Bridge Column for December 27, 1992
North-South Vulnerable, West deals
                              NORTH
                              S: 9 5 4 3
                              H: A Q J
                              D: 10 4       
                              C: A Q 8 7    
            WEST                             EAST
            S: Q 10 7                        S: A J 6 
            H: 10 9 5 2                      H: 8 7 4 3    
            D: A Q J 8 7 3                   D: K 9 6 5 2         
            C: None                          C: 4          
                              SOUTH                         
                              S: K 8 2  
                              H: K 6      
                              D: None       
                              C: K J 10 9 6 5 3 2

                 WEST    NORTH   EAST    SOUTH                    
                  1D      Dbl     1H      4NT 
                 Pass     5H     Pass     6C   
                 Pass    Pass    Pass

     The American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) held it's 66th
Fall North American Bridge Championships in Orlando, Florida from
November 20th through November 29th.  One of the prestigious
events held at the fall championships is the Life Master Open
Pairs.  This is a four session event that consists of two
qualifying sessions the first day and then two more sessions for
those pairs that qualified.  Two hundred eighty-eight pairs
entered the qualifying sessions and one hundred twelve made it to
the finals.
     The winners were Michael Rosenberg of New York, NY and
Michael Kamil of Teaneck, NJ.  Their final score was one half of
one percentage point greater than the second place pair, Eric
Rodwell of West Lafayette, IN and Jeff Meckstroth of
Reynoldsburg, OH.  Rodwell and Meckstroth are unquestionably one
of the best partnerships in the world today, which makes the
victory even sweeter, but Rosenberg and Kamil are both national
champions in their own right.  Kamil won the Vanderbilt Teams in
1990 and Rosenberg has won the Spingold Teams in 1991, the
Reisinger Teams in 1989, and the Open Board-A-Match Teams in
1991.
     Rosenberg sat South in the hand above from the final session
of the event.  As you can see, the club slam is cold with the ace
of spades in the East hand.  But Rosenberg could not see the ace
and was convinced that West held that card.  His reasoning was
that West, having led the two of hearts, did not have both the
ace and king of diamonds, because if he did, he would have led
one of them.  Therefore, West must have the ace of spades.  After
all, he opened the bidding.
     Having worked out the position of the spade ace, Rosenberg
won the heart lead with the queen, played three rounds of clubs,
then played the ace and jack of hearts, pitching the king of
spades from his hand.  He then ran all of his clubs but one, and
what he hoped for happened - both opponents came down to a single
spade.  West must have assumed that declarer held the king and
one diamond, while East assumed declarer held the ace and one
diamond.  So they both guarded against a phantom diamond holding. 
Rosenberg gave up a spade, trumped the return and won his twelfth
trick with his "long" eight of spades.