NORTH 10 A J 10 8 4 A K J 8 4 10 3 | ||
| WEST 9 7 3 2 K 6 Q 5 A 9 8 7 2 |  | EAST A 8 6 5 9 7 3 9 6 3 2 J 5 |
| SOUTH(D) K Q J 4 Q 5 2 10 7 K Q 6 4 |
Neither side was vulnerable. The bidding:
| South | West | North | East |
| 1 N.T. | Pass | 2 | Pass |
| 2 | Pass | 3 N.T. | Pass |
| 4 | Pass | Pass | Pass |
They started badly, lying 61st of 70 pairs after the first of the four sessions. But they moved up to 24th during the second session, when the field was cut to 28 pairs for the second day. After a big game in the third session, they moved into the lead, which they maintained despite scoring only just over average in the final session.
In a very close finish, the winners scored 407.03 match points; second were Glenn Milgrim and Chris Willenken of New York, with 404.76; and third were Dan Gerstman and Joel Wooldridge of Buffalo, at 400.35.
Abelow guessed well in the diagramed deal, which he played in the third session against the pair that finished second.
Abelow (South) opened one no-trump, promising only 12 to 14 points. Wegman (North) used a transfer bid to show his five-card heart suit, then made the unusual decision to rebid three no-trump, not three diamonds. South, with three-card heart support, corrected to four hearts.
Milgrim (West) led the spade three, playing low from an odd number of cards and third-highest from an even number. Willenken (East) won with his ace and shifted imaginatively to the club five, West taking declarer’s king with his ace and returning a deceptive club eight to the ten, jack and queen.
South cashed his king and queen of spades, discarding diamonds from the dummy. If he had believed West’s carding, he would have continued with the spade jack, pitching the diamond jack, but he played a heart to dummy’s ten and took the two top diamonds, dropping West’s queen.
Declarer’s plan had been to ruff the diamond jack with his heart queen, then to repeat the heart finesse. And if West had found a brilliant falsecard holding three hearts to the king and three diamonds to the queen, that would have been the winning line. But after some thought, Abelow called for dummy’s heart ace, dropping West’s king and scoring an overtrick.
Plus 450 was worth only 6 match points out of 13 because one declarer in three no-trump took 11 tricks, and three pairs in four hearts won 12 tricks. But if South had bagged only 10 tricks, he would have received 2 match points, resulting in the win and place positions’ being reversed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/10/crosswords/bridge/10card.html?_r=1&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fC%2fCards%20and%20Card%20Games&oref=slogin
