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Hand played on |
January 13th 2010, Gold Cup Match (Teams of Four) |
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Board number |
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Dealer |
West |
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Vulnerability |
North / South vulnerable |
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Submitted by |
Alaric Cundy |
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North ♠ Qx ♥ QJx ♦ AQJTx ♣ KQx |
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West ♠ KJTxx ♥ x ♦ x ♣ AJTxxx |
East ♠ A9xx ♥ 9xxx ♦ 9xxxx ♣ void |
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North |
Bidding:
East |
South |
West |
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South ♠ xx ♥ AKxxx ♦ Kx ♣ xxxx |
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1♦ x 4♥
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No 2♠ 4♠
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1♥ 3♥ x |
No 2♥ (1) No End |
In the other room, our partners played the North / South cards in 4♥. With their combined 27 HCPs and 8-card trump fit, the prospects looked quite good. Potentially there are eleven winners - five in each red suit, plus a club, though there are three obvious top losers. At the table, the defenders additionally found a club ruff, so North / South were left to curse their luck as they recorded -100. However, you never know what is unfolding in the other room....
(1) West's 2♥ bid on the second round was Michaels style, and showed a black two-suiter that wasn't good enough to open initially. 2♦ would have conveyed a similar message and there was some debate after the event as to what would be the difference between 2♦ and 2♥ . What was intended was 'this is a better collection than it might have been'.
East's initial 2♠ bid was automatic, but a few seconds reflection were needed before East later decided to sacrifice in 4♠. North / South had not only shown good values but also a lot of red cards. East too had lots of red cards, and it was quite likely that partner was void in one or other. The prospects of making at least 8 tricks on a cross-ruff at favourable vulnerability, even after an initial trump lead, looked good, so East was not unhappy to be left in 4♠ doubled. East was even happier when Dummy appeared and tricks one and two unfolded.
South led off with the ♦K, overtaken by North, who switched to the ♥Q followed by the ♥J, which was ruffed in Dummy. The cross-ruff was now set up and Declarer could sniff the possibility of ten tricks. The ♣A was led from Dummy, on which Declarer discarded a heart, and then a small Club was ruffed in hand. When the ♣Q appeared en route from North things were beginning to look even better from Declarer's point of view. A Diamond was ruffed in Dummy and another club was ruffed in hand, felling the ♣K, to leave the position below, with the Defenders having been restricted to two tricks thus far.
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North ♠ Qx ♥ x ♦ QJTx ♣ void |
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West ♠
♥ void ♦ void ♣ JTx |
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East ♠ A9 ♥ 9 ♦ ♣ void |
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South ♠ xx ♥ AKx ♦ void ♣ x |
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Declarer laid down the Ace of trumps and when both defenders followed, the contract was secure. The plan was to play a spade to the King and then to run the now established Clubs. The worst that could happen would be that a defender was able to ruff a Club, but Dummy's last trump would provide a critical entry to claim the rest of the tricks. When in practice the spades divided 2-2 Declarer scored the bonus of an overtrick, for a score of +690.
Sometime in the midst of scoring up the partners were congratulated on finding such a splendid save in 4♥-1 with their 27 HCPs - not even doubled!