Vugraph Deals #163

Marc Smith visits the final of the Spring Foursomes 

We are on a whistle-stop visit to Warwick in the West Midlands of England for the Spring Foursomes, the strongest event on the English tournament calendar. Following a double-elimination knockout played over four days, two teams survived to contest the final. 

After three of the scheduled eight 8-board sets in the final, the undefeated team, HINDEN (Francis Hinden, Chris Jagger, Jeffrey Allerton, Tony Forrester and Graham Osborne), led 47-40 against ORCA (Alexander Allfrey, Andrew Robson, Zia Mahmood, Peter Crouch, Espen Erichsen and Richard Plackett). HINDEN gained a further 14 IMPs on the first deal of the fourth set, which is where we left the action last week. 

As usual, we start with some problems. Firstly, with neither side vulnerable, you are East holding this picture gallery: 

What action do you take?  

Next, with neither side vulnerable, you hold as North: 

What action, if any, do you take? 

Finally, an opening lead problem. With only the opponents vulnerable, your hand in the South seat is: 

What do you lead? 

While you mull those over, we rejoin the action in the fourth stanza. With HINDEN having extended their lead to 21 IMPs on the first board of the set, another potential swing came along just two deals later. Both East players had to deal with the first of this week’s problems: 

Chris Jagger picked up a balanced 24-count in fourth seat but, of course, the bidding was already at the three-level by the time he got to speak. Are you most worried about stopping too low or about climbing too high? Jagger was most concerned about the latter, and entered the auction with a conservative 3NT overcall of North’s 3♥ opening. 

South opened the ♥3 and dummy produced just enough to solidify the club suit, but nothing else. North followed with the ♥Q at trick one, so Jagger won with the king and claimed his ten tricks: E/W +430. 

The auction began the same way in the replay, but Richard Plackett opted for the ‘glass half full’ approach. After all, partner hardly needs much, just a little shape: xxxx/xxx/x/xxxxx is enough to make 6♣ playable. He started with a double and, after Espen Erichsen’s 4♣ response, continued with a 4♥ cue-bid. Erichsen could do no more than repeat his suit and Plackett gave up, but they were already too high despite the ten-card trump fit.  

North led a diamond and, when declarer misguessed the hearts, he was two down: E/W -100 and 11 IMPs to HINDEN.  

The auction began with two natural bids and then a Gazilli 2♣ from Allfrey, showing either clubs or any strong hand. Robson’s 2NT then showed enough to force to game facing 16+ (and an invitational club raise it that was partner’s hand, perhaps). Allfrey advanced with a natural 3♥ and Robson’s raise demonstrates that he is not one of those professionals who protects his clients by making them dummy.  

There are four possible losers in 4♥, the ♥A, one club and two spades, so it would seem that declarer needs to decide which finesse to take in order to reduce that number to three. Allfrey won the opening diamond lead and immediately played a spade to the king. When that held, he apparently had to guess whether to finesse against the ♠J or the ♣K. He tried running the ♣Q but, on this layout, neither of those options would have worked. N/S -100. 

There is a key point for declarer to realize on this deal: if East holds the ♠A, the defence can probably prevail on just about any layout simply by keeping you out of dummy. It will not matter which other finesses are working and which are not, as you will never get the chance to take a winning one. Having realized that you need the ♠A on your left, it then becomes obvious how to play the hand… Declarer must first knock out the ♥A. Let’s say West wins the first heart and continues diamonds: declarer wins, draws the remaining trumps, and then plays ace and another club, establishing the ♣Q. He can then reach dummy with the ♠K to dispose of his second spade loser. 

Tony Forrester had a different toy available when his partner responded 1NT: he advanced with a transfer 2♦, showing at least six hearts. Osborne would have passed a non-forcing 2♥ rebid, so he simply completed the transfer. Forrester’s jump to 3NT then offered a choice of games, and Osborne chose the nine-trick variety. 

Plackett led the ♠7 to the ten, jack and king. The ♥J was allowed to win at trick two, so Osborne crossed to dummy in diamonds to continue hearts. With West holding the ♥A, there was no winning defence. Whatever they did from here, declarer had five hearts, two diamonds and a trick in each black suit: N/S +600 and another 12 IMPs to HINDEN, who won the stanza 40-12 to lead by 35 IMPs, 87-52, at the midway point of the match. 

HINDEN continued to gain IMPs in the fifth set, blanking their opponents 14-0 until the final deal appeared. Then one North had to deal with the second of this week’s problem hands:  

Graham Osborne found himself with the problem from the top of this article. Game, surely looks to be a long way off, so who can blame him for passing? A successful diamond finesse gave declarer eleven easy tricks. With West holding both five diamonds and both missing spade honours, Erichsen was then squeezed in the endgame to concede a twelfth: N/S +170.  

At the other table, it was not, as perhaps one might have expected, the mercurial Pakistani who found an imaginative way to get to game, but his partner: 

I’m sure there are not many who would have chosen ‘both Majors’ to describe this North hand. Some might even consider Crouch’s 2♣ bid outrageous, but you cannot argue with success. Indeed, Peter has been making slightly off-centre bids successfully for as long as I have known him, which is a long time (we played on junior teams together!) There was some discussion amongst the BBO VuGraph commentary team as to whether 3♣ should be forcing or just invitational in this auction, but Crouch had not come this far to put down a singleton trump in dummy, so he advanced with a value-showing 3♦. That was enough to propel Zia into 3NT. 

