nsmith

DESERT ISLAND HANDS: NICK SMITH

Nick Smith runs an academic publishing business called Oxford Open Learning, which also teaches students through correspondence courses.

At the time of writing (April 2000), Nick has just relinquished captaincy of the Oxfordshire Bridge team. He worked tremendously hard in this position, producing a detailed match report immediately after every match, and communicating efficiently to ensure that we always had 16 players turning up at the right time and place to face our opponents - which is not as easy as it sounds! I have no idea how Nick found time for captaining the County, in addition to: running a business; writing the fortnightly Bridge column in the Oxford Times; playing cricket; playing golf; singing in a rock band; taking part in pub quizes; being a father and husband; and all the other things I've forgotten to mention. But find time he did, and we are all grateful for the dedication Nick showed over the last seven years.

Thank you Nick.

So how did Nick become a Bridge player? I'll let him describe this in his own words:

I started playing Bridge as a boy in Surrey in the early 70s. My father was/is a keen player at club/county level and he held matches at home which gave the game a certain "adult" seriousness. I'd played a lot of KO whist and rummy and relished the new challenge. CC Wei's revolutionary pamphlet was a bit of a kick-start and I enjoyed the Menagerie books long before I could understand the bridge in them.
Like most players I find it easier to remember the disasters than the triumphs. I tend to get most pleasure from the brinkmanship that works, competing confidently to the limits and maybe beyond, and the con-tricks that bring in impossible contracts, rather than the precise technical plays.
Often I will back my "feel" for where the cards lie rather than the technical line which offers slightly superior odds. Over the years, that has paid dividends even if it hobbles you for the post mortem when the technical line would have worked.

Nick has a couple of hands for us, starting with a stomping disaster.....

I have a reputation (totally undeserved, of course) as one of the hardest players in the county to partner. It's not so much that I spot too many of their errors, more that I sometimes find it hard to keep this
disappointment to myself during that crucial five second period after the hand is over. After ten seconds it's all forgotten, but by then the damage is done.

I take more pride in being regarded as hard to play against. Partly this is because I like to compete to the limit (and beyond) as quickly as possible and partly because I rarely decline to double when opponents overbid. I aim to make sure that opponents know they will be doubled if they overstep the mark - so we get a clear run at it more often.

If you don't concede the occasional 790, you are not doubling often enough, but sometimes worse things can happen. Here's a hand that occurred in a recent Wessex League match between the Menagerie, my club, and Aylesbury, and it almost cost the Menagerie the 1999/2000 league title.

My partner, Michael Goldsmith (W) dealt and passed. North (Paul Belton) opened 1¨ and I doubled with my handy 18-count. South (Geoff Nicholas) bid 1ª (promising a 5-card suit), partner passed and North raised to 2ª. Your call?

If I'd passed it would have been a feeble story but, with both opponents limited, I decided I was worth a 3© overcall. South passed and partner decided to up the ante to 4©.

At this point, North, who had previously been unable to raise spades beyond
the two level, decided to "sacrifice" in 4ª. In the context of the auction, this was a bid which seemed to sit up and beg: double me, double me. My hand is far from suitable but it is clear that we have the majority of the points and I hate to be short-changed. Anyway, double I did. 4ª* became the final contract.

ª A 10 5 2
© 7
¨ A K 10 9 8
§ 7 5 2

Game All

Dealer W

ª 9 7
© J 8 5
¨ 5 4 3 2
§ K 10 6 4

ª 8 4
© A K Q 9 4
¨ Q J
§ A Q 8 3

ª K Q J 6 3
© 10 6 3 2
¨ 7 6
§ J 9

Now put yourself in partner's shoes and find a lead from the West hand. Without the double, a heart lead looks best but now a trump looks marginally superior, with the chance of preventing a cross-ruff.

Geoff Nicholas won the spade lead in hand and led a diamond to the Ace, scrutinising my Queen carefully. After some thought, he crossed back to ªK, drawing the rest of the trumps, and played another diamond to the King, felling my Jack and establishing the suit.

