Although
you wouldn't know it by visiting the
American Contract Bridge League's Hall of
Fame in Memphis, Canada has produced its
fair share of outstanding bridge
personalities. Canadians have appeared on
the list of North American nominees from
time to time, but the voting is done only by
players who have achieved a certain stature
(based solely on master points). Inevitably,
a vast majority of the voters are American,
most of whom have little recollection or
active interest in the great names in
Canadian bridge. That there are no Canadians
in the Hall of Fame is an outrageous state
of affairs that won't be amended until the
League appoints the equivalent of Baseball's
Veterans' Committee to ensure that justice
is eventually served.
A short list of deserving Canadians would
include the legendary Sam Gold of Montreal,
and Eric Murray, Sami Kehela, and Percy
Sheardown of Toronto, each of whom has
contributed far more to the game than his
considerable bridge expertise. A case could
be made for several others, but we'd be
content to see a start in the right
direction.
In 1963, when you could still find someone
you were looking for in the lobby of the
tournament hotel, Toronto's Sami Kehela and
Baron Wolf "my friends call me Willie"
Lebovic journeyed to the Spring North
American Championships (a.k.a. the Nationals)
in St. Louis. Although Sami had already made
a name for himself on the international
scene, no one expected them to win the first
two events - the International Events Fund
game (then a serious affair) and the Men's
Pairs. Today's deal is from the Men's Pairs.
Both vulnerable; South dealer
West |
North |
East |
South |
|
Lebovic |
|
Kehela |
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
Pass |
1NT |
Pass |
3 |
Pass |
3NT |
Pass |
Pass |
Pass |
|
Lead:
K
Lebovic's 3
bid was encouraging, but not forcing. West
led the
K.
Kehela won the ace and led the
10.
West took the ace, cashed the
Q,
and continued with the
10
to dummy's jack. Declarer cashed the
K
and
Q,
finessed the
J,
and cashed the
A
and
K.
West had been reduced to three diamonds and
the
9.
Declarer led a low diamond. If West followed
low declarer would win the king and throw
him in with a spade to concede a trick to
the
K
in the end. Declarer would take three clubs,
two spades, two hearts and two diamonds. To
avoid this ending, West played the
A,
intending to cash his spade and tuck
declarer in dummy with the
K
to lose a heart to East. Kehela was a step
ahead of West, however. When West played the
A,
he called for dummy's king. Now, after
cashing his spade, West was forced to lead
into declarer's diamond queen-ten at trick
twelve.