Bridge in the Tri-Cities: A Reliable Partner

Opening Lead: King of hearts

The Tri-Cities Sectional Bridge Tournament finishes today. Someone will win the “President’s Award,” given to the player who wins the most masterpoints in the four days of competition. My money is on the player who is a reliable partner, one who has his values, not like West in today’s deal.

The Bidding: East was an experienced player with thousands of masterpoints. He thought he knew what was going on and he was sure that his opponents had game. He didn’t know that his partner had overcalled a bad suit with good defensive values.

The Play: East/West went down 3 for minus 800. 4S by N/S went down one at four tables.

The Lesson: Be a reliable partner; and when you overcall or preempt at your first opportunity, have three of the top five cards in your suit (or two of the top three). If you are vulnerable, have a hand that you would have opened if you had the opportunity. If your overcall is at the two level or higher, have an even better hand.

The Richland Duplicate Bridge Club has a game at the Richland Community Center at 5:30 p.m. Mondays. The public is invited. We generally finish before 9:30 p.m. We also have a game on the first and third Fridays at 12 noon at the Old Country Buffet just south of the mall on Columbia Center Boulevard. Call Tom Edwards at 946-1824 for details.

This story was originally published May 7, 2017 at 1:19 AM with the headline "Bridge in the Tri-Cities: A Reliable Partner."