Chris Taylor describes a hand from Friday’s open pairs.
“The auction was
| 2S | P | P | X |
| P | 4H | P | 4NT |
| P | 5C (one) | P | 5NT (specific Ks) |
| P | 6C | P | 7H |
| P | P | P |
Perfect bidding by partner. Unfortunately I put a stone cold grand on the floor! Misplayed it and got stuck in the wrong hand. If only I could declare as well as my partner David Wing bids!"
Today we are playing Swiss Teams with six eight-board matches. After the three afternoon matches, Team 4 Richards (Debbie and Simon Richards, David Jones, Jan Duncan) were leading on 49 VP, with team 7 Laidlow (Royd Laidlow, Jacqui Lewis, Claire Price, Gordon Clark) second on 39 VPs, closely followed by Team 1 Mundy (Margaret Mundy, Ian Mundy, Andrew Urbanski, Sue Brown) on 38 VPs.
In the evening session, those three teams joined by Team 5 Brearley (Judy and John Brearley, Steve Cane, John Leake) and Team 6 McSorland (Duncan McSorland, John Deszberg, Adrian Filkins, Julie Kamieniecka) continued to share the leading five places, with the ranking eventually settling down to Richards 1, Brearley 2, McSorland 3.
Board 14 in session 2 was interesting.
When East opens 1C and South jumps to 2S, with North raising to 4S, East will double and West may bid 5H.
It’s a lot easier if East opens 1H (particularly playing 5 card majors).
Should East open 2C? We think not. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that one South was allowed to play in 3S for -50.
However, the real interest is in the play. It is suggested that East or West can make 13 tricks, but it takes a careful sequence of play as well as assumptions about the layout of the club and heart suits to achieve that.