The winning edge

It's usually good strategy to be aggressive at matchpoints. A better strategy is to combine aggression with skill at card play. The ultimate, of course, is to be aggressive, skillful and …..lucky.

Becky Rogers and Jeff Meckstroth, winners of the Mixed Pairs, didn't have much to work with in the second final session, in which they scored only about 54% to lie second, nearly two percentage points out of first.

The Americans -- Rogers lives in Las Vegas, Meckstroth in Tampa FL -- mounted a charge in the third final session, scoring just a whisker less than 70% to overtake France's Babette Hugon and Jean Jacques Palau, who earned the silver medal, just ahead of Sabine and Jens Auken, who also had a huge game in the third final session.

On this deal, Rogers showed the skillful part of the winning formula against one of the best mixed pairs from the U.S., Lisa and David Berkowitz.

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

West	North	East	South
David	Meckstroth	Lisa	Rogers
		Pass	1NT
Pass	Pass	Pass

David Berkowitz led the ©J, ducked all around. He continued with the ©10, on which Lisa discarded the encouraging §7. Rogers won the ©A and played the ªQ, ducked by David. He also ducked when Rogers played the ªK. She then played a heart from hand, taken by David with the king, followed by a low club to Lisa's ace.

Lisa returned the ¨J, which went around to dummy's ace. Rogers followed with the ªJ to David's ace, and he got out of his hand with a heart to dummy's queen. This was the position as Rogers cashed the ª10:

	ª 10 © --- ¨ 4 § 10 5
ª --- © --- ¨ K 6 § Q 8		ª 9 © --- ¨ 10 § 7 4
	ª --- © --- ¨ Q 8 § K J

Rogers pitched her low diamond and David threw his low club. Rogers, reading the layout accurately, played a club to the king, dropping David's queen for plus 120 and an excellent score. Note that if he had stiffed his ¨K instead of the §Q, Rogers could have played a diamond, forcing David to lead from his §Q at the end for the same result. Plus 120 was worth 155 out of 180 matchpoints.

The following deal illustrates how close to the edge one must stroll to come home with loads of matchpoints.

Board 18. Dealer East. N/S Vul.
	ª Q 10 5 © J 2 ¨ A 10 8 7 6 § 7 3 2
ª 9 6 2 © A 9 6 5 ¨ 4 2 § A 6 5 4		ª A J 8 7 © K Q 7 3 ¨ Q J 5 § 10 8
	ª K 4 3 © 10 8 4 ¨ K 9 3 § K Q J 9

West	North	East	South
	Meckstroth		Rogers
		1¨ (1)	Dble
1©	1NT	2© (2)	Pass
Pass	2ª	Pass	2NT
All Pass

(1) Precision.
(2) Four-card support.

Rogers' vulnerable takeout double on a 4-3-3-3 hand with 11 high-card points might be a bit much for some players, but it had the virtue of most likely making Meckstroth declarer. After West's 1© bid, Meckstroth had no qualms about bidding 1NT on his doubleton ©J, and he was right there with 2ª on his three-card suit when 2© came back to him.

Rogers, of course, knew Meckstroth could not have more than three spades, and she thought better of letting even a superb declarer such as Meckstroth play a 3-3 fit.

Obviously, had the opponents just stopped to double, they would have earned most of the matchpoints. That is not clear, of course. As it was, it was North-South who made off like bandits.

The defenders cashed the first four heart tricks, as Meckstroth pitched a spade from dummy and two clubs from hand. East then made the serious error of cashing the ªA, followed by another spade. All Meckstroth had to do from there was knock out the §A for his seventh trick. Since East-West have an easy plus 140 in 2©, minus 100 was another 155 MPs for the winners.

On this deal, more aggressive bidding paid off with a big number for the winners.

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

West	North	East	South
			2©
Pass	Pass	Dble	Pass
2NT (1)	Pass	3§	Pass
Pass	Dble	3¨	Pass
Pass	Dble	All Pass

Lebensohl: relay to 3§ to indicate a weak hand.

Rogers was going to take eight or nine tricks in 2© - and East-West should have let well enough alone. It's annoying, however, to feel as though someone is stealing from you, which East may have believed in making her own aggressive move with a takeout double on that moth-eaten collection of cards. The layout didn't have to be that bad for East-West, although East must surely have known it was possible.

Meckstroth was happy to apply the ax and the result was plus 500 on a board where plus 110 or 140 was their maximum. That score earned the winners 152 matchpoints.