End of the Fourth Day
THE END OF THE FOURTH DAY
Match 1
Australia vs China Hong Kong 52 19 which converts to 17.49 2.51
Current position 9th
North – South Andrew Spooner (N) Tomer Libman (S)
East – West Jamie Thompson (E) Matt Smith (W)
A big win for Australia against one of the bottom teams. This is what you need to do in events like these.
It was an interesting round in as much as each of the 4 leading teams had losses.
Board 1
14 imps was a great start for Australia when Tomer solved the riddle of how to make 6♦ on the Q♥s lead.
It is an awkward hand to play. If you play 2 rounds of ♦s, then you must guess who to play for which black Queen. You could also play 3 rounds of ♠s and 3 rounds of ♣s trying to bring down a black Queen in either suit whilst you still have the K♦ as an entry to the North hand or play 3 rounds of ♣s and if no queen appears, play a ruffing finesse in ♠s throwing your ♥ loser.
Board 7
Which red ‘8’ to lead against 4♠ by South. Australia got it right for another 13 imps
Board 10
Tomer got the ♥ suit right in 4♥ for another 12 imps. West had the 10 and 3♥s and East had A, 7 and 6♥s.
West, who had bid ♠s, led the A♠ and the K♠ and East showed a doubleton. So on the third ♠, you ruff high and you need to guess who has the 10♥s. East probably has longer ♥s since West has 6♠s but it is still a guess.
Board 13
This was Australia’s only poor board when we lost 13 imps when Andrew had to play 6NT on the following 2 hands and went off while our opponents stayed out of slam.
The Q♣s is with East doubleton (no 9♣) and West has the K♠.
North is playing the hand and East leads a passive 3♦.
It looks right to win in the North hand and play to finesse in both black suits and get the ending correct [the ♣ is blocked to finesse West for the 9♣ so you must be careful with your entries even if you decide to do this].
Overall a very satisfying win.
Match 2
Australia vs Netherlands 22 26 which converts to 8.72 11.28
Current position 9th
North – South Renee Cooper (N) Francesca McGrath (S)
East – West Matt Smith (W) Jamie Thompson (E)
Although Australia just lost, it was a good result against a quality Dutch outfit.
Australia lost a few imps on several boards but they had the only double digit pick up in the match when Renee made 6♥ on the following hand.
Board 8
The singleton 5♣ was led. West comes under some pressure as North pulls 4 trumps. North then leads a ♠ towards the KQ and West should duck. Now Renee[giving herself an extra chance] pulled a small ♦ away from the AQ and West rose with K, now he got squeezed in the black suits.
Renee was one of the few declarers to make this.
In some other matches, there were a large number of imps turned over on these boards [including 2 matches with 20 – 0 blitzes].
Match 3
Australia vs England 41 26 which converts to 14.19 5.81
Current position 8th
North – South Matt Smith (S) Jamie Thompson (N)
East – West Tomer Libman (W) Andrew Spooner (E)
A very satisfying way to end the day.
On board 6, the English declarer took a no play line in 6♥ for a satisfying 17 imps. This was the only person to fail in 6♥. You need some luck as well as to play well.
England had another couple of poor boards later but you must be there to take advantage of these gifts.
So Australia did nothing of great note in this set but they also made few mistakes.
End of Day Summary
To paraphrase a famous speech, Australia are 8th at last 8th at last thank the Lord we are 8th at last.
Tomorrow they play 4 matches
|
Match 15 |
New Zealand |
Currently 21st |
Bledisloe cup revenge |
|
Match 16 |
Colombia |
Currently 16th |
|
|
Match 17 |
Italy |
Currently 13th |
Contenders for 8th |
|
Match 18 |
Israel |
Currently 10th |
Contenders for 8th |
Posted by Mike and Chris on Sunday, 12 August 2018 at 20:51