The Mixed Pairs Plate

The pairs who were unlucky enough not to qualify for the final are playing a different set of boards, and while the main interest naturally centers on the race for the World title there have been several interesting deals.

A more than decent grand slam was defeated by bad breaks - or was it?

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

Alan & Dorothy Truscott were one of the pairs who bid to 7ª - well done indeed, but when West led a heart declarer naturally won and cashed the ace of spades intending to ruff two hearts in the dummy.

Another declarer, missing that line, cashed the king of spades at trick two. When the bad break came to light a diamond to the ace was followed by a diamond ruff, a spade to the ten and the queen of diamonds. East's king was a happy sight, but West's queen of spades appeared on the same trick and the contract was down. If declarer takes the ruffing finesse at trick four and then relies on the club finesse the grand slam will be home - but we doubt anyone would play that way?

Dealer East. E/W Vul
	ª 9 6 © A Q J 10 9 ¨ - § Q J 9 8 7 2
ª A J 7 4 3 © K 6 2 ¨ A 6 5 2 § K		ª 10 5 2 © 8 5 ¨ 9 8 7 4 § A 6 4 3
	ª K Q 8 © 7 4 3 ¨ K Q J 10 3 § 10 5

This deal contained an instructive defensive point, missed by almost the entire field.

A fairly common auction went like this:

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1¨
1ª	2§	Pass	2¨
Pass	2©	2ª	Pass
Pass	3©	Pass	4©
All Pass

East leads a spade and West is in with the ace. Is it really so difficult to play the king of clubs? Or a spade? Or the ace of diamonds? Those East's who played a trump were soon conceding -620.

This deal was a similar story, where the vast majority let a game through:

Board 19. Dealer South. E/W Vul.
	ª Q J © Q 10 5 ¨ 3 § K J 10 8 6 3 2
ª 7 3 © A K J 4 ¨ K Q J 8 2 § A 5		ª 9 4 © 9 8 7 6 3 ¨ 10 9 7 § Q 9 7
	ª A K 10 8 6 5 2 © 2 ¨ A 6 5 4 § 4

West	North	East	South
			4ª
Dble	All Pass

West can get away with leading a top heart followed by a trump, but for my money the trump lead stands out a mile.

We'll finish with an amusing story that featured a special piece of play by declarer:

DealerNorth. E/W Vul.
	ª 8 7 © 8 6 4 ¨ A K Q 8 2 § 10 8 7
ª A K 10 2 © A J 9 ¨ 10 3 § K Q 9 2		ª Q 4 3 © K Q 7 5 ¨ 7 6 5 4 § A J
	ª J 9 6 5 © 10 3 2 ¨ J 9 § 6 5 4 3

West	North	East	South
Marcoux		Marcoux
	Pass	Pass!	1¨!!
Dble	3¨	Dbl	Pass
4ª	All Pass

North naturally started with three top diamonds, South discarding a club, and West was forced to ruff. Declarer, Canada's Bernard Marcoux, a former Bols winner, knew that South had psyched, and he carefully cashed three clubs and three hearts, ending in dummy before playing the last heart. South, with nothing but trumps was forced to ruff, so declarer scored the ten of spades, ruffed a club with the queen of spades and took the last two tricks with the top spades for a rather good score.