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Winners over Kings’ Birthday Weekend

That applies to the following who were successful at the three Congresses over the recent King’s Birthday Weekend.

King's Birthday Winners

Hawkes Bay Congress

Matchpoint Open Pairs

Graeme Norman

Ray Gruschow

Junior Pairs

Helen Kinsey

Steve Kinsey

Intermediate Pairs

Jeremy Ballantyne

Pamela Ballantyne

Open Teams

Mariusz Tumilowicz

Mindy Wu

Sarah Green

Lorraine Stachurski

Novice Teams

Jacqui Rye

Dianne Brady

Peter Hug

June Lawrence

Open Swiss Pairs

Mike Williamson

Alison Williamson

Intermediate Teams

Bridget Willcox

Megan Eddy

Barbara Robinson

Carol Dickson

Auckland-Northland  (Auckland)

Open Pairs

Jan Cormack

Grant Jarvis

Intermediate Pairs

Lysandra Zheng

Tim Pan

Open Regional Teams

Blair Fisher

Matthew Brown

Malcolm Mayer

Michael Ware

West End Pairs

Jerry Chen

Kevin Hu

Otago- Southland

(Queenstown)

Provincial Pairs

Graeme Stout

Peter McCaskill

Provincial Teams

Anne Somerville

Murat Genc

Michael Johnstone

Paula Gregory

 

We will look at a board that helped one pair towards victory. Here is an opening lead problem and we will see what our Panel would choose:

 

2 shows 5 spades and 4+ cards in a minor, less than opening values. Your 3 was just to make a nuisance of yourself. Your choice is?

Well, no messing from South who could not find a bid over 2 but took an almighty leap when their partner spoke. This intrigued Leon:

Leon Meier “2: I might have chucked in a psyche over 2 but now that's over, this lead is a nightmare. Why would South pass and then jump to 6 over 3NT?! That shouldn't be over a North who could have a 16 count. However, given that's the bidding, it seems the lead is a complete guess and my guess is a club, trying to set up a club trick if partner has, for example, the king.

All leads are something of a guess but what is certain is that South has a fistful of hearts and almost certainly had adopted the philosophy that one does not pre-empt over a pre-empt. They seemed to have made up for their initial inaction.

It does seem that we hope that East’s second suit is clubs. We need partner to have a really good diamond holding for that suit to be the winning lead. Let’s hear it, then, for the clubbers:

Andy Braithwaite “2: Certainly not leading a spade on this bidding so try a low club in the hope of finding tricks in partner's second suit.”

Nigel Kearney “Q:  I usually like an aggressive lead against a slam when they have long suits. Here, my minor suit holdings might be good enough that a passive spade could work. However, I slightly prefer a club, hoping to establish a trick before dummy's spades are established. 

If partner has the K, it probably doesn't matter which one I lead, but if dummy has A10xx or K10xx and partner Jxxx, the queen might work better, either stopping declarer establishing a trick by force, or by being deceptive, or by not exposing myself to a squeeze. I hope partner's clubs are not singleton king!”

This is a situation I would love to hold A and with the strong hand in dummy, underlead it to partner’s Q. However, here, there seems little wrong with Q as no declarer would play you for underleading the ace…or would they?

 

Bruce Anderson “2: I am playing South to be sane and so prepared for a spade lead. N/S probably have a fit and this may be a hand where I need to lead through the strong balanced had in the hope I am setting up a trick for partner, and declarer has to lose a diamond trick also, or possibly the lead will give our side two cashing club tricks. I am taking the view that partner’s minor is clubs because that is my shorter minor suit.” 

 

and the minor more likely to help us get a trick or two. I agree that South is likely to have a singleton spade but I do not see that necessarily means dummy has strong spades and weak clubs. After all, your partner’s opening bid did show spades. Would North correct to 6NT with KJx? 

