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Dealing with Disaster.

It happens someday to us all, whether you are playing in a World Championship final or in your first night out of classes at your club. You will get a bad result. How should you deal with that bad score? It’s hard but you must move on, push it out of your mind and concentrate on the next board.

This disaster did not occur in a World Championship final but when you have a slender lead of 10.9 imps going into the last 12 boards of the final of the Gold Coast Teams, you do not want to suffer a large penalty.

So, firstly, what would you do in the following situation as South with this lovely collection?

 

The answer is while you might like to run, the chances of finding a safer resting place are very slim. 1 promised at least 5 hearts.

So, you pass not happily but in the knowledge that your partner has a strong no-trump overcall. Also, on a good day, West or maybe even your partner might run from what looks like potentially an unpleasant contract.

This was not a good day as 1NTx became the final contract. Now, Michael Ware held the South hand and there was the added hope that North held a “comic no trump overcall”, something like a weak jump overcall in which case they would certainly have run. In fact, Michael had no choice but to pass as he said later that assuming North has a standard strong no-trump overcall, they cannot run with a hand like South’s. Yet, you would not run anyway.

Let the carnage begin:

 

South’s spades offered no comfort for the declarer. After 6 rounds, West able to request a club switch and after 4 tricks were taken there, West was able to cash A for down 5 or 1400. That is not a good outcome for North-South. Their opponents can make game assuming, on a diamond lead, they can take the club finesse the right way. Even then, it looks like 15 imps out.

No time to dwell on misfortune. On to the next board and misfortune was to strike Michael and his partner, Pete Hollands’, teammates:

 

 

Hugh McGann (West) and Matthew Thomson (East) bid to 6NT. 3NT showed 13-15 with no major. Hugh’s 6 was a try for grand slam after Matthew had signed off in 6 (4 was natural) but Matthew could not be sure of his partner’s honours and therefore signed off at the 6 level.

You may not call that a disaster but with 13 absolutely solid tricks in clubs or no-trumps, you would expect your opponents in the Teams final to outbid you.

That 10.9 imp lead must have been looking severely threatened at both tables.

Yet, there is no point in worrying about it: those bad scores are recorded. Just carry on and play good bridge.

The Ware team did just that: no “catch-up bridge.”

The outcomes

It is not often you see -1400 as a flat board. Ashley Bach sat South after the same auction on the first board, except his partner held a strong no-trump, no “comic” option. Ashley hoped this contract would not play too badly. It did.

Unluckily for both South players, 2, even with a 5-0 break, and 2 play a lot better than 1NT. Luckily for the South players, the problem was the same at the other table.

On then to the missed grand-slam. This was the bidding at the other table:

West                    East

2NT                      4NT

6                       Pass

Paul Dalley’s 2NT upgrade did not work out well.  Tony Nunn merely invited slam with 4NT and grand was never in the picture as Paul accepted with 6. That was a 2 imp gain for the Ware team, not 13 imps out.

Gold Coast Open Team winners

 
Michael Ware, Tom Jacob, Matthew Thomson, Brian Mace, Pete Hollands and Hugh McGann

(picture courtesy of Gold Coast Bridge Congress)

The result in the last 12 board set was 13-12 imps to Dalley with Ware winning the match by 9.9 imps. Never presume or get down over a bad result. Keep playing as good bridge as you can.

Richard Solomon

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