Brighton Pairs

It's August, there's sunshine and it's time to go down to the sea again – the Brighton Summer festival is with us.

I have to confess I've been a little quiet about extolling its virtues the last year or two on the grounds that with one thing and another, I've failed to get there myself. This year I'm glad to be returning, scrapping away in the second weekend teams competition, underway when you read this in the newspaper. Numbers were ever so slightly down in the first weekend pairs but Suffolk players were very scarce compared to previous years. Two pairs I spotted were Jane and Andrew Moore who finished 43rd (out of 498) and Colin Bamberger and Robert Green at 175th.

There's a daily bulletin and this hand reminded me of a coup I fell for some time ago:

EW vul.
Dealer South
  • 1062
  • 53
  • AJ65
  • 7543
  • A7
  • KQ9764
  • Q72
  • 102
N
W
E
S
  • KQ93
  • AJ2
  • K43
  • 986
  • J854
  • 108
  • 1098
  • AKQJ

East-West reached four hearts and North led the diamond ace (for reasons unknown). His next shot was to switch to a spade. West won, and with nothing to lose, ran all his red suit winners. South's discomfort must have been audible by now because this was the position as the last trump was played:

  • 62
  • ---
  • ---
  • 75
  • 7
  • 7
  • ---
  • 102
N
W
E
S
  • KQ9
  • ---
  • ---
  • 9
  • J84
  • ---
  • ---
  • A

South had to hope that his partner had the club ten. He didn't – twelve tricks was an extremely good score for East-West.

What was my reminiscence? Well, playing a similar hand, I attempted to speed the play by claiming. I added a moment after; "I'll make an extra one if all the top clubs are in one hand together with the long spade" – or some such. The holder of the South cards shook his head. "You can't have that I'm afraid, it wasn't part of your claim". It was true, I capitulated and chided myself for haste. After the event I was looking for sympathy and produced the hand records only to discover the layout was nothing of the sort – South had made it up in an attempt to make me feel bad. It's tough out there I tell you.

Published Saturday 19.Aug.2006