A grand play for a grand slam.
Bridge Column for November 4, 2005, Harvey Bernstein
Special To The Plain Dealer
East-West vulnerable.  South deals.
                              North
                              S: A J 5            
                              H: K J 6       
                              D: Q 6         
                              C: K 7 4 3 2
            West                             East
            S: 9 8 7 2                       S: Q 4          
            H: 7 4                           H: 9 8 5 3 2  
            D: 10 8 3                        D: 9 7 4 2           
            C: 10 9 8 5                      C: J 6         
                              South                         
                              S: K 10 6 3
                              H: A Q 10     
                              D: A K J 5   
                              C: A Q      
          The Bidding:  
                  South    West    North    East                  
                   2C      Pass     2D      Pass
                   2NT     Pass     7NT     Pass
                   Pass    Pass
     The auction was direct but effective.  North knows that his
partner holds at least 23 high card points.  He has fourteen
himself, plus a five card suit.  Bidding less would be cowardly.
     West opens the ten of clubs.  Why he selected clubs instead
of the nine of spades remains a mystery.  The spade lead would
have handed declarer his thirteenth trick, and I would have
nothing to write about.
     Declarer wins the first trick with the ace and then cashes
the queen of clubs.  He crosses to the dummy with a small diamond
and plays the king of clubs.  East discards a small heart and
declarer throws a small spade.  The contract now depends on the
location of the queen on spades.  An inexperienced declarer may
decide to take a finesse in either direction for whatever reason
he may have, but it is a much better practice to gather as much
information as possible before making the spade play.
     To that end, declarer cashes all of his red suit winners. 
During this process he determines that West started with two
hearts and three diamonds.  He already knows that West started
with four clubs, so it is clear that West also started with four
spades.  West is more likely to hold the queen of spades by a
ratio of four to two.  However, declarer also has seen West
discard two small spades.  He had to do this to retain the nine
of clubs.  
     Declarer is able to cash the ace and king of spades with
complete confidence that the queen will fall and the grand slam
will be made.  
     The process of counting the cards seems to be the one thing
that causes the most problems for many players.  Practice on
every hand and when this problem comes up, you will find yourself
ready. 
     On August 20 and 21, District 5 of the American Contract
Bridge League held the fourth annual Bridge Olympiad at the
Holiday Inn in Independence.  Players with less than 750
masterpoints from each unit compete in three sessions of
duplicate bridge.  The unit that has players accumulating the
most points over the three sessions is awarded a trophy.  The
trophy will be passed along to the victorious Unit at the next
Olympiad. 
     The trophy at the first Olympiad was captured by the Akron
Unit.  For the third year in a row the Cleveland Unit has won the
Olympiad Trophy.  The Buffalo Unit finished second closely
followed by Units from Akron and Pittsburgh.
     Congratulations to all of the participants and especially to
the following players who placed first and second in their
respective sessions.
     Saturday Afternoon (31 pairs).  Stratum A.  1. Kyra Hayn,
Cuyahoga Falls, and Donald Moyer, Silver Lake.  2. Lynn Nosse,
Grafton, and Barbara Zink, Olmsted Falls.  Stratum B. 1. Hayn and
Moyer.  2. Elisabeth Alexander, Chagrin Falls, and Barbara
McKinney, Pilot Knob, NY.  Stratum C. 1. Alexander and McKinney.  
2.  Gayle Singer, Moreland Hills, and Vivien Sevin, Lyndhurst. 

     Saturday Evening (23 pairs).  Stratum A. 1. Donald Barrick,
Cleveland, and Edith Dus-Garden, Fairview Park.  2. James
Pivarski Jr, Munroe Falls, and Dora Rump, Cuyahoga Falls. 
Stratum B. 1. John Ricotta, Kenmore, NY, and Dian Petrov,
Buffalo, NY.  2.  Judith Perman and Betty Nesbit, Glenshaw, PA. 
Stratum C. 1. Perman and Nesbit.  2. Steven Wolotsky, Lakewood,
and Lansing Fake, Sheffield Lake.  
     Sunday Morning (22 pairs)  Stratum A. 1. Philip Macfarlane,
Parma, and Mark Niemi, Lakewood.  2. John Ricotta, Kenmore, NY,
and Dian Petrov, Buffalo, NY. Stratum B. 1. Macfarlane and Niemi. 
2, Ricotta and Petrov.  Stratum C. 1. Macfarlane and Niemi.  2.
Elisabeth Alexander, Chagrin Falls, and Barbara McKinney, Pilot
Knob, NY.   
_______________________________________________________
Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon. 
To reach Harvey Bernstein:
hjb0416@yahoo.com