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Daily Bridge in New Zealand

APBF Day 5: Little Change.

That could sum up the results of our four teams on Day 5 of the competition. Our Open Team dropped one place to 11th, hugely clear of the bottom 2 and still realistically in reach of 7th placed Japan 16.67 vps ahead. They recorded bad losses to China (3.79) and Indonesia (3.97) before a small 10.33 win over Chinese Taipei and a small 8.13 loss to  Hong Kong China. Meanwhile, Australia which includes former Kiwis James Coutts and Liam Milne, lie a close 2nd.

Our Ladies have made 5th place their own with higher progress unlikely with Hong Kong China one place higher and 38.76 vps ahead. Their latest results saw 2 losses, Indonesia (3.28) and Japan (9.03) and 2 wins over  Hong Kong China(10.66) and Korea (13.72).

It was though a better day for our Mixed Team who finished on a high with a 67-19 imp victory over Indonesia (19.28). They also recorded a 17.91 win over Thailand and 2 small losses, Singapore 8.13 and Japan 8.42. They finished the day in 6th place with Japan and Indonesia well within their sights.

It was a disappointing day for our Seniors who recorded 3 losses, Australia 4.34, Indonesia 5.81 and China 7.29. They have dropped to 5th place, nearly 15 vps behind 4th placed Indonesia. Australia led the way, about 31 vps ahead of the Kiwis.

Would you open this hand at all vul?

 

Spade-small

K 8 4 3

Heart-small

6

Diamond-small

A 10 5 4

Club-small

K 9 3 2

 

West

North

East

South

Pass

?

 

 

Back to this shortly.

 

The following board was very well played by Lysandra Zheng in the Open Team’s match against Thailand, which resulted in a high-scoring loss.

Board 7
South Deals
Both Vul

Spade-small

Q 6 4 2

Heart-small

K J 9 7

Diamond-small

J 4

Club-small

A 9 6

Spade-small

10 9 8 7

Heart-small

10 2

Diamond-small

A 10 3 2

Club-small

Q 10 7

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

Spade-small

3

Heart-small

Q 8 6 5

Diamond-small

Q 9 7 6 5

Club-small

K J 8

 

Spade-small

A K J 5

Heart-small

A 4 3

Diamond-small

K 8

Club-small

5 4 3 2

 

4 Spade-small by North

Most Open declarers were South after they opened a 15-17 1NT and responded 2Spade-small to their partner’s Stayman enquiry. However, Tim Pan opened a Precision 1Club-small and then relayed the board with North, Lysandra, as declarer. While she was favoured by Diamond-small5 lead from East as opposed to a rather unhelpful Spade-smallT from West players, she still had plenty of work to do to make 4Spade-small. Also, the opposition knew the exact shape of her hand.

She ducked the opening lead to West’s Diamond-smallA. West continued diamonds with Lysandra playing Spade-smallAK to discover the bad break. She did not want to commit to taking the heart finesse just yet and so played Club-smallA and a second club with West overtaking East’s Club-smallJ with Club-smallQ to play a third round of trumps.

On the second and third rounds of trumps, East had discarded diamonds. Lysandra won the third round of trumps with Spade-smallJ in dummy. She decided to play “no trumps” by playing a fourth round of trumps, with East again discarding a diamond, Diamond-smallQ, presumably from an original 5-card suit. East’s discarding had been quite slow and Lysandra guessed that East held more hearts than his partner. So, she guessed that the simple heart finesse was likely to fail.

Backing her judgement, she placed Heart-smallJ on the table and when East played low, so did Lysandra from dummy. So, she had or was about to take 3 heart tricks, 4 spades, a diamond and Club-smallA. She needed a tenth trick and exited a small club to East’s Club-smallK. East was left with Heart-smallQ86 and dummy’s Club-small5 became Lysandra's 10th trick.

Certainly, she was helped with the opening lead but she put maximum pressure on her opponents and displayed good table presence, too. Only 2 out of 11 declarers in the Open field made 4Spade-small, the majority failing by two tricks.
                   Our Ladies' Team

APBF 25 Ladies Team.JPG  
Kinga Hajmasi, Candice Smith, Kate Terry, Mindy Wu, Andi Boughey, Carol Richardson, Kris Wooles (npc)

Back then to our 10 hcp hand. Kate Terry had no qualms about opening 1Diamond-small. This was the subsequent auction:

West Deals
Both Vul

Spade-small

K 8 4 3

Heart-small

6

Diamond-small

A 10 5 4

Club-small

K 9 3 2

Spade-small

A 6 2

Heart-small

J 9 7

Diamond-small

J 9 7 2

Club-small

10 8 4

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

Spade-small

J 9

Heart-small

A K 10 8 5 4 3 2

Diamond-small

Q 8

Club-small

7

 

Spade-small

Q 10 7 5

Heart-small

Q

Diamond-small

K 6 3

Club-small

A Q J 6 5

 

West

North

East

South

 

Kate Terry

 

Mindy Wu

Pass

1 Diamond-small

4 Heart-small

Dbl

Pass

4 Spade-small

All pass

 

Kate’s opening made it easy for Mindy to make a take-out double. Mindy was able to make her vulnerable game comfortably. Meanwhile, in the other room, North did not open. East opened 4Heart-small and South found it too hard to double. Not only that but three early rounds of diamonds set up a discard for a black suit loser and 4Heart-small made, a nice double game swing.

Kate had a key part to play in our Ladies’ 17 imp gain against  Hong Kong China on the following board. The following was the bidding when Kinga and Candice bid their way to an aggressive slam:

Board 5
North Deals
N-S Vul

Spade-small

A Q 9 6 5 3

Heart-small

Diamond-small

J 10 6

Club-small

A K Q 4

Spade-small

K J 8

Heart-small

10 9 6 4

Diamond-small

K Q 8 3

Club-small

J 7

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

Spade-small

10

Heart-small

K 8 7 5 3 2

Diamond-small

7 4 2

Club-small

10 5 3

 

Spade-small

7 4 2

Heart-small

A Q J

Diamond-small

A 9 5

Club-small

9 8 6 2

 

West

North

East

South

 

Candice Smith

 

Kinga Hajmasi

 

1 Spade-small

Pass

3 Heart-small

Pass

4 Club-small

Pass

4 Diamond-small

Pass

4 NT

Pass

5 Heart-small

Pass

6 Spade-small

All pass

 

3Heart-small was Bergen, 10-11 hcp with 3 spades. Two cue bids followed and then key card, not always ideal when one has a void. However, Candice was fairly confident one of her partner’s key cards was Diamond-smallA. It all depended on the opening lead and East chose to attack with a small heart.

Candice seized her chance, finessing successfully and then showing good technique by playing a spade to the ace (no singleton Spade-smallK today), then a diamond to the ace, Heart-smallA discarding her other diamond and then a second trump..12 tricks.

The China Hong Kong pair at the other table had a similar cue-bidding auction. However, there was one small but very significant difference. Kate Terry (West) doubled 4Diamond-small. That did not seem to worry North-South but it meant Mindy Wu (East) could lead a diamond against 6Spade-small after which the slam could not be made. A very sensible double.

Richard Solomon

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