1: A lucky 3NT:
?
...............53
...............A95
...............Q1072
...............AQ73
742...........................Q108
J1082.......................764
K654........................AJ8
J10...........................8652
...............AKJ96
...............KQ3
...............93
...............K94
?
N-S arrived in 3NT at every table, with a 7-2 margin of North's declaring. South might look for three-card spade support after North rebids 1NT, but will likely give up thoughts of slam when the spades do not find a fit.
?
The nine of clubs in the key card to the play. E-W can take three tricks with a diamond lead but that never came from either side. After a non-diamond lead declarer can take twelve tricks but that requires careful play; the first club has to be won in the North hand to take the spade finesse, then South plays the club king and nine before crossing to the heart ace for the club ace. Only Cindy, Harold and Madhu found the correct line.
?
3NT N +3 by Cindy, Harold and Madhu
3NT N +2 vs Jevin, Donbot, Marudy and Jamob; 3NT S +2 vs Glynneth and Jina
?
2: Mostly partials:
?
...............J9
...............J7652
...............Q9
...............10754
1085.....................AQ43
109.......................Q4
532.......................A10764
AQ862..................J9
...............K762
...............AK83
...............KJ8
...............K3
?
I expected to see at least a few auctions at least start 1D-1NT, possibly left in or possibly seeing a transfer to hearts. West might have come in with a non-forcing 2C over 1NT, but neither 1NT nor 2C was ever the contract. Perhaps South doubled, planning to follow with no-trumps. Contracts were all over the place: 2D E twice, 2H S, 2S E, 3D E twice, 3H N, 3H S and 3NT S.
?
East has a good chance to make 2D by timing the play carefully to be able to ruff the fourth spade after two rounds of trumps have been drawn; that two players took nine tricks is a bit confusing - maybe East avoided a spade loser? With trumps 2-2 and one of the finesses working N-S took nine tricks in hearts. 2S took the expected seven tricks; 3NT was just too ambitious and came up a winner short.
?
2H S +1 by Hara; 3H N = by Madhu; 3H S = by Rita
2D E -2 vs Karleta
2S E -1 by Kevin; 3D E -1 by Marcia
3NT S -1 vs Jina
2D E +1 by Jamie; 3D E = by Judy
?
3: Mostly no-trumps; mostly partials:
?
...............Q9
...............J92
...............AJ9
...............KQ983
872.........................KJ43
AKQ5......................863
Q105.......................K42
J42..........................A107
...............A1065
...............1074
...............8763
...............65
?
One North doubled and then rebid 1NT over South's 1S reply; at all the other tables E-W declared, usually in no-trumps: 1NT N, 1NT W twice, 2S E, 2NT E, 2NT W twice and 3NT W twice.
?
E-W ought to take eight tricks in no-trumps. That was the result at five of the eight tables where the contract was in no-trumps. 2S ought to have been held to eight tricks but Eric managed nine; N-S must have dropped a trump trick.
?
3NT W -2 vs Madbot
2NT E -1 vs Karleta; 2NT W -1 vs Mahn; 3NT W -1 vs Amos
1NT N -2 vs Diarcia
1NT W +1 by Tracy and Nina; 2NT W = by Jeff
2S E +1 by Eric
?
4: Mainly successful spade games:
?
...............54
...............106
...............65
...............KJ87432
KJ107.......................Q963
J9.............................KQ32
KQ872......................AJ3
65.............................A9
...............A82
...............A8754
...............1094
...............Q10
?
One pair stopped in 2S W after considerable underbidding by East. It doesn't look as if it will make much difference whether or not North opens 3C, although once the auction apparently went P-3C-X-P; 3D. 4S was played six times (4-2 by East) and one South pushed on to a 5Cx sacrifice.
?
E-W had five tricks against 5Cx for the top score if spades were played early enough; Wendric managed a sixth which did not matter to the score but boosted the penalty to 1100. 4S depends on the lead; without a club lead E-W take eleven tricks. That only happened twice, with Gareth and Nina bringing in the eleventh trick in 4S. Madbot's opponents contrived to go down; how they did that I would not want to guess.?
