A key hand for the win.
Bridge Column for September 2, 2001, By HARVEY BERNSTEIN
Neither side vulnerable.  West deals.
                              NORTH
                              S: A Q 10 6         
                              H: K 8 5 4 2   
                              D: 8     
                              C: A K 7   
            WEST                             EAST
            S: J                             S: 9 8 5 3      
            H: A Q 10 7                      H: Void       
            D: A J 10 2                      D: K Q 9 7 6 4       
            C: J 9 3 2                       C: Q 6 5       
                              SOUTH                         
                              S: K 7 4 2 
                              H: J 9 6 3    
                              D: 5 3       
                              C: 10 8 4   
          The Bidding:
                   WEST   NORTH     EAST   SOUTH                  
                    1D   Double      2D     Pass
                   Pass  Double      3D     3H  
                   Pass    Pass     Pass    
     Thanks to Fred Eberlin of Cleveland for this hand from the
Flight A Swiss Teams on Monday, May 28 at the All-American
Regional Bridge Tournament held in Independence.  The Eberlin
team finished first in Flight A2 and this hand was one of the
more interesting deals of the day.
     Eberlin sat South.  His partner, Sophie Novak of Solon,
doubled the opening bid and then doubled again when the bidding
came back to her.  East, who should have bid three diamonds at
his first opportunity, made that call the second time around in
an attempt to buy the contract.  While Eberlin held a bad hand,
Novak had asked him to bid twice and he did have two four card
majors so he felt justified in bidding three hearts, which became
the final contract.
     The opening lead was the ace of diamonds.  A second diamond
was trumped in the dummy and a small spade was led to the king in
the closed hand.  Eberlin placed the three of hearts on the
table.  West played the seven and the eight was played from
dummy.  East showed out and Eberlin's safety play had proven to
be key to the hand.  The ace and king of clubs were cashed and a
third round of clubs put East on lead.  A spade allowed West to
score his ten of hearts, but all he could get after that was the
ace of hearts.
     In all, Eberlin lost a diamond, a club, and two hearts. 
Making three was worth +140.
     In the replay, Davis Bonner of Solon held the West cards and
Pat Novak of Mentor sat East.  The auction was lively and when
the smoke cleared, South found himself playing four hearts,
doubled.  Bonner led the jack of spades which came around to
declarer's king.  For reasons known only to declarer, he led the
jack of hearts.  Bonner played the queen and the king was called
for from the dummy.  Novak showed out of hearts by discarding the
king of diamonds.  Bonner won the heart return with the ten and
underled the ace of diamonds to Novak's queen.  A spade return
allowed Bonner to score the seven of hearts and guarantee a two
trick set for +300.
     Good play at both tables resulted in 10 IMPs (International
Match Points) and helped the team to their first place finish.
_______________________________________________________
Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon.