March 2025 - 26

South ruffed and played another
club, one down, -50 and a loss. Who
would have thought North-South
would score three trump tricks?
After seven of nine rounds, the
scores of the leading teams had
tightened considerably. AMOILS
had 30.71, while ROSENBERG
and FLEISHER each stood at
30.67. In the penultimate round,
AMOILS faced ROSENBERG, while
FLEISHER took on ZIMMERMANN.
Dlr: South s Q 7 6 5 2
Vul: Both h J
Bd: 23
d 10 8 5
c 9 7 6 4
s -
h Q 8 5 4 3 2
d A Q J 7 3 2
c Q
s K 8 3
h A 9 7
d K 9 4
c A K 8 5
s A J 10 9 4
h K 10 6
d 6
c J 10 3 2
In the Open Room, Michal
Klukowski and Jacek Kalita (for
ZIMMERMANN) got to 6h against
Fleisher and Martel. North led the
s2 and declarer ruffed, played a
heart to the ace and claimed when
South followed to the next round,
+1430. In the Closed Room, however,
Lorenzini and Bessis stopped
at the five level, meaning a loss for
FLEISHER.
It was also a win for ROSENBERG,
as Zhang and Li bid 6h while their
counterparts stopped in game in the
other room.
Dlr: West s Q J 9 5 4
Vul: None h -
Bd: 24
s A 6 3
h 9 8 6
d 10 8 6
c 10 6 4 2
d A Q J 9 4
c A Q 7
s K 10 7
h A 4 2
d 7 2
c K J 9 8 3
s 8 2
h K Q J 10 7 5 3
d K 5 3
c 5
26 | Bridge Bulletin | March 2025
Open Room
West North East
Zhang Hung Li
Pass 1c(1)
3c Pass
Pass 3NT
Pass
Pass
South
Hans
2c 2h
3h
4c(2)
Pass 4h Pass
Pass 5h(4) All Pass
(1) Precision, strong
(2) Control
(3) RKCB
(4) Two key cards, no hQ
West led the c4, and when declarer
put in the cQ, he was two down. In
the other room, North-South stopped
in a lower game to give ROSENBERG
a 3-0 sweep against AMOILS.
ROSENBERG would face FLEISHER
in the final round leading by 2.50.
On Board 25, East-West held these
cards:
West
s A 8 3
h Q 3 2
d A Q 3
c A Q 10 5
East
s K J
h A K J 8
d K 9 7 5
c J 8 2
Zhang and Li bid to 6NT to tie the
deal which was enough to ensure victory.
The next deal was also tied, so
the only remaining issue surrounded
the Player of the Year contest (see the
February cover story). To overtake
Oren Toledano, Marty Fleisher had to
finish second. Could his team win the
final deal?
4NT(3)
Dlr: South s Q J 9
Vul: None h J 7 5
Bd: 27
s 7 5 3
h A Q 6 2
d K Q 8
c Q 9 3
d J 9 7
c A 10 4 2
s 10 8 6 4 2
h K 10 4 3
d 10 2
c J 7
s A K
h 9 8
d A 6 5 4 3
c K 8 6 5
In the Open Room, Martel opened
1NT as South, ending the auction.
West led the s5 and declarer won
with the king, played a club to the ace
and ducked a club, East switching
to the s4. Declarer won, cashed the
dA, took two clubs ending in dummy,
and the sQ gave him his seventh
trick, +90.
In the Closed Room, Rosenberg
also opened 1NT with the South
cards, but was raised to 3NT by
Platnick. West led the s7. Declarer
won with the sK and played the
d5, West winning with the dQ and
switching to the c9 to the ace, 7 and
5. The dJ lost to the dK and declarer
appeared to be booked for two down.
However, there was a twist in the tale
as West continued with the cQ! Now
declarer had nine tricks for +400
and a win that was icing on the cake,
consigning Fleisher to third place in
the Reisinger and runner-up in the
Player of the Year race. 2
Reisinger Board-a-Match Teams - 40 teams
1. Kevin Rosenberg, Millbrae CA; Jie Li - Yongge Zhang, China; Brian Platnick, Evanston IL ....... 36.17
2. Leslie Amoils, North York ON; Nabil Edgtton - Andy Hung - Sartaj Hans, Australia;
Michael Whibley, New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.21
3. Martin Fleisher, New York NY; Chip Martel, Davis CA; Cedric Lorenzini - Thomas Bessis, France;
Alfredo Versace - Antonio Sementa, Italy .......................................... 31.67
4. Connie Goldberg, Gladwyne PA; Hua Poon, Singapore; Jing Liu, Forest Hills NY;
Per-Ola Cullin - Marion Michielsen, Sweden ....................................... 29.70
5. Nick Nickell, Water Mill NY; Ralph Katz, Burr Ridge IL; Eric Greco, Frisco TX;
Geoff Hampson, Las Vegas NV; Steve Weinstein, Cedar Grove NJ; Robert Levin, Henderson NV ... 28.91
6. Laurence Lebowitz, Boston MA; Adam Grossack, Newton MA; Ola Rimstedt -
Mikael Rimstedt, Sweden; Dennis Bilde, Denmark; Agustin Madala, Argentina ............... 28.46
7. Linlin Hu - Yuxiong Shen - Gang Chen - Yang Cai - Shiyu Sun, China; Jakub Wojcieszek, Poland . 28.03
8. Pierre Zimmermann - Michal Nowosadzki - Michal Klukowski - Jacek Kalita - Sjoert Brink -
Sebastiaan Drijver, Switzerland ................................................. 26.19
9. William Pollack, Boca Raton FL; Gary Cohler, Wellington FL; Sam Lev, Aventura FL;
Daniel Tylvad - Nikolaj Hammelev, Denmark ........................................ 24.85
10. Ettore Bianchi, Stamford CT; Federico Iavicoli - Michele Cammarata - Cristiano Valsega, Italy .... 19.50
March 2025

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