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Day 4 in Hong Kong.

In past years, New Zealand teams have done well in international events against the stronger teams but have struggled against teams that were near the bottom of the table. Not so the current Open Team who finished up Round Robin 1 with matches against the two bottom placed countries and after a bye, played bottom placed Philippines for the second time in a day. The Filipino players will be glad they do not have to play New Zealand any more in the event.

56.61 vps out of 60 plus 12 for the bye was a pretty decent haul for the day and saw their lead extend over second placed Singapore who have also had their bye in the second round robin. New Zealand finished the first round robin on 178.34, 12.32 vps ahead of Singapore and a massive 23.62 ahead of third-placed China Hong Kong. These are the current placings and the results from Day 4:

1	New Zealand		210.34				Round
							12	v	Korea	48-14	17.63
2	Singapore		189.60				13	v	Philippines	50-5	18.98
					Round Robin 2		1	v	bye		12.00
3	China		178.78				2	v	Philippines	79-4	20.00
4	China Hong Kong		169.00
5	Japan		167.24

 

With 177 imps coming in in three matches played, it may seem strange that we will feature a board where no imps changed hands:

 

5 shows 2 key cards and the Q. What would you lead?

What would you lead if West, your partner, doubled 6?

Back to this board shortly. Both our Women and Mixed teams had the day off yesterday. It has been a hard first round-robin for the Mixed Team who aim to come in on Tuesday refreshed to end a run of 8 successive losses. Here though was an earlier bright moment for Jo and Sam Simpson. The board could be sub-titled:

Twice denied!

 

1 was Precision style and North demonstrated the lengths some pairs take to disrupt a Precision auction. 3 was natural and game-forcing though Sam must have felt he would rather have North as his partner as he signed off in 3NT.

Jo, though, had ambition and 4 was minor-wood. Sam owned up to three key-cards (4). However, then came the denials.

4 asked for and 4NT denied the Q (no surprise to Jo….though a necessary question). 5 asked for and 6 denied any kings outside diamonds. That was enough for Jo. The hand demonstrates that you should take the 12 tricks on offer even if you “know” where the K is. Would Jo have risked a ruffing heart finesse fearing she may have an unavoidable trump loser had South found a club lead? Had the trump break not been so friendly, a ruffing finesse through North would have been needed and North would be the hero for their team.

However, Jo had no trouble claiming the overtrick when South placed the K on the table at trick 1. With the opposition in game, that was 10 very welcome imps for the Kiwis…and North-South were left pondering “what if” North had kept their mouth shut. 

 Our Mixed Team in Hong Kong

 
Annette and Stephen Henry, Jo and Sam Simpson, npc Douglas Russell and 
Ian Berrington and Fuxia Wen

Back then to our lead problem. With KQ of one suit and an ace in a second, the textbook lead is the K and that is the lead Michael Cornell received in his 6 slam. However, the double changes matters. West was not doubling because you held those minor cards. Indeed, surely West has very few high cards with which to double? That’s right, a “Lightner double”, asking for an unusual lead, very often dummy’s first bid suit to be led. So, of course you would lead A. Well, you would if you were allowed:

 

Matt Brown (West) did double 6 and had South stood that, then A lead would surely have netted 14 imps for New Zealand. There was still hope as on J lead against 6NT, South can only take 11 tricks before conceding the last two tricks to East. However, unfortunately, Matt chose a spade….and South could now count to 12.

Nothing ventured nothing gained. When his opponents stopped in 6, Matt guessed they had another loser other than his club ruff, hence the double without a second trick himself. Plenty was gained elsewhere in yesterday’s matches.

China Macau, Australia, Thailand and China Hong Kong await New Zealand’s Open Team on Day 5. Good luck to all three Kiwi teams.

Richard Solomon

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