June 2020 - 65

Special Contributors

George's World
BY GEORGE JACOBS

Like everyone else, I have been playing a ton of bridge online. The ACBL
has canceled two national tournaments, an unprecedented occurance.
And with all the clubs closed also, the
more familiar outlets for our urge to
play bridge have been stifled. So all that
is left is to play online. Now there are
online club games and even an online
regional. Many creative events have
sprung up.
I have been playing in some cool
events. There is a new knockout with a
double elimination that lasts about two
months, a Tax Day knockout, various
Swiss teams and more. You can have
eight people on a team instead of the
customary six. The Nickell team, taking no chances, added Bob Hamman
and Peter Weichsel. They are loaded,
but I still hope to play them. Of course,
they hope to play us more!
Playing with Gary Cohler in Walter
Schafer's IMP Pairs, I held:
♠K Q 6 5 ♥K J 2 ♦A K ♣Q 10 3 2.
Gary passed, I opened 1♣; he responded 1♠ and I jumped to 4♠. My
hand was a tad light for this action, but
I had a ruffing value and Gary is a fine
declarer.
As a passed hand, Gary bid Blackwood. I thought about this for a while
and responded. But wait, there's more
(roll laugh track). Now he asked for
kings! What is going on here? Now I
was remembering that I jumped to

NOBET8888@aol.com

game with only 18. Even though I had
two kings, I decided to suppress them
both. No good could come of this. Well,
we subsided in 6♠ and this was Gary's
hand:
♠A J 9 7 ♥A Q 3 ♦J 7 5 3 ♣A 4.
Spades were 4-1, but he played it
carefully and made it. During the play,
I casually remarked that some people
might open his hand. There was a
pause, and he said, "No wonder you
didn't answer kings." It was the first
time in recorded history that he did not
open 1NT when possible.
Claude and I were in the doubleelimination knockout and on the very
first board: I opened 1♣, he bid 1♥; I
bid 1NT, and he bid 2♦, which we play
as an artificial game force. I raised to
3♦ with my 3=1=4=5 hand, and he bid
4♦; I cuebid 5♣; the next bid from
Claude was 7♦.
The ♠A was led, and Claude's hand
was approximately:
♠- ♥A Q J 10 7 4 ♦A K 9 5 4 2 ♣5.
About 4½ minutes went by, and the
opponents said (in a French accent),
"Allo, Opponents?" After another 15
seconds, I worked out what to do. What
would you do?
While you ponder, watch my robot partner and me in action. I don't
remember the full deal, but I do
remember the trump suit, which is
all that matters. I opened 1♦ and my

partner bid 1♥; I jumped to 3♣ and it
bid 4♣. We did not have a chance to
go over a card before playing, so I bid
Blackwood. Unfortunately, its answer
was 5♦. We were off two key cards. I
know better than to use logic with a
robot. Any bid I made would put us in
six, seven or more, so I passed! I played
my 5-1 fit: ♦x opposite ♦A K Q 10 x. I
won the opening lead in dummy, took a
diamond finesse and scored it up.
How about the 7♦ deal? Did you
figure out what to do? I realized that
Claude thought that I was the declarer
and was waiting for me.
He played it carefully to win 12 IMPs.
We have had a making slam on the first
deal of six sessions recently. Five of
them were our way, and we bid them
all.
Obey the rules, stay safe and play
lots of online bridge. But as soon as it
is safe, go back to the clubs and play in
many tournaments. Remember, that
we are all vulnerable (pun intended).
See you all in Tampa.
Ciao.
◾

June 2020 Bridge Bulletin

65
June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2020
