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Daily Bridge in New Zealand

MIXING IT WITH THE BEST. 

We pick up the story from yesterday in the New Zealand Open Teams where the team of Jeremy Fraser Hoskin, Jack James, Geeske Joel, GeO Tislevoll, Kate Davies and John Patterson squeaked through the Swiss stage and then nearly went the whole way. They knocked out a formidable Australian team in the quarter-finals then faced the event favourites in the semis:

Bridge in NZ.pngnz map.jpg

Dealer North. Vul E/W.

 

     

A 6

5 2

A Q J 9 3

A Q J 6

 

N

W

 

E

S

   

 

West

North

East

South

 

3 

3 ♠

4 

?

 

 

 

 

 

Too much for game but is it enough for slam…and if so which one?

Semi -Final versus Cornell (Won by 20 IMPS)

The Cornell team was made up of three open international pairs (Michael Cornell- Ashley Bach, Matt Brown- Michael Whibley, Peter Newell- Martin Reid) two of whom are off to represent New Zealand in the world championships in Italy.   Our team performed well throughout the day with Jeremy and Jack having a great day in the slam zone especially in the third stanza where they bid and made two vulnerable slams not bid by the opposition.   Board 25 was especially nice.

 

BD: 25

Spade-small42

Dlr: N

 

Heart-smallAJT843

Vul: E-W

 

Diamond-small6

 
 

Club-small9875

 

Spade-smallA6

 

Spade-smallKJT753

Heart-small52

 

Heart-smallKQ

Diamond-smallAQJ93

 

Diamond-smallK72

Club-smallAQJ6

 

Club-small42

 

Spade-smallQ98

 
 

Heart-small976

 
 

Diamond-smallT854

 
 

Club-smallKT3

 

 

The auction:

West     North   East       South

Jack                     Jeremy

                3Heart-small        3Spade-small          4Heart-small
4NT         Pass     5Club-small        Pass
6Diamond-small          All Pass

 

Very well judged by Jack James admittedly he was probably pleased to see Heart-small KQ as an able substitute for the singleton he visualised. 4NT was Key Card with the response showing one or four in support of spades. 

Jeremy and Jack 2021 (3).jpg 
Not "Numero One" this time for Jeremy 
but "numero 2" was still a pretty fine effort. 

In the final stanza, GeO was off preparing for his birthday party but I am sure he was keeping an eye on the progress as the match unfolded.  Both North /South pairs bid two 4Spade-small contracts that can be defeated on club leads which as it turned out were flat boards as each pair made the contracts.  This was good news for our team who managed to hold onto the lead we took into the stanza.

The win against the Cornell team (93-72.94 with a 25 imp margin in the third stanza being decisive) was a worthy birthday present for GeO. I am sure he will have great delight in reminding his international team mates of the outcome in years to come.

 

 

In the final

Final versus Milne (lost)

This was held on Valentine’s Day and it seemed only fitting that we should win on this day as we were fielding a mixed team.  Kate and Geeske had provided many occasions along the way which more than justified their presence in the final and deserved a Valentine’s Day gift to remember.  

Club slams were still to the fore:

board 2

 

 

BD: 2

Spade-smallKT

Dlr: E

 

Heart-smallA

Vul: N-S

 

Diamond-smallKQT72

 
 

Club-smallKQ743

 

Spade-smallJ9862

 

Spade-smallA7

Heart-smallKJT8

 

Heart-smallQ7543

Diamond-smallJ96

 

Diamond-small853

Club-small5

 

Club-smallT82

 

Spade-smallQ543

 
 

Heart-small962

 
 

Diamond-smallA4

 
 

Club-smallAJ96

 

 

The Auction

West    North     East   South
              John                   Kate

                             2Heart-small     Pass
4Heart-small       4NT         Pass   6Club-small
All Pass

 

Making 6.  At the other table, the North/ South opponents had a degree of confusion and ended up in 6Diamond-small which luckily made as diamonds broke favourably.  Unfairly a flat board.

 Despite the girls guiding us to a small win in the first stanza, the second and third stanza saw us drift to 100 imps down.  We had run out of gas and conceded to the Milne team who were deserved winners. 

Congratulations to Liam Milne, James and Glenn Coutts, Alex Smirnov, Andy Hung and Nick Jacob.

Ruff and sluff and sluff and sluff!

Despite this we exceeded our expectations, defeated a team full of New Zealand Open team representatives and GeO pulled off a fine defence against his partner (Nick Jacob) who played in the winning team with a rare triple ruff and sluff defence to beat 4Spade-small by Nick (North) on this deal in the final.

 

 

 

BD: 12

Spade-smallQ983

Dlr: W

 

Heart-small62

Vul: N-S

 

Diamond-small76

 
 

Club-smallAKJT6

 

Spade-smallT

 

Spade-smallAJ76

Heart-smallQ95

 

Heart-small73

Diamond-smallQJT952

 

Diamond-smallA843

Club-smallQ42

 

Club-small983

 

Spade-smallK542

 
 

Heart-smallAKJT84

 
 

Diamond-smallK

 
 

Club-small75

 

 

 

GeO (East) started with Diamond-smallA and a second diamond. Nick ruffed in dummy and played a spade to the queen and GeO’s ace. GeO continued diamonds, this time ruffed by Nick in his own hand. Nick played Heart-smallAK and took a successful club finesse, cashing three rounds of the suit leaving the following cards outstanding:

 

9 8

10 6

Q

J 5 2

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

J 7 6

8

 

K 5

J 10

Geeske Joel 2022.jpg  
Geeske Joel... hopefully able to play more live bridge in New Zealand soon. 

Nick had 7 tricks and GeO had so far his two aces. Nick played a club ruffed by GeO with Spade-small6 and Nick discarded Heart-smallT from dummy. GeO exited his last diamond, a third ruff and discard for the declarer. Nick discarded dummy’s heart and ruffed in hand.

Spade-small9 was covered by GeO who won the last trick with Spade-small6 over Nick’s Spade-small5. Well played by Nick but Geo’s ruff and discards prevailed.

 

While disappointing in the final, the experience and journey was something all of us will remember for a long time.  We were not a team of champions but a champion team nonetheless.  Look out for the young guns Jack and Jeremy as there will be plenty more adventures awaiting them.  Further if you are wondering who Geeske Joel is; she is a very fine player who moved to New Zealand in middle of last year. So, you will be seeing a lot more of her in the future.

Thanks team: it was a blast!

Three more tricks

At least! You are looking at two and seeing as you are playing Teams style, you and your partner would really like at least three more…

 

East Deals
Both Vul

   

9 6 3

K J 2

Q J 10 9 2

5 3

 

N

W

 

E

S

   
 

A 10 7 2

Q 6 5 3

A 4

J 9 4

 

West

North

East

South

dummy

   

you

 

 

1 NT

Pass

2 ♠

Pass

3 ♣

Pass

3 NT

All pass

 

 

 

 

1NT was 15-17 and 2Spade-small  a range-finder with 3Club-small showing any maximum. West’s bidding looks a little pushy. Make ‘em pay!

You lead Heart-small3 the trick being won with dummy’s Heart-smallJ, your partner contributing Heart-small10. Next comes Diamond-small2 from dummy to Diamond-small6 from your partner (reverse count), Diamond-smallK from declarer… and you?

Plan the defence.

Richard Solomon

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