Trump high to make this hand. Bridge Column for May 12, 2007, Harvey Bernstein Special To The Plain Dealer East-West vulnerable. North deals. North S: 3 2 H: A J 6 D: A J 9 8 7 4 C: A K West East S: J 6 S: A K H: 3 2 H: K 10 9 7 5 4 D: Q 5 2 D: K 6 3 C: 10 8 5 4 3 2 C: J 7 South S: Q 10 9 8 7 5 4 H: Q 8 D: 10 C: Q 9 6 The Bidding: North East South West 1D 1H 1S Pass 1NT Pass 4S Pass Pass Pass Opening lead: 3H Thanks to Robert Dykes of Lakewood for this unusual hand from a pair event at the Gatlinburg, TN regional tournament that was held in April. Dykes held the North cards and his partner in the South seat was Bruce Sokol, formerly of the Cleveland area, now of St. Joe, MI. Dykes and Sokol were playing a system that included "weak no trumps". Because of this, he was not able to open one no trump with the North cards. Instead he opened one diamond. East made a one heart overcall. Sokol bid one spade. Dykes now bid one no trump to describe a hand with which he would have opened one no trump had they been playing strong no trump ranges. Sokol took the bull by the horns and bid the spade game. He knew he might be lacking a few high card points but he felt that he made up for that with distribution. West started with the three of hearts. Sokol won the ace of hearts and led a small spade. East won the king of spades and cashed the king of hearts. Sokol played the queen and West played the two. When East continued with another heart, Sokol trumped with the queen of spades. West discarded a club. A small spade was led to the next trick and when the jack and the ace fell together, it was the last defensive trick. Four spades, making, was an excellent score. Sokol did very well to determine the location of the outstanding trumps from the defensive play. The American Bridge Association Spring National Tournament was held in Las Vegas, NV from April 7 to April 14. Congratulations to the following local Players who were successful in their respective events. April 8 Lucille McGhee of Shaker Heights was first in the Under 2000 Mixed Pairs. James Hunter of Cleveland was 13th in Flight A of the Mixed Pairs. Florence Carter of Cleveland Heights and Lily Cleveland of Orange Village were second in Flight B of the Women's Pairs. April 9. Carter and Cleveland were third in Flight B of the Non Mixed Pairs. Lillian Hale of Warrensville Heights and Barbara Shakoor of Pepper Pike were eighth in the same event. April 10. McGhee was a member of the team that finished first in Flight C of the Morning Knockout Teams. Carter, Cleveland, Hale, and Shakoor with Sara Seals of Shaker Heights were fifth in Flight B of the same event. April 11. McGhee was on a team that finished first in Flight U of the Second Chance Knockout Teams. Hunter was on the team that finished fourth in Flight A of the Board-A-Match Teams. April 12. Gwen Gresham of Warrensville Heights was on a team that finished fifth in Flight A of the C.G Fredd Knockout Teams. Carter, Cleveland, Hale, Shakoor and Seals were fifth in Flight B of the same event. April 13. Hunter was a member of the team that finished third in the Morning Knockout Teams. He went on to place eighth in Flight A of the Afternoon Stratified Pairs, second in Flight A of the Evening Stratified Pairs, and sixth in the Pro-Am Pairs. Lily Cleveland was fifteenth in the Pro-Am Pairs. At the conclusion of the tournament, Lucille McGhee of Shaker Heights was honored by being named to the Century Club for having accumulated 132 masterpoints during the week of tournament play. _______________________________________________________ Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon. To reach Harvey Bernstein: hjb0416@yahoo.com