August 2024 - 19

another diamond and led a low club to
the jack. Lusky was able to win with
his king and tap Rodwell's hand with
a spade, reducing declarer's trump
holding to one fewer than North's.
That long trump meant one off, minus
50, and 10 IMPs to the AKER team.
In the WOLFSON versus
CAPPELLI quarterfinal, David
Berkowitz bamboozled declarer:
Dlr: East s K 10 4 2
Vul: Both h Q J 9 7
Bd: 70
d 9 4
c J 6 2
s A J 7 3
h A 8
d Q J 10 3
c K Q 8
s Q 9
h K 5 4 3
d K 7 5 2
c 10 7 5
West North
1d
2NT
Pass
Pass
East
South
Cappelli Berkowitz Aquino Garner
Pass
Pass
1NT Pass
3NT All Pass
At the other table, Michael Kamil
opened 1NT and Mike Becker passed;
making three for plus 150, so it
looked like a vulnerable game swing
was in the cards for CAPPELLI. Steve
Garner led his fourth-best heart; declarer,
Mark Aquino, put up dummy's
ace and Berkowitz followed with the
queen. Declarer took the diamond
finesse, losing to the king. Garner
led a heart to Berkowitz's jack, who,
attempting to unblock and perhaps
signal for spades, led back the h9:
10, king, and a spade discard from
dummy. South continued with the
h5 which North had to win with the
7. Berkowitz now exited with the cJ!
Declarer won in dummy, cashed
the diamonds and dummy's other top
club and led the c8. When Berkowitz
followed with the 6, Aquino put in
the 9! Garner won with the 10 and
led a spade for two off, plus 200 and
8 IMPs to WOLFSON.
s 8 6 5
h 10 6 2
d A 8 6
c A 9 4 3
Becker (with an assist from the defense)
performed brilliantly on this
deal from WOLFSON versus TULIN
early in the semifinal round:
Dlr: East s 9
Vul: N-S h A K Q 6
Bd: 2
s A 6
h 9 8 4 2
d Q 7 2
c K Q J 2
d A 10 9 6 3
c A 9 4
s K J 8 7 5 4
h 7 5
d J 5
c 7 6 3
s Q 10 3 2
h J 10 3
d K 8 4
c 10 8 5
West North East
Pass Dbl
South
Kamil Cohler Becker Tulin
2s Pass
All Pass
The defense has two spade tricks,
two hearts, two diamonds and one
club, correct? Not quite. Stan Tulin
led the hJ, ducked by Gary Cohler.
Heart continuations would have
settled the matter, but Tulin, anxious
not to give Cohler a guess if he held
the dA J, shifted to the dK. When
that held the trick, South continued
with the d8. That was fatal. North
won the second diamond with his ace
and led a third, expecting South to
ruff it. Instead, Becker discarded his
heart loser and won with the queen
in dummy. Declarer led the cK, won
by the ace, ruffed the heart return,
led a club to dummy, ruffed another
heart and led a third club. When
South had to follow suit, Becker
cashed the sA and led the s6. He
was down to the K-J-8 and South
the Q-10-3. When declarer put in
the s8, South won and had to surrender
the last two tricks to declarer's
sK J. Making two, plus 470.
Had Tulin bid a more conservative
2NT over the double, he might have
survived if Cohler had bid 3d rather
than the asked-for 3c. I say " might "
because this is what happened at the
other table:
West North
2s(2) Dbl
3c
East
South
Woolsey Berkowitz Bramley Garner
2d(1)
Pass
Pass
Pass(3) 2NT(4)
All Pass
(1) Weak-two in either major
(2) Pass or correct
(3) Spades
(4) Relay to 3c
Instead of plus 110 in 3d, North
went minus 200 in 3c, but still won
8 IMPs.
The Senior final saw WOLFSON
(Jeff Wolfson/Becker/Berkowitz/
Garner/Kamil) against LALL.
WOLFSON was hampered by the
forced withdrawal of Jeff Meckstroth
due to health reasons. The match was
close for a while, but then LALL began
to pull away, forcing WOLFSON to
admit defeat and withdraw after seven
of the eight scheduled segments. The
final score was 209-126.
It's not often that I like to showcase
an undoubled partscore, but I loved
the defense on this deal from early in
the second stanza, with WOLFSON
leading by just 6 IMPs, 21-15.
Dlr: North s K 9 7
Vul: None h A J 8 4
Bd: 17
d K 10 9
c 10 8 5
s 10 4 3
h 6 5 2
d Q 5 2
c J 9 7 6
s A Q J 8 6 2
h K
d A 7 3
c A 3 2
s 5
h Q 10 9 7 3
d J 8 6 4
c K Q 4
West North East
South
Kamil Milner Becker Lall
1c
1s Dbl
Pass 2h 2s 3h
3s All Pass
Lall led the cK. Becker made an
interesting play, attempting to avoid a
potential third-round ruff: he ducked!
To South, it wasn't believable that
Becker had the cA with the jack in 
August 2024 | Bridge Bulletin |
19
August 2024

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