Mark Horton of Romford, England wrote this hand up for the October, 2004 edition of the International Bridge Press Association Bulletin. It was played at the North American Bridge Championships that were held this past July in New York City. The player in the South seat was Rabbi Leonard Helman of Sante Fe, NM. His partner was Rabbi Richard Margolis of Melbourne, FL.
West led the club king and declarer won with the ace. A diamond was played to the ace and a club was trumped in the closed hand. The king of diamonds was cashed and a small diamond was trumped in the dummy. The queen of spades was covered by the king and Helman won the ace.
Declarer played the jack of diamonds. West discarded a club and a the seven of spades was discarded from the dummy. East trumped and continued with the king of hearts. Helman won with the ace and led another club. It would not do East any good to trump, so he discarded a spade. Helman trumped and crossed to the jack of spades. That was his ninth trick. North's last club was led and no matter what East did, the jack of hearts was going to be declarer's tenth trick.
Rabbis Helman and Margolis are an established partnership. The double by East combined with the opening lead, painted a picture that aided Rabbi Helman in making the picture perfect play.
Unit 125 of the American Contract Bridge League will host the Buckeye State Sectional Bridge Tournament starting next Friday at the Solon Valley Pary Center, 6340 Melbury, Solon. Single session stratified events for players at all levels will be held at 1:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Stratum A will be restricted to players with more than 1,500 master points. The master point range for Stratum B will be 750 to 1,500, and for Stratum C, 0 to 749.
A two session Open Pair event will start at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. The second session will start at 3:30 p.m. This event will be stratified. Stratum A1 will be for players with 2,000 master points or more and Stratum A2 will be for players with less than 2,000 master points. Single session stratified events will be held at the same times for Stratum B (500 to 1,500 master points) and Stratum C (less than 500 master points).
Separate events will also be held on Friday and Saturday for players with less than 300 master points.
Team events for players of all levels will start at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday.
Additional information and partnership assistance is
available by calling 440-248-3983. The Unit 125 web site can be
found at http://www.whistclub.org
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Bernstein is
a free-lance writer in Solon.