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The Bowl at Lyon

Lyon – Day 3.

Life in the nervy 5 level....a hand with 2 x 6 card suits....and some more freaky slams. Some good news....and less good news re our three teams in France.

Open                                                                     Women                                               Seniors

                                      NZ score                                       NZ score                                                NZ score

Guadeloupe

41-16

15.92

Poland

39-52

6.48

Austria

37-33

11.20

India

0-33

2.83

Chinese Taipei

22-21

10.31

Japan

30-35

8.52

South Africa

18-15

10.91

England

13-47

2.69

Turkey

19-36

5.61

 

A mixed day of fortunes for our Open Team. Their victory over Guadeloupe put them for the first time where they wanted to be, in the top 8 but they then came slithering down the ladder with that bad loss to India. They dropped to 14th but regained one place with the small win over South Africa. More importantly, they are under 6vps behind 8th placed Australia.

Our Women remained in 17th place all day while our Seniors hovered between 18th and 20th.

Round 7

A good match for our Open Team against Guadeloupe. Firstly, Ware – Tislevoll pushed their opponents to the nervy waters of the 5 level:

Board 9
North Deals
E-W Vul
Q 6 4
K J
K 10 7 5
J 9 5 3
10 8 3
Q 10 9 8 7 6 2
A
K 2
 
N
W   E
S
 
A K J 9 7 5
4 3
9
A Q 8 6
 
2
A 5
Q J 8 6 4 3 2
10 7 4

 

5Diamond-smallx only costs 500 against a comfortable 620 or 650 in spades but is a big winner when 5Spade-small comes to grief. If South made a weak jump overcall in diamonds, their partner becomes favourite to have longish trumps. East must also find a place for their losing club. After the diamond lead, you can play a trump to the ace, cross to the Club-smallK and then come to the moment of truth. “The pushers” were rewarded with 12 imps when the declarer misguessed. In the Women’s match, the board was played in 4Spade-small at both tables while for the Seniors, both tables were in 5Spade-small, both declarers going one down.

Cornell- Bach and Christine and Jenna Gibbons both bid the following slam. Here is Michael and Ashley’s crisp auction:

Board 16
West Deals
E-W Vul
K 9
A 9 8
K J 10 8 6 2
9 7
A J 8 5
K Q 10 6 3
3
A J 2
 
N
W   E
S
 
Q
J 7 5 4
A Q 7 5
K Q 10 6
 
10 7 6 4 3 2
2
9 4
8 5 4 3
West North East South
Bach   Cornell  
1  2  3  Pass
4 NT Pass 5  Pass
6  All pass    

 

3Spade-small was a splinter with Key Card doing the rest. 5Club-small showed one. That was 13 imps to our Open Team though the Women needed to bid it to square the board.

Jenna and Christine’s teammates earned all the imps for their side on this freakish board:

Board 11
South Deals
None Vul
A
A 9 8 6 5 4
A Q J 7 6 4
Q 6 3
K Q
9 5 2
A Q 10 3 2
 
N
W   E
S
 
8 5 2
10 3
K 10 8
K J 7 5 4
 
K J 10 9 7 4
J 7 2
3
9 8 6

 

How aggressive do you want to be with that North hand? South could spoil the party if they chose to open with a Weak 2 in their suit. If Susan Humphries did open, Steph Jacob was not going to be outdone as she had two 6 card suits of her own!

Susan and Steph bid all the way to 6Heart-small which West thought was a tad too high with an ace and a certain trump trick. Susan (South) got to be declarer which suggests she did not open the bidding. West led a spade but Susan could ruff out that Diamond-smallK and concede just a trump for 12 imps in when their Polish opponents played at the 4 level. This board was the Open Teams’ only “out” in their match when Bach – Cornell doubled 5Heart-small for a 7 imp loss. Our Seniors’ lost 5 imps though neither pair played in the heart game. We will move on!

Round 8

This is not one match on which our Open Team would wish to dwell. With nothing coming in, and several small “outs”, the only big loss on a board was a difficult 3NT where the Indian declarer was more successful in finding a doubleton queen, offside, than was Matt Brown.

It looks like Shirley Newton was our hero on Board 26 of their match against Chinese Taipei.

Board 26
East Deals
Both Vul
K 7 6 5 4
6 5 3
Q 10 9 2
3
A 8
J 10 8
8 6
Q J 10 9 7 4
 
N
W   E
S
 
J 9 3
A Q 9 2
A 5 4
A 8 6
 
Q 10 2
K 7 4
K J 7 3
K 5 2

 

East reached 3NT probably after a strong 1NT opening. Shirley, South, had to lead away from one of her honours. A heart would be disastrous. A spade (Spade-small10 to avoid a blockage) would be OK but Shirley chose her diamond suit. East was in the wrong hand to take what would be a losing finesse…. and eventually the contract went 3 down vulnerable, an excellent 10 imp pick-up when Jenna and Christine Gibbons made their club partial in the other room.

 Vivien Cornell and Shirley Newton .JPG

Vivien Cornell and Shirley Newton. Good lead, Shirl.

Unfortunately, aggressive heart bidding made it difficult for Shirley and Vivien on the following:

Board 24
West Deals
None Vul
A K 3
K 7 6 4
A J 6 4 2
3
10 9 4
Q J 10 9 3
8
Q 8 6 2
 
N
W   E
S
 
Q 7 2
A 8 5 2
9
K 10 9 5 4
 
J 8 6 5
K Q 10 7 5 3
A J 7

 

It looked like East-West bid up to 4H very quickly with Vivien, North, opting to take the money. The defence can take 4 side-suit tricks and two ruffs…and still North scores the Heart-smallK if declarer is left stranded in dummy. However, it did not go like that with +100 being a meagre reward as compared with 6Diamond-small bid and made at the other table.

Round 9.

In the Open Team’s slender win over South Africa, 13 of the 16 boards were either flat or a swing of 1 imp while one cost New Zealand 3 imps. Board 2 cost New Zealand 11 imps when it looks like the South Africans bid 3NT by South after Matthew Brown’s strong 1NT opening as West.

Board 2
North Deals
None Vul
5
9 3
A 10 7 4
A K J 7 4 2
A Q 10 9
A 7
K Q 5 2
Q 10 6
 
N
W   E
S
 
J 8 3 2
J 10 8 4 2
9 6
9 8
 
K 7 6 4
K Q 6 5
J 8 3
5 3

 

Matthew led the

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