Interesting Splinter

A splinter bid shows a shortage, right? Well, yes, but maybe a little bit of poetic licence is allowed sometimes. Gunnar Hallberg, formerly of Sweden, and Lionel Wright, formerly of New Zealand, have both been living in England for several years and are representing that country here in Montreal. They both showed a little imagination on this deal from the final set of their Round of 64 match in the Power Rosenblum to earn a crucial swing.

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

West	North	East	South
Wright		Hallberg
		Pass	Pass
2§	Pass	2ª	Pass
4§	Pass	4¨	Pass
6ª	All Pass

Two Clubs was strong and artificial, with the weakest possibility being a 20-21 HCP balanced hand. The 2ª response was to play facing 20-21 balanced. Now Wright, with such wonderful spade support and controls, wanted to invite slam and, as he was looking for a diamond control as much as anything, 4§ seemed to be the most convenient way forward. Of course, that was supposed to be a splinter bid, promising shortage but….

Hallberg decided that, within the context of a hand that wanted to play only 2ª facing 20-21 balanced, he could have been worse, so cuebid the ¨Q. Expecting to be facing the ¨K, Wright leapt to slam, ending the auction. East's §10 made the contract pretty good once a diamond lead had been avoided and, in fact, played this way up there was no lead to threaten it.

Plus 980 on this deal earned the MONACHAN team 11 IMPs, and was crucial as their winning margin over the Dutch ABRAM team was only 5 IMPs.

Playing tough

Brad Moss's team barely failed to qualify in the Power Rosenblum, but in the second half of their final match against the tought Olanski team from Poland, Moss helped his squad to a game swing with expert play on this deal (hands rotated).

	ª 8 6 3 © 8 5 4 ¨ Q 10 8 6 2 § Q 5
ª 10 9 2 © A J 9 6 ¨ K 9 7 4 3 § 10 2		ª J 7 4 © Q 10 7 3 ¨ J 4 § J 9 8 6
	ª A K Q 5 © K 2 ¨ A 5 § A K 7 4 3

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

Moss's 2© was a relay to show his extra strength, prompting partner Fred Gitelman to bid the notrump game.
West led the ª9, and Moss cashed the top three spades, happily noting the 3-3 split. He then played a low club to the queen, noting the 2 from West and the 6 from East. When he played the §5 from dummy and East played the 8, Moss thought about his play for a bit before making the key move of playing low. West had to win the §10 and was endplayed, forced to break hearts or diamonds. He chose a low diamond, and Moss put in the queen to earn his overtrick.

Moss's play in clubs was well conceived and designed to protect his ©K. He didn't need five club tricks, after all - four would do.

At the other table, declarer did not consider his plays as carefully as Moss did, and when East got in the heart shift defeated the contract.

From The Zonal Teams

Nick Krnjevic (I asked him how to pronounce that and he said 'Nick') called in to bring this nice hand from the Zonal Swiss Teams. Alan Apteker and Bernard Donde of South Africa got into a bit of a tangle in the auction but, as they say, the play's the thing.

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

West	North	East	South
Krnjevic	Apteker	Zhang	Donde
		Pass	Pass
1©	Dble	3©	3ª
Pass	4©	Pass	5§
Pass	6§	Pass	6¨
Pass	6ª	All Pass

Clearly, 6§ would have been a much more comfortable spot but South assumed that his partner had genuine spade support. Anyway, Krnjevic led a top heart and Xun Zhang played the eight, standard signals. Krnjevic continued with the second top heart, forcing dummy to ruff. Donde crossed to the queen of diamonds and took the spade finesse then cashed the ace of spades. The fall of the queen was good news because it meant that there was a chance, but was it doubleton or from ªQ104?

Donde crossed to the ace of clubs and thought for awhile before coming up with the winning answer. He did not cash the ªK but played for his opponents to have a little distribution for their bidding. Donde simply started to run the clubs, playing for the trump coup. There was no escape for Zhang. If he ruffed in at any time he would be over-ruffed and the last trump drawn, after which dummy would be high. If he never ruffed in, dummy would be on lead at trick twelve for the trump coup. Nicely played.