No Day Off

by Brent Manley

While the McConnell competitors were sleeping in and shopping on their day off, the round of 64 got underway in the Rosenblum. The first set of the Welland/Strul match was a tight affair, thanks in large measure to the 13-IMP swing gained by Strul on the second board of the set.

Aubry Strul and Bob Jones, North/South, had a reasonable auction to a reasonable spot.

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

West	North	East	South
	Strul		Jones
		Pass	1♣
Pass	1♠	Pass	2♦
Pass	2♥	Pass	2NT
Pass	3♥	Pass	3NT
All Pass

Strul, having described his hand, gave up when Jones showed no interest in either of his majors. Roy Welland, West, led the ♠9 and Jones quickly wrapped up Plus 630.

At the other table, Lew Stansby and Chip Martel got much higher.

West	North	East	South
	Martel		Stansby
		Pass	1♣
Pass	1♠	Pass	2NT
Pass	3♥(i)	Pass	3♠
Pass	4NT	Pass	5♠
Pass	6♠	All Pass

(i) At least 5-5 in the majors

East started with the ♦Q, so even if the club finesse had been working, the bad spade break would have doomed the slam. At it was, neither key suit cooperated and Martel finished at two down. Welland got 5 IMPs back on the next deal on vastly different auctions.

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

West	North	East	South
Welland		Fallenius
			Pass
Pass	1♠	All Pass

Welland, in the passout seat after Strul’s third-seat opener, didn’t have to think long about his action holding five cards in the suit.

Bjorn Fallenius started with a low club to the 2, 9 and ace. Strul played a low spade from hand at trick two, taken by Fallenius with the queen for another club play. Strul ruffed and cashed his spades – that was five tricks, declarer’s limit. That was Plus 100 for the Welland team. The auction was a lot different at the other table, where Stansby was South and Apolinary Kowalski and Piotr Tuszynski were East/West.

West	North	East	South
	Martel		Stansby
			3♣
Pass	Pass	3♥	Pass
3♠	Dbl	3NT	Pass
Pass	Dbl	Pass	Pass
4♦	All Pass

After the trump lead by Martel, Kowalski (West) had to build spade tricks on power, but his spots were good enough to do that. Unfortunately for him, the defenders could not be denied four tricks for one down.

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

West	North	East	South
Welland		Fallenius
	1♠	Pass	1NT
Dble	2♦	2♥	All Pass

Welland’s aggressive take-out double worked like a charm when Jones and Strul sold out to 2♥. With length in trumps, Jones didn’t want to try for ruffs, so instead of starting with his partner’s first suit, Jones led a low diamond. Fallenius put up the queen, and Strul won the ♦A to switch to his singleton heart. Fallenius won in hand and played another diamond. Jones won the king and exited with a low trump – it would not have helped for him to play one of his heart honors. Fallenius won the ♥8 in dummy, cashed the ♠A, played a club to the ace in his hand, ruffed a spade and cashed the ♦Q, pitching his losing club and crossruffing for nine tricks and Plus 140.

At the other table, the heart contract was one level higher and declarer had no chance on the lead of the ♠8. That was one down and 5 IMPs to Welland. Strul helped his side to a 9-IMP gain on this deal.

Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul.
	♠ A J 10 8 7 6 2 ♥ J 3 ♦ A 8 ♣ 9 4
♠ K 9 5 ♥ 8 4 ♦ Q 9 6 4 ♣ K 7 6 5		♠ 4 ♥ A Q 9 6 2 ♦ 10 3 2 ♣ A Q J 8
	♠ Q 3 ♥ K 10 7 5 ♦ K J 7 5 ♣ 10 3 2

At the other table, Strul’s teammates played in 3NT, down a trick after Martel started with the ♠A. At his table, Strul took the bull by the horns after two passes.

West	North	East	South
	Strul		Jones
			Pass
Pass	4♠	All Pass

Fallenius started with the ♦10. Strul won the king in dummy and played the ♠Q, which held. Another spade to the jack, followed by the ace, and trumps were in. As the cards lay, declarer could not misguess in hearts, so Strul duly recorded Plus 420 and a useful gain.

Welland trailed 30-14 with two boards to go. They got a big chunk of it back on the next-to-last deal.

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

West	North	East	South
	Martel		Stansby
	Pass	Pass	2♥
2♠	4♥	All Pass

With the club finesse working, Stansby had no difficulty at all in arriving at tricks, losing only spades and a diamond – Plus 620.

At the other table:

West	North	East	South
Welland	Strul	Fallenius	Jones
	1♥	Pass	4♥
4♠	All Pass

The late Edgar Kaplan used to say he tried to avoid leaping to 4♥ because it often served as a transfer to 4♠ – by the opponents. It worked that way on this deal as Welland bid what was in front his face after the preemptive barrage by Jones.

Strul led a low heart to the king, and Jones shifted to the ♣10: king, ace, 2. Strul got out with a low spade to the queen and ace. Welland played another spade to dummy’s king and ruffed a club, then played two more rounds of spades, but the opponents discarded only unhelpful hearts. The key was how to play diamonds. Welland knew where the ♦A was, but what about the jack? If Jones’ ♣10 was doubleton, the North could be counted for only two diamonds, and it wouldn’t matter where the jack was. It appeared, however, that South had the ♥A K, leaving North with a pretty thin vulnerable opener, even with the ♦J. After some thought, Welland played a low diamond from hand to dummy’s 10 – one down. It was still an 11-IMP gain because of the action at the other table, but it could have beena double game swing and a profit of 16 IMPs. The set ended 30-28 in favor of Strul.