We return for a second visit to the final of the 2023 Gold Cup between DE BOTTON (Janet de Botton, Artur Malinowski, David Bakhshi, Tom Townsend, Thomas Charlsen and Thor Erik Hoftaniska) and ALLFREY (Alexander Allfrey, Andrew Robson, Peter Crouch, Simon Cope, Richard Plackett and Espen Erichsen). The format is a 64-board match divided into eight 8-board stanzas.

As usual, we start with some problems. Firstly, with neither side vulnerable, you are West holding:

What action do you take?

Next, with both sides vulnerable, you are sitting in the East seat with:

Pass, double or 5♠?

Finally, with only your opponents vulnerable, you in the East seat holding:

What action, if any, do you take?

At the end of our last visit, three of the eight stanzas had been played and DE BOTTON had built a 28-IMP lead (61-33). Midway through the fourth set, both West players had to decide what action to take on the first of the problems above.

Peter Crouch chose a 2♦ overcall on the West hand. Thor Erik Hoftaniska started with a negative double and then continued with 2NT after Thomas Charlsen had rebid his hearts. Charlsen needed no more encouragement to jump to game in his seven-card suit. The favourable trump position meant that the defenders could get no more than their three aces: N/S +420.

Faced with the same problem, Artur Malinowski (left) opted to enter with a 1NT overcall, which was greeted with a penalty double from Andrew Robson. Janet de Botton ran to 2♠, and two passes followed. Robson competed to 3♣ on his 10-count, clearly intending it as non-forcing. This would have been a good time for a bidding misunderstanding but, no, Allfrey was on the same wavelength as his partner. Thus, with his poor minimum opening that had not been improved by the auction, Allfrey passed.

Robson found himself not only at the wrong level, but also in the wrong suit, as there were only eight tricks available in clubs. N/S -50 and 10 IMPs to DE BOTTON.

Robson took a leaf from a former partner’s playbook on our next deal…

Robson was clearly interested in slam after Allfrey’s raise to 3♠. The question was how to investigate. I suspect that many of you reading this, would advance with a 4♦ cue-bid, and you would then have to decide what to do when your partner bid 4♥. Robson played long enough with Zia to spot a trademark fake cue-bid situation, so he began with 4♣. When Allfrey then bid 4♦, Robson jumped to slam having hopefully deflected East from a club lead if that was the winning start for the defence.

Robson was right in that the play would have been easier on a non-club lead, but Janet de Botton was not deterred, and tabled the ♣K anyway. Robson won and played the ♦10, covered by queen and king. He then led a club towards the jack. De Botton won with the ♣Q, but Robson could draw trumps, ruff one diamond loser in dummy, and pitch the other on the ♣J. N/S  +980.

After the same start, Thor Erik Hoftaniska (right) had a useful toy that regular partnerships should discuss. When a major is agreed in this type of auction, you can assume that you are never going to play in 3NT. You should, therefore, use that bid for something useful. Here, it showed slam interest and acted as a waiting bid, allowing South to show (or deny) a club control economically. Having discovered that his partner held a high club, Hoftaniska rolled out Blackwood, found three key cards and the ♠Q opposite, and installed himself in a grand slam.

The hands did not fit well, so it was not a great contract. Hoftaniska won the opening trump lead in his hand and immediately played a heart. East put in the queen, declarer winning with the ♥A and ruffing a heart with the ♠10. Two rounds of trumps came next. East could afford a low club on the first of these, but the second forced him to discard a diamond. Hoftaniska now led the ♦10 and ran it. When the finesse won, declarer was home. Dummy’s low clubs eventually went on declarer’s high diamonds, and the club ruff in dummy was the Norwegian’s thirteenth trick. N/S +1510 and another 11 IMPs to DE BOTTON.

DE BOTTON won the fourth set 26-12, so their lead stood at 42 IMPs (87-45) at the midway point for the match. There was only one swing in the fifth stanza, and friendly fire at both tables seemed to contribute to the damage.

Whether the change in partnerships was forced by illness or tactic I don’t know, but unfamiliarity perhaps contributed to the result at this table. Peter Crouch self-alerted his 3♦ response to Robson’s takeout double, but there is no explanation in the VuGraph record. Crouch is the Mad Professor when it comes to system, so perhaps the 3♦ bid was some clever piece of kit. If so, then Robson doesn’t seem to have gotten the message, whatever it was, as the 4-4 heart fit was never found.

