Matches : Northern Ireland, EBU, England, Ireland, Scotland
Northern Ireland The first match was against Northern Ireland, who were determined to stop their bad run against the Welsh. Board three was curious - it was bid to 4S twice, but at two other tables the opponents opened with a natural 2N (after all they had a balanced 20 points) and that pre-empted the vulnerable opponents out of their game. Opening the hand with a strong 1C cost the Welsh 10 imps. The biggest Welsh gain was on this hand
|
|
874 AJT74 |
|
At both tables the auction started with a multi-2D from East and a 2S overcall from South. The Irish West liked that and passed and liked it even more when North raised to 3S. That ended the auction at this table and the contract drifted two off.
For Wales Tim Rees produced 3D over the 2S overcall (as did West in other matches) and now he ended in 5D doubled. On a spade lead he can take 3 ruffs to make 11 tricks, but they found the demanding lead of DQ. He did manage two ruffs now, but South made the mistake of discarding a spade on the third diamond and that let Tim set up a spade trick as his eleventh.
The same contracts were reached at two other tables but at table five East opened 3H (despite adverse vulnerability) and played there, while at table six North offered 2N over 2S and got raised to 3N. West expressed an opinion and duly got to cash enough diamonds to put the contract two down for +300. |
|
QJ965 -- AKJT863 8 |
|
--- AQT953 542 9532 |
|
|
|
AKT32 J64 97 KQ6 |
|
This match failed to get to grips with another board in the first set ...
|
|
96 875
|
|
At every table East opened 1S and at most of these that showed a five card major. South inevitably overcalled 4H (although the record suggests Panto tried a pass). The spotlight fell on West. and all except the man from Northern Ireland could bid 4S easily. When he passed and bid 4S over the reopening double, South (Paul Denning) was able to bid 5H and played there doubled for one off.
After 4S, three Easts passed but two continued with motion towards slam and both stumbled into 6S - one really pushed by a 6H continuation from South, and the other by a mis-understanding of the nature of partner's pass over South's 5H.
Of course when it went 4S-P-P, South continued with 5H and one pair did sacrifice (successfully) in 6H over 5S. This was not the only 9 card suit of the weekend - it happened again in match 2. |
|
Q82 -- KQJ6542 T53 |
|
AJT743 3 A3 AQ94 |
|
|
|
K5 AKQJT9642 8 |
|
Wales finished that
set +9 after losing on only two boards (one mentioned above plus a slam
missed). Wales changed its line up (partially) for the second 16
boards, and it was a tight second set which Wales won 31-30. There was
an interesting point on this hand, which all relevant declarers got
right
|
AT93 QT85 A8 K73 |
K82 AJ3 K6 AT986 |
Five
tables played in 3N (with one reaching the playable but ambitous
6C). After a diamond lead you can go after clubs or
hearts for your ninth trick. Even if you know they both break
well, it is better to go after hearts since if the finesse
wins
you can try clubs later for overtricks, but if you start on clubs,
you'll never dare take the heart finesse later in case you go off! |
The match ended as a 16-14 win for Wales, and with fewer imps
changing hands in each half than was true for either of the other two
matches.
EBU The second day started with Wales playing the EBU team. There were some curious hands in this match. Our pair managed 7N with an offside ace when they thought they had more than just 35 hcp between the two hands, but one Irish pair managed to stop in 3N on the same hands! There was the first (only?) totally flat board of the weekend, with identical auctions in all rooms : South opened his 8-card spade suit with 4S and it went P-P-X and that cost -800. Quite good considering the oppo had an excellent 6D, and 7D was probably about 47% and was making today.
One interesting play hand ...
|
|
QT983 Q7
|
|
A couple of tables reached 4S by North, as did EBU against Wales. Paul Denning started off the defence with the CK, beaten by the ace. The bidding had told declarer that West had spades, so he started first with a heart to the HQ and HA. Paul continued with two top clubs and Patrick Shields discarded a heart on the first, and when the third club was ruffed with the SK, he avoided the over-ruff (check - it lets the contract make) and discarded his last heart. Now he ducked the SJ, won the next spade and played a diamond. Declarer has no answer and went two down. At the other table Filip Kirbalija played in 3N-X from South after East had opened a catch-all 1D (playing a strong club system). He got a diamond lead and East let the D9 win trick one. Now Filip could play on spades which were ducked twice, and then switch to hearts - and he had 9 tricks. It looks unnatural, but winning SA and switching to clubs does give the defence 5 tricks, even after the losing choice on the first trick. The end result was 12 imps to Wales. |
|
A7652 962 Q872 5 |
|
--- A853 J543 KQJT7 |
|
|
|
KJ4 KJT4 |
|
Just as
in the first match, Wales had lost points on only two boards of this stanza and
one of them was a slam hand. And so to another set against the EBU. Quite a few interesting hands. Take this ...
