This week, we return to the Antipodes for the final stage of the trials to select Australia’s representatives for the Mixed Teams at the World Championships in Morocco next summer. 

Six teams began the journey, with two qualifying automatically for the semi-final stage. All matches are played over 120 boards, split into eight 15-board stanzas over two days. In the first round, the two seeded teams both won, FOSTER with a comfortable 293.1-191 victory over HERDEN, but COURTNEY in a close 259.1-251 bail-biter against REYNOLDS. 

In the semi-finals, the two seeded teams again emerged victorious. DOECKE (Philip Markey, Lauren Travis, Ben Thompson, Renee Cooper, David Wiltshire and Sophie Ashton) led throughout and won 303.1-270 against COURTNEY. In the other match, HOFFMAN (Stephen Fischer, Pele Rankin, David Beauchamp, Jodi Tutty, Trevor Fuller and Leone Fuller) trailed early but had opened a significant lead by halftime and eventually triumphed over FOSTER by a score of 272.1-201.

Thus, it would be DOECKE v HOFFMAN over 120 boards to decide who would go to Morocco as Australia’s Mixed Team.

A usual, we start with some problems. Firstly, with only your side vulnerable, you are East holding:

What action, if any, do you take?

Next, with both sides vulnerable, you are sitting West with:

What do you bid?

While you mull those over, we start with an early deal from the opening set.

Trevor Fuller started with a three-level pre-empt and Leone Fuller raised to game after West’s double. David Wiltshire led the ♥K to dummy’s ace. It does not help to cross to the ♠A in order to take a winning diamond finesse to pitch the heart loser, as the defenders will then be able to draw dummy’s last trump, leaving declarer with three club losers. 

Fuller won with the ♥A and played a second heart, West winning and playing a third round of the suit. Declarer ruffed and played a club to the king and ace, and East switched to trumps. Fuller eventually took the diamond finesse to dispose of his third club and thus get out for one down: N/S -50.

Lauren Travis (left) made her international debut in the Australian Youngsters’ team at the 2010 World Youth Championships. In 2013, she finished fourth in the World Junior Pairs and collected a silver medal from the World Junior Teams. On this deal, she exerted maximum pressure on her opponents by opening 4♠. Jodi Tutty’s double then left David Beauchamp with the first of this week’s bidding problems. 

Whether East removes to 5♣ or gets himself to 5♥ via 4NT, as Beauchamp did here, South’s singleton diamond lead inevitably sets up a trump promotion with the third or fourth round of diamonds. Beauchamp ruffed with the ♥8 at trick three, so South scored her trump right away. Had he ruffed high, with the ♥10, then a fourth diamond when North regains the lead with the ♥A would have achieved the same objective. N/S +800 and 13 IMPs to DOECKE to open the scoring. Had East passed his partner’s four-level double, that would have seen 3 IMPs going into the other column.

DOECKE led 50-37 after the first set of 15 boards. They then put their collective feet firmly on the accelerator in the second set. The avalanche began with Rankin/Fischer bidding a 50% slam. When the finesse failed, that was 11 IMPs to DOECKE. Then both North players declared 3NT on the same opening lead:

It was Marty Bergen who said “Colours are for children,”, and Lauren Travis is evidently a firm believer: her 1♥ overcall at adverse vulnerability is too light even to qualify for the description ‘featherweight’. Beauchamp brushed the intervention aside to reach 3NT, and Philip Markey led the ♠6.

Beauchamp won in hand with the ♠9, crossed to the ♦A, then ducked a second diamond into the East hand. Markey continued with a second spade, so declarer cashed his diamonds ending dummy, Markey discarding one spade and his low club. Needing to generate one more trick, declarer can force a third heart winner by playing the king or jack of hearts now, but does it not seem more likely that West will hold the ♣A for her overcall? 

So, Beauchamp led a club to his king. East won and exited with a third round of spades. When declarer then attempted to endplay West with a second round of club, he was two down. N/S -200.

Renee Cooper (right) first represented Australia in the Youngsters’ Teams at the 2012 World Youth Championships. In 2016, she won a silver medal in the World Under-26 Women’s Teams and also made her debut in the Australian Women’s team. Whilst still a junior Cooper, and her partner Ben Thompson, along with four members of her opponents in this match (Rankin/Fischer, Beauchamp/Tutty), represented Australia in the Mixed Teams at the 2019 World Championships in Wuhan.

