| Board 9 N/EW |
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K 9 7 2
J
T 7 2
K 9 6 4 3I can’t actually remember what happened here except that partner made 11 tricks fairly easily in no-trumps. Ah yes, I remember. Partner opened a strong nt and I couldn’t remember how I was supposed to show this hand. Our agreement was to transfer to diamonds and then bid hearts to show this hand but of course I forgot. Instead, I bid Stayman and bid 3N over the 2H response. 11 tricks were fairly painless for a gain of 1 whole imp. Actually it wasn’t a terrible way of bidding the hand and when you’ve not got as much partnership experience as you’d like, then simplicity often works well.
This was a good board for Dickinson and Southcombe but not really due to anything stunning from our boys. The Gloucs auction was:
1H 2D
3D 4D
5D P
4D is the real problem here – 3N seems like a better choice. Two heart ruffs, three kings and a club ruff gave them 4 off and +400. To make matters worse for Gloucs, Clacey and Angus picked up 500 from 3SX or something like that for a huge swing in.
Alastair Gidman mused what the right rebid is on this hand, playing Acol after
1H P 2D P ?
My view is that 2N is the right call. It’s a balanced hand and unless you’ve found a fit, rebidding no-trumps or opening no-trumps is the right call with such hands.
| Board 10 E/All |
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I got to play this in 2H after a simple auction of
1C 1H
2H end
I have to say that although 55 is a nice distribution, I didn’t really think that game was on the cards opposite a weak no-trump which was partners most likely holding. I supposed it’s slightly more plausible if you are playing a weak-nt. The defence was fairly soft. North led a spade to his partner’s ace and South woodenly returned a spade. I won and pitched my club on the third spade. North could ruff and exit with the DK (again rather soft). I simply won this and played a heart to the ace and allowed myself a small smile when the king dropped. Now I had an easy 10 tricks for an other imp gain.
Clacey and Angus had another great board here when they managed to punish South for an injudicious spade call and picked up a juicy 500.
For Williams and Wilson – a diamond lead against 4H was end of auction. In fact this was a nightmare for the entire A team as 4HX was allowed to slip through at one table….. ouch!
| Board 11 S/None |
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I’ve seen some curious bidding on this board. I opened 1D which didn’t happen at many tables I’m sure, as… well I don’t really have an opening bid! This is a dreadful hand, I will happily admit. Still – I can’t resist getting these 11 counts on the table. It is a bidder’s game, you know! North overcalled 1S and Bryony found a simple raise to 2D. I have to say South’s preemptive 3S response is bizarre! Obviously two aces and a 7 card suit didn’t really merit anything stronger. North eventually raised to game and on the CA lead, 12 tricks weren’t that tricky. What a bizarre hand! Needs a heart lead to beat 6!! For once team-mates uncomplicated bidding didn’t work so well here. 1N 3N wasn’t the best spot! Shame they led a heart!! Same thing happened in the other B team match too and so this was the worst board of the day for the Bs.
Slater and Stephens had some luck here too when their opponents (including one of my occasional partners) found an incredibly timid raise to 2S. I’ll have to have words with him before our next game! A similar story in the C team when Angus and Clacey’s opponents failed to get near game.
No messing around from Smith and Wilson though, Nick simply raised a 1S opening to 4. Practical effort, I think.
| Board 12 W/NS |
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Well a very poor slam is on the cards here. This needs the trump queen to come down in two rounds. Two oxford pairs actually bid it. Well done on the result, but a slap on the wrists for the bidding! An eight card fit, missing the trump queen and a keycard means the slam is going to be very good. If you are getting to that, I suggest you have a look at your methods to work out why!
Tim Dickinson offers some defence for getting there:
“Back at our table, I decided to attempt 6C despite a disappointing 5H reply to RKCB. Maybe DS would have Ax/xxxx/xx/AJxxx and that would be easy. No, he only had four clubs so put me back into hearts. I knew we were missing an ace + hQ. So, should I try 6S or not? He could be x/Jxxx/Axxx/AJxx and it wouldn't be pretty. So sit for 6H I did, and prayed. Yes, it was a good day. hQ duly appeared second round, trumps pulled, thank you very much, 13 IMP in. You know it's your day when things like this happen. On a bad day they'd have been 4-1 offside.”
Well – it’s worse than that, I think as you can’t pick up that many 4-1 splits. Still – at least it made! I don’t like the auction though – slam looks like it is quite a view when you are missing a keycard and the queen of trumps.
The other oxford pair who bid the slam were Smith and Wilson:
“12. A much needed bit of luck!
1C 1N
2S 3C* * no support, 4+ controls
3H 4H
6H!
Alan knew I had 2 aces but we don't play Bashwood that high and he gambled on my Hs being a bit better than they were - except that they were good enough after all! Phew!”
