Page 9 - ABF Newsletter April 2025

GOLD COAST OPEN TEAMS
From the Gold Coast Daily Bulletin, BARRY RIGAL reports on the final of the Open Teams Championship. The finallists were BRAKE (Adam Kaplan - Matthew Brown, Jessica Brake - Shane Harrison - Andy Hung) and APPLETON (Stephen Castellino - David Appleton, Joachim Haffer - Philip Markey).
The finals would feature four essentially
natural partnerships, but with Markey -
Haffer playing a lot of wildness, includ-
ing mini notrump and specific two-suiter openings, flimsy openings and overcalls and a host besides. Everyone present had signed a contract never to pass an 11-count and 9- and 10-counts non-vulner- able would not be off-limits.
Slam on a finesse isn’t always worth writing about, but this one had a point that eluded me.
Board 2. Dealer East. North-South vulnerable.
]AQ8 [AK932 } 10 8 {A74
{ K 10 8 5 3 2 ]KJ753
[ Q J 10 }KJ32 {9
WEST NORTH EAST
Appleton Hung Castellino Brake
pass 1] pass 2{ pass 2} pass 2] pass 3[ pass 4{ pass 4} pass 4[ pass 4] pass 4NT pass 5{
pass 6] all pass
Technically slam here is worse than 50% (no one
ever mentions that spades might be 5-0, hearts 5-0 or diamonds 6-1) but, in practice, it comes down to finding the diamond honours. Brake had a normal opening and bid out her shape, then co-operated once, and that was enough for Hung. Appleton led a trump, declarer drew trumps, Castellino encouraging
in diamonds at his first turn. Then she ran the hearts on which Castellino pitched another diamond. That persuaded her (following Terence Reese’s dictum) that the discards were more likely to be from the ace than queen, so she misguessed the suit, and Appleton had 13 imps. Nicely defended. Barry Goren wrote to me and said that declarer should have got diamonds right. Why? Because the hand on lead had a singleton heart and didn’t lead it (remember here Hung had not responded 2[, so hearts were an off- suit, not a bid suit). Why would West avoid the heart lead? Because he knows his partner does not have the ace – therefore West has the }A, not East.
This board showed one of the many advantages of an aggressive overcalling style:
Board 8. Dealer West. Neither side vulnerable.
]843 [J3 }876
{ A Q 10 7 6
] A K Q 10 7
[A7
}Q94
{K98 {532
] 9 6 4
[7 [8654 }A96 }Q754
] 10 2 { Q J 6
SOUTH
]652 [ K 10 8 4 } A 10 5
]J9 [Q9652 }KJ32 {J4
WEST NORTH EAST Kaplan Markey Brown
1] 2{ 0-15 2] 3NT all pass
SOUTH Haffer
pass
Markey’s methods saw him overcall on a piece of manure, and then know not to lead that suit against Wests’ confidently-bid 3NT. He led a diamond, and his partner’s club switch delivered the first six tricks.
Australian Bridge Federation Ltd. Newsletter: April 2025
Page: 9