Bermuda v Austria

Venice Cup - Round 4

The Sunday morning match between the host nation and Austria in the Venice Cup was mostly about slam bidding, with no less than six slam contracts being reached in one room.

Board 1. Dealer North. Love All ª K Q 10 4 2 © J ¨ 10 9 8 7 6 § Q 4 ª J 8 6 ª 5 © Q 5 © 10 6 2 ¨ K Q 5 2 ¨ J 4 3 § K 10 9 8 § A 7 6 5 3 2 ª A 9 7 3 © A K 9 8 7 4 3 ¨ A § J

West North East South Bussell Erhart Kyme Terraneo Pass Pass 1§ Pass 1© Pass 2© Pass 2ª Pass 3ª Pass 4ª Pass 5ª Pass 6ª All Pass

One Club was strong and the One Heart response showed 6+ HCP but less than three controls. After that, everything was natural, with Five Spades asking for decent trumps.

West North East South Weigkricht Way Fisher Johnson Pass Pass 1§ Pass 1ª 2§ 2© 4§ 4¨ Pass 5ª Pass 6ª All Pass

One Club was again strong but this time the response was a natural positive. The Bermudans also had a natural auction from here to the laydown slam. A pair of 980s and a flat board.

Board 3. Dealer South. EW Game ª K J 7 © A K 9 8 5 ¨ A K J 3 § 10 ª A 8 6 5 2 ª Q 10 9 4 © Q J 7 © 6 4 2 ¨ 10 8 ¨ 6 § K 5 3 § A Q 8 7 4 ª 3 © 10 3 ¨ Q 9 7 5 4 2 § J 9 6 2

West North East South Bussell Erhart Kyme Terraneo     Pass Pass 1§ Pass 1¨ Pass 1© Pass 1ª Pass 2¨ Pass 5¨ All Pass

Another strong club auction saw the Austrians bid smoothly to the top spot. One Diamond was a negative and One Spade a relay. Maria Erhart showed her hearts and diamonds and Sylvia Terraneo simply jumped to game in the known ten-card fit. There was nothing to the play and she had soon chalked up +400.

West North East South Weigkricht Way Fisher Johnson     Pass Pass 1§ Pass 1¨ 1ª 3© 3ª 4© All Pass

Another strong club auction but this time the Austrian E/W pair interfered. North's ugly jump to Three Hearts pre-empted her own auction - it is surely unnecessary to jump; if partner passes a simple Two Heart bid, how often will you have missed anything? The diamonds got lost now as Jean Johnson, reasonably enough, simply raised to Four Hearts. Doris Fischer led her singleton diamond and Margaret Way rose with dummy's queen to lead a spade. Terri Weigkricht went in with the spade ace and dealt her partner a diamond ruff and there was still a club and a heart to come. One down for -50 meant 10 IMPs to Austria. Board 5 saw Austria make a Three No Trump which failed at the other table for 10 IMPs, and then:

Board 6. Dealer East. EW Game ª A 10 6 3 © K 5 2 ¨ 7 2 § K J 4 2 ª K J 7 ª 8 5 4 2 © J 8 4 © Q 6 3 ¨ K J 10 8 6 ¨ 9 4 § A 10 § 9 8 7 5 ª Q 9 © A 10 9 7 ¨ A Q 5 3 § Q 6 3

West North East South Bussell Erhart Kyme Terraneo   Pass 1© 2¨ Dble All Pass

There was more good news for Austria when Judy Bussell made a questionable but hardly terrible overcall and had her head handed back to her on a platter when Erhart made a negative double and Terraneo converted it for penalties.

Erhart led the two of diamonds and this was covered by the four, five and six. Declarer might have done better to play dummy's nine, forcing Terraneo to win and lead to the next trick.

Having won the first trick cheaply, Bussell played ace and another club. Terraneo won the queen and switched to the queen of spade to king and ace.

Back came a spade to the nine and jack and Bussell exited with her third spade, Terraneo pitching a heart as Erhart won the ten.

Erhart led a winning club for declarer to ruff and she made the mistake of ruffing with the eight. Now came a heart to the queen and ace, the ten of hearts to jack and king, and a third heart to the nine.

At this point, Terraneo exited with a low diamond and declarer had to win in hand and play a diamond back into the tenace for three down; -800. Had she ruffed the third club with the ten, she could have won Terraneo's diamond exit with dummy's nine and led up to her hand at trick twelve for only two down.

