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Day Two in Hong Kong

A Second Day Unbeaten.

That’s the story of the New Zealand Open Team at the APBF Championships in Hong Kong. They made steady progress, retained pole position and each match scored more vps than their opponents. These are their results on and the leading positions of the top group after Day 2:

1

New Zealand

99.49

       

2

India

 

86.47

       

3

China

 

85.72

       

4

Singapore

82.20

       

5

Chinese Taipei

80.37

 

Round

       

4

v

China Macau

54-23

17.19

5

v

China Hong Kong

26-24

10.66

6

v

Indonesia

24-22

10.66

7

v

Australia

43-27

14.42

 

Before we check on the other two Kiwi teams, put yourselves in the position of Ashley Bach and Michael Whibley as there are three decisions to take:

     

North Deals
None Vul

 

N

W

 

E

S

   
 

K Q

K Q 3

A K J 9 7

A K 9

 

West

North

East

South

 

Cornell

 

Bach

 

2 

Pass

2 NT

Pass

3 ♠

Pass

?

2Diamond-small is a poor Weak 2 in a major (4-7 ish hcp) and 3Spade-small said maximum with spades.

     

Board 22
East Deals
E-W Vul

 

N

W

 

E

S

   
 

A 10 3

A

A Q J 3

K Q 7 5 2

 

West

North

East

South

 

 

Pass

1 ♣

2 ♣

3 ♣

3 

Dbl

Pass

3 ♠

Pass

?

Your 1Club-small is 2+. 2Club-small shows both Majors, Michael’s style. You double on-going but now what?

     

Board 20
West Deals
E-W Vul

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

A J 9 8 7 6

8

10 3

8 6 5 3

 

West

North

East

South

1 

Dbl

1 ♠

Pass

2 

2 NT

All pass

 

Your lead?

 

Here are yesterday’s results and current positions of the other Kiwi teams:

Women

             

Round

       

1

China

 

96.16

     

4

v

Chinese Taipei

22-53

2.81

             

5

v

Korea

18-17

10.33

2

Singapore

93.69

     

6

v

Thailand

40-25

14.19

         

 

 

7

v

Indonesia

22-38

5.58

3

China Hong Kong

91.01

               
                       

7

Thailand

63.85

               
                       

8

New Zealand

63.10

               
                       

 

Mixed                                                                                                  Round

1

China

 

105.36

     

4

 

India

30-39

7.29

             

5

 

Singapore

20-48

3.28

7

Thailand

64.86

     

6

 

Australia

32-41

7.29

             

7

 

Chinese Taipei

22-32

7.03

8

China Hong Kong

64.21

               
                       

9

Korea

 

64.21

               
                       

10

New Zealand

51.11

               
                       

11

Philippines

48.84

               

 

All three problems above came from the New Zealand Open Team’s match against China Hong Kong.

In the first, it seemed normal for Ashley Bach (South) to use Roman Key Card and bid 6Spade-small on hearing his partner held one of the missing aces. Surely it would be the Spade-smallA but it was not!

North Deals
None Vul

10 9 8 7 6 2

A J 5

Q 5 3

J

A J 4

10 9 7 6 4

6

Q 8 5 3

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

5 3

8 2

10 8 4 2

10 7 6 4 2

 

K Q

K Q 3

A K J 9 7

A K 9

 

West

North

East

South

 

Cornell

 

Bach

 

2 

Pass

2 NT

Pass

3 ♠

Pass

4 NT

Pass

5 ♣

Pass

6 ♠

All pass

 

 

 

That was not terminal but when the Spade-smallJ refused to appear in two rounds, the slam had to fail. When the China Hong Kong North did not open, the damage could have been really bad. However, to the partial rescue came Michael (“who needs high cards to open”) Whibley!

West              North             East                South

Brown                                    Whibley
Pass                Pass                1Club-small!                  x

1Diamond-small                   3Spade-small                   Pass                4Diamond-small

Pass                5Diamond-small                   All Pass

North-South found the suit where slam could be made. 1Diamond-small showed hearts and this time, 1Club-small showed not very much at all! The damage was thus restricted to 10 imps. 

NZ Open Team in Hong Kong

Open team Hong Kong 23.JPG 
Only Michael Cornell may be smiling but the 6 players have much to be happy 
about after 2 days of competition. 

from the front: Matt Brown and Michael Cornell 
                        Ashley Bach and Michael Whibley
                        Peter Newell and Martin Reid

Ashley was again in the hot seat when he held his 20 count and everyone else seemed to be doing a lot of bidding with not very much. Trusting his partner for his free bid of 3Club-small, he jumped to the club slam and was not to be disappointed:

Board 22
East Deals
E-W Vul

J 8 4

9 2

K 6 5

A J 10 8 4

Q 9 7 5 2

K Q J 10 8 7

9

6

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

K 6

6 5 4 3

10 8 7 4 2

9 3

 

A 10 3

A

A Q J 3

K Q 7 5 2

 

West

North

East

South

 

Cornell

 

Bach

 

 

Pass

1 ♣

2 ♣

3 ♣

3 

Dbl

Pass

3 ♠

Pass

6 ♣

All pass

 

 

 

After drawing trumps, he could discard one spade on the 4th round of diamonds losing just a spade for + 920. That gained 11 imps for New Zealand when after Whibley-Brown bid up to 3Heart-small on the East-West cards, China Hong Kong settled for 5Club-small.

Do you lead your suit or your partner’s against the opponents’ no trump contract? Michael Whibley had a decent suit of his own but no outside entries. His partner had shown 6 hearts and could have entries to run his heart suit. So, Michael chose his singleton Heart-small8….and a wise choice it was:

Board 28
West Deals
N-S Vul

K Q 5

A K 2

K Q 7 6 4

A K

10

Q J 9 7 6 5

A J 5

Q 7 2

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

A J 9 8 7 6

8

10 3

8 6 5 3

 

4 3 2

10 4 3

9 8 2

J 10 9 4

 

West

North

East

South

Brown

 

Whibley

 

1 

Dbl

1 ♠

Pass

2 

2 NT

All pass

 

North had to lose the lead twice to Matt in diamonds and that enabled the defence to take four heart tricks, two diamonds and Spade-smallA for down 2. Meanwhile, the stakes were even higher at the other table as Michael Cornell, North, had jumped to 3NT.

East chose to lead a low spade and Michael would have thought he was not going to be successful. He gave up a diamond to West but there was no second spade return. Instead, after a long pause, West chose a small heart which Michael passed to dummy’s Heart-small10. Suddenly, Michael had three tricks in each red suit, a spade and Club-smallAK…+600  and 13 very valuable imps.

We will be back tomorrow to report on Day 3 and with more stories.

Richard Solomon

 

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