The Camrose 2009. Second Weekend. Captain's Log.

Friday evening

Wales first match was against Ireland, the holders. It was a bit disappointing - we lost 9-21 - suffering a double game swing in the first stanza and missing some opportunities in the second. Since we beat them 22-8 in the first weekend, at least we win the trophy for the head-to-head with them. England beat their second team "EBU" to take the overall lead. We lie 4th just 7 VPs behind the leaders. All to play for.

This was the double swing from the first stanza against Ireland

In one room our West opened 1C and eventually sold out to 4S that made.

The Irish West opened 5C which North naturally doubled, and equally naturally led the DA. The contract can now always be made - can you see how?

West wins, draws trumps and plays the HK. Our North took this, and it was now easy. Consider what happens when North ducks the HK. West now cashes all but one trump, leaving a 5 card ending like this:

Now he leads another H, N must duck, dummy wins, the D is ruffed, and another H endplays N to lead up to the SK.

Saturday morning

Wales first match on Saturday was against Scotland. We lost 10-19 (one VP fined for late start), another disappointment. The deciding hand was where Scotland bid 7C needing to find the SQ. If either defender throws a heart, the count there is revealed, and declarer thus learns the spade distribution so it becomes 4-2 that West has it. They did throw hearts, and West did have the SQ. The Welsh pair in the other room knew the SQ was missing, so stopped in 6.

Despite these two poor results, we are still only 13 VPs behind the joint leaders, Ireland and the EBU.

Saturday afternoon

Now for the crucial match against the EBU, the leaders after the first weekend. They have a different, perhaps stronger, team out this weekend.

The first stanza again sees us down, by 25-47. One of our pairs bids two very poor slams on consecutive boards; fortunately one makes on a strange choice of lead. They redeem themselves with a doubled game that makes with an overtrick. On another hand we bid a thin 5C game; declarer seems to be playing the double dummy line to make it until he loses his way towards the end. Things don't look well.

The second stanza sees us playing well at last but the boards ebb and flow. An early solid slam, bid in both rooms, fails when trumps are 5-0 offside. Opponents make a simple overcall on a huge hand and miss a game. We investigate a slam which is just missing two aces and go off unluckily when a 5-1 split means we run into a ruff. Then an opponent holding DKQJxxxx over declarer's A10x extravagantly signals with the King; unfortunately for him his partner has none so cannot lead the suit, and then declarer is able to run the D9 into him for an endplay; another game swing.

Then on the last hand they play 4H the wrong way round, and we find the only lead to beat it. In the other room we play 3NT; the defence are given a chance to beat it, but choose wrong in an exciting end position. The result is a loss by just one IMP, a tie on VPs 15-15.

Meanwhile the Scottish team annihilate Ireland. The Scots, bottom of the table after the first weekend, are playing really well this time and are marching up into contention. Perhaps our loss to them this morning wasn't so silly. We lie 4th just two VPs behind Ireland.

Sunday morning

We play Northern Ireland. In the first stanza we get too high one one hand - 5 Hearts one off. Our declarer found an imaginative line to go off in another game. In a difficult 4H they found a more challenging lead than we did, and although Deep Finesse could make it, neither our declarer nor I (watching all four hands) could. A mis-fitting 3NT came home though as well as a few smaller swings. So we were 12 down at half time.

The second half saw us playing much better. A short but very effective auction saw us bid a very good slam.

Playing Precision, Paul Denning opened 1H and was able to show the quality of his hand by rebidding 3D over 1S. Patrick Shields appreciated the value of his red and Spade honours and found the excellent bid of 5H putting the spotlight on his club losers. Paul could now bid 6H in confidence.

Playing 3NT one way round avoided the killing spade lead, and we were leading by 20 at one time. Some part-score losses led to a narrow overall win, just 4 IMPs or 16-14 in VPs.

Ireland lost heavily to England so we have moved up to third overall. It is still arithmetically possible for us to win the Camrose. We just have to beat England 25-4 and have Scotland beat the EBU by 24-6 or better. And pigs might fly.

Sunday afternoon

A brilliant stanza - we lead England 51-18. Most of the 18 comes from missing a very cheap save over their game. On one hand we make 2D doubled plus two in one room and 4H doubled the other way for a 15 IMP gain. The English declarer in 3NT plays a suit for minimum tricks. We make 3NT when even 1NT could have been beaten in the other room. And a few smaller swings. Unfortunately Scotland are collapsing against the EBU, so the pigs are grounded.

The last set is a bit of an anticlimax. We lose when they bid a lucky grand slam. The last hand sees us 13 ahead. It is a potential 6S which is only beaten by a Diamond lead. We stop in game and the D lead means 11 tricks. If they bid and make 6S, the match is a tie. If they bid and go off in 6S, we win by 26, and take home the trophy for the head-to-head with the English teams. They stop in game, so we win by 13, and they get the bilateral trophy.

We finish third overall on 150 VPs. "EBU", the English second team win with 176. England have 167. A creditable performance, with the satisfaction of beating England to deny them the Camrose trophy and impose the humiliation of being bettered by their own second string. We won two matches, lost two and drew one this weekend. But Wales have still to win the Camrose after many years of trying.

Back next year!