Bridge in Heaven

The man who entered the confession cabin looked shattered.
"My son, you didn’t pay any attention to mass today. Did you steal? Rob? Murder? What's on your mind?", asked the priest.
"Forgive me, father, for I have sinned", the man burst. "It's been years and years that I think of nothing but bridge. I must know: Is there Bridge in Heaven?"
"What is bridge?" asked the priest.
"Bridge is a card game... It fills my heart, body and soul and I think of nothing but this game all day and all night. Today, instead of listening to your words, all I could think of was how I went down so stupidly in a wonderful slam my partner has brought me to".

The priest tried to conceal his smile and said in a serious tone: "On such elevated matters I must pray for an answer. Wait here, I'll be back in 10 minutes".

During those 10 nerve wracking minutes, the man went through his play in slam once more:



West lead the ♠10. Declarer won with the ♠A, drew two rounds of trump and ruffed a spade. Next he played a diamond to the ♦J. West won the ♦K and continued with another diamond. When diamonds failed to split nicely and after the club finesse failed – he had to concede to 1 down.

"This must be divine punishment! Both finesses off and diamonds not splitting - god is punishing me for sinnning with bridge," he remembered saying after the hand was over. But his partner explained: "Quite the contrary. It is because he loves you, that he gives you these beautiful deals and you insist to play badly and go down. All you had to do, instead of finessing diamonds, was to play the ♦A first, come back to dummy with a trump and play another diamond to your ♦J. That line of play will improve your chances of making the contract and will guarantee your success in this deal: When West wins the trick with his ♦K, having no more red cards, he will either continue spades, giving you a ruff and discard, or play a club to your ♣KJx . Either way you will make your contract".

His partner's wise words were still resounding in the sinner's mind when the priest returned:

"I have good news and bad news..."
"The good news is: There is bridge in Heaven!"
"The bad news: God has reserved a table for you there tomorrow..."