July 2018 - 12

In the Closed Room, Zia, West,
competed with 2NT, and went down
three when the opponents established
spades - plus 150 for NICKELL.
In the Open Room, South's 2♠ was
forcing. Levin doubled, but Lall and
Bathurst bid on to game.
The defense is entitled to the ♠K,
the ♦A and a heart; hope for setting
the contract lies in promoting the ♠10.
Declarer's most realistic plan is to ruff
two minor-suit losers in dummy in
addition to collecting five spades, two
clubs and the ♦K.
Levin led the ♣2: 10, jack, ace.
Bathurst immediately played a diamond toward dummy, won by Levin
with the ace. Now Levin must play
hearts. He cashed the ♥A and exited
with the ♥4. Bathurst ruffed East's
king and played the ♠A and ♠Q,
taken by Levin with the king. Levin
got out with a diamond to dummy's
king, removing the entry to dummy's
diamonds while there was still a trump
at large. With communications now
tangled, Bathurst couldn't manage to
ruff a diamond in dummy and draw the
last trump without promoting West's
♠10. Hoping West also had another
heart, declarer played the ♥J, pitching
his losing diamond. Levin ruffed, scuttling the contract. Plus 100, and 6 more
IMPs to NICKELL's.
LALL kept the match from getting
wildly out of hand, however, and just
before the dinner break on the last day,
fired off a blazing 60-6 session. This
deal started the momentum shift in the
sixth segment.
Dlr: South ♠ 7 5 4 3
Vul: E-W ♥ J 10 4 3
Bd: 19
♦ 10 9
♣AQ7
♠QJ96
♠A2
♥97
♥AKQ2
♦AJ4
♦Q5
♣ 10 9 6 5
♣K8432
♠ K 10 8
♥865
♦K87632
♣J

12 Bridge Bulletin July 2018

West
Katz

North
Milner

East
Nickell

Pass

2♥

South
H. Lall
2♦
All Pass

When the weak 2♦ came around to
him, Nickell was stuck for a bid. What
do you do with the East cards over 2♦?
Doubling with only two spades is risky,
as is bidding notrump with only ♦Q x.
So Nickell improvised with 2♥. The
contract made with an overtrick.
West
North
East
South
Bathurst Weinstein J. Lall Levin
Pass
Pass
Pass
1♣(1) 1♦
1NT
Pass
2♣
Pass
3♣
Pass
3NT All Pass
(1) 16+, forcing.
At the other table, Justin didn't have
to contend with a weak 2♦. He and
Bathurst reached 3NT with no interference, collecting 10 IMPs for LALL.
Four boards later, LALL scooped 15
IMPs when they set a vulnerable 3NT
three in the Open Room, and torpedoed
2♥ doubled for plus 800 in the Closed
Room. Three deals later, they picked
up another 12 IMPs when they made a
vulnerable 4♥ doubled contract versus 3♥ at the other table:
Dlr: East
Vul: Both
Bd: 26
♠532
♥652
♦92
♣J7653

♠AQ7
♥J73
♦KQ7
♣ Q 10 9 2

♠ K J 10 9 6
♥K
♦AJ53
♣AK4

♠84
♥ A Q 10 9 8 4
♦ 10 8 6 4
♣8

West
North East
Bathurst Levin J. Lall
1♣(1)
Pass
2NT
Dbl
3♣
Pass
Pass
Pass
3♥
All Pass
(1) 16+, forcing.

South
W'stein
2♥
Pass
3♦

West
Katz

North
Milner

1NT
Pass
Pass

Pass
3NT
Pass

East
Nickell
1♠
2♣(1)
Dbl
Dbl

South
H. Lall
Pass
2♥
4♥
All Pass

(1) Forcing, generally 17+ HCP.
In the Closed Room, Levin and
Weinstein competed to 3♥ after East
opened a strong 1♣.
In the other room, the auction went
a bit differently. Whatever Katz hoped
to achieve by responding a forcing
notrump with the West hand clearly
didn't materialize.
Katz led the ♦9 to the king in dummy, ducked by Nickell. Hemant played
a heart to the ace, capturing the singleton king along the way, and immediately floated the ♣8, taken by Nickell
with the ♣K. Nickell played ♦A and a
low diamond for West to ruff. Katz returned a spade. At this point, Hemant
had a good count on the hand: East's
likely distribution was either 5=1=4=3
or 6=1=4=2. Lall won the ♠A, ruffed a
club in hand, pulled the last trump with
dummy's jack and ruffed another club,
bringing down the ace. A diamond ruff
in dummy provided access to the good
♣Q, on which he could discard his
losing spade. Plus 790 for a hand well
played.
A spade lead looks to be challenging,
but all roads lead to making four. Declarer rises with the ace, extracts East's
♥K on the way to his hand and leads a
club, finessing against the jack. Assuming East wins the trick, he is faced with
several losing options, including setting up a high club in dummy, making a
trick of the ♠Q, establishing the ♦K Q
if he cashes the ♦A or giving declarer
the ♦10 with a low diamond lead.
LALL closed out the set with a pair
of 10-IMP gains, and came back from
dinner only 1 IMP in arrears.
The penultimate segment was more
of the same. LALL went on a 52-4 joy
ride. They picked up 12 IMPs when
they were in a superior 3NT game.
(Nickell and Katz didn't have an opportunity to play 3NT because of auction
interference by Pepsi and Zia, so they

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2018