Thanks to Frances Mulkins of North Ridgeville for this hand from a local duplicate game. Mulkins held the South cards. Her partner was Carol Cooperider of North Olmsted. After East opened the bidding, Mulkins made a spade overcall. When the auction came back to her she bid her second suit. Cooperider raised to game and the opponents correctly decided that five clubs would be very risky.
West started with the queen of clubs which was allowed to hold. The club continuation was trumped in the South hand. Mulkins was able to pick up the king of hearts while setting up the spade suit, making twelve tricks for a fine score of plus 680. She thought that his would be a very good score because she had only seven high card points and her partner had only eleven. The hand was played twelve times and two of the other North-South pairs had better scores, making doubled contracts. Other pairs played in a spade game or partial and could make only ten or eleven tricks.
Keep in mind that you can't rely on point-count with distributional hands like this one. Don't be afraid to attempt to describe your hand during the bidding. Remember that when the game is "duplicate bridge", everyone else is having the same problem that you are.
District Five of the American Contract Bridge League held the Rock and Roll Regional Bridge Tournament in Independence on January 10 - 14. The following players were successful in their respective events on January 12. Other results appeared last week, more will be listed in future columns.
Morning Side Game (13 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Jeremy Williams, Reynoldsburg, and Jerome Williams, Westerville. 2. Ken Gee, Regina, SK, Canada, and Preston Carlisle, Ogdensburg, NY. Stratum B. 1. Williams and Williams. 2. Jean Joseph, Cleveland, and David Donald, Vineyard Haven, MA. Stratum C. 1. Williams and Williams. 2. Martin Seltzer, Columbus, and Suman Agarwal, Hilliard.
Afternoon Side Game (30 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Dave English and John Reed, Chagrin Falls. 2. Gail Hastings, Verona, PA, and Louis Joseph, Pittsburgh. Stratum B. 1. English and Reed. 2. Charles Lyon, Akron, and Tom Martin, Hudson. Stratum C. 1. English and Reed. 2. Charles and Barbara Bisesi, Berea.
Evening Side Game (20 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Gail Hastings, Verona, PA, and Louis Joseph, Pittsburgh. 2. Thomas and Julia Kennedy, Levering, MI. Stratum B. 1. The Kennedys. 2. Barbara Grzegorzewski, Meadville, PA, and David Donald, Vineyard Haven, MA. Stratum C. 1. Carol Leroux, St. Catherine, ON, Canada, and Arlene Dick, Toronto, ON, Canada. 2. Flo Tito and Mary Jo Johnson, Latrobe, PA.
Afternoon 299er Pairs (16 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Russell Peffers, Mount Vernon, and Richard Risser, Mansfield. 2. Georgia Dixon, Cleveland, and Frances King, Shaker Heights. Stratum B. 1. Dixon and King. 2. Eugene Wetzel, Twinsburg, and William Bruck, Solon.
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Bernstein is
a free-lance writer in Solon. To reach Harvey Bernstein: hjb0416@yahoo.com