|
J9 AKJ76 AK8 T73 |
AQ32 QT QJT965 8 |
No table managed to find the slam on these hands. Where it started (from East) 1D-<3D>
which showed a running suit and asked for a stopper, West could see
that if partner had 11 working points, they were missing at most 3
points outside clubs - and perhaps less. A slam had to be
close. He bid 3H first and over 3S from East continued with 4D. This
got a sign off by East and West stopped there for fear of club losers. |
And then there was a fairly lucky slam bid by EBU and another slam hand to which 6D came easily in one room after the natural 1D opener, but wasn't found in the Welsh room after a 1N opener. Unlucky? And curiously board 32 of the match was the same contract and same tricks at all six tables - 4S again, but the routes to get there were quite varied. The Jones' did well on
|
|
AKT 9843
|
|
At red, South opened 1C over which he heard 2S-3C-3S. Dafydd clearly had extra values here and he doubled to show that, and Gary bid 3N. The defence (East) played three top diamonds all ducked and then switched to a spade. Gary won and led a heart. When the HK appeared he ducked this, won the return, and ran his minor suit winners. This squeezed West and he had to throw the key heart or key spade in the end game. That was 9 tricks. [Can also be made on a throw-in, today - but Gary's line offers better chances] 3N was made at other tables too. At the other Welsh table, Patrick Shields over stretched a little with 3S on the first round. He ended in 4S-X and could easily have gone for -800 but the defence were concerned to stop heart ruffs in dummy and played three rounds of trumps at one point. They had no idea that heart ruffs weren't needed! That was 3 imps to Wales. |
|
QJ9864 QJT2 8 J4 |
|
732 K KQJ972 T98 |
|
|
|
5 A765 |
|
At the end of 32 boards, the EBU team (who would later end up as leading the competition over the whole weekend) had pulled back the 22 imps they lost in the first half, for a drawn match.
ENGLAND Next came the team representing England. These and the EBU team had all played in the English Trials and these were the ones who had come out on top (then). The flow was all to Wales during the first half of this match, with both English pairs contributing to this. There was only one slam hand, bid to 6H at both tables. It was a little worse than finding one of two kings onside, but they were both offside and that was a flat board here, but unfortunate for Ireland and Scotland whose opponents had stopped out (but the former only because the Irish bidding told them to!). We gained 10 imps on
|
|
AQ9754 764
|
|
All tables played 4H by East after an auction which started 1H-P-2C. At this point 4 of the 6 Norths came in with 2S (quite justifiable as the start of the auction means East-West own the hand and the bid is more lead or sacrifice directing, than constructive). The result was that those four, plus one of the others led the SK against the final contract.
North won the second round of spades and had to decide what to do. Gary Jones realised that since two tricks were needed he must play his partner for a trump trick. So he switched to his singleton club and when the HK won, Dafydd gave him a club ruff. Only one other table found this after the SK lead, so that three tables made 4H. The sixth table, without the benefit of a spade overcall, led a club at trick one, and the signals told him to play another club at trick three - which he did - to beat 4H by one also. |
|
T62 Q8 QJT AKQ72 |
|
83 AJT952 AK5 J9 |
|
|
|
KJ 9732 |
|
The Welsh defence also did nicely on
|
|
Q65 Q5
|
|
Paul Denning opened the East hand 2H, showing at least 5-5 in hearts and a minor but short of an opening bid. There was still a faint possibility of a slam so Patrick Shields asked with the West hand and, having passed on the first round, South felt safe to come to life with 3S. Over 4H, North bid 4S and when that got doubled, the case rested. Patrick started of with the SK, SA and S2 which removed all the ruffing power of dummy. The by product was that it allowed East to signal and East chose the C4 as his first discard, clearly indicating that he didn't have any 6cd suit (else he throws from that) and so his shape must be 1552. This means West knew to win the first club trick and that North was thereby cut off. Declarer was held to four trump tricks, one in hearts, and one in diamonds for a penalty of -800. |
|
AK2 T873 AT AJ93 |
|
3 AJ642 K9753 T4 |
|
|
|
JT9874 K9 |
|
The second half of this match was very hard work. There were 4 hands involving grand slams ....
|
AJ2 Q8762 AK9 Q7 |
K7 A T2 AKJT6532 |
This
was the first and every match had one table in 7N and one table in 7C.
Competently handled for Wales by the Jones, starting off with
1H-2C-2N(extras)-4C and then a cue bid and Blackwood. |
|
AK8754 K843 A2 A |
J9 AJT952 QJT K9 |
This
hand was bid to 7H at all tables but one - the one being the case where
after Key Card Blackwood and a queen ask, East did not consider the
extra length to be as good as the queen. But it was a swing in each
match, since the hearts broke 3-0 and no declarer knew which way round.