?
4S E =1 vs Madbot
3D W +1 vs Ritold
2S W +2 vs Karleta
4S E = by Jamie and Jeff; 4S W + by Tracy
4S E +1 by Gareth; 4S W +1 by Nina
5Cx S -4 vs Wendric
?
5: Mostly spade games, mostly down:
?
...............KQ10983
...............7532
...............J
...............94
J52............................64
AQ.............................10964
1095..........................Q8643
AJ1083......................K6
...............A7
...............KJ8
...............AK72
...............Q752
?
Whether North or South declared usually marked which players were willing to open a weak two-bid with a four-card major on the side. North had a minimum 2S opening but the suit was fine. The hand was opened by a 6-3 margin. The three Norths who passed all responded to 1NT with a transfer and then left South in 2S. when North opened South looked for game, putting North into 4S five times and stopping in 3S once. I really like 3NT S if North opens 2S and confirms two top honours in the suit. As for North after a pass, a hand with seven losers is worth an invitation after the transfer; the 6-4 distribution helps. South might suggest 3NT after 1NT-2H; 2S-3S. I suspect that's where Jevin would have finished had they been N-S instead of E-W.?
?
The layout was unlucky for declarer, particularly in spades. Assuming the natural lead of the ten of hearts, West?can cash two tricks in the suit and then lead ace and another club (or even a low club) to put East on lead for a heart ruff. This line of defence was found thrice, by Jina, Jamob and Marudy, who joined Wendric in a tie for E-W top when they were allowed to defeat 2 by two tricks - did declarer forget the contract and run the spades or perhaps ruff a third club low and get overruffed twice? If West does not get the heart ruff or lets the club ace wait declarer can take nine tricks; Harold, Madhu and Gisela posted +140 to tie for N-S top.
?
Against the hypothetical 3NT the best defence is to attack spades, forcing declarer to take early discards from hand. Active defence will fail; the one thing West cannot do is start with three rounds of clubs, establishing the queen for the ninth trick.
?
4S N = by Linda
2S S +1 by Madhu and Gisela; 3S N = by Harold
4S N -1 vs Glynneth
2S S -2 vs Wendric; 4S N -2 vs Jina, Jamob and Marudy
?
6: Possible slam and sacrifice:
?
...............87
...............K843
...............J107
...............Q764
AJ106................Q953
----.....................AJ10
K62....................AQ983
AKJ1092............8
...............K42
...............Q97652
...............54
...............53
?
Slams on 4-4 fits can be shaky but here E-W had so many extras going for them that 6S was quite all right. Slam was bid at five tables. 6S was played thrice by West and once by East, Jamob reaching the contract by East on the auction 1D-2H-X-P; 2S-P-6S; unless a pair plays an Exclusion ask it's difficult to find a good grand slam and grand slams are always tricky on 4-4 fits that will require a ruff as sometimes they need 3-2 trumps which is enough to render them close at best. At the fifth table where slam was bid, Jevin found their way to 6D after a competitive auction on which spades were never bid. North was lured by the favourable vulnerability into a 6H sacrifice. At the other four tables, one N-S pair stole the bid for 4H undoubled; perhaps West thought to be making a forcing pass. Another N-S pair pushed the opposition into 5C W; the other two pairs played a quiet 4S, once from each side.
?
Here we saw the downside of jump overcalls on flimsy suits in 6Hx. South won the battle by keeping E-W from finding their spade fit, but the 3-0 trump split along with the losing spade finesse meant that Jevin defeated 6Hx seven tricks for +1700, just enough to beat out +1430 or +1460 in 6S. Even changing the heart nine and ten would have been enough for South get out for -6. Curiously, -1400 would not have been better than -1390 for 6D +1 but would have still saved a fair result given that the other slams were all in spades. North had hoped that the South hand would have been something like xxx AJxxxx xx xx, which takes seven tricks almost all the time for -1100. Jamie and Wendy made the overtrick in 6S, one declarer took twelve tricks and one sadly forgot the diamonds were high and went down, giving Nary the N-S top ahead of Amy's 4H -4.??
