This hand came up during a duplicate game. I held the South cards. My partner was Mort Pierce of Chagrin Falls. Stan Jaffe of Beachwood sat West and Billy Kane of Willoughby was East.
With a weak eight card spade suit, I wanted to make a pre- emptive bid of four spades. My problem was, in first seat, opposite and unpassed partner, I didn't want to miss a possible slam. When partner could only bid one no trump, it was obvious that there was no slam and I made the bid I should have started with.
The opening lead was the two of hearts. Kane won the ace and played the king of clubs. I played small and Jaffe overtook this trick with the ace to return the jack of clubs. Kane trumped. I won the diamond return and played the queen of spades. Jaffe showed out and I had to concede a trick to the king of spades for down one.
I asked Jaffe how he knew to overtake the king of clubs and he gave me a very good answer. "When my partner led the king and you played the three I could count twelve clubs. The queen was the only card not accounted for. If partner had the lady, it wouldn't matter what I did, but if you had it, partner might be able to trump."
It is interesting to note that the East-West cards can score ten tricks in hearts, and without a diamond lead from South, thirteen tricks are a good possibility. Also, West led the two of hearts after hearing his partner overcall the heart suit. Had I bid four spades at my first opportunity, there is a chance that the opening lead would be the ten of diamonds, making the play at four spades much easier.
The listing of local players who were successful at the
Summer North American Bridge Championships that were held in New
York City last July did not include one result. Hau Ge of
Cleveland was a member of the team that won the Mini-Spingold
Knockout Teams. This event is held alongside the premier team
event of the summer tournament, the Spingold Knockout Teams, and
is limited to players who have not yet accumulated 5000 master
points. At the end of the first quarter of play, the team that
would eventually win the event was trailing by a score of 75-5!
They did not, however, give up. They took the second quarter by
a score of 55-30 and then won the third quarter, 74-22! The
final score was 185-165 and Ge, an electrical engineering student
at Cleveland State University, along with his teammates, was
rewarded for not becoming discouraged and playing well the entire
match.
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Bernstein is
a free-lance writer in Solon.