1:

?

...............K1096

...............AK943

...............104

...............Q3

Q742...........................AJ5

J108............................752

A76.............................K9852

A86.............................94

...............83

...............Q6

...............QJ3

...............KJ10752

?

This was a version of the Flannery Death Hand. Playing 1NT forcing, what does North rebid after 1H-1NT? Norths came up with three different answers at the table. 2H seems the smallest lie; it was chosen once and ended the auction. Two Norths rebid 2C. One may have had an uneasy moment when South passed; the other surprisingly was able to pass a raise to 3C, an even sterner test. The last two reversed into 2S. South bid 3C both times. One North passed; the other instinctively retreated to 3NT. One North did have a Flannery 2D opening available, resulting in a contract of 2H S without any stress.

?

The club contracts were the least interesting. If West leads a spade through E-W have five tricks. A little surprisingly the one declarer who didn't take eight tricks took seven instead of nine. Declarer can make 2H by force because E-W run out of things to lead. If E-W could cash their five winners and then lock?North in hand that would work, but West has to duck the first club. That lets declarer draw trumps before West takes the club ace; then one by one the side suits become untouchable; either East or West will have to let South in or lead the third spade.

?

The fate of 3NT S was instructive. West found the diamond lead, although a spade to the jack and a diamond switch would have made all things clear. Had North's diamonds been QJx Eastbot might have found the duck but the bot won the king, returned the five-spot and then played the deuce on the third round. West won the second club and switched to a heart, giving Paul ten tricks instead of six - all because of the diamond deuce. The nine would have been a strong signal for a spade return when West got in.

?

2:

?

...............J96

...............43

...............KQ1092

...............A92

KQ103.........................85

Q82.............................AKJ10765

AJ875..........................64

J...................................43?

...............A742

...............9

...............3

...............KQ108765

?

A 4H opening bid might well have ended the auction. Almost everyone finished in 4H, although I saw one auction of 3H-4C-4H; how does North pass that? One N-S pair found 5C, doubled by West.

?

4H makes in comfort; the hand came down to the play in 5Cx and whether declarer would finish -1 or -2. West led a heart to East, who returned a spade. South won the ace, a natural response out of fear of a singleton. But, if South is setting a target, it has to be -1 because of the vulnerability. Once South played the spade ace, Jeff was able to cash both spade winners for -2 and the E-W top. But ducking the first spade means that West cannot lead the suit again and East does not have another entry. Declarer wins, say, a heart return, draws trumps and leads the diamond singleton. If West wins North's diamonds provide discards for South's low spades; if West ducks declarer does not lose a diamond. -1 either way and the top score. At equal vulnerability the ace would have been the correct play because -2 would be the target. Ducking risks -3 if East's spade is a singleton and at equal vulnerability -3 is the result to avoided if at all possible while -2 is still on the good side.

?

10:

?

...............J108

...............32

...............AQJ104

...............J83

K942.....................75

KQ1094.................J875

K............................9532

762.........................A104?

...............AQ63

...............A6

...............876

...............KQ95

?

This hand looks like a lot of trouble for N-S. South opens 1NT and it is difficult for North to stay out of 3NT with the powerful diamonds. Five of the six N-S pairs played in no-trumps, usually 3NT, although one pair had the good luck to stop in 2NT. Only Pauise avoided no-trumps altogether, after 1NT-2D (both majors)-P-2H; P-P-3D.

?

In 3NT after a heart lead declarer has a choice of plays that is much more frequent at matchpoints than IMPs. South soon learned that there were five diamond tricks after the inevitable heart lead. At that point, if hearts were 5-4, declarer could play for a safe -1 by knocking out the club ace or try for either nine or ten tricks by taking the spade finesse. At IMPs one would naturally play for the make. At matchpoints it looks as if -1 may make the better target, unless one thinks that not many pairs will go to game. Declarer in 2NT and one (I think) of the declarers in 3NT took seven tricks; I dislike 2NT -1 as declarer does not want the spade finesse to work, which allows 3NT to make. The safer play for the probable make would have taken advantage of the stop.

?

3D had ten tricks after a heart lead, eleven after a spade, giving Louise the N-S top either way.

?

12:

?

...............J754

...............KJ3

...............103

...............K942

KQ98......................3

74............................Q985

K985.......................J742

J63 .........................10875

...............A1062

...............A1062

...............AQ6

...............AQ

?

2NT from South and then Stayman at most tables ending in 4S. Only Kevin raised directly to 3NT instead of using Stayman. The side was known to have a little extra in values and there was a chance that the spades would be weak if there were a 4-4 spade fit.

