| 1st World Mind Sports Games | Page 3 | Bulletin 2 - Sunday 5 October 2008 |
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Open Teams Round 1 - Astralia v England The Mysterious Art of Bidding by Mark Horton A sporting encounter between England & Australia is to be savoured at any sport, not least when they meet across the green baize. Both teams include some excellent card players, but in this match it was mainly a question of doing the right thing in the bidding – and England generally proved to be much better in that department. On the opening deal the players in the East seat, Sandqvist for England and Mullamphy for Australia picked up: ♠K87 ♥AJ109854 ♦A5 ♣6. With North due to open the bidding the BBO commentators forecast an overcall of 4♥. Those red meat eaters were quickly disavowed, as Sandqvist bid 1♥ over North’s 15+ 1♣ and Mullamphy contented himself with 2♥ over a natural1♠. Guess what? 2♥ was the limit.
Open Room
Two Clubs promised 11-16 and promised six clubs unless opener, as here, held a four card major. West’s raise was enough to deter North. South led the ten of hearts and North won and switched to the jack of diamonds, covered by the king and ace. South cased the queen of diamonds and gave his partner a ruff to ensure one down, +50. Closed Room
East led the three of diamonds so declarer won in hand, repeated the diamond finesse and disposed of a spade on the ace of diamonds. He then played a club to East’s nine, won the spade return with dummy’s ace, cashed the ace of spades and discarded a spade on a diamond as West ruffed. Declarer claimed ten tricks, +170 and 3 IMPs.
Open Room
One Heart promised at least four spades in a limited hand, so it was clear for South to jump to game. When East showed a good hand West had an easy Five Diamond bid. South led the three of spades so declarer ruffed and played the queen of clubs. When that held he cashed the jack of diamonds, crossed to dummy with a diamond and played a heart to the jack. South won with the queen and exited with a diamond. That was two down, -200. Closed Room
Two Diamonds showed the majors, and 2NT promised good clubs or diamonds. West led the king of diamonds and switched to a club. Declarer won with the ace and proceeded to crossruff the red suits. When hearts broke he cashed the king of spades, took the marked finesse and claimed ten tricks, +620 and 9 IMPs.
Open Room
South led the five of spades for the eight, nine and queen and declarer ran the queen of diamonds. North took the king and returned the king of spades, so declarer had eleven tricks, +460. Closed Room
Full marks to South, who found the testing lead of the seven of hearts. Declarer took dummy’s ace and ran the jack of clubs. South won and the defenders cashed their heart tricks, leaving North to take the setting trick with the king of diamonds, giving England 11 IMPs.
Open Room
With the cards perfectly placed – as foretold by the opening bid – declarer romped home with eleven tricks, +200. You could argue that by bidding Three Hearts North was attempting to land on a pin head, but for my money, South, with five spades and a singleton had enough to risk Four Spades – what S J Simon might have called a ‘master bid’. Closed Room
If South had elected (assuming he was able to do so) to bid Three Hearts as a transfer North would surely have jumped to the spade game. North ducked a couple of hearts then knocked out the ace of spades, quickly recording ten tricks, +180 and a rare IMP for Australia. Round about this point one of the less well-informed BBO commentators asked if other sports were included. A colleague was quick to type in yes – followed by Drafts!
Open Room
Four Spades is the normal contract, and in order to make it declarer will usually have to take a very good view in the club suit. However, when North elected to lead the ten of clubs declarer’s problems were immediately solved. Putting up the jack, he took South’s queen with the ace and simply played on trumps, +620. Closed Room
I am pretty sure that One Heart showed at least five spades, but when East insisted on notrumps South led the king of hearts. Declarer won in dummy and played a spade to the queen, South unblocking the jack. North won the next spade with the ten and switched to a diamond. South took East’s queen with the king and went back to hearts. Declarer won and played a club to the ace and a club, accidentally ducking North’s nine. That left North on play to cash a lot of winners, down four, -400 giving England a whopping 16 IMPs.
Open Room
One Club was Polish, but after the negative response it was a little surprising that West went in search of a slam. Five Spades would have been interesting on a heart lead but North led the ten of clubs and declarer could win and, as would any student of the Rabbi, simply lay down the ace of spades. +680. Closed Room
On the ten of hearts lead declarer won, cashed the ace of spades, but lost an IMP.
Open Room
It was no crime to stop in Three Hearts, but on the lead of the jack of spades declarer was in clover. That had sorted out one suit and when he subsequently picked up the trumps he had ten tricks, +170. Closed Room
2♠ 4 hearts, 7-10 The same lead of the jack of spades led to the same story, declarer recording +420 for 6 IMPs.
Open Room
Not for the first time in the match the Australian’s version of Moscito appeared to bite back. Perhaps its best to draw a veil over the auction – it cost 1400 points. Closed Room
One Spade denied a major or the values for game. Declarer scrambled eight tricks – and gained 16 IMPs. England won 66-4 – and for the moment at least Australia’s hopes had turned to ashes. |
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