Round Eleven – Thailand v USA1

Neither Thailand nor USA1 are going to make the knock-out stage but both have plenty of pride to play for. Their Round 11 match went very much the way of Thailand, who played in both good form and, just as importantly, good luck.

Thailand already held a fair lead after nine deals. The teams had exchanged slam swings when Glickman/Yuan bid 6ª on Board 1 but missed 6§ on Board 3 and again on Board 7. Meanwhile, Amornpong/Terasak missed Board 1, bid to seven on Board 3, requiring a two-two trump split which duly came in for them, and bid 6§ on Board 7.
Boards 10-13 settled the fate of this match.

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

West	North	East	South
Sasibut	Glickman	Trimankha	Yuan
		Pass	1§
Pass	1©	Pass	1ª
Pass	2¨	Pass	2©
Pass	4©	All Pass

West	North	East	South
Burton	Amornpong	Pearlman	Terasak
		Pass	1§
Pass	1©	Dble	Rdbl
1ª	4©	Pass	4ª
Pass	4NT	Pass	5§
Pass	6©	All Pass

The Americans did not get close to slam, and to be fair to them it is not an easy one to reach. While there was no guarantee at all that South would deliver a singleton diamond, he had bid the other three suits and perhaps North, whose hand had great potential if facing diamond shortage, could have gone a little more slowly; +680.
Lindsay Pearlman doubled the 1© response to show the other two suits and Terasak made a support double. When Lisa Burton bid spades and Amornpong could jump to the heart game, Terasak dared to hope that his partner would be short in spades, when his hand would be worth a good deal more than its raw point-count. He cuebid 4ª and that was enough to see Amornpong use RKCB then bid the excellent slam; +1430 and 13 IMPs to Thailand.

Board 11. None Vul. Dealer South.
	ª K 4 © 7 6 ¨ A J 10 § Q J 10 8 7 6
ª A J 9 6 3 © K J ¨ K Q 9 4 2 § 3		ª Q 10 5 © A 10 9 5 ¨ 8 3 § A 9 5 2
	ª 8 7 2 © Q 8 4 3 2 ¨ 7 6 5 § K 4

West	North	East	South
Sasibut	Glickman	Trimankha	Yuan
			Pass
1ª	2§	Dble	Pass
2¨	3§	3ª	Pass
4ª	All Pass

West	North	East	South
Burton	Amornpong	Pearlman	Terasak
			Pass
1ª	2§	3§	Pass
4ª	All Pass

Both East/Wests reached the normal spade game. Glickman led the queen of clubs and Sasibut won the ace and led a diamond to the king and ace. He ruffed the club continuation and played the ¨K, cashed the ©K, then ruffed a diamond and ran the queen of spades. Though the spade lost the key suits broke evenly and declarer had the rest of the tricks for +450.

Amornpong also led a club to dummy's ace but Burton ran the ªQ at trick two, a clear error. That lost to the king and declarer was forced with a club. Now she drew the missing trumps ending in dummy and played a diamond to the king and ace. North had two entries in diamonds and declarer ran out of trumps on the repeated club leads; a poor effort and down one for -50 and 11 IMPs to Thailand.

Board 12. N/S Vul. Dealer West.
	ª 10 9 2 © K 8 7 6 4 ¨ A 9 5 3 § 10
ª 7 6 4 © A J 3 ¨ K J 4 § K Q 7 6		ª 8 5 © 9 2 ¨ Q 10 8 7 6 2 § 5 4 2
	ª A K Q J 3 © Q 10 5 ¨ - § A J 9 8 3

West	North	East	South
Sasibut	Glickman	Trimankha	Yuan
1NT	Pass	Pass	2ª
All Pass

West	North	East	South
Burton	Amornpong	Pearlman	Terasak
1§	Pass	Pass	Dble
Pass	2©	Pass	2ª
Pass	3¨	Pass	3ª
Pass	4ª	All Pass

Sasibut's 1Nt opening made life difficult for his opponents. Yuan overcalled 2ª, spades and a minor, but Glickman could not find a game try; +230 after the lead of the king of clubs allowed declarer to establish that suit very easily.

Burton's 1§ opening, entirely normal though it was, caused no problems for her opponents at the other table. Terasak doubled in fourth seat then bid and repeated his solid spade suit after Amornpong had shown values by jumping to 2©. Amornpong raised to the spade game and once again the lead was the king of clubs. Again 12 tricks were made when declarer rose with the ace on a heart lead towards dummy; +680 and 10 IMPs to Thailand.

Board 13. All Vul. Dealer North.
	ª 10 6 © 9 6 4 ¨ A K Q J 6 5 § Q 4
ª K © A J 8 7 5 ¨ 10 9 § 10 9 8 6 2		ª Q 8 7 5 3 © 3 ¨ 8 4 3 2 § A K J
	ª A J 9 4 2 © K Q 10 2 ¨ 7 § 7 5 3

West	North	East	South
Sasibut	Glickman	Trimankha	Yuan
	1¨	1ª	Dble
Pass	2¨	Pass	2NT
Pass	3NT	All Pass

West	North	East	South
Burton	Amornpong	Pearlman	Terasak
	1¨	1ª	Pass
1NT	Pass	Pass	Dble
2§	Pass	Pass	Dble
Pass	Pass	2ª	Dble
All Pass

Both Easts overcalled 1ª but the two Souths followed very different plans with their interesting spade holding. Yuan doubled to show the hearts then showed invitational values with a spade stopper, and Glickman raised to the no trump game. Sasibut led the ten of clubs and Trimankha took three rounds of those then switched to a low spade. When Yuan ran this to the bare king he was quickly down three; -300. Winning the spade would merely have saved one trick.

Terasak, who was making a nice little run of winning decisions, continued the good work when he passed over 1ª, intending to try for a penalty. Burton had just enough to respond 1NT and now Terasak started to double everything in sight. Why Pearlman ran from 2§ doubled to 2ª is hard to imagine. As the cards lie, with the §Q coming down in two rounds so that declarer can ruff a heart in dummy without necessarily giving up a trump trick, 2§ appears to be quite cold, while 2ª was not a great spot. Terasak led the king of hearts to dummy's ace and Pearlman played a club to hand then gave up a diamond. Terasak cashed the ace of spades then played a club. Declarer won that and played queen and another spade. Terasak won the ª9 and cashed the jack then played a club and declarer could manage six tricks for -500 and 13 IMPs to Thailand.

These four deals had seen Thailand score 47 unanswered IMPs and they ran away with the match by 100-16 IMPs, 25-0 VPs.