Peggy Bayer Round 7: England vs SBU

After our shock win against them in Round 2, it was back to business as usual for the very strong England team and they piled on the IMPs agaisnt us for another 20-0 win. It really was a mismatch, where nearly every board we either misbid/misplayed/misdefended for a game swing out. Even the 'flat' boards they did a trick or two better.

When you are playing a much stronger team there are a few ways to get good scores: 

1) Take some unusual action and hope it works. Because your cardplay isn't as good as theirs it's best to underbid, and hope they go off in a higher contract

Aidan passes the 1S overcall despite a very good hand in support. 1S+1 is a win against 3S-1 at the other table. The 5 IMPs we scored here were the bulk of our positive IMPs.

2) Rely on them getting carried away and going down in a slam. This nearly happened, but didn't quite work out today:

With the trump finesse working, and the King of Clubs falling, 7S makes. At the other table we were in 4S+1. Of course England should have settled for 6S, knowing that it would likely win the board, but they probably knew that they were well ahead and fancied trying the grand slam. The 14 IMPs lost here did not affect the outcome of the match.

3) Actually outplay them

After some straightforward bidding Harry got a generous low Spade lead from South. He set up the Clubs and got a Diamond in the endgame for 10 tricks. At the other table they were also in 3NT. North lead a Heart and declarer was held to 9 tricks, for a 1 IMP gain that constituted the rest of our positive IMPs. 

Overall it was a crushing 122-6 loss for 0 Victory Points.

With Scotland and Ireland also winning there's no change in the leaderboard: