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Congratulations to the two Kiwi teams which made the top six in the Open Teams section. Bach made it comfortably though it was a little tighter for Ware, last qualifier by 2.  vps. Bach has the morning off while the third to sixth teams play a quarter final reducing to 4 teams for the semi-finals. Fisher and Henry finished strongly to fall just short of that magic 6th place.

Meanwhile, Steph Jacob and Rachelle Pelkman, along with their Australian teammates, Sue Lusk and Viv Wood qualified for the Women's final.

Here are the top 30 finishers for New Zealand players (non Kiwis in italics):

Open

2nd	Bach	Ashley Bach, Matthew Brown, Michael Whibley, A Antonios, Nabil Edgtton	172.73
6th	Ware	Michael Ware, Nick Jacob, GeO Tislevoll, T Lie, M Henbest, D Wiltshire	159.93
8th	Fisher	Liz and Blair Fisher, Andi and Steve Boughey	156.15
9th	Henry	Annette and Stephen Henry, Jane Lennon,Alan Grant	153.81
15th	Carter	Pat Carter, Julie Atkinson, Jenny Millington, Barry Jones	149.25
20th	Wen	Fuxia Wen, Ian Berrington, Linda Cartner, Jonathan Westoby	145.79
25th	Burrows	Wayne Burrows, Peter Hall, Colin Carryer, Sandra Calvert	143.86
28th	Ding	C Ding, Herman Yuan, P Jeffery, Y Li	142.89

 

Intermediate

11th

Deaker

Ann Deaker, Anne Simpson, Lyn Mould, Erica Tie

141.73

 

Restricted

6th	Tattersfield	Brad Tattersfield, Jan and Jenni Borrin, Margie Robbie	150.18
8th	S Hunt	Sue Hunt, Sue Skarupsky,Anna Chappell, Marilyn Kennedy	147.19
9th	Gurney	Sam Gurney Caroline Caseley, L White V Hurst	145.50
10th	Handa	Barbara and Marius Tumilowicz S Handa E Pereira	145.16
11th	Imlach	Barbara Imlach, Annette Martin, Karen Smith, Sue Cohen	144.66
27th	Glyde	Chris Glyde, Maria Casci, Julie Quilty, Kevin Birch	133.57

 

The King is Beheaded!

There is one board that just everyone present was talking about in the Broadbeach bars and cafes after play on this day. “What was your auction on Board 22?” It was the last match of the Teams for all bar the qualifiers and this board was a stunner.

It contains a good lesson for some West players including the writer. I wish I had abided by the following principle on Board 22:

“If you are going to take an unusual view, be sure you are right to do so.” I did take such a view and was not sure I was right. Maybe some days I would be. This was not one of them.

With only your side vulnerable, you pick up as West a very interesting hand with two voids:

I am not being drawn into a debate about how many losers it has. It’s a very good hand! Anyway, the number of losers was irrelevant because by the time the bidding reached you, it was at the 5 level!

West              North             East                South

                                                4                   4NT (minors)

?

Neither bid filled me with great enthusiasm. Even I found a bid at this point. I doubled. Was I delaying the inevitable spade bid? Hopefully so. North and East passed leaving South to bid 5. Not knowing what I was going to do with my 4 losing diamonds, I decided 5 was not making and that I could defeat their contract. “Lead a trump and cut down diamond ruffs.” Great theory. Had I not noticed that there were no clubs in my hand?The contract of 5 was indeed defeated by one trick. Yet, I should have realised the majority, including my opponents, would bid their spades.

For many, the final contract was 5. For a few, 18 in the field, it was 6, sometimes doubled with only 4 failing to make their slam. Look at the East-West hands in a 5 contract on the lead of a high club:

 

 

Prospects might not seem great but dummy could be a lot worse. You ruff, ruff a diamond, ruff a second club and a second low diamond. Your contract is beginning to look pretty good as you play A…and down from South comes the singleton king. You discard a third diamond with now your only losers being a diamond and the A.

Let’s look at all four hands:

 

If you think a trump lead would work for the defence, the answer is “no”. Indeed, if North leads their spade, South has to find the unusual defence of playing low or else the second round of spades is won in dummy with a desperate declarer felling the K and suddenly enjoying life..making 12 tricks.

This miracle lie is needed if you are trying to make 12 tricks. After the club lead, ruff a diamond and play A to be followed by Q which is ruffed with 6. You over-ruff and ruff a second diamond. Now play J and South is dead. They can only ruff with the trump ace which allows you to discard your last low diamond and you can now claim. It would have done South no good to ruff first time with the A and play a second spade. That J is just pure platinum for the declarer.

Bidding and making slam on these East-West cards…quite amazing really. One to remember. 5 might seem an optimistic contract after a 4 opening but you just have to bid it in case it makes.

It is rare you put an 8 card suit down in dummy (we will let East off this time) but not to bid on a hand like West’s is potentially losing bridge. Defending 5 for down 1 (trick 13 was indeed the K being felled by the ace) was pretty dull in comparison to those playing a spade contract. I deserved my 12 imps out. Others had much more fun.

Richard Solomon

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