Diary of a Bridge Pro #25

 Springfield, April 7, 2024

  I’ve been back a few days from the regional in Florida, today's the last day of play there. Most pros insist on being booked for a full week in order to travel to a tournament. I take a different approach. Many of my clients want to play only for a day or two - three, max. In Coral Springs I played only two days. Those two days featured almost 100 hands of tournament bridge, some of which you'll read about here.

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  Opening leads will likely prove to be an ongoing subject of conversation in these columns. We’ve already discussed this one:: Q, KJxxxx, Axx, T8x - 2H (Double) - P - (2S) - P - 4S - 

  I found the club lead, we found the club ruff - tons at stake on that lead, any other lead and they get a near-top for +420.

​  I’m familiar with the Bird - Anthias simulation books on the subject of opening leads, so I considered the club lead automatic - thanks, guys!

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  Consider Board 15 from this Set, the very first session at the 2024 Southeastern States Regional. Another opening lead problem.

  You hold Jxxx, 9x, KQJxxx, A - In third position, you open One Diamond, and the bidding continues, with the two initial passes included: P - (P) - 1D - (Double) - P - (1H) - P - (3H) - P - (4H) - 

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  Tuesday night Walter and I had dinner at the "go-to" restaurant in the shopping mall which adjoins the hotel complex. It’s called “The Latin Place”, favored by staff at the hotel and guests seeking a bite at a mid-range restaurant, convenient and unpretentious. Back at the hotel, touring pros Dan Korbel and Chris Compton were chatting by the front desk.

  The protocols among pros and players in these situations are established by custom. I judged from their body language that their conversation wasn't too personal. Chris had driven to the beach (he’d invited me along, a couple of hours previous) and it’s a pretty safe bet, though not a full-on lead-pipe cinch, that Dan had had dinner with his teammates - I think I saw them all leave together around the type Chris left for the sunny sand of Fort Lauderdale.

  I joined the pair of them and Inevitably Chris and Dan were engaged in some shoptalk. This day that shoptalk concerned the high cost of hiring hotel workers, often unionized, for audio/video support. If the tournament committee wants to hire local vendors, Chris explained, sometimes hotels insist on approving the specific workers or firm.

  This triggered a series of thoughts for me, so I jumped right in: "You're going to get stuck hearing a Harry Goldwater story now," I warned them.

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  Louisville ended eight days previous, and in between the spring San Diego regional had been conducted. I was conscious that these Florida and San Diego regionals seem connected to me, because around 2018 Chris and I had teamed up for both: As partners, on a Mahaffey Team in Florida, then as teammates, with our respective clients Steve and Walter, in San Diego one day later.

  This year Chris and Dan were the only two players at the tournament to attend all three congresses: 10 to 12 days at the Louisville nationals, a week in San Diego, now here in Florida, beginning play around 15 hours after finishing the Swiss in SoCal.

  Those two are a pair of serious Road Warriors, right?

  After I played in 2018 in those two consecutive regionals with Chris (back then there were held later in April), I got it in my head that I should sponsor a three week program, for players who wanted to compete not only in Florida and San Diego, but also in the ginormous regional held every year in Tennessee. I even came up with a slogan:

  "Take the Compton Challenge:"

  1st Week: Southeastern States, Miami

  2nd Week: Southern California Regional, San Diego

  3rd Week: Annual April Regional, Gatlinburg, TN

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  The tournament calendar is different now, perhaps we’ll have to go with something like this:

  Take the Korbel-Compton Challenge

  First Week: Spring Nationals

  Second Week: San Diego Regional

  Third Week: South Florida Regional, Southeastern States

  Fourth Week: Laundry Week - Go home, visit Cuba, or stay in south Florida and play duplicate. Your call.

  Fifth Week: Gatlinburg Bridge Jamboree

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  I’ll open Blog #26 with the Harry Goldwater story, and end this one with a declarer play problem, based on Board 15, which we cited above.

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  Let's conclude this column with a play problem: How would you declare 4H on these cards?

  Tx, Qxxx, A9x, Qxxx opposite AKQx, AJxx, Tx, KTx - 

  LHO opens One Diamond and against Four Hearts he leads the Ace of Clubs and shifts to the King of Diamonds at Trick Two.

  There is a winning play - I didn't find it - the defense erred as well (lucky for me).

  The winning play is to win the ace of diamonds - ducking the first round of diamonds may be best, so RHO can’t be reached for the club ruff with the hypothetical diamond jack - and after winning the diamond Ace, play Ace of Hearts, Jack of Hearts. With this line of play, the opening leader is out of trumps by the time his partner wins the king of hearts. With this line of play, rather than the simple trump finesse, there’s no club ruff for the defense when RHO wins the king of hearts, at that point the opening leader will be out of trump - he only started with two.

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