DAY 3 - Wednesday August 10th, 2022
Silver for Australia’s Veteran Youth Pair!
Jamie Thompson and Andrew Spooner win the Silver Medal in the Under 31 Pairs.
The winners from India finished 3% ahead of Jamie and Andrew, who finished less than one percent ahead of third place.
Here is a pic of Damon’s post event interview (with an invisible microphone).
In the Under 26s Final, Jamie Simpson and David Gue finished in about the middle of the 18 pair final.
In the Under 21s Final, Lara and Jacob had a tough day, but managed to avoid the wooden spoon, which the rest of the Aussie contingent were nearly at the shops attempting to purchase.
The Pairs Consolation (B-Final) was played in one large combined field, with a mixture of Under 31s, Under 26s, Under 26 Women, and the U21s.
Australian Pair Josh Tomlin and Damon Flicker finished 15th on a respectable 55%, and Bertie Morgan and Jack Luke-Paredi finished right in the middle of the field.
Under 31 Medal winners Podium
Jamie and Andrew are veterans of the youth bridge scene and are two of the most popular players among their peers. I’ve had the pleasure of being their NPC over the past few years. Although they have been teammates for several years, this event is their first international outing as a partnership.
Player Profile – Jamie Thompson
Jamie’s bridge journey started about 13 years ago and since then it has taken him all over the world.
“Bridge has been in my family for a while so I couldn't avoid it. I tagged along to a day congress with my dad in 2009 and got hooked right away.”
“Youth Week is incredible not just for the bridge, but also for the social side. I attended for the first time in 2010 having only been playing for about 3 months and that was probably the most important week in my bridge career. The willingness of the more senior players to help and make me feel welcome was amazing.”
Jamie played his first international event as an under 21 in 2014 and since then has gone on to become the most capped Australian Junior player ever, having played in more than 10 international events and achieved considerable success.
However, his most proud bridge moment happened closer to home. “In 2018 I won my first open national in my home city (The VCC). My dad was there to watch me win and it was just very special for me.”
Despite still being a Victorian at heart, Jamie recently moved to Sydney to pursue a career as a bridge professional and splits his time between teaching, directing, and playing professionally. He loves to read and plays the occasional computer game.
Player Profile – Andrew Spooner
Andrew also comes from a bridge family; he learnt bridge about 10 years ago and has attended many youth weeks since then. “They are THE BEST!!!”
“My proudest bridge achievement was probably making the youth team in 2018 and getting to go to my first world championship event.”
Andrew lives in Canberra and works as a patent clerk, which involves examining patent applications and deciding if they are eligible for a patent. Fortunately, his job allows him plenty of flexibility to travel and play bridge.
"My favourite tournaments are the Gold Coast and Summer Festival. The one convention I’d rather not play is Kickback!”
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Andrew for all his international career and it’s been great to see his rise from shy youngster to a leader among his peers.
Here is a photo of all the Medal Winners from the all the category divisions in Pairs. Try to spot the Aussie Pair! Sorry about the angles! There are close up photos of our Medal winners later in the Bulletin.
Andrew Spooner and Jamie Thompson were playing in a 3 table Howell final, so only two other score comparisons. Getting a good score involves good bidding, sharp play, and sometimes a bit of luck.
U31 Pairs Final, Session 1
Board 15. Rotated
Andrew opened 1♣ and East made a frisky overcall, though normal for a Youth event. Jamie started with 2♦, and then tried 3NT with stoppers in both the opponent’s suits.
West knows their partner’s overcalling style, so chose to lead their own Spade (♠7, fourth-highest). Jamie called for Dummy’s ♠T which held, and although he had 9 tricks available via an extra Spade, he decided to tackle the Hearts, assuming that East had both Heart honours. At trick two he led the ♥J, hoping to be able to establish a trick or two. East covered the ♥J with the ♥Q, and Jamie decided to duck this to keep control and entries on the next round. Surprisingly, West had the ♥K and had to win it.
Pay careful attention to the Heart suit. Here is the situation with the first round of Hearts being played.
| ♥J86 | ||
| ♥K | ♥Q9743 | |
| ♥A1052 |
When Jamie regained the lead, he was able to use the two Diamond entries to Dummy to lead the ♥8 (covered with the ♥9 and ♥T), and later the ♥6 (covered with the ♥7 and ♥T). The ♥5 in Jamie’s hand became his 11th trick and earnt him a very valuable top board.
The other two tables both played in 3NT on the ♠7 lead but made 9 and 10 tricks.
With only a few hands remaining in the U31 Pairs Final, Andrew Spooner and Jamie Thompson were close to the top, with a few pairs not far behind. Any big swing could move any pair up or down a spot. Andrew and Jamie had another success here on the 3rd last board of the event.
Under 31 Pairs Final Session 3
Board 22. Rotated
After Andrew's 3♠ raise, Jamie had to decide how to proceed. The common wisdom is that you shouldn’t ask for Keycards when you have a suit with two immediate losers. Usually both players can Control Bid to find out that all the suits are covered before launching into Keycard (or slam). Jamie had a different idea. The auction up until this point had been rather unrevealing, and Jamie thought that pinpointing the Heart weakness might be more useful to the defenders than his team, so elected the direct option of asking for Keycards and bidding slam.
At this point, West asked a lot of questions about the auction and eventually settled on leading the ♥4. Jamie had a few options in the play. One potential line is to win the ♥A immediately, and then play the ♦A and then ♦Q, discarding the Heart loser. This might lose a trick, but prevents losing a Heart loser while also establishing the ♦J as an extra winner.
However, with West asking a few questions, it seemed that the opening lead was not a singleton. Jamie reasoned that West probably had a heart honour and a strong player leading against a slam was more likely to lead away from a King than a Jack.
Jamie played the ♥Q at trick one, and when it held, he set about ruffing clubs. He then played the ♦A and ruffed a Diamond. Now he ruffed another Club high, and when the Clubs split 4-3, he was able to play some trumps, and establish the fifth Club for a well deserved overtrick.
On different auctions, the other tables both ended up in 6♠, received different leads, and only made 12 tricks.
Here is a picture of Andrew and Jamie accepting their medals from retiring WBF President Gianarrigo Rona, and WBF Secretary General Arianna Testa, with one of the Indian Under 31 Champs watching on.
The Teams start tomorrow, with a one day qualifying consisting of 8 rounds of 6 boards in the Under 21 and Under 26 divisions. The top 8 teams qualify for the knockout Quarterfinal the next day.
The Under 31s don’t have as many teams, so will play a round robin of five 10 board matches to sort out who goes straight into the Semi Finals.
There will be one match each round shown on Vugraph, but at this stage there is no information available about which teams will be shown.
Posted by Pauline on Saturday, 13 August 2022 at 11:54