Mis-play at the world championships.
Bridge Column for July 9, 2000, By HARVEY BERNSTEIN
Neither side vulnerable.  North deals.
                              NORTH
                              S: A 8 6            
                              H: A 6 2       
                              D: Q 9 3       
                              C: 10 9 6 4 
            WEST                             EAST
            S: 7                             S: 9 5          
            H: 4 3                           H: Q J 7      
            D: K J 5 4 2                     D: A 10 8 7 6        
            C: K Q J 5 2                     C: A 7 3       
                              SOUTH                         
                              S: K Q J 10 4 3 2
                              H: K 10 9 8 5 
                              D: Void      
                              C: 8        
          The Bidding://
                  NORTH    EAST    SOUTH    WEST                  
                   Pass    Pass     4S       4NT 
                    5S      5NT     Pass     6C 
                   Pass     6D      6S     Double
                   Pass    Pass     Pass
     This hand is from the 2000 Orbis World Championships which
were held this past January in Bermuda.  During the quarterfinal
match of the Bermuda Bowl (which is the open team event) between
the USA1 team and Italy, this may very well have been the pivotal
hand.  In the open room, East-West were Jeff Meckstroth of Tampa
Bay, FL and Eric Rodwell of Naperville, IL. The player from Italy
holding the North cards opened a weak one no trump showing ten to
twelve points, balanced.  South jumped to four spades and that
ended the auction.  The contract was made with an overtrick for
plus 450.
     North-South for USA1 in the closed room were Nick Nickell
and Dick Freeman, both from Atlanta, GA.  Freeman passed the
North cards and the auction proceeded as shown above.  
     While it appeared that the final contract was going to be
defeated one trick, something very strange happened along the
way.  The player in the West seat had managed to mis-sort his
hand and the seven of hearts was among the diamonds.
     West led the five of diamonds and declarer trumped and
played two rounds of spades.  A heart to the ace brought the jack
from West.  A heart to the king caught the queen.  Declarer
claimed twelve tricks which turned out to be a 13 IMP
(Internation Match Point) gain for USA1.  They wound up winning
the match by 8.5 IMPs and later defeated Brazil easily for the
gold medal.
     The message here, for the average player, is to play on. 
Even the best players in the world mis-sort their cards or make
the wrong bid on occassion.  They may not do it quite so often as
the rest of us, but they do make mistakes.  It's a tough game. 
If it weren't, no one would want to play it.     
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