Hinden led a diamond around to declarer’s jack, and thus Zia was soon claiming twelve tricks: N/S +490 and 8 IMPs back to ORCA, who thus lost the set only 8-14. The next set was another low-scoring one, but HINDEN again had the edge, 11-2, extending their advantage to 44 IMPs with just two eight-board sets remaining. 

The seventh set was really all about opening leads. Both South players had to find an opening against a club contract on this deal, but it was the defender who saw the auction detailed in the problem at the top of this article whose decision was most crucial. 

Zia was left to find an opening lead against 5♣-X after the brief auction posted earlier as a problem. Opening any suit could prove disastrous and Zia’s choice of a low diamond certainly look like the least dangerous. Unluckily, though, it was the only lead to give declarer any chance. After much thought, Chris Jagger covered with the ♦10 from dummy and ruffed away Peter Crouch’s ace. Crouch won trick two with the ♣A and tried ♠A and a second spade, but declarer was able to win, draw trumps, and claim eleven tricks, his remaining major-suit losers going on dummy’s diamond winners. E/W +750. 

It was suggested in commentary on BBO VuGraph that North might beat the contract by withholding his ♦A at trick one. However, declarer can counter that by pitching one major-suit loser and immediately leading the ♦K for a ruffing finesse to establish a second diamond winner in dummy. 

In the replay, a slower auction left declarer playing a level lower… 

Alexander Allfrey opened the West hand at the two-level, presumably showing hearts and a minor, although there is no alert/explanation in the hand records. Rather than overcalling in no-trumps, Graham Osborne started with a takeout double. Robson had to pass the East hand (presumably 3♣ would have been pass/correct), but he then backed in with 3♣ when Forrester’s 2♠ came back to him. Had they ever discussed the difference between an immediate 3♣ and a delayed one? It would seem not, as Allfrey still moved with 3♦, forcing Robson to the four-level. 

At this table, the auction has been much more revealing and Forrester duly opened the ♠7. Osborne won with the ♠A, cashed the ♣A to remove dummy’s trump, and then continued spades.  Robson could win with the ♠K and finish drawing trumps, but there was nowhere for his two remaining major-suit losers to go. That was one down: E/W -100 and 13 IMPs to HINDEN. The juggernaut continued to roll, but there were signs of the worm turning when the very next deal also came down to the opening lead… 

Allfrey’s 1♠ overcall clearly galvanized Andrew Robson, who jumped to game via a 4♦ splinter bid. Forrester used Blackwood on the South hand and then tried to stop in 5♥, but Allfrey was having none of it, and saved in 5♠. When this came back to Forrester, he knew that the penalty from 5♠ would be meagre, so he gambled on finding a suitable club holding such as the king or a singleton opposite (or, failing that, getting a spade lead), and took a shot at the heart slam. Alexander Allfrey duly led the ♣6 and the defenders collected the first two tricks before declarer claimed the rest: N/S -100.  

Forrester was right in that 5♠-X would have been only one down, and the difference between +200 and -100 is not that much if teammates are conceding -650 (or more) at the other table. 

It is often observed that people sometimes look remarkably like their dogs. How often, though, do bridge players take on the characteristics of their partner? 

The auction began with an unusual transfer sequence which would have important ramifications later in the deal. With hearts agreed at the three-level, Peter Crouch began cue-bidding with 3♠. Zia then produced one of his trademark psychic cue-bids, 4♣ when he had no control in the suit. In traditional Zia style, his use of this move suggests that, having hopefully deterred the possibly dangerous opening lead, he was intending to bid slam no matter what. However, there was still some bridge to go over the water in this auction yet. 

As an aside, one wonders whether it had registered with Francis Hinden at the time that her partner was going to be on lead to a heart contract? If so, might she not have doubled 4♣ with ♣K-J sitting behind the apparent ace?  

Crouch now bid just 4♥, limiting his hand, but Zia obviously had no intention of stopping there, and continued with a spade cue-bid. It was now that things became truly surreal, as Crouch now also produced a psychic club cue-bid. Jagger doubled but, of course, he was going to be on lead anyway. Zia passed but, with the club lead now apparently on the way, he signed off in 5♥ over Crouch’s 5♦ cue. Of course, taking a leaf out of his partner’s book, Crouch had not bothered to deter the club lead just to play at the five-level, so he duly awarded himself a sixth heart. 

Now the spotlight turned on Chris Jagger. What was going on in clubs? Both opponents had cue-bid the suit, so either dummy had a singleton and declarer the king, or vice versa. In either scenario, leading the ♣A from an A-Q holding looked unlikely to be a winning defence. So, Jagger opened the ♠3, which was all the help Peter Crouch needed. One of dummy’s clubs quickly disappeared on declarer’s ♠K and, although the diamonds subsequently failed to break, declarer still had twelve tricks. N/W +1430 and 17 IMPs back to ORCA. 

Regular teammates, although not always playing in partnership, it would seem that it is only a matter of time before Crouch officially changes his first name to Zeter. His bidding has always been a shade imaginative, but he has now surely morphed into the ‘English Zia’.  

Alas for the ORCA team, the end of the line in this event was near. HINDEN came back to pick up another double-digit swing on the final board of the set, extending their lead even further. Although trailing by ‘only’ 49 IMPs with eight boards remaining, the ORCA team knew which way the wind was blowing and graciously conceded defeat. 

Congratulations to the HINDEN team on a really impressive performance to remain unbeaten throughout the five-day event: Francis Hinden, Jeffrey Allerton, Chris Jagger, Graham Osborne and Tony Forrester. 

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