June 2009 - 14

Houston NABC

There was still work to do, but
Rodwell had a good idea where
the high-card points were located,
so he won the club shift in dummy
and ran the trumps, followed by the
diamonds. This was the position with
one diamond left to play:

Winners of the Jacoby Open Swiss Teams: coach Eric Kokish, Bob Hamman,
Zia Mahmood, Jeff Meckstroth, Eric Rodwell.

Jacoby Open
Swiss Teams
The superstar-studded squad of
Jeff Meckstroth, Eric Rodwell, Bob
Hamman and Zia Mahmood was
undefeated in 16 matches to win
the Jacoby Open Swiss Teams. The
Meckstroth squad tied two matches
and won the rest to claim the title
with 134 Victory Points.
Narrowly in second place with
130.75 VP was the international team
of Lou Ann O'Rourke, Marc Jacobus,
Norwegians Espen Lindqvist and
Boye Brogeland and Italians Giorgio
Duboin and Antonio Sementa.
Despite not losing any matches, the
Meckstroth team was in second place
to the team captained by Aubrey
Strul going into the final round. The
O'Rourke squad defeated Strul in the
last round, however, allowing Meckstroth to jump into first place.
Strul's lineup included Michael
Becker, Larry Cohen, David Berkowitz, Lew Stansby and Chip Martel.
This deal from the second final
session was hair-raising for Rodwell,
who played in 5 redoubled. When
he saw dummy, he figured he was
going to be plus 1000 or minus 1000
depending on his left-hand opponent's spade holding.
Rodwell and Meckstroth opposed
Dutch players Bas Drijver and Sjoert
Brink of the Uday Ivatury squad
(hands rotated):
14

Dlr: East  A Q 9 8 6 3
Vul: Both  5
KQJ6
Q3
2
 K J 10 5 4
N  A K 10 4 2
J876
W E
987532
-
S
 10 5
987
7
Q93
 A 10 4
AKJ642
West
North
East
South
Drijver M'stroth Brink
Rodwell
1
2
Pass
2
Pass
3
Redbl (2)
Pass
3
Dbl (1)
Pass
4NT
Pass
5
Pass
Pass
Dbl
Pass
Pass
Redbl
All Pass
(1) Telling West not to lead a spade.
(2) Showing first- or second-round
control in spades.
Drijver started accurately with a
diamond, ruffed by Brink. Rodwell
knew that if West was void in spades,
he would have another entry to give
East a second diamond ruff, and a
high heart would result in two down
for minus 1000.
Rodwell was relieved when Brink
got out with a trump (Rodwell was
going up with the Q had East tried
to reach partner with a low heart).

2
J87
-
-

AQ
5
K
-
N

W E
S

7
Q93
-
-

KJ
A4
-
-

When Rodwell played the K,
East had to surrender. If East discarded a spade, Rodwell would cash
the A and take his 11th trick with
the Q. If East pitched a low heart,
Rodwell would exit dummy with the
low heart, putting East in to lead into
dummy's spade tenace. In practice,
East pitched the high heart, and
Rodwell was able to cash the A
and Q for his 10th and 11th tricks.
West took the last trick with the J.
North-South at the other table bid
3NT, making six for plus 690, so
Rodwell's plus 1000 was good for 7
IMPs. Had West been able to get in
to give East a second diamond ruff, it
would have been a 17-IMP loss.
Jacoby Open Swiss Teams
108 Teams
1. Jeff Meckstroth, Tampa FL - Eric
Rodwell, Clearwater Beach FL - Bob
Hamman, Dallas TX - Zia Mahmood,
New York NY
134.00
2. Lou Ann O'Rourke, Scottsdale AZ - Marc
Jacobus, Las Vegas NV - Espen Lindqvist
- Boye Brogeland, Norway - Giorgio
Duboin, Torino, Italy - Antonio Sementa,
Parma, Italy
130.75
3. Aubrey Strul, Delray Beach FL - Michael
Becker - Larry Cohen - David Berkowitz,
Boca Raton FL - Lew Stansby, Dublin CA
- Chip Martel, Davis CA
128.50
4. Uday Ivatury - Christal Henner‑Welland,
New York NY - Bas Drijver - Vincent
Ramondt - Sjoert Brink - Berry Westra,
Netherlands
117.25

Bridge Bulletin
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2009
