Mike Yuen — Mike talks about bridge

My wake up call.

Maurice and I put in a wake up call for 8.30 am before we went to bed last night. We slept well so when the phone rang this morning I assumed it was our wake up call. But no, it was Leo, our team-mate “Where are you, it is 10 am game time and you are in the first round!”

We rush down to the playing room, not knowing which table or opponents we were supposed to play against, I sat down in the only open seat and pick up my hand.

Board 10. Dealer West. Both Vul.  ♠ 9854 A98 AJ62 A2

The auction.

W
West
N
North
E
East
S
South
1NT
Pass
2
Pass
2
2
Dbl
All Pass

1NT-14-16. 2 – Transfer to hearts. 2 – nobody steals from me.

The lead was the 10.

Maurice put down a perfect dummy with J762 Q102 754 763

The deal.

 
10
Both
East
N
North
9854
A98
AJ62
A2
 
W
West
AKQ3
J7
Q3
Q10985
 
E
East
10
K6543
K1098
KJ4
 
S
South
J762
Q102
754
763
 

 

-1100 later, I got my wake up call. Note to self-The water is not so warm in Toronto.

The very next board.

Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul.

I picked up : Q3 QJ6 AKQ65 Q75

The auction.

W
West
N
North
E
East
S
South
Pass
3
3NT
All Pass
 

I didn’t come all the way here to pass, so I bid 3NT.

LHO led the 3.

Dummy came down with  AJ762 7543 J10 42

I played low, RHO cashed two top clubs, I followed twice while LHO discarded a high diamond on the second club, switched to the nine of hearts. I played the Queen, LHO won, then went into the tank, trying the sominex coup.

What seems like hours later the 2 came back. I won the jack and run five diamond winners. LHO was caught in the major suits squeeze.

 
11
None
South
N
North
Q3
QJ6
AKQ65
Q75
 
W
West
95
98
73
AKJ10986
 
E
East
K1084
AK102
9842
3
 
S
South
AJ762
7543
J10
42
 

 

Made 9 tricks for +400. Won 10 imps, they played in 3 in the other room.

A little unlucky that we lost the match on that wake up call!

Nader Hanna - Tournament Chair

Nader Hanna – Tournament Chair

So far Nader Hanna is doing a great job with hospitality. Breakfast in the morning, chicken wings and pizza in the evening with a free bar.

Bruce Gowdy - Friendly Bartender

ruce Gowdy – Friendly Bartender

 

 Photos of the players are posted my blog site.

 

 


3 Comments

Judy Kay-WolffMay 26th, 2013 at 3:11 pm

Hi Mike:

Cute tale out of school (or tournament)!

I recently heard something reminiscent of yours but in recounting it to me was asked not to mention any names. They did, in time, become among the best U. S. players. Playing for the first time, they agreed to get their feet wet at a local duplicate club. One was twenty minutes late. The concerned player went to the pay phone (there were no cell phones in those days) to check on his missing partner who picked up the phone and apologized, saying, “I will be right down.” Would you believe he actually lived in the same building where the club was renting space? Lame excuse!

ZoranMay 26th, 2013 at 5:08 pm

Mike,
Check if the opponents didn’t pay the hotel staff to forget about the wake-up call. 😉
Wish you better luck in the coming matches.

MichaelMay 27th, 2013 at 4:54 pm

Good one Judy.

Will check it out 🙂 Thanks Zoran.

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