July 2018 - 33

teammates, both teams believed they
had won the match by 1! Pandemonium
ensued, and the teams cross-checked
their scores until they found the board
with the score difference. One pair
thought a contract had gone down
one while the other remembered the
contract going down two, resulting
in a 2-IMP score discrepancy that
was enough to swing the match. After
painstakingly going through the hand
trick by trick with director Will Watson, the players determined that the
contract had, in fact, gone down two,
giving Lynbrook the narrow win and
the second spot in the finals.
In the following deal from the final,
Palo Alto got to 4♥, again played by
Cornelius.
Dlr: South ♠ J 8 7 3 2
Vul: N-S ♥ A K J
♦82
♣AJ4
♠Q5
♠ A 10 9 4
♥954
♥ 10 8
♦ 10 5
♦AK9764
♣ Q 10 9 8 6 3
♣5
♠K6
♥Q7632
♦QJ3
♣K72
West

North

East

Pass
Pass

1♠
4♥

2♦
All Pass

South
Pass
2♥

West led the ♦10 to East's king, and
East switched to the ♠4. Declarer
jumped the first hurdle by guessing
correctly to go up with the ♠K. He
decided initially to play for 3-3 spades,
leading a spade to West's queen.
West returned the ♥4 to the ace, 8
and 2. Declarer pulled a second round
of trump with the ♥K, noting the 3-2
heart split. He ruffed a spade high, seeing West pitch a club. He then played
a heart to the ♥J, East showing out,
and led a diamond off the board to
East's ace. East returned a diamond
to declarer's queen, West showed out
and dummy pitched a spade. Declarer
now had a complete count on the hand:

East was known to be 4=2=6=1 and
West was known to be 2=3=2=6, so declarer could cash the ♣K and take the
marked club finesse to make four.
I declared a nice crossruff hand
on the second to last board, and the
play went similarly at the other table
(played by Michael Zheng).
Dlr: South ♠ A J 7 4
Vul: Both ♥ A J 10 6
♦AKQJ4
♣-
♠863
♠KQ
♥K52
♥Q97
♦652
♦ 10 9 8 7
♣ 10 9 5 3
♣AK74
♠ 10 9 5 2
♥843
♦3
♣QJ862
West

North

Pass
1♦
Pass
4♣
All Pass

East
Pass
Pass

South
Pass
1♠
4♠

I ruffed the ♣10 lead in dummy
and cashed three rounds of diamonds,
pitching two hearts.
Then I played the ♥A, ruffed a
heart, ruffed a club, and ruffed a heart,
and was relieved to see hearts breaking 3-3. From there, I ruffed a club in

dummy and a diamond in hand, West
pitching, and claimed making five.
While the team semifinals and final
were being decided, players from the
eliminated teams joined other players in the championship pairs event.
Thirteen pairs participated.
Brent Xiao and Calix Tang finished
with an impressive 72.22%, over 17%
above the second-place finishers. Lucy
Huang and Richard Liu, both from
Monta Vista HS, took the newcomer
pair award.
The high school championship was
sponsored by Silicon Valley Youth
Bridge, with support from Peninsula
Youth Bridge. First-place prizes were
awarded in memory of Belle Bestor, a
lifelong bridge player who inspired her
children to become Life Masters.
Special appreciation is due to Will,
who volunteered his service as director; to Patti Frederick, who allowed us
to use the space at the Bayshore Bridge
Center rent-free; and to Jeanie Kwong
of Peninsula Youth Bridge, who put
together a fabulous lunch for players
and volunteers alike.
Thanks go to author Larry Cohen for
his donation of bridge books, as well as
to Master Point Press for deep discounts, and to the ACBL.
◾
(This article originally appeared on
Bridge Winners.)

Debbie Rosenberg, co-founder of Silicon Valley Youth Bridge, presents trophies to Bay Area
pairs champions Brent Xiao from Mission San Jose HS and Calix Tang from Homestead HS.
July 2018 Bridge Bulletin

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2018