Local players score big in bridge tourney in Tarrytown

Many Greenwich players finished in the overall rankings in a variety of events at the six-day regional tournament that ended Jan. 26 in Tarrytown, N.Y. Local top finishers on Friday and Saturday were as follows:

Friday: Open Pairs, Faye Marino, 11th, A, and Vivian Wu, 15th, A. Knockout Teams, Bracket 1, Rich De Martino, tied for third; Bracket 4, Cliff Wald, first; Bracket 5, Jaime Warner, second; Bracket 6, Carol Cram, Betsy and Michael Grant, Sonia Kingshott, second. Swiss Teams, Bracket 2, Laura Brounstein, tied for second.

Saturday: Open Pairs, Rufus Cole-Silvia Szanto, 5, C; Knockout Teams Bracket 1, Rich De Martino; Bracket 6, Linda and Donald Fritz-Betsy and Michael Grant, tied for third; Bracket 7, Cindy Lyall-Kathryn Walker, first. There were none on Sunday. Today’s quiz: This is the first in a series of quizzes dealing with the specialized use of a double in certain bidding sequences. In the following problem, what does your partner’s double mean in the sequence shown?

Opp. Part. Opp. You

1D Pass 2NT Pass

3NT Dble.

Answer: Partner’s “out-of-theblue” double says that he is reasonably certain he can defeat the contract if a specific opening lead is made by you. That this is the only interpretation of this action is not open to debate as there is virtually universal agreement that such a double demands a specific opening lead. The question therefore, is what suit is partner asking you to lead?

On the given sequence, partner is asking you to lead dummy’s suit — diamonds. He may hold, for example, the AKQ10 of diamonds and another ace and can see that if a diamond is not led, he may never get to score his ten. With any other lead, declarer may be able to set up enough tricks to make his contract and partner will get only his three top diamonds and his side ace.

Additional points: if dummy has bid two or more suits on the way to game, the double asks for the lead of the first suit he bid. And when leading the suit your partner has requested, you should lead normally — top of a doubleton or three small, except that when you hold three cards to an honor in the suit (extremely unlikely), you should always lead the honor — partner will be delighted to see that card.

The past two weeks’ duplicate results:

Greenwich YWCA afternoon open duplicate, 2/3: 1. Carol CramPenny Foote, 2. Natalie CohenJudy Crystal.

Greenwich YWCA afternoon open duplicate: 2/10: 1. Ruth Newberg-Jean Raben, 2. Lynne Rohrer-Jackie Stone, 3. Joanne Kuebler-Hollister Sturges.

Central Greenwich Bridge Club, weekly duplicate, 1/31: NorthSouth, 1. John Friel-Betty Johnson,

2. James Chung-Louise Finch, 3. Joanne Marr-Wendy Rehberger; East-West, 1. Jane Baxter-Anna Simon, 2. Barbara and Dorothea Bellafiore, 3. Rex Brown-Don McCulloch.

Central Greenwich Bridge Club, weekly duplicate, 2/7: NorthSouth, 1. Kathryn Austin-Katarina Ladd, 2. Joyce Beach-Anne Simon,

3. Betty Johnson-Holly Pastula; East-West, 1. Doris Erdman-Anne Gilhuly, 2. Rex Brown-Don McCulloch, 3. Bob Driessen-Dean Goss.