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Andrew and Trevor

The North Island Pairs

Trevor Robb and Andrew Janisz, members of this year’s New Zealand Seniors team which is soon to leave for the Olympiad events in Poland, were victorious in last weekend’s North Island Pairs at the Hamilton Bridge Club. It was close, very close as with one round, 4 boards, left in the barometered final, these were the top scores:

1. Steve Boughey- Andrew Tarbutt                   334.7
2. Trevor Robb – Andrew Janisz                       326.3
3. Jenna and Christine Gibbons                       321.4
4. Steph Jacob and Susan Humphries              309.2

It seemed the winner would come from the top three. With 14 pairs in the final, there were 12 match-points available for each board. The first three boards of this last set were all part-score deals with Steve and Andrew picking up only 15 out of the 36 match-points. Trevor and Andrew picked up 20 and Jenna and Christine just 14.

The last board was in a way fascinating but both Trevor and Andrew and Jenna and Christine were at the mercy of their opponents while Steve and Andrew who led by 3.4 match-points at that point could win the event if they reached the right level or at least the right suit.

Steve Boughey and Andrew Tarbutt: 4 on the final board would win them the event.

If ever there was a time not to open a weak two with four cards in the other major, then this was the time.

 

A weak 2 opening would mean you would play in spades where 12 tricks are the limit while a disciplined pass from North would give North-South the chance to find their heart fit, where all 13 tricks can be made easily. In a sense, it did not matter what level you played. Playing in hearts was worth so much more to the North-South pairs.   

Even if North does pass, it is not easy to reach slam. South opens 2NT and North can transfer to spades and bid 4. The heart fit is found but does South know that slam is cold? An alternative is to play a 3 response to 2NT as showing 5 spades and 4 hearts. With all those controls, South can cue-bid to suggest slam with North perhaps having enough to at least look.

Yet, of the 7 North-South pairs in the final, only 2 reached slam. Both Andrew and Trevor and Jenna and Christine’s opponents played in 4 earning the defenders 5 match-points out of 12. Andrew and Steve needed only to bid to 4 to win the event. Alas, for them, they were one of the three pairs who reached 4 and scored just 2 match-points.

Before we leave this deal, here is a simple way to reach 7. There are just a couple prerequisites. You have to be playing Precision and have the agreement that Evelyn and Bob Hurley have where a 2 response to a 1 opener shows a positive response with 6 spades and 4 hearts. The board was made for them. After the 2 bid, Bob used key-card in spades to check that his partner had the KQ and then bid 7. That’s a nice way to finish the event, unless you were the defenders, the unlucky Susan Humphries and Steph Jacob.

That board got Evelyn and Bob up to 5^th place though let’s have a quick look at why Trevor and Andrew sneaked home in first place. There’s always a slice of good fortune involved but sometimes you need to create your own good scores. Andrew Janisz did so on the following:

 

After a 1 Pass 1 start to the auction, Andrew, South, stuck in a lead- directing 2 overcall. West became declarer in 4 which was doubly good news for Andrew. Firstly, their opponents had missed slam and equally importantly, Trevor could find no reason not to lead his partner’s suit. That was the only trick for the defence but earned them 10 out of 12 match-points on the board, with only two pairs in the final reaching slam.

The following opponent’s overcall was not so successful though Andrew had won all of the match-points on this board with his opening bid:

 

 

Andrew describes his opening as a “Pairs” opening bid. The heart overcall would have excited Trevor (South). His double, alas, had to be take-out style. Soon enough, he was playing 3NT on a heart lead. There was, though, no lead to beat 3NT.

The end positions in the 14 pair final were:

1. Trevor Robb- Andrew Janisz                                        353.3
2. Steve Boughey – Andrew Tarbutt                                 351.7
3. Jenna and Christine Gibbons                                       340.4
4. Charles Ker – Wayne Burrows                                      339.1
5. Evelyn and Bob Hurley                                                 335.1
6. Barry Jones – Jenny Millington                                     333.3
7. Steph Jacob – Susan Humphries                                  328.2

 

Click here for the full results: click here

The next 14 contested the Plate which was won by Moss Wylie and Russell Dive while the remaining 14 pairs contested the Flight event. The winners of that were Colin Carryer and Sandra Calvert.

Congratulations to the winners and to all involved with the very smooth running of the event.

Richard Solomon

 

 

 

 

 

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