Open Pairs Semifinal, 2nd Session

In every pairs event, many things are happening and possibly even more might have happened. Those who read on now might find ingredients from these two quite different sources stirred into a tasty cocktail. First cheers go to board 1:

Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul.
	ª A 4 2 © J ¨ A J 9 8 6 5 § K Q 2
ª K 9 8 5 © 9 6 4 3 ¨ 3 § A J 6 3		ª Q J 7 6 3 © K 5 ¨ K Q 7 4 2 § 8
	ª 10 © A Q 10 8 7 2 ¨ 10 § 10 9 7 5 4

Well, EW make 3ª here and NS go one off in 4©. But when South introduces his clubs why would West refrain from doubling? On a spade lead it might well be more than one off now, as South gets fatally shortened, but any other lead will allow declarer to make the contract. This certainly is the case if you lead your singleton diamond…A swing of 70 or even 90 mp (top=118) hinges on making the proper lead.

Board 3. Dealer South. E/W Vul.
	ª 10 8 5 © A Q 10 9 4 2 ¨ Q 7 6 § Q
ª A 4 © K 6 ¨ A K J 9 3 § 10 7 6 5		ª Q J 9 7 6 3 © 3 ¨ 10 8 2 § K 4 2
	ª K 2 © J 8 7 5 ¨ 5 4 § A J 9 8 3

West would open 1NT in 2nd position and North overcalls 2©. East bids a number of spades and South either makes a fitbid in clubs or simply raises hearts. On a spade lead, 4© is one down, but EW are cold for 4ª. Or are they?

Say South leads a heart and North switches to the §Q. Certainly when South made a fitbid in clubs, declarer will know that covering this makes no sense. Now, if South guesses to overtake the §A nevertheless to give his partner a club ruff, North will score the ¨Q in the end to set the contract. But if not, how should declarer play? Say East ruffs the heart continuation and leads a top spade which holds the trick. The ªA fells the king but now the only way to come back to his hand is by leading a middle diamond from dummy. This works alright.

Probably a better way of tackling the hand is to take a diamond finesse first by playing low to the jack. If this holds, try the ªA, extract North’s last diamond by playing the ace and continue trumps. If North has the king you are home. If the diamond finesse loses you have entries to your hand with the ¨10 and ¨8 and thus you will just be able to come back to your hand to first run a top trump and then draw the last trump to land the contract. A difference of about 90 mp again.

Precision style club opening bids have their effects on the auction from time to time:

Board 5. Dealer North. N/S Vul.
	ª Q 10 4 © 5 ¨ Q 9 § A K 10 6 5 3 2
ª A 9 8 7 5 © A Q 7 6 ¨ 4 § Q 7 4		ª 6 2 © K 10 9 3 2 ¨ J 10 8 7 2 § J
	ª K J 3 © J 8 4 ¨ A K 6 5 3 § 9 8

If North opens 2§ South might have a shot at 3NT and now, what can West do? Stay quiet and lead a spade is not the winning option as it leads to the opponents making 11 tricks for 108 mp.
One EW pair ended up as high as 6© when West overcalled 4§ and East expected him to hold a much stronger hand. Beating 3NT by two tricks would give EW 100 mp. Please note that making 4© requires careful play when North switches to the ¨Q at trick 2. Ruffing the second round, playing one top trump and ducking a spade should work.

On board 13 Villas-Boas scored an unexpected clean top:

Board 13. Dealer North. All Vul.
	ª A 7 © K 10 9 ¨ Q 9 7 6 5 3 2 § Q
ª K J 2 © 6 5 4 2 ¨ - § K 10 9 4 3 2		ª Q 10 6 3 © A Q J ¨ A K 10 8 § J 7
	ª 9 8 5 4 © 8 7 3 ¨ J 4 § A 8 6 5

West	North	East	South
Amoedo		Villas Boas
	Pass	1NT	Pass
2§	Pass	2ª	Pass
3§	Pass	3¨	Pass
3©	Pass	3ª	Pass
5§	Pass	5NT	All Pass

2§ was Stayman and 3§ was MSA, 3¨ showing the suit. East was not sure about 3© (which in fact was natural) so he made the fine waiting bid of 3ª, leaving all options open. As he felt distinctly unhappy with the option partner next went for, he corrected the final contract, only to find out that neither five-level contract could be made legitimately.

