Thanks to Marty Baff of Beachwood for this very interesting hand. Baff held the South cards and his partner, in the North seat was Roger Tiktin of Lakewood.
After a very normal opening bid, West stuck in a pre-emptive three diamond call. North, with ten points, wanted to take some action but was really hurt by the pre-empt. His decision was to make an "off shape" negative double.
Looking at all four hands, South would do well to pass, converting the negative double to penalties. Perfect defense will allow the defenders to take eight tricks for a score of +800. Of course, South was not able to look at all four hands and decided to treat his heart holding as if he had four hearts and just bid the heart game. He expected to be the declarer in a 3-4 heart fit.
West opened the king of diamonds and declarer discovered that he was playing the infamous 3-3 fit. Oh well, you don't always get to be in the best spot, but you should try to do the best in the spot that ou are in.
Declarer played a low diamond from each hand and then won the diamond continuation with the ace. The jack of hearts was tabled. East played low as did declarer and West. Declarer cashed the ace and king of spades and trumped a spade in dummy. Next came the ace and king of hearts. When East had to follow to three clubs, the game came home.
In all, declarer scored two spades, four hearts, a diamond, and three clubs, for a total of ten. And the funny thing is, if East had one less spade and one more heart, declarer would still score ten tricks. How about that?
Unit 125 of the American Contract Bridge League held the Buckeye State Sectional Bridge Tournament in Solon on August 5 - 5. The following players were successful in their respective events on August 5. Additional results will be listed in future columns.
Afternoon Open Pairs (63 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Monica and Richard Early, Cuyahoga Falls. 2. Roger Tiktin, Lakewood, and Jerome Rolnick, Lyndhurst. Stratum B. 1. Jeno Triboldt, Vermillion, and Erna Pavick, North Royalton. 2. Donna Largent, Cleveland, and Joseph Radvansky, Marblehead. Stratum C. 1. Triboldt and Pavnick. 2. Nancy Fingerhut, Cleveland, and Hilma Robinson, Beachwood.
Afternoon Women's Pairs (14 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Sophie Novak and Rosemary Kleis, Solon. 2. Jean Fletcher, Cuyahoga Falls, and Jacqueline Farrell, Silver Lake. Stratum B. 1. Karriet Kitay, Solon, and Ruth Romito, Twinsburg. 2. Susan Conrad, Madison, and Elizabeth Bogner, Eastlake. Stratum C. 1. Conrad and Bogner. 2. Terry Goulder, Solon, and Diane Peltz, Shaker Heights.
Afternoon 299er Pairs (20 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Peta Moskowitz, Cleveland, and Barbara Kotton, Beachwood. 2. Sally Sharp and Kristen Kemp, Akron. Stratum B. 1. Sharp and Kemp. 2. Bonnie Aberth and Linda Beringer, Akron. Stratum C. 1. Daryl Bailey, Pepper Pike, and Linda Gillinov, Boca Raton, FL. 2. Ruth Schaul and Lennie Heiman, Pepper Pike.
Evening Scholarship Pairs (68 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Jack and Vicki Goodykoontz, Morgantown, WV. 2. Martin Baff, Beachwood, and Laurie Kranyak, Bay Village. Stratum B. 1. The Goodykoontz's. 2. Donald and Susan Huber, Canfield. Stratum C. 1. The Canfield's. 2. Janice Smith, Barberton, and Doris Mikstay, Canton.
Evening 299er Pairs (14 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Murray and
Marilyn Edelman, Beachwood. 2. Marilyn Doman, Chagrin Falls, and
Ildiko Baxter, Cleveland Heights. Stratum B. 1. Doman and
Baxter. 2. Richard and Mady Kaiser, Solon.
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Bernstein is
a free-lance writer in Solon.
To reach Harvey Bernstein:
hjb19@adelphia.net