by Jonathan Mestel
The County did well in the Regional Final of this year's
National Pairs, coming 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 5th, respectively
Sue Oakford & Victor Milman, David Carmichael & William
Tunstall-Pedoe, Rod Oakford & Don McFarlane and Alastair
Brodie & myself. Sue & Victor are thus Eastern Counties
champions for the year. The eight of us duly trekked over to
the Coventry Hilton hotel, for possibly one of the last EBU
events to be held there, as apparently bridge players do not
spend enough in the bar. Each of fifty pairs plays two boards
against every pair over the weekend. The event was deservedly
won by Pat Davies & Chris Dixon. Alastair & I were 3rd,
Sue & Victor 10th, Rod & Don 11th, and David &
William in the lower half. William comments that this was his
first National event, and that he was impressed by the
consistency of the scores on some hands. Not, I imagine, on the
following two boards which were the most entertaining round of
the event:
At our table the bidding was:
South |
West |
North |
East |
3 |
3* |
6 |
6 |
P |
P |
7 |
X |
|
|
West's 3 was for take-out. Lest
anyone suggest my hand was too weak for a preempt ("Loony" -
Don), let me point out that To & Rowlands had a similar
auction. Against them West led A, so
they achieved -500, an excellent score. At pairs, sacrifices
against slams only tend to score well if, as here, the penalty
is less than the game. Against me a heart was led, J returned, and after two spades, A and a third spade, partner was somewhat
surprised to find that his trumps weren't good enough to avoid
a loser. -1100 is `Par' on the board, but was clearly bad for
us. For example, Sue & Victor took a penalty from 6. David & William had the auction as
N/S:
South |
West |
North |
East |
P |
1 |
2* |
X |
3 |
4 |
P |
4 |
P |
P |
P |
|
|
2 showed the black suits, and South
opted for the slow approach, as E/W seemed in some doubt over
the meaning of the double. Somewhat confused, West bid 4, apparently not realising it was a jump.
Judging correctly that opponents might have a slam, our men
settled for -680, which was worth 60%. After the hand West
stated she had merely forgotten to use the `Stop' card and East
claimed that if he'd realised that he'd have bid the slam,
showing somewhat poor ethics. The director's comment was `Oh,
this hand again!'
Don feebly passed my hand but Rod psyched:
South |
West |
North |
East |
P |
1 |
1NT! |
3 |
P |
4 |
P |
P |
5!! |
P |
P |
X |
P |
P |
P |
|
|
This outcome seemed more hilarious to N/S than E/W, for some
reason, who were somewhat caustic about North's 1NT. This
needled Rod into mischievously borrowing a point or two on the
next board:
|
West |
North |
East |
South |
1 |
1NT! |
P |
2NT* |
P |
3* |
P* |
4* |
P |
4* |
P |
6 |
|
|
Here 2NT was a minor suit enquiry, 3 showed a top honour in both minors, 4 was RKCB for clubs, and 6 was
convertible to 6. A good scientific
sequence given the overcall, which of course would have been
less successful if you swap the East and South hands! We also
reached the slam after a pass by North, on the uninterrupted
sequence: (1)-P-2; 2*-3;
3-3*; 4-4NT*; 5*-6 as Alastair judged well in the 3NT-zone.
Against Sue & Victor, North tried a take-out double, South
responded with a non-forcing(!!) 3,
North bid 3 and South's 5 ended the auction, for a deservedly poor
score. William also doubled but East raised obstructively to
2. Slightly unsure of their methods
now, they stopped in 4.
Later on, we held another big hand. You know how even your
favourite partner sometimes seems to be on the other side? I've
seen him referred to as "CHO" (centre-hand opponent). Well, for
once everyone seemed on my side this time - let's call them
left-hand partner and right-hand partner.
|
West |
LHP |
CHP |
RHP |
1 |
1 |
X* |
2 |
|
3* |
P |
4* |
X |
XX* |
P |
4NT* |
P |
6 |
6 |
P* |
P |
7 |
P |
P |
P |
|
|
RHP might well have bid 3 on her
first turn, and LHP 4 or 5 on his second, but the really helpful bid was
RHP's double of 4 enabling me to show
first round spade control. CHP's 4NT was forward going, support
for all suits. When LHP sacrificed over 6, CHP argued that he wouldn't have done so with a possible
trump trick, and hence that if I needed a trump finesse it
would be working. He therefore made a forcing pass over 6 and I felt able to bid the grand. This was
quite satisfying, but it's worth noting that Sue & Victor
only got 50% for defending 5 on the
unconvincing auction 1-2-X-3; 5-P-5;
So +800 for 6x was already a big
score. Should I really be going against this kind of odds? Well
why not - it's fun to bid grands.