1:
?
...............Q
...............5
...............K1086532
...............9764
2..............................9654
AKJ10432...............97
AQJ.........................97
A10..........................KQJ82
...............AKJ10874
...............Q86
...............4
...............53
?
Most Norths opened 3D and the hand became a Battle of the Majors. Some Souths bid 3S, although, assuming that bid to be forcing, there only seems to be a point to it if South is willing to pass 4D. If South is going to bid 4S over 4D one might as well bid 4S at once. West will probably bid 4H if the call is available; it's harder to call over 4S on the first round than if West has been able to bid 4H first; pass and double both become more plausible then, although defending 4S undoubled on a hand that qualifies for a 2C opening bid does not look like a winning action. If 4S makes, which it might (either opponent could be short in hearts and there is unlikely to be more than one diamond trick), West cannot expect a bad result in declaring 5H instead, doubled or not. Contracts were 4H W six times, 4S S four times, 4Sx S, 5H W and 5Hx W.
?
Conndy, the only pair to double 4S, were the only pair to defend correctly - a little surprising, as the proper defence is not that hard. West just needs to avoid cashing the diamond ace early and has to play a trump when North's heart is gone. Simple enough, but 4S undoubled was never set more than two tricks, and Geof even escaped for -1 (West cashed out?). The three-trick penalty was particularly important, as +500 beat the undoubled games made when West declared. Hearts can take eleven tricks by force however N-S defend. Jerik defended 5H -1 in an instructive way. After a spade overtaken and returned West ruffed high and cashed the top two hearts but started clubs right away instead of drawing the good trump. This is often the right play when there is no time to lose the lead, but here, with control of both side suits, West cannot be inconvenienced later. As the hand was played Erik ruffed the third heart and West could only discard one diamond instead of two. Had a round of diamonds been played to the ace, there would be sense in playing the clubs after two trumps, as, barring the actual 7-1 diamond split, N-S could cash a diamond when in with the queen of hearts and, barring a 3D opening bid from North to give the position away, declarer's best hope would be for South to hold three clubs. If South passes a 3D opening bid and a round of spades is followed by a diamond switch West might decide to finesse in trumps instead, but then there will be a diamond loser instead, as taking the trump finesse removes the only entry to the long clubs. Bill (B) was E-W top playing 5Hx =. The double stood to gain very little. If 5H was being set, simply defending 5H would beat pairs defending 4H while (importantly) not losing to 4H +1. When 5H made the double cost 2.5 matchpoints, while it would have gained only one had declarer erred. Elbe tied Jerik for top on +50 defending 4H -1, which required more serious help from declarer. Even if the second spade is trumped low and overruffed, declarer should still take ten tricks unless North leads a club at trick three and declarer wins the ten, cutting off communications with dummy.
?
4H W -1; 5H W -1
4S S -1
4S S -2 (3)
4H W = (2)
4H W +1 (3)
4Sx S -3
5Hx W =
?
2:
?
...............K6
...............1098
...............Q762
...............Q873
Q10753................942
3..........................Q9542
1094....................KJ
A652....................1094
...............AJ8
...............AKJ6
...............A853
...............KJ
?
We had almost everyone in the same contract. South opened 2NT and North either raised to 3NT or used some form of Puppet or Muppet Stayman. One pair stopped in 2NT S; the others all went to 3NT S,
?
West is unlucky on opening lead. The natural spade lead surrenders a trick, but a West suspicious that the spade lead won't work may do even worse with the safe-looking lead of the diamond ten. When East plays the jack South wins the ace and then has an easy time finding the low diamond lead on the next round to crash the king. That is the easy path to eleven tricks. If West tries ducking the first two clubs after a spade lead there is even a chance of twelve tricks - the result posted by George, Bill (S) and NJ. Geof and Sandi took the par eleven tricks. Of the eight declarers to underperform par one took seven tricks(!), three took eight, three nine and one ten. Keianne were always going to score 9/12 defending 2NT for any minus score. They held declarer to eight tricks after a spade lead when South began the diamonds leading low to the queen and then waited too long to start the clubs.
?
3NT S +3 (3)
3NT S +2 (2)
3NT S +1
3NT S = (3)
2NT S =
3NT S -1 (2)
3NT S -2
?
3:
?
...............J42
...............95
...............AK96
...............A1052
KQ106..................A75
Q102.....................K8743
1032......................4
J83........................Q964
...............983
...............AJ6
...............QJ975
...............K7
?
Geoel had better luck on this hand than they did on their last disconnection. Geof opened 1D (not everyone did) and Joel lost connection before he could respond. Northbot responded 2NT and Geof passed. One other pair played 2NT, but from the South side, likely on the same auction but with South passing and North opening. Everyone else played in diamonds from one side or the other: 2D N twice, 3D N six times, 3D S twice and 4D N.
?
Despite the lack of a spade stopper, no-trumps betters diamonds by ten points in the par eight tricks in 2NT to nine in 3D. Geof played 2NT N (Joel returned just after the play had started and therefore had to wait to be reseated until the next hand). After two rounds of hearts, when he eventually ran the diamonds, East unguarded the clubs, allowing an overtrick for the N-S top. Louise, declaring 2NT from the South side, did not receive such a gift but still outscored everyone in diamonds. Almost everyone in diamonds took nine tricks, with +50 tying for E-W top for Barry (2D -1), Ibot (3D -1) and Paun (4D -1).?
?
2NT N +1
2NT S =
2D N +1; 3D N = (5); 3D S = (2)
2D N -1; 3D N -1; 4D N -1
?
4:
?
...............J853
...............QJ2
...............106
...............A972
Q10974...............AK6
AK97...................54
KQ8.....................J753
3..........................Q1065
...............2
...............10863
...............A942
...............KJ84
?
After 1S from West East had a hand worth an invitation; even on the strictest valuation it is closer to a limit raise than a single raise. West had a clear acceptance of an invitation and doubtless 1S-1NT; 2H-3S; 4S was the auction at multiple tables. 4S W was played eleven times and 2S W twice, though I expect that multiple Wests would have invited even over a single raise.
?
4S is defeated by force by a diamond lead, although in practical terms it probably was not necessary, as declarer was likely to settle for one heart ruff, relying on a favourable trump split. A diamond lead threatens two ruffs and forces declarer to play a club at once to interrupt communications for the second ruff. But one diamond ruff is enough; declarer can neither ruff two hearts with profit or ruff one heart, draw trumps and still discard the other heart. On a different lead, when declarer gets to play a club before the first round of diamonds, declarer can ruff clubs before North gets to ruff diamonds and force the tenth trick on an endplay. It's a tricky line that one would not expect anyone to find at the table. Twelve declarers took nine tricks, giving Mary and Lynn a happy tie for E-W top on +140 for having had the good fortune to stop. N-S top went to Jill defending 4S -2. Play began normally enough with a diamond lead followed by a ruff of the third heart and the top spades from East, after which -1 was still the clear outcome. But then dummy led a diamond, allowing the diamond ace from Bill, diamond ruff, club back to the king and then the fourth diamond to promote the spade jack.
?
4S W -2
4S W -1 (10)
2S W +1 (2)
?
5:
?
...............QJ105
...............73
...............A874
...............A106
962.........................K73
AK5........................QJ6
Q109......................KJ53
7532.......................J84
...............A84
...............109842
...............62
...............KQ9
?
There were ten passouts on this hand: Haorge/Paun, Ritold/Nary, Louff/Barry, Heve/Boric, Geoel/Glynneth, Jill/Vidine, Randi/Leighry, Elbe/Conndy, Pally/Ibot and Pharah/Keianne. One North and two Easts opened 1D. The North hand is not really that bad, closer to a 12-count than an 11-count with the two tens and the QJ10x in combination, usually considerably better together than divided. Also, Jerik's Big Club limits their other one-openings and allows for mild stretches on the opening. East's 1D opening bid I cannot condone. The hand is nothing but flawed - only one Quick Trick, a flat pattern, no ace and no nine or ten. When East opened 1D West responded 1NT, playing it there once and raised to 3NT the other time when East forgot he had opened the bidding (perhaps 1D was a mouse slip, or East realized he should have passed and then thought he had). When North opened the auction was uncontested for N-S: 1D-1H; 1S-1NT.
?
Par is eight tricks for N-S whichever side declares. Erik duly took his eight tricks; both Wests declaring did one trick better than par and took seven. Even without seeing partner's cards N-S should be able to eight tricks on defence after the spade queen lead, but it made no difference on either the high or the low end. Pheileen's +150 was N-S top, followed by Jerik's +120 and Linj's +50.
?
3NT W -3
1NT S +1
1NT W -1
Passed Out (10)
?
6:
?
...............642
...............AQ543
...............A109
...............K3
KQ987..................103
K10.......................J6
753........................KQJ862
876........................J109
...............AJ5
...............9872
...............4
...............AQ542
?
East began with 2D or 3D depending on partnership methods. If South doubled, North likely cue-bid diamond to show a strong hand and raised the hearts to game, but South was never going to look for more. If North did not cue-bid over a double, it was hard to get South into game. 4H was reached only eight times, six times by North. Lower contracts were 2H N, 3H N twice, 3D E and 3Dx E.
?
Harold was the one North who found the vulnerability sufficiently tempting to get him to pass the double of 3D. While the onside heart king and 2-2 hearts, along with the 3-3 clubs, allowed the declarers in hearts to take all the tricks, they also allowed N-S pairs defending to take seven tricks, giving Ritold the N-S top on +800. Seven scores of +510 followed; Liarry's -480 was above average. Gernot managed 3D -2, saving him two matchpoints for the extra trick better than par.
?
3Dx E -3
4H N +3 (5); 4H S +3 (2)
4H N +2
2H N +5
3H N +3
3D E -2
3H N =
?
7:
?
...............AJ63
...............----
...............AQ7653
...............1087
Q10..........................54
AK932.....................J108754
9..............................K8
AKQ94....................532
...............K9872
...............Q6
...............J1042
...............J6
?
This became another Battle of the Majors. 1H from West, 2D from North and then East came up with a high pre-emptive raise, the extra trump compensating for the lack of a shortage. Even without a pre-empt from East West will go to 4H opposite any sort of encouragement. It seemed possible that South might have supported the diamonds, but N-S only declared thrice, all three times in spades. Contracts were 4H W seven times, 4S S twice, 4Sx N, 5H W and 5Hx W twice.
?
N-S have three top tricks against hearts but have to cash them all at once. Larry (G) even took all thirteen tricks in 4H while four declarers in 4H took twelve. Three N-S pairs did take their three tricks against hearts; Pharah defended 5Hx -1 and Linj 5H -1 but Larry (St) played 5Hx W +1 after a club opening lead. The hand was a double game swing with N-S able to force ten tricks in spades. Against spades E-W had two chances to cash their clubs, but Geof still took twelve tricks in 4S S while Rich was N-S top in 4Sx N =. Somehow Glynneth set 4S undoubled, but it only gained two matchpoints.
?
4Sx N =
4S S +2
5Hx W -1
5H W -1
4S S -1
4H W =
4H W +1
4H W +2 (4)
4H W +3
5Hx W +1
?
8:
?
...............K1097632
...............8
...............5
...............Q732
J4...............................----
Q94............................AK62
KQJ632......................84
85...............................AKJ10964
...............AQ85
...............J10753
...............A1097
...............----
?
As if a double game swing were not enough, here N-S had a reasonable slam on 16 HCP while E-W themselves were slight favourites to make slam in clubs (a trump lead ducked to West makes 6D quite uncomfortable). About half the tables had trouble getting spades into the auction. If West pre-empts North has no pre-emptive call available and seems likely only to get the spades into the auction on the next round if East does not get the bidding high very quickly. Contracts were 3H E, 4C E, 5D W, 5Dx W, 5S N four times, 5Sx N twice, 6C E twice and 6Sx N.
?
A diamond lead holds club contracts to nine tricks by force; after a ruff on the second round, declarer must use the last entry to dummy to take the trump finesse and will lose a heart in the end. Rita found the lead of the diamond ace to produce -3. Diamond contracts are best attacked by ducking a trump lead, threatening to cash spade winners after taking out East's other trump. Heart contracts do even worse due to the 5-1 trumps; a spade lead or the diamond ace hold declarer to eight tricks. Reasonable lines of defence hold spade contracts to eleven tricks; only East's leading the ace and king of hearts allows declarer to take twelve tricks. Joel was N-S top playing 5Sx +1; Nadine was E-W top playing 4C E =.
