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Daily Bridge in New Zealand

 

Trans- Tasman Challenge Returns.

A reformed Trans-Tasman Challenge started last night with the first of 8 x 16 board matches between top Australian and New Zealand teams. Teams can have up to 8 players so as to cut down on the need for substitutes.

The first round saw 6 victories for Kiwi teams while in another, Livingston only lost to the Australian Seniors by 2 imps. First-round winners were:

1

 

Aust. Mixed

20.00

       

2

 

Skipper

16.88

       

3

 

Terry

16.73

       

4

 

Cornell

13.52

       

5

 

Fisher

12.80

       

6

 

NZ Youth

11.76

       

7

 

Carter

11.48

       

8

 

Aust. Seniors

10.61

 

How would you approach this collection?

Bridge in NZ.png nz map.jpg

 

A

K

K J 8 7 6 4 3 2

K Q 5

 

West

North

East

South

 

 

Pass

Pass

1 ♠

?

 

 

Only one’s opponents are vulnerable and the one thing that is certain is that you are unclear as to who can make what! Back in the days when I was a little younger than I am now, there was just one bid for this collection, 5Diamond-small, and if the opponents dared to bid 5Spade-small on top of this, one would double to let the other three players at the table know the 5Diamond-small bidder had a decent hand.

Well, that approach still has some support as at 6 of the 16 tables, the direct 5Diamond-small bid was made though only once did the opponents bid on to 5Spade-small and then North did not double.

4 North players started with a take-out double and 3 with a somewhat heavyweight 2Diamond-small. The advantage of that was to see how far one’s opponents wanted to bid and then to bid once more. At the other three tables, South opened (hearts and a minor) which did slow their auctions down.

Here then were the four hands:

East Deals
E-W Vul

A

K

K J 8 7 6 4 3 2

K Q 5

Q 10 7 4 2

A Q J 9 7

A

10 8

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

K 9 8 6 5

6 2

Q 10 9

9 6 3

 

J 3

10 8 5 4 3

5

A J 7 4 2

 

West

North

East

South

 

 

Pass

Pass

1 ♠

?

 

 

In theory, those three North’s who stopped in a diamond partial (twice after South’s 2Heart-small opening) had done well as they recorded a plus though theory and reality do not always match and three North players bid and made 5Diamond-small when after getting the spade lead, they played Club-smallK to the Club-smallA and tried a trump. As we can see, West must now cash Heart-smallA or else this contract will make (ruff the spade return, play Diamond-smallK and then 3 more rounds of clubs) . Perhaps, it depends on the number of spades East had bid over 2Diamond-small and to an extent the spade led. A great hand for 3rds and 5ths leads with Spade-small5 unlikely to be a third.

However, it is hard to see (from West’s point of view) how the defence will prevail without a heart trick and after the Heart-smallA is cashed, the contract cannot make.

I could not bare to bid less than 5Diamond-small on the North hand as otherwise, how will South value two small diamonds? Had East gone on to 5Spade-small, West needs to be sharp to keep the losses to 1 down, especially hard if South had started with 2Heart-small. While most in 5Diamond-small did fail (7 out of 10…some doubled), I would be very nervous defending 4Spade-small hoping that the Heart-smallK will score a trick.

So, I will not be changing my style with that North hand.

The next round of the Challenge is on Friday April 5th.

Richard Solomon

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