Harvey Bernstein's Plain Dealer Bridge Column

First Published on April 29, 2001

(E-Mailed on June 20, 2017)


This hand is from the second qualifying session of the National Open Pairs that was held last month at the North American Bridge Championships in Kansas City. I held the North cards. My partner was Al Freeman of Cleveland. The East-West cards were held by Bobby Wolff of Fort Worth, TX and Gaylor Kasle, of Boca Raton, FL.

One of the real thrills of going to a national tournament and playing in an event like this is that you are going to be able to sit down amd play a couple of hands with some of the best players in the world. I can't think of any other sporting activity that affords the average player that opportunity. You might compare it to playing a round of golf in a foursome with Arnold Palmer or Tiger Woods.

From my viewpoint, the hand started out normally. Freeman opened one diamond and Kasle overcalled one spade. I bid two hearts and Wolff bid two spades. Freeman showed his club suit and Kasle continued to bid spades. At this point, I felt my hand was well suited to play in diamonds. I thought about jumping to game but decided to take a more conservative action and bid four diamonds. Freeman raised to game and Wolff decided to bid bid on to five spades.

I am not an advocate of sacrificing at the five level. On the other hand, I am not going to question Bobby Wolff's judgement. My partner, however, was grateful for the chance to bid again. He wanted to bid the slam at his previous opportunity, but felt a little intimidated by the opposition. It did not take him long to shake off the intimidation and bid six diamonds.

The play did not take long either. The opening lead was the king of spades. Freeman called for the ace and then led a diamond from the table. Wolff won the ace and led another spade. Freeman trumped and was able to trump clubs in the dummy until the remaining cards in his hand were good.

Top on a board in this event was 38 matchpoints. Our score of +1370 was worth only 27. This means that about half the field bid the slam. It is surprising because the North-South hands only have 20 high card points and there will always be opposition bidding. But the field was very good.
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Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon.

Past eMailed Columns

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October 15, 2000January 21, 2020
December 20, 2002January 18, 2020
February 18, 2005January 14, 2020
April 16, 2004January 11, 2020
April 2, 2000January 7, 2020
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September 10, 1995February 9, 2016
January 24, 1999February 6, 2016
August 6, 2004February 2, 2016
May 7, 1995January 30, 2016
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July 16, 2000January 23, 2016
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November 1, 2002January 16, 2016
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September 3, 2000January 5, 2016
June 25, 1995January 2, 2016
May 19, 2007December 29, 2015
October 28, 2006December 28, 2015
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