August 2010 - 22

Canadian Bridge Championships

ward direct raise to game with a
practical double, and started the play
with a devastating trump lead (the
same contract was made after a more
prosaic spade lead at the other table
of this match).
Paul Janicki won the opening lead
in his hand to play a heart towards
dummy, ducked to the king. Also
ducked was declarer's next play: a
spade towards the closed hand as
Campbell bravely followed low for his
partner to win and exit with a second
trump. Denied two spade ruffs in the
dummy, North had no other source
for an 11th winner and ended down
one.
At stake in the 128-deal final: the
title of 2010 Canadian Team Champion and the right to be called Team
Canada (with a small cash subsidy
attached) during the upcoming World
Championships in Philadelphia.
During the ebb and flow of the final
(with several momentum shifts and
lead changes), notrump ranges of the
various pairs played a significant role.
Dlr: South  K J 2
Vul: Both  9 7 6
J984
Q74
 Q 10 7 5
9643
N
K8
 A J 10 2
W E
5
Q63
S
K98632
 J 10
A8
Q543
 A K 10 7 2
A5
West

North

East

Pass
Pass

1
3NT

Pass
All Pass

South
1
1NT

In their forcing-club system, Judith
Gartaginis showed 17-19 HCP with
her opening and rebid so Nicholas
had no reservations about raising to
game opposite at least 17 HCP.
Judith put up the Q on the opening lead and played three rounds
22 Bridge Bulletin August 2010

of diamonds (no finesse) to East's
queen.
The defender shifted to the J,
ducked and played a second heart,
also ducked, that West won to return a spade. Judith won that with
dummy's king to play a heart towards
the queen for her ninth trick and
chalked up a game swing when her
counterpart at the other table showed
a maximum of 17 HCP in the bidding
and North subsided at the one level.
Dlr: South  9 6 5
Vul: E-W  K 8 2
QJ32
AK8
K2
AJ3
N
 10 6 5 4 3 W E  Q J 9
987
65
S
 J 10 5
Q9763
 Q 10 8 7 4
A7
 A K 10 4
42
West

North

Pass
2NT
All Pass

East
Pass

South
1
3NT

A choice of games was also a critical factor in several deals in the final.
In this one, Balcombe's response was
an old-fashioned 12-14 HCP natural
notrump bid that he has always favored (and, as a former teammate in
many events, I can attest has served
him well, just not this time) that led
inevitably to the nine-trick game.
East's club lead found North-South's
weak spot, and there was no way for
declarer to set up the spade tricks he
needed before the defenders could
establish and cash East's clubs for
down one. That was 11 IMPs to Gartaganis when they chose to play in the
eight-card spade fit where the club
weakness was trivial.
The penultimate segment proved
critical as Korbel started that seventh
of eight sets with a 195-172 lead, but
the Gartaganis foursome was not to

be denied as they scored 63 IMPs
while giving up only 13 to establish a
useful lead.
Dlr: North  K 10 4
Vul: E-W  A 9 8
AKQ763
6
76
AJ95
N
 10 7
KQJ53
W E
S
 10 2
985
 A 10 9 5 4 3 2
J
Q832
642
J4
KQ87
West
Pass
Pass
Dbl
All Pass

North
1
1
2
Pass

East
Dbl
Pass
Pass
Pass

South
Redbl
1
3
3NT

During that Gartaganis onslaught,
Dan Korbel might have stemmed the
tide if he had been able to definitively
show hearts at any of his first three
turns (the double over the artificial
and forcing 1 opening showed both
majors) to attract the heart lead necessary to defeat 3NT.
Of course, it was still open to
Darren Wolpert to find a heart lead
but there were enough contra-indicators to persuade him a club lead
would be best. It wasn't and Gartaganis had 10 more IMPs on their side
of the ledger when North-South for
Korbel played in a sensible (but unsuccessful) 3.
Korbel did stage a mini-rally to win
the last segment 38-30 but it was
simply too little, too late, and the
round -robin winners were also 2010
Canadian Open Team Champions. r
Next month: Canadian Women's
and Senior winners. Complete results of all events and team rosters
are available at www.cbf.ca.
http://www.cbf.ca
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2010