?

On paper the hand rates to be a win for 4S, as the contract makes by force while 3NT can be held to nine trick, although, if the opening lead is a diamond, declarer can force ten tricks if the opening lead is the five-spot; this is because the only way for West to reach East's hand is with that card; if West leads the five, then 5/10/J/Q and East never gets in again; declarer with a correct heart guess can cash six tricks in hearts and clubs, then get off led with ace and another diamond and West will have to lead spades. But Jeff received an opening spade lead, which gave him ten tricks by force, and eventually he picked up an eleventh. 4S can reasonably be defeated. Club to ace and queen, heart to king, club king, diamond to queen and king, diamond to ten/jack/ace, diamond ruff, spade to ten and queen is reasonable enough but probably puts declarer into an untenable position whichever red suit West returns. Nobody in spades ever took more than ten tricks, giving Jevin an easy N-S top.

?

13:

?

...............986432

...............A9764

...............----

...............AQ

Q10..........................KJ

1032.........................KQ85

J1032.......................AKQ

KJ106.......................9754

...............A75

...............J

...............987654

...............832

?

The North hand surpasses the requirements of the Rule of Twenty and 1S was opened five times. Two Easts overcalled 1NT and played the hand there; both South and North really disliked being vulnerable, although both sides vulnerable is the most conducive to passing; 1NT -2 beats 2S = or +1; 1NT = beats 2S -1. Three Easts doubled, those auctions ending in contracts of 3S N, 3Sx N and 4C W. The last auction began P-1C and finished in 3H E. There is a strong case for North to look for or even just jump to game opposite a single raise, as the six small spades improve drastically opposite support. AKx xxx xxxx xxx or Axx Kxx xxxx xxx both offer?fine play for game and the actual South hand is quite good as well.

?

Declarer can force eleven tricks in spades with the 2-2 trumps and the 4-3 hearts, not to mention the successful club finesse. Declarer in 3Sx +1 was N-S top, but 3S +2 was below average, as 3H and 4C finished -4 and -3 for hefty vulnerable penalties, even undoubled. Curiously, playing in 1NT proved to be the best E-W could do, although N-S could force eight tricks. One declarer escaped for -1 when South did not lead a club through and Owen was E-W top taking a gaudy nine tricks when N-S never established their spades.

?

17:

?

...............63

...............94

...............KJ1065

...............J1086

AKJ5...........................7

106..............................AQJ875

A98.............................Q742

Q973...........................A2

...............Q109842

...............K32

...............3

...............K54

?

This hand from the last round had a 3-3 split among the choice of contract (or denomination) hands as opposed to 5-1. East opened 1H and South overcalled, 2S being more popular than 1S. West naturally went to 3NT. This was left in thrice and pulled, finishing in 4H, thrice.

?

Although East could discard the club loser in 4H, the diamond lead makes it impossible to do everything needed for the overtrick; ducking produces an immediate ruff and winning means the cord to dummy is cut by a spade lead when South gets in with the heart king. Dorbot, Study and Jevin all defended 4H = to tie for N-S top while in 3NT Breta and Paul took ten tricks and Jim eleven.

1:

?

...............Q72

...............64

...............KJ96532

...............4

----..........................AK98

Q10753...................AK98

Q10.........................A7

AK8753...................J106

...............J106543

...............J2

...............84

...............Q92

?

Starting with a slam sometimes seems a bit unfair, and this one had a surprisingly high proportion of pairs to get there - five of the twelve. Slam was reached by Loubot, Linj, Glynneth, Pharah and Paun, all in competitive auctions. If E-W were left to themselves it would have been easy: 1D-1H; 4H-4S; 5D-6C and then East, knowing spade duplication to exist, would probably have been content with 6H. Glynneth had the easiest auction: 2D-X-P-4H; P-6H. Because the opening bid was 2D instead of 3D Lynn's 4H showed a good bit more than 4H over 3D-X would have done; with a diamond control, Gareth had an easy 6H raise. Pharah had the only auction of the five on which North began with a pass: P-1C-2S-3H; P-4NT-P-5C; P-6H. The other three auctions began with 3D. Linj were similar to Pharah: 3D-X-P-4H; P-4NT-P-5C; P-6H. Paul kept the seven-level in play: 3D-X-P-4H; P-4NT-P-5C; P-5D-P-6C; P-6H. Had Paul bid 6D over 6C, which showed the club king and heart queen, Don would probably have bid 7H. Loubot did not have a key card ask: 3D-X-P-4H; P-5D-P-6H. I like Eastbot's 5D, as the East hand feels far more invitational than ask-worthy. West has quite the slammish hand, needing only control of diamonds, and Louise could have looked for 7H with a bid of 5S.

