Some hands are pretty straight forward when it comes to the play. Some are not. This hand falls into the second group. First, we find ourselves in a fairly thin game. The trump suit is not solid, and there appears to be only one trick in each of the minor suits.
As declarer, you should make a plan before playing to trick one. It would be better to be flexible on this hand. Win the ace of clubs and lead a small heart to the queen. The queen holds the trick and East plays the eight. Now you know where the ace of hearts is. Every other honor card should be in the East hand (remember the two club overcall). If you play more hearts you are going to have minor suit losers to deal with. A better plan now would be to abandon trump and try to cash spades.
East trumps the third spade lead with the jack of hearts. Declarer plays the king of hearts and leads a small club. West follows suit. East wins the king and returns the queen of clubs. West discards a spade while the three of hearts is played from the dummy. The jack of spades allows declarer to discard a diamond.
The ace of diamonds is cashed and a diamond is trumped in hand. Declarer's last club is trumped in dummy with the nine of hearts. Declarer has nothing but hearts left and must concede one trick to the ace.
Making five is an excellent result and a tie for top on the board. Sometimes the best plan is to try to determine where the outstanding high cards are located and then play accordingly.
Unit 125 of the American Contract Bridge League held the Silver Bowl Sectional Bridge Tournament in Solon on August 4 - 6. The following players were successful in their respective events on August 5. Other results were listed last week, more will appear next week.
Flight A Pairs (26 pairs). Stratum A1. 1. Phillip Becker, Beachwood, and Laurie Kranyak, Bay Village. 2. Susan Bedall and Richard Traxler, Fairlawn. Stratum A2. 1. Vernon De Jong, Sharon, PA, and Chet Mody, Greenville, PA. 2. Charles Smith, Erie, PA, and Marc Sylvester, Edinboro, PA.
Morning Flight B Pairs (22 pairs). 1. Donald Southam, Brecksville, and Charles Wen, Strongsville. 2. Delores Bloon, Warren, and Nancy Tripodi, Cortland.
Morning Flight C Pairs (40 pairs). 1. Gary Collins, University Heights, and William Dickinson, Northfield. 2. Charlene Collins, Clewiston, FL, and Mary Anne Kriesen, Mentor.
Morning 299er Pairs (22 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Murray and Marilyn Edelman, Beachwood. 2. Barbara Cunliffe, Cleveland, and Pamela Jones, Shaker Heights. Stratum B. 1. Glenn Brown, Chagrin Falls, and Thomas Wancheck, Akron. 2. Mike and Bobbie Varble, Solon. Stratum C. 1. The Varbles. 2. Paula Madvid and Evelyn Charna, Chagrin Falls.
Afternoon Flight B Pairs (16 pairs). 1. Joseph Radvansky, Marblehead, and Frank Scali, North Ridgeville. 2. Victor Vertes, Cleveland and Marlene Zinamon, Beachwood.
Afternoon Flight C Pairs (34 pairs). 1. Donald and Helen Brock, Cuyahoga Falls. 2. William Dickinson, Northfield, and Gary Collins, University Heights.
Afternoon 299er Pairs (13 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Kathleen
Sevcik, Boardman, and Rick Lamanna, Stow. 2. Cynthia and Woody
Coddington, Chagrin Falls. Stratum B. 1. Sevcik and Lamanna. 2.
Georgia Dixon, Cleveland, and Frances King, Shaker Heights.
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Bernstein is
a free-lance writer in Solon.
To reach Harvey Bernstein:
hjb0416@yahoo.com