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Israel vs Australia
Venice Cup - Round 6
The last match on Tuesday featured a relatively quiet set of deals
but there was still scope for some good bridge (and bad) in our
featured match. The first major swing went to Israel.
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Board 2. Dealer East. N/S Vul.
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| |
ª 10 4
© 9 4
¨ J 10 7 6 4
§ A 8 4 3 |
ª J 9 2
© K Q J 8
¨ -
§ K J 10 7 6 2 |
 |
ª K Q 7 5
© A 7 6 2
¨ 8 5 3 2
§ 5 |
| |
ª A 8 6 3
© 10 5 3
¨ A K Q 9
§ Q 9 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Travis |
Naveh |
Havas |
Melech |
| |
|
Pass |
1NT |
| 2¨ |
Pass |
3© |
Pass |
| 4§ |
Pass |
4© |
All Pass |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Poplilov |
Clark |
Campanile |
Chadwick |
| |
|
Pass |
1¨ |
| 1© |
2¨ |
4© |
All Pass |
Matilda Poplilov's four-card overcall made for a very easy auction
for her side. Against 4©, Alida Clark led the ten of spades to Marilyn
Chadwick's ace. Chadwick switched to the king of diamonds, ruffed,
and Poplilov led the ª9 to the king to lead a club up, putting in
the ten. Clark won the §A and played a diamond, ruffed, and Poplilov
now cashed the §K for a diamond discard, the king and queen of hearts,
then the §J, discarding her last diamond. Though Chadwick could
ruff, declarer had the rest; +420.
At the other table, Barbara Travis's 2¨ overcall was either hearts
or a heart canapé and she completed the picture at her second
turn. Hanuta Melech led a top diamond, forcing dummy to ruff. Liz
Havas played a low spade for the ten, king and ace, and back came
a second diamond, again ruffed. Now Havas was not where she wanted
to be and tried the §J off the table. This ran to the queen and
Melech played a third diamond, forcing dummy to ruff for a third
time and promoting a trump trick for herself. Havas played the §K
to the ace and ruffed then crossed to the king of hearts to attempt
to cash the §10. She threw her last diamond while Melech ruffed,
and the diamond return forced her last small trump. Declarer cashed
the ace of hearts but the spades were blocked and Melech's eight
won the last trick for down one; -50 and 10 IMPs to Israel.
We had to wait a long time for the next double-figure swing and
when it came it too was in favour of Israel.
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Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul.
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| |
ª 10 8 6
© A Q 10 7 2
¨ A Q 10 5
§ 10 |
ª 7
© J 5 4 3
¨ J 6 2
§ K Q J 8 2 |
|
ª Q 5 4 3 2
© K 8
¨ K 7 4
§ 9 5 3 |
| |
ª A K J 9
© 9 6
¨ 9 8 3
§ A 7 6 4 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Travis |
Naveh |
Havas |
Melech |
| |
|
|
1§ |
| Pass |
1© |
Pass |
1ª |
| Pass |
2¨ |
Pass |
2NT |
| Pass |
3NT |
All Pass |
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Poplilov |
Clark |
Campanile |
Chadwick |
| |
|
|
1NT |
| Pass |
2§ |
Pass |
2¨ |
| Pass |
3© |
Pass |
3NT |
| All Pass |
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Poplilov led the king of clubs and continued with the queen and
then the jack, Chadwick winning the third round. Chadwick ran the
nine of hearts to the king and rose with the ace on the spade return.
Now she finessed the queen of diamonds, losing to the king, and
back came a second spade. Chadwick won the ªK but could take only
one of the two red finesses so had to go down. Had her first diamond
finesse been that of the ten, she would have been OK, of course.
The contract actually failed by two tricks; -200.
Travis allowed herself to be put off the club lead by the opening
bid and instead chose a low diamond. Melech put in the queen, losing
to the king, and Travis switched to a club, ducked to the jack.
The §K continuation was ducked and Travis now switched to the jack
of diamonds. Melech won, crossed to the nine of diamonds and finessed
the ©Q. Havas won and led her last club but declarer won that, cashed
the ace of spades, led to the ace of hearts and, after cashing the
diamond, ran the ten of spades; +600 and 13 IMPs to Israel.
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Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul.
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| |
ª K Q 6 4
© Q J 9 7
¨ 8 2
§ 8 7 2 |
ª A 10 7
© 4
¨ Q 9 7 6 4
§ K J 9 3 |
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ª J 8 2
© K 10 6 5
¨ A K 5
§ A 6 5 |
| |
ª 9 5 3
© A 8 3 2
¨ J 10 3
§ Q 10 4 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Travis |
Naveh |
Havas |
Melech |
| Pass |
Pass |
1NT |
Pass |
| 3© |
Pass |
4ª |
All Pass |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Poplilov |
Clark |
Campanile |
Chadwick |
| Pass |
Pass |
1§ |
Pass |
| 1¨ |
Pass |
1NT |
Pass |
| 3NT |
All Pass |
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Three No Trump was no problem but, not altogether surprisingly,
4ª proved to be impossible. What was going on in the Australian
auction? The 3© response showed shortage and Havas believed that
it guaranteed four cards in the other major, while Travis did not.
