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.