Suffolk v Cambs and Hunts
The start of the holiday season brought a few new and unfamiliar partnerships to last Sunday's Eastern Counties League match against Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. Some teams coped better than others; the 'A' team won handily, 20-0 in victory points but the 'B' and 'C' teams lost, 3-17 and 7-13 respectively. I imagine the captain, Peter Gemmell, will be relieved on organisational grounds that there are no more summer fixtures, the next match being in mid October.
As I was one of those absent, I glanced over the hand records for a suitable deal to feature - it didn't take long to spot this:
| NS Vul, Dealer West | ♠ 72 | ||
| ♥ AKQ103 | |||
| ♦ Q1086 | |||
| ♣ AJ | |||
| ♠ AKQJ10943 | ♠ 865 | ||
| ♥ --- | ♥ J84 | ||
| ♦ --- | ♦ J74 | ||
| ♣ Q10932 | ♣ 8764 | ||
| ♠ --- | |||
| ♥ 97652 | |||
| ♦ AK9532 | |||
| ♣ K5 | |||
All bar two tables declared spades which, with east-west being non-vulnerable, was 'on the cards'. A four spade opening was usual and north doubled. That became the final contract in a bewildering number of cases - three of twelve - and five spades (though undoubled) a further three times. Of course, east-west might be afraid of pushing their opponents into a slam and one south declared five diamonds for a significant pickup despite easily collecting two overtricks.
One Suffolk north-south had to contend to with a strong two spade opener:
| West | North | East | South | |
| 2♠ | 3♥ | 3♠ | 4♥ | |
| 4♠ | Pass | Pass | 5♥ | |
| 5♠ | End | |||
Just to be clear, those west cards are not an Acol two. It is insufficient to describe the west hand in that fashion and, I would hazard, north-south may have redress but I do not know the explanation given at the table. The ploy of opening a distributional hand with low high-card strength works well when the opponents are vulnerable and unsure whether they are nipping into the auction for a lead indicator or actually contesting the declaration. However, despite my sympathies, I have to say south bid way too little: six hearts must be a good shot on hearing her partner's vulnerable intervention.
Suffolk v Cambs and Hunts
'A' Team won 20-0 VPs (+95 IMPs)
J. Gobert / J. Green
A. Moore / J. Moore
J. Lang / D. Morran
E. Newman / M. Sherer
'B' Team lost 3-17 VPs (-54 IMPs)
G. Beeton / S. Flin
N. Denny / R. Mascall
R. Hanley / J. Orton
M. Allnutt / B. Barker
'C' Team lost 7-13 VPs (-18 IMPs)
P. Gemmell (Capt.) / J. Standley
D. Haig-Thomas / J. Menzies
J. Mayhew / A. Wilmer
D. Price / J. Price
Published Saturday 14.Jun.2008