Such a play in diamonds may seem to contravene the Principle of Restricted Choice. But say my Queen is singleton after all, he can win ¨K and lead ¨10, throwing a losing club away on it. This would guarantee ten tricks, so it is clearly the correct play.

As it was, he was able to discard both his club losers on the outstanding diamonds and claim the rest on the cross-ruff. Twelve tricks on a combined 18-count.

Conceding 790 would have been bad but not disastrous. But the two overtricks meant that the Aylesbury pair collected 1190. At the other three tables, Menagerie pairs scored +620, +140 and +110 so we had turned a large prospective plus into -9 IMPs. As the match was narrowly lost, our debacle cost the club around 5 VPs. Sorry, team!

On a heart or a club lead, we would have been able to cash the first three
tricks. Now, after drawing trumps, declarer will need to take a good view
in diamonds to make 4ª*. Following PRC, Geoff would probably have gone down. So the lead effectively cost three tricks.

The bidding started in similar fashion at other tables. With the North hand, I would have bid a pre-emptive 3ª on the second round but I can see why Paul Belton bid as he did, fooling me so completely.

The moral of the tale? Don't double unless you can see fifteen tricks in your own hand? No, I'll be back for more punishment. Some people never learn!

Let's move on to Nick's second hand.

Digging through the records, I found this "triumph" from years gone by. Yes, it's the high-stake rubber bridge game down the golf club, not a sublime moment from one of my many England appearances. For many people, golf and bridge go together like G'n'T or George Graham and goalless draws. Much of my own misspent youth was idled away searching in the heather and terrorising the local bridge clubs in equal measure.

Even now I find both games fascinating and a test of character which I still don't pass. One Saturday, I hacked my way round Frilford Heath in a deeply unimpressive 104 before repairing to the cardroom in the clubhouse in a vain attempt to recoup some of my losses.

Another hopeless addict of both games (let's call him the happy golfer) was in high spirits after a heroic win on the last green. Clearly, he had not visited the mangrove swamp which has been specially imported from darkest Irian Jaya to lurk where the ninth fairway ought to be on the "blue" course. You're unlikely to find your ball in there but you might well come across David Bellamy and sixteen species of snakes. And as with any black hole, it's gravitational pull is unrelenting. Perhaps you know it well.

But bridge has its own mangrove swamps …

ª 5
© Q 9 6 4 3
¨ 10 7 2
§ 10 6 4 2

Love All: EW +70

Dealer S

I opened 1ª with the South hand and the happy golfer overcalled 1NT with his handsome 16-count. This call, sufficient for game at the time, was passed back round to me and I made the quite indefensible call of 2ª which was passed out. When ¨K was led and dummy went down, I was more than grateful to be undoubled.

The happy golfer's eyes were glazing over as he basked in the memory of the perfect pin-high three iron he'd so recently struck, so I won with ¨A and immediately led ©2. A low trick, I agree, but the happy golfer sleepily followed the second-hand-plays-low principle and I had a free trick with ©Q. Better still, the unexpected entry to dummy gave me the chance to finesse ª9.

When the happy golfer was able to win that with the ten, prospects seemed little better. He cashed his ¨Q and then turned to §K. I took my two black aces and, with three trumps still out, then led ªJ. The happy golfer looked at it suspiciously but, fearful of being thrown in, he hopped up with his King. His partner carefully inserted his Queen between the King and Jack.

A little sheepishly, the happy golfer exited with ª7 to my 8. Seven tricks were in the bag now but still no sign of an eighth. I tried a diamond to East's Jack and, after cashing §J, East continued with the 13^th diamond at trick 11. I ruffed but for the happy golfer the snakes were everywhere now. Should he bare his ©K or discard his §Q? He knew I held ©A but what was my last remaining card?

"Oh, and 150 for honours. Take your time …", I said. I knew he'd throw §K in the end and sure enough §10 won the final trick in dummy. Just the eight tricks.

That treble bogey certainly ruined his card for the day.