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Senior Teams - Round 6
The senior tournament was coming to the boil on Sunday morning. I decided to follow Kaminsky (an Israeli squad of whom at least half were based in New York). They were taking on Marino from the middle of the table.
I sat down to watch Lev/Romik East/West against Longinotti/Selmoni, on what would transpire to be a very tough set of deals for the North/South partnership.
The fun started on board one, when Romik opened light with One Spade on a ten-count and six-card suit, in order to get his side to Three No-trumps on a combined 22-count. When the defenders gave declarer a trick on opening lead and KQ10xx facing a doubleton played for four tricks, Lev had +400 and Kaminsky was off and running.
On the next deal the Marino team broke the cardinal rule of balancing, when they re-opened at the two level to push their opponents up a level, and then re-raised themselves, having done all the hard work already.
| Board 2. Dealer East. N/S Vul. |
| | ♠ Q 10 7 6 3
♥ 10 4
♦ 6 5
♣ A Q 9 3 | ♠ K 8
♥ J 9 8 6
♦ A Q 7 3
♣ J 10 5 |
 | ♠ J 4
♥ Q 7 3
♦ K 10 9 4
♣ K 8 6 4 |
| | ♠ A 9 5 2
♥ A K 5 2
♦ J 8 2
♣ 7 2 |
Schwarz/Sheinman were all set to play Two Spades, and then Three Spades, but graciously accepted 300 – it could have been 500 from Four Diamonds doubled. Kaminsky led 10-0 but gave it all back, and more, on the next deal.
What would you lead from:
| | ♠ J 9 6 3 2
♥ K Q 6
♦ 6
♣ A Q 10 9 |
against Three No-trumps after One No-trump on your right, and an abortive Stayman enquiry on your left? Would your answer be different if you had shown spades and a minor, and LHO had bid Three No-trumps over that?
Jelmoni, who had passed throughout, selected the club nine. Schwarz, who had not received a spade raise, elected to lead a top heart. This was the full deal.
| Board 3. Dealer South. E/W Vul. |
| | ♠ J 9 6 3 2
♥ K Q 6
♦ 6
♣ A Q 10 9 | ♠ 10 4
♥ A J 4
♦ A K Q 8 4
♣ J 8 7 |
| ♠ A Q
♥ 10 8 7 5
♦ 10 9 5 3 2
♣ K 2 |
| | ♠ K 8 7 5
♥ 9 3 2
♦ J 7
♣ 6 5 4 3 |
Some would say the club lead worked better than it deserved. Lev took two heart finesses after running diamonds and went down 200. The heart lead was tantamount to immediate concession as the cards lay. Marino led 13-10. Do you think Sheinman should have acted over Three No-trumps?
The lead for Marino was short lived; on the next deal they attempted a game in one room and part-score in the other, down in both contracts. Then came what could be a first in the world of bridge…and as we all know EVERYTHING has already been done before, but not this!
| Board 5. Dealer North. N/S Vul. |
| | ♠ Q 8 6 5
♥ 5
♦ Q J 7
♣ K Q 10 5 2 | ♠ –
♥ K Q J 9 4
♦ 10 9 8 5 4 2
♣ A J |
| ♠ 10 9 4 3
♥ A 8 7 3 2
♦ K 3
♣ 9 3 |
| | ♠ A K J 7 2
♥ 10 6
♦ A 6
♣ 8 7 6 4 |
Both tables bid the North-South cards to Four Spades and both East-West pairs then bid on to Five Hearts. The Israelis did not double but did defeat the game. Schwarz led a top spade, ruffed, and shifted to clubs when in with the diamond ace.
In the other room where Five Hearts had been doubled, South also led a top spade, ruffed, and declarer played the heart king. On this trick North discarded the spade five – then changed his play to the club five! The director was called, and North -- apparently still unaware that he had the heart five in his hand, or too embarrassed to admit to it, established the revoke. South was forced to win the diamond ace and play a spade, and that meant +750 and 13 IMPs for Kaminsky. If anyone has ever managed to play three fives on the same trick before, they should report it to the bulletin (maybe it was lucky North. Incidentally that was not the best result with the E/W cards; Zeligman/Markowicz bid and made Six Hearts on the lead of the diamond ace while their team mates were collecting 300 from the same contract... did not have the diamond five too).
Kaminsky added another five IMPs for playing the right partscore, then Romik got a little lucky, to my mind.
| Board 8. Dealer West. None Vul. |
| | ♠ 8 6 3
♥ 7 5 3
♦ A 9 7
♣ A 8 6 4 | ♠ 4 2
♥ Q 10 4
♦ Q 10 6 5 3 2
♣ K 9 |
| ♠ K 5
♥ A K 8 6
♦ K 8 4
♣ Q J 5 2 |
| | ♠ A Q J 10 9 7
♥ J 9 2
♦ J
♣ 10 7 3 |
Facing a weak Two Diamonds the East hand looks tailor-made for a jump to Three No-trumps, does it not? Romik bid Two No-trumps, and Longinotti came in with Three Spades, raised by Jelmoni to Four Spades. Romik was endplayed into doubling this, and was delighted to discover that he could get 300 from this with no game making his way. In the other room, where no pre-empt was available with the West cards, N/S played Three Spades down 50, so Kaminsky led 41-13 at the half.
The deals went relatively quiet for a while, then Kaminsky struck again.
| Board 12. Dealer West. N/S Vul. |
| | ♠ K 10
♥ K 10 7 6 5
♦ 10 9 8 7 2
♣ 5 | ♠ 5 4
♥ A J 2
♦ 4
♣ 10 9 8 7 4 3 2 |
| ♠ Q 9 8 7 3
♥ Q 3
♦ 6 5
♣ A K J 6 |
| | ♠ A J 6 2
♥ 9 8 4
♦ A K Q J 3
♣ Q |
| West | North | East | South
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| Lev | Longinotti | Romik | Jelmoni
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| 3♣ | Pass | 5♣ | 5♦
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| All Pass
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In the other room N/S had bid to Five Diamonds but E/W had sacrificed in Six Clubs for 500. On the auction shown Lev led a club against Five Diamonds, and the defenders went passive after taking trick one. Declarer made the defence easy by playing spades before hearts; down one. His best practical chance on a trump shift would be to lead a heart to the king at trick three. Now declarer can strip off the spades and lead a heart from hand, requiring West to perform a Crocodile Coup to swallow up his partner’s queen.
The next three deals were flat, leaving Marino having scored IMPs only on one deal, until the very last hand. On this last hand a sacrifice at favourable vulnerability escaped for 300 (it should have been 500) and that 8 IMPs reduced the match score to 23-7 to Kaminsky but reinforced their position at the top of the table.
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