Michael Seamon 1960-2017

by Phillip Alder

Last September, I was the nonplaying captain of the United States Mixed Team in the world championships in Wroclaw, Poland. One of my team was Michael Seamon – and a better team mem- ber would have been impossible to find. He was always upbeat (except for the couple of times he made a mistake!) and encouraging to everyone. So, it was such a shock to hear that he had died last month at the early age of 57. Michael won sixteen national championships, finished second ten times, had over 50,000 and is seventh on the lifetime list. He won three world titles: the 2001 and 2013 Transnational Teams and the 1998 Imp Pairs. He was second in the 1990 Rosenblum Open Teams. He was a hyperactive person, but when at the bridge table, he was all business. Below are a couple of excellent examples of his bridge ability – but try them first yourself.

North Dlr: South ‰ – Vul: Both Š A 7 6 4 2 ‹ K 5 Œ Q 8 6 5 3 2 : Œ 4 South ‰ A Q 6 5 2 Š K ‹ A 10 9 6 3 2 Œ A West North East South 1‹ Pass 1Š Pass 2‰ Pass 3Œ Pass 3‰ Pass 4‹ (a) Pass 4Š (b) Pass 6‹ All Pass (a) Roman Key Card Blackwood in diamonds (b) Three key cards

West leads the club four. What would be your plan?

1 North Dlr: South ‰ K J 10 Vul: Both Š K 7 5 2 ‹ 10 8 7 Œ Q 8 6 Opening lead: Š Q South ‰ A Q 6 5 4 Š A 9 3 ‹ A 9 5 3 Œ 3 West North East South 1‰ Pass 2‰ Pass 3‹ Pass 3Š Pass 4‰ Pass Pass Pass

West leads the heart queen. Over to you.

2 The first deal occurred in the 1997 Calcutta Pairs, which Seamon won with Harry Tudor.

North Dlr: South ‰ – Vul: Both Š A 7 6 4 2 ‹ K 5 Œ Q 8 6 5 3 2 West East ‰ K 8 4 ‰ J 10 9 7 3 Š 10 9 8 3 Š Q J 5 ‹ Q J 8 ‹ 7 4 Œ K 10 4 Œ J 9 7 South ‰ A Q 6 5 2 Š K ‹ A 10 9 6 3 2 Œ A West North East South Tudor Seamon 1‹ Pass 1Š Pass 2‰ Pass 3Œ Pass 3‰ Pass 4‹ Pass 4Š Pass 6‹ All Pass

Seamon correctly described his 5=6. Over three spades, maybe North should have settled for five diamonds, but he bid four diamonds, which the partnership had agreed was Roman Key Card Black- wood in diamonds. Four hearts indicated three key cards, which North knew to be the aces he was missing. So he jumped to six diamonds. Any red-suit lead would have defeated the slam, but West chose the club four. South won with his ace, played a diamond to the king, ruffed a club, ruffed a spade and ruffed another club, relieved to see the 3-3 split. Now came the diamond ace and another diamond. At this point, Seamon claimed, saying that he could overtake his heart king with dummy's ace and discard his three remaining spade losers on the high clubs. Seamon and Tudor were the only pair in six diamonds and gained a huge 425 imps when plus 1370 was compared with the East-West scores at the other 29 tables. If the slam had failed, Seamon and Tudor would have dropped from first to fifth.

3 This deal occurred during the 1998 Vanderbilt Knockout Teams.

North Dlr: South ‰ K J 10 Vul: Both Š K 7 5 2 ‹ 10 8 7 Œ Q 8 6 West East ‰ 8 3 ‰ 9 7 2 Š Q J 10 6 4 Š 8 ‹ K J ‹ Q 6 4 2 Œ J 9 5 2 Œ A K 10 7 4 South ‰ A Q 6 5 4 Š A 9 3 ‹ A 9 5 3 Œ 3 West North East South 1‰ Pass 2‰ Pass 3‹ Pass 3Š Pass 4‰ Pass Pass Pass

Seamon (South) made a three-diamond help-suit game-try. Mike Passell (North) hated his diamond holding but had a maximum single raise, so fudged with three hearts. That was enough for Seamon to jump to game. There seemed to be four losers: one heart, two diamonds and one club. But when West led the heart queen, declarer played low from the dummy, and when East contributed the eight, Seamon dropped his nine! It never occurred to West that South had the heart ace. For all the world, it seemed as though South had begun with a singleton and East with the ace-eight-three. If so, then another round of hearts would help declarer to establish dummy's king by ruffing down East's ace. West shifted to a . Declarer took that on the and ran the diamond seven. West continued with another trump. South won in the dummy, played a diamond to his ace and cashed two rounds of trumps. West, still holding his idée fixe, discarded two hearts. Now Seamon took three heart tricks, pitching his low club, and conceded a diamond. He lost only one heart and two diamonds. Passell immediately commented, “That is the best play I have ever seen.” It is so sad that we will not see more brilliancies from Michael Seamon.

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