Suffolk Club Teams of Eight
I always wonder what non-players and perhaps occasional players too, make of statements such as "..those were a wild set of boards!" or alternatively "..the hands were very dull". Participants can make something out of nothing – whether that means producing gems or howlers I'll leave to your interpretation – but bridge players usually need something with which to work. The deals for the most recent national simultaneous pairs were unremittingly dull but the Great Shuffler who arranged the raw material for the Suffolk Club Teams of Eight on Sunday gave them a little twist.
I for one thought them a particularly vicious set but not to say my partner and I were always on the receiving end:
| NS Vul. Dealer North | ♠ 765 | ||
| ♥ Q7 | |||
| ♦ AKJ976 | |||
| ♣ 86 | |||
| ♠ Q943 | ♠ 8 | ||
| ♥ K96542 | ♥ A8 | ||
| ♦ 84 | ♦ Q102 | ||
| ♣ 9 | ♣ AK107542 | ||
| ♠ AKJ102 | |||
| ♥ J103 | |||
| ♦ 53 | |||
| ♣ QJ3 | |||
| West | North | East | South | |
| Gemmell | WBC | Chambers | WBC | |
| 1♦ | 1NT! | 2♠ | ||
| 3♦* | 3♠ | 4♣ | 4♠ | |
| X | End | |||
Ipswich and Kesgrave faced Woodbridge and everyone got a little carried away: I experimented with a frivolous no-trump overcall but South wasn't to be talked out of anything with an opening hand opposite a partner who bid twice. West remained relatively calm, trying to get his hearts into the picture via a transfer bid and eventually, saying enough was enough. And quite a feast it turned out to be.
West led his club and two rounds exposed the position, East switched to a low heart to the king then back to the ace. The nine of spades ruffed a club and a heart from West scored the spade eight, overruffing dummy. Another club ensured a trump trick for East even had he started with only knave-nine to four but wasn't necessary here. When the dust settled, Ipswich had +1100 and were on their way to retaining the Abbeygate Shield.
| Abbeygate Shield – Suffolk Club Teams of Eight 2007 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | VPs | ||
| 1. | Ipswich & Kesgrave | X | 15 | 4 | 17 | 19 | 20 | 12 | 17 | 17 | 20 | 141 |
| 2. | Felixstowe | 5 | X | 16 | 10 | 18 | 8 | 19 | 14 | 15 | 18 | 123 |
| 3. | Colchester | 16 | 4 | X | 20 | 5 | 20 | 17 | 2 | 20 | 17 | 121 |
| 4. | Clare | 3 | 10 | 0 | X | 16 | 16 | 19 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 114 |
| 5. | Woodbridge | 1 | 2 | 15 | 4 | X | 16 | 1 | 19 | 20 | 17 | 95 |
| 6. | Frinton | 0 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 4 | X | 14 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 90 |
| 7. | Hospitals | 8 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 19 | 6 | X | 12 | 12 | 17 | 79 |
| 8. | Framlingham | 3 | 6 | 18 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 8 | X | 2 | 15 | 59 |
| 9. | Risbygate | 3 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 18 | X | 7 | 46 |
| 10. | Stowmarket | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 13 | X | 33 |
Ipswich were represented by: Barry Davies & Din Gudka, Maria Allnutt & Debby Sutcliffe, Brian Ellul & Roger Marriott, Peter Gemmell & Chris Chambers
Published Saturday 27.Oct.2007