More than 20 years ago!
Some deals you never forget. I held this hand in 1980, and I’d say it "launched my career:"
QJ1098542
--
AKQ75
--
In the Vanderbilt teams, I dealt and had to make the first bid. My partner was Ron Gerard, and I hoped he had read what I had read. What had I read? That an opening bid of 5
or 5 shows this
type of hand -- 11 winners missing only the ace and king of trump. So, I opened 5, a bid that took everyone by surprise.
My LHO passed, and my partner, with a sly look on his face, jumped to 7. Hopefully he knew that he
should raise to 6 with one high trump, and to 7 with both high trumps.
This was the full deal:
| AK |
Vul: Both | ||
| KQ752 |
Dlr: South | ||
| 102 |
|||
| Q942 |
|||
| 76 |
3 |
||
| A9864 |
J103 |
||
| 64 |
J983 |
||
| AKJ3 |
108765 |
||
| QJ1098542 |
|||
| -- |
|||
| AKQ75 |
|||
| -- |
|||
| WEST | NORTH (Ron Gerard) | EAST | SOUTH (Larry) |
| -- | -- | -- | 5! |
| Pass | 7! |
All Pass |
West trusted our bidding enough not to double, and he also trusted it enough to lead a
trump (and not try one of his aces). Still, I was able to ruff one diamond in dummy and
easily claim 13 tricks for +2210. At the other table, my counterpart opened 2 and
reached only 6. Our team went on to win
the match, and this deal was written up in the New York Times bridge column; my first
claim to fame!