Session two of the Louis Vuitton Women's Pairs final saw a strong performance from the South African pairing of Val Bloom and Maureen Holroyd, leaving them in the lead overnight. As it happened, by the time we caught up with them for the last couple of rounds, they had lost a little momentum and had two below average rounds to complete the session.

Board 21. Dealer North. NS Game ª Q 5 © K 10 6 4 2 ¨ A J 4 § 9 6 4 ª A J 10 7 ª 9 8 6 4 2 © J 3 © 9 8 ¨ 10 5 3 ¨ Q 8 6 2 § A J 7 5 § 10 8 ª K 3 © A Q 7 5 ¨ K 9 7 § K Q 3 2 West North East South Quinn Bloom Meyers Holroyd Pass Pass 1§ 1ª 2© 3ª 4© All Pass

The normal contract was reached and Jill Meyers led a spade. Shawn Quinn won her ace and returned a spade. Val Bloom won the spade return, cashed the ace and king of trumps then played a club to the king, which held the trick. She cashed the ¨K and played a diamond to the jack and queen, and back came the §10. That meant two club losers and one down for a mere 2 MPs for the South Africans. The key to making 4© is to force the defence to open up the diamonds. Suppose that declarer plays a club to the king before touching trumps. If that is ducked, as is quite likely, she now draws trumps and plays a second club up, ducking. Whoever wins this trick must either establish a club for a diamond discard or open up the diamonds to declarer's advantage. And if West wins the first club and exits with a trump, ducking a club after drawing trumps is again good enough.

It looks as though West has to win the first club and return a low club to East's ten, a tough play to find. Now there is no obvious way home.

Board 22. Dealer East. EW Game ª A 9 © 7 5 4 ¨ Q 6 5 § K Q 6 4 2 ª 5 4 ª Q J 10 8 6 © A J 6 2 © K 10 ¨ A J 8 7 ¨ 10 3 2 § A 10 8 § J 5 3 ª K 7 3 2 © Q 9 8 3 ¨ K 9 4 § 9 7

Meyers/Quinn bid: Pass - 1NT - 2© - 2ª - 2NT.

Bloom led a low club, normally enough, and this ran to declarer's ten. Quinn played a spade at trick two and Holroyd won this to return a club. Quinn won her ace and played a second spade. Bloom won and cashed the clubs but Quinn had the rest; +120 and 18 MPs for the Americans.

Declarer can be restricted to one spade trick if the first round of the suit is ducked by the defence. Now the winning line is for declarer to play on diamonds in a winning fashion, which may not be the obvious line. If she does not get the position right, playing for example a second spade and hoping to find North with the ©Q so that the finesse provides a second dummy entry, she will go down.

Board 23. Dealer South. Game All ª 10 7 6 5 4 © 2 ¨ J 8 5 3 § J 9 2 ª Q 8 3 ª 9 2 © Q 10 8 5 © A 9 4 3 ¨ Q 7 ¨ K 10 2 § A K 8 6 § Q 10 4 3 ª A K J © K J 7 6 ¨ A 9 6 4 § 7 5

Holroyd opened 1¨ as dealer and Bloom made a preemptive raise to 3¨ over Quinn's takeout double. Jill Meyers competed with 3© now and there the matter rested. Holroyd cashed the two top spades then switched to ace of diamonds followed by a club. Meyers won the club in hand and thought for a good while about how to play the trumps. Eventually she played ace and low to the queen, so was down one; 32 MPs to the South Africans.

Board 24. Dealer West. Love All ª Q 10 5 2 © Q J 8 6 4 ¨ K 10 § K 8 ª K 8 7 6 3 ª A J © 9 © A 5 3 ¨ J 8 6 ¨ A Q 9 4 § A 10 7 2 § J 6 5 3 ª 9 4 © K 10 7 2 ¨ 7 5 3 2 § Q 9 4 West North East South Quinn Bloom Meyers Holroyd Pass Pass 1NT Pass 2© Dble Pass Pass 3§ Pass 3ª All Pass

Meyers' pass of the double of the transfer denied three spades so her later preference to 3ª showed precisely a doubleton. The lead was a heart in response to the double of 2©. Meyers won the ace and played the jack of clubs to the queen and ace. Next she finessed the ªJ, cashed the ªA and led a second club towards the ten. When South played low without a flicker, Meyers ducked the club to the bare king. She ruffed the heart return, cashed the ªK and played out the clubs. Bloom could ruff and force dummy with another heart but the diamond position meant that declarer could take the rest; 11 tricks. Plus 200 was worth 32 MPs to Meyers/Quinn, cancelling out the previous board.

Board 25. Dealer North. EW Game ª A 9 7 2 © 9 8 3 ¨ A K 10 8 6 § 7 ª K Q J 10 3 ª 6 5 © 10 2 © A K 4 ¨ 9 5 3 ¨ Q J 7 § 9 8 6 § Q 10 5 3 2 ª 8 4 © Q J 7 6 5 ¨ 4 2 § A K J 4 West North East South Bloom Truscott Holroyd Sanders

Bloom led the king of spades to dummy's ace. Carol Sanders led the club at trick two, finessing the jack, then cashed the ace and king of clubs, throwing spades from the dummy. On the lead of the fourth club, Holroyd ruffed in with the ten and dummy disposed of its last spade. Best is for the defence to play three rounds of trumps now, preventing the spade ruff in dummy and holding the contract to nine tricks. In practice, Holroyd led a spade and now dummy could ruff and there were just two trumps to lose; +170 and 23 MPs to Truscott/Sanders.

Board 26. Dealer East. Game All ª 5 3 © Q J 10 6 2 ¨ J 10 8 5 § 5 3 ª A Q J 10 ª K 9 8 © 9 4 3 © A K 8 7 ¨ 7 3 ¨ A K Q 9 2 § K Q 7 4 § 9 ª 7 6 4 2 © 5 ¨ 6 4 § A J 10 8 6 2

The South Africans bid this one: 1¨ - 1ª - 2© - 3§ - 3ª - 3NT - 4NT.

There was an inference that West was strong because she used fourth suit forcing when clearly able to bid no trump over 2©, hence Holroyd's invitational raise to 4NT. Truscott led the ©Q to dummy's ace and Bloom led dummy's club at trick two. Surprisingly, Sanders went in with the ace and continued with a club. Now Bloom could test the diamonds and, when they did not divide, cash her black winners to squeeze North in the red suits; 12 tricks for +690 and 21 MPs.

Three pairs bid and made 6NT and three more brought home 6ª on the 4-3 fit. Only one of the pairs who bid a slam went down.

Board 27. Dealer South. Love All ª Q 10 7 © K Q 10 6 ¨ J 10 7 § 10 7 3 ª K 5 4 3 ª A 9 2 © A J 5 3 © 9 4 2 ¨ - ¨ A Q 9 6 5 § 8 6 5 4 2 § J 9 ª J 8 6 © 8 7 ¨ K 8 4 3 2 § A K Q

Sanders opened the South hand with 1¨ and rebid 1NT over the 1© response. She played there on the lead of a spade to the ace. A second spade was ducked to dummy's queen and the jack of diamonds led. Holroyd rose with the ¨A and played her last spade, allowing Bloom to win and cash the 13th spade. Bloom switched to a club now and Sanders won and played a low diamond to the ten and queen. She won the club return, played a heart to dummy, and finessed the ¨8. Finally Sanders cashed the ¨K and remaining top club then led a heart and Bloom had the last trick with the ©A; +90 and 21 MPs to the Americans.

Board 28. Dealer West. NS Game ª A 6 5 4 © Q 10 9 ¨ A 10 4 2 § K J ª K 10 2 ª J 9 8 7 © 6 © J 7 5 4 3 ¨ 6 5 ¨ Q 9 § A 10 8 7 6 4 3 § Q 2 ª Q 3 © A K 8 2 ¨ K J 8 7 3 § 9 5

3NT is the place to be for North/South but it was not possible to get there after Bloom had opened 3§ and Holroyd raised to 4§ over Truscott's double. Sanders bid 4© and played there.

The lead was the ace of clubs. Perhaps taking Holroyd's §2 as suit preference, Bloom switched to a diamond at trick two. Sanders won in hand and played a heart to the queen then the ©10 to her ace. Next she cashed the §K and started on the diamonds. Holroyd ruffed the third diamond and exited with the ©J, an error. Sanders could now win and draw the last trump with her eight, before cashing the remaining diamonds for ten tricks; +620 and 27 MPs.

If Holroyd switches to a spade after ruffing the diamond, what is declarer to do? The heart suit is blocked so that she can take the finesse against the jack but cannot then get back to hand to cash her king. The ©J must score a trick and now declarer is down one. True, if declarer has ªQ10, a winning guess will allow her to win the ªA, run the ©10 and cross to the ªQ to draw the last trump and make an overtrick, but even if declarer has this holding she may well go wrong on the spade switch. The defence of partner ducking the ª10 on this layout also saves the overtrick, but is perhaps a little fanciful.

At another table, the top Dutch pairing of Carla Arnolds and Bep Vriend faced Judi Radin and Hjordis Eythorsdottir of the United States. Radin also opened 3§ but Arnolds did not double. Eythorsdottir also passed and it was left to Vriend to balance with 3¨. Arnolds converted to 3NT, ending the auction.

The lead was the queen of clubs, ducked to declarer's king. Arnolds proceeded to get the diamonds right then cashed the ©A, crossed to the ©Q and ran the ©10. Now she cahsed all her red winners and Radin was squeezed down to the bare ace of clubs to keep her spade guard. Arnolds exited with a club and a spade away from the king gave the 12th trick and a complete top for Arnolds/Vriend.