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A Roundabout Way to Where We Started

At the end of the 11 round Swiss, 8 teams will qualify. However, it is not as simple as saying that will be teams 1-8 as the medals can only be won by the teams representing Commonwealth countries. The rules stipulate that four of those must qualify for the quarter-final stage. So, if the 4^th highest placed nation was, say, in 13^th place, then they would make it into the knock-out stage.

After some relatively close matches on the first day, Day 2 did not start the way our team would have wished:

Opponent	NZ imp score	NZ vp score	Position after match
Australia Gold	-64	0	26
Malaysia	+7	12.16	22
ACT	+3	10.97	22
Australia Women	+23	15.85	15

New Zealand started and finished the day in 15^th place though as you can see, “vacated” that position during the day.

On bad days, we all suffer double-figure swings in the “out” column  but hopefully can get one or two back. Against the Australians who lived up to the second part of their name, it was 0-5 in respect of double-figure imp swings..and more, 6-70!

PLAYING FOR A DRAW!

 
A disastrous first match for New Zealand. If only John Skipper, Jenny Millington, Jane Skipper and
Barry Jones had sat at the one table during this match, New Zealand's score would have improved dramatically!

Board 17 required the side with 15 hcp to be in the bidding as they were the ones who could make game, not the side with 25!

 

After North opens 1 and South supports the suit, North would bid to the heart game which has to fail on any normal lead (i.e. not A!). How though does West get into the bidding if, for instance, South’s first bid is a Bergen raise of 3?

At 27 of the 36 tables, including where New Zealand were East-West, 4 drifted one down. Against Jane and John Skipper, the Australians did find their way to 4, got doubled and after the A lead made an overtrick!

Join Barry Jones in the hot seat. You and Barry held as East a mighty good hand but someone forgot to tell the opposition to be quiet!

Your hand:

 AKT6

 –

 AK865

 KQ62

and as East you saw the following sequence:

West                     North                    East                        South

                                                                                                3

Pass                       Pass                       ?

Both sides were vulnerable. What to do? Barry elected to defend but unfortunately was not able to defend the contract doubled! 4 down vulnerable might seem a reasonable score but alas, your side could make “grand”.

 

It seems anything is acceptable in Australia whether one is talking about politics or pre-empts. Whoever sanctioned that truly dreadful 3 bid, vulnerable? Barry’s other option was 4NT for the minors which would at least have tied the board as 640 was the score in the other room as slam was missed. Only five pairs reached small slam. We hope that South continues to open every 6 card major with three queens and no shortage at the 3 level… and we will monitor the results!

THE WAY BACK    

The win over Malaysia was much quieter, a mere 22-15 imp win, with half in the “in-tray” coming from a Malaysian slam with inadequate trumps.

Are Two Finesses Better Than One?

What is your success rate in taking finesses? If you said 80+%, I would call you a world champion. If you said less than 20%, I would say you have only a very selective memory!

So, you are in a grand slam and you have a choice of finesses to take…indeed a mere 5, which finesses would you take to make the following 7 contract? It is like walking a tightrope…one slip and there is no recovery!

                                West                                     East

                                 K742                                   AJ9

                                 KT3                                   AJ6

                                 AJ8                                   K10

                                 KQT                                 AJ742

At least the trumps were solid! 10s should be banned from such a hand as they offer evil ways of going down. Against John Wignall and Kris Wooles, the declarer elected to play South for the Q and North for the Q…and the tight-rope walk was completed without the need for an ambulance!

 

The irony of this deal is that taking two finesses (25%) is better odds than relying on just the spade finesse and hoping North has precisely Qxx (18%) (or the small % QT doubleton). However, if the spade finesse worked, you might not need to take a second finesse.

This board occurred in the match against ACT with New Zealand winning 42-39 despite this result. Every other pair played the board in 6NT without incident.

High Level Heroes

The last match of the day was the best for New Zealand with the Australian Women being beaten 44-21. 33 of New Zealand’s imps came from three boards with high level decisions to make. Jane and John Skipper did well each time.

On the following deal, -500 against +620 would have been 3 imps in anyway…but it got much better than that:

 

Bidding 5 over East’s 4 was by no means obvious (indeed at the other table, 4 was doubled with a disastrous outcome for the defence) . East doubled but the defence slipped and dummy’s clubs were established for a diamond discard..just one down. Meanwhile, Barry Jones enjoyed himself as he got a club lead in 4x and discarded a heart from dummy to score an overtrick..+990 and 13 imps to New Zealand.

So, New Zealand finished the day in 15^th place despite having won 5 and had one “Australian draw” in their 7 matches to date. That loss really hurt. They are about 10 vps off 8^th place and look to getting a little more luck than encountering an Australian pre-empt or suffering “gun finessers”. We have some more cunning Australians next up when New Zealand play Moren early  this morning.  

Richard Solomon

Click here for the up to date overall results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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