Thanks to Steve Vrooman of Pepper Pike for this hand from a duplicate bridge game. After three passes, South opens one diamond. Do you have an agreement with your partner about how to bid with the South hand?
There are a couple of schools of thought in this regard. One says that South should always pass. This is based on the assumption that tournament bridge players are very competitive and that one diamond will more than likely not be passed out. The player in the pass out seat will balance by either bidding or making a take-out double.
The other side of this is that one of the opponents may have a lot of diamonds and will be happy to pass and defend. It would make sense then to stretch to make a bid at the lowest possible level when partner opens a minor suit and you don't have at least four cards in that suit. There is the potential to arrive at some very difficult contracts, but that may happen in any case.
This hand illustrates what could happen. North opens one diamond and South elects to bid one heart. West makes a take-out double and North jumps to four hearts.
West led the ace of clubs followed by the king and then another club. Declarer trumped the third clubs and called for the king of hearts from dummy. East won the ace of hearts and made a small error by getting off lead with the jack of spades. Declarer covered with the queen. West played the king and the ace won the trick in the dummy. After the queen of hearts caught the jack, the last outstanding trump was drawn with the ten.
The ace and king of diamonds came next. Declarer then made the key play. He called for the queen of diamonds and trumped it with his last heart. This placed the lead in the South hand. THe eight of spades was placed on the table. West played low and declarer let the eight ride. The successful finesse of the nine of spades brought this very thin contract home.
Unit 125 of the American Contract Bridge League held the Buckeye State Sectional Bridge Tournament in Solon on November 4 - 6. The following players were successful in their respective events on November 6. Other results appeared in previous columns.
Flight A Swiss teams (12 teams). Stratum A1. 1. Niel Waletzky, Shaker Heights, Kumar Bhatia, Pepper Pike, Brian Ellis and Phillip Becker, Beachwood. 2. Kenneth and Laurie Kranyak, Bay Village, Frank Cymerman, Pittsburgh, PA, and Harry Stratton, Columbus. Stratum A2. 1. Stan Dub, Shaker Heights, Joan Ann Waletzky, Beachwood, Alan Steggles, Ravenna, and Virginia Bissig, Bear Lake, MI.
Flight B Swiss Teams (14 teams). 1. Peter Miller, Shaker Heights, Gary Montain, Westlake, Donna Largent, Cleveland, and Bonnie Goodman, Pepper Pike. 2. Richard Trogdon, Sterling, Robert Wood, Wadsworth, Joanne Schumacher and Betsy Wilson, Strongsville.
Flight C Swiss Teams (14 teams). 1. Bradley Sevcik, Youngstown, Robert Carroll, Warren, John Jacobs and Bill Griffins, Canfield. 2. Alex McCrea, Shaker Heights, Sam Den, Mentor, Virginia Colville, East Cleveland, and Subramania Krishnamurthi, Naperville, IL.
299er Swiss Teams (9 teams). 1. Lois Goldberg, Lyndhurst,
Cookie Marcus, Beachwood, Thomas and Bunny Kerr, Pittsburgh, PA.
2. Mary and William Roberts, North Ridgeville, with Richard and
Arlene Kalo, Avon Lake.
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Bernstein is
a free-lance writer in Solon.
To reach Harvey Bernstein:
hjb0416@yahoo.com