Page 8 - ABF Newsletter June 2024

2024 Barrier Reef Congress Fred Whitaker (continued from page 1) After a modest effort in the walk-in with my wife Anna, it was a somewhat different game to sit down opposite Ashley an hour later and watch him weave his magic at close quarters. The Pairs at our table was a bit of a pain, as we de- clared only 19 boards out of 56, making it hard work. When scores went up at the end of the event, Simon Hinge and Mike Doecke were on top of the ladder and I congratulated Simon as we passed. That was prior to a rescore which saw them drop to third, with Michael Courtney and Sue Ingham anointed victors. Nice one Freddie! Ashley and I battled away and limped in sixth which was good enough at the dinner table as our teamies were two spots behind. How would you bid this after partner deals and opens 1\{ (three or more) with opposition silent? We were playing a 12-14 notrump if it helps. \]– \[Kxx \}A9xxx \{AKQxx Not having any system to entangle the auction makes it easier, so I blasted 6\{, which partner played very carefully to make. Nine pairs went down, two of them two down. Five made on the nose and two made all 13 tricks. It is a cruel format as our oppo- nents Therese Tully and Richard Ward were power- less, yet went -10 imps on the board. Here is the full deal: Board 3. Dealer South. East-West vulnerable. \]— \[K65 \}A9732 \{AKQ53 books. Of course, I was planning to model myself upon the Hideous Hog (HH), who places all the cards at trick one and bamboozles opponents and partner with his brilliancies. The Rueful Rabbit (RR) is often featured in the plots. He blunders about and seems destined to come up smelling of roses despite sub- optimal plays. After an auction best left ‘on tour’ HH declares 4\[ from the North seat with \] 3 2 \[ A J 7 6 3 \} J 10 8 2 \{ K 6 after South has opened 1\] at favourable vul and West overcalled in clubs. The \{A is led. Dummy is not overflowing with riches, though the lead means there is a place for the potential diamond loser: \] Q 10 8 6 5 \[ Q 9 8 2 \} A K 4 \{ 3 It seems that we need ‘only’ play the hearts for no losers, and the question is how best to do it. Clearly the \[K needs to be onside. Playing as HH demonstrated in my pre-event homework, I won the \{K at trick two, crossed to dummy with a diamond, and ran the queen of hearts (covered by the king). Returning to dummy with another diamond, and pleased to see East’s queen come down, I tried the nine of hearts, to which West followed low. Now you may well argue that West is marked with six clubs and four diamonds to go with two hearts, ergo at most one spade. But RR had taken over, and the thought never entered my head. So, after some thought, the nine of hearts was run. In all the books, it holds, and declarer claims, but sadly this did not eventuate. LHO seemed surprised to score his ten of hearts but, overcoming the shock, he banged down the ace of spades. At that, RR rue- fully put down his cards preparing to concede one down, but was arrested by partner crying, “The king has come down! You made it!” \] 10 9 7 6 4 \[J \}J854 \{J42 \{7 \]KJ32 \[ Q 10 9 4 2 \} K 10 6 My bedtime reading in the days preceding the event had been a couple of Victor Mollo’s Menagerie Page: 8 \]AQ85 \[A873 \}Q \{ 10 9 8 6 Australian Bridge Federation Ltd. Newsletter: June 2024