Both Oxfordshire teams recorded good wins in this match, the A-team 14-6 and the B-team 12-8. The first two sets of both matches were very tight and the third set resulted in large gains for both teams. Sadly the B team lost a few in the last set. The results of the four mini matches were as follows:
A team
R. Lonsdale / S. McPhee + K. Bennett / S. Noble +37
M. Webley / N. Wilkes + T. Pike / A. Wilson -11
B team
M. Day / N. Perceval-Price + B.&S. Claridge -22
G. Nicholas / D. Roberts + D.&J. Bygott +33
The cross-imping gives the following (with the usual disclaimers):
Within own team
R. Lonsdale / S. McPhee (NS 1-8) +27.5
T. Pike / A. Wilson (NS 1-8) -0.5
M. Day / N. Perceval-Price (NS 1-8) -21
D.&J. Bygott (NS 1-8) +26.5
K. Bennett / S. Noble (EW 1-8) +23.5
M. Webley / N. Wilkes (EW 1-8) +3.5
B.&S. Claridge (EW 1-8) -1
G. Nicholas / D. Roberts (EW 1-8) +6.5
Across both teams
R. Lonsdale / S. McPhee (NS 1-8) +37.75
T. Pike / A. Wilson (NS 1-8) +11.25
M. Day / N. Perceval-Price (NS 1-8) -28.25
D.&J. Bygott (NS 1-8) +16.25
K. Bennett / S. Noble (EW 1-8) +10
M. Webley / N. Wilkes (EW 1-8) -10.25
B.&S. Claridge (EW 1-8) +15.25
G. Nicholas / D. Roberts (EW 1-8) +23
Thanks to Jeremy Bygott for the cross-imping.
There were not that many exciting hands at our table - some would put this down to the frequent presence of two or even three mathematicians at the table - so I am very grateful for the hands and comments I received. Particular thanks must go to Jeremy again for his analysis of board 28. I have left out one or two hands where I asked what happened, largely because I have a plane to catch in a few hours so I’m sorry if you spent time on a contribution that has not appeared.
Board 6: Dealer E
♠QT6
♥65
♦J7542
♣962
♠A95 ♠K7432
♥AQ82 ♥KT74
♦AKT93 ♦Q
♣A ♣T43
♠J8
♥J93
♦86
♣KQJ875
6♥ is a very good contract here but only one pair (for Notts) reached it and they didn’t seem to know exactly what they were doing. At three tables in the A-team match, South opened 3♣. I may be getting old, but second in, this seems a bit much. Against Nigel and Mike the Notts player sitting North bid 5♣ over the take-out double so clearly he did not know his partner’s style. He was duly doubled. After the start
East South West North
Pass 3♣ X Pass
3♠ Pass
West has a tricky rebid. Keith bid 3NT but perhaps 4♣ or 4♦ would be better. 4♦ would typically be 4-6 in the reds but does at least get the four-card heart suit across. In any case it seems quite tough to bid slam.
Debbie Roberts opened the West hand 2NT, Geoff bid 3♠ showing 54 in the majors and Debbie bid 4♥. Being able to bid 4 minor to show a good hand would have been useful. Against the Bygotts the Notts pair bid (unopposed) 2♣-2♦-3♦-3♠-4♠. The West player had done an awful lot of bidding by describing the hand as game forcing so the East should really have been bidding more. I would have opened the West hand 1♦ but it’s far from clear that it would have got us anywhere.
Board 13: Dealer N
♠-
♥QJ6
♦A9752
♣JT765
♠T8 ♠KQ643
♥43 ♥AK82
♦KQJ864 ♦-
♣A82 ♣KQ94
♠AJ9752
♥T975
♦T3
♣3
Against us they played 3NT from the East hand. Keith led the ♥9 and I covered and continued with the ♥Q after declarer ducked. Then declarer tried to gain an extra entry to dummy by finessing the ♣8. Now he was always going off. 3NT made at all the other tables where it was played although a couple of times this happened because the lead was a low spade or because the contract was played from the West hand on the lead of a low club. Nigel or Mike made an unfortunate lead of the ♦T . The defence should still prevail if North returns ♥Q but at the table a low club (presumably the unbid suit) came back instead. David Bygott managed to bring home 3NT from the East hand with some help from both defenders, and Geoff and Debbie defended 4♠ after the opponents had a misunderstanding.