?

Louise, NJ and Lynn all made the overtrick. I would like to think that they all realized that North's holding seven diamonds made South a strong favourite to hold the queen of clubs, but I must allow for the possibility that they all received an opening lead of the singleton club. Don did not; when it came time for him to play the clubs he led the jack and overtook with the ace, after which he did not have the luxury of a guess, as South, with the Q9 remaining, was guaranteed a trick. It is possible that an inferential count was available. Suppose a trump lead; after winning the second trump in dummy, declarer can cash two spades, ruff a third and take one high club before returning to dummy with the diamond ace. Now, assuming North to hold seven diamonds for the 3D opening bid (a perfectly good assumption if a 2D opening bid is weak) then that makes thirteen cards shown, marking South with the club queen. Poor Phyllis (B) did not have the assist of a 3D opening bid and indeed only knew that South had length in spades. Naturally she played for the drop in clubs.

?

4:

?

...............96

...............A32

...............J874

...............AJ54

AQJ1053...........87

J8......................Q974

103....................AKQ5

K103 .................Q97

...............K42

...............K1065

...............962

...............862

?

This one came down to the opening bid. Back in the day there would have been more 2S opening bids, which presumably would have been left in. In our game it appears there was only one 2S opening bid. Everyone else apparently opened 1S, usually reaching 4S. Keianne managed to get to the superiour 3NT via 1S-2D; 2S-3NT.

?

Switch West's clubs and hearts and there would have been little difference between 3NT and 4S. 4S would be fine for IMPs. At matchpoints it depends largely on the opening lead; a heart lead forces declarer to find South with king to no more than three, or the same if a club is lead with a heart shift. Chances improve a bit if declarer gets to try to discard a heart on the third diamond. 3NT has chances if the spades don't behave, especially if South does not hold the heart length. And at matchpoints no-trumps scores the ten extra points when both contracts take the same number of tricks. Keianne were E-W top playing 3NT +2.

?

5:

?

...............KQ109643

...............AK

...............964

...............5

82...................................J

9852...............................1043

A75.................................Q1083

J762 ...............................AKQ103

...............A75

...............QJ76

...............KJ2

...............984

?

North is too weak for a Namyats 4D and starts with 1S. Then came either a double or a 2C overcall. One redouble auction went 1S-X-XX-2H; 4S. I don't particularly care for West's 2H; there is no need for West to bid anything and here the 2H bid went a long way towards E-W's missing their profitable sacrifice in 5Cx. I do like North's 4S rebid; the suit does not require support and this is not a hand that wants to sit for a penalty double. By bidding 4S at once North removed any chance of East's getting the clubs into the auction and the 5C sacrifice was missed.

?

The play in 5Cx was instructive. When West's doubleton turns out not to provide a ruff, declarer needs to hold the diamond suit to one loser to pick up eight tricks and -500. The key is to leave the diamonds as late as possible for declarer, ideally not even to have to play the suit at all. If N-S begin with two rounds of spades, declarer can draw trumps and play a heart. After North cashes two hearts a diamond back gives declarer an extra chance to guess right. But North has a surprise resource - a ruff-and-discard. Declarer can still prevail but will need one good guess instead of having two chances at it. Lernot were able to avoid having to help declarer at all - Gernot led a trump. Declarer drew trumps and led a spade, but Larry cleared his two hearts before the second spade. Even then East could have run the queen or ten of diamonds, won the ace when North covered and then finessed the eight - too difficult a guess to expect. Had the third round of spades been played declarer could also have endplayed South into leading a diamond from the king, which might have been marked as being in the South hand by the key point of the auction.

?

8:

?

...............85

...............K754

...............1062

...............8764

AQJ........................10942

932.........................J8

A8753.....................QJ

KQ .........................J10952

...............K763

...............AQ106

...............K94

...............A3

?

1NT by West passed around to South. Even if playing a double as penalty or showing equal values to the 1NT opening bid South does not have a good hand for the action. One West opened 1D, resulting in 1NT S =. Of the eleven auctions with a 1NT opening bid there were four Souths who came in. One chose to bid 2H for the majors and eventually declared 3H. Two of the doubles resulted in a contract of 2D W. One double was left in.

?

