Thanks to Niel Waletzky of Shaker Heights for this hand from the finals of the Super A Flight of the Grand National Team qualifying event held on Sunday, March 4th in Erie, PA. Waletzky held the East cards. His partner was Brian Ellis of Cleveland. Their opponents were Joel Wooldridge of Buffalo, NY sitting North and John Kranyak of Bay Village in the South position.
Kranyak is a student at University School. He is the winner of the Youth category in the American Contract Bridge League master point race for 2000. His winning total was 422 master points. This hand is another example of why he is held in very high esteem by his partners and opponents alike.
After Wooldridge made a very normal one spade opening bid, Waletzky attempted to muddy the waters by making a pre-emptive jump in hearts. Kranyak could have doubled and would probably have defeated three hearts by four tricks for +800. He felt that there was a good possibility for a slam and decided to bid four no trump (Roman Key Card Blackwood) to check for "key cards". Woolridge bid five clubs showing zero or three key cards. In this situation, the trump suit is assumed to be the last suit bid by the partnership for the purposes of determining key cards.
Kranyak knew he was missing one key card and so settled for the small slam. Ellis opened with the two of hearts. The eight was played from dummy and Waletzky covered with the nine. Kranyak won the king and paused to take stock. He had nine sure winners outside of the heart suit. One heart trick was home and he was pretty sure he could come to a second heart trick by leading towards the queen. That still left him one trick shy of his contract. He could take the club finesse, but which way?
A spade to the ace allowed declarer to lead the ten of hearts. Waletzky won the ace and continued with the jack which Kranyak won with the queen. He then cashed all five diamonds leaving this four card ending:
With the lead in the South hand, Kranyak played the nine of
spades. West covered and the king was played from the North
hand. Waletzky's holding was destroyed. If he discarded the
seven of hearts, Kranyak's four would be the slam fulfilling
trick. If he kept the heart, a club to the ace and then a club
back to the king would clear the suit and the nine of clubs would
be the final trick. In actuality, he discarded the duece of
clubs and Kranyak played on clubs and made his contract.
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Bernstein is
a free-lance writer in Solon.