Marc Smith visits the French Mixed Trials

At the upcoming European Championships in Madeira, France is one of the few nations who will arrive with realistic expectations of contending in all four events. It is, perhaps, in the Seniors and the Mixed, though, that their medal chances are the highest. Nine teams were selected to contest a week-long trial to select the French Mixed Team for Funchal. The field was reduced to eight on the first day, producing four fascinating quarter-final matches.

This week, we start our coverage of the French Mixed trials with a look at some of the key action from all four quarter-finals. As usual, we begin with some teasers for you to consider. We will find out later how your choices would have turned out. We start this week with a bidding decision. Vulnerable against not, you hold as West:

Your Double of One Diamond is a transfer, showing four or more hearts. Do you make a move over partner’s jump to Four Hearts and, if so, what do you bid?

Next, with both sides vulnerable, your hand as South is:

Partner’s first-round double of West’s One Heart overcall is a transfer, showing four or more spades. What action do you take now?

Finally, with both sides vulnerable, you hold as North:

West’s Three Hearts is pre-emptive. What action, if any, do you take now?

While you mull those problems over, we start with the quarter-final involving the number one seeds and one of the hot pre-tournament favorites, SEBBANE. They took on the team captained by Francoise Vilanou, who had qualified from the previous day’s playoff. VILANOU won a very quiet first set of 16 boards 10-3, but the match was broken wide open in the second stanza. This deal produced the first of the problems posed above:

E/W Vul - Dealer North

Pierre Schmidt started with a transfer double, promising at least four hearts, and North redoubled for takeout. Joanna Zochowska jumped to Four Hearts and West had to decide whether he was worth a slam try. Schmidt correctly decided that he was not and the defense scored their two aces: E/W +650.

West - Lobry North - B Cronier East - Appertet South- P Cronier

At this table, Benedicte Cronier settled for a simple diamond raise on the North cards, perhaps making the solution to West’s problem less clear. Pierre Lobry decided that his hand was too good to pass but, with two low diamonds, he could not Blackwood. His solution was a raise to Five Hearts, ostensibly asking for a diamond control. With ♦K-Q-x, Micheline Appertet can hardly be blamed for her jump to the slam. There was no way to avoid two losers: E/W -100 and 13 IMPs to SEBANNE. 

This was one of three double-digit swings to SEBANNE in this second set, which they won 51-9. The next three sets were fairly even and SEBBANE led by 40 IMPs going into the last of the six stanzas. A big final set then saw them run out comfortable winners, 211-131. The other three quarter-final matches were all much closer.

N/S Vul - Dealer East

Romain Tembouret forced to game with Two Clubs and then jumped to Four Spades, showing a minimum raise to game with three trumps. Paula Nataf advanced with Blackwood, and found out that her partner held the ♠Q and the ♥A-K. The hearts would provide discards for two club losers, but she still needed either the ♦Q or the ♣K-Q of clubs opposite (and perhaps the ♠J too) if she was going to be confident of making 13 tricks. There was no way to find out all that she needed to know, so she settled for the small slam. Dummy had everything declarer needed and there were 14 top tricks: E/W +1010.

West - Mi Duguet North - Thuillez East - Ma Duguet South - Mourgues

Michel Duguet decided that his hand was a tad too good for a jump to game, so he agreed spades at the two-level. This had the advantage of permitting a series of cue-bids before he eventually limited his hand. Marlene Duguet also advanced with Blackwood, but she asked for a second time over Five Hearts and found out that her partner also held the ♣K. She now knew about a balanced 12-count opposite (♠Q, ♥AK, ♣K), and perhaps she reasoned that he needed a bit more than that to make his hand worthy of Two Spades rather than Four Spades at his second turn. With either minor-suit queen enough to count 13 tricks if trumps were solid, she jumped to the grand slam. Good decision! E/W +1510 and 11 IMPs to MAUBERQUEZ.

MAUBERQUEZ won this opening stanza of the match 45-7 and then padded the lead by 6 IMPs in the second set. However, NATAF chipped away at the lead, winning the next three sets to trail by just 7 IMPs (134-141) going into the final stanza. NATAF also won the final stanza, but only by a margin of 38-35, so MAUBERQUEZ hung on to advance to the semi-final with a 4-IMP win (176-172).

In the match between AVON and THUILLEZ, AVON opened up a 16-IMP lead (80-64) over the first day’s play. Our deal from the first set of the second day produced a swing at least in part due to a method that is growing in popularity but is, perhaps, of questionable merit:

Both Vul - Dealer East

There are two widely-played versions of negative double after a minor-suit opening and a One Heart overcall. In the first (and still the most popular), double shows exactly four spades and bidding One Spade shows at least a five-card suit. In the second commonly-played method, bidding One Spade shows at least four spades and doubling denies spades (and suggests both minors). The modern obsession with using transfers in a growing number of situations is now being applied more frequently to this auction too. Indeed, at both tables in this match, North started with a transfer double, showing four or more spades.

The major advantage of the ‘old-fashioned’ method is best illustrated when East is able to pre-empt sufficiently high, as Quen Robert did here, upping the ante to the four-level. When this came back to Jean Michel Voldoire, what could he do other than double to show a good hand? This left Daniele Avon with the second of the bidding problems presented at the top of this article. The hand is hardly ideal for defending a heart contract. The problem is that there are plenty of balanced minimum opening bids on which you would not have bid Four Spades over Four Hearts despite holding four-card support. Is it, therefore, obvious that Four Spades now is offering a choice between the black suits with only three spades?

The double dose of bad news for North/South is not only that Four Spades is cold, but that Four Hearts is also in serious danger of making. Voldoire started by cashing two high spades and in order to defeat the contract legitimately he needs to remove an entry to dummy by playing a club at trick three. When, instead, he switched to a trump, Anne Labe Rouanet was in with a chance. 

The trump switch went to queen, king and ace, and declarer immediately exited with the ♦K. North won and continued with a second round of trumps, won in dummy with the ♥4. Rouanet now led the ♦J and ruffed when South did not cover. She then ruffed a club with dummy’s penultimate trump and advanced the ♦10. When South followed suit with the last remaining low diamond, declarer was at the crossroads. Rouanet guessed to play South for ♦Q-x-x-x, discarding a club on this trick. North gratefully won the trick with his ♦Q to defeat the contract by a trick, but that was still only N/S +200. Had North been able to show a fifth spade with his first bid, South surely would have made the winning decision over his double of Four Hearts.

West - R Saporta North - Halfon East - P Saporta South - Combescure

After the same start to the auction, Pierre Saporta raised only to Three Hearts on the East cards. When this came back to Donatella Halfon, she was able to bid Four Hearts as a ‘choice-of-games cue bid’. Opposite what was very likely to be five spades and three clubs, Baptiste Combescure now had a fairly clear Four Spade bid. North’s lack of ability to show a fifth spade at her first turn was thus overcome thanks to a little help from the opponents, and the good game was reached. 

A club lead (and ruff) would have held declarer to ten tricks, but eleven was assured after Renata Saporta opened the ♥A. Declarer ruffed the heart continuation and drew trumps in three rounds. When she then led a low club from hand and East showed out, declarer could have ensured eleven tricks by ducking. Instead, she cashed her three high clubs and relied on finding the ♦K onside for her overtrick: N/S +650 and 10 IMPs to THUILLEZ. 

THUILLEZ won the fourth set 39-31 to reduce the deficit to 8 IMPs with 32 deals left. When AVON won the fifth set 36-16, though, they appeared to have one foot in the semi-final, It was not to be, though: THUILLEZ dominated the final stanza, winning it 54-23 and the match by 3 IMPs (173-170). The team led by Mme Pascale THUILLEZ thus advanced to take on the number one seeds, SEBBANE, in one semi-final.

