Here's a list of county line-ups for the next two matches:
Oxfordshire v Staffordshire - Sunday 14th September (away)
A team
Michael Clark & Luke Porter
Chris Cooper (c) & Bryony Youngs
Simon Cope & Nathan Piper
Ed Jones & Andrew Murphy
B team
Norman Gascoyne & Ron Quainton
Andrew Lintott & Dinah Lintott
Rob Procter & Michael Robinson
Nick Smith & Alan Wilson (reserves for A)
Reserves: Nick Percival-Price & Mike Goldsmith
C team
Alastair Gidman & Chris Whitehouse
Greg Moss & Joe Clacey
Jo Murray & Malcolm Currie
Mary-Ann Sheehy & Cathy Rowland
Oxfordshire v Lincolnshire - Sunday 12th October (away - at Leicester Bridge Club)
A team
Michael Clark & Luke Porter
Chris Cooper (c) & Bryony Youngs
Nick Smith & Alan Wilson
Mike Webley & Nigel Wilkes
Reserves: Rob Procter & Michael Robinson
B team
Ian Angus & Joe Clacey
Tim Dickinson & David Southcombe
Denis Talbot & Kathy Talbot
John Williams & Chris Wilson
Reserves: Andrew Lintott & Dinah Lintott
C team
Mike Brown & Clive Keep
David Flower & David Stead
Norman Gascoyne & Ron Quainton
Mary-Ann Sheehy & Cathy Rowland
Reserves: Alastair Gidman & Chris Whitehouse
I'll send some suggested car-sharing arrangements in a few days. As usual, I'd appreciate it if at least one member of every partnership could confirm that they are able to play.
Saturday, 30 August 2008
Thursday, 7 August 2008
Oxfordshire vs Worcestershire Jully 2008 Boards 25-32
Board 25
How do you play a spade contract here? The auction made this fairly tricky for us… partner opened 1S as East and South found a takeout double. I bid 2S and North found a super-aggressive 3C bid. Bryony's 3S now ended the auction. Unfortunately, the play went a bit awry when she got the clubs wrong and lost a bit of tempo. Still, flat again against 4S-1 on the other table. I'm still not sure what the best line is on a trump lead.
Board 26
South overcalled 4S here and that ended the auction. There's not much to the play in the end although spotting the best line is tricky. As you can ruff two diamonds, finesse the club or subject West to a show-up squeeze in clubs and diamonds, you are always safe. The best line? That is much more difficult to assess, I think. The show-up squeeze works if the club finesse is working, so I guess the simple finesse is superior as you will only go one off if it is wrong. You can then pitch a loser on the second club winner.
Some pairs did well here to net a double (which I don’t like). As all lines lead to 10 tricks, that was a bonus.
This was a game-swing out in the B team when the Bygotts opponents overcalled 4S, but Sandra Landy only found 3S which ended the auction. Should you overcall 4S? I think so – a chance missed, there.
Board 27
I thought we'd got South here. He opened 1H and I found a bold (ok, reckless) Michaels Cuebid. North was after a penalty but 3C is fairly ok for E/W a mere 300 on normal lines. South wisely removed to 3N and I kicked off with the obvious club lead. Declarer spent ages playing to trick two here and I was sure we'd got him. Unfortunately when he cashed the queen of hearts and then led to the king, he couldn't possibly get the heart wrong and this was just a boring 9 tricks. Oh well!!
Board 28
This was our worst moment of the day and it was all my fault. I opened a strong-nt. Bryony bid 2C and I responded 2D to deny a 4 card major. She now bid a forcing 3D and I….. lazily bid 3N. On the spade lead, this is just off when I couldn't sneak through a heart. My 3N bid is very lazy and I realise now that I should just bid 3H. This keeps all options open and allows partner to make a slam-try with better hands and correct to 3N with a good spade stop. My wrists are duly slapped!! Playing a weak-nt, N/S were allowed to get into the auction which should be enough to scare N/S out of 3N. 5D is then the top spot and was the normal contract. A rare game-swing out for us on this occasion in our mini-match.
A nice story here from Jeremy Bygott:
“This reminded me of Victor Mollo.
As West, I opened 1D. If partner had splintered with 3S, we would have reached the sensible 5D - no story. However, partner made a limit raise to 3D and passed my 3NT rebid.
North made the obvious spade lead to the J and my K. Needing a trick from hearts, I crossed to DA and led a heart, hoping South would fail to rise.
South found a different way to oblige: she contributed D9 (exposed
card) before correcting the revoke. Now, when North won HA, there was no way for him to cash enough spades - and when South got in, she had to lead the exposed diamond. +400.
And why Mollo?
