Thanks to Phil Becker of Beachwood for this hand from a local duplicate game. Becker held the West cards. His partner was Niel Waletzky of Shaker Heights. Steve Kalette of Shaker Heights was South and Ken DeMoore of Cleveland sat North.
Over the years these two partnerships have faced each other often and knew each others tendencies very well. With that in mind, Kalette decided to open a very conservative two hearts with the South hand. West and North passed. East made a take out double and Kalette continued his "slow play" by also passing. Becker bid three clubs which, in their system, showed a club suit and at least eight high card points. This was passed around to Kalette who now bid three hearts.
Bidding in this manner is often referred to as "walking the dog". Instead of being aggressive and bidding the full value of your hand, you want to appear to be doing nothing more than taking a walk in the park with your favorite pet. The hope is that the defenders will think you have made a silly error and double the final contract. This is exactly what Becker did.
The opening lead was the queen of spades. Kalette won the trick in the dummy and led a heart. Waletzky took his ace of hearts and led another spade, trumped by Becker. He was later able to score the king of hearts and the queen of diamonds. While most declarers were going down one in four hearts, Kalette and DeMoore scored +730 for making three hearts, doubled. Well done!
The All-American Regional Bridge Tournament was held in Independence from May 24 to 30. Congratulations to the following players who were successful in their respective events on May 25. Other results appeared last week and more will be listed in future columns.
Two session stratified pairs (82 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Laurie Kranyak, Bay Village, and Harry Stratton, Columbus. 2. Bruce Brian, Dublin, and James Brittan, Massapequa, NY. Stratum B. 1. Doris Hess, Beaver, PA, and Marlene McConnell, Allison Park, PA. 2. Diane Wasserman, University Heights, and Hope Ellis, Beachwood. Stratum C. 1. Hess and McConnell. 2. Janet Esmond and Vivian Duffy, Cleveland.
Afternoon side game (34 pairs). Strata A & B. 1. Terry Goulder, Solon, and Barbara Kusner, Orange Village. 2. Jeno Triboldt, Vermillion, and Erna Pavick, North Royalton. Stratum C. 1. Goulder and Kusner. 2. Lia Staaf, Rocky River, and Philip Macfarlane, Parma.
Evening side game (27 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Stan Dub and Sukumar Roy, Shaker Heights. 2. Tom Martin, Hudson, and Charles Lyon, Akron. Strata B & C. 1. Donald Barrick, Cleveland, and Edith Dus-Garden, Fairview Park. 2. John Kirstis and Allen Beroza, East Amherst, NY.
Afternoon non-life master pairs (24 pairs). Strata A & B. 1. Cookie Marcus and Jean Bloomfield, Beachwood. 2. Marilyn Edelman, Beachwood, and Gail Kamen, Chagrin Falls. Stratum C. 1. Cathy Weber, Chagrin Falls, and Barbara Tuber, Beachwood.
Evening non-life master pairs (12 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Elayne Rupert, Parma, and Judith Rolnicki, Brunswick. 2. Arlene Higgs, Medina, and Marilyn Johnson, Alliance. Stratum B. 1. Rupert and Rolnicki. 2. Ronald and Ursula Brown, Allison Park, PA.
District 5 of the ACBL is holding the Summer "Sectional
Tournament At Clubs (STaC) event during the week of June 13 - 19.
Check with the director of your game to see if it is
participating in this silver point event. The Cleveland Whist
Club STaC game will be held at 7:15 p.m. on June 15 at St.
Michael's Woodside, 5035 Mill Road, Broadview Hieghts. For
reservations or partnership information call (440) 248-3983.
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Bernstein is
a free-lance writer in Solon.
To reach Harvey Bernstein:
hjb19@adelphia.net