Ron's Blog

Just enough time to hold the Farewell Pairs before lunch and the journey home. The winners were Robyn and Tony Bowden (N-S) and Moira and John Penman (E-W).

The morning class was on support for partner and preferences. In the afternoon the group went on an island trip to Blue Lagoon. A few waded in to the very cold water.

The second session of the Championship Pairs was won by Anya Fabiny – Allison Fallon (N-S) and Gill Bezette – Lynn Bain (E-W). The overall winners were:

1. Anne Boekelaar – Tony Bowden
2. Leonie Heny – Jean Weeks
3. Kaye Hart – Jeff Carberry

Less than half the field found the best spot on this deal from Session 2 of the Pairs Championship:

Dealer West : North-South vulnerable

West	North	East	South
1	Pass	2	Pass
4	Pass

Four pairs played it there for +450. Three Easts went on and two perished in 6. It is not a terrible slam – just needs the spades 2-2, about a 40% chance. The other used 4NT Roman Key Card Blackwood and when West bid 5, one key card only, East knew two key cards were missing and subsided in 5, which made for a shared top.

3NT was bid three times and failed each time after a diamond lead when declarer had to lose the lead twice in spades. Two pairs played in 6NT, which is a very poor slam even if spades were 2-2.

Another day of bridge, with another class on defensive technique (unblocking, surround plays and entry-killing plays).

In the afternoon we had the Dolphin Pairs, won by Anya Fabiny (N-S) and Joan MacLennan – Pat Noble (E-W), a reprise from the Whale Watch Pairs last night.

At 6 pm about 20 of the group joined the Dolphin feeding where we go into the water up to about thigh deep and feed wild dolphins by hand.

We then had a Buffet Dinner, followed by the first session of the Tangalooma Pairs Championship. This session went to Kaye Hart – Jeff Carberry (N-S) with 60.4% and Anna Siganto – Bill Siganto (E-W) with 62%. The event is over two sessions , with the three best percentage totals over the two sessions being the medal winners.

This was a tough deal from the first session of the Pairs Championship:

Dealer West : East-West vulnerable

If West opens a weak 2, North should show the two-suiter if possible (via 4 leaping Michaels to show 5-5 in hearts and clubs, while some use 3 as Michaels here, but leaping Michaels is more attractive).

If Michaels is not available, then North should bid 3. In either case South will bid 4 whether East competes or not.

4 E-W looks like an OK spot, but it is hammered if North starts with a club.

Results: 4 doubled -500; 5 doubled –1100; 4 doubled –500; 3 –100; 4 –300; 4 +450 twice and 510; 5 +450, – 50 and –150; 6 doubled –300.

Morning class on defensive technique by creating trump tricks via promotion plays, refusing to over-ruff and uppercuts.

In the afternoon the group went on a Whale Watch Cruise. We saw plenty of whales in groups of twos and threes.

Evening: The Whale Watch Pairs was won by Anya Fabiny – Allison Fallon (N-S) and Joan McLellan – Pat Noble (E-W). How would you handle this problem:

South dealer : Both vulnerable

West	North	East	South
---	---	---	1
2	4	Pass	?

South has:

The double- jump to game (1 : 4 or 1 : 4) is played as weak, with good trump support and normally an unbalanced hand, even when there has been an overcall at the cheapest level. There are no guarantees of course, but with seven trumps, a void in hearts and top controls in the minors, South is entitled to jump to 6.

This was the full deal:

Thanks to the power of shape, North-South have an easy 6 with only 21 HCP of which the Q is useless. South ruffs the heart lead, draws the missing trump and ruffs the two club losers in dummy. One diamond has to be lost.

The board was played 12 times. Six pairs played in 6, the top score going to the lucky pair who were doubled in 6. One was doubled in 4 for +1190 and one was doubled in 5 for +1050, both scoring below average, while the shared bottom score went to 4 +680 four times.

Morning class on how to deal with strong opening hands.

In the afternoon the Moreton Bay Pairs was won by Glad Tulloch (N-S) and Kaye Hart – Jeff Carberry (E-W).

The evening Moreton Island Pairs went to Freda Herring – Jos Wallace (N-S) and Anne Boekelaar – Tony Bowden (E-W).

You are vulnerable against not. Right-hand opponent passes. What would you do with:

Make up your mind before looking at the full deal which arose in the Moreton Island Pairs.

South dealer : East-West vulnerable

West	North	East	South
---	---	---	Pass
3	Dble	Pass	4
All pass

Normally with such an eight-card suit you would open 4. Here the vulnerability indicates 3 only as you can count on only seven tricks.

North doubles for takeout and with 9 HCP South should insist on game. The options are 4, trusting the doubler to have four spades, or bid 4 to insist on game with a two-suiter or a three-suiter. If South bid 4, North would bid 4 and play it there. If North happened to have a 3-1-4-5 pattern, North would bid 5 over 4 and South would correct to 5.

In 4 declarer should pick the clubs correctly and make eleven tricks. Four pairs did exactly that. One South was in 5 for +420 (hard to see how that happened). At the other tables East-West played in 4 five times, twice doubled for –200, the others –100. One West managed to buy it in 3 for +140, the only plus score for East-West.

Today Suzie and I flew to Brisbane with our tournament directors, Matthew McManus and Ed Barnes for the Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort Bridge Holiday on Moreton Island. From the airport we took a maxi-cab with Shirley Brettle and Joyce Butler to the Pinkenba wharf where we boarded the Tangalooma flyer for the 75 minutes boat trip to the resort.

