Neither side vulnerable. North deals. NORTH S: 3 2 H: Q 10 6 4 D: A Q 4 3 C: Q 9 6 WEST EAST S: Q J 10 9 8 4 S: 6 5 H: A 8 H: J 9 3 2 D: 6 D: J 8 5 C: A 8 7 5 C: J 10 3 2 SOUTH S: A K 7 H: K 7 5 D: K 10 9 7 2 C: K 4 NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST Pass Pass 1NT 2S 3S Pass 3NT Double Pass Pass Pass Phil Becker of Cleveland is a full time bridge instructor. Chuck Scholl of Shaker Heights, Chris Kleis of Solon, with Steve Vrooman, Lawrence Jones, and Doug Becker of Cleveland are taking intermediate instruction every Sunday morning. Phil gave me this hand to illustrate the type of work they are doing. Scholl, sitting South, opened a very normal one no trump. Jones, East, made a two spade overcall. North was Doug Becker. He bid three spades (part of the Lebensohl convention). This bid promises a four card heart suit, ten or more high card points, and no spade control. It was nice to have a bid that was so descriptive available. And to remember to use it at the right time was even nicer. Scholl liked what he heard and bid three no trump. Jones was pretty sure that his two aces would provide him with enough entries to set up his long spade tricks, and therefore doubled the final contract. The opening lead was the queen of spades and Scholl won that trick in hand with the ace. He played a diamond to the ace and a diamond back to the king to make sure that the diamond suit would provide five tricks. This brought the total of sure tricks available to seven. He needed to win two additional tricks without giving up the lead twice, because he only had one more spade stopper. Assuming that Jones held both the heart and club aces for his double, Scholl led a small heart toward the queen. If Jones played the ace both the king and queen would score separately, for a total of nine tricks, so Jones had to play a low heart and hope that his partner held the king. When the queen held (trick number eight), Scholl shifted to a low club toward the king. Jones won the ace and continued with a spade to the king but the queen of clubs became the ninth trick and Scholl scored up his doubled contract. Pretty nifty bidding and play from some up and coming future stars. _____________________________________________________________________