Sydney Cardless had never been to a national bridge tournament before, so the Summer Nationals in New York City was quite an experience for him. For that matter he had never been to NYC before. It certainly was not anything like East Kumquat. One thing he heard about NYC he found not to be true, that the natives were unfriendly. In fact he met a very friendly young lady outside his hotel who looked like she was waiting for a bus.

Sydney found one thing that East Kumquat and NYC had in common. They played Swiss teams here! That was the event for Sydney. He had teammates already. Dr. and Mrs. Irving J. Sheepmeat were here from East Kumquat. Sydney just had to go to the partnership desk to find a fourth. He found a splendid partner, a Rabbi from Wheeling, WV.

There is one big difference between the Swiss teams in East Kumquat and at the Nationals. At the Nationals you might get to play against some of the big name players that get knocked out of the Spingold. That is what happened to Sydney the first round. There they were: the legendary John R. Crawfish, Tobius Rock, Alvin Roll and Barbara Shapely. The whole team was playing the Rock and Roll system. The mind boggles to think of Sydney playing against John R. Crawfish. He had won more World championships than Sydney had won club championships.

Sydney's team had little chance of winning this match, but anything can happen in Swiss teams. The first five boards were so flat that a swing on one of the last two could win the match for Sydney's team. Dr. and Mrs. Irving J. Sheepmeat reached 6ª on the sixth board and went one down. It looked like it could be a big swing the other way.

The Rabbi got off to a good start with a trump lead against John R.'s 6ª . John R. won in dummy and led a Club. The Rabbi won and led his last trump. John R. won the trump in his hand and ruffed a Club. At this point Sydney is squeezed. Whichever red suit Sydney pitches declarer will establish for his twelfth trick. Sydney, who was so nervous at this point that he could barely hear or see, did not notice declarer ruff the Club. Sydney ruffed himself. The contract was beaten.