West North East South Weigkricht Way Fisher Johnson   Pass 1¨ Pass 1ª Pass 1NT Pass 2NT Pass 3NT All Pass

Johnson's One Diamond opening kept Weigkricht out of the auction and the Bermudans had an invitational auction to the normal no trump game. Weigkricht led the ten of diamonds round to the queen and Johnson played a club to the jack then a heart to the ten and jack. Weigkricht cleared the diamonds and, when in the fullness of time she gained the lead, had three winners to cash for down one; -50 and 13 IMPs to Austria, ahead by 33-0.

Board 7. Dealer South. Game All ª 8 4 2 © A 6 5 ¨ Q 9 7 5 § J 8 2 ª 7 6 ª J 10 © J 8 © 10 7 4 3 ¨ J 10 8 2 ¨ K 6 § K 10 9 6 4 § A Q 7 5 3 ª A K Q 9 5 3 © K Q 9 2 ¨ A 4 3 § —

West North East South Bussell Erhart Kyme Terraneo     1§ Pass 1¨ Pass 1© Pass 2NT Pass 2ª Pass 5ª Pass 4ª All Pass

One Club was strong and One Diamond a negative (I don't know why it didn't qualify for a One Heart response). The auction proceeded on natural lines until Erhart leaped to Five Spades - which looks rather like a Humpty Dumpty bid (it means what I say it means), which partner is supposed to work out. Anyway, the ace of hearts, as the only suit which cannot be cuebid, looks likely, plus some bits and pieces, and Terraneo judged to go on to six.

A passive lead would have left Terraneo with a tough play problem, but Bussell hit on a low diamond. Terraneo called for a low card from dummy and the 2-2 trump break meant that she had no further worries; +1430.

West North East South Weigkricht Way Fisher Johnson     1§ Pass 1¨ Pass 1© Pass 1NT Pass 2ª Pass 3ª Pass 4ª All Pass

Way started with a negative, showed some values by rebidding One No Trump over the One Heart relay, then raised spades. Johnson certainly might have made a try for slam at this point, but decided to go quietly. There is no guarantee that they would have got there anyway; +680 and 13 IMPs to Austria.

Board 8. Dealer West. Love All ª Q 9 7 © 5 3 ¨ K 9 8 5 3 § 6 5 3 ª 8 5 4 ª K J 10 2 © K Q 10 9 8 © A J 6 ¨ A J 10 7 ¨ Q § K § A Q J 10 7 ª A 6 3 © 7 4 2 ¨ 6 4 2 § 9 8 4 2

West North East South Bussell Erhart Kyme Terraneo 1© Pass 2§ Pass 2¨ Pass 2NT Pass 3NT Pass 4§ Pass 4© Pass 5§ Pass 5NT Pass 6© All Pass

Having sat and watched their opponents bid two slams already, finally it was East/West's turn.

The Two Club response was game-forcing, enabling Stephanie Kyme to make a space-saving Two No Trump rebid.

She continued with Gerber and more Gerber, finding her partner with one ace and two odd kings. Bussell won the trump lead and drew a second round.

When they divided 3-2, she unblocked the king of clubs, crossed to dummy while drawing the last trump, and cashed the clubs, pitching all her spades. She just had to lose a diamond; +980.

West North East South Weigkricht Way Fisher Johnson 1© Pass 1ª Pass 2¨ Pass 3§ Pass 3© Pass 3NT All Pass

The Austrians didn't even look at the slam; +490 but 10 IMPs to Bermuda, on the board at last.

Board 11. Dealer South. Love All ª K 6 5 © — ¨ 10 9 7 4 3 § A Q J 10 5 ª 10 9 8 ª 4 3 2 © 10 9 6 © 8 7 4 3 2 ¨ K Q 8 6 ¨ J 5 § 8 7 2 § K 9 6 ª A Q J 7 © A K Q J 5 ¨ A 2 § 4 3

West North East South Bussell Erhart Kyme Terraneo 1§ Pass 1ª Pass 2© Pass 3§ Pass 3ª Pass 4§ Pass 4¨ Pass 4ª Pass 6§ All Pass

One Club was strong and one spade showed three controls. After three natural bids, Erhart found herself wanting to do more than simply raise to Four Spades but with no convenient way of doing so. She repeated the club suit, which drew a cuebid from Terraneo. Now Erhart completed her plan by showing the spade support, but Terraneo expected more clubs and jumped to the mediocre club slam.

Six Clubs would have been OK had the auction not strongly indicated a diamond lead. Bussell led the diamond king and Terraneo won and took an immediate club finesse. When that failed she was down one; -50.

That gave Bermuda a chance for another big pick-up but they did not take their opportunity.