A heart was led to the king and ace and the §J ran to the queen. A heart was returned and a low club went to the king. On the next club, South again played low, this being all declarer needed. Heart to the jack and over now to spades, cashing the 13th heart when in dummy. When hearts broke and it was North who happened to hold the ªA, the §A left the scene through the back door. A swing of 109 mp.

The other board at this table again produced problems for EW, and again they did not solve them properly:

Board 14. Dealer East. None Vul.
	ª J 10 8 7 6 3 2 © 3 ¨ J 10 § Q 10 4
ª A K 4 © J 8 ¨ 8 4 2 § A J 8 7 6		ª 9 © A Q 7 4 ¨ K Q 9 7 5 § K 5 2
	ª Q 5 © K 10 9 6 5 2 ¨ A 6 3 § 9 3

East opens 1¨ and South bids 2©. Your bid please, West!

Double works best as East will surely pass and collect 800. Getting to 3NT is not easy, so making the 11 tricks available in that denomination on a heart lead was worth 113 mp. Even +430 was well over average.

Bidding 3§ is OK too, unless East feels free to go over 3 NT now.

The following board was remarkable too:

Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul.
	ª A Q J 6 5 © Q J 8 ¨ 10 3 2 § K 9
ª - © K 10 9 5 3 ¨ A Q 9 5 § A 8 7 3		ª K 10 8 7 4 © 7 2 ¨ 6 4 § 10 5 4 2
	ª 9 3 2 © A 6 4 ¨ K J 8 7 § Q J 6

As long as EW did not double, NS were bound to score well. Even going down three in any spade contract, undoubled, was over average!

Curious things happened on board 17:

Board 17. Dealer North. None Vul.
	ª 10 9 5 4 2 © 8 4 ¨ J 4 § K J 9 8
ª K J 7 © J 5 3 2 ¨ A Q 6 5 § 5 4		ª 8 3 © K 10 9 ¨ K 9 8 7 § 7 6 3 2
	ª A Q 6 © A Q 7 6 ¨ 10 3 2 § A Q 10

After two passes, South opens One Club and West doubles. North will end up in 2ª and East leads the ©10. Plan the play.

Well, the ©K will probably be wrong, in view of the bidding and the lead, as will the ªK. So why not go up with the ©A and play ªA, ªQ? West wins and continues diamonds and, upon winning the ¨K, East returns the ©9! So you play the queen after all, and this time the finesse suddenly is right. Bridge is a hot game. The overtrick was worth 27 mp.

A few people went down in 4ª on board 19. What would the defence have been?

Board 19. Dealer South. E/W Vul.
	ª K © J 7 5 ¨ A 8 6 § Q 9 8 7 3 2
ª A Q 9 8 7 6 4 © K ¨ 10 3 § A 10 5		ª 10 © A Q 3 ¨ Q J 9 7 5 4 2 § K 4
	ª J 5 3 2 © 10 9 8 6 4 2 ¨ K § J 6

Against 4ª, North underleads the ¨A and South returns a trump. If West does not go up with the ace now, he loses two trumps and two diamonds. A variation might be the lead of the ¨A and another. South ruffs and returns a trump on which declarer plays the queen. A more normal result was 11 or even 12 tricks on a club lead.

