Pay attention to the details.
Bridge Column for November 1, 2002, Harvey Bernstein
Both sides vulnerable.  West deals.
                              North
                              S: A 10 3 2         
                              H: K Q 6       
                              D: J 8 4        
                              C: A J 9 
            West                             East
            S: K Q                           S: J 9 8 7 6 4  
            H: 5 3 2                         H: 10         
            D: A K Q 6                       D: 9 5 3             
            C: 7 6 3 2                       C: Q 5 4       
                              South                         
                              S: 5    
                              H: A J 9 8 7 4 
                              D: 10 7 2    
                              C: K 10 8   
          The Bidding:  
                   West   North     East   South                  
                    1D   Double      1S     3H  
                   Pass    4H       Pass    Pass
                   Pass    
     Rebecca Stromberg of Shaker Heights passed away on October
1st at the age of 98.  She had been a fixture at local bridge
games for many, many years.  I spoke with her daughter, Adele
Newman of Akron, and asked if she had any bridge hands that her
mother had played that were memorable.  She recalled this very
simple but elegant hand that is a great example of the type of
player Stromberg was.
     Newman, sitting North, doubled the opening bid for take out. 
After East stuck in a spade bid, Stromberg jumped to three
hearts, showing at least eight points.  Newman raised to game and
four hearts became the final contract.
     West led the top three diamonds, starting off by completing
the defensive "book".  At trick four, West tabled the king of
spades.  Stromberg played carefully to gain as much information
as possible.
     She won the ace of spades, trumped a spade in the closed
hand, drew trump, ending in dummy, and trumped another spade.  A
club to the ace was followed by the nine of clubs to the ten in
her hand.  When the ten held the trick she was able to claim her
game.
     The lady in the East seat wanted to know how come Stromberg
has played her for the queen of clubs with hardly any thought at
all.  Her answer was very revealing: "I knew that West had
started with two spades, three hearts, at least three diamonds,
and therefore, four or five clubs.  I also knew that West had
five points in spades and nine in diamonds.  If she had held the
queen of clubs with that distribution, I think she would have
opened the bidding with one no trump, so it stood to reason that
you (East) had to have that card."
     There was nothing brilliant or extraordinary about her
statement, she had just been paying attention, a trait that paid
huge dividends over and over.  Stromberg won over 3,500 master
points and many, many friends during her lifetime.  We will miss
her.
_______________________________________________________
Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon.