Monday 17 March 2014

Farquaharson Magazine Pairs

As SBU Magazine subscribers (and contributors) we were invited to play in this special event in the new St. Andrew Bridge Club. It was a high quality field of 14 1/2 tables. Me and Anna were one of only three Bronze Pairs, meaning we had a decent chance of finishing with a prize.

We started with three boards against John Di Mambro and partner Douglas. Sitting East-West they navigated this one to a tricky 3NT:

DannyAnna
WNES
-1♠-
2♥-2♠-
3♦-3NT-
--

Anna sitting South lead the ♣2, the unbid suit. As we play fourth highest leads this showed a four card suit. I found this quite surprising sitting North as it meant East has six Clubs, though he'd never got to bid them. I took my ♣Q and ♣K, declarer ducking, and it was crunch time. The defence are due five tricks - three Clubs a Heart and a Diamond, but we've got to get them before setting up declarer's Clubs. I really thought about a bold Heart switch, but couldn't bear to lead into such a strong suit in dummy. So I chickened out and played a Diamond. Anna won her ♦A and had her chance to switch to Hearts, but she bottled it too and cashed the ♣A. Declarer now has all the tricks.

Our defence was helpful for declarer in setting up his Club suit. If he's left on his own he can still get nine tricks - six Spades, two Diamonds and a Heart, but it could be awkward. No one else managed to defeat 3NT, so it would have been a good defence from me and Anna if we'd have managed it. The tables playing in 4♠ or 4♥ all went down.

We bounced back and were doing fairly well at the break, above 50%.

After two cups of tea came our only 100% Board, where we bid and made a splendid 7♠. It's the first time I can remember that me and Anna have bid and made a Grand Slam. Unfortunately the hand doesn't appear on the St. Andrew's website, but since we did so well on this Board I've taken the trouble to copy it in here:

Board 45
Dealer North
Game All
♠ 6 4 2
♥ A 8 4 2
♦ -
♣ K 7 6 5 3 2
♠ 3
♥ K J T 9
♦ Q J 6 5 4 3 2
♣ T
7
74
22
♠ 9 7 5
♥ 7 5
♦ K 9 8 7
♣ J 9 8 4
♠ A K Q J T 8
♥ Q 6 3
♦ A T
♣ A Q
DannyAnna
WNES
--2♣*
3♦-4♦4♠
-4NT*-5♣
-5♦*-6♠
-7♠--

I had the North hand and passed, so did East. Anna's got a monster hand sitting South, and opened it 2♣. West now made a fine vulnerable overcall of 3♦, further raised to 4♦ by East. This is good bidding, and they actually would only go one trick down in 4♦. Anna has an easy 4♠ bid, and now it's over to me. All the Diamond bidding has made my hand, with it's Diamond void, very powerful. I've only got three small Spades but I know Anna's going to have a very good suit. The only question is, how high to go? I decided that if Anna had the ♣A then we'd have all the controls, and plenty of tricks for the Grand Slam. Cue-bidding to find the ♣A is awkward as the bidding is already so high, so instead I bid Blackwood. Anna bid 5♣ to show four keycards, so we've got them all. I then bid 5♦ to ask about the trump Queen, as I was worried about a bad split in trumps, and Anna's 6♠ response shows the ♠Q and no other Kings. I could now bid 7♠.

When dummy comes down 7♠ is a bit tricker than you'd hope for, but has excellent chances. Declarer needs dummy's Clubs to get rid of the Heart losers. If Clubs are 3-2 it's fine, or if trumps are 2-2 you've got time to set up the Clubs. You can still make if neither Spades nor Clubs split, but you'll need to leave a trump out as an entry to set up the Clubs, and hope the person with long trumps isn't able to ruff a Club (as is the situation here).

West lead the ♦Q and Anna has an immediate decision where to win the trick. She wisely won it in hand with the ♦A, saving a key entry to dummy. She played two round of trumps, and when they didn't split followed the plan above and ruffed out the Clubs. It was a bold play, as it's a bit nerve-wracking to leave the last trump out. There were only two pairs who bid to 7♠, and the other declarer went one down (probably drew all the trumps and played for Clubs splitting), so 7♠= and +2210 was a top.

After this triumph I got a bit hot sitting next to the radiator and went seriously on the tilt. I could feel it slipping through my fingers and was perhaps guilty of trying too hard to get a good score. Here's my low point, on the final Board, where I collected just 4% for my effort:

I'm sitting West and was dealt a great hand. That's the last thing you want when you're on the tilt.

DannyAnna
WNES
1♠2♣-3♣
4♠---

I opened 1♠ then eagerly bid 4♠ on my next turn. All I need is a couple of good cards from my partner and there's an easy ten tricks. Anna's got nothing useful in dummy though, except maybe the chance of a Diamond ruff. North lead the ♣K, then paused. He wisely switched to a trump, specifically the ♠J. I won this and desperately tried Ace and another Diamond, on the wild chance that a defender had ♦KQJ and no more trumps to lead. It was not to be. South won the second Diamond and returned a trump. I had a decision to make here, whether to take the finesse in trumps or go up the ♠K. The Principle of Restricted Choice says to finesse, but I was suspicious of the crafty way North selected to play the ♠J the first time, so played him for ♠QJ. I got this right, so duly made the nine tricks I was dealt in my own hand. 4♠-1 scored poorly as nearly every other pair stayed low.

Me and Anna finished on 48%, not a great score but good enough to be the top Bronze Pair.

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