May 2005 - 14

Check out
the latest round
of national-event
winners from the
Pittsburgh NABC.
The Spring 2005 North American
Bridge Championships were held
in Pittsburgh PA March 10-20.
The following is a recap of each
of the national-level contests from
Pittsburgh with the exception of the
Vanderbilt Knockout Teams and the
Machlin Women's Swiss Teams. The
reports for the last two events will
appear next month.

Silodor Open Pairs
Eddie Wold and Bob Morris
turned in a strong performance
in the second final session of the
Silodor Open Pairs to win the twoday event by half a board. This was
the first time Wold and Morris have
played together as partners in an
NABC event.

Silodor Open Pairs winners
Bob Morris and Eddie Wold.

They finished the first final
session in 28th place, but their
second-session score of 67.94% was
enough to push them into the winner's circle.
14

In second were George Jacobs and
Alfredo Versace, whose final total
was boosted by a nice carryover
from their opening-day performance
that featured an unbelievable 78%
game in the first qualifying session. Close behind in third was the
matchpoint-powerhouse duo of Eric
Greco and Geoff Hampson, who
flirted with the lead in the second
final session before falling back late
in the round.
Wold and Morris, a couple from
Houston, previously have played as
teammates but never as partners.
Wold has dozens of previous NABC
victories, while Morris has one: the
1998 North American Swiss Teams.
Interestingly, Morris's team that year
edged out Wold's team.
Good bidding on two deals from
the second final session produced
fine results.
This deal was good for 58 out of
91 matchpoints.
Dlr: North  K 7 5 3
Vul: E-W  A Q 10 6 4
Q2
96
N
 A J 10 9
Q84
W E
953
8
S
K9
 A 10 8 5 3
K843
 A Q 10 5
62
KJ72
J764
J72
West
North
East
South
Morris
Wold
Pass
1
Pass
1
2
Dbl (1) 3
Dbl
Pass
4
Pass
5
All Pass
(1) Three-card spade support.
Wold's bid of 4 completed the
description of his hand, and Morris

then knew that his partner had at
most a singleton heart, helping him
to bid the club game.
This deal, from the first final
session, showed Morris making
a thoughtful play on defense that
saved several matchpoints.
Dlr: South  Q 8 6 4
Vul: E-W  3
KJ9652
Q3
 A K 10 5 2 N
J73
W E
K9
A J 8 7 5
S
Q4
 10 8 3
A 7 5 4
98
9
 Q 10 6 4 2
A 7
 K J 10 6 2
West
North
East
South
Morris
Wold
1
1
Pass
2
3
Dbl
3
Pass
Pass
3
All Pass
Morris led his singleton heart to
the 5, 10 and king. Declarer played
the A and a low club. Wold overtook his partner's queen to return
the 6 for Morris to ruff. Morris,
with an accurate count on the West
hand, deduced that if he played a
low diamond to Wold's ace and
another heart was returned, declarer
would simply discard his other losing diamond while Morris ruffed
with his natural trump trick.
Accordingly, Morris played the
K and a diamond to Wold's ace.
He later took the Q to defeat the
contract. The score was only average, but it was considerably better
than minus 140 would have been.
Silodor Open Pairs, 352 Pairs
1. Eddie Wold - Robert Morris,
Houston TX

3043.53

Bridge Bulletin
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May 2005
