March 2025 - 23

Under-21 USA1 (from left): Jack Boge, Ethan Derman,
Avery Silverstein, Daniel Balof, Sam Pahk and Michael
Haas
showing a maximum, I would
bid 3NT. But West doubled
and partner passed, which we
had never discussed. I interpreted
it as lacking a spade
stopper, so I decided 3NT
would be too dangerous and
bid 3d myself as a signoff,
protecting my spade holding
by right-siding the contract.
When partner then raised to
4d, I felt obligated to bid 5d.
West led the cK, and I was
met with:
Dlr:West
s A 7 5
Vul: Both h A 3
d A 7 6
c Q J 10 9 8
Under-21 USA2 (from left): Kayden Ge, Eric Xiao, Brian
Zhang, Charlie Chen, Brandon Ge and Arthur Gong
s K 9
h J 8 6 4
d K 10 8 5 4 3
c 5
Clearly, my interpretation of
his pass was wrong, as he did
have a spade stopper, making
3NT the far superior contract.
East followed to the first
The top three pairs and their mentors in the Under16
competition (from left): Adam Hemmer, Kate Lee,
Amber Lin, Andrew Chen, Jeff Xiao, Kevin Rosenberg,
Kevin Wei and Arjun Chaunal
West North East Me
1c(1) 1NT
2c(2)
Dbl Pass(4) Pass
Pass 4d
All Pass
Pass
club trick, and West switched
to the h2, which I won with
the ace. Because West would
have led high from doubleton,
I now knew he had exactly
three hearts because East
must have four for his 2c bid.
Knowing this, I played another
heart from dummy, hoping
to ruff my last two hearts
in dummy if the defense
2s(3)
3d
5d
(1) 2+, could have longer diamonds
(2) Both majors (at least 5/4)
(3) Range ask or diamonds
(4) Undiscussed
When I bid 2s, my original plan was
to transfer to diamonds if partner rebid
2NT, showing a minimum. If he bid 3d
returned anything other than a trump.
(This line relies on the fact that West
must ruff with a diamond honor on
the fourth heart and my ability to pick
up the trump suit afterwards.)
East hopped up with the hK and
returned a trump, so my original line of
ruffing two hearts can still work only if
West has a singleton diamond honor,
in which case I can play for a trump
coup by ruffing clubs to shorten my
trump. However, I found it unlikely that
East would return a trump from Q-9-x
s Q 8
h -
d -
c A
s 9
h J
d 3
c -
When I led the d3, West had to
hold on to his cA, so he was forced
to pitch a spade. When I discarded
the cQ, East was helpless. Pitching
a spade would set up the third spade
in dummy, and pitching the hK
would set up my hJ.
At the other table, North played a
stress-free 3NT, as with diamonds
breaking, he simply cashed nine top
tricks. All that for a push board.
(Note that if West tries a spade at
trick two to break up the squeeze,
South can simply draw trumps and
concede a club trick.)
" This was a terrific event, which
we expanded to include the training
camp with funding from the ACBL
Educational Foundation, " said Stokes. 2
March 2025 | Bridge Bulletin |
23
or J-9-x, so I ruled that out.
I turned to the possibility of a
squeeze. I had three threat cards:
the cQ and the third spade in
dummy, and the hJ in my hand. For
the squeeze to work, I would have to
ruff a third heart in dummy in order
to isolate East's hQ guard. The lead
and the opening bid also marked
West with the cA. This meant after
I ran off all my winners, neither
defender could hold enough spades
in addition to their other guard. So,
I played diamonds to be 2-2, and
when they broke, I ruffed a heart in
dummy, crossed back by ruffing a
club, and ran off my trumps, cashing
the sK before the last one to
make the position crystal clear. Sure
enough, this was the three-card ending
I had envisioned:
s A 7
h -
d -
c Q
s J 10
h K
d -
c -
March 2025

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