ZIA AND HOWARD WEINSTEIN WIN
'98 BLUE RIBBON PAIRS
By Brent Manley & Henry Francis

The Book that Belongs
in Every Bridge Players Library

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Zia Mahmood & Howard Weinstein, playing together for the first time in years, won the '98 Blue Ribbon Pairs by more than two boards.

"My secret," Zia joked after the game, "is to play with Jewish guys who have German sounding names."

Zia's regular partner, with whom he has had considerable success, is Michael Rosenberg. The globe-trotting Pakistani is a two-time ACBL Player of the Year.

Weinstein, who became a Grand Life Master at this tournament, said he and Zia played a few times "five or 10 years ago" but not since. They hooked up when Weinstein's regular partner, Steve Garner, wasn't available.

Weinstein is an options trader on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. The Blue Ribbon was his sixth North American championship. On this Blue Ribbon deal most North-South's failed in 3NT. Four Spades can be made but Zia scored 34/38 matchpoints for this effort.

Against 3♣X Howard Weinstein led ♠A, then ♣6, ducked by Zia. A spade off dummy was taken by Zia's ace, dropping his partner's queen. Zia drew dummy's last trump, and reading his partner's trump echo as showing three*, followed with ♠J and a spade ruff to collect 300. (Vu-Bridge note:* Playing spot-trumps high-low generally shows an odd number of cards)

How to Play:

There is a Chinese saying:
'An image is worth 1000 words!'

You may want to take the
Online Player Guided Tour

1 - Bidding: Click the 'Play' button in the middle of the page to display the bidding box.

When you are ready, click the 'Start Bidding' button.

When a bid is alerted, it is shown on a yellow background. You can then click that bid to display the related alert.

When there is a comment or a question about your own bid, you can read it on the bidding box comments pane, and then, click the 'Ok' button to continue bidding.

Click 'Close Bidding Box' to proceed to playing the hand.

2 - Playing: The lead is automatic if you are declarer, otherwise you'll see the 'It's your lead' warning in the center pane.

You will play your cards and dummy's as if you were at a live table.

2.1 -Touching cards are considered equivalent! e.g. if you have 876 and you play the 7 while Vu-Bridge expects you to play the 6, then the 7 will blink and the 6 will be played.

2.2 -Sometimes there will be a comment or question during the play.
You should read it and click the 'Click to continue' button at the top of the comment text.

If its a question, there will be a 'Show Answer' button to click at the bottom of the comment panel.

2.3 - When a comment bears a 'Finish flag' button, you can click it to reveal hidden hands and continue playing. We use this to explain technical coups like end-plays, squeezes etc.

2.4 - You can review the last trick by clicking on the last won or lost trick (back of card) at the bottom of the screen. The last trick will show during 3 seconds and then play will continue.

2.5 - You can click the 'Undo last trick' button at the left of the screen in order to redo one or several tricks and review the attached comments.
You can review the auction by clicking the 'Auction' tab in the same area.
3 - Moving the comment panel:

When the mouse hovers the dark green background of the bidding box or the comment panel, you'll see a crosshair cursor and you can drag and move it around the page.

The left and right arrows on the top left corner of the comment panel allows you to increase or reduce the width for better readability.

4 - When a hand is finished, you can click the 'Board List' at the top of the comment panel, and play other hands From the same Series.

To play other Series, visit the Vu-Bridge's home page and click the 'Bridge Hands' button.