The strategy of the game of bridge changes with the type of competition you are in. This hand was played at a Senior Regional Flight B Swiss Team event on March 4th in Cuyahoga Falls. Fred Eberlin of Lyndhurst sat South and Edia Shai of University Heights sat North. By doubling and then bidding diamonds freely, Eberlin showed a hand worth 20 points. Shai's pass of two diamonds is correct. When East perseveres with three clubs, Eberlin has the opportunity to show his second suit. West has a bad hand and should pass. The tendency for a player holding the West cards is to "bid one more" with the rationale that partner has shown an offensive hand and down one could be a decent score. I don't necessarily agree with this, but I see a lot of it.
Shai was now faced with the problem of evaluating her hand for offense or defense. It is unlikely that four clubs will be successful. This assumption is based on the strength of the South hand as described by Eberlin's bidding. Here is where the difference in the competition comes into play. At matchpoints, beating four clubs, especially if partner can double, might be all that is necessary to win a top score on the board. At team competition, the bigger your score on the board, the greater the reward in the match. For instance, if you wind up with a 200 point differential on this hand you would win 5 IMPS (International Match Points). A 600 point difference would result in 12 IMPS coming your way. In other words, the game bonus is worth a lot!
Accordingly, Shai took a chance and bid the game based on three card trump support, a singleton club, diamond support, and enough spades to know that partner should not have many. East doubled because it appeared that the opposition had stretched to reach their game. As, in fact, they had.
Many players believe that it is correct to lead a trump when partner has doubled a contract such as this. Either a trump lead or a diamond lead would result in a one trick set. West wanted to "see the dummy" before deciding how to continue and so played the ace of clubs at trick one. As the cards lie, the hand could no longer be defeated. Making 10 tricks was worth 790 points. At the other table, the North-South pair played in four diamonds for 130 points. The 660 point difference was worth 12 IMPS and was instrumental in Eberlin's team winning the match.
As it turned out, this was the last match in the event and as a result of the win, the Eberlin team finished in second place. The gold points awarded for this fine finish were enough to enable Shai to become a Life Master. Jack Knudson of Solon and Clare Kromer of Lyndhurst were the other half of the team and they all took great pleasure in being a part of Shai's accomplishment.
The tournament was especially exciting for Eberlin. On top of the second place noted above, he finished 3rd overall in the March 5th Saturday afternoon stratified pairs (Flight B) with his partner, Donald Rop of Chagrin Falls. Then, with partner Sophie Novak of Solon, and teammates Rop and Joseph Harbert of Euclid, finished 2nd overall in the Senior stratified swiss teams (Flight B) on Sunday, March 6th.