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The Open Trial Semifinals by Phillip Alder The line-ups for the 120-board semifinals matches in Schaumburg, IL, on May 14 and 15 were: John Diamond, Brian Platnick, Kevin Bathurst, Justin Lall, Eric Greco and Geoff Hampson versus Mark Gordon, Pratap Rajadhyaksha, David Berkowitz, Alan Sontag, Kevin Dwyer and Jacek Pszczola and Paul Fireman, Gavin Wolpert, Vincent Demuy, John Kranyak, John Hurd and Joel Wooldridge against Jimmy Cayne, Michael Seamon, Curtis Cheek, Joe Grue, Mike Kamil and Zia Mahmood In the second match, Cayne took an early lead, but Fireman won sets three thru seven to take a com- manding lead, and eventually triumphed by 298 international match points to 245. This was an amusing board, the second: North Dlr: N-S ‰ K 8 Vul: East Š K J 8 7 5 ‹ K J 9 Œ A 6 2 West East ‰ A 10 9 7 6 5 2 ‰ Q 4 Š 2 Š A 10 9 3 ‹ 7 3 ‹ Q 10 8 4 Œ 10 5 4 Œ Q 9 3 South ‰ J 3 Š Q 6 4 ‹ A 6 5 2 Œ K J 8 7 Table 1: West North East South Kranyak Cayne Demuy Seamon 1‹ (a) Pass 3‰ Pass Pass Pass (a) 2-plus diamonds, 10+-15 points Kranyak's three-spade response stole the pot, freezing Cayne out of the auction. What is the percentage play in the trump suit? Declarer lost one spade, two diamonds and three clubs to go down two. Kranyak played the trump suit correctly, running dummy's queen on the first round of the suit. Table 2 West North East South Zia Wolpert Kamil Fireman Pass 1‹ 1NT! Dble Pass Pass 2Š! Dble Pass Pass 1 2‰ 4Š! All Pass After Zia's psychic one-notrump overcall and two-heart runout, Wolpert decided that if Zia was trying to talk his opponents out of hearts, he was not going to succeed. And right Wolpert was. East led the spade queen, and when West won with his ace, North smoothly played the king under it, the card he was known to hold. West shifted to the diamond seven: nine, ten, ace. Declarer played a heart to his jack and East's ace. East returned a spade to dummy's jack. Three more rounds of hearts gave this position, with East on lead: North ‰ – Š 8 ‹ K J Œ A 6 2 West East ‰ 10 9 ‰ – Š – Š – ‹ 3 ‹ Q 8 4 Œ 10 5 4 Œ Q 9 3 South ‰ – Š – ‹ 6 5 Œ K J 8 7 East was endplayed. He chose to exit with the club queen. Wolpert won with dummy's king, led a club to his ace, and cashed his last trump, which would have squeezed East in the minors if he had started with one fewer diamond and one more club. As it was, with clubs 3-3 all along, declarer was safe. Minus 100 and plus 620 gave Fireman 11 imps on the board. The other semi was much closer. Diamond led by 44 imps after the first quarter, but Gordon won the next three sets to take a 6-imp lead. Then the tide turned again, with Diamond gaining 66 imps in the subsequent two sessions to lead by 22 with 15 boards to be played. This deal, Board 104 (rotated to make South the declarer), clearly shows modern preemptive bidding tactics. North Dlr: West ‰ 10 5 Vul: None Š K 7 6 ‹ K J 9 8 7 6 5 Œ 7 West East ‰ J 9 8 7 3 2 ‰ A K Š 3 Š J 8 4 ‹ A 10 4 ‹ 3 2 Œ 9 3 2 Œ A Q J 10 6 5 South ‰ Q 6 4 Š A Q 10 9 5 2 2 ‹ Q Œ K 8 4 Table 1: West North East South Greco Sontag Hampson Berkowitz 2‰ Pass 4‰ 5Š Pass Pass Pass After Greco opened two spades with a suit quality that would have the purists shaking their heads in dismay, Hampson applied the pressure by jumping to four spades. He did not know who could make what, so why give the opponents room to have a discussion? Under pressure, Berkowitz intervened with five hearts, which was passed out. West led the spade eight, third-highest from an even number. East won with his ace, then cashed the king to show that he had started with a doubleton. Now, surprisingly, West dropped the deuce, which most would have read as a suit-preference signal for clubs, rather than the jack to ask for a diamond shift. East cashed his club ace, then led a diamond, but West won with his ace and returned a diamond for down two. If West had led another spade, declarer would have had to guess the trump position to avoid going down three (ruff with dummy's king and finesse his ten on the (first or) second round of the suit. No doubt Berkowitz would have done this, but it was surprising that West did not put him to the test. Table 2: West North East South Pszczola Bathurst Dwyer Lall 2‹ (a) Pass 2‰ (b) 3Š Pass 4Š All Pass (a) Weak two-bid in either major (b) Pass or correct, asking opener to pass with spades or to bid higher with hearts Notice the different evaluation by Dwyer, who was willing to stop in two spades, rather than immedi- ately push to the four-level. This allowed Lall to overcall three hearts, and Bathurst, hoping his singleton or diamond suit would prove useful, raised to game. Pepsi (as he is known), West, led the spade nine, second-highest from a weak suit. East won with his ace and cashed the king, under which West did drop his jack. Now, though, East carelessly shifted to his diamond deuce , which West “knew” was a singleton. So he won with his ace and returned a diamond. Lall took the trick, drew trumps, and claimed. Plus 100 and plus 420 gave Diamond 11 imps on the board. With five deals remaining in the final set, it looked all over with Diamond ahead by 40 imps, but suddenly Gordon went on a tear: plus 10, plus 11, push, plus 11. With one deal remaining, the margin was only 8 imps. The Bridge Base Online audience were sitting on the edges of their computer keyboards! However, the last deal was a boring game and Diamond was into the final by 239 imps to 231. Note, though, that if Dwyer and Pepsi had defeated four hearts and the other results had been identical (a big “if”), Gordon would have won by 1 imp! 3 .