Damned if you do….

Sorry, but my filing system is not what it should be. The hands I had in mind for today are – well – SOMEWHERE.

But this is something interesting from this year’s NOT – well, it’s not the NOT, really. Actually only 16 teams or so are allowed to play the National Open Teams now….it does make you wonder, doesn’t it? Still, from the event we all still call the NOT, even though it’s not.

Round 12
Board 19
Vul EW
Dealer South

	NORTH Q952 AKJ Q108 KQ10
WEST 7 109643 97643 93		EAST KJ83 Q8 42 J6542
	SOUTH A1064 752 AKJ A87

Against us in slam Bruce Neill went quickly down when he finessed the opening ten of hearts lead at trick one. In the other room, Lazer, on the same heart lead to 6NT decided to play for the given heart position. Then he played spades beginning with the queen to make his slam. Nicely done by Warren.

I was sitting there thinking how lucky it is that we don’t play the nine from those holdings – well, we do sometimes, not not as a matter of course. Anybody who did routinely lead the nine from Q109 would have been severely punished for doing so.

Not long after, the theory is tested again, well almost.

Round 13
Board 13
Vul All
Dealer North

	NORTH AQ654 AK10743 Q 7
WEST J987 8 AJ73 KQ65		EAST 2 J962 10842 J1098
	SOUTH K103 Q5 K965 A432

Round 13, board 13 – this deal had to be unlucky for somebody and that was us. Wally Malaczynski was declarer and just a little overboard in 6S by North. I led the normal club, Wally won and played 2 rounds of spades to dummy. He got the bad news, played a diamond and Simon had to decide what to do. He ducked and that was the end of that. Slam making.

Still, for me it raised again the issue of the opening lead from sequences. Change these cards a little – so that the opening leader leads the D10 to 6S. Low from dummy and??? Hmmm. If partner has the queen, we have to play low. If partner does not have the queen we have to rise. The way to make sure that partner in 3rd seat gets this right is to play that the ten denies the queen, ie if on lead with Q109 to make the very opening lead which the night before costs the contract – the NINE.

Damned if you do? And damned if you don’t!

Tomorrow? An example of the Suicide point.

Thoughts about the NOT.

Fabulous to have the whole event in one venue for the first time in yonks. A NOT with integrity, fancy that! It’s been really unfortunate to have the top of the field split into two for some years now. The Convention Centre has got to be the perfect venue. Central to Civic, accommodation, restaurants. Capacious. Cool. The only downside I noticed – and I guess it is a big one – is that we didn’t have screens for the first round of the finals. This should be easy to rectify.

One of the upsides of one venue is that you get to see everybody as well as play them. Then there are the people you see for the first time….

Meet our Round three opponents:

Del Ryan and Monica Darley from Mackay

At the other table, their teammates – Pauline and Warren – played our teammates….Pauline and Warren!

I saw Del and Monica after the event was over and told them we all thought their team played really well. ‘But you thumped us’ they said. ‘Well, yes, that’s true,’ I replied, ‘But we can still tell the difference between a team which knows what it is doing and a team which doesn’t.’ Any team can lose by a lot and still be a good team is the message. Don’t lose heart!!!

Indeed, Del and Monica said something which vindicated my team’s assessment of them. Later on in the event, they reported, they beat Smolanko. Now that is an impressive result. Smolanko was my pick for underseeded team of the event: Smolanko-Wyer, Peake-Dyke, Thomson-Bagchi. If that team had clicked it would have been a strong contender for the championship, but in fact, it struggled to get to the finals and got knocked out at the first opportunity.

Still, that does not in the least detract from the Mackay team’s win. It was a great result by players who rarely get the chance to play good competition and grasped the opportunity when it came.

Tricks out of nothing.

Round two of the NOT our team was already struggling, having managed a modest win in the first round. This round didn’t look like it was going to be better, I thought, as I gloomily perused my dummy on one board. I was in 3C doubled, which was 3 off, no escaping that. To make matters worse it looked like our teammates might well be in 6 hearts and as they were 5-0, well, it was all too depressing for words.

Dummy had Jxxxx in hearts and LHO had AKQxx. To my amazement, in the middle of the hand, she shifted to a low one letting my jack score while RHO still had to follow suit. Things were looking up, I thought, -300 and -50, not so bad. In fact really rather good, that -300, as Warren Lazer made 6H in the other room despite the bad trump break.

Later on in the event I held this combination again. It was a side suit in a major suit game. Jxxxx in dummy opposite x in hand. A trick or two into the hand I led the jack from dummy – and it held. Please, may I hold this combination more often!

I don’t know if there is a moral to the story, but I did find the reactions of each pair interesting. The first pair had a bit of a barney. When the jack held against the second pair BOTH of them apologised. I’m sure it is just a coincidence that it was the second pair who got to the finals….