Board 20: Dealer West
♠QJ75
♥KQT32
♦-
♣QT98
♠A82 ♠943
♥A74 ♥J9865
♦KT9754 ♦Q86
♣A ♣54
♠KT6
♥-
♦AJ32
♣KJ7632
At our table, West opened 1♦, North doubled (I think 1♥ is better) and South bid 3NT. On a diamond lead this had no chance. Against Jeremy and David, West bid 1♦, one of the Bygotts overcalled 1♥, South bid a non-forcing 2♣, West bid 2♦ and North bid a “good” 3♣ (bad raises would go through 2NT). East bid 3♦ and South bid 4♣ ending the auction. Jeremy feels that South should have done a little more. I think this is right as he knows that North is very short in diamonds and that they have a good club fit so all partner needs is a black ace and another useful card.
The auction was more exciting at Richard and Stuart’s table.
West Richard East Stuart
1♦ X Pass 2♦
Pass 2♥ Pass 3♣
Pass 4♦ X XX
Pass 5♣ Pass Pass
X Pass Pass XX
After Richard’s splinter, Stuart says that he gave serious thought to bidding 6♣ expecting just to lose ♠A. After the double he trusted his judgement and applied the blue card.
Board 21: Dealer North
♠3
♥7532
♦QJT
♣KQJ65
♠Q7 ♠T95
♥KT98 ♥QJ6
♦8632 ♦A75
♣T74 ♣A932
♠AKJ8642
♥A4
♦K94
♣8
South played in 4♠ at every table making 3 times out of eight. Sadly, holding the East cards, I let it through. Keith led ♥T, which I ducked hoping to find out more about the hand. Declarer ducked and Keith continued with ♥8 which declarer had to win. I won the club switch and knowing that the heart was not standing up, cashed the ♦A and tried to cash Keith’s potential ♦K. Unfortunately I had forgotten that I had not bid. Declarer had not forgotten, so after winning the diamond in dummy, he led the ♠A. Keith reminded him that he was in dummy, but it was too late. It seems easier to think of these things when you are declarer.
Board 22: Dealer East
♠Q54
♥QJ98
♦KT84
♣A2
♠AJT7 ♠932
♥T54 ♥AK72
♦Q5 ♦J73
♣KQT6 ♣954
♠K86
♥63
♦A962
♣J873
There seems to have been a great variety of scores on this board. Against Alan and Tim, West opened 1♠. Alan scraped up a double on the North cards and Tim bid 1NT as South. West led ♠J, won by the king. Tim played ♦K and then lost a diamond to West’s queen. On lead again, West tried ♣K. Tim won, cashed two diamonds (West discarding hearts) and exited from dummy with ♥Q dropping West's ♥10. East switched to ♣9 to the jack and queen. West tried ♠J, which was won with ♠Q, and dummy exited with a spade. After taking his spade tricks, West had to concede the
last trick to ♣8.
Jeremy and David made 2♦ after West opened 1♣ and North doubled, Nigel and Mike went one down in 1NT as East-West, Debbie had a friendly defence in 1NT making nine tricks. Richard doubled West’s 1♣ opening and so Stuart anxious not to miss a spade fit bid 1♠. Presumably the opponents hadn’t played against Stuart before and didn’t realise what was going on since they let him escape for one off.
We had an interesting defence against 1NT from the North hand. I led a low heart to the ten and jack. Declarer played ♦K and another diamond to Keith’s queen. Keith switched to the ♣K which declarer won and cashed diamonds, Keith pitching a club and a spade while I pitched a spade. Declarer would have done better not to cash diamonds because after he exited with a heart to my king, I played a club through and the remaining cards were
♠Q54
♥J9
♦
♣
♠AJT ♠93
♥5 ♥A7
♦ ♦
♣Q ♣9
♠K86
♥
♦
♣J8
Declarer had 5 tricks at this point. Keith now played a low spade and declarer was sunk. If he won in hand he could only exit with a heart and let me play a spade through so he won in dummy and played a spade towards his queen. Keith rose with the ace and squeezed him with the ♣Q.
Board 23: Dealer South
♠QJ872
♥J
♦A5432
♣43
♠AK ♠654
♥A9 ♥KQT643
♦T87 ♦KJ6
♣AKQT98 ♣6
♠T93
♥8752
♦Q9
♣J752
This is another board where slam is pretty good (on a non-diamond lead you are almost cold) but very hard to bid. Only Nigel and Mike, and Sandra and Brian
found it. The first important decision is what to open on the West cards.
