January 2015 - 28

the ♦A,	for	plus	650	and	all	the	matchpoints. ♦A	and	a	diamond	ruff	on	the	
go	may	have	given	Milner	pause	when	
it	came	time	to	play	trumps.	Finesse	or	
no?
This	deal,	reported	originally	by	
Phillip	Alder	in	The	New	York	Times,	
helped Milner and Lall to another
matchpoint	bonanza.
♠ A 10 3
♥ 10 8 7 6 2
♦52
♣Q98
♠976
♠542
♥A9
♥Q43
♦Q9643
♦ 10 7
♣ 10 5 3
♣KJ762
♠KQJ8
♥KJ5
♦AKJ8
♣A4

the	doubleton	♥A 9.
When the ♥10 held the trick and
West's	9	appeared,	Lall	had	12	tricks	
for	plus	680	and	another	excellent	
score.

Dlr: East
Vul: N-S

West
	
	
	
	
	

	
Pass	
Pass	
Pass	
All	Pass

North
Milner
	
2♦		
3♦(2)		
3NT	

East
Pass	
Pass	
Pass	
Pass	

South
Lall
2♣
2NT(1)
3♥(3)
4♥

(1)	22-23	HCP.
(2)	Game-forcing	transfer	to	hearts.
(3) Guaranteeing at least three hearts.
The	opponents	were	using	third-	and	
fifth-best	leads.	Lall	identified	the	
opening	lead	of	the	♦3	as	coming	from	
a	five-card	suit	and,	using	that	information,	inferred	that	East	was	more	
likely to hold length in hearts.
After	winning	with	the	♦J, Lall
played the ♠J	to	dummy's	ace.	Next	
came	a	low	heart	to	the	jack	and	West's	
ace.	Lall	put	up	dummy's	queen	on	the	
low	club	return,	winning	the	ace	when	
East covered.
Lall	entered	dummy	with	the	♠10
and	called	for	the	♥10,	a	play	with	two	
purposes.	First,	it	catered	to	East's	
holding	four	hearts	to	the	Q-9.	If	
hearts	were	4-1,	playing	low	to	the	king	
would	create	two	more	losers	in	the	
suit. Further, the play catered to the
actual	lie	of	the	cards	-	West	holding	

28 Bridge Bulletin January 2015

Israelis Ehud Friedlander and Inon Liran
won the Open Pairs.

Open and Women's Pairs

The	Red	Bull	Open	Pairs	was	won	
by	Israelis	Ehud	Friedlander	and	Inon	
Liran,	followed	by	Jacek	Kalita	and	
Michael	Nowosadzki	from	Poland.	The	
bronze	medalists	are	Thomas	Bessis	
and	Cedric	Lorenzini	of	France.
The	Women's	Pairs	champions	are	
Liu	Shu	and	Zhou	Tao.	Silver	went	to	
Huang Yan and Gan Lin. Both pairs
are	from	China.	The	bronze	went	to	
Indonesians	Suci	Amita	Dewi	and	
Kristina Wahyo Murniati.
David	Berkowitz	and	his	new	sonin-law,	Chris	Willenken	(married	just	
before	the	world	championships	to	
Dana	Berkowitz),	finished	best	in	the	
Open	Pairs	among	USA	players.	This	
deal	from	the	last	day	helped	them	to	a	
fourth-place	finish.
Dlr: North
Vul: E-W

♠ J 10 9 7 5 3
♥AJ
♦ 10 6 4
♣86
♠K
♠AQ2
♥Q98654
♥32
♦AQJ5
♦K983
♣A4
♣K752
♠864
♥ K 10 7
♦72
♣ Q J 10 9 3

West
North East
South
Willenken
Berkowitz
2♦(1)		 Pass	
3♥(2)
	 Dbl	
3♠		
3NT	
All	Pass
(1)	Weak	two-bid	in	a	major.
(2) Weak, pass or correct.
Willenken's	♠K	was	a	welcome	
sight	for	Berkowitz.	After	winning	
trick	one	in	dummy	(North	contributing the ♠J),	Berkowitz	considered	his	
plan	for	a	while	before	calling	for	a	low	
heart	from	dummy.	North	won	the	♥J
and	could	have	held	Berkowitz	to	nine	
tricks	by	switching	to	a	club,	but	he	
continued	with	a	low	spade.	Berkowitz	
won	and	played	another	heart,	ducked	
around	to	North's	ace.	Berkowitz	could	
claim	at	that	point	for	plus	630	and	
nearly	all	the	matchpoints.
Although	they	didn't	win,	Geoff	
Hampson	and	Eric	Greco	led	the	Open	
Pairs	in	the	early	rounds,	eventually	
falling	to	13th.	On	the	following	deal,	
Greco	made	a	good	matchpoint	decision	that	paid	off	handsomely.
Dlr: North ♠ 6
Vul: Both ♥ J 4
♦ 10 9 8 7 5
♣ J 10 6 5 2
♠A542
♠ Q J 10 8 3
♥Q82
♥ K 10 9 7 3
♦AQJ
♦4
♣Q98
♣A7
♠K97
♥A65
♦K632
♣K43
West
Greco
	 	
2♣		
2♠		
	 3NT	

North
Pass	
Pass	
Pass	
All	Pass

East
South
Hampson
1♠		
Pass
2♥		
Pass
3♣		
Pass

Greco's	4=3=3=3	hand	looked	like	it	
belonged	in	notrump,	so	that's	where	
he played it. North could have held
Greco	to	11	tricks	with	a	club	lead,	but	
he	started	with	the	♦10. South put up
the	king	-	as	the	play	went,	it	didn't	
matter	-	and	Greco	won	the	♦A. At
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2015
