The Teams qualifying Swiss is at its two thirds stage. 4 further matches on Thursday will determine which 6 Open teams progress to the knock-out stages and which two teams in the other categories will contest their finals. Here then are those Kiwis in the top 30 placings at this point:

(non-Kiwis in italics)

Open

2nd	Bach	Ashley Bach, Matthew Brown, Michael Whibley, A Antonios, Nabil Edgtton	124.06
3rd	Ware	Michael Ware, Nick Jacob, GeO Tislevoll, T Lie, M Henbest, D Wiltshire	115.70
10th	Skipper	Jane and John Skipper, Lynne Geursen, Richard Solomon	109.78
21st	Fisher	Liz and Blair Fisher, Andi and Steve Boughey	103.45
24th	S Lusk	Sue Lusk, V Wood, Steph Jacob, Rachelle Pelkman	101.09
29th	Adler	Will Adler, John Luoni, Debbie McLeod, Brian Cleaver	99.66

 

Intermediate

18th

Deaker

Ann Deaker, Anne Simpson, Lyn Mould, Erica Tie

94.38

 

Restricted

3rd	Gurney	Sam Gurney, Caroline Caseley, L White V Hurst	111.15
5th	Handa	Barbara and Marius Tumilowicz S Handa E Pereira	107.62
10th	S Hunt	Sue Hunt, Sue Skarupsky,Anna Chappell, Marilyn Kennedy	100.69
16th	Tattersfield	Brad Tattersfield, Jan and Jenni Borrin, Margie Robbie	95.72
22nd	Imlach	Barbara Imlach, Annette Martin, Karen Smith, Sue Cohen	95.08
28th	Grant	Stuart Grant, Pam Whitehead, Jane Jordan, Marge Scott	90.76

 

Few Losers

After opening the bidding with 1 in third seat, I heard my partner make a Bergen Raise to 3, showing 4 card heart support and 6-9 hcp. I held the following:

 A2

 AQ873

 QT94

 T4

12 high card points opposite a flattish maximum 9. That does not seem enough for 10 tricks. I was about to write 3 to end the auction when I just thought I would check out what a tool I use very rarely says about my hand, Losing Trick Count. Much to my surprise, I could only find 6 losers, 2 in the majors and 4 in the minors. A normal 1 level opener has 7 losers. On top of that, I had a decent diamond suit while I had two valuable aces.

We are always told that one important aspect of winning Teams is to bid your games, especially vulnerable ones. What if partner was maximum? So, I changed my mind and asked partner how good they were by bidding 3. Needless to say, I was soon declarer in 4. Maximum partner certainly was.

 

To score 10 tricks was still anti-percentage. With a certain spade and club loser, I needed 2 out of 3 good things to happen, the red suit finesses and the A to be with North. That’s about 33% and that seems to be about the minimum odds you need to try for a vulnerable game. As you can see, I got my wish with only the K letting me down. 4 made easily. Lucky? Maybe. 26 out of the 236 East-Wests bid and made this game.

The only time I use Losing Trick Count is when our side has a fit. I shall keep doing so.

There were “few losers” for both sides on the following deal but, at our table, only one side got to appreciate that. When your opponents bid a cold grand slam and your teammates pick up a paltry penalty, it sounds like the loss of 17 imps was attributable to one’s teammates. Not so! Our lack of competitive bidding was also a factor in our downfall.

Would you, at all vul. take any action with the following hand after your right -hand opponent opens 1?

 QT964

 932

 KT843

 –

Not that I would say so at that point but using Losing Trick Count, it is a 7 loser, just like a minimum opening bid! It’s lacking a little in high card points but if you found a fit, then you could be onto a winner. Passing was a losing action on this board:

 

When my partner passed 1, we had one more chance to make it awkward for our opponents. South bid 2NT, Jacoby style with heart support. Had I called 3, we could have used up some of their bidding space with East jumping to 5. However, I must have left the table for a few seconds because no diamond bid was made!

Even if I had, the all- important spade fit would now not be found and since in the ranking of things, hearts beats diamonds, we were going to finish second best!

Our opponents bid very well, identifying the spade shortage, the Q and K and lack of either top diamond honour (placing North’s honours in hearts and clubs) in opener’s hand on their way to grand.

However, our teammates had a very congested auction after East had overcalled 1 and West had co-operated by jumping to 4, a fit-showing jump. Our teammates did get to 6over which East-West sacrificed in 6. That was doubled for a mere +500. North-South did not know enough to bid the grand…and I have the feeling that even if they had, then their opponents would have gone to 7. This would not have been a hand for North-South to try 7NT! 18 pairs bid and made a grand slam. 7 East-West pairs dived in 6x and 1 in 7x.

It may not be wrong for East to pass at their first opportunity but it was certainly right this time for East to bid.

Richard Solomon

Go Back View All News Items