?
5Sx N +1
5Sx N =
5S N +1
5S N = (3)
6C E -3
5Dx W -1; 6C E -2
3H E -1; 5D W -1
6Sx N -1
4C E =
?
9:
?
...............65
...............AKJ10853
...............K
...............A97
10732...........................A84
942..............................----
J64...............................1097532
K42..............................QJ86
...............KQJ9
...............Q76
...............AQ8
...............1053
?
N-S had an easy slam to play; the hard part was bidding it, even with the vulnerability keeping East out of the auction at almost every table. One pair must have seen the vulnerability the wrong way around and reached 5Dx E. Everyone else played in 4H, 5H or 6H with a 5-3-4 distribution at the three levels. After 1H-1S; 3H, South can go beyond game but does not have a particularly easy time finding a call that is not clumsy. Of the four slam auctions I noted Jill's: 1H-2C; 2H-3H; 4C-4NT; 5D-6H. Bill responded 2C deliberately to create the game force and be able to raise to 3H, leaving room for Jeff to make what was a serious (he went past 3NT) slam try with 4C; that got Bill going and the slam was reached. There was no danger of ever playing in clubs, as any club raise from North will be corrected back to hearts.
?
Besides Jill, the other pairs in 6H = (only two pairs in 4H and, tragically, one of the pairs in 6H, took less than twelve tricks) were Geoel and Pharah. Randi were N-S top, however, defending 6Dx -5. -4 was all that could be forced, but East led the third diamond in the middle of the hand when it was necessary to lead a club. E-W top went to Paun, who received a gift from declarer in 6H -1.
?
5Dx E -5
6H N = (3)
4H N +2 (3); 5H N +1 (3)
4H N +1
4H N =
6H N -1
?
10:
?
...............53
...............Q98
...............876
...............Q9542
AKJ4........................Q6
K65...........................AJ1043
J1053........................A92
AJ..............................873
...............109872
...............72
...............KQ4
...............K106
?
It appears that two Easts opened the bidding, as they both declared, one in 3NT and one in 5H. One of the two also opened the bidding on Board 5; here at least the only negative factor was the doubleton queen. The 5H contract was the result of the only auction to go beyond game; it is natural enough for West to think of slam after East opens. If East passes West opens 1NT, followed by a transfer to hearts and then 3NT from East. Contracts were 3H W (oops!), 3NT E, 3NT W thrice, 4H W seven times and 5H E.
?
3NT after a club lead needs a correct guess in hearts, but luckily the natural finesse through North not only works but has a better chance of success by catering to 4-1 splits, although that is not needed here. When the finesse works, declarer has eleven tricks. Heart contracts turn out to be right-sided when declared by East. If West declares, North can lead a diamond. If East's ace wins, the only way to discard two diamond losers on the spades entails drawing trumps and then there is no way to ruff a club loser. Declarer will probably duck, discard two clubs on the spades and take the remaining diamond finesse through North, a likely line of play that here runs into bad luck when South holds both diamond honours. The diamond lead is needed; on any other lead declarer has time to ruff the third club before drawing trumps. East declaring is safe from a diamond lead, as South must lead high, after which East does not even have to ruff a club - the clubs go away on the spades and the diamonds establish for twelve tricks. Everyone in 3NT took eleven tricks for a good score. In hearts Bill (B), playing 5H E, took his twelve tricks. Only Ciny took twelve tricks in hearts playing from the West side. Jill were N-S top when their opponents stopped in 3H - figuratively a double top, as declarer also was the only one to take only ten tricks. Their opponent began hearts by playing the ace, which was not really a dreadful idea in principle given the underbid, as there was always the hope that 3NT would fail after a losing heart finesse.?
?
3H W +1
4H W +1 (6)
3NT E +2; 3NT W +2 (3)
4H W +2; 5H E +1
?
11:
?
...............Q
...............AK1043
...............QJ5
...............AKQ5
K83..........................AJ9752
QJ865......................92
1064.........................3
84.............................J1073
...............1064
...............7
...............AK9872
...............962
?
