Endplayed

In the third session we got to see a beautiful endplay by Bengt-Erik Efraimsson on the following deal:

Session 3. Board 17. Dealer North. None Vul
	ª 8 7 4 © J 10 7 ¨ Q 8 2 § 10 4 3 2
ª K 9 6 5 3 2 © Q 9 ¨ K J 10 7 § K		ª A Q © A 8 3 2 ¨ 9 3 § A J 8 7 6
	ª J 10 © K 6 5 4 ¨ A 6 5 4 § Q 9 5

West	North	East	South
Borin		Efraimsson
	Pass	2§	Pass
2ª	Pass	2NT	Pass
3NT	All Pass

Not much to say about the bidding except it was a rather typical Precision Two Club opening, West forced with 5-6 spades, and the opener showed a maximum hand with 0-2 spades.

South led the four of hearts and declarer made his first right choice by putting up the queen. Next followed a spade to the ace. Declarer continued by playing the queen of spades and when the jack appeared declarer simply overtook the queen with the king. On the run of the spades North started discarding hearts putting South on guard in that suit. Having taken all his spade winners and the king of clubs declarer arrived in the following position:

	ª - © - ¨ Q 8 § 10 4 3
ª - © 9 ¨ K J 10 7 § -		ª - © A 8 ¨ 9 § A J
	ª - © K 6 ¨ A § Q 9

Declarer who had a good picture of the lay-out from the discarding and the opening lead simply crossed to his ace of hearts and exited with a heart to South's king. South now cashed his diamond ace but had to lead away from his queen-nine of clubs into declarers ace-jack for 11 tricks to East-West. The reward for this play was 246 out of 286.

Nice bidding, partner

On the following deal, the Swedish pair Bengt-Erik Efraimsson - Kenneth Borin showed how a highly developed strong club system might be preferable to a natural one. Many such systems would crash-land in 3NT without any further aims and not that much control.

Session 4. Board 19. Dealer South. E-W Vul
	ª A 6 5 3 © A 4 ¨ K Q J 7 6 § A K
ª K J 10 9 © J 7 3 ¨ 9 5 § 9 5 3 2		ª Q 7 2 © Q 9 6 5 ¨ 10 8 § J 8 7 4
	ª 8 4 © K 10 8 2 ¨ A 4 3 2 § Q 10 6

West	North	East	South
	Efraimsson		Borin
			Pass
Pass	1§	Pass	1©
Pass	1ª	Pass	1NT
Pass	2§	Pass	2©
Pass	2ª	Pass	2NT
Pass	3¨	Pass	4¨
Pass	4©	Pass	5¨
Pass	6¨!	All Pass

Almost all bids in this sequence more or less had an artificial meaning!
North showed a strong hand, 16+, by opening One Club. North's next three bids were all relays and South gave North the following information: " I have some kind of balanced hand with 8-10 points, exactly four hearts and only two spades.

Efraimsson

Three Diamonds was natural and now South could choose what to respond with or without support and the thing that he showed with his raise to Four Diamonds was a "good" raise with some honour in diamonds and four-card diamond support. So North now knew that South was exactly 2-4-4-3 and that he also had the diamond ace within his 8-10 HCP. As he had a good raise he needed something more. Opener made a cue bid in hearts and discovered his partner did not have a black ace or king. He knew that he was almost certain to have a king and a queen somewhere. So it was clear for North that South had the king of hearts and a well placed black queen.

In almost perfect control Efraimsson could raise to Six Diamonds to score the slam. At about 100 tables they played in 3NT, loosing to the ones in slam which happened at around 35 tables. The Swedes were rewarded with 248.19 of the 286 points that were available.

Spades Come Up Trumps

From Maureen Dennison

In the first qualifying session of the Senior Pairs my partner, Morris Leighton, decided that the order of the day was spades. For instance on Board 3, against a freely bid 3NT he led the four from ªQ104 which induced declarer to duck twice in case the club finesse failed. That extra trick earned us 66/74 match points. On Board 18 after the opposition bid 1¨-1©-1ª-1NT, Morris decided to lead dummy's second suit and led from ªKQ5 finding me with ªA973 over dummy. This held declarer to eight tricks for another 64 MPs.

However, this was his sweetest spade play.

Board 9. Dealer North. East-West Vul.
	ª Q 6 2 © K 2 ¨ K J 7 4 § K 10 8 6
ª 3 © A 9 6 5 ¨ A 10 8 3 § A J 7 4		ª A K J 9 7 © 10 7 3 ¨ 6 2 § Q 9 3
	ª 10 8 5 4 © Q J 8 4 ¨ Q 9 5 § 5 2

Morris opened the North hand with a Presion style 1¨, East overcalled 1ª and West closed procedings with a firm 3NT. Morris had recently read Barry Rigal's book on deceptive plays in which he made a point that we do not false card often enough, usually playing the card we are known to hold. This time partner was ready. He led a club which declarer took in hand. West now took the spade finesse and cashed the ace. Morris smoothly followed with the queen. Declarer sat back, abandoned the spade suit and quietly drifted one down! Another 66 MPs.
Provided the defenders are careful, declarer cannot make the contract even if he plays on spades. However, as North might have started with ªQ102, it must be right totry for that.. Editors.

