October 2020 - 12

Phil Clayton and Andrew Gumperz, winners of the Premier Pairs

teams a four-board playoff, or perhaps,
if they were tired, they could meet
back on Monday. But the players were
unanimous in declining to resolve the
tie, and all received second-place masterpoint awards.

The Martians have landed

Phil Clayton of Frisco TX and
Andrew Gumperz of Berkeley CA
topped the virtual victory stand of the
Premier Pairs. The duo, who won the
0-10,000 NABC Pairs in 2018, seized
the top spot after the second qualifying
session and never relinquished control, winning the event with session
scores of 61%, 60%, 63% and 56%.
Second place went to Mark Bendure
and Robert Bitterman from Michigan,
who won the Wernher Open Pairs last
year at the Las Vegas NABC. Dana
Berkowitz and Alex Perlman from the
New York area finished third.
The two-day event, which drew 138
pairs, was restricted to players who
had played in the Premier Knockout
and were no longer in contention or
players eligible for the Platinum Pairs.
The Aug. 1 qualifier cut the field to 72
pairs for the final the next day.
Clayton and Gumperz have been
playing together since 2016. The pair
has devised a system they call Martian
Standard. Clayton describes it as "a
blend of Fantunes, Welland/Auken and
our own secret sauce."
The aspect of the game they have fo-

12 Bridge Bulletin October 2020

Robert Bitterman and Mark Bendure, second in the Premier Pairs

cused on most, however, is their defensive carding agreements, "and this has
paid the most dividends," Clayton says.
"We started with Richard Pavlicek's
methods that focus primarily on count,
but specify attitude or suit preference
in certain situations as well."
Gumperz commends Clayton's
defense on this deal from the second
qualifying session:
Dlr: North ♠ 8 5
Vul: N-S ♥ K Q J 9 4 2
♦4
♣J742
♠K
♠AQ974
♥875
♥ 10
♦ 10 8 7 6
♦A953
♣AK853
♣ Q 10 6
♠ J 10 6 3 2
♥A63
♦KQJ2
♣9
West
North
Gumperz
2♥
2NT
Pass
Dbl
All Pass

East
South
Clayton
2♠
Pass
Pass
3♥

When North opened 2♥, Clayton
overcalled 2♠ and responder passed.
Gumperz thought game was possible,
but he had no obvious call. "Given
there had been no heart raise, I reasoned Phil probably had some heart
length," he says, "so I balanced with
2NT, hoping he had enough in hearts to

stop their suit."
South, belatedly raised to 3♥. "Because they were vulnerable," Gumperz
says, "the difference between plus 100
and 200 might be worth a lot of matchpoints. So I made an aggressive matchpoint double."
Clayton and Gumperz engineered a
double-dummy defense to collect the
targeted 200. Clayton made the only
lead to beat 3♥: a trump, which limited
declarer to seven trump tricks.
"Consequently, declarer immediately
attacked diamonds," Gumperz says.
"Now Phil made the second crucial
play, ducking his ace. If he had won,
declarer would score six hearts and
three diamonds.
"When Phil ducked, declarer was
in trouble. If he switched to clubs, I
would win and lead a second trump. So
instead, declarer played the ♦Q, pitching a spade loser. He hoped to score
two diamonds and one ruff in addition to six trumps in his hand, but Phil
was up to the challenge. He underled
the ♠A to my king; I won and led a
second trump. Now when declarer led
his singleton club, I could lead a third
trump, holding declarer to eight tricks.
So a fantastic defensive job by Phil
justified my aggressive double!"
Plus 200 was worth 89% of the
matchpoints.
Clayton returned the compliment
by recognizing Gumperz's defensive
prowess on this deal from the first final
session:
October 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2020