On this deal, Cooper also played 3NT on a spade lead. She put the ♠10 in from dummy and immediately played a diamond, ducking to East. Now the defences diverged, as Fischer switched to the ♥10, covered by jack, queen and ace. After cashing her diamonds, Cooper crossed back to hand with the ♠Q and advanced the ♥8, presumably expecting to take a winning finesse against East’s nine, so Fischer’s spade discard was a rude surprise. Nonetheless, Cooper was committed now, and she had little choice but to run the ♥8. 

Winning with the ♥9, Travis could have beaten the contract by switching to the ♣10 (Fischer having kept all four clubs at this table). When she instead exited with a low club, Cooper played low and Fisher had to win. Now, with two heart winners in dummy, declarer could claim nine tricks, losing just two clubs, one heart and one diamond. N/S +600 and 13 IMPs to DOECKE.

On the next deal, the contract and lead were again the same at both tables. This time, an opponent’s bid would assist declarer.

A straightforward auction saw Stephen Fischer declaring 6NT on the lead of the ♥K. He ducked the first round and won the heart continuation, cashed the ♣K, crossed to hand in diamonds, and played off the ♣A-Q, South pitching a heart. 

If South holds the ♠Q, declarer can now make the contract on a simple squeeze played as a double, as whichever defender holds four spades will be squeezed when the diamonds are cashed. The question, though, is “Who has the ♠Q?”

With North having shown up with five clubs and one heart, and South with five hearts and two clubs, the odds just favour North, by a margin of 7-6 vacant spaces, to hold the key card. With nothing else to go on, Fischer crossed back to dummy in diamonds and played a spade to the ten.

South won with the ♠Q and cashed his remaining hearts: E/W -300. I am far from convinced this is the best line, as it seems like declarer will need the ♠Q to come down on the third round, in which case North will have started with four diamonds and you will then be unable to score four tricks in that suit as they are now blocked.

I cannot explain East’s 1♠ bid but, presumably, they knew what they were doing and the final contract was quite reasonable. 

Here, too, South led the ♥K but, of course, the auction had told Philip Markey (left) that the suit was splitting 5-1, so there was no point ducking. He took the ♥A, unblocked the ♣K, crossed to the ♦J, and played ♣A-Q-10, conceding a trick to North’s ♣J but establishing his eleventh trick with the ♣9. 

Declarer won the diamond return and cashed his winners in that suit. He then crossed to the ♠A and cashed his club winner, forcing South to pitch a spade in order to keep her heart guard. When Markey then played a spade, South’s queen appeared, so he claimed the last two tricks. E/W +1440 and 17 IMPs to DOECKE. 

On the very next deal, both West players had to deal with the last of this week’s bidding problems.

Ben Thompson (right) was an Australian Junior international, finishing fourth in the World Junior Teams in 1989 and collecting a bronze medal from the same event two years later. He made his debut in the national Open team at the 2016 World Championships in Wroclaw, where he also reached the final of the Open Pairs, finishing eighth.

On this deal, Thompson opened 1♥ on the South cards and Pele Rankin opted for a 1♠ overcall. When that was passed back to Thompson, he jumped to 3♥. Renee Cooper then judged well to raise to game.

There was little to the play, with declarer losing just one spade and two diamonds: N/S +620.

Vulnerable and facing a passed partner, Lauren Travis not unreasonably preferred a 2♠ overcall on the West hand, which changed the momentum of the auction completely. Philip Markey dredged up a raise to 3♠ and, although Jodi Tutty bid game with no assistance from her partner, the momentum of the auction carried West into the spade game. No one doubled, which assured E/W of at least an 11-IMP gain on the deal (for N/S -100 with +620 at the other table).

North led the ♥10. Tutty overtook with the jack and was then faced with a tough decision. Which do you think is more likely? One option is to play partner for precisely ♣ K-Q-x-(x) and switch to that suit at trick two. The alternative is to play partner for the singleton heart along with either the ♣K or a trump holding such as ♠ J-x-x-x (in which case a heart ruff, the ♣A and a third round of hearts will promote the ♠J for the setting trick).

Tutty’s decision to return a heart (a suit-preference ♥8) looks to be the percentage play, but it was not the winning choice on this layout. Travis ruffed, drew trumps, and cashed five rounds of diamond to pitch three club losers. The defence came to one club winner at the end: N/S -650 and another 15 IMPs to DOECKE.

As you can see, the second half was a rout, DOECKE winning it 80-6, so they led by 87 IMPs (130-43) after just 30 boards. They seemed to have one foot firmly on the steps of the flight to Morocco, but there were still 90 boards left in the contest. 

Would this turn into a runaway victory or would HOFFMAN mount a spectacular comeback? Tune in next week to find out.