August 2018 - 43

West
1♦

North
Pass

Call
Dbl
Pass
1♠

East
1♥

Votes
9
4
3

South
?
Award
100
80
70

Now or later
Double by Larry Cohen. "For now. I'll
deal with partner's club bids later."
Lee doubles. "I'm too strong to start
with anything else."
Ditto Robinson. "I can bid 2NT over
a club bid. Too strong for a 1NT overcall, and I don't want to miss a spade
fit."
Korbel's plan is the same. "Double.
I'm not a big believer in trapping. If
partner bids clubs, well, I'm plenty
strong enough to correct to notrump."
Weinstein doubles, but suggests that
if the opponents were vulnerable, he'd
make a trap pass. "I'm too strong for
1NT, so I double first."
Meckstroth doubles. "I can bid
notrump if partner bids clubs. Another
easy one." [Hmm. That makes two in
one set. The director must be getting
soft.]
Grossack doubles. "Very annoying,
especially when I used up my allotment of four-card overcalls on the last
problem. Good partners would never
bid clubs after this double anyway, so
I'm not worried. That being said, the
way people try to steal contracts now,
passing is not an option. Double and
bid 2NT if partner offers 2♣. The values are spot on."
Shi tosses the red card on the table.
"We are in the days where the opponents bid on anything and everything.
I'm hoping we have a game in spades."
Donn doubles, planning to rebid 2NT
over partner's 2♣. "Not that I love
doing this, but I can't think of another
reasonable option since I would never
start by passing - too easy to miss a
game, even if we come back in later."
Pass?
"Pass," says Lawrence. "I will get
another chance. Likely I can double a
club bid."
Colchamiro elaborates. "I'm hoping

lefty bids 2♣ and I can back in with
a double. Not long ago, I had a similar
hand in a similar situation:
♠K J x x ♥A K x x ♦x ♣A K Q x.
Lefty opened 1♠ and righty bid 1NT
forcing. I passed for a similar reason
and student partner learned that when
you pass, it may not be that you have
nothing, but rather you have (for now)
nothing to say."
Pass by Rigal, who sorted his hand
correctly this time. "I can't show this
hand at my first turn and probably
won't be able to at my second turn either, but unless they have psyched, I'll

get a second chance and I'll know more
by then."
Sanborn rides that same train of
thought. "I'm betting I get another
chance and that there was no psych by
the favorable opener."
Boehm tries 1♠. "In the old days, I
might have passed unless I suspected
a psych. Nowadays, either the opening
bid or response may be featherweight,
so I best introduce the suit where we
may have a future."
1♠ by Meyers. "I might pass at
matchpoints if they were vulnerable,
but at this vulnerability, I just can't."
Ken Cohen is a 1♠ bidder. "Heavy on
points but short in trump. Do not like
any of my other options."
◾

TOP ONLINE SCORES FOR JUNE (982 players)
Clare Christiansen, Oak Harbor WA
Huei Rong Chern, Westlake OH
Jack Dean, Houston TX
Jeanette Dean, Houston TX
Jon Farber, Alexandria VA
Ian Ferguson, Ottawa ON
John Gillespie, Orleans ON
Ned Hager, Tulsa OK
Richard Higgins, Hot Springs Village AR
John Langer, Santa Clarita CA
Langis Sirois, Ottawa ON
Marilyn Steele, Kennewick WA
Lawrence Boyd Jr., Shaker Heights OH
Kathryn Burns, Cincinnati OH
H. Paul Davis, Cupertino CA
Debnarayan Dhar, Oak Hill VA
Mariann Farrelly, Mashpee MA
Thomas Grahame, Washington DC
Adam Grossack, Newton MA
Paul Hazzard, Marion IA
Marshall Kerlin, Sun City Center FL
Brett Kunin, West Orange NJ
Gordon Martin, Oakville ON
Robert Miller, Harrisburg PA
Robert Miller, East Brunswick NJ
Steve Ramos Jr., Seal Beach CA
James Wheeler, Edinburg PA
Steven Blatter, Aurora CO
Amy Casanova, Portland OR
Ken Cohen, Philadelphia PA
Matt Cory, Indianapolis IN

500
490
490
490
490
490
490
490
490
490
490
490
480
480
480
480
480
480
480
480
480
480
480
480
480
480
480
470
470
470
470

Pierre Daigneault, Montreal QC
Dave Dunstan, Harrison TN
Eric Endicott, Toronto ON
William Feasley, Eden NY
Lawson Sonny Freeman Jr., Nashville TN
Thomas Fukawa, Hampton VA
Piotr Gawron, Arvada CO
Sandra Gebhardt, The Villages FL
Alan Green, Tucson AZ
Jonathan Hauke, Lexington MA
Kenneth Hovda, Bothell WA
Alex Hudson, Raleigh NC
Irwin Kahn, Chapel Hill NC
Komal Kamat, Plainsboro NJ
Steve Lake, Las Vegas NV
Carl Levesque,
St-Honore de-Temiscouata QC
Paul Lord, Montreal West QC
Mark Mohr, Springfield NJ
Walt Newcomb, Denver CO
James Peresta, Grand Blanc MI
David Promislow, Toronto ON
Jeff Reusing, Brockville ON
Brian Ross, Kamloops BC
Gregor Rus, Velenje, Slovenia
James Russell, Ottawa ON
Howard Shachter, Deerfield IL
David Sloane, Glen Cove NY
Arbha Vongsvivut, Godfrey IL
Dan Wong, Pleasanton CA
Mike Xiao-Fang Xue, Markham ON

470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470
470

Please participate in It's Your Call! Go to acbl.org and click on It's Your Call under
the MyACBL login tab at the top. You may submit answers for a given month until
midnight on the 20th of that month, at which point the next month's problems will
be available.
August 2018 Bridge Bulletin

43
http://www.acbl.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2018