Phew indeed. I don’t like the auction as things start so well and you are extremely well placed at 4H to see whether slam is sensible or not. Fair enough not playing some sort of Blackwood, but surely you should have some method here of making noise rather than just bidding slam or not? It rather negates the point of having a strong club here if you are reduced to guesswork on the slam hands and I would suggest some systemic work following 4H on this auction is required! End of lecture. :-)
| Board 13 N/All |
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This was our only real piece of bad luck all day. North opened 1C and South responded 1D. I decided on a 2H overcall opposite a passed hand as there didn’t seem to be much chance of game. In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t given them so much of a push. North’s game-forcing 3H here is extraordinary. It is an unremarkable 3334 15 count and 3H wouldn’t even cross my mind. Still – that sucked them into 3N which is irritatingly cold as the club finesse is onside and East has the SA. Very lucky and I don’t blame Luke and Ed for staying out of it at all.
Smith and Wilson chose to defend here, extracting 500 out of the 2H overcall. Fair enough – Definitely the right decision to defend as game is poor and more than a little unlucky to lose 4 imps in their mini-match.
Only one Oxford pair got to 3N, so well done to Piper and Robinson for rolling that one home.
| Board 14 E/None |
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Well this board was spoiled in the B team match. So most of you won’t have seen it. We bid a cold 4S which needed some careful play. Good job I wasn’t playing it then! This was made at three tables but Robinson and Piper’s opponents didn’t find it.
For the rest of the teams, there seemed to be a fair bit of over-bidding but only the Lintotts got caught to the tune of 800…. Ouch!
| Board 15 S/NS |
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Ah my defensive prowess was on fine display here….. well should have been anyway! It looks like N/S should always make the normal spot of 1N with over-tricks. But you’d be surprised how tricky people found it. West usually leads a spade to the ace and a spade back which is ducked to the queen. West can then clear the spades. The key part of this hand is the play of the diamond suit. Our declarer, like so many others, ran the DT immediately. Unfortunately this now give declarer a loser – the correct line is to play a small diamond from hand as you have enough entries to cross back to hand to finesse the diamonds again. Even after the diamond is covered, declarer can still make easily by ducking a diamond but the seduction of over-tricks and countless games of duplicate bridge saw several declarers play a top diamond from the table. Now the diamond suit is dead and on best defence declarer should not be able to succeed. Our declarer next ran the CJ to my queen with partner playing the 8. I merrily cashed the last two spades and observed partners signals keenly. When Bryony encouraged in hearts with the 6 and then pitched the 5, I placed declarer with
KJx
Qx
Txx
AKTxx
and partner with
Axx
AKxxx
9xxx
8
Which requires me to switch to a heart to cash our 7 defensive tricks (with the heart suit blocked). Unfortunately this isn’t the layout and a heart exit gives away the 7th trick. If I had instead exited in clubs, declarer is forced to lead away from the king of hearts for one off.
I was a little irritated with myself and still think I should get it right. I guess that partner could make things a little easier by discarding the C3 and then the H6 as then I will have a correct count of the hand and will know that declarer hasn’t got enough tricks holding only 4 clubs. Oh well – a chance missed but a flat board in our mini-match. Still, after an identical start to the defence, I’m pleased to report that Gidman and Rowland got the defence right. Well done, a good defensive effort.
Currie and Murray managed to get all the way to 3N here after a frisky auction, to say the least. The worst thing is that the contract has *some* play. Over to Malcolm:
“Partner must rate my declarer play more than I, putting me in another 22-point 3N in the auction 1N - 3N. ST lead, won with the A, S6,J,Q,5, On the third round of spades I won in my hand, discarding the C2 from dummy. So if I can make all five diamonds, and either win three clubs or the HK, I'm home. So the plan is small diamond intending to finesse the Q. If that holds then you try the CJ. If RHO covers you win, lead the DT finessing again and score a game nobody else will be in. If the CQ doesn't appear, win with the A and continue with diamonds, watch the discards and likely go for the heart A being with RHO (given that LHO knows your interest in clubs). That works too. Great. However, my concentration lapsed, still stunned by dummy's eight points, and I played the DT on the first round of diamonds and when the stiff K appears...”
Ouch – yes, good analysis but unfortunately a little too late..
I heard from Nick Smith that he led a small diamond not the ten from hand in 1N. Hooray!! At last someone got it right!!
| Board 16 W/EW |
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Dull 3N this – nothing much to say. I caused some mirth at our table though. Declarer won the club lead in hand and immediately tried the HQ. Bryony won this and switched to a spade, cutting off an entry from the table. Declarer looked a little worried now and tried a diamond to the king which I ducked. He now ran the 8 of hearts to my 9 and I cashed DA and played another as I didn’t want to give a free spade finesse. Declarer was now really worried an played a club to the table. When he hesitantly tried the HK, I discarded a spade!! He slumped visibly but then I had to tell him I was only joking and hearts were 3-3 after all…. Hehe. Bit naughty but I couldn’t resist. Did I say dull? Well that didn’t stop Jones and Porter extracting 800 out of an unwise action by their opponents. Not the time to stick your neck out there.
Slater and Stephens had the most comical result on this board after their Lucas 2 ended the auction. Obviously they were expecting a reopening double or something… good job there wasn’t one as Nelson improbably managed to make this with 3 club ruffs, 2 aces, 2 diamond ruffs and the SQ fetching both the SA and the SK. Very amusing… unless you were defending it!
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