Frank Morgan

In January 2020 I taught a Williams College Winter Study course on “Tournament Bridge,” including five days at a regional tournament in Tarrytown NY. All participants came home winner with Master Points. In the pictured board Saturday morning January 25, Jihoon Kim and I held the NS cards. Jihoon passed and West opened 1C. Since the opponents apparently held all the cards, I tried a daring weak jump overcall of 2H. The opponents still reached the optimal contract of 3N, but Jihoon now knew to lead a H, first the K and then the 2 to Declarer’s Ace. (Actually Declarer should have taken the A on the first trick, leaving a stopper in dummy.) My Hs are now good, but with only the slim prospect of getting in with the DQ, and E can easily and safely finesse into South’s hand. But
when Declarer cashed his Spades, I casually threw away my 2 and 6 of Ds, unguarding my Q. The observant Declarer was then so sure that South had the DQ that he immediately took the losing finesse into my hand, allowing us to cash three more Hs and the CA for down 2 for 93 percent.

Roster: Max Everett, Jihoon Kim, Geoffrey Lu, Robert Nielsen, Alex Simons, Xiwen Miranda Wang, guest consultant Jim Berry.

Final comments from Max. I had an absolute blast learning how to play bridge with all of you this month.  Alex and I play cards together (Hearts, Rook, Euchre, …) 3-4 nights a week, so I knew I would enjoy bridge, but I didn’t expect how quickly I would get sucked in.  When we went to the Tarrytown tournament, Robert and I got back to our room after two full sessions during the day only to play online on BBO for another hour and a half.  I loved the camaraderie of our group, where everyone would celebrate the success of anyone getting masterpoints as a success for everyone.

Their own account “Our First Slam,” was published in the April 2020 ACBL Bulletin.