That wasn't the end of the spade story. On Board 6 he judged to put me to 5ª, doubled by East, over their vulnerable 5¨ game. The bidding indicated that West held three clubs so I took the deep finesse to reach table to pick up the trumps and that was an outright top.

However, my favourite spade play was Board 15.

Board 15. Dealer South. North/South Vul
	ª 9 8 © 9 6 2 ¨ Q J 10 9 7 5 § 10 3
ª K J © 8 7 5 4 ¨ K 4 § Q 8 7 6 4		ª A 10 4 3 © K 10 ¨ A 8 6 3 § J 9 5
	ª Q 7 6 5 2 © A Q J 3 ¨ 2 § A K 2

Having opened a strong club I got to play the contract in 1ª. West led a club so I played AK and another, ruffing on table. I led a heart and East went in with the king. I took my ace and played a trump. West won with the jack and continued with another club. East didn't feel like discarding the ©10 - note the valuable nine in dummy! - and made the fatal mistake of discarding a diamond, so I threw a diamond and ruffed. I cashed ©Q and followed with the jack. A low heart to the nine is the way to ensure eight tricks. Editors.

East ruffed this and started on diamonds. I trumped the second and was up to seven tricks and my last three cards were ªQ7 and a losing heart. With three trumps outstanding I played my trump forcing West to win. His club exit now allowed me to make my ªQ en passant. +110 earned us 72 MPs.

But West could have cashed the eight of hearts in the two card ending!

Struggling to Avoid a Bottom

When Russians Ossauolenko and Shudnev met Stretz and Potier from France the latter had to fight hard to avoid a zero on Board 24 of the first session of the semifinals.

Board 24. Dealer West. None Vul
	ª 9 8 2 © Q 7 6 3 ¨ A K 10 9 2 § 9
ª A Q J 7 5 © K J ¨ 4 § K Q 10 5 2		ª 10 6 4 © 9 8 4 ¨ Q 8 6 5 § 7 4 3
	ª K 3 © A 10 5 2 ¨ J 7 3 § A J 8 6

West	North	East	South
Ossauolenko	Potier	Shudnev	Stretz
1ª	2¨	Pass	3NT
Dbl	All Pass

Jacques Potier

The Two Diamond bid is not exactly text book and prevented the French pair from reaching the better contract of Four Hearts. The lead was the king of clubs, which was ducked. West then played the queen of spades. South took his king and then finessed in diamonds to prevent West from giving a signal. The finesse lost but the manoeuvre partly succeeded when East played back a club to declarer's ace. When declarer cashed four rounds of diamonds West had to keep the queen of clubs, two hearts to the king and so only two spades. Brilliancy would have been to keep the ace and seven of spades, maintaining an entry to partner's ten but West, with the ace and jack of spades in hand preferred to be sure. François Stretz did not miss his chance to limit his loss to just 100 by endplaying West in spades, forcing him to lead away from the king of hearts.

Grab the second chance

Board 14. Dealer East. None Vul
	ª K 10 5 4 © J 8 ¨ 8 6 5 2 § Q J 10
ª J 9 7 © A Q 10 2 ¨ A 3 § K 7 5 2		ª Q 8 3 © K 9 6 4 ¨ J 9 § A 8 6 4
	ª A 6 2 © 7 5 3 ¨ K Q 10 7 4 § 9 3

East, who is looking at a hand not exactly to write home about - after all, how much more average can you get? An ace in one suit, a king in another, a queen in the third and a jack in the fourth, and the most common of all distributions -, sees his partner open a 12-14 no-trump. Holding only one major and one point short, by his methods, of a non-forcing Stayman response, he passes, only to see his left-hand (passed) opponent bid Two Clubs (alerted as any one-suiter). Rightie bids Two Diamonds (what's your suit?), and East has a second chance to achieve a good result with 10 points opposite 12-14.

Would you, like East, have hit on Two Hearts?

This is obviously a four-card suit, as he would have otherwise bid immediately over 1NT. The reasoning is that the 1NT opener, if he holds only two hearts, will bid one of his suits. Everybody passes, however, and not without trepidation does East await the dummy.

This has been the auction:

West	North	East	South
		Pass	Pass
1NT	Pass	Pass	2§
Pass	2¨	Pass	2©
All Pass

South leads the diamond king. Bingo! At last the opponents have helped East-West to reach their fit, but to achieve a better than average result East still needs an overtrick. East takes the ace and, going through the motions, cashes the trump ace. He eyes the eight from North warily. Is this the standard card from ©J875, hoping to convince declarer that he has the singleton eight, so that declarer finesses against his partner? East decides, however, that if anyone has four hearts, it will be North (South wouldn't bid a one-suiter also holding four hearts), and draws trumps. It now only remains for him to take the ace and king of clubs and to play a diamond. South, bereft of exit cards, has to break the spades, and East loses only two spades, a diamond and a club for a healthy 70+%!

One no-trump and nowhere to go; But LHO isn't too slow His balancing bid Just proves a damp quib; And helps us to score in Sorrento!