Thanks to Chet Jain of Willoughby for this interesting hand from a matchpoint duplicate game. Jain held the North cards and was very proud of his partner, Bernie Heyman of Shaker Heights, for both his bidding and play.
Jain and Heyman were using "two over one" as a game forcing bid, so once Jain bid two diamonds, the auction was not going to stop below game. While six spades is a very aggressive bid, it is not at all unreasonable.
West was faced with a problem on opening lead. On one hand, he knew that he should try to lead his partner's suit, a heart. On the other hand, holding four small trumps, a singleton is a very attractive alternative. Had he settled on a heart lead there would be no play for six spades, and so, no story. His decision, however, was the singleton jack of diamonds, which came around to declarer's ace.
A small spade to the king picked up the queen and revealed the bad spade split. Three more rounds of spades and three rounds of clubs left this position:
With the lead in his hand, Heyman did not cash the king of clubs, as this play would have squeezed the dummy. Instead, he led the three of diamonds and inserted the eight from the table. East won the nine and found himself well and truly end-played. Any play he made would give Heyman his contract fulfilling trick. In actuality, East played the ace of hearts. Heyman trumped, cashed the high club, and entered dummy with the king of diamonds. The king of hearts took the final trick. Very well done!
District Five of the American Contract Bridge League held the All-American Regional Bridge Tournament in Independence on May 22 - 28. The following players were successful in their respective events on May 27. Other results were listed in previous columns, more will appear next week.
Two Session Flight A Pairs (44 pairs). Stratum A1. 1. Peter Grover, Aurora, and Richard Fleischman, Beachwood. 2. Matt Granovetter, Cincinnati, and Patricia Katz, Pittsburgh. Stratum A2. 1. Karl Zaman, Strongsville, and Dennis Bushman, Apopka, FL. 2. John Stonebraker, Indiana, PA, and Jim McKeown, State College, PA.
Two Session Flight B/C/D Pairs (45 pairs). Stratum B. 1. Donna Steffan, East Amherst, NY, and Eugene Harvey, Lackawanna, NY. 2. Henry Nelson, Zelienople, PA, and Alexander Bealles, Butler. PA. Stratum C. 1. Hannelore and R. Brodersen, Akron. 2. Roy Larson, Wadsworth, and James Pivarski Jr, Munroe Falls. Stratum D. 1. Lana Creal and Douglas Megill, Warren. 2. Sylvia Barsotti, Hendersonville, NC, and Endre Tary, Langen, Germany.
Morning Knockout Teams (9 teams) 1. Lloyd Loux, Westlake, Marjorie Baldwin, Akron, Richard Rudolph, Westerville, Robert Sulgrove, Spring Valley, Jim Bachelder and George St Pierre, Columbus. 2. Joseph Sauro, North Bay, Ontario, Canada, Amal Dasgupta, Wilmington, DE, Mary-Ellen Barlow and John Arblaster, Niagara On The Lake, Ontario, Canada.
Morning Swiss Teams (12 teams) Strata A & B. 1. Kathy Pollock, Tonawanda, NY, Marc Sylvester, Edinboro, PA, George Kury, Johnstown, PA, and James Gray, Indiana, PA. 2. Monica Early, Cuyahoga Falls, Janice Smith, Barberton, Virginia Bissig, Bear Lake, MI, and Alan Steggles, Ravenna. Stratum C. 1. Doris Weil, Moreland Hills. Nancy Mathes, Lyndhurst, Mitzi Sands, Beachwood, and Ellen Rie, Cleveland.
Bracketed Knockout Teams. Bracket 1 (12 teams). 1. Vernon De Jong, Sharon, PA, Chet Mody, Greenville, PA, Barbara and Steven Grzegorzewski, Meadville, PA. 2. Marshall Tuly, Fairfield, Frank Treiber III and Diane Travis, Cincinnati, Mark Leonard, Ypsilanti, MI, and William Harris, Georgetown, KY. Bracket 2 (9 teams). 1. Madeleine and Arthur Obrock, Shaker Heights, Joseph Radvansky, Marblehead, and Donald Southam, Brecksville. 2. Molly Fainer, University Heights, Jean Joseph, Cleveland, Kermit and Catherine Wolford, Aurora. Bracket 3 (16 teams). 1 Robert and Judith Padgug, Amherst, NY, Jean Macdonald, Buffalo, NY, and Chongmin Zhang, Getzville, NY. 2. Robert Werner, Chagrin Falls, Anne O'Donnell, Gates Mills, Robert Carroll, Warren, and Bradley Sevcik, Olmsted Falls.
Afternoon Side Game (24 pairs) Stratum A. 1. Gail Hastings, Verona, PA, and Louis Joseph, Pittsburgh. 2. John Toy, Buffalo, NY, and Alice Williams, Turtle Creek, PA. Stratm B. 1, Marvin and Judy Solganik, Shaker Heights. 2. Sanford and Adrienne Ozan, Cleveland. Stratum C. 1. The Solganiks. 2, Charles Wen, Strongsville, and Sam Den, Mentor.
Evening Side Game (14 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Gene Keidan, Pittsburgh, and Alice Williams, Turtle Creek, PA. 2. James and Sara Buford, Lorain. Stratum B. 1. The Bufords. 2. Nancy Brown, Silver Lake, and William Riley, Akron.
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Bernstein is
a free-lance writer in Solon. To reach Harvey Bernstein: hjb0416@yahoo.com