August 2018 - 23

West (because the story has Hollywood connections, we'll call her Mae)
led the ♥K to dummy's bare ace. South
played the ♠2 to his jack. Mae could
see that winning with her queen would
not do much good - declarer would be
able to come to at least 10 tricks: four
spades, one heart and five clubs. So
Mae let the ♠J hold the trick.
Now look at the problem from declarer's point of view. He could cross
back to dummy with the ♠K and

repeat the trump finesse, but, were that
to fail, he would lose three hearts, a
diamond, and a trump. What he had to
do after the ♠J won the second trick
was to surrender a trump trick while
he still had a trump left in dummy to
take care of a heart return.
It was time for South to take an Ann
Gallagher finesse! At trick three, he led
the ♠10 from hand and ran it. I don't
know if he had a suitable quote ready
if it lost. When it won, however, he was

able to play a third spade to the king,
come back to hand with the ♣10, draw
the last trump, and enjoy dummy's
clubs. Eleven tricks made.
Maybe Mae hesitated just a smidgen at trick two. If declarer had been
alerted as to the possible whereabouts
of the queen, he might have recalled
the saying, "If it looks like a duck and
walks like a duck and sounds like a
duck, then you probably shouldn't
repeat the finesse."
◾

2019 SPRING NABC, MEMPHIS
SCHEDULE OF NATIONAL-RATED EVENTS
To enable players to participate in more national championships, the starting
dates of several events in the Spring NABC have been shifted. Here's what the
Spring NABC schedule looks like for the 2019 tournament in Memphis:

Monday, March 18-Wednesday, March 20

Monday, March 25-Sunday, March 31

NABC ONLINE INDIVIDUAL
Hosted by BBO

VANDERBILT KO TEAMS
Entry required by 8 p.m. Sunday, March 24; continues until
complete

Wednesday, March 20-Thursday, March 21
BALDWIN NORTH AMERICAN PAIRS - FLIGHT A
Two qualifying and two final sessions; pre-qualification
required

Tuesday, March 26-Wednesday, March 27
ROCKWELL MIXED PAIRS
Two qualifying and two final sessions

Friday, March 22-Saturday, March 23

Thursday, March 28-Friday, March 29

LEVENTRITT SILVER RIBBON PAIRS
Two qualifying and two final sessions; pre-qualification
required

SILODOR OPEN PAIRS
Two qualifying and two final sessions

0-10,000 SWISS TEAMS
Two qualifying and two final sessions; no player with more
than 10,000 masterpoints

Friday, March 22-Sunday, March 24
KAY PLATINUM PAIRS
Two qualifying, two semifinal and two final sessions

Sunday, March 23-Monday, March 25
LEBHAR IMP PAIRS
Two qualifying and two final sessions

Monday, March 25- Friday, March 29
0-10,000 KO TEAMS
Pre-entry required; continues until complete

SMITH LIFE MASTERS WOMEN'S PAIRS
Two qualifying and two final sessions

Saturday, March 30-Sunday, March 31
JACOBY OPEN SWISS TEAMS
Two qualifying and two final sessions
NABC+ FAST OPEN PAIRS
Two qualifying and two final sessions
GOLDER NORTH AMERICAN PAIRS - FLIGHT B
Two qualifying and two final sessions; pre-qualification
required
PRESIDENT'S CUP NORTH AMERICAN PAIRS -
FLIGHT C
Two qualifying and two final sessions; pre-qualification
required

August 2018 Bridge Bulletin

23
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2018
