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Clean Sweep for the North Island.

It was North Island all the way in this year’s Inter-Provincial Championships with each of the four North Island Regions taking out one title and Auckland-Northland the all-important Dougal McLean trophy for the best performing region.

In the Open, although Wellington claimed a small victory in the final round head-to-head, Auckland-Northland were mathematical with one round left:

Final Placings

		vps	wins
1	Auckland-Northland	208.21	10
2	Wellington	195.61	11
3	Central Districts	143.54	6
4	Waikato Bays	137.73	6

   Auckland - Northland

 
Geo Tislevoll, Michael Ware, Douglas Russell (chef de mission), Nick and Tom Jacob
(with Karen Martelletti, representing New Zealand Bridge)

Wellington were also mathematical in the Intermediate event well before the end. An excellent consistent performance for the Capital team, pictured below:

Lynda Rigler (chef de mission), Jeremy Morley, Martin Rew, Simon Louisson and Andrew Cushnie

 Intermediates

		vps	wins
1	Wellington	204.33	11
2	Canterbury	161.31	8
3	Otago-Southland	142.54	7
4	Auckland-Northland	127.11	5

 

Seniors

Central Districts looked like they had secured the Seniors title, leading by 12.5 vps but they were given a real worrying wait in the last round where Top of The South, one of the chasing pack, won the match against the leaders by 14 imps, leaving Central Districts with just 5.78 vps from that match. Otago-Southland also scored a win in their last match but it was the thumping Auckland-Northland gave Wellington (19.02 vps) which gave Central the most about which to worry. As it happened, even another 0.98 for Auckland-Northland would not have been quite enough as these were the final placings:

The winning

 

		vps	wins
1	Central Districts	152.28	7
2	Auckland-Northland	151.14	7
3	Otago-Southland	148.60	7
4	Top of The South	145.85	5

 Central Districts winners

  Jan Whyte, Bob and Evelyn Hurley, Ken Bateman and Colin Carryer (chef de mission)

Down to the wire for the Women:

Waikato Bays had been at or near the top for the whole event competing with different challengers at different stages. Auckland-Northland were expected to be their main opposition but the latter had a poor first round-robin. However, they came good, very good, when it mattered and with one round left, the positions were:

Waikato Bays                      160.06

Auckland-Northland            159.89

and on paper Auckland-Northland had an easier last round against Top of The South while Waikato Bays took on a very consistent Otago-Southland team.

Rip up the paper! Well, both the leaders got beaten! It was a question of by how much. Waikato Bays lost by 9 imps and Auckland-Northland… by 13.

So:

		vps	wins
1	Waikato Bays	167.16	7
2	Auckland-Northland	165.92	7
3	Otago-Southland	144.42	5
4	Central Districts	136.02	6

 
 Waikato Bays winners: Karen Martelletti, Kate Terry, Christine and Jenna Gibbons
  Karen is here this time as a player, and as her region's chef de mission and representing NZ Bridge.

Dougal McLean heads North

 The trophy heads back up North, in the end quite convincingly:

1.	Auckland-Northland	39
2	Central Districts	31
3	Wellington	27
4	Otago-Southland	26
5	Waikato Bays	21
6	Canterbury	18
7	Top of The South	10

  
Auckland-Northland: with chef de mission, Douglas Russell, holding the trophy

So, with a first, two seconds and a fourth place, the Dougal McLean Trophy heads back to Auckland-Northland.

Feel the pressure

Here’s one to test you.

You are playing the last match of two and a half days’ strong bridge. Do you need this? We will find out the right and the wrong answer shortly.

The final match of the week-end produced some fascinating boards, in particular three beauties. Board 30 was very significant in the Auckland-Northland Women ending just short of the title.

 

Most pairs played this board in a small slam but three pairs, including Top of the South’s Kathryn Brookes and Pam Dravitzki, reached 7NT.

                                    West                          East

                                    Brookes                    Dravitzki

                                                                        1

                    (3)        x                                  3NT

                                  4                               5

                                  7NT                            Pass

 

7 is a much better contract at the 7-level as you can bring down the Q and discard East’s spades, needing no worse than a 4-2 trump break. In 7NT, a club lead is nasty because declarer has to cash clubs first and decide which red suit to play early on.

However, after theK lead, declarer can try both red suits before playing clubs….and hearts favoured declarer.

Board 35 gave North-South pairs a chance to shine. South had a flat 22 count and North an interesting collection opposite:

 

The best action if it is your armoury is to bid 3, as a slam try in either minor. East’s double should, this time, indirectly assist their opposition. South will certainly bid 4 with North producing a 4 cue-bid. Over to South who can use key card and the presence of the two missing aces leaves only South’s little heart as a problem.

Yet, South must know their partner has no 4-card major from the 3 bid and can possibly envisage the heart loser disappearing on A or on reality on long clubs. Half the Open field bid to grand, though neither pair in the Auckland-Wellington match, and no-one in the other three competitions got beyond small slam.

However, the real fireworks were reserved for the final board, Board 36.

“Matamata” for Central Districts

You remember the problem?

 

So, are you a bidder or a passer? What did the redouble say? While redoubles in the part-score zone can often be for rescue, it would be unusual for that to be the case when one is already in game.

Hamilton’s Jenny Millington certainly thought so. Her take-out double of the pre-empt seemed perfectly normal with Barry Jones electing for 3NT. We all knew he did not have a stack of spades or else 3x would have been the final contract but he had owned up to a spade hold…and Jenny had a fine-looking source of tricks. So, she went for it….but the one who “went for it" was Barry!

 

George Masters, for Central Districts, made a very intelligent lead, since the double suggested a good holding in dummy’s implied suit, hearts. Thus, 9 went to J..and then they came, seven rounds of them, spades with a couple of hearts to follow. Barry was left to mop up with a couple of aces and one more trick at the end.

3NTx would have been bad enough but this contract was redoubled! The machine calculated the score quicker than the players, -3400.

A tip when you have conceded over 3,000 on the last board of a set: at score up, score that board first. It can only get better after that! Jenny and Barry’s poor teammates had picked up 600 from the same contract, but undoubled. It barely registered on the score-chart!

I do have to acknowledge the fact that Jenny and Barry were prepared to be named in this article. Others would cower away incognito (from those who do not look up results!). Barry intended the redouble as a “do what you think is best, partner. I am not sure.” I am not sure about that interpretation.

I phoned Barry to gain permission to print this story. He was driving home, knew it was me and guessed why I was calling. He still answered the phone!

Other North-Souths suffered on this deal, too. Several Souths decided to pass 3x as it surely would be defeated. Even if the defence took their four minor suit tricks, the party was very soon over for the defence. One Open and three Women’s pairs (including both Auckland-Northland and Waikato Bays) conceded 730 on this board.

There were some North-South successes too, with 3NT making more than once, and not always on a minor suit lead!

A well-run event

So, despite concerns this year over whether the event would take place at all, the Inter-Provincial finals took place successfully. Thanks to all at the Wellington Club who helped with the event, and to Caroline and Murray Wiggins and Kevin Walker who directed and scored the event.

One final thing. Some of you, maybe one of you, might have wondered what the reference above to “Matamata” was, in relation to Central Districts. Barry Jones hails from not far from this mid Waikato town ….and told me as he related the story of 3NT xx that 3400 is the postal code for Matamata. That is one postal code he will not forget for a while!

Richard Solomon

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