August 2019 - 22

Canada's squad in the upcoming Venice
Cup after they won the 2019 Canadian
Women's Team Championship: Brenda
Bryant, Pamela Nisbet, Hazel Wolpert
and Sondra Blank.

tricks against their slam, so unless you
have two, I'd suggest we sacrifice in
7♦."
Marcinski's problem: He couldn't tell
how much of a gamble Balcombe was
taking and how many defensive tricks
he might actually have. He was hoping
for two.
It seems 7♦ would go down five for
minus 1100, so the save versus the other table's result of North-South plus
680 for 4♥ making six would not have
been insignificant (9 IMPs instead of
the actual 14).
No report on the CNTC would be
complete without at least one example
of the deft touch so often displayed by
Nick Gartaganis as declarer:
Dlr: North ♠ A 8 3
Vul: E-W ♥ A Q 10 9 7 2
♦A2
♣AQ
♠K92
♠76
♥KJ8
♥643
♦K93
♦ Q 10 8 7 4
♣J532
♣K97
♠ Q J 10 5 4
♥5
♦J65
♣ 10 8 6 4
West
Pollack
Pass
Pass
All Pass

North
Judy G.
1♣*
2♥
3♠

East
Fergani
Pass
Pass
Pass

22 Bridge Bulletin August 2019

South
Nick G.
1♦*
2♠
4♠

With Marcinski going down two in
4♥ from the North seat, this was a
chance for GARTAGANIS to pull back
some much-needed IMPs.
West's low club lead went to the ♣Q
and ♣K for East to shift to a diamond
to the ♦9 and ace.
Declarer cashed the ♥A and ruffed a
heart to lead and pass the ♠Q followed
by the ♠J when neither was covered.
A spade to the ace was followed by
the ♥Q, with South making the loseron-loser play of discarding a diamond.
The defense could cash one diamond,
but South could claim the balance: plus
420 and 11 IMPs for GARTAGANIS.
Finally, for GARTAGANIS's sake,
there were too many boards like this
one where slight system differences, a
favorable lie of the cards and excellent
declarer play all combined to swing
IMPs for L'ECUYER.
Dlr: East ♠ A J 5 4 2
Vul: None ♥ 7 5
♦J95
♣ K 10 9
♠Q
♠ 10 6
♥K86
♥ J 10 9 2
♦Q7643
♦A2
♣J843
♣AQ762
♠K9873
♥AQ43
♦ K 10 8
♣5

West North East
Smith Pollack Zaluski
1♣
2♣
2NT*
Pass
All Pass

South
Four'dot
1♠
4♠

Advancer's artificial 2NT response
showed four-plus spades with invitational values, and South had just
enough extra to accept.
The low club lead went to the ♣9
and ♣Q, and Zaluski went for the
quick set by cashing the ♦A and playing a second round - a ruff on the way
back?
No. Fourcaudot grabbed the ♦K and
crossed to the ♠A (finding the necessary singleton ♠Q along the way)
to ruff a club. A second spade to the
dummy's jack allowed declarer to ruff
North's last club, and with that suit
eliminated, exit with the ♦10 to give
West the trick, but force him to concede the contract. West had to lead a
heart away from the king or play a club
or diamond to concede a ruff (in the
closed hand) and discard (a low heart)
from the dummy, 10 tricks either way.
At the other table, system mandated
a 1♦ opening bid by East, so that when
Balcombe declared 4♠, the opening
lead was a low diamond for East to
win and continue the suit. That left
the contract dependent on finding the
♥K with the opening bidder - and it
wasn't! Down one.
◾
August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2019
