|
Israel vs Australia
Venice Cup - Round 6
The last match on Tuesday featured a relatively quiet set of
deals but there was still scope for some good bridge (and bad) in
our featured match. The first major swing went to Israel.
| Board 2. Dealer East. N/S Vul.
|
| |
ª 10 4
© 9 4
¨ J 10 7 6 4
§ A 8 4 3 |
ª J 9 2
© K Q J 8
¨ -
§ K J 10 7 6 2 |
 |
ª K Q 7 5
© A 7 6 2
¨ 8 5 3 2
§ 5 |
| |
ª A 8 6 3
© 10 5 3
¨ A K Q 9
§ Q
9 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Travis |
Naveh |
Havas |
Melech |
| |
|
Pass |
1NT |
| 2¨ |
Pass |
3© |
Pass |
| 4§ |
Pass |
4© |
All Pass |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Poplilov |
Clark |
Campanile |
Chadwick |
| |
|
Pass |
1¨ |
| 1© |
2¨ |
4© |
All Pass |
Matilda Poplilov's four-card overcall made for a very easy
auction for her side. Against 4©, Alida Clark led the ten of spades to Marilyn
Chadwick's ace. Chadwick switched to the king of diamonds, ruffed,
and Poplilov led the ª9 to
the king to lead a club up, putting in the ten. Clark won the §A and played a diamond, ruffed,
and Poplilov now cashed the §K for a diamond discard, the king and queen of
hearts, then the §J,
discarding her last diamond. Though Chadwick could ruff, declarer
had the rest; +420.
At the other table, Barbara Travis's 2¨ overcall was either hearts or a
heart canapé and she completed the picture at her second turn.
Hanuta Melech led a top diamond, forcing dummy to ruff. Liz Havas
played a low spade for the ten, king and ace, and back came a second
diamond, again ruffed. Now Havas was not where she wanted to be and
tried the §J off the table.
This ran to the queen and Melech played a third diamond, forcing
dummy to ruff for a third time and promoting a trump trick for
herself. Havas played the §K
to the ace and ruffed then crossed to the king of hearts to attempt
to cash the §10. She threw
her last diamond while Melech ruffed, and the diamond return forced
her last small trump. Declarer cashed the ace of hearts but the
spades were blocked and Melech's eight won the last trick for down
one; -50 and 10 IMPs to Israel.
We had to wait a long time for
the next double-figure swing and when it came it too was in favour
of Israel.
| Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul.
|
| |
ª 10 8 6
© A Q 10 7 2
¨ A Q 10 5
§ 10 |
ª 7
© J 5 4 3
¨ J 6 2
§ K Q J 8 2 |
|
ª Q 5 4 3 2
© K 8
¨ K 7 4
§ 9 5 3 |
| |
ª A K J 9
© 9 6
¨ 9 8 3
§ A 7 6 4 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Travis |
Naveh |
Havas |
Melech |
| |
|
|
1§ |
| Pass |
1© |
Pass |
1ª |
| Pass |
2¨ |
Pass |
2NT |
| Pass |
3NT |
All Pass |
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Poplilov |
Clark |
Campanile |
Chadwick |
| |
|
|
1NT |
| Pass |
2§ |
Pass |
2¨ |
| Pass |
3© |
Pass |
3NT |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
Poplilov led the king of clubs and continued with the queen and
then the jack, Chadwick winning the third round. Chadwick ran the
nine of hearts to the king and rose with the ace on the spade
return. Now she finessed the queen of diamonds, losing to the king,
and back came a second spade. Chadwick won the ªK but could take only one of the two red
finesses so had to go down. Had her first diamond finesse been that
of the ten, she would have been OK, of course. The contract actually
failed by two tricks; -200.
Travis allowed herself to be put off
the club lead by the opening bid and instead chose a low diamond.
Melech put in the queen, losing to the king, and Travis switched to
a club, ducked to the jack. The §K continuation was ducked and Travis now
switched to the jack of diamonds. Melech won, crossed to the nine of
diamonds and finessed the ©Q.
Havas won and led her last club but declarer won that, cashed the
ace of spades, led to the ace of hearts and, after cashing the
diamond, ran the ten of spades; +600 and 13 IMPs to Israel.
| Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul.
|
| |
ª K Q 6 4
© Q J 9 7
¨ 8 2
§ 8 7 2 |
ª A 10 7
© 4
¨ Q 9 7 6 4
§ K J 9 3 |
|
ª J 8 2
© K 10 6 5
¨ A K 5
§ A 6 5 |
| |
ª 9 5 3
© A 8 3 2
¨ J 10 3
§ Q 10
4 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Travis |
Naveh |
Havas |
Melech |
| Pass |
Pass |
1NT |
Pass |
| 3© |
Pass |
4ª |
All Pass |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Poplilov |
Clark |
Campanile |
Chadwick |
| Pass |
Pass |
1§ |
Pass |
| 1¨ |
Pass |
1NT |
Pass |
| 3NT |
All Pass |
|
|
Three No Trump was no problem but, not altogether surprisingly,
4ª proved to be impossible.
