June 2008 - 58

We once played in the
Olympic showcase in Lausanne,
Switzerland. On the very first
board, I held:
A 7 6 5 4 - J 8 7 6 K 9 8 4.
Ralph Katz opened 1 and
righty bid 2. Ralph has given
this as a bidding problem for 10
years and no one except Joan
Stein has ever guessed what I
did. What does that say about
her? To this day, I maintain that I had
a good reason for my action, but my
psychiatrist says I must let go and try
to resolve this conflict. So I will just
tell you what I bid and let you figure
out the reason. I made a negative
double.
Yep, I did. Ralph had a pretty good
mitt, so he passed. We beat it for
plus 100. How unlucky was it that
every other pair was in 6, making.
As Claude would say, "It could have
happened to anyone."
Remind me to tell you about my
Michaels cuebid sometime. Okay, I
will tell you now if you insist.
They opened 1 on my right and
I had:
A K J 10 8 5 4 3 8 7 6 2 - 6,
so I bid the "obvious" 2, a
Michaels cuebid, showing 5-5 in the
majors. I figured I would always just
bid spades. Well, they made some

By George Jacobs

noise on my left showing a diamond
raise, and Ralph bid 4. Well, forget
those spades now - we have a huge
heart fit. We competed to 5, got
doubled, they misdefended about
three tricks and we went down only
500 - but Ralph had another gem
for his "Top 100 list" of my bad bids.
Hey, anyone came make a "normal"
bid.
Follow me back to the 1997 team
trials. You remember our squad:
Ralph, Howie Weinstein and me as
a threesome, with Brian Glubok and
Sam Lev playing 650 boards over 11
days. Ralph played 635 of them. We
had already played six days when we
drew the Nick Nickell team in the
semifinal round of undefeated teams.

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58

Bear in mind that it was my
first trials. Nobody dreamed
we would still be playing at that
point, and I was a tad nervous
playing against Nickell-Freeman,
Hamman-Wolff and Meckstroth-
Rodwell. Ralph conservatively
estimates that I pitched 60 IMPs
that set. Really? How would he
know? He spent most of that set
crying and moaning.
There was a deal I got wrong
and would probably get wrong again.
Tell me what you would do here.
Remember, you are pretty close to
being terrified on every play when
you get to declare a slam with
virtually nothing in your hand.
You hold:
8 6 5 J 5 4 9 6 4 6 5 3 2.
Nice, eh? Naturally, you are at
unfavorable. Your partner opens 2,
strong. Your RHO bids 2 and you
double, showing a bad hand. Lefty
bids 3. Partner, who thinks he has
a good hand, says 4 (!!!). Make
your bid. C'mon, stop stalling, bid
something. It is only Hamman and
Wolff waiting to feed on your carcass.
I admit that I took the cowardly
way out and bid 4, as many of you
would. Okay, maybe you wouldn't,
but you, you and you would. Partner,
still thinking he had a good hand, bid
6. Here you are:
A K J 7 A K Q 8 A K Q J 10.
6 was cold. 6 could not be
made. I managed to go minus 400
undoubled and got even more rattled.
Ah, bridge at the top.
As I mentioned before, I talked the
Nickell team into agreeing that we
lost by less than 100, and we agreed
to withdraw with one or two sets to
go. At the time, I thought it was a
great deal. Now I would keep flailing
away, I think.
Ciao.
r
Bridge Bulletin
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2008
