard of a red-letter day? Well, Wesley was having a red-dragon night. Three hands in a row came in with pairs of red dragons. First, He got dragons and threes.

After the second right, he'd also picked up eights. He could go for two different concealed hands, and they were both even.

He offered just one tile in the courtesy (1B) and got 2C in exchange. His first pick was F. That changed everything.

Now the 2468 hand was closer, so he threw away the threes. Before long he picked G, 2C, and R. As he threw the last three, he was waiting for 2C or G. Right after he got set, Sophia threw G. So far so good.

His next deal suggested Like Numbers (threes or fives).

After the Charleston, he had narrowed it to fives. Much picking later, he was getting very close.

But Esther went mah-jongg. His third deal looked like 369 #4.

He thought about stopping the Charleston, but decided not to.

Not that it mattered in the end. It was a wall game. If anybody asks, a "red-dragon night" isn't necessarily a good thing.

Click the entries in the header frame, above, to read other columns.

Copyright 2003 Tom Sloper. All rights reserved.