Because the S***ary Bird, in my position, would have exercised his right to demand a diamond lead! North, having none, would have led a spade, and South would no longer have been subject to penalty... and the Bird would have gone down.”
There was a huge stroke of luck for Gidman and Whitehouse here. The opponents blundered their way to 5D doubled which of course is cold. Strangely on a spade lead, declarer ran it round as he must have miscounted his tricks. So that was a fortunate 1 off.
Board 29
This is a fiddly hand to bid and play. Bryony opened 2H and I bid a forcing 1N. Over partner's 2C rebid, what should I do? Nothing looks right and I settled in the end on an aggressive 2N as I didn't want to miss game. Bryony had an easy raise and all I had to do now was make it. The defence was quite soft, in truth. A small spade went to the ace and South returned a diamond which I ducked. North could rise with the DK and continue spades but I always had time now to establish 2 heart tricks for an easy 400. If North doesn't have Kxx diamonds and the spade and diamond are ducked, this contract is much, much harder…. Flat in our mini-match at any rate.
A tough hand here for Acol, a typical experience was recounted by Jeremy Bygott. 1H 1N end was the auction. I think the hand is worth an Acol 2 over 1, myself as otherwise but have some sympathy with the auction. A strong NT opposite 9 is pretty much the worst hand for weak-nt systems (even worse if you’re playing 4 card majors too).
Well done to Cope and Piper here for defeating game. Not at all easy to do – would be interested to hear how they managed it….
Board 30
We had a bonus result here. Bryony opened a weak two in hearts which seems perfect to me. You'd like a 6th, but with such a pure hand, some sort of preempt seems routine. South now found an aggressive 2S which I dislike. This is a preemptive weak hand and thus doesn't need to bid immediately over a preempt. I bid the obvious game in hearts and was surprised to see North find an equally aggressive raise to 4S. I had an easy double here and we collected 500 with no real difficulty. Shame there wasn't any more in it. At the other table, when Luke and Michael declined to enter the auction, declarer had no way of guessing to take the double club finesse rather than playing on diamonds and so slide one off in 3N for a nice game-swing to us.
At Clacey and Angus’ table, Joe opened a seriously aggressive 1H and South was in with 2H – this steered Ian towards the correct line in 3N of a double club finesse. Well done boys! Wilkes and Webley and Gascoyne and Quainton also managed to land game here so well done to them.
Board 31
I got to play in 3S after a nice competitive auction. North opened a weak-nt and Bryony was in with 2C showing the majors, knowing that I wouldn't hang her for it as a passed-hand. I couldn't really face letting them play in 3C (which is cold) and so found a matchpoint save in 3S. North did well here to cash one club and then switch to hearts. I couldn't really stop them getting there heart ruff now for a good result for them. Our counterparts were allowed to play in 2S, so that was another irritating part-swing out.
Board 32
Another dull game here - 4S on this occasion. Someone deal some more interesting boards!! That didn’t stop Murray and Currie defeating it, though. Well done.
So that’s all, except to offer thanks to Nick Smith, Alastair Gidman and Jeremy Bygott for some stories. Hopefully next time it’ll be more interesting (although, we should probably be satisfied with 3 good wins, I suppose!).
| Board 25 N/EW |
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T 6 
Q 8 4 
9 7 6 
Q T 9 6 4 How do you play a spade contract here? The auction made this fairly tricky for us… partner opened 1S as East and South found a takeout double. I bid 2S and North found a super-aggressive 3C bid. Bryony's 3S now ended the auction. Unfortunately, the play went a bit awry when she got the clubs wrong and lost a bit of tempo. Still, flat again against 4S-1 on the other table. I'm still not sure what the best line is on a trump lead.
Board 26
| Board 26 N/EW |
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South overcalled 4S here and that ended the auction. There's not much to the play in the end although spotting the best line is tricky. As you can ruff two diamonds, finesse the club or subject West to a show-up squeeze in clubs and diamonds, you are always safe. The best line? That is much more difficult to assess, I think. The show-up squeeze works if the club finesse is working, so I guess the simple finesse is superior as you will only go one off if it is wrong. You can then pitch a loser on the second club winner.
Some pairs did well here to net a double (which I don’t like). As all lines lead to 10 tricks, that was a bonus.
This was a game-swing out in the B team when the Bygotts opponents overcalled 4S, but Sandra Landy only found 3S which ended the auction. Should you overcall 4S? I think so – a chance missed, there.
Board 27
| Board 27 N/EW |
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I thought we'd got South here. He opened 1H and I found a bold (ok, reckless) Michaels Cuebid. North was after a penalty but 3C is fairly ok for E/W a mere 300 on normal lines. South wisely removed to 3N and I kicked off with the obvious club lead. Declarer spent ages playing to trick two here and I was sure we'd got him. Unfortunately when he cashed the queen of hearts and then led to the king, he couldn't possibly get the heart wrong and this was just a boring 9 tricks. Oh well!!
