october.indd

English 54 still have prevailed by leading a heart at trick 2, but there was no way to know that West's only entries for his long diamond were in hearts. Doron Yadlin made a logical play of three rounds of clubs, but after a diamond continuation he ended up one trick short, as West was already guaranteed of a diamond trick. In the very next deal 11 IMPs swung back when Bareket-Lengy made a futile slam try which landed them at the dangerous fi ve-level, and then Bareket misplayed the hand in 5 ♠ . Nevertheless, Zack's team hanged on to their slender lead, and the following deal gave them some insurance IMPs. Board 25, Dealer North, Vul E/W ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ KJ8 QT543 Q32 J7 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ Q72 K T9765 A854 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ AT94 9872 A4 KQ9 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 653 AJ6 KJ8 T632 West North East South Lubinsky Barel Mark Zack Pass 1 ♣ Pass 1NT Pass Pass Pass Lubinsky bid an off-shape 1NT, hoping to discourage North from bidding hearts. His ploy succeeded, but the eventual 1NT contract was poor. After a small heart lead, North- South cashed fi ve heart tricks and switched to diamonds, setting the contract by two tricks. West North East South Lengy D. Yadlin Bareket I. Yadlin Pass 1 ♣ Pass 1 ♠ Pass 1NT Pass 2 ♣ Pass 2 ♦ Pass Pass 2 ♥ Pass Pass 2 ♠ Pass 3 ♦ All Pass East-West used some modern bidding devices. First of all the 1 ♠ response, when playing transfers over 1 ♣ , indicates a hand without four-card majors. Next they used "two-way-checkback". West's 2 ♣ rebid showed either a sign-off to 2 ♦ or any invitational hand (while 2 ♦ would have been an arti fi cial game-force). After Doron Yadlin didn't let his opponents to play in 2 ♦ , Lengy competed further by showing his spade fragment. 2 ♠ was a good spot to play, but Bareket may not have been sure about his partner's bid and they landed in 3 ♦ with a 5-2 fi t. Nevertheless, trumps were breaking 3-3 and East-West had only four obvious losers. The point of the hand came at trick 3, after Israel Yadlin lead a spade. North's ♠ J was taken by the ace, and declarer played ♦ A followed by a small diamond. Israel Yadlin made the automatic play by winning with the ♦ J, even though declarer's way of playing trumps strongly indicated that he didn't possess the ♦ Q. Why was it so important to win with ♦ K rather than ♦ J? Because the only chance for the defense lay in attacking hearts, thereby shortening dummy's trumps. Indeed, South continued with ♥ A and another heart. Declarer ruffed the second round and continued with ♠ Q, setting up his spades for an eventual club discard. North continued hearts. Dummy ruffed again and led his last trump, hoping for a small miracle. When South won his ♦ K and had no more hearts to play, he was home. Had he won the ♦ K earlier, North would have won this trick with his ♦ Q, while having two more cashing hearts. The fi nal score was 92-72 in favor of Yaniv Zack's team, winning the cup for the second year in a row after a tight match.