"Inappropriate Gifts" by Marti Ronemus

At one time or another we've all received a gift that was stunning in its just-plain-wrongness. And so it goes with presidents. When Lincoln first became President, he was overwhelmed with gifts from King Mongkut of Siam (who was fictionalized in "The King and I") who wanted to forge a relationship with the West.

In addition to swords, fabrics and who-knows-what-else (the collection is stored in the National Archives if you want to see it), King Mongkut also told Lincoln he was sending a herd of elephants. Yup. Elephants. The king thought they would be of great assistance in settling our country.

Lincoln handled his refusal with exceptional grace, telling the King that because of our lack of tropical climate, he didn't feel the elephants would thrive as they deserved.

Too bad. We could have been the land "where the deer and the elephant play." Oh, and bridge players play.

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ Q J 6 5
♥ A 7 6
♦ A 6 5 2
♣ 9 3

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	Pass	Pass
Pass	1♥	2♥*	3♥
?

*Michaels, showing five Spades and five of an as-yet-unnamed minor

A: 4♠: Is this inappropriate? We can argue all day between 3♠ and 4♠, but we paid to play. Here's some thoughts: Pard's only holding three red cards, and we can cover two of them. E/W have much nicer hands than we do, so we want to be pre-emptive. We've got a nine-card trump fit. There you have it, with a ribbon. We're going to play this hand, so we'll see if we over-reached or not.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ A 4 3
♥ 8 4
♦ J 7 6
♣ Q J 10 9 8

Q: 2 - South:

South	West	North	East
Pass	Pass	1♣	Pass
?

A: 2♣: What else can we say?

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ K 4 3
♥ Q 8 4
♦ J 7
♣ Q J 10 9 8

Q: 3 - South:

South	West	North	East
Pass	Pass	1♣	Pass
?

A: 1 No-trump: While 2♣ would not be incorrect, with both majors stopped, why not try a contract where we only need seven tricks?

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ Q J
♥ 9 8 7 6 4 3
♦ K J
♣ A 3 2

Q: 4 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♠
?

A: Pass: Our suit is dreadful, our honors may or may not be working, just too ugly. Inappropriate to say the least.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ 3 2
♥ K Q 8 7 6 5
♦ Q 9
♣ A 3 2

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♠
?

A: 2♥: Same number of points, same shape, BUT!! We've got a suit we'd welcome Pard leading and our honors are much more likely to be working.

And now on to our quiz.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Play this Hand

Now that you've bid five hands, let's see how your play goes.

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