Board 28
| Board 28 N/EW |
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This was our worst moment of the day and it was all my fault. I opened a strong-nt. Bryony bid 2C and I responded 2D to deny a 4 card major. She now bid a forcing 3D and I….. lazily bid 3N. On the spade lead, this is just off when I couldn't sneak through a heart. My 3N bid is very lazy and I realise now that I should just bid 3H. This keeps all options open and allows partner to make a slam-try with better hands and correct to 3N with a good spade stop. My wrists are duly slapped!! Playing a weak-nt, N/S were allowed to get into the auction which should be enough to scare N/S out of 3N. 5D is then the top spot and was the normal contract. A rare game-swing out for us on this occasion in our mini-match.
A nice story here from Jeremy Bygott:
“This reminded me of Victor Mollo.
As West, I opened 1D. If partner had splintered with 3S, we would have reached the sensible 5D - no story. However, partner made a limit raise to 3D and passed my 3NT rebid.
North made the obvious spade lead to the J and my K. Needing a trick from hearts, I crossed to DA and led a heart, hoping South would fail to rise.
South found a different way to oblige: she contributed D9 (exposed
card) before correcting the revoke. Now, when North won HA, there was no way for him to cash enough spades - and when South got in, she had to lead the exposed diamond. +400.
And why Mollo?
Because the S***ary Bird, in my position, would have exercised his right to demand a diamond lead! North, having none, would have led a spade, and South would no longer have been subject to penalty... and the Bird would have gone down.”
There was a huge stroke of luck for Gidman and Whitehouse here. The opponents blundered their way to 5D doubled which of course is cold. Strangely on a spade lead, declarer ran it round as he must have miscounted his tricks. So that was a fortunate 1 off.
Board 29
| Board 29 N/EW |
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This is a fiddly hand to bid and play. Bryony opened 2H and I bid a forcing 1N. Over partner's 2C rebid, what should I do? Nothing looks right and I settled in the end on an aggressive 2N as I didn't want to miss game. Bryony had an easy raise and all I had to do now was make it. The defence was quite soft, in truth. A small spade went to the ace and South returned a diamond which I ducked. North could rise with the DK and continue spades but I always had time now to establish 2 heart tricks for an easy 400. If North doesn't have Kxx diamonds and the spade and diamond are ducked, this contract is much, much harder…. Flat in our mini-match at any rate.
A tough hand here for Acol, a typical experience was recounted by Jeremy Bygott. 1H 1N end was the auction. I think the hand is worth an Acol 2 over 1, myself as otherwise but have some sympathy with the auction. A strong NT opposite 9 is pretty much the worst hand for weak-nt systems (even worse if you’re playing 4 card majors too).
Well done to Cope and Piper here for defeating game. Not at all easy to do – would be interested to hear how they managed it….
Board 30
| Board 30 N/EW |
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We had a bonus result here. Bryony opened a weak two in hearts which seems perfect to me. You'd like a 6th, but with such a pure hand, some sort of preempt seems routine. South now found an aggressive 2S which I dislike. This is a preemptive weak hand and thus doesn't need to bid immediately over a preempt. I bid the obvious game in hearts and was surprised to see North find an equally aggressive raise to 4S. I had an easy double here and we collected 500 with no real difficulty. Shame there wasn't any more in it. At the other table, when Luke and Michael declined to enter the auction, declarer had no way of guessing to take the double club finesse rather than playing on diamonds and so slide one off in 3N for a nice game-swing to us.
At Clacey and Angus’ table, Joe opened a seriously aggressive 1H and South was in with 2H – this steered Ian towards the correct line in 3N of a double club finesse. Well done boys! Wilkes and Webley and Gascoyne and Quainton also managed to land game here so well done to them.
Board 31
| Board 31 N/EW |
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I got to play in 3S after a nice competitive auction. North opened a weak-nt and Bryony was in with 2C showing the majors, knowing that I wouldn't hang her for it as a passed-hand. I couldn't really face letting them play in 3C (which is cold) and so found a matchpoint save in 3S. North did well here to cash one club and then switch to hearts. I couldn't really stop them getting there heart ruff now for a good result for them. Our counterparts were allowed to play in 2S, so that was another irritating part-swing out.
Board 32
| Board 32 N/EW |
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Another dull game here - 4S on this occasion. Someone deal some more interesting boards!! That didn’t stop Murray and Currie defeating it, though. Well done.
So that’s all, except to offer thanks to Nick Smith, Alastair Gidman and Jeremy Bygott for some stories. Hopefully next time it’ll be more interesting (although, we should probably be satisfied with 3 good wins, I suppose!).
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