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English 55 The 52nd International Tel Aviv Festival (2) Ram Soffer During the single-session Men Pairs event (there was a concurrent event for Women Pairs, using the same deals) I was following the strong Israeli junior pair Asaf Yekutieli – Amir Ezion. In the following deal they faced tough opposition: Board 24. Dealer West, Vul None ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ A7 AJ763 AK92 K4 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ Q86532 952 J8 92 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ K T4 T643 QJT873 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ JT94 KQ8 Q75 A65 West North East South Ezion Pachtmann Yekutieli N. Hetz Pass 2NT Pass 3♣ (1) Pass 3 ♥ (2) Pass 4♣ (3) Pass 4 ♦ (3) Pass 4NT Pass 5 ♦ (4) Pass 5NT Pass 6♣ (5) Pass 6NT ( 1) Puppet stayman (2) Five hearts (3) Cue-bid (hearts agreed) (4) Zero or three keycards (5) King of clubs North’s two no-trump opening bid was already an unusual move. Those who opened one hearts played either in four or six hearts. Nathan Hetz (South) investigated deeply about his partner’s hand, eventually choosing a contract of six no-trumps due to matchpoints considerations, despite the known five-three heart fit. Yekutieli (East) led a passive ♥ 4. Declarer Ron Pachtmann found a very good line. He cashed three hearts, finishing in dummy and then led the spade jack which lost the trick to the king. He won the clubs continuation in hand, and cashed ♥ A, ♣A and ♠A before continuing with his last heart. At this point, a simple minor-suit squeeze operated against East, who could no longer guard both clubs and diamonds.The chosen line would have succeeded also in case West holds both spade honors (or a doubleton honor), as well as several other potential squeeze positions. North-South clearly deserved their shared top (86.63%). Moving to another table, Ezion – Yekutieli immediately struck back in the following deal: Board 3. Dealer South, Vul E/W ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 986 T985 Q42 982 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ AT752 K4 65 KQJ4 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ - AQJ AKT83 AT753 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ KQJ43 7632 J97 6