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Fuxia Wen and Ian Berrington, Mixed Teams finalists. 

The Mixed Pairs Trial.

Monday sees the final day of the National Mixed Trial to determine which of 8 teams will represent New Zealand at the World Mixed Teams in Denmark in August and also the APBF in China in May. The winning teams will take a chosen third pair with them from the trial.

The trial started on Friday morning with  4 stanza 20 board quarter-finals. These saw perhaps the 4 fancied teams, Ware, Fisher, Carter and Berrington advance to the semi-finals, Ware and Fisher quite comfortably by 55 and 44  imps respectively over Somerville and Johnstone though Carter and Berrington would have had nervous final session score-ups as both prevailed by only 7 imps over Grant and Henry. Indeed, Berrington left it late when Graeme Tuffnell – Jan Alabaster chose to play an unbeatable 3NT on the last of the 80 boards while 4S at the other table proved unmakeable.

The semi-finals were the same length. At the half-way point, Berrington led Fisher by 13 while Carter led Ware by the same margin. Berrington (Fuxia Wen-Ian Berrington, Graeme Tuffnell – Jan Alabaster) then had a huge third set winning by 51 imps and that was more than Liz and Blair Fisher and Jo and Sam Simpson could pull back in the final set, Berrington winning 193-141.1.

Meanwhile, over 100 imps were traded in the third quarter of the other semi-final. Carter (Julie Atkinson- Pat Carter, Jenny Millington – Barry Jones) extended their lead by 7 to 20 imps over Ware (Pam Livingston – Michael Ware, Jan Cormack – Leon Meier) but there was to be a turnaround in the final quarter won by Ware 47-22 and that left Ware the winners 156-150.1.

This board came from the quarter-finals and proved troublesome for most of the North-South pairs.

 

What your approach be as South after your partner opens a 12-14 1NT?

One simplistic approach could get North-South into big trouble. If 3 showed a slam try in hearts, North would be rather unimpressed and sign off in 3NT. If South then tried 6, North may well accept the offer of a club slam and the lead of West’s ace would spell disaster for declarer, albeit rather unluckily:

6 is not of course the best spot to be on this deal but South would be many down on A lead as they cannot cope with a 5-0 trump break. South should insist on hearts.

After North’s 3NT, South does better to cue 4 and North, with their minor controls must show some interest though their spade holding would be a big worry. A 5 cue from North would produce 5 from South though South will not be sure about the A if they hear 6 from North. It is hard for either player to bid grand.

There is another way which should be safe with a negative response if opener turned up with a couple of unwanted spade honours:

 

South does not ask but takes control. With 3 over 2  a splinter, 4 would be Exclusion Key Card Blackwood. 5 showed 2 with no Q. 5 asked for side- suit kings and 6 the one held. Perfection…..except:

The fault in perfection!

Did you notice? Yes, West, with their void club can double 7 for an unusual lead and that should put pay to the grand slam at trick 1!

Maybe Michael Ware and Pam Livingston were wise even if they were not quite perfect:

                                    North                         South

                                    1NT                            2

                                    2                             3     splinter

                                    4                             4NT

                                    5 (2 key cards)        6

                                    Pass

Only two other North-South pairs, Liz Fitzgerald and John Kruiniger and Jo and Sam Simpson, made it to 6.

A tough hand to bid and even tougher when the best contract can be defeated from one seat. While they seem an easy pair of hands to bid, we are taught not to play for perfect cards and that is indeed North’s holding for a weak no-trump. Reaching 6 though should be achievable.

Watch out for the last 3 x20 sets of the final on BBO. After the first 20 boards, Michael Ware – Pamela Livingston and Jan Cormack – Leon Meier lead Ian Berrington – Fuxia Wen and Jan Alabaster – Graeme Tuffnell 46.1-35 imps.

Richard Solomon

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