Janet Smith and Alan Wilson
Margot Wilson and John Gardner
Mark Hooper and Phil Norman
Tim Dunsby and Krzysztof Ginda
Ann Sharples and Bob Mott
The teams are split into four groups of nine or ten teams with the leading two teams going through to the final. Dorset teams have propped up the field in recent years so this year's finish of equal 5th represents something of an improvement.
We got off to a dreadful start, losing 94 imps in five boards to arch rivals Hampshire (that's not a misprint, each board is scored four times by comparing both North-South pairs with both East-Wests), but things improved after that and we finished just below average, pleased to find ourselves ahead of Hampshire in the final table.
The bidding in the Tolly tends to be a lot more aggressive and competitive than at the local club. Here are three examples where telephone number scores depend on your decision.
First, a simple bidding problem
Your 1NT overcall may not be straight out of the textbook but you look to have seven top tricks on a heart lead. Are you a man or a mouse?
Next, a choice between the frying pan and the fire.
I held this hand and was getting ready to bid 4♣ when East opened 2♠, a weak two-suiter with spades and another suit. You can't pre-empt over a pre-empt, so I had to pass but I was none too pleased when partner weighed in with 4NT to show a 2-suiter. I expect you can work out which two suits.
One of my adages is 'never put down a seven card suit as dummy', but what about an eight carder? Partner is short in spades and may have two or even three clubs. In Victor Mollo's menagerie they would solve this problem by bidding an insufficient 4♣ over 4NT, silencing partner for the rest of the auction when you correct to 5♣, but I didn't think that this would meet with the Best Behaviour at Bridge guidelines, so I left partner to stew in 5♦.
When the defence cashed a spade and two top diamonds, I had visions of an enormous penalty and was thinking that I should have bid 6♣, but my partner was good enough to hold QJ to six diamonds and ♥AKQ109 and escaped for 500, no big deal when the opponents had an easy 450 in 4♠. Meanwhile, East's second suit was ♣AKJ10 and 6♣ would have cost at least 1400.
Now another man or mouse decision
In spite of the unlimited auction, East was determined to show that he was homo sapiens rather than mus musculus by making a macho double of 3NT to call for a spade lead. Kris, not ashamed of his spade suit, was man enough to redouble and when Tim brought home 3NT with an overtrick they had the unusual score of plus 1000.
Back to the choice whether to stick or twist in 1NT doubled. The Dorset player who faced the problem does not scare easily and is planning a sponsored parachute jump, so it was no surprise that they sat for 1NT doubled. Not an unreasonable decision, but unfortunately the parachute failed to open as the full hand was
and they were soon writing 1400 in the out column. They were not alone, for three tables (out of 16) lost four figure penalties in 1NT doubled.
At another table South ran to 2♣ after a similar start, leaving West with a tricky problem. You need some well-defined partnership methods when opponents run from 1NT doubled - I play that pass is forcing over two of a minor and that the first double is for take-out. Even with such an agreement, I think that West should try and describe his hand with a jump to 3♦, otherwise partner will never expect such a long suit.
5♦ is an easy make for East-West (and slam is on a finesse that is almost certain to work after South's 1NT), but it is not so easy to bid, and all of the other three tables in our match stopped in 3♦. When I held the South cards I opted for a mouse-like 2♣ overcall. The auction continued 2♦ - pass - 2♥ - 3♣ - 3♦ before grinding to a premature halt. East should have raised to 3♦ at his second turn and then West would surely have bid on to game.
