In the second round of the Gold Cup we managed to end a losing streak against Jeremy Baker's team that had lasted for over ten years, winning a closely fought match by 14 imp. Even though it cost us a lot of points, this was the most interesting hand. East dealt at Game All and both Wests (I was one of them) chose to open 3 clubs in 3rd seat.
At my table North doubled, South bid 3 spades and North rebid 3NT. Declarer ducked the club lead and, with no future in clubs, I switched to a heart to try and attack dummy's entry. Declarer won in hand with the Ace, played Ace and another spade to dummy's Jack, then finessed the Queen of diamonds. East took this and returned a heart but declarer could win, cross to hand and lead another spade, setting up the spades with the Jack of diamonds as an entry. It would not help East to duck the diamond, as declarer could play a spade while the king of hearts was still in dummy.
At the other table South bid an optimistic 4 spades, but North was aware of his partner's rose-tinted spectacles and passed where some would have made a slam try. 4 spades is a much trickier proposition than 3NT, and it's not easy to see how to make it without taking some unlikely double-dummy plays (such as ducking the first club or finessing the 10 of hearts). However, the line shown on the diagram (click on 'Next' to follow the play through) seems a reasonable way to play the hand.
The key play is the low spade lead at trick 2. If you play Ace and another spade East can win and then West plays two rounds of clubs. East can overruff dummy and exit with his last trump, and wait to make the king of diamonds.
On the suggested play, if East goes up with the King of trumps at trick 2 and West plays two rounds of clubs, this still promotes a second trump trick for East. The difference is that he can now be endplayed with his last trump and forced to lead a red suit so that declarer avoids a diamond loser.
Apart from this hand, I felt that we had more than our fair share of the luck, but who's complaining?
Tuesday 12 January 2010
Wednesday 6 January 2010
Hope for us all
The Year End Congress in London gave us a chance to play against rather stronger opposition than normal, but even the very best can go wrong. Here are three hands where top players misdefended against us.
Ann declared 3NT as South against Artur Malinokswi and Janet de Botton and West got off to the best lead of a diamond. Ann ran the clubs and led a heart from dummy, but East went up with the Ace and switched to a spade. West then added to the debacle by throwing spades so that dummy's Queen scored and Ann made 11 tricks.
I was North and passed as dealer at game all - I don't like opening marginal 4-4-4-1 hands. West opened 1♦ in fourth seat and I doubled, felling quite pleased that I had been able to describe my hand well. But then things took a nasty turn as East (Victor Silverstone) redoubled and Ann bid 1NT - not what I wanted to hear. East doubled and after a spade lead it seemed as if the contract must go one off for -200 (the kiss-of-death at pairs scoring) but Silverstone went wrong at the end to allow Ann to score an unlikely +180.
The final hand occurred in the Swiss Teams, where we beat a team of junior internationals 18-2 in the penultimate round to reach table 4, before a big loss in the last match (two games let through at our table) sent us tumbling back down the ranking list.
West opened 1♥ and Ann overcalled 2♣. I bid an optimistic 2NT which Ann raised to 3 and East doubled. West led a heart and East returned a spade to the jack and king. West cashed the ace of hearts and went into the tank. Eventually he played his other top heart to set up my ninth trick. The auction was much the same in the other room but North chickened out to 4♣ which was just made so we gained 9 imp.
The first two hands were clear defensive errors but on the last hand West had a guess after cashing the ace of hearts. His defence would have been right if I had held
♠A Q J 5 ♥ J 10 8 3 ♦ K 10 ♣ 10 9 5
Maybe he expected his partner to hold the king of clubs for the double of 3NT.
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Ann declared 3NT as South against Artur Malinokswi and Janet de Botton and West got off to the best lead of a diamond. Ann ran the clubs and led a heart from dummy, but East went up with the Ace and switched to a spade. West then added to the debacle by throwing spades so that dummy's Queen scored and Ann made 11 tricks.
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I was North and passed as dealer at game all - I don't like opening marginal 4-4-4-1 hands. West opened 1♦ in fourth seat and I doubled, felling quite pleased that I had been able to describe my hand well. But then things took a nasty turn as East (Victor Silverstone) redoubled and Ann bid 1NT - not what I wanted to hear. East doubled and after a spade lead it seemed as if the contract must go one off for -200 (the kiss-of-death at pairs scoring) but Silverstone went wrong at the end to allow Ann to score an unlikely +180.
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West opened 1♥ and Ann overcalled 2♣. I bid an optimistic 2NT which Ann raised to 3 and East doubled. West led a heart and East returned a spade to the jack and king. West cashed the ace of hearts and went into the tank. Eventually he played his other top heart to set up my ninth trick. The auction was much the same in the other room but North chickened out to 4♣ which was just made so we gained 9 imp.
The first two hands were clear defensive errors but on the last hand West had a guess after cashing the ace of hearts. His defence would have been right if I had held
♠A Q J 5 ♥ J 10 8 3 ♦ K 10 ♣ 10 9 5
Maybe he expected his partner to hold the king of clubs for the double of 3NT.
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