Page 11 - ABF Newsletter August 2024

Regional NSW
hosts the
ANC Teams
Josh Tomlin
This year the Australian National Championships were held in Orange which, despite being difficult to get to and having frosted over mornings, was a lovely scenic town with a nice communal feel. This ANC has been a long time in the making. It was originally planned for 2021 but was cancelled due to COVID. The cards even had nice artwork with “ANC and Butler, Orange 2021” written on their backs.
I was playing on the SA Youth team with Jamie Simpson, Fletcher Davey, Seb Redin and brothers Anton and Gregor Forstal-Rohal. Anton and Gregor are only 15 and 13 years old. Anton played the ANC last year, but Gregor only picked up the game at the start of the year! Seb started learning less than two years ago but this was his first time playing a major tournament. Fletcher has been around the block but hadn’t played bridge for the past two years, so we dragged him out of retirement to join the team. The team put in countless hours of work leading up to the event, giving up their Friday nights to practice and playing in every local congress I could enter them in. Their efforts were well-rewarded and we took home the gold medal.
The qualifying rounds
Round 2: South Australia vs NSW.
Board 19. Dealer South. East-West vulnerable.
] A Q 10 9 5 [953 }632 {76
]KJ7642 ]83
[ Q 10 2 [AJ86 }4 }AJ98 {J82 {T93
]— [K74
} K Q 10 7 5 {AKQ54
WEST NORTH EAST Redin
2] pass pass all pass
SOUTH Tomlin
1} dbl
My partner Seb Redin found an excellent opportuni- ty to go after the opponents. Credit to him for pass- ing in tempo. He led the }2 to the ace and declarer ran the ]8 to his nine. Another round of diamonds was ruffed and declarer tried the heart finesse to my king. I cashed three rounds of clubs on which Seb pitched a diamond, then I played a fourth round of clubs, letting Seb score his ]5 when declarer pitched a heart. Seb exited a heart and declarer could have ruffed a heart now to get out for down three. In- stead he played a spade, allowing Seb to score his ]10 and then exit his last heart, endplaying declarer to score his ace-queen of trumps as well. After the dust had settled we had 1100 and Seb scored all five of his trumps!
Round 9: South Australia vs Queensland. Board 13. Dealer North. Both sides vulnerable.
] 10 3 [AQ986 }532 {952
]QJ75 ]A62 [K2 [43 }J8 } K Q 10 9 {KJ864 { A Q 10 3
]K984 [J1075 }A764 {7
After East-West had a Stayman auction to 3NT, I guessed the right major to lead and put the [J on the table. We took the first six tricks for two down.
The other table had the same auction but South led the }4 instead. Jamie Simpson won the }Q in hand and confidently played a heart to the king!
If the [K held, he was going to try the spade finesse for his ninth trick. However when North won the [A, the defence naturally played two more rounds of di- amonds and Jamie took his nine tricks.
You may argue that the defence should know to keep playing hearts after East has denied a major, but psychologically speaking it is very difficult to return the suit declarer is playing on.
Of course, playing a heart at trick two gives up on the legitimate chance that the [A is onside (and the ]K offside), so it takes guts to make a play like this. Again, if the [K wins and the spade finesse loses, the defence will still be hard-pressed to find a heart shift.
Australian Bridge Federation Ltd. Newsletter: August 2024
Page: 11