March 2016 - 26

Dlr: South ♠ 2
Vul: Both ♥ A K 7 6 4
♦ J 10 9 7
♣Q75
♠ Q J 10 6 5 3
♠A4
♥Q95
♥ J 10 8 3 2
♦K53
♦Q86
♣J
♣ 10 4 2
♠K987
♥-
♦A42
♣AK9863
West
Bomber

North
Adam G.

East
Rathi

1♠
Pass
Pass
Pass
All Pass

2♥
3♣
3♠
4♣

Pass
Pass
Dbl
Pass

South
Zach G.
1♣
2♠
3♦
Pass
6♣

Opening lead: ♠Q.
The Grossack brothers bid aggressively to the dicey club slam, which
Zach justified with inspired play. The
♠Q lead went to East's ace. Rathi
shifted to the ♦8.
Looking at just the North-South
hands, it would appear that declarer
needs to ruff his two spade losers in
dummy, pitch his diamonds on the
♥A K and hope to draw trumps. This
play is doomed to fail on the actual
layout.
Zach won the ♦A at trick two. He
was wary of a 6-2 spade break given
East's failure to raise holding the ♠A.
He led a crafty ♠8 from hand at trick
three. When West innocently failed to
cover, Zach backed his instincts and
pitched the ♦9 from dummy! He still
had to navigate a few hurdles, but he
brought the slam home by cashing a
top club, noting the fall of West's jack.
He ruffed a spade in dummy with the
♣Q, took his pitches on the ♥A K and
finessed the ♣10. Plus 1370 was good
for 11 IMPs when North-South at
the other table collected 800 versus a
spade partscore.
Not to be outdone, teammate Kevin
Rosenberg had an opportunity to shine
on this deal from the key third segment, another slam.

26 Bridge Bulletin March 2016

Dlr: East
Vul: Both
♠J9632
♥63
♦ K J 10
♣532

♠Q85
♥Q4
♦9853
♣AJ76

♠ K 10 7 4
♥ 10
♦AQ762
♣ Q 10 9

♠A
♥AKJ98752
♦4
♣K84

West
North
East
Sanders Kristensen Gannon
1♦
Dbl
Redbl (1)
2♠ (2)
(4)
Pass
4♠
Pass
Pass
5♣ (6)
Pass
All Pass

South
R'berg
1♥
4♦ (3)
4NT (5)
6♥

(1) Values, doubleton in hearts.
(2) Four spades, minimum hand.
(3) Shortness in diamonds.
(4) Forward going.
(5) Roman Key Card Blackwood.
(6) 1 or 4.
Opening lead: ♥3.
At first glance, it looks like 6♥ is on
the club finesse, but with RHO expected to have most of the high cards,
Kevin chose to keep his options open.
He exercised the common and valid
bridge aphorism: "When in doubt, run
your long suit."
Michael Rosenberg adds, "Another
even more important principle that
Kevin followed - which seems to
escape most players - is that if the club
finesse is on now, it will still be on later.
The cards do not magically change. So
there is no rush to take this finesse."
After eight rounds of trumps, Kevin
reached this position:
♠Q8
♥-
♦-
♣AJ7
♠A
♥-
♦4
♣K84
Based on the auction and discards,

he was certain that RHO held the ♣Q.
All was not lost, however, if the ♠K is
there as well. East must reduce to five
cards. To keep spades protected, he
must retain K-x and to keep clubs protected he must keep Q-x-x; therefore
all the diamonds must be discarded.
Declarer can then cash the ♠A, cross
to the ♣A and throw RHO in with the
♠K (discarding his diamond) to lead
away from the ♣Q. There is no defense
if declarer reads the position. Gannon
opted to pitch a club early, trying to
look like someone who started with
♣Q-x-x-x, in which case the endplay
would fail. That might have worked
except the club spots gave the show
away when he discarded the 9 early
and followed with the 10 in the endgame. Declarer could lead a club with
confidence, as the J-7 opposite K-8
was good for two tricks if RHO indeed
had the queen as expected. Plus 1430
was good for 13 IMPs when the other
table rested in game.
An initial club lead defeats 6♥,
though who would find that? Both
slams earned big pluses versus the
double-digit losses KAPLAN would
have incurred had they failed.

Under-26 USA2

With the under-26 USA1 representative decided, the battle for USA2
would be a rematch of the semifinal
between BOMBER and HERMAN
(Greg Herman, Christian Jolly, Julie
Arbit, Jordan Kaye, Anam Tebha and
Oren Kriegel) in which BOMBER
picked up 7 IMPS on the last board to
win 115-111.
With the last berth for the under-26
category on the line, however, it was
HERMAN with the victory, 197-117.
Herman, 22, is working on his
doctorate in atmospheric science at
Colorado State University. Jolly, from
Huntsville AL, is studying computer
science at Western Kentucky University. Kaye, who recently graduated
from the University of Michigan,
works for JPMorgan Chase & Co. in
Chicago. Arbit, also a recent University of Michigan graduate, is working for
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2016
