Stories from the Championship

Not at Full Strength

Jeff Meckstroth, defending Mixed Pairs champion, was back for another shot at the title, this time with a new partner – Janice Seamon-Molson.

Seamon-Molson was suffering from a mysterious illness and was not at her best, but even a subpar Seamon-Molson is a formidable opponent. Despite her malady, she and Meckstroth lay in 10th place after two qualifying rounds (the sad postscript to this article is that they did not make the final). They cooperated well on this deal to rake in most of the matchpoints.

Board 8. Dealer West. None Vul.
	♠ A Q 10 9 ♥ 9 5 ♦ K Q 7 ♣ J 10 6 3
♠ K 7 4 ♥ J 7 6 2 ♦ A 10 ♣ A K 8 2		♠ J 8 6 5 ♥ A 10 8 4 ♦ J 8 ♣ Q 9 7
	♠ 3 2 ♥ K Q 3 ♦ 9 6 5 4 3 2 ♣ 5 4

West	North	East	South
1NT	Pass	Pass	Pass

Meckstroth, North, led the ♣3, and declarer overtook with the 8. He played a low heart from hand to the 8 and Seamon-Molson’s queen. She returned a low diamond to the 10 and queen, and Meckstroth fired back the ♦K, unblocking the suit. Now declarer could have cashed out for one down, but he tried a low heart to the 10. Seamon-Molson won the ♥K and began rattling off her diamond winners. The dispirited declarer discarded one spade from hand and two from dummy (Meckstroth tossed all his clubs), so when Seamon-Molson pushed a spade through, Meckstroth’s hand was good. Declarer, who started with six tricks after the opening lead, ended up with two – minus 250.

This deal didn’t work out as well.

Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul.
	♠ J 8 7 4 ♥ K Q J 10 9 5 4 ♦ 7 ♣ 4
♠ 10 2 ♥ A 8 7 6 ♦ 9 8 5 ♣ K J 7 5		♠ 5 ♥ – ♦ A K 10 6 4 3 ♣ A Q 10 9 8 2
	♠ A K Q 9 6 3 ♥ 3 2 ♦ Q J 2 ♣ 6 3

West	North	East	South
			1♠
Pass	2♥	2NT	Pass
5♣	5♥	6♣	Dbl
All Pass

The contract will go down on a spade lead, but Meckstroth led the ♦7, which resulted in minus 1090. The opponents gave the good result back on the next board, however.

Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul.
	♠ K Q 10 6 5 3 2 ♥ 5 ♦ 10 5 3 ♣ 5 2
♠ 9 8 7 4 ♥ J 6 3 ♦ J 8 6 2 ♣ A 3		♠ A ♥ Q 10 7 4 2 ♦ Q 9 ♣ K J 9 8 4
	♠ J ♥ A K 9 8 ♦ A K 7 4 ♣ Q 10 7 6

Meckstroth opened the North hand 3♠ and was raised to game by Seamon-Molson. A low heart was led by East. Meckstroth won the ♥A, shook a losing club on the ♥K and played the ♠J to East’s bare ace. The ♣9 went to the 10 and ace, and Meckstroth ruffed the club return. Now he played more spades, and East could pitch one heart and two clubs, but on the fourth round of spades, she erred by discarding another heart, allowing Meckstroth to enter dummy with a diamond and ruff the ♥9 good. Plus 450 was worth a lot of matchpoints.

Mixed Pairs Qualifying - by Barry Rigal

Board 7. Dealer South. Both Vul.
	♠ A 7 ♥ A ♦ 10 8 7 6 4 3 ♣ 8 7 5 2
♠ K Q 10 ♥ K J 8 7 4 2 ♦ – ♣ J 9 6 3		♠ 9 8 6 3 ♥ Q 6 3 ♦ K Q 9 2 ♣ A 10
	♠ J 5 4 2 ♥ 10 9 5 ♦ A J 5 ♣ K Q 4

West	North	East	South
2♥	Pass	3♥	All pass

Some boards are remarkable for reasons other than the pure bridge technical points; the following deal would probably only appeal to devotees of Snap or Cheat (card games where you try to match the preceding play). Here I played 3♥ after North had taken an age to pass out the final contract. Rather surprisingly he led the ace and another spade (making me think he wanted a ruff, of course. I covered the second spade with the eight, took the jack with the king, and led the ♥J. North took his ace and shifted to the ♣8; I went up with the ace, led the ♦K, covered and ruffed, and took the ♥K to find the surprising news in that suit. In this ending:

	♠ - ♥ - ♦ 10 8 7 6 ♣ 7 5 2
♠ Q ♥ 8 7 4 ♦ – ♣ J 9 6		♠ 9 6 ♥ Q ♦ Q 9 2 ♣ 10
	♠ J 5 4 2 ♥ 10 9 5 ♦ A J 5 ♣ K Q 4

At this point I led a trump to the queen, advanced the ♦Q, discarding the ♠Q, then the ♠9 discarding the ♣9, and the ♠6 discarding the ♣6. Ten tricks, and even if this was only for an average, it was still one of the more aesthetically pleasing deals of my life.

Board 13. Dealer North. Both Vul.
	♠ J 8 7 ♥ Q 9 7 6 ♦ K 10 7 2 ♣ K 9
♠ A 10 5 4 2 ♥ A 4 ♦ 8 5 3 ♣ 10 7 4		♠ K Q 9 ♥ K J 8 5 ♦ Q J 9 ♣ A 6 2
	♠ 6 3 ♥ 10 3 2 ♦ A 6 4 ♣ Q J 8 5 3

West	North	East	South
	Pass	1NT	Pass
2♥	Pass	2♠	Pass
2NT	Pass	4♠	All pass

What is the correct line of play in 4♠ on the lead of the ♣Q? To come to ten tricks it would appear you need to take five spades, three hearts, a diamond and a club.

At one table, at least, declarer took the ♣A, drew trumps, and took three heart tricks via the finesse. This was the ending:

	♠ - ♥ Q ♦ K 10 7 2 ♣ K
♠ 10 5 ♥ - ♦ 8 5 3 ♣ 10		♠ - ♥ 8 ♦ Q J 9 ♣ 6 2
	♠ - ♥ - ♦ A 6 4 ♣ J 8 5

Declarer ruffed a heart to dummy and led a diamond off the board. The defence cannot prevail by rising with the ♦K and playing the ♣K, since he has no further club left to play. But if the clubs had been 4-3, the forcing defence would have prevailed.

A better sequence of plays would be to win the club lead, draw two rounds of trump, and cash three hearts via the finesse. When that all stands up, draw the last trump, and now you have complete control to lead diamonds twice towards the queen-jack without running the risk of being forced.