One still might query Havas's decision to try 4ª rather than 3NT,
but at least it would have had chances had there been a 4-3 trump
fit. As it was, 4ª drifted two down for -200 while 3NT made two
overtricks for +660 and 13 IMPs to Israel.
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Board 17. Dealer North. None Vul.
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ª 8 6 3
© K 10 9 6 5
¨ K
§ K 8 7 2 |
ª Q J 10
© A 8
¨ A Q 10 9 7 6
§ A 5 |
|
ª A 9 7 2
© 4 3
¨ 8 4 3 2
§ Q 9 4 |
| |
ª K 5 4
© Q J 7 2
¨ J 5
§ J 10 6 3 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Travis |
Naveh |
Havas |
Melech |
| |
Pass |
Pass |
Pass |
| 1¨ |
1© |
Pass |
2© |
| 3¨ |
Pass |
5¨ |
All Pass |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Poplilov |
Clark |
Campanile |
Chadwick |
| |
Pass |
Pass |
Pass |
| 1¨ |
Pass |
1ª |
Pass |
| 2NT |
All Pass |
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Given a free run, West has a decision to make whether to rebid
3¨ or 2NT, and Poplilov chose the latter, where she played. By dropping
the king of diamonds after a heart lead, she came to nine tricks
for +150.
The heart interference made it natural for Travis to rebid 3¨ at
the other table and now Havas caught up for her failure to bid on
the previous round (she was still thinking about the previous deal)
by raising to game. Travis won Nurit Naveh's ten of hearts lead
and took the losing spade finesse. Back came the ©J followed by
a low club. Travis rose with the ace of clubs, crossed to the ace
of spades and led a diamond up. If Naveh was expecting declarer
to finesse - after all, she had taken the trouble to cross to dummy
- she was to be sadly disappointed. Travis went up with the ace
and scored up her game; +400 and 6 IMPs to Australia.
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Board 19. Dealer South. E/W Vul.
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ª K Q 9 5
© A K 7 5
¨ J 9 7 5
§ 10 |
ª 10 6 4 2
© J 9 4 3
¨ 8 2
§ 9 3 2 |
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ª A J 8 3
© 10 8 6
¨ 10
§ K Q J 7 4 |
| |
ª 7
© Q 2
¨ A K Q 6 4 3
§ A 8 6 5 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Travis |
Naveh |
Havas |
Melech |
| |
|
|
1¨ |
| Pass |
1© |
Dble |
3¨ |
| Pass |
4¨ |
Pass |
4ª |
| Pass |
4NT |
Pass |
5§ |
| Pass |
6¨ |
All Pass |
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Poplilov |
Clark |
Campanile |
Chadwick |
| |
|
|
1¨ |
| Pass |
1© |
Dble |
3¨ |
| Pass |
3ª |
Pass |
3NT |
| Pass |
4¨ |
Pass |
4ª |
| Pass |
6¨ |
All Pass |
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Both pairs bid competently to the cold small slam, Melech making
an overtrick after a club lead; 1 IMP to Israel.
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Board 20. Dealer West. All Vul.
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| |
ª 7 6
© 10 9 7 5 2
¨ 6 3 2
§ J 9 3 |
ª A J 5 2
© Q 8
¨ K 10 9 5 4
§ A Q |
|
ª K 8 4 3
© J 3
¨ A J 8
§ 8 5 4 2 |
| |
ª Q 10 9
© A K 6 4
¨ Q 7
§ K 10 7 6 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Travis |
Naveh |
Havas |
Melech |
| 1¨ |
Pass |
1ª |
Pass |
| 3ª |
Pass |
4ª |
All Pass |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Poplilov |
Clark |
Campanile |
Chadwick |
| 1¨ |
Pass |
1ª |
Dble |
| 4ª |
All Pass |
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The natural play in 4ª is to take the spade finesse and then to
try to guess the diamonds for the overtrick. And that is exactly
what happened in one room, where Poplilov actually misguessed the
diamonds - normally enough given the take-out double; +620.
Havas had heard no opposition bidding and seen Melech cash the ace
and king of hearts then switch to a club, the finesse succeeding.
Havas convinced herself that Melech might have come into the auction
if she had any more high cards. Accordingly, she played a spade
to the ace and another one back to her king. No joy there. Havas
exited with a third spade, shaking her head when the queen appeared
where she did not want to see it. After winning the club return
she led a low diamond to her jack and was one down; -100 and 12
IMPs to Isreal.
The Israelis had played well and were full value for their 63-18
IMP, 24-6 VP win.
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