| Norway v France |
Orbis Bermuda Bowl
- Round 6 |
By all accounts this was a match
that had the VuGraph audience getting really involved, with plenty of
cheering, especially by the Norwegian supporters. There was some excellent
repartee between the commentators and the spectators, and a couple of
well played hands.
This deal might well be called, 'What
a difference a nine makes'.
| Board
13. Dealer North. NS Game |
|
ª |
A Q J 9 3 |
|
| © |
K J 6 |
| ¨ |
J 6 |
| § |
K 10 5 |
| ª |
8 7 6 5 |
|
ª |
4 |
| © |
A 8 2 |
© |
9 5 3 |
| ¨ |
Q 8 7 2 |
¨ |
K 10 5 3 |
| § |
9 7 |
§ |
A J 6 3 2 |
|
ª |
K 10 2 |
|
| © |
Q 10 7 4 |
| ¨ |
A 9 4 |
| § |
Q 8 4 |
|
Closed Room
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| StMarie |
Saelensminde |
Bompis |
Brogeland |
|
It is a matter of style whether you
open a strong no-trump with a good five card major. A diamond lead would
defeat 3NT, but declarer's luck was in, as East had no reason to do
anything other than lead a club. Declarer ended up with eleven tricks,
+660.
Open Room
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Furunes |
Multon |
Helness |
Mari |
|
|
1ª |
Pass |
2§ |
|
Pass
|
2ª |
Pass |
3ª |
|
Pass
|
4ª |
All Pass |
|
|
Just looking at the North-South cards,
Four Spades looks easy. Declarer has five spades, three hearts, one
diamond and one club. However, when East led a diamond, removing a vital
entry, the 4-1 spade break meant declarer was under pressure.
Multon ducked the opening lead to
East's queen, and took the diamond continuation with the ace. He played
a heart to the king, both East and West signaling honestly. Now came
the jack of spades and a spade to the ten, East discarding a club. The
bad trump break meant that declarer could not finish drawing trumps,
and he played a heart to the jack, West again with holding his ace.
The general consensus at this point
was that declarer would go down, but Multon was not finished. He played
the king of clubs. A smooth duck from East would have been the best
defence, but we are pretty sure that Multon would not have gone wrong
- well at least Jean-Paul Meyer is sure!
East won and returned a club at once,
but declarer simply played low and claimed when West could not produce
the jack.
If you transfer the nine of clubs
to the East hand, then the contract cannot be made!
This hand is a perfect illustration
of the eternal fascination of bridge. You make a brilliant play, and
hold your loss to one IMP!
| Board
15. Dealer South. NS Game |
|
ª |
8 |
|
| © |
A K Q J 4 |
| ¨ |
7 6 |
| § |
10 7 5 4 2 |
| ª |
Q 10 9 4 |
|
ª |
K 7 5 3 2 |
| © |
6 3 |
© |
10 9 |
| ¨ |
J 8 2 |
¨ |
A K Q 10 |
| § |
A K J 3 |
§ |
9 6 |
|
ª |
A J 6 |
|
| © |
8 7 5 2 |
| ¨ |
9 5 4 3 |
| § |
Q 8 |
|
Closed Room
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| StMarie |
Saelensminde |
Bompis |
Brogeland |
|
|
|
|
Pass |
|
Pass
|
1© |
1ª |
2© |
|
3©
|
Pass |
4ª |
All Pass |
|
South led the five of hearts, and North
cashed two winners in the suit before switching to a diamond. Declarer
had no real reason to divine the spade position, and in the fullness
of time he went one down.
Open Room
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Furunes |
Multon |
Helness |
Mari |
|
|
|
|
Pass |
|
1§
|
1© |
1ª |
2© |
|
2ª
|
3© |
4ª |
All Pass |
|
This time South led the eight of hearts,
and played developed along similar lines. North took the king and ace
of hearts and switched to the seven of diamonds. Helness let that run
to dummy's jack and played a spade, hoping as at the other table to
see a singleton ace appear. No luck and the king lost to the ace. South
returned a diamond, and declarer won and played a spade. This was the
critical moment. Reflecting on the bidding, what could North have for
his vulnerable bid at the three-level?
It had to be some decent distribution.
After considerable thought, long enough for one spectator to point out
that he was 2-1 on to make the contract on the basis that playing either
the nine or ten of spades would win, whilst the queen would lose, Helness
earned a round of applause, and 10 IMPs.
