National Pairs Final

In the National Pairs final we had our ups and downs but finished a bit below average. Rather disappointing, but at least it was an improvement on the last time we played in the final. Here are three typical hands - two bad, one good.

This was our most costly error, a chance for an outright top converted into a near bottom. If I had started with ace and another heart it would have been almost impossible to mess things up, but I chose to lead a spade. Declarer won in hand and tried the ten of clubs, covered by the queen and ace. Now declarer led a low club off dummy; this was our last chance for two down but Ann ducked and declarer escaped for one off and a top as the room was scoring 450 in hearts. Perhaps Ann should have got this right as I should have the king of diamonds and ace of hearts for my double, but I could have made things easier by not covering with the queen of clubs.

I thought that I had misplayed the next hand, but subsequent analysis showed that I was given no chance by a devilish opening lead.

Ann's 2♦ showed a good three card heart raise. 3♥ was unlawful but survived unscathed when East surprisingly failed to double. West led the jack of diamonds to East's king, and a club was returned. I ducked this and East now got two club ruffs for three down and an equal bottom. East-West can make 11 tricks in diamonds, but only one declarer had managed that, and most North-South pairs playing in hearts had made seven tricks.

After the hand I thought that I should have gone up with the ace of clubs and drawn three rounds of trumps, but a closer look showed that would have been no better. If I do that and play a club up, West wins and plays a diamond. I ruff and play a club to the 10, but East can ruff that and force me with another diamond. Now I have no more trumps and never make a spade trick.

Winning the ace of clubs at trick 2 and playing a spade is no better - East throws a spade on the king of clubs and gets a club ruff and a spade ruff, but only because of the crafty underlead of the ace of diamonds at trick 1.  

This was a better board for us, though I'm not sure whether it was down to good luck or good bidding.

I was reluctant to play 3NT opposite a likely small doubleton diamond, so we ended in a dubious 4♠. I won the heart lead and ran the ten of spades to South's queen. Another heart came back and both opponents showed an even number. I now needed North to have a singleton or doubleton honour in clubs - the jack of clubs was covered by the king and ace, then I drew trumps and led the 10 of clubs. South took this and cashed the ace of diamonds but I had 10 tricks for a 90% board.

Despite the diamond weakness 3NT is quite a reasonable contract - I make it about 52%, probably better odds than 4♠ - but looks to have no chance on the actual layout after a diamond lead. A normal line of play - test the hearts and run the ten of spades when the hearts do not break - should lead to two down. 3NT by East was the contract at 13 other tables and a diamond was always, but somehow it was made eleven times and only defeated twice.

Garden Cities

In the Garden Cities qualifier we were leading at half time but a poor second session saw us overtaken by the Allendale team. I held two very similar hands - 9 high card points and 5-5 in spades and diamonds, and both hands led to some interesting play.

Ann and I played this hand against Miles and Daphne. I led the king of diamonds and declarer won, drew trumps ending in hand and led a club up to get the bad news. Now came a diamond to my 10. I have to admit to being asleep at trick 1 and missing Ann's count signal, so I didn't want to risk underleading the queen of diamonds. When I played the queen declarer discarded a club. You can follow the play by clicking 'Next' on the diagram. The opponents were playing Lebensohl responses so South's 3♥ showed about 8-10 HCP. As partner seemed to have the queen of clubs it was very likely that declarer had the queen of spades, so I tried the effect of conceding a ruff and discard by playing another diamond.

Declarer can still succeed by discarding a spade in dummy and ruffing in hand. East has to discard a spade and now declarer can play ace and another spade, ruffing in dummy, and exit with a low club to endplay East. But it was a tricky ending and declarer went wrong by ruffing my diamond exit in dummy, going one down when the spade finesse lost.

At another table Keith was declarer and took his opportunity to impress the EBU chairman who was sitting East. Keith eliminated spades and diamonds and endplayed East in clubs to give the tenth trick.

That was a good board for our team, but we got our comeuppance on this one.

Against me, West found the devilish lead of the 8 of clubs. Thinking that the king of clubs had to be offside, I won the ace and played ace and another heart, throwing my remaining club. West cashed the ace of diamonds, which seemed helpful, but not when the next diamond was ruffed by East and a heart was ruffed by West. Two down when I was cold for two overtricks! It was little consolation that Chris had played the same way when West led the seven of clubs.

National Pairs

In the National Pairs Regional Final Ann and I had more than our fair share of good fortune and avoided too many unforced errors, coming first in the Exeter heat and 9th out of 244 in the national list. This is the sort of thing that happens if you are playing in luck - a tricky hand from the last round of the day against Roger Sweet and his partner.

I had the first close decision when I had to choose whether to protect or to sell out to 2♥. My hand was pretty awful but it's usually losing tactics at pairs to let the opponents play in an 8 card fit at the two level, so I risked a very thin double. The problem was that Ann expected a rather better hand and bid 3♠ over 3♥.  That was the wrong decision in theory, but the play's the thing...

South led the king of hearts which held the trick.  Ace and another trump is best now, but he continued with another heart and Ann had a chance. She ruffed, crossed to the king of clubs, ruffed another heart and cashed the two top clubs, throwing a heart and a diamond. Now Ann played a diamond to the king, but this lost to the ace and South played a diamond back to North's queen. North now erred by playing the ten of spades, restricting the defence to one trump trick so the contract made for a near top.

Declarer can always succeed by discarding two diamonds on the clubs. Now ruff a club to hand and ruff the last heart in dummy. This needs South to have the last club, surely a better chance than the ace of diamonds with North.

One off in 3♠ would still have been a 60% board for us. To get a good score North-South need to double. Or North could have overtaken the king of hearts at trick 1 and switched to a trump, which would have led to an easy two down.

3♥ would have been an interesting contract. Deep Finesse says that it can only be beaten by an improbable low club lead followed by a trump switch, but what would have happened on a normal spade lead? Let's assume declarer wins the ace of spades, takes two rounds of trumps and plays back a spade to establish dummy's ten. East wins, cashes the king of clubs and switches to a trump. Now declarer can only get home by drawing trumps ending in dummy, to reach this position.

Declarer plays the winning spade, throwing a low diamond from hand, and West cannot afford a discard in either minor. If he throws a diamond declarer finesses the jack of diamonds and plays a club; if he throws a club declarer plays a club immediately.

Would declarer have managed all this?  It seems an unlikely line to find at the table, but more than half the declarers in heart contracts made nine tricks. Maybe East didn't find the unblock of the king of clubs, which allows declarer to get home without the squeeze.