This slam seemed easier to reach than the one on Board 9, but 6D was only reached four times. This seems to show a serious lack of visualization if South opens the bidding with 2D or 3D, although I suspect that some Souths must have started with a pass. If South holds AKxxxx in diamonds there will be six trump winners, three clubs, two hearts, and almost certainly a spade ruff. If South holds a singleton spade then there is the chance of a twelfth trick in clubs, hearts or on a squeeze. If South does pass the auction likely starts P-P-1H-2S. Does South bid 3D now? If not, 3S from West and double from North will still get the diamonds into the auction. Nobody stopped in a diamond partial but contracts were all over the place: 2H N(!), 2S E(!!), 4C N, 4H N, 5D S four times, 5H N and 6D S four times. The 4C contract showed the dangers of backtracking: the auction was P-P-1H-2S; 3D-P-4C, South having a change of heart and thinking 4D an overbid, leading to the unfortunate pass of the forcing 4C. Ritold and Jerik bid this slam after having stopped short on Board 9. The two pairs to bid both slams were Pharah and Jill. Phyllis opened 2D, which Sarah raised directly to 6D without checking for key cards. Bill opened 3D and 6D was reached after a 4C response agreed upon as asking for key cards. They had only discussed two slam auctions before the game and both situations arose - serendipity in action.
?
One declarer in 5D tried a little too hard after a non-spade lead to take all the tricks and finished with only eleven, but everyone else in diamonds took twelve. Gernot took his par seven tricks in spades to score 9/12. Declarer almost overcame the 5-1 trumps to make 4H against Paun but had to settle for the par nine tricks. 4C -2 against Ibot and 5H -3 against Conndy were the two best E-W scores.
?
6D S = (4)
5D S +1 (3)
5D S =
2H N =
2S E -1
4H N -1
4C N -2
5H N -3
?
12:
?
...............Q8732
...............7
...............A1072
...............A87
A5...........................K4
AK3........................QJ42
KQ976....................5
KQ2........................J109643
...............J1096
...............109865
...............J43
...............5
?
After what was usually a 2NT opening bid everyone finished in 3NT, played once by East and twelve times by West. Change the diamond KQ976 to A9762 and 6C only fails to a ruff. East's Losing Trick Count of seven suggests that slam may be possible, but finding a good 6C without getting into the wrong contract when slam is not there may be impossible.
?
Everyone took the par eleven tricks for that rare thing, a flat board. It would have been much more interesting had the club ace been with South, as then a diamond lead from North would have allowed the defence to force a third trick. I wonder whether the hand would be better submitted to a bidding competition as is to see if anyone would get too high with the E-W hands or play 5C instead of 4NT or with the alternate A9762 in diamonds to make the slam the top contract.
?
3NT E +2; 3NT W +2 (12)
?
13:
?
...............Q6
...............J96
...............52
...............A65432
A732.........................J104
K108.........................A743
J93............................KQ108
Q87...........................K10
...............K985
...............Q52
...............A764
...............J9
?
This seemed likely to end in a quiet auction of 1D-1S; 1NT for E-W but we ended up with a rainbow. 1NT E was left in four times. One North came in with 2C as a balance after E-W stopped in 1NT and was left there. One East played in 2D, West perhaps being unwilling to let 2C from North sit. One East played 2H, the hardest contract to figure out. 2S W, played once, seems easiest to reach if North bids 2C over 1S and East makes a support double. 2NT was played twice by East and once by West, reasonable enough when East declares if West takes an optimistic view of the ten-count. The two higher contracts were 3NT W and 4S W; East seems a little closer to accepting an invitation than West does to making one.
?
The intermediates for E-W really pull their full weight in no-trumps. Declarer can force nine tricks, largely because there are two club tricks unless declarer leads low to the ten and loses to the jack. There are a few hoops through which to jump (spades need to be started with a low lead from the West hand, although that's a guess, or else declarer will need to find the 3-3 heart split) but N-S cannot get anything going by force without at least the help of spades' being started with the lead of the jack. Pally were a bit fortunate to post 3NT W -1 and avoid the bottom had the contract made. The no-trumps partials were about evenly split, with four declarers taking eight tricks while three took nine. Spade contracts can force eight tricks and Eric did; N-S might do a trick better with a diamond ruff or E-W if declarer can lose only two trumps and discard the heart loser on a diamond. Heart contracts can lose one trick in each suit, although Geoel held 2H to eight tricks when East led a heart to the ten on the second round, allowing North to lead the third club and let South ruff. Diamonds would play the same as no-trumps if East could lead a trump, but a lead of either black suit gets N-S an extra trick with a ruff; Elbe held 2D to the par eight tricks. Harold took the par seven tricks for 2C -1, -100 scoring 9/12 for edging out the wall of -110s and -120s.
