Bridge in the Tri-Cities: The Longest Day

Opening Lead: Eight of hearts.

Unit 442 of the American Contract Bridge League sponsored a day long bridge marathon to support the fight against Alzheimer’s. They raised over $1000. The day began at 8 a.m. with breakfast. Three separate bridge games took place throughout the day with meals in between. Marilyn Steele was in charge and she provided great food. The morning game was an individual, the afternoon game was pairs, and the evening game was teams. The overall masterpoint winner was Lynne Paasch who won the individual, the pairs, and placed second in the team Game. The hand featured here was from the Pairs Game.

The Bidding: Lynne opened the bidding with 1D and heard her partner bid 3S over the opponents 3H. She bid a very conservative 3NT and her partner thought long and hard and passed.

The Play: Lynne could count seven tricks after the opening lead. She found the queens in the pointed suits and took all the tricks.

What Happened? Everyone else played in spades below the slam level, which resulted in a top board and helped her to the victory.

Bridge Futures: The Richland Duplicate Bridge Club (RDBC) has a game at the Richland Community Center at 5:30 p.m. on Mondays. RDBC also plays on the first, third, and fifth Friday at 12:30 p.m. at the Old Country Buffet, 6821 W. Canal Dr., Kennewick, WA. Call Tom Edwards at 946-1824 for details.

This story was originally published July 9, 2017 at 1:17 AM with the headline "Bridge in the Tri-Cities: The Longest Day."