Of all the bids Toni e-mailed to me, the most confusing was something called a Jacoby transfer bid .
It works like this: if your partner opens one no-trump and you have five or more cards in a major suit (hearts or spades), you don't bid that suit. Instead, you bid the suit ranked just below it.
So if your partner opens one no-trump and you have five hearts, you bid two diamonds. Your partner is now supposed to bid two hearts. That's why it's called a transfer bid. You're transferring the bid to your partner.
If you mess up and bid two hearts by mistake, there's no recovering. Your partner will think you are transferring to spades.
A Jacoby transfer bid is tricky because you bid a different suit than the one you mean. If you bid diamonds, it means you have hearts. If you bid hearts, it means you have spades.
I was beginning to understand how Trapp and Wallace had ended up in five diamonds that time when Trapp was void in diamonds. Expert partnerships use all kinds of complicated bidding systems. Like trapeze acrobats without a net, they need to be perfectly in sync or face disaster.
I picked Toni up at her house. As we drove to the bridge studio she asked me if I understood transfer bids.
"No problem," I assured her.
She seemed doubtful. "If you forget, that's okay," she said. "It's just one board. Trapp always said the best way to learn a new bidding system is to screw it up a few times."
I was actually encouraged by her lack of confidence in me. If she was willing to let me screw it up until I got it right, then maybe she didn't see this as just a onetime thing.
"So how'd you like the movie?" I asked.
"What movie?"
"I heard you and Cliff went to a movie."
"No," she said. "Who told you that?"
I considered mentioning Katie but decided against it.
"I think it might have been last week," I said.
"We never went to a movie," Toni said, and for a moment I grew hopeful that maybe I had been wrong about Cliff and Toni. But just for a moment.
"We went to a party at the country club," she said, "if that's what you're thinking about."
"I guess that's it," I said.
"It was so lame!" she added. "I had to wear this stupid poodle skirt, and every song sounded like ‘Rock Around the Clock.' I don't get why people think the fifties were so great."
"I know what you mean," I agreed, once again allowing myself some hope.
"Cliff hated it too," said Toni. "So we left and ended up just taking a walk around the golf course. That was really nice. There was a full moon, and there were like all these scary shadows everywhere."
I could imagine. I could imagine way too much. I tried to get my mind back on bridge. Two diamonds is a transfer to hearts. Two hearts is a transfer to spades.
At the bridge studio, we asked for table three, North-South. Trapp's table.
I sat in my usual spot, only this time I had no chair to my left and slightly behind me.
"Feels weird, doesn't it?" asked Toni.
"Very," I agreed.
Two women joined us, taking the East-West seats. They smiled sadly at me, and said how sorry they were to hear about my uncle. I thanked them. They tried to engage me in conversation about him, but I just gave one-word answers to their questions. I was glad when the game got started.
We began with board five. I opened one spade, and the next thing I knew I was the declarer in a four-spade contract. I went down one trick, because I didn't realize my ten of diamonds was good. I knew the ace, king, and jack were gone, but I didn't remember seeing the queen.
"Sorry, partner," I said, "I guess my game's a little off today."
"No sorrys allowed," said Toni.
In the back of my mind I heard Trapp ask, "And when has your game ever been on?"
These were my cards for board six:
Toni opened one no-trump, East passed, and I had to make a decision. Do I pass or bid two hearts?
My hand was totally useless unless hearts were trump. But if I bid two hearts, then I'd have to take eight tricks. If I passed one no-trump, Toni would be the declarer, and she would only have to take seven tricks.
Still, a heart contract seemed right, so I reached for the 2
bid.
I suddenly heard Leslie's voice screaming at me inside my head. "Stop! Two hearts is a transfer to spades. You have to bid two diamonds!"
I caught myself just in time. I set the 2
bid on the table and hoped that was right. I actually felt my heart pound as I waited to see what Toni would do.
West passed. Toni didn't even hesitate. Out came the 2 bid.
I came that close to screwing up the Jacoby transfer bid. At the last second, I heard Leslie's voice in the back of my mind, screaming at me to remember.
Everyone passed, East made her opening lead, and I tabled the dummy.
Toni looked at my cards and smiled. "Thank you, partner," she said, sounding as if she meant it.
Would you believe it? She actually made an overtrick.
I felt great. It was like an assist in basketball. I passed Toni the ball, and she slam-dunked it.