August 2013 - 16

but West has two low ones remaining, guaranteeing a second undertrick.
Down two, minus 300 North-South.
Closed Room
West North
Levin Kranyak
Pass
Pass Pass

East
South
Weinstein Wolpert
3ࡗ
Dbl
Pass

Weinstein also elected to preempt
3ࡗ, but Kranyak, converted his
partner's takeout double to penalty.
This turned out to be the winning
action, as Weinstein suffered a fourtrick set. The defense: ࡔA K, club ruff,
spade return, ducked to dummy's king.
Weinstein ran the ࡗ8, losing to South's
9. The ࡕA Q were next, followed by the
ࡖA. The trump ace was still to come,
so East-West paid 800. This was a gain
of 15 IMPs for Kranyak's team.
Down almost 80 IMPs at the half,
Nickell needed a rally, but it never
materialized. Nickell won the next segment by 9 IMPs, but lost the following
one by 22. The Nickell team won the final two segments, but it wasn't enough
to catch Kranyak, who advanced to the
final 264-219.
In the other semifinal bracket, Spector jumped out to a 20-IMP lead on the
first set, fueled mainly by this board:
Dlr: South ࡕ K J 10 7 5 2
Vul: Both ࡖ A 5
ࡗQJ82
ࡔ6
ࡕ94
ࡕ3
ࡖ Q 10 9 2
ࡖ7643
ࡗK
ࡗ 10 9 7 6 5 4 3
ࡔ A K 10 8 7 3
ࡔ9
ࡕAQ86
ࡖKJ8
ࡗA
ࡔQJ542
Open Room
West
North
Cheek
Martel
2ࡔ(1)
Pass
Dbl

2ࡕ
4ࡕ
All Pass

East
Grue
Pass
Pass

(1) Natural.

16 Bridge Bulletin August 2013

South
Zia
1ࡔ
3NT
6NT

If you're still trying to figure out this
auction, so are we. Cheek had no problems on the opening lead. Down one,
minus 200 for North-South.
In the Closed Room, Gitelman and
Moss arrived in 6ࡕ on an uncontested
auction against Willenken and Rosenberg. On the ࡔ9 lead, West won and returned the suit, but declarer ruffed high
and played a diamond to the ace. When
the ࡗK came tumbling down, declarer
had an easy 12 tricks (six trumps in
the closed hand, three diamonds, a
diamond ruff in dummy and two top
hearts). Plus 980 North-South and 17
IMPs to Spector.
Spector maintained its 20-IMP edge
throughout the first half of the match,
but their lead evaporated on day two
when Fleisher got revenge from the 15IMP loss they suffered in the first set:
Dlr: South ࡕ J 10 6 5 4
Vul: E-W ࡖ 7 3
ࡗAK432
ࡔ 10
ࡕQ93
ࡕA7
ࡖQJ6
ࡖ A K 10 9 5 2
ࡗQJ96
ࡗ87
ࡔA95
ࡔ876
ࡕK82
ࡖ84
ࡗ 10 5
ࡔKQJ432
Open Room
West North
Cheek Martel
Pass
2ࡕ
Pass

1ࡕ
3ࡗ
Dbl

East
Grue
2ࡖ
4ࡖ
All Pass

South
Zia
1ࡔ
Dbl (1)
Pass

(1) Support.
Zia led the ࡔK. Grue, faced with a
hopeless contract, tried the effect of
holding up dummy's ace. To paraphrase
Edgar Kaplan, this is a good strategy,
just not on this deal. Zia continued
with another club honor, Grue put up
dummy's ace, and Martel ruffed. The
spade return rode to South's king. The
defense collected another club trick
and two diamonds for down three,
minus 800 East-West.

Closed Room
West
North East
Willenken Moss R'berg
Pass
3ࡕ
Pass

1ࡕ
4ࡗ
4ࡕ

2ࡖ
4ࡖ
Dbl

South
Gitleman
Pass
3ࡖ
Pass
All Pass

Willenken and Rosenberg also got
to 4ࡖ, but Moss pressed on to 4ࡕ and
got smacked. Declarer lost two trump
tricks, two hearts and a club for down 2,
minus 300.
After 90 boards, Fleisher led by just 2
IMPs. The seventh segment, however,
was controlled by Spector, who regained the lead by 30 IMPs, 11 of which
came from this deal:
Dlr: South ࡕ Q 9 8 7
Vul: E-W ࡖ A K 10 8 6 2
ࡗ63
ࡔ6
ࡕ643
ࡕ K J 10
ࡖQJ97
ࡖ4
ࡗA4
ࡗJ975
ࡔ K 10 3 2
ࡔQJ754
ࡕA52
ࡖ53
ࡗ K Q 10 8 2
ࡔA98
Both North-South pairs arrived in
4ࡖ in uncontested auctions, but in
the open room Martel declared from
the North side while Grue declared
from the South side after a transfer
sequence.
Martel received the lead of the ࡔQ.
He won the ace, crossed to the ࡖA
and played a diamond to the king.
West, Becker, ducked. A heart to the
jack and king meant that declarer had
two trump losers. And when declarer
played another diamond toward dummy, he misguessed by going up with the
queen. Down two, minus 100.
In the closed room, Fleisher made
the unfortunate choice of the ࡗA as
his opening salvo against Grue. The
diamond continuation picked up the
entire suit for declarer. Grue also
guessed to play a heart to dummy's 10
at trick three when West played low.
Making five for plus 450.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2013