Bridge in the Tri-Cities: Erich Giese

Opening Lead: Ace of hearts

The Tri-Cities duplicate bridge has lost a friend and a very fine player with the passing of Erich Geise. One of his colleagues spoke affectionately of Erich when he called him “The world’s only living German Leprechaun.”

Erich came to the Tri-Cities from Seattle in the seventies as a computer analyst with Boeing. He had been a top bridge player in Seattle, the home of many experts. Erich liked to fly with us to bridge tournaments throughout the Pacific Northwest. One such tourney was in McCall, Idaho. The 40 minute flight took the place of a six-hour car trip. The scenery was spectacular and included the Wallowa Mountains and Hell’s Canyon.

Today’s deal was from McCall where we were playing a team of professionals in the last round of the Swiss. Erich held the west hand.

The Bidding: The pro players reached a reasonable contract of 5S.

The Play: Erich led the ace of hearts and switched to the two of diamonds! I was East and I played my ten of diamonds. Someone had to tell me that I was on lead. As soon as I recovered from my shock, I led a heart for Erich to ruff and the contract went one down.

What Happened? At the other table, our teammates were in 5S, making five for a 13 international match point swing. We won the match and we won the event. I have had partners lead away from an ace. I have led away from AK, but leading away from AKQJ was something that I have only seen once in my lifetime. Nice play Erich! We will miss you.

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 16, 2017 at 2:36 AM with the headline "Bridge in the Tri-Cities: Erich Giese."