It was either 11 or 17 imps to each of England, EBU, Scotland. And that was 17 away from Wales :( |
|
AQJ5 4 AKJT3 AK7 |
K94 AQJ8 Q9 JT96 |
This
was bid to 6N at four tables but the Irish and English teams both bid
7N. That contract has respectable chances - roughly the CQ falling in
two rounds or the heart finesse, which comes to about only 59% (marginal for a grand slam). The play was
very quick at all tables since the HT was the natural lead, into the
AQJ8. Another 11 imps in the minus column for Wales. |
|
92 AKJ73 84 QT76 |
AQ4 T AJ9 AKJ953 |
This
was 6C at five tables, but once again the English were bidding up
against the Welsh and reached a poor 7C. This needs either 5 heart tricks or
the spade finesse and three heart tricks. The lead of the H8 through
the AK at trick one put declarer off the heart suit, but the spade king was
offside, so 7C proved too high and Wales pulled back 16 imps here. |
|
|
A4 K42
|
|
The contract was 3N by South except at a table when the Irish pair who play a new point count system (5 for an ace ... 1 for a T) somehow stopped in 2N. .The most common lead was C3 which yields 4 tricks there but that only gives declarer a sure 7 tricks. Next thing, most declarers played diamonds and West found the switch to S5. Greatest pressure is put on declarer if East ducks this, but he must do so quickly to avoid giving out massive unauthorised information. In practice, all Easts won and returned a spade. Some declarers could work out that the spades were breaking 5-3 at this point, and so they could continue with diamonds. But some didn't and insisted on trying to guess hearts (and failed) so some made and some didn't.
The English West led a top diamond at trick one and then came spade, spade. Filip Kurbalija played a second diamond and West cashed a third before continuing spades. Declarer now had 8 tricks and possibilities in hearts or clubs for a ninth. He did combine these but didn't cater for Bakhshi who led diamonds, having a 5-card club suit and that meant 13 imps away. It's very tricky to diagnose why someone wouldn't lead their longest suit (what would you expect in such a case?) and in fact the strongest defence (outside ducking the SK) is for West to lead clubs every time he gets the chance. |
|
J95 Q8 AKJ J6532 |
|
K8763 97653 98 4 |
|
|
|
QT2 |
|
|
|
A852 JT
|
|
East dealt at green, and all six tables started with 3H-P. At this point two Wests judged that they were high enough and passed, but four of them raised. Little did they realise that their best chance of a gain was to raise preemptively, and indeed over 4H two Norths passed. These were the best EW results - one making 4H but the other going one off when the DQ lead was overtaken and a club returned at trick two.
The other four tables saw North make a takeout double (twice over 3H and twice over 4H) and all those tables heard 4S from South. Only the Irish were greedy at this point and they doubled Paul Denning in 4S. Paul was the only one to find the right play in spades after heart, heart ruff - leading the SJ to pin the ST and clock up an overtrick. With length in spades marked on the left, the only shortage that matters is singleton ten - cool play! Just 14 imps for Wales. |
|
KQ4 KQ6 975 KQ83 |
|
T A875432 6 J542 |
|
|
|
J9763 |
|
|
|
8
|
|
Most
tables started (from East) with P-P-1C and over that North bid 4H (once
with 4C showing a good 4H bid). With a known club fit, all Easts felt
confident to bid 4S and if NS continued they got support to 5S from
partner. This got doubled at each table and that meant 5Sx+1 for
+1050, except where Rex Anderson (for Northern Ireland) bid 6H and got
to defend 6Sx and led
a diamond to beat it. Another Irishman found the diamond lead
against the Welsh 5Sx but his partner continued diamonds and then tried the HA,
so that 5S made (two club ruffs holds declarer to 9 tricks). The fifth table was a 1D opener (strong club system) and got the same treatment (4H) but now East (naturally) lacked the confidence to bid 4S and 4H was allowed to play, making 13 tricks. The final table was Ireland playing Wales and the Irishman was able to open a 2S gadget, showing at least 5-5 spades and another. It went 2S-P-4S-5H, P-P-X-end and on a club lead that was 13 tricks for Wales and another +850 to gain 17 imps. |
|
KQ97 87 86 AKQT7 |
|
AJT42 -- 43 J96542 |
|
|
|
853 |
|
|
|
Q652 4
|
|