What was going on in the Australian auction? The 3© response showed shortage and
Havas believed that it guaranteed four cards in the other major,
while Travis did not. One still might query Havas's decision to try
4ª rather than 3NT, but at
least it would have had chances had there been a 4-3 trump fit. As
it was, 4ª drifted two down
for -200 while 3NT made two overtricks for +660 and 13 IMPs to
Israel.
| Board 17. Dealer North. None Vul.
|
| |
ª 8 6 3
© K 10 9 6 5
¨ K
§ K 8 7 2 |
ª Q J 10
© A 8
¨ A Q 10 9 7 6
§ A 5 |
|
ª A 9 7 2
© 4 3
¨ 8 4 3 2
§ Q 9 4 |
| |
ª K 5 4
© Q J 7 2
¨ J 5
§ J 10 6 3 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Travis |
Naveh |
Havas |
Melech |
| |
Pass |
Pass |
Pass |
| 1¨ |
1© |
Pass |
2© |
| 3¨ |
Pass |
5¨ |
All Pass |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Poplilov |
Clark |
Campanile |
Chadwick |
| |
Pass |
Pass |
Pass |
| 1¨ |
Pass |
1ª |
Pass |
| 2NT |
All Pass |
|
|
Given a free run, West has a decision to make whether to rebid
3¨ or 2NT, and Poplilov chose
the latter, where she played. By dropping the king of diamonds after
a heart lead, she came to nine tricks for +150.
The heart
interference made it natural for Travis to rebid 3¨ at the other table and now Havas
caught up for her failure to bid on the previous round (she was
still thinking about the previous deal) by raising to game. Travis
won Nurit Naveh's ten of hearts lead and took the losing spade
finesse. Back came the ©J
followed by a low club. Travis rose with the ace of clubs, crossed
to the ace of spades and led a diamond up. If Naveh was expecting
declarer to finesse - after all, she had taken the trouble to cross
to dummy - she was to be sadly disappointed. Travis went up with the
ace and scored up her game; +400 and 6 IMPs to Australia.
| Board 19. Dealer South. E/W Vul.
|
| |
ª K Q 9 5
© A K 7 5
¨ J 9 7 5
§ 10 |
ª 10 6 4 2
© J 9 4 3
¨ 8 2
§ 9 3 2 |
|
ª A J 8 3
© 10 8 6
¨ 10
§ K Q J 7 4 |
| |
ª 7
© Q 2
¨ A K Q 6 4 3
§ A 8 6 5 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Travis |
Naveh |
Havas |
Melech |
| |
|
|
1¨ |
| Pass |
1© |
Dble |
3¨ |
| Pass |
4¨ |
Pass |
4ª |
| Pass |
4NT |
Pass |
5§ |
| Pass |
6¨ |
All Pass |
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Poplilov |
Clark |
Campanile |
Chadwick |
| |
|
|
1¨ |
| Pass |
1© |
Dble |
3¨ |
| Pass |
3ª |
Pass |
3NT |
| Pass |
4¨ |
Pass |
4ª |
| Pass |
6¨ |
All Pass |
|
Both pairs bid competently to the cold small slam, Melech making
an overtrick after a club lead; 1 IMP to Israel.
| Board 20. Dealer West. All Vul.
|
| |
ª 7 6
© 10 9 7 5 2
¨ 6 3 2
§ J 9 3 |
ª A J 5 2
© Q 8
¨ K 10 9 5 4
§ A Q |
|
ª K 8 4 3
© J 3
¨ A J 8
§ 8 5 4 2 |
| |
ª Q 10 9
© A K 6 4
¨ Q 7
§ K 10 7 6 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Travis |
Naveh |
Havas |
Melech |
| 1¨ |
Pass |
1ª |
Pass |
| 3ª |
Pass |
4ª |
All Pass |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Poplilov |
Clark |
Campanile |
Chadwick |
| 1¨ |
Pass |
1ª |
Dble |
| 4ª |
All Pass |
|
|
The natural play in 4ª is
to take the spade finesse and then to try to guess the diamonds for
the overtrick. And that is exactly what happened in one room, where
Poplilov actually misguessed the diamonds - normally enough given
the take-out double; +620.
Havas had heard no opposition bidding
and seen Melech cash the ace and king of hearts then switch to a
club, the finesse succeeding. Havas convinced herself that Melech
might have come into the auction if she had any more high cards.
Accordingly, she played a spade to the ace and another one back to
her king. No joy there. Havas exited with a third spade, shaking her
head when the queen appeared where she did not want to see it. After
winning the club return she led a low diamond to her jack and was
one down; -100 and 12 IMPs to Isreal.
The Israelis had played
well and were full value for their 63-18 IMP, 24-6 VP
win. |
