ACBL plans second sectional tourney of 2022
More positive news for face-to-face duplicate bridge aficionados emerged this week: The Connecticut unit of the American Contract Bridge League announced that it will be holding its second sectional tournament of the year from Oct. 14 to Oct. 16 in Orange.
The first sectional tournament was held in early June in the same town, drawing nearly 65 percent of the normal turnout of tournaments held before advent of COVID-19. Hopefully, the upcoming threeday competition will improve on that mark.
Elsewhere, Greenwich players who did well playing in duplicates in-person at either the Bridge Deck or the Harte’s Club during the past week or so are as follows:
⏩ Bridge Deck: Friday, Aug. 19, Ruth Chizzini and Lois Spagna, second in Strat B; Wednesday, Aug. 24, Chizzini and Spagna, second in B, and Linda Otness, playing with Susan Duval, fifth in A.
⏩ Harte’s Club: Thursday, Aug. 18, Vivian Wu, playing with Jill Marshall, third in A.
Today’s quiz: Here is another in the current series of quizzes on interpreting partner’s bids. In the following problem, you are given an auction accompanied by three hands, only one of which could actually fit the bids your partner has made. Which of the three hands do you think partner might actually have?
The bidding: You-1S; Opponent-2D; PartnerPass; Opponent-Pass; You-2H; Opponent-Pass; Partner-2S. Partner could hold:
a) S 974 H 63 D 10764 C 8532
b) S 10742 H K54 D 96 C QJ83
c) S 104 H J94 D 8532 C K763
Answer: This problem illustrates the extremes one may have to go to in order to make a preference bid (discussed in detail in last week’s column). Of the three hands given, only the one containing no honor cards at all — hand a) — is consistent with the bidding shown. Holding this hand, partner would have choice but to return you to your opening suit, knowing that the combined hands contained more spades than hearts. At the same time, partner would be aware that he was not promising you anything more as to strength than his previous action — a pass — had promised, and he would expect you to be equally aware of the possibility that he could hold nothing other than a preference to play in spades.
Hand b) would also meet the criteria for a preference bid in spades, but in the given situation, partner could not have this hand since he would have bid two spades at his first turn. Finally, with hand c), where partner has more hearts than spades, he would simply pass two hearts to express a preference for that suit.