January 2022 - 17

The '9 was led at both tables and
Paul and Linda Lewis, however,
won with West's king. Dana Berkowitz
found the excellent play of the 8
at trick two, covered with the jack
and queen. Ginossar continued clubs
and was able to beat dummy's trump
spots to ruff for down one. At the other
table, Moss switched to a trump.
Willenken won in hand and led the
'Q. Moss won and again led trump.
Now declarer could ruff a small club
in dummy and throw a spade loser on
the lA, making four and 10 IMPs to
ROSENTHAL.
With time running out, Jenkins-
Moss pushed too hard on a couple of
boards, bidding a grand slam when
the other table was only in game:
Dlr: East  J 7 4 3
Vul: Both k Q 8 4 3 2
l 6 3
' 8 7
 9 8
k K 10 5
l A J 9 4
' A K 5 3
 K 6 5
k J 9
l Q 10 8 2
' J 10 9 6
West North
2' Pass
5NT Pass
East South
Moss Willenken Jenkins Campanile
1NT Pass
2 Pass
7 Pass
7NT All Pass
The pair had a misunderstanding,
reaching a contract that had no play.
Considering their notrump range is
14-17, a quantitative invite of 4NT
looks reasonable with the West hand.
Moss's 5NT was pick-a-slam, suggesting
Jenkins bid a long minor if
she had one or bid spades with a fivecard
suit - which would have been
corrected to 6NT. Jenkins admitted
that 7 was an error on her part.
Moss corrected to 7NT, down two.
In the MOSS-LEWIS final for the
USA2 spot, Moss and Jenkins had
another opportunity to employ their
 A Q 10 2
k A 7 6
l K 7 5
' Q 4 2
play a weak notrump. They had an
auction which enabled both hands to
show extra values and get spades declared
by North, protecting the heart
situation. They bid and made six for
11 IMPs to LEWIS.
Runners up in the 2021 Mixed U.S. Bridge
Championship (from left): Ron Smith, Ljudmila
Kamenova, Disa Eythorsdottir, Mark Itabashi,
Linda Lewis and Paul Lewis.
slam-try agreements after Stayman:
Dlr: South  K 10 9 5
Vul: E-W k A 6 4
l 5
' A Q J 8 7
 A 8
k J 7 5 3
l 10 7 6 4
' 10 4 3
 Q J 7 3
k Q 8 2
l A K 9 2
' K 6
West North East
Pass 2' Pass
Pass 3k(1)
Pass 4'(3)
South
Disa Jenkins Itabashi B. Moss
1NT
2
Pass
Pass
3(2)
4
(1) Slam try, unspecified shortness
(2) Asking bid
(3) Short diamonds
Sometimes called Baze, after the
legendary player Grant Baze, there
are many variations of this treatment,
but the simplest is to play that,
after Stayman, three of the other
major shows shortness somewhere,
the next step bid asks. Some play
low-middle-high responses, some
just bid the suit where they are short.
An extension is that 4l (after 2k or
2) can show a balanced hand with
no shortness but interested in slam.
It's a good thing they stopped at four,
because declared by South, 11 tricks
is the max.
 K Q J 8 6 2
k 10
l 8 7
' K J 9 6
In the open room, Lair opened 2
and was raised to game by Passell.
At the other table, Lall opened 3,
which was passed by Gupta. Both
declarers took 11 tricks.
In fact, most of the IMPs were
gained (or lost) on the auctions. On
another board, Lair-Passell bid
and made game in spades, while
Lall-Gupta languished in a heart
partscore, going down one. Playing
precision, Meckstroth-Wold found
a nice club slam in spite of (because
of?) interference:

January 2022 | Bridge Bulletin |
17
 6 4 2
k K 10 9
l Q J 8 3
' 9 5 2
D'Orsi Senior Bowl
In the Senior contest, team
LEVINE (Mike Levine-Eddie Wold,
Mark Lair-Mike Passell, Jeff Meckstroth,
npc Bob Morris), defeated
GUPTA (Naren Gupta-Hemant Lall,
Zia Mahmood-Steve Garner, David
Berkowitz-Alan Sontag) by a score of
231-200 in the final, thanks in part
to a strong third segment in which
LEVINE outscored GUPTA by 44
IMPs. The first board started the
run, providing 10 IMPs for LEVINE
on this deal:
Dlr: South  A 3
Vul: N-S k 9 4 3 2
l A J 2
' A 10 8 2
January 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2022