The last of the quarter-finals featured the other hot pre-tournament favorites, D’OVIDIO, a team including four former World champions, Catherine D’Ovidio, Marc Bompis, Alain Levy and Sylvie Willard. MUS won the opening stanza 35-32, but then D’OVIDIO restored order by winning the second set 38-4 to lead by 31 IMPs. The final set of the first day was also mostly one-way traffic. The North players at both tables faced the third bidding problem presented above:

Both Vul - Dealer West

Corrine Faivre opened One Heart, Alain Levy overcalled a natural 1NT, and Jeremie Tignel made a pre-emptive raise to Three Hearts. This left Anne-Frederique Levy with the third of the bidding problems posed earlier. You have only 6 HCP opposite a 15-18 1NT, and whilst you do have 6-4 shape, partner is known to hold some probably wasted values opposite your heart shortage. Would you take action?

Anne-Frederique Levy did not, and so there matters rested. Alain Levy led the ♦K. Declarer immediately cashed two top trumps before leading the ♣Q. South won with the ♣K, cashed his trump winner, and exited with a club to his partner’s ace. A spade through declarer’s king now collected two tricks in that suit to beat the contract by a trick: N/S +100.

West - Willard North - C Mus East - Bompis South - Gautret

After the same start, Catherine Mus doubled on the North hand. Imagine both her surprise and her relief when partner responded in her six-card suit. Despite her lack of high cards, she was not so stunned that she forgot to raise to game. With the opening bidder holding the ♠K, the defenders can score just the two red aces, so Eric Gautret had no problem taking eleven tricks: N/S a spectacular +600.

MUS won the third set 44-7 to lead by 6 IMPs overnight. D’OVIDIO won the first set of the second day 23-7 to take a 12-IMP lead, but back came MUS, winning the penultimate stanza 39-28. With 16 deals to play, D’OVIDIO led 128-127. Over the first 13 deals of the final set, D’OVIDIO padded their lead by a further 10 IMPs (27-17). MUS picked up 5 IMPs on Board 14 to trail by 6 IMPs, and the penultimate board was flat. This was the final deal of the 96-board quarter-final:

E/W Vul - Dealer West

Muriel Clement kicked off with a mini-1NT (10-12 HCP) and Stephane Messika forced to game with an artificial Two Diamond relay. Clement denied a four-card major or a five-card minor with 2NT, so Messika quite reasonably bid what he expected to be the best contract.

East led a spade, won in dummy with the queen, and declarer now started diamonds by leading low to her king. With the diamond situation resolved satisfactorily, it was now a simple matter of playing a spade to the ace and a third round of the suit towards dummy’s jack. N/S +490.

West - D’Ovidio North - Faivre East - Bompis South - Tignel

With North deciding to open One Diamond on this shape, the first piece of good luck for North/South was that their fit was in diamonds rather than clubs. The next was the French style of rebidding 1NT despite two low hearts, rather than making the raise to Two Spades that most of the rest of the world would think obvious. South could now force to game showing his diamond fit.

However, North’s admission to three-card spade support added a layer of murkiness to the auction so that, when Tignel now advanced with a club cue-bid, it was not obvious which of the two suits he was agreeing. North probably bid Four Diamonds as a control expecting spades to be agreed and then signed off in spades over South’s heart cue-bid. Clearly wanting to play the nine-card fit, South had no way to investigate further without risking confusion, so he guessed to jump to slam.

Not that the contract is at all hopeless. Declarer needs either to pick up the diamonds, find a very favorable spade position that enables her to avoid losing a trick in that suit, or bring down the ♣Q in three and find the ♠K onside. The odds are probably close to 50%, which is about all that the MUS team could ask, since stopping in game for a flat board was no good to them.

Corinne Faivre won the opening club lead perforce with the king and immediately played three rounds of hearts, ruffing in her hand. She then ruffed a club in dummy and led a diamond to her king, thus removing the chance of misguessing trumps. She was just about home now but, of course, she did not know that. She cashed the ♣A and ruffed her fourth club in dummy, trying to get a count of the hand in preparation for a spade play if West held a trump trick. She finally cashed the ♦A, bringing down East’s queen. She could now run the ♠Q with only an overtrick hinging on the spade layout. N/S +920 and 10 IMPs to MUS, who won the final stanza by 5 IMPs (32-27) and the match by 4 IMPs (159-155). 

It would be MUS who would advance to the second semi-final to take on MAUBERQUEZ. We shall be back in Paris next week to see the best of the action from the two semi-finals.