?
6S W -1 vs Nary
4H S -4 by Amy
4S E = vs Madbot; 5C W +1 vs Lara
4S W +2 by Don
6S W = by Nina; 6S E +1 by Jamie; 6S W +1 by Wendy
6Hx S -7 vs Jevin
?
7:?Easy-looking spade game:
?
...............AQ1074
...............----
...............K632
...............Q742
J65..........................2
QJ982.....................AK65
10............................Q9875
J653........................K109
...............K983
...............10743
...............AJ4
...............A8
?
With South dealing, one would have thought everyone would have gone to 4S, but it was barely the majority contract. 2S and 3S were both played twice along with 4S five times. I can't really see how N-S stopped.
?
Declarer ought to have ten tricks easily. Even if a diamond ace is ruffed after the finesse declarer ought to come to ten tricks. Ten tricks was almost universal, although declarer can come to eleven by force; even if E-W manage a diamond ruff. John took eleven tricks for the N-S top; Jevin were allowed to defeat 4S.
?
4S N +1 by John
4S N = by Harold, Gisela and Nikos
2S N +2 vs Donbot and Marudy; 3S N +1 vs Jina
3S N + vs Diarcia
4S N -1 vs Jevin
?
8: Probable slam missed:
?
...............KQ96
...............1097
...............AK96
...............A7
J87..........................A105432
42............................QJ
Q42.........................J853
Q9652.....................10
...............----
...............AK8653
...............107
...............KJ843
?
Slam might have been reached; South has the loser count to find a slam probable if duplication were not too bad. If the auction remains uncontested the pair can bid 1NT-2D; 2H-3C and then North is happy enough to cooperate in a slam hunt with good cards and a potentially useful doubleton. After 1NT-2S-3H from South raised to 4H, a N-S pair able to make an Exclusion ask might reach 6H that way. Contracts were all over the place: 2NT N(!), 3S E(!), 4H N twice, 4H S thrice, 5H S and 7Sx N (South tried some sort of splinter or Exclusion ask and North took it as natural?).
?
With 2-2 trumps 6H can always make despite the 5-1 clubs so long as declarer saves the club ruff for after starting the spades just in case West holds the spade ace. Karlene took all thirteen tricks after the opening lead of the ace of spades. Twelve tricks was the usual result. E-W top was Wendric's defending 7Sx -6.?
?
4H N +3 by Karlene
4H N +2 by Madhu; 4H S +2 by Louise, Rita and Gisela; 5H S +1 by Mark
2NT N +3 vs Jevin
3S E -2 by Judy
7Sx N -6 vs Wendric
?
9: Sacrifice down just too much:
?
...............QJ10982
...............K97
...............Q
...............J106
54.............................AK7
AQ............................1086542
KJ1042.....................7
AQ97........................K53
...............63
...............J3
...............A98653
...............842
?
Reaching game is difficult enough for E-W. 2S-P-P-3D was left in twice, not unreasonably. Anything East does over 3D could just dig a deeper hole, although either 3NT or 4H could make. One East did go to 3NT. 3H usually led to 4H; West had a really awkward call over 3H, possibly raising to 4H with AQ doubleton or perhaps going to 4C and giving East a tricky call. One N-S pair sacrificed in 4Sx.
?
The key to 3NT is saving the club king for the last entry to the good hearts. It is tempting to keep the spades, but saving the club king results in at least nine tricks in 3NT and likely ten, as, unless South leads a diamond to a spade switch and a first-round duck, declarer should be able to come to ten or even eleven winners. Madbot were allowed a defeat of 3NT, possibly because declarer perhaps gave up on hearts after the queen lost to the king and decided to go after diamonds, eventually getting locked in dummy. 4H was never going down and yielded eleven tricks, with Don and Jamie tied for E-W top on +650.
