Welcome back to Sydney, Australia and the New South Wales Bridge Association Spring Nationals. We are here to see the best of the action from the latter stages of the main event, the Open Teams. By Saturday, the field of 50 had been reduced to just four. In one semi-final, it is JOEL (Geeske Joel, Geo Tislevoll, Liam Milne, James Coutts, Leon Meier, Will Watson) against ASHTON (Sophie Ashton, David Wiltshire, Sartaj Hans, Andy Hung). The other is GUE (David Gue, Joshua Tomlin, Philip Markey, Joachim Haffer) versus KOZAKOS (George Kozakos, Ian Thomson, Matt Mullamphy, Maurits van der Vlugt).

The format is 56-board matches divided into four 14-board stanzas. On our last visit, we saw the highlights from the first half of the two semi-finals. At the midway point, GUE led by 12 IMPs (66-54) against KOZAKOS. In the other semi-final, ASHTON had built a 41 IMP (55-14) lead. A substantial, but not insurmountable advantage but, if the trailing team is to mount a comeback, now would be a good time to start.

As usual, we start with some problems. Firstly, with only your opponents vulnerable, you are West holding:

What action, if any, do you take?

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

What do you bid?

Finally, with only your side vulnerable, you are sitting in the East seat with:

What action, if any, do you take?

After 10 boards, the leaders were holding firm, with ASHTON leading 19-18 on the set. Then came a substantial swing.

Once Will Watson dredged up a response on the North hand, he was never going to persuade Geeske Joel to apply the brakes. Watson’s 2♠ continuation after his partner’s reverse showed a weak hand, but Joel had enough extras to insist on game. With the spade finesse working, declarer just needed one of the red suits to behave. Not today!

David Wiltshire opened the ♣A. Declarer ruffed, crossed to the ♥A, and successfully played a spade to the queen. Three rounds of trumps followed, but Wiltshire won with the ♦Q and exited with a club. With the hearts breaking 4-2, declarer still had to lose a trick in each major. N/S -50.

Everyone can learn a useful lesson from what happened at the other table.

It generally takes me a few weeks to persuade my students to stop making two-level minor-suit overcalls on lousy five-card suits. When you overcall in a major, you are looking to find a fit to get to 4M. When you overcall in a minor, though, you are generally aiming for 3NT, and partner needs to be able to count tricks. Sticking to the principle that two-level overcalls in a minor usually show a decent six-card suits also prevents you suffering the sort of result that befell West on this deal.

After opening with a Strong Club, Andy Hung doubled back in when James Coutts raised his partner’s 2♣ overcall in accordance with The LAW to the four-level. With his balanced hand, Sartaj Hans (left) had no reason to play for ten or eleven tricks rather than four.

Hans led a trump and Liam Milne won in the dummy. To get out for two down, declarer needs to play spades immediately. (With the ace almost certain to be on his right, there is no benefit to leading the suit from his hand.) When he instead started diamonds, the defence was in control. Hung won with the ♦K, cashed the ♦A, the ♥K, and played a second heart to his partner’s ace. Hans then exited with a second trump. When Hung eventually got in with the ♠Q, he played a third round of diamonds, allowing his partner to ruff away declarer’s ♦Q. Milne ended with just seven trump tricks: three down. N/S +500 and 11 IMPs to ASHTON.

ASHTON won the third stanza 30-23 and thus held a commanding 58-IMP (95-37) lead going into the final 14 boards.

Getting caught in an auction where your side does not belong seems to be the theme in this set, although I suspect that a number of players would have taken a leap into the fire on our next deal. Everything was very sedate at the first table…

That all seems very normal. David Gue led a low spade, so declarer made eight tricks. N/S +120.

Joachim Haffer (right) opened a weak 1NT on the North hand, and a Stayman auction quickly got N/S to 2♠. That left Maurits van der Vlugt with the first of this week’s problems. Did you balance back in on the West hand?

