Suffolk v Hertfordshire
A mixed bag for Suffolk in the last Eastern Counties League match of the calendar year against Hertfordshire; the 'A' team had a narrow victory 12-8 in victory points but the 'B' registered their first loss of the season, 6-14 and the 'C' team had very much the worse of it, losing 0-20.
The hand records to the computer dealt deals always summarise the high card points held by each player to convince the doubtful of the machine's even handedness. On Sunday, those statistics revealed that, on average, each position held close to their ration of 10 HCP. However, that applied to each seat, if you were one of those people who sat boards one to eight as East-West, then switched for the next eight and so on, then you would take more convincing as you defended, and defended…
Of course, poor card-holding isn't the disaster at duplicate it is at rubber but matters are largely beyond your control and your score generally reflects only how well your opponents play against you. But that is a small way fate can play a hand in the duplicate game. 'Swings', the large differences that change matches can be prey to the slightest things and the most common is the simple choice of no-trump range:
- K105
- 543
- AQ9
- AJ64
- AJ2
- KJ
- J74
- Q9753
1. 1NT would be 15-17
2. 13-15 Balanced
There were two hurdles to overcome on this deal. The first was either to declare as East and avoid a heart lead or to be a good guesser when North led one after an auction such as ours. If, by one means or other, you negotiated that, you had to demonstrate sound technique in handling the club suit. You must take the finesse by leading low towards the ace-knave. This is the best play for five tricks as it caters for South's singleton king – which is indeed what he held along with the queen of hearts.
The three wests that declared the game were each one down, four of the easts failed (one by three tricks!) and five succeeded.
Suffolk v Hertfordshire
'A' Team won 12-8 VPs (+12 IMPs)
P. Gemmell (Capt.) / P. Sutcliffe
C. Chambers / E. Lockhart
J. Lang / D. Morran
B. Davies / D. Gudka
'B' Team lost 6-14 VPs (-25 IMPs)
M. Allnutt / D. Sutcliffe
C. Bamberger / R. Green
A. Moore / J. Moore
R. Hanley / J. Orton
'C' Team lost 0-20 VPs (-104 IMPs)
G. Beeton / S. Flin
D. Price / J. Price
N. Less / H. Mason
F. Waters / R. Waters
Published Saturday 22.Dec.2007