Those pairs playing Benji opened the West hand 2♣, At Geoff’s table, he responded 2♥ definitely showing a good suit. Debbie rebid 3♣ and Geoff rebid 3♥. Now Debbie bid keycard but couldn’t bid slam with any confidence because she didn’t know the diamond position. It would have been nice to be able to cue spades but presumably 3♠ would be natural. Tim and Alan, and Richard and Stuart’s opponents rebid 3NT over 3♥. Opposite a good suit I would have thought 4♥ must be very tempting. At David and Jeremy’s table the opponents opened a multi 2♦ and continued 2♠-3♣-3♥-3NT.
Those not playing Benji had more difficulty in finding an opening bid. Normally this type of hand can be opened 2NT but you do have 9 probably tricks. Anyhow Nigel or Mike opened 2NT as did Keith. Now I showed a slam try on the East cards by transferring to 3♥ and rebidding 4♥. Keith declined the slam try after a lot of thought. Mike or Nigel transferred and bid keycard on the East cards and found the right number of aces.
Board 28: Dealer West
♠Q8532
♥JT93
♦J9
♣82
♠AK6 ♠J7
♥AQ65 ♥K872
♦AK2 ♦75
♣AQ3 ♣KJ976
♠T94
♥4
♦QT8643
♣T54
7♣, 7♥ and 7NT all appear to be reasonable contracts. The only pair to play in any grand was Nick and Marian who played in 7NT, but unfortunately Nick didn’t find the winning line. Not playing a strong club, it doesn’t seem easy to find the grand as West will typically open 2♣ (or 2♦) and East needs to be able to show both suits before West can judge that the hands fit so well. One problem with balanced 25-26 counts is that the strong hand often has to rebid 3NT consuming vast amounts of space.
At most tables West opened a strong bid, East relayed, West bid 3NT and East bid 6NT. However if you play 2♣ as your only strong bid you can avoid the space-consuming 3NT with a useful gadget. Over 2♣ 2♦ you can play 2♥ as either hearts or some balanced hand. Responder then relays with 2♠ and opener either bids 2NT with a balanced hand or something else with hearts. It is marginally superior to play 2♣-2♦-2♥ as 23-24 balanced or hearts and 2♣-2♦-2NT as 25-26 balanced but this is countered by being more likely to induce a memory error. On this hand the gadget does not seem much use!
7♣ or 7NT can be made. Jeremy writes: Suppose you receive ♥J as the opening lead and say you win the ace and cash ♥Q, getting the bad news when RHO
discards. How should declarer play from here? It's a nice declarer
play problem.
Two declarers (Wilkes/Webley's opponent for Notts, and yours truly for
Oxon) made thirteen tricks. With LHO holding a doubleton diamond,
there is a double squeeze for the thirteenth trick. This may seem
like luck, but in fact 7NT (or 7♣) is "cold" once LHO produces a
second heart and clubs aren't 5-0.
After cashing ♥AQ declarer should run precisely four clubs, discarding
a heart. LHO's remaining seven cards must include two hearts.Thus
LHO cannot guard both spades and diamonds, and the discards will
probably give away the position (if not, you have to guess). We may
assume that LHO unguards diamonds.
You now cash ♦AK (extracting LHO's idle cards), return to ♥K and cash
the last club. RHO must keep a diamond to beat your lowly ♦2, so must
unguard spades. You discard the diamond, which has done its duty, and
now LHO is squeezed in hearts and spades.
A beautiful textbook hand! Clyde Love calls this type a compound
squeeze.
Board 29: Dealer North
♠AQ
♥QT9543
♦T5
♣KJ2
♠J932 ♠T87
♥J8 ♥A
♦AK3 ♦J9872
♣AQT3 ♣8654
♠K654
♥K762
♦Q64
♣97
4♥ has four top losers but it’s not so easy to cash them. Alan and Tim’s opponents bid aggressively 1♥-3♥-4♥ and Tim led a spade from the East hand. North won the ace and played a heart. At this point it seems reasonable to play another spade hoping for West to have QJx and that’s what Tim did. Unfortunately the contract was now cold.
Board 30: Dealer East
♠AT973
♥J4
♦87
♣KQ43
♠QJ4 ♠2
♥972 ♥KQ853
♦AQT965 ♦43
♣5 ♣AT762
♠K865
♥AT6
♦KJ2
♣J98
Richard Lonsdale found a nice coup here. Playing 4♥ from the East hand he received a club lead. This was not good news since he couldn’t now try to draw trumps and establish diamonds, and neither could he ruff clubs in the dummy. Consequently he ducked! A heart was returned to the king and ace and a further heart was played. Richard won and played a diamond to the ten and then exited with a heart. Now South believed that his partner had ♣AKQ and played a club, Richard won and took another diamond finesse to make the contract.