East dealt at green and opened 1S and usually got a spade raise. North for Wales, Patrick Shields, bid 3C (4C would have shown clubs and hearts) and East made a slam try of 4C. Paul Denning could see this fitting well for EW, so he raised the stakes to 5C, and West was in there too with 5H. Although he could sense a spade void with his partner, North decided to defend and passed then and when 5S came back round to him. The opening lead was a club, ruffed and when declarer continued with SA he was in trouble and failed to recover. That was +50. At all other tables East's second bid was 3D which at that time sounds more like a game try than a slam try, and so South wasn't inclined to get involved. The result was that Wales played in 4S in the other room, making for a 10 imp gain. That table was unusual, and in the other matches it was 6S three times and 5S once with only the declarer in 5S starting (like Filip Kurbalija in 4S) with the DA - setting up his side suit - and getting the spades right when he sees the singleton DK appear. |
|
KT8 KQT85 JT 962 |
|
AJ9743 A9 A9872 --- |
|
|
|
--- |
|
|
|
KT973
|
|
At five of the six tables, West - vulnerable against not - opened 3C
and the auction was 3S-P-4S to an easy resting place. After a pass from
West, Wales were able to open a strong 1C and after 1C-1H-1S-3D
showing spade support and short diamonds, North got a bit excited
about the possibilities and investigations only stopped when he bid 6S. This contract is not good, but is playable. It looks rather worse when you hear that West doubled a 5C bid and East started things off with the C7 lead, covered by the CQ, CK and CA. Patrick Shields continued as he must, with two rounds of spades and then a heart finesse. That lost but what could East do - he safely returned a heart but two diamonds could get ruffed in dummy and the HK and the fifth heart took care of the other losers. The DK dropping was a bonus. So 6S made and that was +11 imps for the Welsh - allowing them to escape that set for -3 imps and win the match overall 22-8. |
|
J2 97 K4 KJT9865 |
|
Q5 KT42 JT8765 7 |
|
|
|
A864 |
|
|
9 K9 A63 AK98642 |
T876 Q3 KQ72 Q75 |
The
bidding started off at three tables 1C<2C> showing a two suiter and
the opposition heart fit was found and that discouraged 3N, but two
tables overcalled 1S over 1C and the hand with almost a stopper had a
problem. They both chose 1N as the answer and heard
<2S>-3N-<P>. At this point Forrester
for England woke up and realised that his spade stop was suspect - he
bid 5C and that was an easy 11 tricks. Two tables went off in NT, while
in the Welsh match both tables were allowed to play the other way in
hearts (after it started 1C-<2C>-P).. |
|
|
---
|
|
At
love all, dealer was West. Three chose to open 1S, one 2S, one 3S and
one passed! The first three tables had identical auctions
1S-4H-4S-5H-end. The pass also led to 5S (doubled) while 2S saw
the auction stop in 5H (making, by Wales) and the 3S start led to a
6S sacrifice over an ambitious 6H bid by the Irish. Everyone in spades got a top heart lead, drew trumps and eliminated hearts. In 5S the danger is losing a club to North and having a diamond put through and the DK being wrong too. Three declarers in 5S ran the CJ and duly got a diamond switch and the DQ lost and then they had to guess the clubs. Two led the CT and that worked while the Welshman chose the C8. Oops. The man in 6S had to hope he could make 12 tricks and ran the CJ but rose with the DA on the return and then had a guess for his slam - but he guessed wrong, leading the C8 and being 25 imps worse off for that. But it was Nick Fitzgibbon at the sixth table who found the right answer in 5S. He couldn't help losing to North's CQ but he didn't mind losing to South's CQ. So after trumps, he led a club away from the king and now there was no pressure the defence could put on him (unless North wins the CA from AQ). |
|
KQ9864 --- 65 K7542 |
|
AJT72 53 AQ8 JT8 |
|
|
|
53 |
|
|
|
AT3
|
|
South
opened 1N and was raised to 3N and received a diamond lead. There
couldn't be nine tricks without clubs, so declarer played a small club
at trick two and got a diamond return. With nothing else to try but
another club, he did and then got the excellent news that the diamonds were not
running. East returned a heart at all tables and declarer knew to rise
with the HA. FInally it was a question of cashing the clubs - on which Patrick Shields painlessly threw (in order) a spade, two diamonds and another spade and then playign spades. Declarer nw knew that West started with a 4261 shape so with more spades than East. So he played the ace and king of spades and was rewarded when the SQ fell. That cost Wales 13 imps, |
|
Q984 K4 Q87653 K |
|
762 JT93 92 A973 |
|
|
|
KJ5 |
|
|
Q9 AKQ KJ97 8764 |
JT 43 AT865 KT92 |
The
bidding at most tables started with 1H from South and a 1N overcall,
raised usually to 3N. The lead was a small heart and the first problem
was to get the diamonds right. Since North would have supported hearts
with three hearts and a singleton diamond, finessing against South was
ruled out and indeed North held Q4. On the run of the diamonds South
discarded a spade from AK6, as a result of which he was later put on
play in spades and had to lead away from his CA to give Patrick Shields
a ninth trick. The EBU declarer gained in the same manner against
Northern Ireland. |