Dubious Logic

Suffolk v Herts

Suffolk's most recent Eastern Counties League match against Hertfordshire did not go well for those who braved the uncertainties of the weather and made the long journey to Welwyn Garden City. The 'A' team lost by 15 IMPs, 7-13 in victory points, the 'B' team by 50 (3-17) and though they accounted for the largest IMP turnover, the 'C' encounter was a dead tie and so 10-10 VP.

Our opponents did seem to play more accurately than we did but that's not to say we couldn't have fared a lot better. In the first team match the decisions of whether to pre-empt and how were critical and the points got allocated mainly to Hertfordshire – perhaps it may be worth an exploration of those deals in a future article. The Suffolk second and third teams both enjoyed significant leads after the first quarter only not to win another set.

Here however, is an example of making life difficult for declarer:

I declared four spades from the short side (rotated for convenience from the table) on the lead of the heart ten from North. I won, took another heart and a ruff to try the trump finesse. The nine appeared from North and my queen held. The nine was sort of good news but it was no surprise when, on the next spade, North showed out. I overtook the ten in dummy and South took the king to play another heart ruffed in dummy, North following. I drew trumps and with one more still out this was the position:

What to discard on the ♠8? Baring the club king pinned everything on the diamond finesse. A diamond discard then, but how next to play that suit? Low to the knave would be OK if that lost to Kxx but Kxxx would certainly give you a problem – a choice whether to overtake after North returned the suit and lead a club or, rather more prettily, strand the ♦Q in dummy and use North's now bare ace to get to it (he would have come down to ♦Kxxx ♣A in the ending). But… Even when the finesse won, you would still be far from home - if the king didn't drop next, South would get in to lead a club through.

These small decisions are the sort that consume a great deal of time at the table but it is important to try and extract all information present. South's failure to play a singleton diamond is an indication he is not that short. Perhaps his failure to play a club through indicates he has the ace – else wise with North holding both ♦K and ♣A, he could have beaten the contract for sure by forcing in clubs. Eventually I decided to play South for short diamonds, either xx, Kx (xxx, xxxx too) or what he actually held, singleton king – he could have saved a deal of time by showing me his cards!

Suffolk v Hertfordshire
'A' Team lost 69-84 IMPs, 7-13 VP *
P. Sutcliffe / B. Davies
M. Sherer / E. Newman
B. Barker / A. Day
J. Green / C. Chambers
* Subject to ruling

'B' Team lost 77-127, 3-17
M. Allnutt / D. Sutcliffe
R. Hanley / J. Orton
R. Mascall / N. Denny
C. Bamberger / R. Green

'C' Team tied 112-112, 10-10
M. O'Rielly / M. Spencer
N. Shannahan / P. Shannahan
A. Barnes / D. Gee
A. Wilmer / H. Morris

Published Saturday 5.Mar.2005