November 2022 - 11

After West's
unusual 2NT
showing hearts
and diamonds,
South cuebid 3k
to show his strong,
four-loser hand.
North's hand didn't
get any better; he
signed off in 4'.
The lA was led,
and the suit continued,
Brink ruffing
at trick two. With
no real dummy
entry for a club finesse, he plunked
down the 'A and claimed 10 tricks
when the king fell.
West
Dbl
3k
North East
Pass
1l(1)
All Pass
(1) " Bad hand "
At the other table, West started
with a double. South jumped to 3'
over East's self-proclaimed whimper
of 1l, but North understandably did
not compete to the four level with his
balanced 2-count. Klukowski had
no trouble in 3k. A club was led to
South's ace; he switched to his singleton
diamond, won with the ace. A low
trump was led to the ace; South tried
to get North in for a diamond ruff by
underleading his K Q 3, but West
won with the ace, led a heart to dummy's
jack, ruffed a club back to hand,
pulled trump and claimed 10 tricks.
The final countdown
In the first quarter of the final,
ZIMMERMANN jumped out to a
41-16 lead. Board 5 featured a slam
swing that might have gone either
way, depending on the opening lead.
1'
3'
Second in the Spingold Knockout Teams: Andrea Manno, captain Paul Street, Ron
Pachtmann, Nicolas L'Ecuyer, Piotr Pawel Zatorski and Massimiliano Di Franco
Dlr: North  10 6 4 2
Vul: N-S k J 10 8
l Q J 8 6 5
' 4
 A
South
Klukowski Milne Gawrys Hung
Pass Pass
k A Q 7 4
l A 10 9 7
' Q 10 6 2
 K Q J 8
k K 9 6 2
l K 3
' K 9 7
 9 7 5 3
k 5 3
l 4 2
' A J 8 5 3
West North East
1NT
2' Pass
3l Pass
3 Pass
Pass Pass
4NT Pass
South
Piedra L'Ecuyer Zimm. Street
Pass
Pass
2NT Pass
3k Pass
4' Dbl
4l Pass
5l Pass
6k All Pass
After West's Stayman bid, 2NT by
East showed both majors and a minimum.
3l by West set hearts as trump
and East obliged, bidding the suit.
West now cuebid spades, and East's
4' cuebid was doubled by South. West
and North passed. Redouble by East (to
play) would have been an interesting
possibility - but in this case - after a
cuebidding sequence had been initiated
- it would show a first-round club
control, so East bid 4l. It's interesting
to note that East kept cuebidding his
second-round controls with an aceless
Dlr: East  A K 10 9 3
Vul: N-S k K 4
l K Q J 2
' 9 7
 Q 8 6 5 2
k A 3
l A 8 4 3
' 5 3
 7
k J 10 9 8 6
l 7 6 5
' Q J 10 4
 J 4
k Q 7 5 2
l 10 9
' A K 8 6 2
West
1
2l
All Pass
North East South
Klukowski Zatorski Gawrys Pacht.
Pass Pass
Pass
Pass
1NT Pass
Pass Dbl

November 2022 | Bridge Bulletin |
11
minimum rather
than signing off.
Perhaps North
might have doubled
the final contract,
hoping for a club
ruff. Without much
to go on, South led
the 7. Zimmermann
won with
the ace in dummy,
pulled three rounds
of trump ending in
hand and led a club
to the queen. When
that held, he played a diamond to his
king and tossed dummy's remaining
three clubs on his
K Q J. He ruffed a club, cashed the
lA, ruffed a diamond and conceded
the last trick. The other table stopped
in game.
The second quarter was essentially
even; ZIMMERMANN added 1 IMP
to their total to lead by 26 at the half.
The third quarter was as exciting
as the second was flat: STREET
came back in a big way after some
controversy on the second board:
November 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2022
