California-Led Bridge Team Will Compete for World Title

A predominantly Californian bridge team won the right to represent North America in the 1985 world championship in a playoff of 128 deals held here Saturday and Sunday.

The winners--Chip Martel of Davis; Lew Stansby of Castro Valley; Peter Pender of Forestville and Hugh Ross of Oakland, along with Robert Wolff and Robert Hamman, both of Dallas, captained by this writer--scored 339 international match points to 334 for the losers, Eric Rodwell of Lafayette, Ind.; Jeff Meckstroth of Columbus, Ohio; Marty Bergen of White Plains, N.Y.; Larry Cohen of New York City; Mark Lair of Canyon City, Tex., and Eddie Wold of Houston, captained by George Rosenkranz of Mexico City.

The Californians enjoyed a lead of 110 points shortly before half-time, but the Easterners surged back and led by 44 at the three-quarter point. Then the winners picked up 23 points in the seventh set of 16 boards and 26 more in the final set to win by five points, the equivalent of about 200 points at rubber bridge.

In the most exciting hand of the match, during the seventh session, Ross bid a grand slam missing an ace, gambling that his void suit would make up for the missing ace or that the opening lead would be favorable. The lead was a spade, the dummy’s void suit, and the Californians gained 11 much-needed points, more than twice the margin of victory. With a heart opening lead, the Eastern team would have won the match by 20 points.

Martel and Stansby won the open pair championship in the 1982 world championship and took second place in the team event with Pender and Ross. Hamman and Wolff have won five team championships and the open pair championship in world competition.

In the 1985 world championship, scheduled for late October in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the California team and the top European team will enjoy byes through the semifinals, while others, including a Canadian team, play qualifying matches to fill the other two semifinal berths.