One of those Days

It was not a happy day Sunday for Orbis Bermuda Bowl teams from the South Pacific. Between them in six round-robin matches, Australia and New Zealand managed one victory and a total of 60 Victory Points.

In the vugraph match Sunday morning, Australia was clobbered by Indonesia, 60-11. In the next round, they lost to Guadaloupe, 72-41, before recovering in Round 6 against Canada, 56-41.

New Zealand was defeated by Italy, 56-38, by Brazil in the early afternoon vugraph match, 50-24, and by Poland in Round 6, 61-24.

New Zealand's match against Brazil is the featured match from the second day of competition.

Brazil started off with a bang, stealing the board with ease.

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

West North East South Mello Newell Janz Reid 2© 3¨ Pass 3NT All Pass

Peter Newell's weak 2© bid propelled Roberto Mello and Ricardo Janz into the notrump game, which might have been defeated had Newell led his suit (Mello would have to be careful not to duck the second round of hearts, lest Martin Reid discard his §K on the third round of hearts, creating an entry in North's hand). In any event, Newell led the ª5, and Mello made it home with nine tricks by working on clubs right away to score plus 400.

At the other table:

West North East South Jacob Chagas Mace Branco Pass Pass 1ª Pass 3ª All Pass

Gabriel Chagas' decision to pass the North hand worked out well, since he was able to preemptively raise Marcelo Branco's opening 1ª bid and blow Tom Jacob and Brian Mace right out of the auction.

Branco went down one for minus 50, but it was an 8-IMP pickup for Brazil to start the match.

Brazil was up 14-0 after three boards, and they increased the margin to 27 when New Zealand bid to a hopeless slam on this deal.

 

 

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

West North East South Mello Newell Janz Reid Pass 2§(1) Pass 2¨ Pass 3© Pass 4§ Pass 4© Pass 4ª Pass 5§ Pass 6§ All Pass

(1) Limited hand with 4+ clubs and a five-card major.

This is one case in which the 4-4 fit is not advantageous. With a correct guess in the trump suit, 6© is makeable. 6§ has two inevitable losers. In practice, Newell went down two for minus 200. At the other table, Chagas and Branco stopped in 4©, making five for plus 650 and a 13-IMP swing.

The most interesting deal of the match involved a 10-IMP loss for New Zealand.

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

West North East South Mello Newell Janz Reid 1ª Pass 1NT Pass 2© Pass 3© Pass 4© All Pass

Newell led a club, taken by Mello in dummy. When Mello played a spade from dummy, Reid hopped up with the ace and returned a trump. Mello was then able to ruff out the ªK and take 10 tricks, losing only a spade, a diamond and a club. At the other table:

West North East South Jacob Chagas Mace Branco     Pass 1¨(1) Pass 1NT Pass 2©(2) Pass 2NT(3) Pass 3© All Pass

(1) Showing spades.
(2) Five or more hearts.
(3) Invitational in hearts.

Chagas led a low diamond to Branco's 10, and Branco switched to a heart, taken in dummy with the 9. Rather than lead a spade as Mello had done, Jacob ruffed a diamond at trick three, a move which drew comments from the vugraph panel as to the wisdom of this line of play. Indeed, as play progressed it appeared that Jacob was on his way to down one.

After ruffing the diamond, Jacob played the ªQ to Branco's ace, and another trump came back, taken in the West hand. Now came a spade ruff, diamond ruff and a spade ruff. At trick nine, Jacob played a diamond from dummy and discarded a spade when Branco followed with the ¨A. Branco returned a low club to the king and ace, and this was the position:

ª K © — ¨ — § 10 9 ª J ª — © K © — ¨ — ¨ Q § 8 § J 7 ª — © 10 ¨ — § Q 6

Jacob played the good ¨Q, ruffed by Branco and overruffed by Jacob.

At this point, Chagas could not find a good discard. When he let go the §9, Jacob could then play the §8, covered by the 10, jack and queen.

Branco's last card was the §6, which he had to play to dummy's good 7 in dummy.

The interesting aspect of the play was small consolation, considering that New Zealand lost another 10 IMPs.

New Zealand scored 7 IMPs when Jacob and Mace bid a game not reached at the other table, and they racked up another 12 on this deal, which featured accurate defense by Jacob and Mace and a curious play by Mello.

 

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

West North East South Mello Newell Janz Reid   2¨(1) Pass 2©(2) Dble 2ª 3§ Pass 3NT All Pass

(1) Multi.
(2) Pass or correct.

East led the ¨4, taken in the closed hand. Newell played the ©Q and ©J, both ducked by West. Newell then played the ¨8 from his hand. Janz won the ¨10 and put the §7 on the table. It appeared that Janz wanted to get his partner in to cash the ©A but did not want to block the club suit in the event Mello had a doubleton §Q. Anyway, Newell put up dummy's §J, and Mello played low! Newell quickly claimed for plus 630. At the other table:

West North East South Jacob Chagas Mace Branco   2ª Pass 3ª 3NT All Pass

Mace led the ª3 to the 8, jack and king. Chagas played the ©J, and Mace had to make the first of four discards on the heart suit. Jacob won the first round of hearts and returned his ª4, clearing the suit. Chagas then played three rounds of hearts, on which Mace tossed a club and two spades. Chagas' only hope then was that diamonds were breaking. When they did not, he went down one for a 12-IMP swing to New Zealand.

That was about it for New Zealand. The second half of the match featured only small swings, along with five push boards.