February 2020 - 21

In response to the super-maximum
Flannery opening, Nickell chose 4♥ as
a passed hand. Katz was not done, however, and pressed on with a 5♣ cuebid,
propelling the duo to 6♥.
The friendly position of the ♣A
made taking 12 tricks easy for Nickell.
On a trump lead to West's ace and a
trump continuation, Nickell won in
hand and immediately played the ♣K,
covered by the ace and ruffed. With all
the suits behaving, Nickell was soon
recording plus 1430 on his scorecard.
In the second quarter, BLASS cut
into NICKELL's lead, winning the
set 36-30. This board was a 12-IMP
pickup for them:
Dlr: East
Vul: E-W
Bd: 22

♠J4
♥J7
♦632
♣ Q 10 8 7 6 4
♠976
♠AK52
♥43
♥ A Q 10 5 2
♦ K Q J 10 8 4
♦5
♣92
♣AK3
♠ Q 10 8 3
♥K986
♦A97
♣J5
Open Room
West
North East
Meckstroth Pepsi Rodwell
1♣ (1)
(3)
1♦
Pass 1♥
3♦
Pass 3NT

South
Kalita
Dbl (2)
Pass
All Pass

(1) Strong, artificial, forcing
(2) Majors or minors
(3) Natural, 6-7 HCP
Rodwell chose 3NT after Meckstroth
showed limited values but a long
diamond suit. On a low spade lead from
South, however, 3NT has no real play.
North's jack was won with the king
in hand, and a diamond to dummy's
king was ducked. Rodwell next played
a heart to the 10 and South's king, but
Pszczola continued the spade attack.
Rodwell won the ace, but when hearts
proved to be 4-2, he had to concede
down one.

Second in the Soloway KO Teams: Robert Levin, captain Nick Nickell, Steve Weinstein,
Jeff Meckstroth, coach Eric Kokish, Ralph Katz and Eric Rodwell

Closed Room
West North
Brink Nickell
1NT
3♦

Pass
Pass

East
Drijver
1♥
2♣ (1)
5♦

South
Katz
Pass
Pass
All Pass

(1) Artificial, used to describe various
hand types
As Meckstroth had done in the other
room, Brink advertised the West hand
as limited with a long, strong diamond
suit. Drijver chose to play in 5♦ instead of 3NT.
Nickell led the ♠J, won in dummy,
as Katz signaled with the ♠8. A
diamond to the king was followed by
the ♦Q, won by South, as a heart was
pitched from dummy. The ♠Q exit
was won in dummy, but declarer next
simply cashed the ♣A K and ruffed a
club, drew the remaining trumps and
got out with the ♠9. South won the 10,
and the ♠5 was now the master card
in the suit over South's ♠3. The play
of the ♠8 at trick one had been costly;
double dummy, 5♦ is makeable if
declarer takes the right view in hearts,
but it would have been much more
challenging.
In the third quarter, NICKELL regained the 6 IMPs they had lost in the
second set, winning it 14-8, and giving
them a 20-IMP lead as the curtain
opened on the last set. Their fourthquarter magic deserted them, however,
as BLASS unleashed a 51-10 run to

defeat Nickell by 21 IMPs in the match.
This 11-IMP pickup for BLASS was
part of the avalanche:
Dlr: East
Vul: N-S
Bd: 18

♠A3
♥KJ
♦ J 10 5 3
♣ K 10 7 4 2
♠J8542
♠ 10 9
♥632
♥ Q 10 9 7 4
♦K2
♦A987
♣QJ6
♣A3
♠KQ76
♥A85
♦Q64
♣985
Open Room
West
North
Rodwell Now'zki
1♠
Dbl
Pass
2NT
All Pass

East
M'stroth
1♥
Pass
Pass

South
Kalita
Pass
2♠
3NT

Nowosadzki and Kalita arrived at a
rather pushy notrump game. A low diamond lead from East and a heart shift
from West will beat it two tricks, while
a spade, a club or the ♦A lead will beat
it one. Meckstroth, however, chose a
low heart lead which rode to declarer's
jack. Now declarer had time to attack
clubs. With the ♣A likely to be over
the king, Nowosadzki simply played a
low club from hand to dummy's 9.
West won the jack and played another
heart, but declarer won the king and
February 2020 Bridge Bulletin

21
February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2020
