| 12th World Bridge Championships | Page 2 | Bulletin 15 - Saturday 24 June 2006 |
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Fall of the Cards by Mark Horton The play’s the thing Despite the obvious attractions of Italy v Czech Republic, I kept an eye open for a few morsels during the second session of the Open Pairs final. Luckily, most of the leading pairs seemed to be involved, and several deals offered an opportunity for declarer and defenders alike to earn their points in the play.
North led the king of spades and declarer won and played a club. North went up with the king and switched to the four of diamonds. Declarer elected to play the queen which South won with the king and played the seven of hearts, dummy winning with the nine. Declarer unblocked the queen of clubs and cashed the ace of diamonds. When North’s jack appeared he was in excellent shape. He played a diamond to the ten, ruffed a diamond, ruffed a spade and then ruffed the ace of clubs with the ace of hearts before showing his cards. South could score only one of his five trumps; +880 – a complete top. I have never understood the rationale behind the type of redouble East made on this deal. Making a doubled game is certain to give you an excellent result but, if you go down, you will turn a poor result into a terrible one. On this deal –100 would have been worth 36%, –200 20% at best. Making Four Hearts doubled would have delivered 94%.
North led the queen of diamonds and, when declarer ducked continued with the suit, covered all round. When declarer played a third diamond, North discarded the two of spades and declarer ruffed and played a club to the king and ace. Now he ruffed his last diamond as North discarded the seven of hearts. A heart to the jack lost to the king and North switched to the six of spades, declarer winning with dummy’s ace. The critical moment of the play had been reached. Assuming declarer was disposed to treat South’s king of clubs as a true card, he could get home now by playing a spade, winning the likely heart return in dummy, ruffing a spade and exiting with a heart to endplay North. However, declarer was obviously not certain as to North’s distribution and when he played a heart to the ace he could no longer make the contract. He cashed the queen of clubs and played a heart but North could ruff and cash a spade and a club for +100. That was 39% for the holders and the next board was worse.
South led the ace of diamonds and continued with the jack, dummy’s queen winning as declarer discarded a club. A club went to the king and South’s ace and declarer ruffed the diamond continuation as North discarded the seven of hearts. Now declarer played a heart to the ace. If he takes a spade finesse at this point the hand plays itself. After it wins you cash the king of hearts and the queen of clubs, ruff a heart with the ace of spades, repeat the spade finesse and exit with a heart, taking the last two tricks via the spade tenace. However, declarer continued with a heart to the jack and king, cashed the queen of clubs and ruffed a heart with the five of spades. North overruffed and had to make another trump for one down, only 14% as opposed to the 81% had the contract been made. Right at the end of the session we saw a classic matchpoint auction from a pair hoping to move up the leaderboard.
By bidding 6NT Robson converted 50% into a potential 74% that actually became 97% when North led the two of hearts. Appreciating that I have whetted your appetite, here are a few gems from the third session.
This was a bad miss by the French pair who scored only 27%. There were all sorts of suggestions as to how you can get to the grand slam after the intervention. For my money, despite the poor trumps, with three suits controlled, South might have bid Six Clubs over Five Clubs. There are some players who believe that it is almost never right to let your opponents play at the two level if the bidding dies early – here is a classic example:
Letting North/South play in Two Hearts would have been dreadful for East/West, only 31%. North led a top club and switched to a diamond. Declarer won in hand and played a spade and was soon claiming eight tricks for –50 and 71%.
Only five pairs missed 7NT on this deal, so you may ask why I am including it. Well, we have had quite a lot of movie connections in the Bulletins and I wanted to remind you of the Eastwood convention. In the film Dirty Harry the character played by Clint Eastwood opens the movie with these immortal lines: Harry Callahan: I know what you’re thinking. “Did he fire six shots or only five?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself a question: Do I feel lucky?....Well, do ya, punk? So, a bid of 4NT, Eastwood, asks partner not for aces, but if they feel lucky. By jumping to 7NT North must have been feeling very lucky! (Only joking, Larry!)
Would you criticise a multiple World Champion for his choice of opening bid? Perhaps when he is safely on the plane home. Mind you, Lloyds of London would hardly underwrite the action of West on this deal either. What, one wonders, would he have done if East had bid diamonds? East’s decision to convert the double was reasonable. The nap selection is for West to bid 3NT – great if North leads a heart, not so hot if a diamond hits the table. Three Hearts was two down; –300, 46% for North/South.
I cannot tell you if it is sound strategy to simply raise to 3NT on this type of hand – it depends on your personal viewpoint – but most pairs elected to play in hearts once the 5-3 fit was located. We’ll return to them in a moment. West led the three of diamonds and East did very well to put up the king and switch to the king of spades. When that held he continued with the queen (the jack might be clearer?) and declarer won and started on the hearts. On the third of these West discarded the nine of spades, so all the good work was for nothing as declarer could set up a diamond for ten tricks; +630. Only 49% for North/South (and avoiding the 14% they appeared headed for) because many pairs recoded +650 in hearts.
With a difficult lead – at least it seemed that way to East – he eventually opted for a low diamond. (Personally, I think the jack of clubs, chosen by the majority of players who had to lead against a heart contract, is clear-cut – and it should also lead to a plus score provided West wins and switches to a spade.) West put up the queen so declarer won and returned a diamond. East won and switched to the jack of clubs, West taking the ace as declarer dropped the queen. West switched to the nine of spades and the defenders played three rounds, West ruffing and returning a club. Declarer won, cashed a diamond for a club discard, ran the ten of hearts, ruffed the king of spades and played a heart to the ace. He was in the right hand to effect the trump coup on East. Neat – but only worth 53% as the contact was made several times, even when the jack of clubs was led. |
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