?
3NT E -3 vs Madbot
3D W -2 vs Mahn and Gisebot
3H E +2 vs Cinise
4H E = by Jiang and Howard
4H E +1 by Jamie and Eric
4Sx N -4 vs Donbot
?
10: Fourth 1100 of the evening:
?
...............95
...............975
...............A9764
...............K104
A843........................7
AKJ102....................Q64
J83...........................KQ102
5...............................A9832
...............KQJ1062
...............83
...............5
...............QJ76
?
It looks as if E-W reach 4H whether or not East opens so long as West bids 3H over South's 2S. Indeed 4H was bid at every table. One N-S pair took a sacrifice in 4Sx.
?
Eleven tricks can be the limit for E-W. N-S can always find their diamond ruff.?If they don't, declarer does not quite have the entries to force twelve tricks with two spades ruffs and then drawing trumps, as that requires one club ruff, after which North can hold off on the diamond ace until the third round. Declarer can try for three club ruffs, but North's 975 in trumps are just good enough to deny East's Q64 three ruffs; North ruffs the third spade and forces an overruff and then North can ruff the last spade higher than dummy. The way to force twelve tricks is for West to ruff the third club after a ruff and overruff on the third spade, then draw trumps and start diamonds; North will be down to nothing but diamonds and will have to allow declarer three diamond tricks. Whether through superiour play or helpful defence, Nina and Bob took twelve tricks. Cinise were allowed to hold declarer to ten. Donbot picked up a four-trick set of 4Sx for a score of +1100 and E-W top. It looks as if the sacrifice will work out neatly looking at only the N-S hands, although E-W can always force six tricks if they go after club ruffs.
?
4H W = vs Cinise
4H W +1 vs Mahn, Madbot, Gisebot, Karleta and Nary
4H W +2 by Nina and Bob
4Sx S -4 vs Donbot
?
11: Partials, mostly hearts:
?
...............A95
...............K6
...............K832
...............KJ84
K3.........................10876
AQJ73...................109
A974......................J6
Q3.........................A10765
...............QJ42
...............8542
...............Q105
...............92
?
One West apparently opened the hand 1NT and played the hand there. 1H was perhaps doubled, with East occasionally giving preference back to hearts (especially on uncontested auctions) and contracts of 2H W four times, 2S S twice and 3H W twice.
?
Heart contracts in particular seem likely to come down to a question of which side helps the other out more. North has a nightmare on opening lead and both sides have plenty of guesses.?In the end Diane, Wendy and Martin managed eight tricks in 2H = to tie for E-W top, just ten points ahead of 2S S -2, which was only ten points ahead of the middle score for 1NT W =. N-S top was Ritold's defending 3H W -3.
?
3H W -3 vs Ritold
2H W -1 vs Amos; 3H W -1 vs Lara
2S S -1 by Nancy
1NT W = by Bob
2S S -2 vs Jevin
2H W = by Wendy, Martin and Diane
?
12: Possible game and sacrifice:
?
...............AQJ964
...............K52
...............----
...............AJ64
K102........................3
QJ98........................63
AK1053....................Q987
Q..............................K98732
...............875
...............A1074
...............J642
...............105
?
After 1D-1S-2D, if South scrapes up a spade raise North might well go to 4S. Contracts were 2S N, 3S N twice, 4D W, 4S N four times and one pair in the 5Dx sacrifice.
?
It looks as if 4S might go down, although declarer can always make the hand. Say the lead is a diamond, ruffed; declarer can cross to the heart ace and take a spade finesse. Then, if North follows with the club ace, that the jack establishes when the queen drops and the ten forces the king is what saves the contract. West can get one overruff of a club to go with East's club king and eventually a heart. Declarer has ways to go wrong, most particularly leading a low club first. But only Glynneth were able to post a set for the E-W top. John even took eleven tricks for N-S top after a little help from the opposition. Nina played the hand with some care and held 5Dx to -2 only to find that half the N-S pairs didn't bid game; too bad.
