Page 13 - ABF Newsletter June 2024

Board 10. Dealer East. Both sides vulnerable. \]3 \[KQ4 \} 10 8 7 3 2 \{KQ76 \] K J 10 \[ 10 8 6 3 2 \}Q \}KJ94 and maximising the result required careful defence. I started with the \]10, and after cashing two spade tricks, partner exited a heart won by declarer. Not many reached 4\] for East-West, and with 2\[ going two off for 500, we were happy to take the plus result. This was Laurie’s favourite deal from the event: Board 15. Dealer South. North-South vulnerable. \]AQ4 \[97543 \}Q94 \{K4 \]K952 \]J6 \[KJ6 \[ A Q 10 2 \}J5 \}AK73 \{A542 On the \{8 lead, ducked, North won with the king and continued with a spade, ducked around to dummy. Declarer now called for the \}Q, won by South. who elected to draw dummy’s trumps with the \]A and a low spade, thinking that declarer wanted to ruff diamonds. Gosney then crossed back to hand with a heart to the ace, and played two rounds of spades and the two diamond winners. North had to find a lot of discards and when eventually thrown in with the top diamond, had to lead away from the \{K into dummy’s ace with the \{J winning the ninth trick. Round 11 was one of those rounds bridge players hate where pairs sitting in one direction seemed to get all the hands and make the most of the oppor- tunity. We were lucky to be sitting the ‘right’ way and picked up a great win heading into the penul- timate round where we faced Shane Harrison and Jessica Brake who were perhaps a little unlucky on this board after the following auction: Board 13. Dealer North. Both sides vulnerable. \] 10 5 \[J9874 \} K J 10 5 \{K9 \]J7 \[ 10 3 \}832 \{ Q 10 7 6 3 2 \]AK8642 \[5 \}AQ64 \{84 \]83 \]J9752 \[3 \} Q 10 7 2 \{987 \] A K 10 WEST pass \{AJ5 NORTH EAST pass 1\] pass dbl SOUTH 2\[ all pass \]Q64 \[J6542 \}J83 \{ 10 4 A scoring glitch had delayed this round slightly, and players commenced play not knowing their exact positions, while the scoring team worked out how to resolve the problem. We drew the pairing of Andrew \]A875 \[J975 \}A65 \{83 \{ J 10 9 \]Q9642 \[A \{QJ52 South led the \]3 (fourth best) against 3NT. North won with the \]Q and returned a heart. Declarer won in hand and continued with the \{10. North won with the king and returned another heart, won in dummy with the \[K. Declarer now played a low spade from dummy towards the \]J, won by North with the \]A, who exited another heart won in dummy. Declarer now played a low club towards the ten in hand (ducked by South) crossed to dummy’s last heart, and played \}J, covered by the \}Q and ducked. North had no useful exit and declarer was home with nine tricks. We kicked off the final round defending a grand slam that was pretty much laydown: Board 19. Dealer South. East-West vulnerable. \]Q93 \[AKQ62 \}K5 \}A964 \[ A K Q 10 8 7 \}97 \{K53 \{AQJ62 Holding the West cards, I felt uneasy about having passed 2\[ doubled when dummy appeared hold- ing the \[10, a huge card in the context of the auc- tion. South had a robust hand for their 2\[ overcall, \] 10 8 7 3 \[8 \} 10 8 6 2 \{A973 \{ 10 8 6 \[ 9 Australian Bridge Federation Ltd. Newsletter: June 2024 Page: 13