Defending against three no trump, West did not want to lead a spade into declarer's holding. He decided that his second choice, would be the club suit. Now, which club to lead. The partnership agreement was "4th best" and accordingly, he put the five on the table.
East gained the lead twice with diamonds and each time, returned a club. Declarer scored one spade, two hearts, three diamonds, and three clubs for his contract.
At the other table West found himself on lead against the same contract but had a different partnership agreement. When leading 4th best, the agreement was that the leader must have at least one of the top three honors. Without that holding, they had agreed to lead second highest of the suit. With that in mind, the opening lead was the eight of clubs.
South won the open lead and put the jack of diamonds on the table. East correctly played low. A second diamond went to the nine and king. East knew that his partner did not hold the queen of clubs. A spade shift looked right and declarer's queen lost to the king.
West led the nine of hearts which ran around to the queen. A second heart went to the jack and king. East played his last spade, taken by South's ace. A heart to the ace was the entry to cash the ace of diamonds and get the bad news in that suit.
When the smoke cleared, declarer had made one spade, two hearts, two diamonds, and three clubs for a total of eight tricks.
Unit 125 of the American Contract Bridge League hosted the Silver Bowl Sectional Bridge Tournament from August 13-15 in Solon. Congratulations to the following players who were successful in their respective events on August 13th. Additional results will appear next week.
Afternoon Open Pairs (86 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Edia Shai, University Heights and Mina Ronen, Akron. 2. Lloyd Loux, Westlake, and Jim Bachelder, Columbus. Stratum B & C. 1/2. Martha Wilk, Willoughby, and Lucille Race, Cleveland, tied with Terry Goldberg, Cleveland and Ronna Rosenthal, Chagrin Falls.
Afternoon 299er Pairs (30 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Lansing Fake, Sheffield Lake, and Kathy Kovacs, Westlake. 2. Doug Henderson, Cleveland, and Tom McGuire, Guysville. Stratum B. 1. Fake and Kovacs. 2. Vivien Sevin, Lyndhurst, and Gayle Singer, Moreland Hills. Stratum C. 1. Sally Shaffer and Bonnie Aberth, Akron. 2. Georgia Dixon, Cleveland, and Frances king, Shaker Heights.
Evening Scholarship Pairs (83 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Lesley Green, Lakewood, and Susan Conrad, Madison. 2. Roger Tiktin, Lakewood, and James Reeve, North Royalton. Stratum B & C. 1. Green and Conrad. 2. Dot Rock and Kurt Rusch, Cleveland.
Evening 299er Pairs (12 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Donald and
Susan Huber, Canfield. 2. Thomas and Janet Rice, Cleveland.
Stratum B. 1. Charles and Barbara Bisesi, Berea.
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Bernstein is
a free-lance writer in Solon.