Congratulations to Jane Gregory and Wenda Krupp in winning the 10 Pair Junior Pairs Championship last Saturday on the back of two excellent sessions and a score of 93 — in second place on 84 were Diana Downs and Inger Mensa and tucked in close behind in third with 81 were Heidi Dyson and Wilena White. The winners took the A and B sections and winning the C section were Ross Cooper and Scott Gilbertson who were just ahead of Max Santiago and Gareth Cooper, and these two pairs finished fourth and fifth in the main competition.

This was a good win, as the field was a good one with a number of fast-improving pairs in competition. I would hope that a number of the pairs will look to progress to the intermediate level and then on to the shark-infested waters of open competition. Well done to Jane and Wenda and to all those who got among the results — ten pairs is a good turnout at this level, as newer players view these events with some trepidation and it takes a bit of bravery to enter the fray.

bodyindent: Also being held last Monday was the ACBL-wide Seniors Game which attracted a pretty high-class field of 27 pairs. Many congratulations to Lorna Anderson and George Correia who topped the field with a 60.93 per cent game and took first place in both sections A and B. Finishing close behind with an excellent performance in this field were Betsy Baillie and C. Lloyd-Jennings and they were followed by Richard and Wendy Gray in third, Gertie Barker and Jane Smith in fourth and Dorry Lusher and Bea Williams in fifth. Baillie and Lloyd-Jennings took second place in section B and first in section C where David Pickering and Linda Abend took second. Well done again to Lorna and George who are often in the shake-up and to all of these pairs as there was a lot of depth in this field.

This week’s hand features a defence by Woldek Starkowski of Poland — he is one of the current editors of Brydz magazine and years ago the magazine published a series of articles on deceptive plays, and he must have read them carefully.

Dealer South, E/W Vul (Figure 1)

The bidding was interesting:

(Figure 2)

This is a lovely hand in many ways, as you will see.

West led the Heart King and declarer ducked, East playing the 5 — West now continued with the Heart 2 which was a clear suit preference showing something in Clubs (if he had something in Spades, he would knock out the Ace of Hearts with a high Heart) and Woldek played the 3 to show a doubleton.

Woldek now had a complete picture of the South hand! Assuming partner has KQ of Hearts and a Club honour, then South has to have all the remaining high cards — the Spade Ace, KQ of Diamonds and probably the Ace of Clubs (if West has the Ace and established Hearts the contract has no chance).

If that is the South hand, declarer probably has nine tricks — three Spades with the double finesse in Spades (giving West one trick), four Diamonds, Ace of Hearts and Ace of Clubs. So what happened?

Here is the full hand and it was exactly as Woldek saw it:

(Figure 3)

Declarer won the second Heart, crossed to a Diamond and played a low Spade to the 10 — which Woldek won with the King! Declarer now won the Club switch with the Ace and took the “marked finesse” in Spades, playing a low one to the 9. To his horror, East won with the Jack and played a Club to partner’s King — down four!

Notice that if Woldek had won the first Spade trick with the Jack declarer now has no option but to finesse the King of Spades and that delivers nine tricks.

Brilliant analysis, invention and execution.

Bridge Results (Week of March 2)Monday afternoon

North/South

1, Richard Gray/Wendy Gray

2, Dorry Lusher/Bea Williams

3, Molly Taussig/Margaret Way

East/West

1, George Correia/Lorna Anderson

2, Betsy Baillie/C Lloyd-Jennings

3, Gertrude Barker/Jane Smith

Tuesday evening junior game

North/South

1, Wenda Krupp/Jane Gregory

2, Richard Neame/Lulu Neame

3, Wendell Emery/Linda Manders

East/West

1, John Kessaram/Tim Mardon

2, Duncan Silver/Marion Silver

3, Sarah Bowers/Stuart Clare

Wednesday morning

North/South

1, Gertrude Barker/Jane Smith

2, Annabelle Mann/Patricia Colmet

3, Tony Saunders/Molly Taussig

East/West

1, Edward Betteto/Charles Hall

2, Patricia Siddle/Diana Diel

3, Margaret Way/Marilynn Simmons

Thursday afternoon student game

North/South

1, Charles Boivert/Daniel Macphee

2, Ross Cooper/Scott Gilbertson

East/West

1, Shane Krueger/Brett Baumgartner

2, Daque Davis/Ahzjanai Smith

Thursday evening

North/South

1, Michael Tait/Jane Clipper

2, Alan Douglas/Jane Smith

3, Miodrag Novakovic/Margaret Way

East/West

1, David Sykes/Gregor Von Bulow

2, Edward Betteto/John Glynn

3, Wendy Gray/Richard Gray

Friday afternoon

North/South

1, Joseph Wakefield/Edward Betteto

2, Elizabeth McKee/Diana Diel

3, Judith Bussell/Stephanie Kyme

East/West

1, Tony Saunders/Patricia Siddle

2, Aida Bostelmann/Heather Woolf

3, P Donnellan/L Bolton, C Hall/

M Taussig