Vivendi Rosenblum Cup I |
Reporting on the early stages of the Vivendi Rosenblum Cup is not straightforward. The boards are dealt at the table and this often involves a mad scramble at the end of a match to get the relevant details before the next round starts. With no draw to guide us we made an on the spot decision to follow the fortunes of one of the favourites, the powerful Nickell team from the USA. A useful squad from Hungary opposed them. The Americans made a good start.
As you can see, there was nothing to the play in Three Hearts and declarer was quickly one down, -100. For our money West's biding was certainly on the timid side.
Bob Hamman is not the shy retiring type when it comes to bidding and he got his side to the cold game. Declarer won the opening heart lead, drew trumps and cashed his clubs. 11 tricks meant +450 and 8 IMPs.
West led the eight of clubs and East won with the jack and tried another top club. Declarer ruffed and simply played the three rounds of trumps, claiming eleven tricks.
The same denomination, but two levels higher. Guided by the lead directing double West led the §8 and East won with the jack. He switched to the ª3 taken by declarer's ace. The technical play now is to cross to dummy with a top diamond and take a heart finesse in case East has ©Qxxx. However declarer cashed one top heart and then went to dummy for a losing trump finesse. Now he lost two spade tricks to finish three down. That meant 12 more IMPs to Nickell.
Whoops! Nickell must have been delighted by this turn of events and he led the §Q. Freeman overtook it with the ace and played another club. Now declarer could make only four tricks, -250.
Of course, Four Hearts would have failed by a trick, but it was pretty clear for Hamman to bid on. He had to go one down, but his side still picked up 5 IMPs.
In the other room the USA had lost 100 in a heart contract but the suit was never mentioned in the replay. Your reporter is prepared to admit that he would have doubled 4ª but although Nickell considered the matter briefly he was happy enough to see the opponents playing in his best suit. Declarer got the heart suit wrong so he finished three down, -300 and another five to Nickell.
Hamman won the opening diamond lead with the ten and returned the suit, dummy's king winning the trick as South discarded the ©5. North took the next diamond and cleared the suit, South parting with a second heart and the ªQ as dummy let go a spade. The hearts were easy for declarer to negotiate and Hamman had made seven tricks in the red suits.
Nickell's 2¨ bid over East's weak no-trump promised the majors and Dick freeman took a slightly sporting shot at game. East might well have led a trump but settled on the §2. Declarer won and played a heart. West went in with the ace and switched to the ten of spades. East was allowed to win with the king of spades and he returned a second trump. Freeman went up with the queen and ruffed a heart. A winning club finesse was followed by another heart ruff, a club to the ace and a heart. The defenders were able to win that trick so they made two heart tricks and two trump tricks for one down and a flat board. It looks as if Freeman could have made his doubled game by rising with the ace of spades when West switched to the ª10. He then cross ruffs diamonds and hearts, on route taking a club finesse and cashing the other top club, to arrive at this position with the lead in dummy.
Declarer has made nine of the ten tricks played so far and now ruffs a heart with the ª9 to ensure a tenth. Nickell won by 30-5 IMPs which converted to 22-8VP. |
Results | Contents |
Rosenblum Cup McConnell Cup Junior Teams J1, J2, J3, J4, J5 Continuous Pairs |
Vivendi Rosenblum I Fortune favours the brave Top for Helgemo Vivendi Rosenblum II |
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