Board 22 was an easy enough small slam. As we are in France here, we cannot reveal which French pair were the only ones to record a minus score on the board for EW. This was what happened:

Board 22. Dealer East. E/W Vul.
	ª K 9 7 5 4 © 8 5 ¨ 8 6 § J 10 4 3
ª A Q © K J 10 9 4 2 ¨ Q J 9 5 2 § -		ª 10 8 3 © A Q 6 3 ¨ 10 § A K Q 8 6
	ª J 6 2 © 7 ¨ A K 7 4 3 § 9 7 5 2

West	North	East	South
		1§	Pass
1©	Pass	3©	Pass
3ª	Pass	4§	Pass
4ª	Pass	4NT	Pass
5ª	Pass	7©	All Pass

5ª showed either two aces and the trump king or two key cards and the trump queen (or extra length, for that matter). As soon as EW have sorted this out, we will let you know.

What about this one?

Board 24. Dealer West. None Vul.
	ª A K J 9 5 3 © K Q 8 ¨ 8 3 § Q 7
ª Q 10 4 2 © A 10 5 2 ¨ 5 4 § K 10 2		ª 7 6 © J 4 ¨ K J 9 7 § 8 6 5 4 3
	ª 8 © 9 7 6 3 ¨ A Q 10 6 2 § A J 9

The bidding has gone:

West	North	East	South
Pass	1ª	Pass	2¨
Pass	3NT	All Pass

3NT had been explained as 15-17 with a type of hand North did not want to open 1NT on.
Would you play the §10 or the §K if partner leads the §3 (3rd-5th) and dummy plays the nine?
As West can see that the hand is lying well for declarer he would be well-advised to take the king, even more so because it does not look very likely that North has bid 3NT with nothing at all in clubs. Making the wrong choice costs you only 25 mp. as 3NT is a meagre score anyway for EW with many NS pairs in 4ª.

Defence sometimes is looking so easy:

Board 25. Dealer North. E/W Vul.
	ª 9 4 3 © A 10 9 ¨ 10 9 7 5 § K 7 3
ª K 10 5 2 © 8 7 6 4 3 ¨ Q 3 § J 6		ª Q J 7 6 © K Q J 2 ¨ 6 § A Q 10 2
	ª A 8 © 5 ¨ A K J 8 4 2 § 9 8 5 4

The bidding may very well have been like this:

West	North	East	South
	Pass	1§	1¨
1©	3¨	4¨	5¨
Dble	All Pass

West leads the §J, covered by king and ace. East cashes the §Q followed by the §10. What should West discard? He should of course tell his partner that it’s safe to continue the suit – which it would not had West’s trump holding been ¨Kx or so.

West knows at this point that declarer is (probably) 6-4 in the minors with a singleton heart. This leaves room for only two spades, so any spade tricks will not run away. Also, partner must hold something in spades. Discouraging spades might thus be the best way to induce partner to continue the club in case declarer has one club left as well. After all, if partner holds five clubs playing to promote the ¨Q is just swapping one defensive trick for another.

The last board of the session was a real beauty:

Board 26. Dealer East. All Vul.
	ª 5 © K Q J 9 5 ¨ K J 9 8 7 6 § 3
ª A 9 8 2 © 8 3 ¨ A Q 5 § Q 5 4 2		ª K Q J 10 7 3 © A 7 ¨ 3 § A K 9 6
	ª 6 4 © 10 6 4 2 ¨ 10 4 2 § J 10 8 7

East to play 6ª after North showed a red twosuiter. South leads the heart 4 (3rd-5th) or the ©2 (4th).

This would be a genuine textbook hand had West held the §8. Win the lead, draw trumps, eliminate the diamonds, cash the §A and play a heart. Whoever plays clubs now gives away a free finesse. A red suit gives a ruff and discard.

Without the §8, the hand can always be beaten if North takes care that it’s not he, but SOUTH who has to win the second round of hearts. He thus should duck the second heart, even when it’s led from dummy at an early stage: two rounds of spades, club to the queen and a heart up. Would you have resisted this temptation, here in the heat and the battle?