For those who noticed a marked improvement in this column the past two months, you should have realized that it couldn't last. Your lowly scribe has returned to the scene of earlier crimes. I'd like to thank Tom Lill for raising the literary level here, if only temporarily.
Leaving the realm of letters for more mundane matters, we move on to unit news. The annual unit dinner was an artistic and culinary success. Many thanks to Hans Hehnke for catering a nice prime rib dinner. The good food must have gotten everyone in a pleasant mood, because the entire unit board agreed to serve another term and Penny Barbieri agreed to serve as unit president for the coming year. Thanks to all who agreed to serve.
This year's unit champions were Scott Samarel and Lary Alba, playing their "Scary Club". They narrowly edged Bill Papa and Gary Olson for overall honors. Their slim margin of victory was cemented on the final round when the leaders faced each other. Alba brought home an ambitious 7♦ contract by correctly guessing a two-way finesse for a side-suit queen. Lary always likes to live dangerously, and the top score on this board brought home first place overall. Congrats on a nice win.
North-South winners in the afternoon were Hans Hehnke and Don Capurro, followed by Dave and Susan Ruoff and Papa-Olson. East-West winners were Alba-Samarel, followed by George Wang-Janet Ju and Tom Lill-Genise Hasan. Evening N-S winners were Olson-Papa, edging out Alba-Samarel, with Tim and Eileen Finlay third. E-W was won by Wang-Ju, followed by Hehnke-Capurro and the Ruoffs.
Top game of the month was a 66% effort produced by Walt Otto and Rick Whitham. Other winners topping 60% were Richard Patterson, John Tyner,Dave Ruoff, Susan Ruoff, George Altinis, James Rhodes, Kurt Trieselmann, Ken Bloomfield, Vic Sartor, Roger Boyar, Ben Harris, Fred Minter, Lulu Minter, and John Stone,Jr. Other winners included Mary Miller, Susanne Wojcik, Clint Lew, Genise Hasan, Anne McClellan, and Sofia Pineda.
Congratulations are in order for three unit members who have achieved new ranks. Yoon Kyung Kim made Life Master - well done! Regina Ann Strother and Karen McCarthy both became Club Masters - nice work!
Our hand of the month is a real beauty. You are dealt:
The winning auction shows why cue-bidding is an essential tool for anyone who wants to become a good bidder. After the strong rebid of 2♠ and the proper 3♠ raise (some slam interest) a good auction might proceed as follows: 4♣(ace) - 4♥(ace), 5♦(ace) - 6♦(king) - 7NT. Knowing partner has 3 spades, there are 7 sure spade tricks. The ace of hearts provides a sluff for the fourth club if necessary, and the king of diamonds is a sure entry to dummy, even if spades can't get you there. If you stop to count, that's 13 top tricks. As it turned out partner even has the club jack. There were 14 sure tricks off the top. Yet no pair reached the top spot. Would you and your favorite partner get there?
Until next time,ciao.