AK AK AKQJ93 QJ8 J864 T

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Lucas Harvey
5 years ago
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1 Brisbane Zone GNOT Finals by Paul Hooykaas The Brisbane Zone GNOT finals were held at Redlands bridge club, on the first weekend in October. The following three teams qualified for the National finals at Banora Point at the end of November. Julia Leung/David Appleton/Paul Hooykaas/Pele Rankin/Therese Tully Richard Wallis Elizabeth Gibson/Jocelyn Steele/John Steele/Neil Gibson Bruce Carroll/Gayle McCarthy/Judith Power/Paul Roberts Only 4 of our 6 person team were available for the Brisbane zone final. Richard Wallis had work commitments in Western Australia and David Appleton was busy winning the NZ Teams in Hamilton (note - there were three Queenslanders in this team - David, Ziggy Konig and Jimmy Wallis). This meant that regular partnerships were forced to reconsider. The pairings were Julia with me and Pele with Therese. Julia played solid, consistent bridge all weekend, while Pele and Therese have a good track record, being part of the Queensland Women's team that won this year's ANC, and, more recently members of the winning women's team at the Spring Nationals (note - there were three Queenslanders in this team - Pele, Therese and Paula McLeish). Enough of that - bring on some hands. Many players, sitting North, found it difficult to stop bidding with this hand. How would your partnership cope? Dealer South NS Vul AK AK AKQJ93 QJ8 T T5 AT963 Q52 QJ K42 J864 T Natural systems will start with a 2 bid. Since there is no perfect sequence of continuations, there are many variations. Pele and I use 2 as an artificial bid denying a control (A or K). Opener can now bid 3NT knowing that slam is not makeable. Equally if the response is 2, promising at least one control, 6NT is safe. There is now plenty of time to set diamonds, ask for key cards and then for kings, to see if the final contract should be 7NT. I find the next hand interesting. As it turned out, the imps were in the plus column, but it might easily have been a big loss.

2 Dealer West All Vul J QJ6 AKQ8 QT6 J A752 J7653 AKT9765 KT983 4 AK952 Q832 4 T92 You pick up the East hand. Your partner passes and North, not unexpectedly, bids 1. Following the principle that you should make the opponents guess last (particularly with partner a passed hand), I bid an immediate 5. It is now difficult for South to do anything other than bid 5 perhaps wondering if they are missing a slam. As it turns out there are only 10 tricks available in spades. At the other table East bid 2 at their first turn. The opposition quickly got to 4 and now East tried 5. North doubled this and East, noticing the disparity in the red suits corrected to 5. South doubled, and there were only 10 tricks available. 5, however, is unbeatable and would have been worth 750. Consulting partner, by passing 5 X, is certainly an option. This is a perfect illustration of how difficult it is to get 5 level decisions right. In the above hand it is correct for NS to save over 5 but wrong over 5. If you somehow knew that the opponents could make 11 tricks in one red suit, but not the other, it would be clear to make the insurance bid of 5. Opposite a 1NT opening, the percentage action with a hand, and enough for game, is to simply bid 3NT. Fewer tricks are needed, there is no ruffing potential and the opponents are given minimal information. Of course it does not always work. Dealer North All Vul 932 JT A7632 A96 AQ6 AK94 J95 Q32 KT4 Q865 K84 K85 J QT 74

3 Both tables in our match played this hand in 3NT. Neither North had any trouble finding the diamond lead. One off, and a flat board. You will notice that despite having mirrored hands, the favourable diamond layout allows 4 to make. As West you find yourself in 4 after North has overcalled 2. QJ652 The defence starts A, small club to the King and then a diamond back to the Ace. Now North puts the Q on the table. The remaining cards are: QJ65 If you pitch a heart from dummy, ruffing in hand, you have good chances of setting up the heart suit. I make it about 60%, although I won t bore you with the maths. The other option is to take the heart finesse, either immediately, or after drawing trumps. There are some layouts which will result in defeat even with the King onside so the chances of success are slightly less than 50%,. Unfortunately the complete hand was as follows, so pitching a heart led to one down AT83 AQ7542 QJ652 T73 KJ32 K74 K83 At the other table the ruff and sluff was not offered, so declarer s only option was the winning heart finesse. Working with the odds may be misleading. You might wonder if North would make the club play if they held the K - an almost guaranteed setting trick.

4 You pick up the North cards, two 6-card majors each headed by KQJ, and convince yourself that you won t be defending. At one table East had a 3 opening, showing clubs and a major, at least 5/5 with a good club suit I wonder how often that comes up. It worked well on this hand. West raised to 5 and North was stymied, particularly knowing that LHO had a 5 card major! Dealer East NS Vul KQJ974 KQJ872 - A32 - KJ854 Q8753 T6543 AQ KJT962 T865 A9 T7632 A4 At our table East opened the bidding with 1 and then showed hearts. The bidding reached 5 quite quickly for a flat board. If North perseveres, they need to be prepared to play at the 6 level, since EW make 12 tricks in clubs.. After West opens 1, both Norths found the aggressive 2 overcall. At our table we bid to 4 and were allowed to play there. Our team mates found the good 5 game and EW tried 5 which was doubled by South. Therese must have had some concerns, but in this case her hand s lack of defensive tricks worked in her favour. Any spade contract hinges on the heart finesse, which can be taken against either opponent. Once South shows up with the A, both declarers quite reasonably placed the Q in the North hand. Bad luck but one down compared to two down doubled proved to be a handy pick up. Dealer South All Vul AK9763 Q72 AKQJT2 KJT9 Q A42 84 K43 Q763 JT52 AJT85

5 .Therese and Pele bid a nice 3NT with the NS cards. The lacking high card points are compensated by the fine diamond suit. Dealer South NS Vul 92 AQ3 AQJT32 QT KT K92 AJ8743 J2 75 Q53 K65 87 K84 A8764 And to emphasise that a surplus of HCP does not guarantee game, look at the following example: Dealer East NS Vul Q97 JT65 KQ AKT J A64 Q973 A KJT2 AK8 T4 QJ64 At both tables North played in 3NT after showing a balanced with a 4 card heart suit. As East, you lead a diamond and partner contributes the Jack. Declarer wins with the Queen and then leads the 9. Any alarm bells ringing? Give declarer 15 HCP for the moment, add dummy s 14 and your 10. That leaves partner with at most a Jack and you have just seen it! Given time, declarer can probably establish 10 or 11 winners. But if his diamond holding is KQ tight, you can beat this by rising A and continuing with the A. Your pips in the diamond suit will prevent any chance of a blockage. If you duck the spade, think about the discards you will have to make when declarer plays 4 rounds of clubs. You can follow twice and then pitch a spade, but then you either have to throw a diamond (the setting trick) or come down to doubleton queen of hearts. Alternatively, if North is allowed to sneak through a spade trick, the heart finesse is another route to nine tricks.

STRONG HAND BIDDING. N E S W North Dealer 2NT P 3 # P No one Vul 3 P 4NT P Opening Lead:??? 5 P 6NT

STRONG HAND BIDDING. N E S W North Dealer 2NT P 3 # P No one Vul 3 P 4NT P Opening Lead:??? 5 P 6NT 1 (Dlr) AK3 KT76 AT6 AK9 N E S W Dealer 2NT P 3 # P No one Vul 3 P 4NT P Opening Lead:??? 5 P 6NT Q865 A983 74 532 J2 QJ KQJ852 Q87 T974 542 93 JT64 Bidding analysis: pulls a major fast one here: she has