Marc Smith visits the final weekend of the 2019 English Premier League

The third of the three weekends of the 2019 English Premier League began with five teams bunched within 15 VPs of the lead. Match 17 saw the head-to-head meeting between two of the primary contenders, DE BOTTON, who had led early in the event, and BLACK, who came into the final weekend with their nose just in front. Before we get into the actual deals, try your hand at a couple of problems faced by the players.

Board 5 produced a swing in all four matches and you are faced with a tricky bidding problem.  Sitting North, vulnerable against not, you hold:

At both tables in our match, the auction began:

What action would you take on this rather unappetizing collection?

Before we look at the full deal, perhaps you’d also like to try your hand at an opening lead problem. This time you are West and your hand is:

With just your side vulnerable, you hear this auction:

The 1NT opening is 15-17 and 2NT shows diamonds, The Three Diamond bid shows a fit and 4NT is a quantitative raise. What would you lead?

We just have time for one more bidding problem. As West with your side only vulnerable, you hold:

Partner’s Two Heart opening shows 8-11 HCP and a six-card heart suit. What is your plan?

Time now for some action: let’s first see the full deal on Board 5:

N/S Vulnerable - Dealer North

Both North players were faced with the bidding problem presented above. For DE BOTTON, Glyn Liggins opted to bid his four-card major.

West - Hallberg North - Liggins East - Patterson South - Erichsen

The only good news for Liggins was that Gunnar Hallberg did not double. Declarer won the club lead, crossed to the ♦A and successfully played three rounds of spades, ruffing, When he then ruffed a club, though, West overruffed with the ♥Q and played a diamond, enabling East to score a ruff with his singleton trump. Declarer ended with eight tricks: N/S -200.

West - Townsend North - King East - Bakhshi South - McIntosh

In the replay, Phil King chose to defend on the North hand. McIntosh led the ♦K and played a second round to King’s ace. A spade through declarer’s king then netted two tricks in that suit. Declarer ruffed the diamond continuation and exited with a heart to South’s ace. Forced to ruff the heart continuation, David Bahkshi now played the ♣K, meaning that he later also had to lose a trick to the ♣J. That was four down and N/S +800. 14 IMPs to BLACK.

At the eight tables in Division One, four Norths played in Four Hearts (two went two down and two managed nine tricks). One other North duplicated Phil King’s excellent decision and also scored +800. One South played in Three Spades (N/S +140) and perhaps the strangest of the auctions (1♣-1♠-All Pass) produced +170 for N/S.

Having just watched his partner go for 800, Tow Townsend was faced with that awkward lead problem on the very next deal. This was the full layout:

E/W Game - Dealer East

As you can see, a club lead would defeat Six Diamonds immediately. Townsend’s actual spade lead both solved declarer’s guess in that suit and allowed McIntosh to draw trumps and throw a club from dummy on the hearts. N/S +920, although a red-suit lead probably would have fared no better.

In the other room:

West - Hallberg North - Liggins East - Patterson South - Erichsen

West did lead a club at this table, but East played low to maintain communications. Three top hearts and then six rounds of diamonds forced East to throw in the towel: N/S +520, but another 9 IMPs to BLACK.

The hundreds watching the action on BBO VuGraph did not have to wait long for the next potential firecracker from The Great Dealer. Although this deal was flat in the other three matches in Division One, it generated a double-digit swing in our match:

None Game - Dealer West

Gunnar Hallberg started with Stayman in response to his partner’s 1NT overcall, presumably intending to use Smolen to show his major-suit shape. When Derek Patterson responded in his five-card suit, though, Hallberg had what looks like a fairly routine raise to game.

South led the ♠9 to the queen and ace. When trumps broke, declarer was able to claim twelve tricks: E/W +480 and a result duplicated twice in all three other matches. Things became more interesting at the other table in our match when Tom Townsend decided that the West hand constituted an opening bid:

West - Townsend North - King East - Bakhshi South - McIntosh

David Bahkshi started with a Jacoby 2NT response, forcing to game and agreeing hearts. Three Clubs showed a minimum hand and Three Diamonds then asked about shape. Three Spades showed a diamond shortage and 3NT was a diamond cue-bid. When Townsend then showed a club control, Bahkshi decided he had heard enough and rolled out RKCB. 

North led the ♦K. Declarer won, cashed two high trumps and led a spade towards dummy. King did not split his honours, so dummy’s ♠10 won. Declarer could now take the club finesse and, when that succeeded, he had a discard for dummy’s low spade and claimed an unlikely overtrick. E/W +1010 and a well-earned 11 IMPs to DE BOTTON.

Trends come and go in bidding: remember how popular the Precision Club system was in the 1970s/80s, and yet notice how few top pairs (with a couple of notable exceptions) still play it today. One modern trend is to employ two ranges of weak two opening, with 3-7 usually going via a Multi whilst 8-11 is opened naturally. (On a pure technical point, my view is that this structure is better reversed, as you want to give the opponents less chances to bid when you are weakest.) That aside, another downside to this method is that pre-empts, by definition, make the player with the good hand guess. When that happens to be partner, less damage is likely to be done when opener has a poor hand. A hidden disadvantage of opening with a pre-emptive bid on what might be quite a good hand is illustrated on our next deal.

E/W Game - Dealer North

This is the third problem presented at the top of this article, and Tom Townsend’s decision to Pass seems eminently sensible. Unfortunately, partner has just enough outside the heart suit to make alternative contracts playable. Yes, this East hand meets all the stated criteria (six-card suit, 8-11 HCP), but I do question the wisdom of a method that pre-empts on a perfectly respectable one-level opening bid. Perhaps the answer is that Bahkshi should have upgraded this hand? Perhaps Townsend has to take a more positive view? I have no answers, only questions.

Declarer managed to scramble nine tricks in his inelegant Two Heart contract: E/W +140. 

West - Hallberg North - Liggins East - Patterson South - Erichsen

A more normal-looking auction saw Patterson landing in the inevitable spot. 

South led the ♣4. Patterson won with the ♣K and immediately advanced the ♣Q, which was allowed to win. (It would not help Erichsen to win as he has no good continuation.) Now declarer played a low diamond from dummy, and North won with the ♦Q to switch to a spade. The queen lost to South’s king, but declarer could win the spade return, cash the ♥A, then cross to dummy in diamonds to take five more winners in the pointed suits. E/W +600 and 10 IMPs to BLACK.

At the eight tables in Division One, one other duplicated the first auction to score +140 in Two Hearts. At the other six tables, East declared 3NT, all but one of them successfully.

BLACK won this match 34-20 to consolidate their place at the top of the table. DE BOTTON recovered with a big win against MOSSOP in the day’s final match, and going into the final day (three matches) there were three teams (BLACK, DE BOTTON and SMALL) separated by just four points at the top, with HINDEN in fourth place, 20 VPs behind.

All still to play for! We will be back next week for one of the deciding matches from the final day.