West North East South Weigkricht Way Fisher Johnson     1§ Pass 2NT Pass 3§ Pass 6§ Pass 6NT Pass 7§ All Pass

One Club was strong and I would love to tell you the meaning of the Two No Trump response. Maybe I will find someone to ask before we go to press (but see Board 13). It looks as if South thought she was making an enquiry bid when she said Three Clubs. Anyway, Seven Clubs was one too many. The chosen lead was a club so the contract was only one down for a flat board.

Board 12. Dealer West. NS Game ª 7 3 2 © 9 ¨ A Q 8 7 6 3 2 § 9 8 ª K Q J 10 8 5 ª 6 4 © A Q 3 2 © K J 5 4 ¨ 5 ¨ K 10 9 4 § Q 3 § A 10 2 ª A 9 © 10 8 7 6 ¨ J § K J 7 6 5 4

West North East South Bussell Erhart Kyme Terraneo 1ª 3¨ Dble All Pass

East alerted her double as negative but West passed without alerting, clearly taking it to be for penalty. Erhart won the spade lead and returned a spade, forcing West to switch to a trump to prevent a ruff in dummy. The diamond switch ran to the king and Kyme switched to a low heart. Bussell won the ace and played a spade through, ruffed and over-ruffed. Kyme tried to cash a heart now but Erhart ruffed and drew trumps. She had the club guess now and got it wrong, so was three down for -800.

The director was called, of course, but it seemed that the play was not affected apart, perhaps, from the club guess and that declarer had not been damaged, so the result was unchanged.

West North East South Weigkricht Way Fisher Johnson 1© 3¨ Pass Pass 3ª Pass 4© All Pass

Weigkricht opened One Heart in the Austrian canapé style. Fischer had a penalty on her mind despite the four-card heart support, so passed in the hope of hearing a reopening double. It was not to be. Weigkricht's spade suit was just too good to ignore. Fischer corrected to Four Hearts, ending the auction. After the lead of the ace of diamonds, Weigkricht just lost a trick in each side-suit; +420 but 9 IMPs to Bermuda.

Board 13. Dealer North. Game All ª A 8 2 © A ¨ K 6 5 4 2 § A K Q 9 ª K 9 7 5 ª Q 10 6 3 © J 10 8 4 3 2 © 6 5 ¨ 10 9 ¨ J 8 3 § 7 § 10 8 5 2 ª J 4 © K Q 9 7 ¨ A Q 7 § J 6 4 3

West North East South Bussell Erhart Kyme Terraneo 1§ Pass 1ª Pass 2¨ Pass 2© Pass 3§ Pass 3¨ Pass 3ª Pass 4¨ Pass 6¨ All Pass

In case you haven't got the hang of the Austrian methods yet, One Club was strong and One spade showed three controls. Everything seemed to be going smoothly after that until Erhart suddenly jumped to Six Diamonds when she had no need to do so. 13 tricks were easy in any of three denominations.

West North East South Weigkricht Way Fisher Johnson 1§ Pass 2NT Pass 3¨ Pass 4¨ Pass 6¨ All Pass

This time the Two No Trump response to the strong club looks to have the standard Precision meaning of 11-13 balanced, although that may be just coincidental. Way/Johnson found the diamond fit and once again North jumped precipitately to the small slam when a slower route might have found the grand. Another chance missed by the host nation.

Board 19. Dealer South. EW Game ª Q J 10 5 2 © J ¨ 10 7 4 § A J 6 3 ª 6 ª A K 3 © A K Q 10 © 9 8 6 5 3 2 ¨ A K 3 2 ¨ J 8 § K Q 5 4 § 8 7 ª 9 8 7 4 © 7 4 ¨ Q 9 6 5 § 10 9 2

West North East South Bussell Erhart Kyme Terraneo     Pass 2§ 2ª 3© 3ª 4NT Pass 5¨ Pass 6© All Pass

Two Clubs was strong and artificial and once East had shown values and a heart suit Bussell had no more practical approach than to ask for aces. On finding one she settled for the small slam. Had East held one less spade the slam might not have been quite solid, but it would always have play and she was more likely to have the club ace than the actual spade ace, which would have made the slam cold had she been, say, 2-6-3-2.

West North East South Weigkricht Way Fisher Johnson Pass 1§ 1ª 1NT 2ª Pass Pass 3© Pass 4NT Pass 5§ Pass 6© All Pass

Weigkricht opened a strong club and Fischer showed three controls over the spade overcall. When she next bid her heart suit, Weigkricht also checked on aces before bidding the small slam.

Both declarers made the obvious 12 tricks for a push at +1430.

Austria won a lively set by 86-20 IMPs, converting to 25-2 VPs.