Deals From The Camp

By Barry Rigal

After the Junior Pairs had finished, 150 of the participants loaded up their stuff and went 50 miles down the road to the Villa park at Vargesztes. There we found a venue ideally suited to a bridge camp. There were enough sporting facilities to entertain the players, be it swimming, volleyball, table-tennis, or swimming. The climate was in the 70’s with no humidity, and villas accommodating four juniors at a time – enough comfort to keep even the most spoiled player happy, at an affordable price.

The format of the camp was to play sports in the morning, have a lesson in the early afternoon, play bridge in the afternoon and evening, with a post-midnight game available for the really desperate thrill-seekers.
Here are some of the deals that caught my eye:

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

West	North	East	South
	Pass	Pass	2©
Dble	Pass	3NT	All Pass

Daniel de Roos played 3NT as East after South had opened 2©. South elected to lead a diamond, so North won the ¨A and shifted to the ©J, won in dummy. Daniel ran the ¨J, covered by the ¨Q and ¨K, then crossed back to the §J, cashed the ¨10, and led the ªQ. When South took his ªA to lead a second heart, Daniel ducked in dummy, to let North take his ©10 in this ending.

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

North exited with a spade, and Daniel took it in dummy, cashed the two red-suit winners, and squeezed North in the black suits for +430, which was worth 57/64.

Board 14. None Vul. Dealer East.
	ª A J 9 © Q 7 6 ¨ A 8 6 § 10 8 4 2
ª 7 6 5 4 2 © K J 4 ¨ J 4 § 9 6 3		ª K © 9 8 5 ¨ K Q 10 7 3 § A Q J 7
	ª Q 10 8 3 © A 10 3 2 ¨ 9 5 2 § K 5

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

Daniel Ortmann-Nielsen of Denmark found himself in one of the less attractive contracts you’ve ever seen when North elected to double rather than bid one no-trump, clearly the right call with a balanced minimum in the pass-out seat.

In 3© on a diamond lead Daniel ducked, and won the next diamond to lead a club towards his king. East took his ace, cashed his diamond winner as West pitched a club then played a second club. Declarer won, led a heart to the queen (thus marking East with the ªK) played a heart to the ©A and another heart, and found the suit 3-3. That let him play the ªA on the enforced spade return, and when the ªK put in an appearance he had nine – count them! – tricks.

Board 21. N/S Vul. Dealer North.
	ª 6 4 © J 8 7 5 3 ¨ K J 8 2 § A 4
ª J © K Q 10 9 ¨ Q 9 7 6 5 § K 6 5		ª A K 9 7 © A 6 2 ¨ A 4 § J 9 7 3
	ª Q 10 8 5 3 2 © 4 ¨ 10 3 § Q 10 8 2

Playing in 3NT after a standard 15-17 NT Stayman auction, Alon Birman as East received a club to North’s §A, and a shift to a spade, ducked to the queen. Back came a heart, and dummy’s ©9 held. Birman crossed to hand with the ©A and found the fine play of a low diamond to the ¨Q and ¨K – the entries to dummy are good enough that it is sensible to block the diamonds to try to ensure a re-entry to hand. In this ending:

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

North exited with a spade rather than a diamond, and now Alon took the ªA, cashed the ©KQ pitching a club from hand, and came to the ¨A, and squeezed South in the process into coming down to two spades and two clubs. He had the choice of endplaying South with a spade to lead clubs into the tenace, or with a club to lead spades round to his ªK9!

The next deal features John Kranyak and Yoram Bar-Yosef combining very nicely together. Just look at the West hand and decide what you might lead on the auction shown against 4¨ doubled.

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

West	North	East	South
Kranyak		Bar-Yosef
		1ª	2¨
Pass	2©	2ª	3¨
3ª	4§	Dbl	4¨
Pass	Pass	Dbl	All Pass

Kranyak found the inspired club lead! Yoram won his §A and underled in spades to John’s jack for a club ruff and another spade to the ªQ for a second club ruff. Since 3ª was the limit of the E/W cards because of the heart ruff, +500 was worth virtually every matchpoint.

One event every camp is played as a Speedball. On this occasion 45 deals were played in the time a normal duplicate takes, not the right moment to be declaring a tricky redoubled slam! Dennis Kramer was at the helm in 6© redoubled.

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

North can always defeat 6© if declarer tackles trump himself prematurely. But imagine a club lead won in hand by declarer, who now cashes three diamonds, ruffs a club with the ©6, and then cashes ªAKQ. Now in the diagrammed ending West leads his ª7.

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

North can obviously not succeed by ruffing with the ©K, so he ruffs with the ©2, overruffed. Declarer ruffs a minor suit back to hand with the ©Q, and again if North ruffs in declarer scores the rest easily enough. So he underruffs again, and declarer now leads a heart towards the ©J for two of the last three tricks.

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

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

4ªwas a popular contract here, and when East led a passive trump, quite a few declarers worked out to play him for the heart queen. However when Bjorn Serling had the East cards against the auction diagrammed above, he led a club to the ace. North ruffed the club continuation and drew three rounds of trump – and Serling threw a heart away! This might have been less than successful if partner had had the doubleton ©J, but as the cards lay, can you blame North for leading a heart to the king and finessing on the way back, letting Serling collect his ©Q, and more importantly, administering a dagger to North’s heart!

Two of the best played deals of the tournament produced no swing. Yet they each represent excellent technique – here they are

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

West	North	East	South
Katzaris	Jensen	Dekker	De Donder
			1ª
Pass	1NT	2¨	3©
Pass	4©	5§	5©
All Pass

Steve De Donder’s aggressive 5© bid robbed him of the chance to defend 5¨ doubled – North would still be counting the tricks – and gave him a very uphill struggle in 5©. The defense sensibly led ªA and a second spade. Steve carefully ruffed with the ©10, played the ©AK, cashed the §AK then played the ¨A and ruffed a diamond. At his point in the hand he had stripped West of everything but his master trump and four low spades. So declarer could exit with a trump and await a spade lead into his tenace; contract made!

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

West	North	East	South
			1NT
Pass	3NT	All Pass

Ophir Reshef was declarer in 3NT on the ©Q lead. He ducked, and covered the continuation of the ©J with the king. He got in with the ©10 at trick three and sensibly led a club towards the §J next. (In the other room West ducked, so declarer put up the §J and had nine tricks). Here Staffan Hed took his §Q, cashed the ©9 as East pitched a spade, and exited with a spade.

Ophir won in hand, and ran the clubs, noting that West pitched the §J on the fourth one. Now he cashed the top spades and realized that West had started life with a 4-4-2-3 shape, meaning that the diamond finesse was two to one on to succeed. But there were a couple of indications that pointed to the contrary. West’s discard of the ¨J, while technically a routine false-card, was indicative of a diamond honour. Secondly, West’s decision to take the §Q suggested that he knew there was no point to ducking (which might have been right if declarer had §A10xx for example). That also pointed to his having the rest of the high-cards.

So Ophir went against the odds and played off the ¨A to fell the ¨K and make his contract. No swing!

The award for the Schroder Cup, given for best performance in the various pairs competitions, went to Jeroen Bruggeman of the Netherlands. Meanwhile the WBF awards for the players best exhibiting the spirit of the camp went to Kare Gjaeldbaek of Denmark, Ben Green of England, Filippos Karamanlis of Greece, and Joel Wooldridge of USA.