The BBOers May Festival kicked off yesterday, featuring some of the world's top players in the exclusive Stars & Platinum Robot Individual. This tournament is restricted to BBO Star players and those with at least 5 ACBL platinum points, making it a truly elite competition.

After Day 1, Leonardo Rizzo (naninga) from Rio Cuarto, Argentina, took the lead with an impressive score of 67.78%. Hot on his heels are Ben Kristensen (benjk) from Duluth, MN, with a score of 67.38%, and Mark Caplan (mcaplan) from Mulmur, ON, with a score of 66.04%. As the tournament progresses, the leaderboard is expected to change.

One exciting hand came from the current leader, Leonardo Rizzo, in board 3.

The contract was 3NT. With six club tricks, the ♦A, and the ♠A, he needed just one more trick to make the contract. After promoting the club tricks, Leonardo played the ♦Q, taking the finesse to East. Although playing the Heart finesse to West seemed risky, with ♥KJxx, he was confident in the stoppers. The finesse succeeded, and he played all the club tricks. Noting how many hearts West had left, he then played a Heart to West, which squeezed them with the remaining cards. It resulted contract plus 2 and an impressive score of 98.81% on that board.

The Stars & Platinum Robot Individual continues tomorrow with another exciting day of play. Don't miss tomorrow's update!

Result on Day 1