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FINE WEATHER, FINE COMPETITION IN DUNEDIN
THE SOUTH ISLAND TEAMS
Yes, Dunedin produced both for the South Island Teams whose field of 28 teams contained all those trialling for this year’s international selection. The only thing missing for those who sat North-South was a total lack of slams! The best was one requiring picking up a trump suit missing K10xx for no losers. It was makeable though somewhat fortuitously. My partner and I did have one slam to bid later on…though that is another story…for a few lines on!
8 rounds of Swiss, 15 board matches seemed about right for the event and field. There may have been few slams but nevertheless still plenty of problems. You reach 5S on the following after an auction like, (hands rotated from the actual)
West North East South
1
2
4
5 5 All Pass
and see: North
42
AKQJ
QJ7653
6
South
KQ109763
64
A109
J
West leads 4 to East’s king. At trick 2, East plays A. Plan the play.
Why did East give you a ruff and discard? Was that careless or intentional? Would it help to know that East was top Otago Club player, Graeme Stout?
In order to make your contract, you need to play spades for one loser and possibly need to take the diamond finesse as you may not be able to discard both diamonds on high hearts. Yet, why did Graeme give you a likely ruff and discard?
If you discarded a diamond from hand and ruffed in dummy, you can record -100 as these were the 4 hands: North
North
42
AKQJ
QJ7653
6
West East
- AJ85
109832 75
84 K2
Q87432 AK1095
South
KQ109763
64
A109
J
The winning play was to ruff in hand, play a heart to dummy and a spade to the 10. Now a second heart to dummy and take the diamond finesse. Next a second spade to the 9, play SK and claim, drawing East’s remaining spade. Were you successful? Good defenders do not often give out free gifts!
There were a few interesting lessons on this deal:
Dealer North North
Nil Vul K6
K42
AQ3
J7642
West East
7 AJ9
Q7653 A10
K976 J1084
K103 AQ85
South
Q1085432
J98
52
9
West North East South
1NT x 4
x Pass Pass Pass
What should South bid after the double? On many days, you would want to bid 4 at some point in the auction. So, why not do so immediately before the opposition get a chance to exchange some information? While South’s heart cards opposite at least a doubleton in North’s hand, might make 4an unlikely making game contract for the opposition, there is still the possibility of what to do if the opponents bid 3NT over your 3 bid.
This time, there is no game for East-West, thanks to those heart pips, while 5 has no play. However, that is not to say it was wrong to bid 4. West doubled on value and led their 4th highest heart. East won and returned the 10, covered and won with the king. The K was won by the ace and the key part of the hand was reached. Assuming West did not have 6 hearts, East needed a ruff to ensure one down. However, at least one East made the mistake of cashing the A before playing a second club. South ruffed, took the diamond finesse and sensing East was seeking a ruff finessed the J successfully to make their doubled contract.
If you need a ruff, then do not retain the lead yourself. Underlead the AQ and you can at least write down +100, hardly a great return for 24 hcp but that’s the best East-West could have achieved.
While the players battled it out, Wellington's Sam Ward
and Allan Joseph were on hand to score and direct in a
very efficient and friendly manner. Local director, Lindsay
Lawrence also assisted.
The team of Michael Cornell- Ashley Bach, Anthony Ker – Alan Grant led for much of the event, only by a couple of vps going into the last of the 8 matches but won that match convincingly to finish first by about 10vp. The following board caused a lot of grief for many East-West pairs. As East, what would you do with the following hand after a rather lively auction:
Dealer West Vul N/S
East
Q865
7
KQ854
AJ5
West North East South
1 21 3 Pass
4 4 5 Pass
Pass 5 ?
1 majors
Partner opened. You too have an opening hand and the opponent has offered himself vulnerable against not at the 5 level. Rich pickings? I doubt it. At 13 of the 28 tables, North played doubled in 4 or 5 making an easy 11 tricks, as these were the four hands:
North
AJ7432
AKQ542
3
–
West East
K Q865
J6 7
AJ97 KQ854
KQ9872 AJ5
South
109
10983
1062
10643
East must be suspicious about the fate of 5H and should really leave it to partner to decide, breaking the rule that “he/she who bids game in your partnership knows best what to do in a competitive situation.” It would then be fairly straightforward for West to bid 6 of a minor, less so if their partner had doubled 5H. Only at 5 tables did the bidding proceed to the 6 level while one East-West pair continued on to 7, a phantom dive over 6H, but a far better result than the 850 or worse conceded by half the field. Yes, this was our only chance to bid a slam all weekend, a profitable, albeit a non-making one.
Michael and Ashley were the outstanding pair of the weekend with a modified datum of 221.7, 89.2 imps ahead of second placed Matthew Brown – Sam Bailey and 121.5 ahead of third placed Jeff Miller – Graeme Stout. The top 5 placings were:
- Michael Cornell – Ashley Bach, Alan Grant – Anthony Ker 120.13
- Sam and James Coutts, Matthew Brown – Sam Bailey 110.30
- Jane Lennon – Rebecca Wood, Rachelle Pelkman- Murray Wood 103.87
- Richard Solomon - Gary Chen, Jeff Miller - Graeme Stout 102.61
- Tom Jacob – Brian Mace, Peter Newell – Martin Reid 96.52
Roll on Wellington.
Richard Solomon
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