The first question to ask when deciding whether to bid, is how many spades your partner is likely to hold. Is the obvious answer not four? When the opponents are in a contract and you know that their trump suit is not breaking, you should always be cautious about rescuing them. Even if you do find a 4-4 fit, The LAW suggest that competing to the three-level with 16 total trumps is not the right thing to do. If you can make nine tricks, then the odds are that you can also go plus defending 2♠.

On this deal, the minor suits lay fairly favourably for N/S, so they can still make nine tricks in spades despite the bad trump break. That is bad news for E/W as declarer, and even more so as they have no eight-card fit. Van der Vlugt doubled and George Kozakos advanced with a ‘Scrambling 2NT’ (showing either two or no places to play). Van de Vlugt bid his lowest four-card suit, and Haffer jumped all over that. There was nowhere for E/W to go.

Haffer led a trump, which guaranteed the defenders seven tricks. When declarer dropped a trick in the play, he was four down. N/S +800 and 12 IMPs to GUE. Not a great result when you could have let your opponents play peacefully in 2♠. As you may have heard, protection is a racket.

GUE won the third stanza 43-12, so they led by 43 IMPs (109-66) going into the final set of this match. Barring a miraculous comeback, it was looking like the identity of the two finalists was already decided. Not that the final stanza failed to provide plenty to entertain those watching live on BBO VuGraph. Both East players had to deal with the second of this week’s problems on our next deal, and two different approaches led to two very different outcomes…

David Gue chose to raise spades, showing an invitational or better three-card raise with a 3♣ cue-bid. Joshua Tomlin accepted the invitation, and there matter rested. Assuming that declarer loses to the ♠K, the 4-1 trump break has the potential to make the play in spades tricky on repeated club leads. Tomlin ruffed the opening lead and ran the ♠Q to South’s king. A second club then forced declarer down to a doubleton trump in both hands while North still held three. Cashing the ♠J revealed the position, so declarer switched to hearts, allowing North to ruff. Tomlin could now ruff the club continuation in hand, cross to the ♦K to draw the last trump with dummy’s ace, and claim the rest. E/W +450.

After the same start, George Kozakos (left) chose to start with a negative double, getting hearts into the picture. When Maurits van der Vlugt was able to bid game over South’s pre-emptive club raise, Kozakos showed excellent appreciation of his limited high-card count by jumping to slam.

There were no problems playing in the nine-card fit. Van der Vlugt ruffed the opening club, drew trumps, and took the spade finesse for an overtrick. E/W +980 and 11 IMPs to KOZAKOS.

GUE won the final set 26-25 and the match by 44 IMPs (135-91).

In the other semi-final, both East players had to deal with the last of this week’s problems on our next deal.

Mindful of the vulnerability, perhaps, Geo Tislevoll passed at his second turn. Leon Meier had no reason to bid again, so Sophie Ashton (right) was left to play in a peaceful 2♠. The defence had four top winners: N/S +140.

They say fortune favours the brave. (They also say that God looks after children and fools, but that’s a different story.) Andy Hung (right) took note of Marty Bergen’s mantra, ‘Colours are for Children’, and waded in with a double of North’s 2♠ overcall. James Coutts raised defensively to 3♠ but that was not enough to shut out Sartaj Hans. After his partner’s initial 1NT response, perhaps Hung’s raise to game looks a bit like gilding the lily, but it gave Hans a chance to display his mastery as declarer.

Liam Milne led the ♠K (as you would – why would you lead a club from that hand?) and that was all the help Hans needed. He won with the ♠A, crossed to the ♦A, and played a second diamond to the ten, picking up South’s trumps. After drawing the remaining trump, he then played off the two top hearts and advanced the ♥J. South did not cover, but Hans hadn’t come this far to go down, and pitched a club from his hand. A heart ruff then established a discard for one more of declarer’s black-suit losers. That was a spectacular 11 tricks: E/W +600 and 12 IMPs to ASHTON.

JOEL won the fourth stanza 33-23, but it was too little, too late. ASHTON advanced to Sunday’s final with victory by 118-74. It will be ASHTON v GUE in the final of the Spring Nationals Open Teams (thankfully, no acronyms for this event). We will be back soon with the best of the action from that final.