Duplicate players brush up for fall tourneys
After a relatively quiet month on the area tournament scene, local duplicate players will have their chance to get back to the tables with three separate competitions scheduled for October.
First up will be the annual seven-day District 3 Autumn Leaf Regional from Oct. 8 to Oct. 14 at the Crowne Plaza in Danbury. Further details on this tournament will appear in this space at a later date, but for immediate information, contact www.bridge-district3.org.
Two weeks later, the annual three-day Connecticut Fall sectional tournament will be held from Oct. 26 to Oct. 28 at the Keeney Memorial Cultural Central in Wethersfield. Further information may be obtained at www.ctbridge.org.
Finally, there will be a STAC week at local clubs in mid-October, with the opportunity for all contestants to earn silver points during that week.
Today’s quiz: Here is another in the current series of quizzes on basic bridge probabilities. In the following problem, you are given your own and the dummy’s holding in two different suits and are to determine the best percentage play in the specified circumstances.
YOU: S AQ5, D AK76; DUMMY: S 432, D 5432.
You are playing a notrump contract and are in dummy for the last time. You need an additional trick and cannot afford to lose the lead to the opponents more than once. Should you play to set up your fourth diamond, or take a spade finesse?
Answer: A few weeks ago, the very same problem was presented, but there was one less diamond in dummy. In that circumstance, it was stated that the best percentage play was to take a spade finesse, since that offered a 50 percent chance of success as opposed to the 36 percent chance of a 3-3 division of the missing diamonds.
Here, though, the addition of the fourth diamond in dummy alters the percentages significantly. All you need now to produce the desired extra trick is a 3-2 diamond division, which is better than a two-out-of-three possibility (68 percent). Consequently, since you cannot afford to lose the lead twice, you should not risk the 50 percent finesse, but should go about setting up the long diamond immediately.
The week’s duplicate results:
Greenwich YWCA weekly duplicate: North-South, 1. Leia Berla-Sharon Santow, 2. Jay Force-Terry Lubman, 3. Kathryn Payne-Mary Sue Saltsman, 4. Renate Fremuth-Joyce Grieb, 5. Wayne De Vries-Sanjay Santhanam; East-West, 1. Mary ScarfiLois Spagna, 2. Dave Babson-Dorothea Bellfiore, 3. Mary Grimm-Grif McClellan, 4. Ronnie Bershad/ Sachs-Barbara Thompson, 5. Kathleen Francis-Leslie Petrick.
Central Greenwich Bridge Club: North-South, 1. James Chung-Joe Roe, 2. Dave Babson-Dorothea Bellafiore, 3.Barbie Jackson-Pat Riggs; East-West, 1. B. Kutri-Holly Pastula, 2. Bob DrissenDean Goss, 3. Madeleine and Wayne Goss.