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From: A1 Freeman/Sands Hotel/Las Vegas, Nevada For receipt: Upon release MERRITT AND KROST WIN SANDS 2ND ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE TOURNAMENT Las Vegas, Nevada (October 30th).;......Clark Merritt, 60, of San Marino, a retired supervising auditor of the State Board of Equalization, and Robert B. Krost, 59, head of a public accounting firm in Pasadena, won the Sands 2nd Annual Inter- national Bridge Tournament Monday night, ending a 4 day tournament. Merritt and Krost took home $6160 each in cash prizes, after winning their final match against Dr. C. F. Crossley, 43, a Las Vegas anesthesiologist, and Charles Gabriel, 34, an engineer with the EGScG Corporation in Las Vegas; the Las Vegas experts won $2,580 each. The tournament attracted a field of 192 players from 30 states, Canada and the Bahamas, including 12 experts who have repre- sented the U.S. in world championship contests; The players competed for over $25,000 in cash prizes. The last of the famous experts was eliminated Sunday night when Merritt and Krost won a close match from Tobias Stone-, the winner of last year?╟╓s tournament, and Philip Feldesman, both of New York. # # # # # # #