JULY2020

2020 יולי 203 גיליון 51 Paul Soloway was a five-time winner of the Bermuda Bowl for the USA. At the time of his death in 2007, he had the highest total of ACBL masterpoints in history. The inaugural Soloway Trophy (a knockout IMP team event) was part of the 2019 Autumn NABC in San Francisco. The 2nd edition of the Soloway Trophy was scheduled to take place at the Tampa Autumn NABC. A few days before going to print it became known that the Tampa NABC was cancelled due to the COVID-19 crisis. We will have to wait at least until 2021. Here are some interesting hands from the 2019 tournament. Dealer South. Vul E/W - QJT532 AKJ875 5 KQ5 AT8732 96 74 - T963 AKQ87643 9 J964 AK8 Q42 JT2 At one table, the bidding was pretty normal: West North East South Pass 1♣ 2NT Pass 4 ♥ 5♣ 5 ♥ All Pass North/South, one of the world's top pairs, didn't realize they had such a perfect fit and stopped in 5 ♥ . Should North be bidding a more encouraging 5 ♦ with his 6-6 shape? Perhaps, but then South might be bidding 6 ♥ with only one top heart honor. South easily took all thirteen tricks after West led the spade king. At the other table, South opened aggressively and they reached a slam after a small misunderstanding. West North East South 1♣ 2♣* 2 ♥ Pass 3 ♥ 4♣ 4♠** Pass 5 ♥*** Pass 6 ♥ Pass Pass Dbl Pass Pass Pass * natural ** self-alerted as Exclusion RKCB *** see below If 4♠ is exclusion-RKCB, then South is required to show his number of keycards, disregarding the spade ace. The correct response is 5 ♦, showing two keycards without the heart queen. Perhaps South thought 4♠ was just a cuebid The Soloway Trophy // Ram Soffer English