August 2024 - 22

cards. As we can see, barring a trickone
or trick-two ruff, 6h is stone
cold. Meyers-Sanborn could not even
sniff at slam in their methods.
What about at the other table?
West North East
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
1h(2)
4c(3)
Pass
Pass
4NT(5) Pass
6h All Pass
(1) Strong (16+ HCP), artificial
(2) 5+ hearts, 8+ HCP, game forcing
(3) Splinter
(4) Control bid, encouraging
(5) Key-card ask
(6) 1 or 4 key cards
It was child's play for the Precision
pair. They were able to describe
their hands and show support at a
low level, allowing slam investigation.
That was worth 11 IMPs to the
COOPER team.
On the third day, with BAKER
leading by 70 IMPs, the following
deal offered chances for both declarer
and the defense:
Dlr: South s J 4 3
Vul: E-W h 9 8 3
Bd: 123 d Q 9 8 4
c K 9 4
s 6
h A K 6
d 7 6 5 3 2
c A Q 8 5
s A K 9 8 2
h Q 5 2
d K J
c J 7 2
s Q 10 7 5
h J 10 7 4
d A 10
c 10 6 3
West North East
1d
2c
2NT
South
Feldman Schireson Cooper Baker
Sanborn Pollack Meyers Bjerkan
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
1s Pass
2h(1) Pass
3NT All Pass
(1) Fourth-suit forcing to game
22 | Bridge Bulletin | August 2024
s -
h A
d 7 6 5 3
c A 8 5
s Q 10 5
h J 10
d 10
c 10 6
South
Sandra Bjerkan Cecilia Pollack
Pass
1c(1)
2h
4d(4)
5d(6)
The first decision was North's on
opening lead. It looked like a choice
between the majors, and Schireson
led the sJ. Feldman won with dummy's
king and led a club to her jack
and North's king. When Schireson
won, she had a chance to put declarer
to the test with a diamond switch,
but that looked particularly unappealing
in view of the bidding, so she
continued with spades. Declarer put
in the s8, losing to Baker's 10, and
won the heart switch with the queen
in dummy. She then tested spades
with the ace and, upon learning they
were 4-3, played another. Baker was
in with the queen and had little to do
but play another heart. Feldman was
in and had eight tricks. The ninth
could come from either minor. When
declarer crossed to the cJ to take the
established spade winner, her choice
had been made. When the clubs
proved to be 3-3, she had nine tricks
and plus 600.
At the other table, Pollack led the
h9. Sanborn won with her king,
feigning weakness, and led a diamond
to the jack and ace. Bjerkan
continued with hearts, and Sanborn
used the opportunity to win in
dummy with the queen and lead a
club to the queen. Pollack then made
a crafty switch to the s3, reasoning
that declarer's not playing on the
suit was telling. The spade switch
also gave declarer other options: a
heart continuation would have given
declarer little choice but to play for
clubs to break. This was the situation
when Sanborn won the sA:
s J 4
h 8
d Q 9 8
c 9 4
s K 9 8 2
h 5
d K
c J 7
Declarer had won three tricks (with
five more established), the defense
two. At this table, playing on spades
to develop the ninth trick was very
unlikely to succeed because that
would have put the defense in a position
to establish their fifth trick in
either hearts or diamonds. Declarer
had a simple choice: diamonds or
clubs. One of them had to break favorably
for her to succeed, and she
could not test both. When she cashed
the dK and crossed to the cA to play
a third diamond, the die was cast.
North won and exited with her third
heart and there were just eight tricks.
Minus 100 and 12 IMPs away.
Despite that result, BAKER ran
away comfortable winners, 371-304.
Mixed Teams
Eleven squads entered the Mixed
Teams trials for the right to represent
the U.S. in Buenos Aires. The eventual
winner of the contest was the
ZHANG team: Daniel Korbel, Janice
Seamon-Molson, Susan Zhang, Sylvia
Shi and Eddie Wold.
From the round-robin, this deal
pitted LEWIS against MILLENS
(Shan Huang-Joan Millens/
Sandra Rimstedt, Cecilia Dwyer
Rimstedt-Kevin Dwyer Rimstedt).
Cheri Bjerkan and Larry Robbins of
the LEWIS team have many NABC
titles between them, although not
necessarily as a partnership. The
first board of the first match put the
North-South pairs to an immediate
test; only Bjerkan-Robbins, of the 10
pairs examined, passed:
Dlr: North s 2
Vul: None h A K J 6 5 2
Bd: 1
d A J 7
c Q 5 3
s A K Q 9
h 10 8 7
d Q 10 9 3
c 8 7
s 7 6 4
h 9 4 3
d 8 6 2
c J 10 9 2
s J 10 8 5 3
h Q
d K 5 4
c A K 6 4
August 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2024
