July 2018 - 64

Special Contributors

George's World
BY GEORGE JACOBS

Well, I promised you a recap of two
of the most unusual scores I have ever
seen. The kicker: Both of them were in
the same session!
Playing with Sylvia Summers in the
Silodor Open Pairs in Philadelphia:
Sylvia opened 1♥ in third chair at unfavorable. It went double, and I jumped
to three preemptive clubs. After pass,
Sylvia upped the ante with 4♣ and
West, who had a moose, bid 5♣. East
(who asked no questions, and who
must have thought that 3♣ was a fit
of sorts, and 4♣ was a cuebid and 5♣
was finally showing the suit) passed.
I also promised Fred Lerner that I
would keep his name out of the Bulletin. Fred, who had bid 5♣ with:
♠A K Q J 9 8 4 ♥K 7 3 ♦A K Q ♣-,
gave it his best, but had a bit of trouble
making it. I estimated down seven
at the table and sure as heck, it went
down seven, plus 350 our way.
Later, we played Board 17 and got
a score you have never heard before.
Believe me, I am the holder of many
scores of which you never heard.
Claude and I once played on a team
with Kay Beck and Hans Jacobs. (At
one point we were going to put together an all Jacobs team. Sadly that
never came to pass.) I love telling this
story, but space does not permit all the
details.
(See next column)
At our table the bidding was short and
sweet. 1♣ by partner, 2♣ (showing
both majors) by righty, and I bid 7♦,

64 Bridge Bulletin July 2018

NOBET8888@aol.com

Dlr: North ♠ 2
Vul: N-S ♥ Q 10 5
♦7
♣ A K Q J 10 7 6 4
♠653
♠ J 10 9 8 7 4
♥A82
♥KJ97643
♦9843
♦-
♣932
♣-
♠AKQ
♥-
♦ A K Q J 10 6 5 2
♣85
hoping I could make it. Plus 2140.
At the other table there was a snafu.
After 1♣-2♣, South wanted to be
sure they were not off an ace, so he bid
Blackwood. I think he hoped for a three
key-card reply, which would solve all
the problems. What he got was 5♠,
showing two key cards and the queen.
But now East bid 5NT, forcing partner to bid a slam! Belatedly, South (not
Fred Lerner) jumped to 7♦, but West,
holding ♥A x x, and hearing partner
force to slam, bid 7♥!
Well, poor North. His partner has bid
Blackwood and then jumped to a grand
slam, so he "knows" they have all the
aces and he has seven running clubs.
So he bids 7NT. After two passes, West,
holding the ♥A and on lead due to
South's 4NT bid, says double.
North now recounts his clubs,
discovers that he actually has eight
solid, and says redouble. As you can
see, our teammates took the first seven
tricks for 3400, which, when added to
our 2140, is possibly the biggest score

in history, if you ignore Fred's home
game. But I digress.
Back to Board 17. We were in a nonvulnerable 4♥ making for plus 420.
The opponents (Kit Woolsey) called
the directors over some tiny deficiency
and said that had they gotten correct
information, they might have bid differently, defeating our contract by one
trick.
There were some significant hesitations by the directors as they sought
to be fair to all sides. They reached the
following conclusion: It is possible that
we might still make 4♥, and it is possible that the opponents might defeat
it. The directors decided to factor the
two possible results as if each outcome
happened 50% of the time: add them
together and divide by two. Yes, they
did! So plus 420 and minus 50 = plus
370. If I could find the divide sign on
this keyboard, I would show you that
370 divided by 2 = 185. That became
our score. 185 may not be the best
score I have ever had, but it is the most
unusual.
So I just reread my notes; the opponents actually sacrificed in 5♣ and
went for 300. Don't be confused by
that. The issue was of ROLLING IT
BACK to 4♥, which might or might not
make. I should not write these columns
so late at night, and you should certainly not read them prior to going to
bed anyway.
See you all in Atlanta, where my
15-year partner, Ralph Katz, is to be
inducted into the Hall of Fame. He also
loves Chinese food.
◾
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2018
