Peggy Bayer 2023 - Round 1 Scotland vs Ireland

I'm here at Altrincham near Manchester for the 2023 Peggy Bayer, the U21 Home Nations tournament. Our bright young team is kicking off in a couple of hours against Ireland. We are hoping to take some IMPs off them and England (who are boldly playing their U16 team), and compete fiercly with Northern Ireland.

Line-ups and convention cards: here

Running scores: here

Delayed Kibtzing: here

The Ireland team was without one of their players meaning their top pair couldn't play their Precision Club system. Could we take advantage? I was playing a few practice hands with a pair from the U25 team when I first dared to check the scores, and to my astonishment we were 30 IMPs up after four boards. That is even more surprising when you realise that our top pair, Kevin & Michael, bid to 6♥-2 on the first board. I'd told them to play their usual game and unfortuantely that includes bidding dubious slams. They've asked me not to print the auction. Luckily, on the other table Harry & Jamie defeated 4♥ to hold the loss.

Here is a better 6♥:

Kevin Michael W N E S 1♠ - 2♥ - 3♥ - 4♣* - 4♦ - 4NT* - 5♥* - 6♥ - - -

I've included the auction as it has a nice feature - the 2♥ reply over 1♠ showing five cards and not the usual four. That allowed them to find the 5-3 fit quickly and away they go.

In the play, North lead a Club, the Seven. Even though you are opposite a singleton here, I think the correct thing is to take the finesse. The reason is that if it loses you 'break even' by being able to throw a Spade loser on the Ace of Clubs. The West hand is then nearly high, just needing to ruff a Diamond or two. In fact when the Club finesse works you can even eschew the Heart finesse and safely take 12 tricks.

At the table there was some confusion about what the Seven of Clubs lead was, and believing it to be 'top of nothing' declarer went up with the Ace and had to rely on the Heart finesse. 6♥= was a big gain against 4♥+2 at the other table.

Here is a rare 6♥ that Kevin and Michael missed - the key as so often the case with low point count slams is to diagnose the shortage opposite small cards:

Kevin Michael W N E S 1♦ - 1♥ - 1NT - 4♥ - - -

We play weak NT and five card majors, hence East's 1♦ opening and 1NT rebid. West sensibly jumped straight to 4♥. Here is a possible route to the slam - West bids Checkback Stayman over 1NT (even though he already knows there is a Heart fit), and when he hearts 2♥ from East he can splinter with 4♦. Now East knows his hand is all useful cards, which is often more important than overall strength or shape (doesn't matter that you are 4333 when partner has 6-5 shape).

Both tables of course played 4♥+2 for a flat board.

On the other table highlights include Jamie making an excellent 3NT that went down on the other table, and a bizarre auction that I think involved someone asking for Kings and their partner passing. 5NT= was the final result!

In the end we won 59-29, for a strong start.