 

Wayne Burrows “ 2: I am not going to worry too much about getting this one wrong. If my opponents bid like this, then they are guessing too. 6 could be wrong for many reasons: they can't make on any or an obvious lead and defence; they are playing it from the wrong side; or they have missed seven. I will take the wins and not worry about the losses so long as I do something at least semi-sensible. 

I think the 6 bidder is unlikely to have two spades (unless they themselves hold the ace or king). The question then is does partner or dummy have the ace and what are the chances of setting up a crucial discard before a side winner is cashed or established? I think the strong 3NT bidder is a big favourite to hold the A and since a spade lead is wrong some of the time even when partner has that card, I think this points away from a spade lead. My simulations say that dummy is between a 2:1 or 3:1 favourite to have the A.

 

Declarer is less likely to be prepared for partner's minor since it has not been disclosed. Since we have fewer clubs than diamonds, then it is more likely partner's suit is clubs. Also, our clubs are better. This points to a club rather than a diamond if we are to choose a minor. But it is close. Again, my simulations suggest there is only a small edge to leading a club over a diamond (at least for immediate defeat).

 

So, 2. However, in practice at the table, I might just have led a spade and said "oh well" if it was wrong. Maybe next time having done this analysis, I will look elsewhere and find a minor suit lead.”

 

It is close even if more chose a club than a spade. I was a little surprised by this choice:

Stephen Blackstock “3: A minor suit looks dangerous and a spade not very productive on this auction. Perhaps a trump lead may remove a ruff in the dummy. After the pre-empt, South will look for the Q in my hand so I am unlikely to be giving up a trump trick.”

I agree absolutely that our Q is waste-paper and that a minor lead is dangerous but it does seem a time to take a risk…and if it fails, well, we tried!

However, we do have support for a spade lead too:

Peter Newell “10: given this is being posed as a problem, a minor suit lead is likely to be right. While leading partner’s minor is probably best, leading the wrong minor could be damaging. While we probably don't have a spade trick, it is possible and is unlikely to give away a trick, and when we do have a trick, it could run away on dummy's longer minor suit. It is rather a guess as to which minor he has, slightly more likely to be clubs, but more dangerous to lead away from Qxx - though the risk is primarily when partner has Jx or Jxx and the club honours split. So boring spade for me, a wee bit closer at Teams.”

Michael Cornell “10: this choice looks pretty random. However, partner has only 5 spades so why not start with one through the 3NT bidder?

Second choice would be a club but I limit my leads from queens to about 2  a year and I have already had one in 2023.”

 

 A shame that this was not your second lead away from a queen for the year as only a club lead would have beaten the slam…and it was not found at the table:

 

On a spade lead, one of declarer’s clubs disappeared at trick 2. South came to hand with a spade ruff to play a heart to the 10 (proving Stephen Blackstock’s point about the uselessness of the Q) and eased his way to 12 tricks.

Wayne Burrows made one other very good point as the slam is, of course, unbeatable played by the North hand.

Wayne Burrows “ I think it is normal to play transfers over a 3NT overcall. This has the big advantage of right-siding any contract much more often.”

West              North             East                South

                                              2                  Pass
3                  3NT                Pass                 4     (hearts)
Pass                4                  Pass                6
All Pass

You would need to agree if and how South could ask for aces/key cards after 4. Also, with 4 after 3NT showing spades, you would need to make sure that the 3NT bidder is awake to what that 4 would show. However, if we play transfers a level lower, it seems very sensible to do so at the 4-level, too.

Had South overcalled 3, North would need to play in 6NT to be almost certain of making their slam. 
 
Ray and Graeme

However, Graeme Norman and Ray Gruschow brought home their slam to repeat their win from last year in Hawke’s Bay’s Matchpoint Swiss Pairs.

Richard Solomon

p.s. I enjoyed a recent comment made by the Saudi King who said “in 100 years’ time, there would only be 5 Kings around: King of England, King of , , and .” Nice to know that our four monarchs will still be in play on King's Birthday Weekend 2123!

 

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