August 2018 - 25

Saturday, June 2

Top 10 Pairs Worldwide
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Bobbie Gomer and Everett Young

Saturday, June 2

Gomer, a Platinum Life Master,
and Young, a Sapphire Life Master,
played at the Yorktown Bridge Club in
Jenkintown PA. They scored 71.47%.
Gomer attributed the high score
mostly to luck. On the following deal,
Young made a light penalty double of a
1NT overcall with the North cards and
struck gold.
Dlr: East
Vul: N-S
♠K76
♥A5
♦ K Q 10 9
♣KJ72

♠J95
♥ 10 9 4 3
♦J42
♣AQ9

♠ A 10 8 3
♥KJ82
♦A86
♣43

West

North
Young

1NT

Dbl

♠Q42
♥Q76
♦753
♣ 10 8 6 5

East
Pass
All Pass

South
Gomer
1♦

West has a normal 1NT overcall but
no way to salvage the board on this
horrific layout once he interferes.
Although the points are divided evenly,
it's a bloodbath on a heart lead. Trusting Gomer's sound opening bids and
skill as a defender, Young considered
double a heavy favorite.
"Although I have only an 8 count, I'm

Konstantinos Tagtalianidis - Pantelis Laskaridis
Everett Young - Bobbie Gomer
H. Gordon - Susan Bullard
Betty Schultz Kelley - Diane Day
Radu Ariton - Bonnie Britton
Nikolaos Bovasianos - Stefanos Sidiropoulos
Enid Spira - Carole Goldberg
Ambrish Wadera - Ashok Girdhar
Mahendra Kothary - Sarda Shah
Mariann Farrelly - Ken Camilleis

Top 10 Pairs in ACBL (world ranking)
1. (2) Everett Young - Bobbie Gomer
2. (3) H. Gordon - Susan Bullard
3. (4) Betty Schultz Kelley - Diane Day
4. (5) Radu Ariton - Bonnie Britton
5. (7) Enid Spira - Carole Goldberg
6. (10) Mariann Farrelly - Ken Camilleis
7. (11) Robert Imhoff - Rochelle Imhoff
8. (13) Patricia Herrera - Gonzalo Herrera
9. (14) Barbara Ahlers - Bernard Kay
10. (15) Dori Byrnes - Jiang Gu

positive we have at least half the deck.
My ♣A Q and ♦J figure to be well
located. Declarer could have doubled
with major-suit cards, so it smells like
my major-suit cards are going to be
helpful as well."
Young led the ♥10 and declarer went
up with the queen, covered by the king
and ace. Declarer can hold it to down
three by going after clubs, but declarer
chose diamonds first, leading the ♦K.
Gomer won her ace, cashed the ♥J 8
and played a heart to the 9. Young got
out with the ♠J to declarer's
king. Declarer can cash the
♦Q, but has no more tricks.
The defense gets three hearts,
three spades, two diamonds
and two clubs for down four,
800 for North-South. That
was worth 99.5% of the matchpoints.
Most Wests played in 1NT
not doubled, and the most
common results were down
one or two on a diamond lead.
1NT making was more com-

Country
Greece
USA
USA
USA
USA
Greece
USA
India
England
USA

Percent
71.70
71.47
71.09
70.77
70.41
69.72
69.29
68.82
68.79
68.77

Club location
Percent
Jenkintown PA
71.47
Lexington KY
71.09
Hot Springs Village AR 70.77
Staten Island NY
70.41
Millerton NY
69.29
Barnstable MA
68.77
Livingston NJ
68.57
Mexico City
68.39
Evansville IN
67.51
Livingston NJ
67.41

mon than the "normal" result of down
three (an 83.3% result for North-
South). After the double, East-West
can save a trick by running to 2♣,
which should be down only two.
Gomer and Young are excited about
playing in China.
Gordon and Bullard make the second
year in a row for a pair qualifying from
the Bridge Club of Lexington. Last year,
Blaine Mullins and Morgan Schreffler
won one of the qualifying games playing in Lexington.
◾

H. Gordon and Susan Bullard
August 2018 Bridge Bulletin

25
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2018
