February 2007 - 16

Hawaii NABC
2006 ACBL President
Harriette Buckman presents
the Reisinger Board‑a‑Match
Teams trophy to the winners:
Gary Cohler, Joe Grue, Curtis
Cheek and Jacek Pszczola.

Reisinger B‑A‑M Teams
The team captained by Polish
transplant Jacek Pszczola, last among
the qualifiers for the Reisinger
Board-a-Match Teams final, took off
like a rocket at the start of the second
final session on Sunday and emerged
with a win by three quarters of a
board in arguably the toughest game
on the ACBL calendar.
Pszczola, known more familiarly
as Pepsi-Cola, was playing with Gary
Cohler, Joe Grue and Curtis Cheek.
He lives in North Carolina, and is
waiting to get a green card in order
to play full time in the U.S. He has
competed for the U.S. in the last two
team trials.
Second in the Reisinger went to
Russ Ekeblad, Chip Martel, Lew
Stansby, Fred Gitelman and Brad
Moss. The Nick Nickell team (Richard Freeman, Bob Hamman, Paul
Soloway, Jeff Meckstroth and Eric
Rodwell), bidding for a third straight
Reisinger victory, finished in third
place.
The Pszczola team, with Reese
Milner as unofficial non-playing
captain, were at the bottom of the
10-team field - with zero carryover
- starting play on Sunday. In the
first 15 boards of the second final,
they scored a remarkable 12 wins. In
rounds four and five, they played two
16

of the leading teams - captained by
Rose Meltzer and Ekeblad - both
ahead of them in the standings, and
took three of three boards from each.
Pszczola and Cohler had played
only a few sessions together in
regionals before traveling to Hawaii,
where they played in the Open
Board-a-Match Teams earlier in the
tournament. They met as members
of Milner's teams in previous tournaments. According to Cohler, he and
Pszczola played "system give count."
Cheek and Grue (winning his first
North American championship)
formed their partnership at the 2004
Spring NABC in Reno.
This deal is from the first final
session:
Dlr: West  A 9 8
Vul: Both  Q 10 7 6 5
 Q 10 8
 10 9
 10 7 5 4 2
QJ3
N
92
AKJ4
W E
973
-
S
Q52
KJ8743
K6
83
AKJ6542
A6

West
North
East
South
Cheek Helgemo Grue
Helness
1
Pass
Pass
1 (1)
(2)
2
Dbl
3NT
Pass
4
Dbl
All Pass
(1) Precision (strong, artificial, forcing).
(2) 0-5 HCP.
Cheek sacrificed in 4 against the
opponents' game, hoping to win the
board by keeping the damage to down
two or less. Indeed, Cheek's teammates, Cohler and Pszczola, got to
3NT and took 10 tricks for plus 630.
Norwegian Geir Helgemo, playing
with fellow countryman Tor Helness
as part of Rose Meltzer's team, had to
find the right opening lead to inflict
the maximum damage of down three
for plus 800.
Double dummy, North's best lead is
a diamond. Declarer can ruff, but as
soon as the defense regains the lead,
they can play two rounds of trumps
and cash two diamond tricks. North
will then enjoy a trump promotion
when South plays a fourth round of
diamonds.
If the defense begins by clearing
trumps, declarer can escape for down
two by arranging to win the third
round of trumps in his hand, taking
the heart finesse and cashing the high
Bridge Bulletin
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2007
