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DEADLIER THAN THE MALE
Are they good enough? Can you get a realistic Swiss Pairs comparison by involving them? They just distort the normal results and we are better off without them. Who are they? Why, men, of course!
Fortunately, we did not have to compare our scores with them. May the best woman win! Woe betide how they would fare if they had to compare their scores with us. We would soon be having Open bridge and Men’s bridge, especially in events like the Inter-provincial Trials.
Up in Auckland, the organizers kept them apart to cross-imp amongst themselves. We were relieved about that. Take Board 8 from the first round. These were the East-West cards.
West East
A85 KQ932
KQT76 A543
Q AT4
Q763 A
Dealer West
Nil Vul
This was how at least some of the Women bid it. They did use a couple of “men’s” conventions to do so. Even they admit “men” have their uses.
West East
1 2NT (Jacoby, game force with 4+ H)
3 (shortage) 4NT
5 1 7
Pass
1 2 key cards and the Q
East knew enough to make grand a very reasonable shot. There was no bad number of spades West could hold. Trumps broke 2-2 (only a 4-0 break would really be challenging) and spades 3-2 so that the board was soon over.
So, I bet you are waiting for the statistics. The wait is over.
Women: bid and made 7 all 3 pairs
Men: bid 6 and made 7 3 pairs
bid 4 and made 7 1 pair
bid and made 7 0 pairs
The Women would be very impressed that the men played out the board without losing a trick! Maybe it is not their play that lets them down.
Gaining 10 imps by the cross imp method for bidding the small slam in the Men’s field. What a travesty! The three Women’s North-South pairs had no worries when the grand was bid against them. They knew it would be a flat board and were not to be disappointed.
“Deadlier than the male”. Too right!
The author must remain anonymous for fear of retribution. No, not Salman Rushdie!
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