Knight Cup 2014

In the Knight Cup we were leading at half time but slipped away in the second half to finish just above half way. We were unfortunate in that the opponents held most of the cards for the second half, but there were also some self-inflicted wounds. Against the eventual winners we had the chance for two tops but managed to turn them into two bottoms - this was my contribution to the debacle.

4♣ and 4NT were explained as Gerber with 4♥ showing one ace and 5♦ showing one king.  Partner led ♥6 (second highest from bad suits) which declarer won in hand and played on clubs. In with the ace, I naively assumed that declarer would have the ace of spades (otherwise, why bother to ask for kings?) and returned a heart, letting through an overtrick instead of taking it two off.

Subsequent analysis in the cold light of day showed that a spade return is the only chance to defeat the contract, but it will concede an overtrick (this was a pairs event) if declarer's hand is something like

♠Ax  ♥AKJ  ♦KJxx  ♣Q10xx

C'est la vie. At least I have a new hand for my collection of loony Gerber auctions, which has grown to a considerable size over the years.

Writing up this hand reminded me of an article in the EBU magazine a few years ago, which reported on a tour by the Australian expert Ron Klinger where he visited various English bridge clubs. One of the locals asked him for his views on Gerber, and Ron suggested that he try giving up Gerber for a time to see if his slam bidding improved. "How long would you suggest for this experiment", asked the punter. "About 30 years."