?
4S N +1 by John
4S N = by Karlene and Mary
5Dx W -2 vs Lara
2S N +2 by Cindy
3S N = vs Jevin and Troward
4D W -2 by Bob
4S N -1 vs Glynneth
?
13: All in 4S:
?
...............J
...............QJ10876
...............J876
...............J8
109543.....................AQ8762
K9............................52
A9............................K2
AK102......................943
...............K
...............A43
...............Q10543
...............Q765
?
If North opens 2H East probably has to pass, allowing South a nice opportunity to bid 2NT and attempt to bluff E-W out of the auction. It might succeed, as West is not going to regard the heart king highly; East would have to come in with 3S over 3H. However it happened, every auction finished in 4S, with East declaring by a 6-3 margin.
?
There is one heart loser and there should be one club loser, although if West declares and North leads a club that could go away. Playing for the drop in spades gives declarer eleven tricks; finessing gives declarer ten. Ritold and Lara were on the receiving end of a spade finesse and a tie for N-S top; the other declarers all took eleven tricks.
?
4S E = vs Ritold; 4S W = vs Lara
4S E +1 by Eric, Jamie, Kevin, Marcia and Howard; 4S W +1 by Don and Nina
?
14: East in partials:
?
...............Q3
...............A93
...............Q7542
...............1032
AK962..................J7
1074.....................Q86
J8.........................AK63
986.......................AJ75
...............10854
...............KJ52
...............109
...............KQ4
?
At least one East opened 1D and was left in a 1NT rebid. 1NT E was played four times. Two Wests transferred into 2S and passed; two invited game with 2NT, passed by East; one West apparently invited game with 3S, also passed.
?
1NT has decent chances even if N-S start with four rounds of hearts. A club switch gives away the contract at once if East is a good guesser and a spade switch must be ducked by North to have a chance of success. If a diamond is led - 10/J/Q/K, then declarer runs the spade jack and North has to find a duck. Of course declarer can go wrong after running the spade jack to the queen by cashing the ace and king, a perfectly reasonable play. Jiang made 1NT and Eric even made 2NT. The other successful declarer was Kevin in 2S, which also required a little help from the defence. N-S top was a tie between Mahn (3S -2) and Nary (2NT -2).?
?
2NT E -2 vs Nary; 3S E -2 vs Mahn
1NT E -1 vs Ritold, Lara and Amos; 2S E -1 vs Gisebot
1NT E = by Jiang
2S E = by Kevin
2NT E = by Eric
?
15: Could E-W steal a slam?:
?
...............A109
...............98643
...............J98
...............95
83.............................J7
AKQJ5......................7
10542........................AKQ7
K8.............................AQJ1076
...............KQ6542
...............102
...............63
...............432
?
Whether South opened 2S or not (it would be very bare bones at the vulnerability), East would certainly be thinking of slam from very early on. The one bone in the throat is the doubleton spade. If one of the minors were a major, I expect there would have been an auction or two in which East found the major fit and then possibly jumped to five of the suit to ask for control in the opponent's (or the unbid) suit. As it was we finished with three contracts of 4H W (the suit is just good enough to count as solid - it should lose no trick opposite a singleton and may lose no trick opposite a void), four of 5D W, one of 5C E and one of 6D W.
?
If any hand lived or dies on the opening lead, this was it. Most auctions flashed bright neon signs that the spades were wide open; a spade was led against everyone but Martin, who was E-W top in 5D +2 while Amos were N-S top defending 6D -1. With the 5-1 trump split the heart games always came to ten tricks after a spade lead; it did not matter whether N-S led a third spade or not, although it might have done had North held four spades.
?
6D W -1 vs Amos
5C E = vs Karleta; 5D W = vs Ritold, Gisebot and Nary
4H W = by Tracy, Don and Lynn
5D W +2 by Martin
?
