Israeli Inspiration

Israel has a good tradition in Junior bridge and ended day two within 10 VPs of the lead in eighth place. Will Israel qualify for the World Championships again and have the opportunity to improve on last year's silver medal? It is too early to say, but they are certainly doing some good things at these championships, as witness these three deals from Monday's matches.

Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul.
	ª A K J 7 6 © A K 10 ¨ J 8 7 6 § A
ª Q 5 © J 8 6 3 ¨ A 3 § J 7 6 4 3		ª 10 8 4 3 © 9 5 2 ¨ K 4 § K 8 5 2
	ª 9 2 © Q 7 4 ¨ Q 10 9 5 2 § Q 10 9

We have seen this deal before, of course. In the Closed Room of Israel's Round 2 match against Croatia, the Croatians bid the North/South cards to 3NT - North opened 1ª and rebid 3NT over the 1NT response. Ophir Reshef led a low club to dummy's bare ace and declarer cashed a top spade then crossed to the ©Q to play a spade up. When Eldad Ginossar won the fourth spade, he led a low club and declarer misguessed, putting in the ten, and the contract was defeated.

West	North	East	South
	Hoffman		Lellouche
			Pass
Pass	1ª	Pass	1NT
Pass	2§	Pass	2¨
Pass	2©	Pass	2ª
Pass	3¨	Pass	4¨
Pass	4©	Pass	5¨
All Pass

The deal suited the Israeli methods nicely. Ron Hoffman's 2§ rebid was artificial, showing any 17+, and Dror Lellouche showed 5-7 with his 2¨ bid. Now 2© set up a game-force and the rest of the auction was essentially natural. There was, of course, no problem in making 5¨, and Israel had a well-earned double-figure swing.
In Round 3, Israel met Estonia who, like Croatia, were having a good day and ended it near the top of the table. Ophir Reshef had to play well to flatten this deal for Israel.

Board 2. Dealer East. North/South Vul.
	ª J 7 © 9 6 3 2 ¨ Q 9 6 5 4 3 § 7
ª A 10 8 2 © A Q 4 ¨ J 2 § Q J 4 3		ª Q 6 5 4 3 © J ¨ A 10 7 § K 10 8 2
	ª K 9 © K 10 8 7 5 ¨ K 8 § A 9 6 5

In the Closed Room, the Estonian East opened 2ª, showing a weak hand with at least five-four in spades and a minor, and West responded 3©, invitational in spades. East accepted, of course and South led a heart. Declarer had no problems, being able to play ace and another trump and losing just one spade, one club and one diamond for +420.

The Israelis do not play the weak two-suited openers so in the Open Room South got to open 1©. When North made a pre-emptive raise to 3©, Ginossar doubled for take-out and Reshef jumped to 4ª in response.

Reshef Ophir, Israel

Here, the lead was the much more challenging club singleton. South won the ace and returned a club for North to ruff. A heart switch went to the jack, king and ace and Reshef led the ¨J to dummy's ace. On this trick, South hesitated before following with the eight, giving declarer a crucial clue. Surely, thought Reshef, the hesitation indicated that South had considered unblocking from honour-doubleton. The bidding marked South with precisely five hearts and the early play with four clubs. He was then 2-5-2-4 and North was down to a singleton spade. As South had most of the defensive high cards, he was likely to hold the ªK. Accordingly, Reshef led the ªQ and scooped the missing honours to make his game.

Israel had a tough schedule and their final match of the day was against France. They were just pipped by 14-16 VPs, but gained a game swing on the following deal:

Board 10. Dealer East. All Vul.
	ª K 4 © K Q 7 ¨ J 10 6 § K Q 10 7 2
ª Q J 5 3 2 © J 10 4 2 ¨ 9 5 4 § 5		ª A 10 9 6 © 8 ¨ Q 3 § A J 9 8 6 3
	ª 8 7 © A 9 6 5 3 ¨ A K 8 7 2 § 4

The French North/South pair bid to the perfectly reasonable heart game which failed on the bad breaks. For Israel, Hoffman and Lellouche did rather better. After the French East had opened 1§, Lellouche overcalled 1© and Hoffman responded 2§, an artificial force. When Lellouche rebid 2¨, Hoffman took him to not only have diamonds but also an above minimum hand. He jumped to 3NT and that contract proved to be unbeatable. East tried an imaginative §J in hope of pinning a bare ten and Hoffman won the king and returned the §Q to the ace. East switched to his singleton heart in response to West's discouraging diamond discard, and that went to the nine, ten and king. Hoffman took the heart play at face value and crossed to a top diamond to lead a heart to his seven, picking up the suit without loss. From here he had twelve tricks - five hearts, five diamonds and two clubs. Nicely played!

In case you are wondering why we have so many Israeli hands in the Bulletin, it is because they come and tell us about their successes, which we greatly appreciate, not because we spend all our time watching them. We would love to include hands from every team in the Championships, so please bring your good stories to the Bulletin Room and you too can have your 15 minutes of fame.