1NT cannot be defeated even with the unstopped hearts. With the spade finesse succeeding, once the club ace comes out in the second round, West can reach the clubs by giving South the king of diamonds. Boric were fortunate, however; declarer led the ace of diamonds at trick two, eventually led the spade ace first and was lucky to escape for -1, which tied them for N-S top. 2D can be set by force, most neatly by starting with three rounds of hearts, the main point being for N-S to avoid leading spades for West at any point. Both declarers in 2D made the contract for a moderately good score. Jeff was able to back up hi bidding by taking eight tricks in 3H for -1 and the other side of the just-above-average bar.

?

12:

?

...............AJ632

...............A83

...............8

...............Q932

K10........................8

Q542......................KJ1096

KQ105....................A643

1075.......................A84?

...............Q9754

...............7

...............J972

...............KJ6

?

Here was another sacrifice hand with a ten-card spade fit for a vulnerable N-S and E-W with a 5-4 fit in which to sacrifice at the five-level. Does East double or overcall 2H after North opens 1S? South should bid 4S over either. West has a fighting chance of bidding 5H if East overcalled 2H but has a tougher time of it after a double from partner, which suggests more defence than 2H while also reducing the likelihood of finding a nine-card fit. One West doubled 4S, ending the auction. And several Norths did not open. Pharah had an uncontested auction ending in 2H E +2 after a Drury sequence. Louise's opponents defended with care and set her 4H one trick but just taking the bid was good enough. Two Easts got to declare 5Hx -2 and E-W top was defending 5Sx N -1 when declarer tried to drop the trump king.

?

13:

?

...............A72

...............K6

...............Q94

...............Q10974

Q4...........................K1083

AJ75........................92

J2............................8753

AKJ65.....................832?

...............J965

...............Q10843

...............AK106

...............----

?

The main question on this hand was whether South would open a Flannery 2D in third seat. Three Souths did so and the only reason there was not a fourth was that North at that table opened 1C. When South opened 1H West overcalled either 2C or 1NT. 2C often ended the auction; 1NT could have been doubled, which, if left in, would have allowed North to double a 2C runout for penalty. North's 1C opening bid led to 4H S; the three Flannery openings led to 3C W, 3NT N and a conservative 2H N.

?

Par in hearts was nine tricks but Jeff made 4H, quite likely after the spade queen opening lead. That may not be enough in and of itself to force a make but, if dummy follows with a spade and East gives West a ruff instead of pushing through a club, declarer can get home by running the heart ten through West to avoid losing a trick to the jack or nine. The Flannery openers all scored reasonably; declarer in 2H took ten tricks, 3C W might have been -3 but finished -2 and North made 3NT. 3NT ought not to be makable by force; eventually declarer must give E-W either a second heart trick or a second spade trick and then E-W can arrange to cash five tricks.

?

16:

?

...............J9

...............AKJ54

...............63

...............A854

----..............................Q108

873..............................Q1062

KJ9742........................Q105

QJ62............................K97?

...............AK765432

...............9

...............A8

...............103

?

This was Tracy's best (and unluckiest) moment of the game. The other Souths all settled for 4S one way or another. After Howard opened 1H and rebid 1NT over Tracy's 1S response, Tracy counted nine probable winners and jumped to 6S, which would easily have won a bidding competition.

?

6S makes whenever trumps split 2-1, a 78% chance. If the South spade suit were headed by AK9 instead of AK7, declarer could have led the jack trying to induce a cover if East held Q108, allowing the marked finesse on the next round. With trumps 3-0, on a club opening lead declarer should finish -3 instead of -1 (-2 on a diamond lead) as the contract can still make if the heart finesse succeeds.

?

18:

?

...............K92

...............5

...............AK9873

...............765

Q1073......................4

AQ962.....................KJ843

Q5............................642

A8............................J432?

...............AJ865

...............107

...............J10

...............KQ109

?

This became a big Battle of the Majors. We had yet another 5-5 fit, this time in hearts. The bidding almost always got to game. If South opened 1S then North likely raised the valuation; otherwise East raised to 4H when West opened 1H. A Flannery auction starting with 2D from West might have had a chance of ending in 3H E.

?

E-W had four clear losers in hearts. I mention this hand at all only to point out the possible play in spades of leading low to the nine if West does not force out the king. If there were no chance of E-W's forcing North to ruff a heart declarer would have an even safer play of the ace first and then low towards the K9, holding the losers in the suit to one any time both East and West followed to the ace. Thus the only way for E-W to force a set would be to lead ace and another club. West can always win the third round of spades by force, and the East hand can be reached with the heart king to give West a club ruff.