16: Rainbow hand fraught with danger on all sides:
?
...............KQ973
...............AQ74
...............----
...............AKQ10
1064.......................AJ82
98532.....................----
1083.......................AQJ764
63...........................952
...............5
...............KJ106
...............K952
...............J874
?
Some Norths opened 1S and some 2C. East came in with 2D over 1S and 2D or 3D over 2C, or possibly passed at the unfavourable vulnerability. 2Dx ended the auction at one table and 3Dx twice. One South ended in 3NT; other auctions finished in 3H N, 4H N twice, 4S N and 5C N.
?
3NT was a rock-solid contract, with nine sure tricks after a diamond lead and Madhu coming to ten after a different lead. Other N-S contracts proved much harder. Harold managed to make 4H on a cross-ruff, which makes even eleven tricks possible when played by North as West never gets on lead to play trumps. The other two defending pairs held the heart declarers to nine tricks. 4S and 5C were both -1, although 5C should probably have made. The diamond contracts all gave declarer eight tricks, largely because of the difficulties attached to South's holding all the trumps.
?
3NT S +1 by Madhu
4H N = by Harold
3Dx E -1 vs Cinise and Gisebot
3H N = by Hara
4H N -1 vs Troward; 4S N -1 vs Diarcia; 5C N -1 vs Jamob
2Dx E = by Kevin
?
17: Possible spade slam:
?
...............AK103
...............73
...............AQJ105
...............J5
8.............................J762
Q954......................AJ1082
943.........................862
108732...................4
...............Q954
...............K6
...............K7
...............AKQ96
?
My favourite auction on the hand was 1D-2C; 2S-3S; 4S-4NT; 5C-6S, although South probably ought to bid 6NT instead to protect the heart king from the opening lead. Three pairs reached 6S although the other two pairs in 6S played it from the South side. There were four contracts of 4S S. One North was left in 4NT and the last contract was 3NT S after North misclicked and opened 2D.
?
6NT not only protects the heart king from the opening lead but also, with multiple suits for sources of tricks, protected against a bad split in one suit. Glynneth's opponents went down in 6S S after East got the heart ace and then declarer misguessed and played the trump queen on the second round in a situation of an even guess. 6C similarly runs into even a worse trump split with a sure loser. 6NT has twelve running tricks even if both clubs and spades split badly. In the end Madhu took all the tricks in 6S S after a non-heart lead, John made 6S N and the other declarers took between eleven and thirteen tricks in games played in either spades or no-trumps.
?
6S S +1 by Madhu
6S S = by Mark
4NT N +3 by Harold
4S S +3 by Hara
3NT S +3 by Louise
4S S +2 vs Jina
4S S +1 vs Jamob and Jevin
6S S -1 vs Glynneth
?
18: Close club slam:
?
...............8
...............Q752
...............KJ5
...............AKQ42
J52..........................K9764
AJ63.......................1098
10842......................Q76
97............................63
...............AQ103
...............K4
...............A93
...............J1085
?
Karlene had one of her flights of fancy here; Karleta's auction was 1C-1H; 1NT-6C. After 1C-1H; 1S-2D; 2NT, North might try 3C and South has a decent hand for a slam look, although the call of 3NT proved too strong for anyone else to resist.
?
6C S is almost a sure thing with 2-2 trumps but not quite. A spade, heart or diamond lead, though, gives declarer the contract at once; Breta made 6C after the lead of the ace of hearts. After a trump lead declarer could see if either the spade king or heart ace comes down in three rounds and then take the losing diamond finesse if nothing works. 3NT took eleven tricks and nine tricks both twice, ten tricks four times. South did a little better declaring than North.
?
6C S = by Breta
3NT S +2 by Madhu and Amy
3NT N +1 vs Donbot; 3NT S +1 vs Diarcia, Wendric and Glynneth
3NT N = vs Troward; 3NT S = vs Jevin