?
4S W -4
3NT W -1
2D E =
2C N -1
2H E =; 2S W =
1NT E +1 (3); 2NT W =
1NT E +2; 2NT E +1 (2)
?
14:
?
...............AQ986
...............Q
...............KQJ6
...............AK2
743...........................K1052
873...........................A1062
A9853.......................42
J3..............................876
...............J
...............KJ954
...............107
...............Q10954
?
I would not have been surprised had every table played 3NT, mostly by South after a 1S opening bid. In the end, 3NT was reached nine times, with South declaring by a 6-3 margin, a bit on the low side. Did three Norths open 2NT or 2C? I suppose it's possible. It would be even more, as the other four contracts were 2NT N(!), 4H S, 5H S and 6NT N.
?
Either hearts or no-trumps can be held to ten tricks. Hearts lose the two aces and the ten of trumps. Both declarers in hearts took ten tricks. The easy was to hold no-trumps by South is to lead a spade, but East's ducking the first round of hearts should do just as well; South has only one entry and one heart trick will not be enough to bring the total to eleven. Sandi played 3NT S +2 after an opening lead of a heart to the ace. Off the eleven declarers in no-trumps, sic were held to ten tricks, although both declarers in 2NT and 6NT were among those who took eleven when that made little difference. E-W top was a tie between Keianne (6NT -1) and Nary (5H -1); N-S top on +460 was split between Sandi, Steve and Bill (S).
?
3NT N +2; 3NT S +2 (2)
3NT N +1 (2); 3NT S +1 (4)
4H S =
2NT N +3
5H S -1; 6NT N -1
?
15:
?
...............Q103
...............J7652
...............Q1032
...............3
9874......................AK52
AQ83.....................K
8............................KJ6
K1064....................AQ972
...............J6
...............1094
...............A9754
...............J85
?
There were three possible slams on this hand, with one in the Yes column, one in the Probably and one in the Unlikely. The No slam is 6S, which looks only too likely after 1C-1H; 2S for those E-W pairs who don't bother about the queen of trumps. The Probably slam is 6C, hard to find given the heart position but it has nice chances of either 2-2 trumps or winning a diamond trick. 6NT is Unlikely, needing a diamond trick and a squeeze that is complicated by the heart blockage. A One Club system at least would have the advantage here of not finding the poisoned 4-4 spade fit early; it would be possible to get into the 5-4 club fit and perhaps sneak into the good 6C. As it was, I was happy enough to see that 4S became merely a plurality contract; we had 2S E(!), 3NT E thrice, 3NT W, 4S E six times, 5S E and 6NT E, after the auction 1C-4NT; 5C-6NT, reasonable enough with West(!!) opening the bidding.
?
Spade contracts clearly take only eleven tricks. No-trumps should take only eleven as well. Gernot had the great good luck to receive the lead of the diamond ace against 6NT. Normally the heart blockage in conjunction with the uneven club split would prevent a squeeze from coming off, but here there are threats in three suits and North guards them all, meaning that the North hand is squeezed on the fourth club, which is won in the West hand. North can only spare one diamond and one heart; the third discard is the killer before East has to discard on the hearts. Almost every other declarer took eleven tricks. Gareth played 3NT +4 and Pheileen defended 3NT =.
?
?
?
2S E +3
3NT W =
4S E +1 (6); 5S E =
3NT E +2 (2)
3NT E +4
6NT E =
?
16:
?
...............AK1064
...............J8
...............Q86
...............985
----.........................QJ98
Q763......................K92
9542.......................AK3
KQ1063..................742
...............7532
...............A1054
...............J107
...............AJ
?