3NT was not a good spot. Townsend led a club, ducked to the king. At trick two, he won with the ♠A and played a second club. Robson claimed six tricks, although it is unclear exactly where the defenders’ seventh winner came from. E/W -150.

The auction began in similar fashion at the second table, but Richard Plackett gave the Norwegians little chance to go wrong. His raise to 4♣ essentially offered his opponents fielder’s choice. They could bid a game if they thought they could make one, or they could defend and collect an easy +500. In fact, Hoftaniska did the wrong thing by pulling his partner’s second double to 4♥. No problem as The Great Dealer was smiling on the DE BOTTON team – the defenders had two aces and a natural trump trick. They could also take a spade ruff, but doing so was with the trump length and there was no re-entry to the North hand for a second ruff. E/W +420 and 11 IMPs to DE BOTTON.

DE BOTTON won a very quiet fifth set 14-1, giving them a 56-IMP cushion (101-45) with only 24 boards left to play. DE BOTTON stretched their lead to 61 IMPs on the first deal of the sixth set. If there was to be a dramatic comeback, now would be a good time to start. Midway through the stanza, both East players had to answer the second of this week’s problems.

Hoftaniska overcalled 4♠ and then doubled when Peter Crouch’s 5♦ came back to him. He opened the ♠A and then had to find a continuation. Switching to a club was the only way to let the contract through, but the Norwegian put his second ace on the table and so Simon Cope was soon claiming 11 tricks. N/S +750.

Perhaps bidding 5♠ (-500) would have been okay after all.

After the same start, Alexander Allfrey (left) chose to defend undoubled. He also opened with the ♠A but, he switched to his heart at trick two. Bakhshi won with the ♥A, crossed to the ♦A, cashed the ♠K to shake his heart loser, and ruffed a spade. A second round of trumps returned the lead to dummy, and a heart ruff eliminated that suit.

As the cards lie, there was no way for declarer to avoid losing two clubs. Bakhshi played a club to the ten. Robson won with the ♣J and returned a club to the ace to put the contract one down. Well judged and well defended. N/S -100 and 13 IMPs to ALLFREY.

After playing a true captain’s innings on that deal, The Alexander Allfrey Show continued on the penultimate board of the set. Both East players had to wrestle with the last of this week’s problems.

It is a truism of the modern game that whilst you will often live profitably by the pre-emptive sword, sometimes you will also die by it. Thomas Charlsen’s four-level overcall left his partner with the nasty problem posed earlier. Hoftaniska has seen plenty of his partner’s pre-emptive overcalls before, so he simply tabled his monster hand in the dummy. 

Bakhshi led a spade. Charlsen won with the ace, cashed the ♣A pitching his remaining spade, ruffed a club to his hand, and tabled the ♦K. The queen failed to appear, so declarer had to settle for 11 tricks. E/W +150.

In the same position, Allfrey moved forward with 4♥. Robson raised to 5♥ and Allfrey awarded himself a sixth.

Having hunted twice through his hand for a trump to lead, Townsend had to settle for the ♠10. Allfrey put up the jack, hoping to tempt the king from Bakhshi but, when that failed, he overtook with the ♠Q and ruffed a club in dummy. A diamond ruff was followed by a second club ruff. A diamond ruff brought down the ace, and Allfrey continued with the ♣A and his last club, ruffed with the ♥Q (North pitching the ♦Q). A spade to the ace put declarer back in his hand and cashing the ♥A revealed that there was a loser in that suit. No matter, Allfrey cashed the ♥K and then exited with his spade loser. Whatever happened, he was bound to score the last two tricks with the ♥J-8 sitting over North’s ♥10-7. A magnificent E/W +980 and another 13 IMPs into the ALLFREY column.

ALLFREY won the sixth stanza 32-5. With 16 boards remaining, the deficit had been reduced to 29 IMPs, 106-77. After what had happened in the semi-final, no one was counting chickens yet.

We will be back soon with the best of the action as the rotund female begins exercising her vocal chords.