Grand Designs

At Bournemouth Bridge Club we started with new packs, which normally require an enormous amount of shuffling to produce random deals. When my first 8 hands were all either 4-3-3-3 or 4-4-3-2 it looked as if we were in for a dull evening. Fortunately things improved after that, but then I picked up

♠KJ10x ♥Qxx ♦KJ10x ♣Ax

Another boring 1NT? Not exactly. I opened 1NT and partner bid 3 clubs, a natural slam try. Although I have a maximum, it's not a great hand for a club slam but I think that it is too good to rebid a discouraging 3NT, so I try 3 diamonds. Partner bids 3 hearts, doubled on my right and now I bid 3NT. Partner goes into the tank and and after a while bids 4 clubs. Our system is that when we take out 3NT into 4 of a minor, 4NT on the next round is a sign off, so that's what I bid. Now partner returns to the tank for an extended visit. After much agonising she eventually takes all the cards out of the box - 7NT and produces

♠A ♥A ♦AQxxx ♣KQJ9xxx

Well bid partner! Though for maximum style points Ann should have bid 7NT two rounds earlier. 3 diamonds must show diamond length with the A or K , and I would surely have rebid 3NT with an aceless hand.

Hands from the past - Giant killing in the Gold Cup

Late one night I arrived home from a business trip to Edinburgh, only to be told by my wife 'You might be going back - Bartlett's been on the phone, and you have got to play some Jocko team in the Gold Cup'. The 'Jocko team' turned out to be the top Scottish team and number five seeds, Steel, Matheson, Cuthbertson and McIntosh. I went away on holiday while Keith sorted out the arrangements to play the match at a half way venue in Manchester Bridge Club.

After the first set of eight boards, I wished we hadn't bothered. The opponents had made a close slam on the second board, and Miles and I had eight minus scores on our card. We were relieved to be only 11 imp down. The second set continued in the same vein, we were 22 imp down and the match seemed to be following a predictable course.

Then came two boards which altered the whole complexion of the match.

♠ A J 3
♥ A 4
♦ A Q 8 4 3
♣ 8 6 5


♠ 5
♥ Q J 8 7 5 3
♦ J
♣ A J 10 7 2

Miles and I bid

1♥ - 2♦
2♥ - 3♣
4♣ - 4♥


The crucial bid was Miles' three clubs, which steered us into the best contract. Four hearts made eleven tricks when the hearts and clubs both behaved. In the other room the Scots had to contend with a Gary Pick weak jump overcall of two spades on Q 10 x x x , and ended in 3NT. This had to go one down on a spade lead for a swing of 13 imp. On the very next board Miles and I overbid to six hearts on these hands.

♠ K Q J 3
♥ 7 5 4
♦ 6
♣ A Q J 7 2


♠ A 5
♥ A Q J 8 6 3
♦ K 7 4
♣ 8 4


West led a spade, and as dummy went down an angry local burst into the room, complaining that we were using the boards which he had painstakingly prepared for a teaching class. Disturbed by this interruption (that's my excuse), I mistakenly won in dummy and led a diamond to the king and ace. West now returned a club, leaving me in a dilemma- should I go up with the ace and hope that East had singleton or doubleton king of trumps, or finesse the club which would allow me to pick up king to three trumps with East? After much thought I followed the first line, but the cards lay so well that both lines would have worked.

The contract in the other room was a sensible four hearts, so we had another 13 imp. Can you seen how I should have played? With a few small gains on the other boards we won the set 35-0, the match had turned round and we eventually held on to win by 14.

What about that six hearts? The correct line is to win the spade lead in hand and play a diamond (the king is best as it may avoid a potential spade ruff). If West wins and returns a club you win with dummy's ace, finesse a heart, ruff a diamond, draw trumps and claim. This line wins as long as the trump finesse works and the trumps break 2-2 or 3-1.

Hands from the past - the Reverend's Coup

The 4th round of the 2007 Gold Cup saw a local derby between two Dorset teams captained by Phil Norman and Keith Bartlett, with the prize for the winner being bragging rights and the chance to take on a seeded team in the round of 32. Keith’s team (Anne Sharples, Barrie Cantello and me) had the better of things, and a couple of weeks later I got an e-mail from Keith that said ‘The draw for round 5 finds us against Allfrey, Forrester, Robson & Bakshi. No trouble then! After we beat them, we probably get Peter Lee's team from Surrey, and then Byrne of Manchester in the quarter-finals.’ In spite of Keith’s optimism, our match against Allfrey was a bit like Weymouth playing Chelsea in the 4th round of the FA Cup. With the bridge correspondents of two national newspapers in the team, the opponents had arranged for duplimated boards with hand records, so that details of any interesting hands could be made available for the delectation of readers of The Times and the Daily Telegraph, not to mention the Dorset Coup. Although we did not manage a giant killing, conceding when 48 imps down after 40 boards, we did have our moments. Here is a hand where Barrie Cantello (aka the Reverend), perhaps inspired by playing in an old rectory, came up with a coup that I had never met before, either in print or at the table. I doubt if Tony Forrester had seen it either, as it caused him to go down in a cold game.

	♠ A9752 ♥ Q532 ♦ K103 ♣ J
♠ Q10 ♥ 64 ♦ A986 ♣ 97653		♠ KJ864 ♥ A8 ♦ QJ75 ♣ A10
	♠ 3 ♥ KJ864 ♦ 42 ♣ KQ842

Forrester declared four hearts after Barrie had opened one spade as east. I led a spade which Forrester won with dummy’s ace to play a club. Barrie took the ace and cashed the ace of trumps. If he had continued with the obvious play of another trump, I am sure that Forrester would have made the contract by playing a top club (throwing a diamond in dummy) and ruffing a club. When the 5-2 club break is revealed, declarer is a trick short but he can ruff a spade back to hand and lead a diamond towards the king for his tenth trick. But after Barrie had taken the ace of hearts he switched to a spade, convincing Forrester (and everyone else at the table) that he had started with a singleton ace of trumps. Forrester ruffed the spade and thought that he might have a winning line on a cross ruff, so he cashed the king of clubs throwing a diamond from dummy. The fall of the ten of clubs was suspicious, but surely it was safe to cash the queen of clubs as East could not have any more trumps. It was something of a shock when Barrie ruffed with a card he could not possibly have – a trump – and played a diamond to my ace for one down. So now you know the Reverend’s coup – cash the ace of trumps when holding A x or A x x and switch to another suit. Declarer is bound to play you for a singleton ace. 

Only one hand from this match ended up in the national press, and even that was not quite truthful. 

 

 I was the West who led the 'dubious' eight of diamonds, but declarer (Robson) did not actually play as described in the article and went one down. Not that it really mattered, as Forrester and Bakshi were allowed to play in four hearts at the other table for a big gain.