Dubious Logic

Suffolk v Cambs and Hunts

David Price, Suffolk's new World Champion as winner of the Senior Bowl in Brazil, was attending to more local matters in his role as county Captain. The Suffolk teams were hosts to Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in the second fixture of the Eastern Counties season. It was mixed performance; the 'A' team lost narrowly, 9-11 in Victory Points, the 'B' team won overwhelmingly, 20-0 but the 'C' team lost 7-13. The losses however hide late rallies that saw both Suffolk teams repair more substantial deficits towards respectability.

Board 15 was a tricky play problem; East dealt, vulnerable against not:

Most pairs seem to have reached four spades – though there were some 600s in the 'C' team, presumably from 3NT, which makes me wonder if there were more cases of the no-trump game being defeated. As dealer, East would pass unless possessing a weak-both-majors gadget (and vulnerable on these cards!) and some systems would reach spades from the West side after a two no-trump opening and transfer but most would declare from the weaker hand.

The early play might vary too; where clubs were led and continued, West ruffs the third round and is in the convenient hand to try a diamond. But if hearts were not mentioned, an early heart lead removes an entry for the diamonds and declarer must proceed with care. The contract is quite perilous; with three top losers, declarer cannot afford to do any ruffing with the king-queen-ten of trumps except in very fortunate circumstances. Clearly one must lead towards the diamond king-queen and probably the best plan is to ensure transportation by giving up clubs if the defence has not led them.

To manage the alternate plan of drawing trumps, West should win the king then lead the ten to the ace, leaving a top honour with the diamonds. One entry, the remaining heart, is needed to ruff a diamond and second entry is need to reach the strong hand to enjoy the suit.

Despite trumps being 3-2 (with knave doubleton) and the diamond ace being onside and both diamond and heart ruffs being safe, timing the play was clearly tough as only two declarers (unfortunately both from the opposition camp) brought home +620.

Suffolk v Cambs & Hunts
'A' Team lost 9-11 VPs (-9 IMPs)
R. Hanley / J. Orton
A. Green / D. Valtisaris
J. Lang / D Morran
P. Gemmell / P. Sutcliffe

'B' Team won 20-0 VPs (+77IMPs)
M. Allnutt / D. Sutcliffe
J. Price / D. Price (Capt.)
B. Davies / D. Gudka
G. Beeton / S. Flin

'C' Team lost 7-13 VPs (-17 IMPs)
N. Less / H. Mason
J. Mayhew / A. Wilmer
B. Talaga / A. Yarkina
R. Parish / R. Green

Published Saturday 3.Oct.2009