Our first visit ot the Gold Cup Congress in Peebles more than lived up to all the good things that we had heard about the food, wine, friendly bridge and efficient organisation.
The bridge started off on the wrong note when we conceded a Biltcliffe Coup (with an overtrick to boot) on the very first board, but things improved after that. Ann began the weekend needing 3 Green Points to reach Grand Master, and a good win against strong opposition in the last match of the pairs allowed us to pick up more than enough greens and just make the prize list.
This deal helped, even though our bidding was not quite what it said on the tin.
Making 4 Hearts scored about 75% on the board so other pairs cannot have found it easy to bid. Chris and Hilary had languished in 1♠, so in the rather alcoholic celebration of Ann's new status she was on the receiving end of some gentle teasing as to whether a Grand Master should be opening 2NT with a stiff queen of clubs.
Chris shows what he thinks about opening 2NT with a singleton queen.
Justification was soon at hand. Next morning, Ann and I went for a swim in the splendid Hydro pool and then dropped in to watch a few boards of the Gold Cup final on vu-graph. Almost immediately Zia picked up as dealer
♠ A 9 7 5 ♥ K 6 3 ♦ K Q 10 9 8 ♣ Q
What did Zia open? 1NT of course. This worked like a charm as he missed a diamond fit and stopped in an easy 4NT. In the other room the hand was opened with a boring 1♦ and they ended in 6♦, a good contract but doomed on the actual lie of the cards. The 13 imp gain on this hand was the start of a change in fortunes that saw Zia's team recover from an early deficit to score a convincing win.
The bridge started off on the wrong note when we conceded a Biltcliffe Coup (with an overtrick to boot) on the very first board, but things improved after that. Ann began the weekend needing 3 Green Points to reach Grand Master, and a good win against strong opposition in the last match of the pairs allowed us to pick up more than enough greens and just make the prize list.
This deal helped, even though our bidding was not quite what it said on the tin.
Making 4 Hearts scored about 75% on the board so other pairs cannot have found it easy to bid. Chris and Hilary had languished in 1♠, so in the rather alcoholic celebration of Ann's new status she was on the receiving end of some gentle teasing as to whether a Grand Master should be opening 2NT with a stiff queen of clubs.
Chris shows what he thinks about opening 2NT with a singleton queen.
Justification was soon at hand. Next morning, Ann and I went for a swim in the splendid Hydro pool and then dropped in to watch a few boards of the Gold Cup final on vu-graph. Almost immediately Zia picked up as dealer
♠ A 9 7 5 ♥ K 6 3 ♦ K Q 10 9 8 ♣ Q
What did Zia open? 1NT of course. This worked like a charm as he missed a diamond fit and stopped in an easy 4NT. In the other room the hand was opened with a boring 1♦ and they ended in 6♦, a good contract but doomed on the actual lie of the cards. The 13 imp gain on this hand was the start of a change in fortunes that saw Zia's team recover from an early deficit to score a convincing win.
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