This hand was played at a local duplicate game. South was put to the test immediately. If he decides to pass after East's opening bid, the auction may get too high for him to ever be able to show his hand. As bad as it appears, I think that it is right to overcall one heart.
West bids a spade and North makes a super bid - two diamonds. This is a cue bid that indicates a limit-raise (or better) in partner's suit. East raises spades and South passes. There is no reason to bid freely at this point - South knows that he will be competing in hearts, he just doesn't know at what level.
West bids three spades and North passes. When the bidding gets back to South he shows his second suit. North takes a preference to hearts and East bids four spades. Normally, South would pass to see if North wanted to double or bid on. But in this situation, with very little defense, a double is not an option, so South bids five hearts. Even at this vulnerability, the distribution dictates that South bid on.
The king of diamonds is the opening lead. Declarer wins the ace and calls for the queen of clubs. East plays the king. South plays the ace and West follows suit. A heart goes to the ace and another heart crashes the king and the queen. At this point, declarer is able to claim the rest of the tricks.
Please note that the side with only seventeen high card points can make twelve tricks with either hearts or clubs as trump. You must bid very aggressively when dealing with distributional hands.
Unit 125 of the American Contract Bridge League held the Ohio Masters Sectional Bridge Tournament in Solon on March 17 - 19. The following players were successful in their respective events on March 17. Additional results will be listed in future columns.
Afternoon Open Pairs (66 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Bernie Greenspan, Beachwood, and Paul Facinelle, Avon Lake. 2. Barbara Bacon, Rocky River, and Pat Harrison, Brunswick. Stratum B. 1. Bacon and Harrison. 2. Susan Conrad, Madison, and Julia Allen, Willoughby. Stratum C. 1. Kurt Rusch, Mayfield Heights, and Dot Rock, Cleveland.
Afternoon 299er Pairs (24 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Doris Weil, Moreland Hills, and John Hibsham, Shaker Heights. 2. Ramesh and Nalini Jhaveri, Rocky River. Stratum B. 1. The Jhaveris. Tie for 2/3. Laura Ross, Solon, and Joan Avery, Pepper Pike, with Nancy Schreck, Solon, and Joanne Stoddard, Sagamore Hills.
Evening Scholarship Pairs (61 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Joe Novak, Mentor, and Gary Sikon, North Royalton. 2. Victor Vertes, Cleveland, and Marlene Zinamon, Beachwood. Stratum B. 1. Vertes and Zinamon. 2. Betsy and Jim Wilson, Strongsville. Stratum C. Tie for 1/2. Duane Seelinger, Mentor On The Lake, and James Novak, Solon, with B. Shakoor, Pepper Pike, and Opal Taylor, Solon.
Evening 299er Pairs (14 Pairs). Stratum A & B. 1. Janet
Mungo, and Linda Beringer, Akron. 2. Robert Ryan, Macedonia, and
Victor Case, Akron. Stratum C. 1. Ryan and Case. 2. Roy Larson,
Wadsworth, and Dennis Young, Massillon.
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Bernstein is
a free-lance writer in Solon.
To reach Harvey Bernstein:
hjb0416@yahoo.com