GCBA NEWSLETTER
MONDAY COMPETITIONS / Season 2008-9 / March 2009

Programme

The Monday Programme for March is:

  • 2nd League
  • 9th Spring Pairs 2
  • 16th Swiss Teams 7
  • 23rd Spring Pairs 3
  • 30th Spring Pairs Final

Other events for your calendar

25th Rank Xerox teams

Bridge Story

Two experts had a bidding misunderstanding, playing a laydown grandslam in a part score that went off. On returning to team-mates they certainly apologised: ‘Sorry, we missed the grand’.

GCBA Results

The Morgan Brown individual was won by Geoff Foster.

The leaders in the County Pairs Final were: 1) Judy Sanis & Roger Jackson 2) Dan McIntosh & Derek Rue. 3)= Roger Schofield & Roy Collard, 3)= Norah Allen & Anne Swannell. They will be invited to represent Gloucestershire in the Corwen Trophy.

The No Fear Cup was won by Mrs M Bridgewater & H Fatieman

National News

In the EBU London year end congress Dan McIntosh came a creditable 4th, out of over 90 teams, playing in a team of juniors.

International news

After the first weekend of the Camrose Trophy Wales, including Paul Denning and Patrick Shields are lying 2nd out of 6 teams, just 3VPs behind the leaders.

Dan McIntosh was in the England Under 20s who finished second in the Channel Trophy. They came above the French team who beat them in Beijing, but the overall winners were the Netherlands.

League hand

This hand from the 5 Jan League match offered interesting choices as well as traps for both pairs.

 KT53
 AT3
 --
 AKQT52
 AQJ876
 8
 AKT86
 3 / Board 10 Dealer : E
Vul : both /  2
 QJ64
 J5432
 J84
 94
 K9752
 Q97
 976

What should West open? One can count the hand as a 4-loser hand but it’s not a 9-trick hand, more like a 7-trick hand. Two suiters are very difficult with a 2-level opener, so 1 is clearly best.

Now North has the problem. His hand has plenty of playing strength but 3 would be pre-emptive, so he is forced into a double, intending to convert partner’s response to clubs. If you double and then change suit you are showing a strong hand, in this case a hand too good to overcall 2. Others chose an immediate 2 over 1but it’s very hard to get the strength of the hand across to partner after that start.

East passes and South bids 2. But now to West. Some chose at this point to make life difficult for the opponents by bidding 4 and got doubled there. When that was passed out, -1100.

More natural therefore for West to bid 3, which must be a good hand with at least 5-5 shape. Now North has a problem – does he really want to introduce his suit at the four level? Whether he does or not, East will show support with 4 and the focus goes back to West.

With a spade suit playable opposite a singleton, he may choose to offer 4 as a contract now. At this point various Norths decided to double. This had two effects – one was to ensure that even if East was tempted to pass 4he nowreturned to diamonds, where some days 4 will end the auction and drift quietly off.

The other effect comes when West is playing 5doubled, It was played a number of times but the majority failed. After a club and a club ruff, their first concern was the spade suit. They started with the A and then the Q which ran successfully. Sad to say, they couldn’t ruff another spade without an overruff and that was three losers.

West had listened to only part of what North’s double had told – as well as the K, it was strongly suggesting that North held four spades. So two ruffs will be needed. The winning sequence is for West to start with A, finding out the break, and then play A and ruff a small spade. Finesse T, cash K and take a ruffing finesse against North’s K.

Problem hand

North

 K 7 3

 J 4 3

 9 8 7

K Q 5 4

West

9 8 6

 7 6 5

 A J 5 4 3

 A 3

SouthWestNorthEast

2NT P 3NTP

P P

Playing teams of four you lead the 4 to your partner’s T and declarer wins Q. At trick 2 declarer leads 6 from his hand. Plan the defence. Answer at end of newsletter.

Ruffing squeeze. This hand from a seniors knockout match gave the Oxfordshire declarer a chance of a ruffing squeeze, but instead he chose to take the spade finesse and failed.

 A K J 6
 K 4 2
 K Q
 K 10 9 6
 7 5
 J T 7 6
 J T
 85 4 3 2 / Board : Dealer:
Vul: None /  Q T 9 4
 A Q 9 8 53
 6 3 2
 -
 8 3 2
 -
 A 9 8 7 54
 A Q J 7

SouthWest North East

2♣ 2♥

Dbl 4♥ Dbl P

6♦ P P Dbl

P P P

North’s 2♣ was Benji: his double on the second round showed a strong,balanced hand. West responded to East’s Lightner double by leading a club, which East ruffed. East exited with a trump. Suppose declarer plays down to this ending:

♠ A K

♥ K 4

♠ 7 5♠ Q T 9 ♥ T 7♥ A Q

♠ 8 3 2 . ♦ 4

With four tricks left these are the remaining cards, or rather these are the cards East would like to keep. East must have discarded something. If he has bared ♥A, enter dummy with ♠A

and ruff ♥4, making dummy’s ♥K a winner. If East has discarded a spade unblock ♠A K, ruff a heart and your ♠8 takes trick 13.

Might he have got this right? After drawing trumps he knows East started with three diamonds and no clubs. How about the majors? Could East have started with 3-7-3-0 shape? That means West raised to 4♥ with a 3-3-2-5 shape hand with not a semblance of a useful high card . The distribution shown does seem more likely, but paradoxically it would have been easier if dummy’s ♠J was replaced by a small spade, the ruffing squeeze now being the only chance.

Answer to Problem hand

With a combined total of at least 29 points declarer surely has enough tricks for his contract, unless you can gather five tricks first. Partner has at most two points so you have little chance of finding an entry to his hand to allow him to switch back to a diamond through declarer’s K, so your only realistic chance is to hope that declarer started with just doubleton K Q. Rise with your  A and lay down A. Of course if you play low on the club declarer will gratefully scoop in his ninth trick with dummy’s  K.