Punch Drunk Technique

Pairs bridge (or matchpoints) comes in for a fair amount of bad press compared to team (or IMPs) scoring – I admit to dishing some of it out myself. My favourite quote is this picaresque analogy by many times world champion, Bob Hamman:

"What is the difference between IMPs and Matchpoints? Who do you think were the two best heavyweights who ever fought? I don't really care who you pick, but take those two fighters, both at the peak of their careers, put them in a ring and let them slug it out for fifteen rounds. Whoever wins is the champ. That's IMPs. Now take the same two fighters, blindfold them and tie one hand behind their backs. Divide the ring diagonally with a solid barrier and put a heavyweight on each side of the barrier. Now go down to the local tavern and collect twenty drunks. Place ten drunks on each side of the ring and let the fighters go at it. Whoever knocks out his drunks first is the winner. That's matchpoints!"

But there are some good things to say about it as well - apart from the levelling aspect of chance alluded to above that makes the club duplicate pairs so popular. Every hand is important and no matter what the deal is – even if it is thrown in – it carries the same weight in the final reckoning as every other. Therefore boards that would be uninteresting at teams have their own complexities at pairs. Consider this:

  • A8653
  • 987
  • 5
  • AQ43
N
W
E
S
  • KQ102
  • A6
  • AK864
  • 72

East opens a diamond and as West, you respond a spade. North overcalls Two Hearts and you are immediately in game. North leads the heart king, how do you play?

At teams, where the safety of the contract is paramount, you'd first draw trumps to safeguard your high cards outside. Now, even if you had to take three rounds, you'd have five trumps, a heart ruff in due course and four top tricks outside. You could content yourself with taking a club finesse against the silent South for an overtrick. If trumps were 2-2, you would also try to establish dummy's diamonds. But at matchpoints the play is more subtle.

You may think it sensible still to gain early knowledge of a foul trump split so let's say you take just the king of trumps after winning the heart lead. When both opponents follow you can set about the diamonds, trying to pitch both West's hearts. So, two top diamonds (pitching heart), diamond ruff, now spade to king for disappointing news; trumps don't break, South has three. But you need those overtricks so another diamond ruff - South discards a club but the last diamond is good:

  • A
  • 9
  • ---
  • AQ43
N
W
E
S
  • 102
  • 6
  • 8
  • 72

With the lead in West this position is a bit uncomfortable: you more or less have to draw the last trump and give up a heart. The trouble is, the defence will force you and you'll have to pluck up courage to take the club finesse without a trump safety net. A canny North may well come down to a heart and the club king to keep you guessing.

In fact the correct way to play the hand is not to touch trumps at all – they have work to do both as entries and control. Taking a slight risk, you start on diamonds, ruff one and cross to dummy with a trump to ruff a second. Now when you play another low trump to dummy, you arrive at the diagram above with the lead in East.

If spades are 2-2 you take a heart pitch then a club finesse. When the 3-1 break transpires, you still play the master diamond. South has to ruff but now when you over ruff (drawing trump) and concede a heart, you have two trumps left to control the play. Taking twelve tricks in this common contract was worth over 90% of the matchpoints at the Ipswich Swiss Pairs – in a teams game I suspect it would have won just an IMP at most.

Felixstowe Congress
The Pier Leisure Centre, Felixstowe, 6th & 7th October; pairs 1:00pm Saturday, teams 11:00am Sunday, each competition £9.00 per person. Cheques payable to SCBA to: Claude Stokes, Meadowside, 81 Walton Road, Kirby-le-Soken, Essex CO13 0DE. 01255 674253

Published Saturday 29.Sep.2007