During the afternoon we set up the bridge room for the first session tonight, the Welcome Pairs. The winners were Kaye Hart – Jeff Carberry, North-South, and Margaret Dunn - Philippa Webber, East-West.

How would you play 4 as South on the 4 lead (from the Welcome Pairs):

West	North	East	South
---	Pass	Pass	1NT
Pass	2 (1)	Pass	2
Pass	4	All pass

(1) Transfer to spades
Lead: 4

Make your decision before reading further.

Your best move is to take the A, cross to the A and lead the Q. If west covers, you ruff. When West plays low, you throw the 5 from dummy. Loser on loser. Later you can pitch two hearts on the other diamond winners and make ten or eleven tricks, depending how you pick the spades. This was the full deal:

Seven pairs played in 4, making 11 tricks three times and 10 tricks four times. Two pairs played in spade part-scores, one was in 2 and one in 1NT.

Try this problem:

West dealer : North-South vulnerable

West	North	East	South
Pass	1	1	Dble (1)
Pass	2	Pass	3NT
All pass

(1) For takeout, 4+ hearts

West leads the 8: ten - jack - ace. South plays the 5: four - ace - seven and the 2 from dummy: king - ten - four. How should East continue?

Four matches today: We won the first 23-7, then a 15-15 draw, a loss of 13-17 to Braithwaite-Haughie who would finish second and an 11-19 loss in our last match to drop from fourth to fifth. These were the finishing positions:

Back to that problem:

Round 9: Board 12

West dealer : North-South vulnerable

West	North	East	South
Pass	1	1	Dble
Pass	2	Pass	3NT
All pass

Lead: 8

South took the A and, needing to set up the clubs, crossed to the A and led a low club. Hoffman won with the K and promptly switched to the Q to knock out dummy's entry. Lazer ducked, but Hoffman had a third heart to play. That was the end of dummy's club winners apart from the ace and declarer was two down for -200 and -6 Imps against the datum of N-S 50. Note that if Hoffman had continued with spades at trick 4, declarer has nine tricks.

Five matches today. Lost the first 14-16, then an 18-12 win, followed by a 9-21 loss, a 21-9 win and a 14-16 loss, so virtually average for the day and steady in our sixth place, a long way off the lead.

There are players who think that you cannot score significant penalties against a one-level contract in a suit. When the situation is right, penalties can be quite severe. Consider Board 13 from Round 9 in the Butler Open Stage 3:

North dealer : North-South vulnerable

West	North	East	South
---	Pass	1	1
Pass	Pass	Dble	All pass

Lead: 10

You cannot fault South’s overcall, even opposite a passed partner, but see what happened. The 10 was ducked in dummy. East encouraged and South won. The 2 exit was won by the 10 and the 6 came next, low from dummy and won by the 8.

East switched to the 8 and South won with the A. West played the Q on South’s 9 exit and East over took with the K. When East played the K, South ruffed with the 6, over-ruffed with the 9.

This was now the position:

West continued with the Q and South ducked. Now West played the A and, anxious to get a diamond switch, South discarded the 3. Left J-5-4 against South’s K-10, West played a heart. South won and led a low diamond. West rose with the Q and returned another heart. The defence scored the last two tricks with the A and a low trump. Declarer made three heart tricks and the A for three down and –800, a swing of 11 Imps against the Open datum of E-W 260. Women’s datum: E-W 260. Seniors’ datum: E-W 370.

Try this problem:

Dealer East : Both vulnerable

West	North	East	South
---	---	Pass	1 (1)
Pass	1	Pass	1NT (2)
Pass	2 (3)	Pass	2
Pass	3NT (4)	All pass

(1) 5-card majors
(2) 11-14
(3) Transfer to spades
(4) Choice of contracts

West leads the 8. Plan the defence for East.

Make up your mind before continuing.

Kieran Dyke of Sydney found a very pretty defence on Board 4, Round 3 of Stage 3 of the Butler Open Trials:

After the auction above, Bloom led the 8: queen – two from Dyke, low encouraging. Declarer ran the J, losing to the queen. Back came the 9, king from dummy and Dyke ducked again! A spade to the king and ace was followed by the J and now Dyke took the A and two more diamonds for one down, +100 and +11 Imps against the datum of N-S 480.

Try this problem:

North dealer : North-South vulnerable

West	North	East	South
---	Pass	3	Pass
?

What would you do as West with:

Make up your mind before continuing

Tuesday 29th July: The last five matches of Stage 2. We need to score around about average for the day to avoid the cut. We lose the first 13-17, then win 16-14, 20-10, 20-10 so that we cannot miss out any more. We are solidly ensconced in fifth place and our 11-19 loss in the final match changes nothing. No pairs of note missed out in Stage 1 and none were cut out in Stage 2 either.

In our division with one match to go, the pairs contesting the 6th and 7th berths were on 189, 177, 177, 177, 176, 176, 174 and 164. In theory any of these could make it, but the real excitement was for those in the 170s.

This was Board 21 from Round 11.

North dealer: North-South vulnerable

West	North	East	South
---	Pass	3	Pass
4	All pass

Since 3 would be forcing, the choice is to pass 3 or bid 4.

Hoping for a little more in with partner like the A, the Q and a couple of spades, I went for the bigger result. In practice 4 went three down and 3 would have the same outcome. That was -150 for -3 Imps against the datum of N-S 60.