July 2008 - 13

Vanderbilt

The wild auction concluded with
the Poles one level too high. West led
his singleton diamond and Verhees,
reading the situation perfectly, gave
Jansma a diamond ruff at trick two.
A low heart to the queen and ace assured the defense of another trick for
one down and plus 100.
West
North
East
South
Gier'ski Weichsel Skr'zak Lesn'ski
1
2
2
4
Pass
Pass
Dbl
All Pass
Gierulski's Michaels cuebid at
unfavorable vulnerability was rather
risky, and he paid the price when his
partner took him seriously. Weichsel
knew what to do when 4 came
back around to him. A spade went
to Weichsel's king, and he switched
to the K at trick two. A club
continuation forced dummy to ruff.
Skrzypczak played a low heart to
the queen, ducked by Lesniewski.
A second heart was taken by South,
and another club forced dummy to
ruff again. Declarer played the K,
pitching a diamond, but Lesniewski
ruffed and exited with the Q. The
defense had four tricks in with the
trump ace still to come, so East-West
went minus 500 for a 12-IMP loss.
Near the end of the quarter, Team
Poland had another big slam swing to
regain the lead:
Dlr: East  4
Vul: Both  Q J 10 9 6 3
A 8 3
AJ6
7653
 Q 10 9 8
N
752
A84
W E
 K 10 9
62
S
 10 9 4
8753
AKJ2
K
QJ754
KQ2
West
North
East
Gier'ski Weichsel Skr'zak
Pass
Pass
1
Pass
Pass
2 (1) Pass
Pass
3
Pass
Pass
6
All Pass
(1) Checkback.
July 2008

South
Lesn'ski
1
1
2NT
4NT

Gierulski led the 9 (Rusinow)
to declarer's king. Lesniewski was
not without chances. If West held a
singleton K or East held 10 9
doubleton, he could bring in the suit
for no losers. Going with the best
chance, Lesniewski played the Q
from hand, covered by the king, and it
was quickly over. One down.
West
North
Jansma Jassem
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
All Pass

1
2
3
4
5
6

East
Verhees
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

South
Martens
1
1
2NT
3
4NT
5NT
6

Martens' 1 was the Polish Club
(minimum balanced or any strong
hand). 1 was natural, as was 1,
but the strength of the South hand
was still not defined. Jassem's 2
was an artificial game force, and
3 confirmed extra length in the
suit. Martens offered a cuebid of
3 and Jassem bid 4, a signoff
unless South had extras. Blackwood
revealed two key cards plus the trump
queen, and 5NT asked about kings
(Martens was planning to play 6NT if
Jassem showed a king). When Jassem
denied a king, Martens selected the
heart slam. Jassem needed some luck
to land the slam - and he got it.
East led a club to North's jack, and
Jassem played a heart from hand.
East won the trump ace and got out
with a club. Jassem overtook the
Q with the ace, pulled trumps and
played the top two spades, followed
by a spade ruff. When the Q didn't
drop, Jassem had no choice but to try
the diamond finesse, which worked.
Plus 1430 and plus 100 was good for
another 17 IMPs to Team Poland.
This deal, the second of the third
quarter, proved costly to Rubin
(hands rotated):
See next column
The artificial club raise kept Weichsel
from showing his heart suit, so
Lesniewski led his fourth-best spade
against the notrump game. That gave
Skrzypczak the timing he needed. He

Dlr: South  K 4 2
Vul: E-W  8 5
AJ4
KJ742
A975
 J 10
N
932
 Q J 10 7 6
W E
 10 6 3
KQ52
S
985
Q3
Q863
AK4
987
 A 10 6
West
North
East
South
Lesn'ski Gier'ski Weichsel Skr'zak
1
Pass
3NT
Pass
2 (1)
All Pass
(1) Artificial club raise.

won the Q in hand, then cashed the
A and played the 10, letting it ride
to East's Q. Weichsel got out with
the Q, but declarer won the ace and
played a spade, putting up the king
when West played low. He finished
with 10 tricks for plus 430.
West
North East
Martens Jansma Jassem
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

1
Dbl
2
3NT

1
Pass
Pass
All Pass

South
Verhees
1
Pass
1
2NT

On the bidding, Jassem could
comfortably introduce his heart suit,
getting his partner off to the killing
lead. Verhees won the heart lead and
immediately went after clubs, losing
to the doubleton queen. He won the
heart return and cashed his clubs,
but when Verhees played a spade to
the queen and Martens won the ace,
he had a heart to play to his partner's
hand for one down and 10 IMPs to
the Poles.
Despite that result, Team Poland led
by only 2 IMPs with a quarter to go,
and on the first board of the final set,
Rubin pulled to within 1 IMP. Except
for one other IMP near the end of the
set, however, that was it for Rubin.
The Poles won a relatively quiet final
set 22-2 to take the title. The final
score was 118-96.
r
13
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2008