East opens 1m in third seat, West responds 1H and North overcalls 1S. Playing support doubles, East doubles and South raises spades. N-S can compete to 3S, likely enough at the favourable vulnerability. The main questions seem to be whether East might bid no-trumps at some point with the likely double stopper and if West might get pushed up past 3S. Contracts were 3C E twice, 3H W, 3S N five times, 3Sx N, 3NT E twice and 4C E twice.
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E-W can only force nine tricks in no-trumps after a heart lead, which gives declarer three tricks in the suit to go with two diamonds and four clubs. Otherwise, with four top tricks, N-S have plenty of time to find the diamond switch to establish their fifth trick before it's too late. But Ken and Gareth both made 3NT; Ken's opponents started with three rounds of spades. Contracts in either major could be held to seven tricks, heart contracts by a diamond lead. Club contracts are held to eight tricks with reasonably good defence. A couple of declarers beat par in spades a little strange, as the losers seemed pretty fixed. In clubs, one declaring pair and one defending pair bettered par by one trick each. Ken and Gareth tied for E-W top in 3NT =; N-S top was a three-way tie between Ritold (3H W -2), Jerik (4C E -2) and Linj (3C E -2).
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3C E -2; 3H W -2; 4C E -2
3C E -1; 4C E -1
3S N -1 (2)
3S N -2 (3)
3Sx N -2
3NT E = (2)
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17:
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...............AJ108
...............K863
...............J8
...............Q93
K4......................Q2
105.....................AQ742
A1096................742
A10765...............J82
...............97653
...............J9
...............KQ53
...............K4
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There were only four passouts on this hand: Ritold/Leighry, Jerik/Keianne, Pheileen/Paun and Randi/Barry. Three Souths opened 1H in third seat despite the high chance of directing a bad lead. Contracts after a 1S opening bid were 2S S, 3C W on a balance after N-S tried to stop in 2S on a Drury auction and 3S S after North made an immediate limit raise. Six intrepid Wests went against the Rule of Fifteen, although curiously the majority choice when West did open was 1D over 1C by a 4-2 margin. 1C openers led to contracts of 2C W and 4C W. After a 1D opener, contracts were 2D W, 2S S twice and 3D W.
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E-W could set 2S but had to strike quickly. West had to grab a heart ruff with the spade king, after which East's queen would still score, turning one trick into two. Glynneth and Vidine both posted 2S -1 on defence, but Bill (S) and Hank (V), both 1S openers, made 2S and 3S respectively to score 10/12 and 11/12. N-S top was Louff's, defending 3D -3. East led the club jack at trick four instead of a low club and West led a club at trick ten instead of a low diamond. Everyone in clubs took the par nine tricks but both declarers in diamonds underperformed. E-W top was a tie between Larry (G) and Eric on +110 in 3C and 2C.
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3D W -3
3S S =
2S S =
2D W -1; 4C W -1
Passed Out (4)
2S S -1 (2)
2C W +1; 3C W =
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18:
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...............J109842
...............76
...............KJ75
...............8
A5..............................Q
K10............................AQJ943
A9643........................Q10
AJ42..........................K1097
...............K763
...............852
...............82
...............Q653
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East opens 1H and then West drives at least to game and possibly to slam. 6C W is quite a nice spot if it can be found, which seems possible after 1H-2D; 2H-3C if East raises to 4C. But that did not happen. Contracts were 3NT W, 4H E nine times, 5H E twice and 6H E on the auction 1H-2D; 2H-3H; 4C-4NT; 5C-5D; 6C-6H.
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Twelve tricks in hearts lives or dies on the club finesse. Two Easts received the opening lead of a low spade and ran it to the queen, then discarding the losing diamond on the spade ace. Nadine and Connie scored 10.5/12 for +510. Everyone else in hearts took twelve tricks. It turns out that any lead other than a trump is helpful. A diamond lead allows declarer to let North win the king and establish diamonds for discards of the potential club losers and a club lead flags the queen. Bill (B) was E-W top for being the only player in 6H. Declarer in 3NT can also take twelve tricks, but, after a spade lead, was not inclined to try for more than ten, giving Ritold the N-S top on -430.
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3NT W +1
4H E +1 (8); 5H E +1
4H E +3; 5H E +2
6H E =
