This is our last visit to the Australian capital, Canberra, the venue for the final of the national Mixed Teams Playoffs. The winner will represent Australia in the Mixed Team at the South Pacific Championships and at the World Bridge Games in 2024. The match is being played over 120 boards divided into eight 15-board stanzas over two days.

The two teams contesting the final are HARRISON (Shane Harrison, Jessica Brake, Bruce Neill and Sue Lusk) and THOMSON (David Beauchamp, Jodi Tutty, Maurits van der Vlugt, Dagmar Neumann, Warren Lazer and Pauline Gumby). When we left things with seven of the eight stanzas completed, HARRISON held a 29-IMP (203-174) advantage.

Only one problem this week. With neither side vulnerable, you are North holding:

What do you open?

We begin with the second board of the final stanza, on which the North players had to evaluate the hand presented in the problem above.

Once Bruce Neill had decided that his hand fell into the range for a 1NT opening, the auction was somewhat inevitable. Whether South shows her major-suit shape via Smolen, as Sue Lusk did, or by transferring to spades and then bidding hearts, 3NT is always likely to be the final destination.

With 12 tricks in diamonds easy, having to rely on Q-10-x of clubs opposite a singleton as a stopper is not ideal. Curiously, declarer here managed to score up his contract despite misguessing the clubs. Playing fourth-best leads, Beauchamp opened the ♣5, which had the effect of blocking the suit. West won with the ♣K at trick one and returned a low club. Neill guessed to rise with the ♣Q and East won with the ace. Left with just the ♣9-8 now, Beauchamp could play a third round to the jack, but he then had to win the fourth round of the suit and thus West’s fifth club was left to wither on the vine. A rather fortuitous N/S +400, but justice was not to be deprived if her victory.

In the replay, Pauline Gumby (left) decided that her hand was too strong for 1NT, so she began with 1♦ and rebid 2NT which, systemically for them, showed 17-18 and good diamonds. Warren Lazer’s jump to 4♦ was now optional Blackwood and Gumby’s 5♦ response showed two key cards plus the trump queen.

The defence began with a top club and a trump switch. Gumby won and took a club ruff at trick three. With the defenders’ hearts breaking 3-3, declarer was soon claiming, although she would also have made it home had they split 4-2. N/S +920 and 11 IMPs to THOMSON. The deficit was down to 15 IMPs with 13 boards left to play.

The focus was again on the North players just a couple of deals later.

Sue Lusk’s raise to 2♥ at her second turn looks 100% correct to me, but it did make the subsequent auction more difficult. Neill advanced with a forcing 2NT, ostensibly a game try, and Lusk showed her extra diamond length and denied a fourth heart. Neill now advanced with 4♣, a slam try showing a club control but no spade control. Lusk had a spade control but did not like her hand enough to commit past game, so she settled for 4♥ and Neill felt that he could do no more.

East began with the ♠6, declarer taking the deep finesse and West winning with the ♠J. Not liking the look of the diamond switch, Neill quite reasonably played the trumps by cashing the ace and then crossing to the king. He therefore had to lose a trump trick: N/S +450.

Warren Lazer (right) chose to rebid 1NT on the South hand. When Gumby forced to game and Lazer chose to show his fifth diamond rather than his third heart, they were well on their way to the Promised Land. Gumby’s 4♦seems to have been Optional RKCB, and Lazer’s one-step 4♥ response showed an unsuitable hand for slam. Forewarned, Gumby continued with 4♠, asking again, and now Lazer admitted to holding one key card. Gumby decided that was enough, and jumped to the slam.

Protected from the spade lead, 6♦ is excellent. Declarer won the trump lead, drew a second round, and then started hearts by cashing the ace and then crossing to the king. West made a trick with his ♥Q, but declarer’s spade losers went on dummy’s long hearts. N/S +920 and another 10 IMPs to THOMSON. With 11 board left to play, the score stood at 205-199 in favour of HARRISON. The substantial lead had almost gone and the match was well and truly on.

HARRISON had extended their advantage to 217-200 when this deal arrived midway through the stanza.

When Warren Lazer carried on over 3NT, his 4♣ was an inquiry and Gumby’s 4♦ showed a poor hand for slam. Perhaps that should have sounded the warning bells. Surely, for this 4♦ bid, Gumby had either a hole in the trump suit or little outside it. That South hand does seem to have an awful lot of losers in the side suits if partner has little or no help there, and so it proved. Lazer did not appreciate the danger and his 4♥ was RKCB. The 5♦ response confirmed that all the key cards were present and committed the partnership to slam.

Shane Harrison led the ♣10 to dummy’s jack. The ♥A brought down the king from East but, having little choice, Gumby ruffed a heart anyway. Harrison overruffed and did not panic, but exited with another trump. Declarer drew the remaining trumps and still had two entries to dummy. She crossed to the ♠A and advanced the ♥J, West covering with the ♥Q and declarer ruffing to establish the ♥9 as a winner. Now Gumby led the ♦Q, covered by king and ace. The spade loser went on the ♥9, but there was still a diamond to be lost. N/S -100.

Could the HARRISON N/S pair avoid the poor slam?

When Bruce Neill carried on past 3NT on the North cards. Sue Lusk (left) made one slam try with 4♠ but gave up when her partner showed no interest.

David Beauchamp opened with a low diamond here, declarer winning the trick in his hand with the ♦9. Neill crossed the ♣J, cashed the ♥A, and immediately advanced the ♥J, pitching a spade from his hand when West did not cover. Beauchamp ruffed and exited safely with a trump, so declarer had to lose a diamond at the end. N/S +600 and 12 IMPs to HARRISON. All of a sudden, we were back where we had started, with HARRISON ahead by 29 IMPs.

One might have thought that was the end of the comeback but, like all Australian sporting teams, THOMSON understood that the game was not over until the final deal had been played. Back they came again and, with just three deals remaining, HARRISON led by the smallest of margins, 229-228.

Both declarers reached the same slam contract on what proved to be the key deal.

The most significant action on the deal occurred early, when David Beauchamp (right) came in with an enterprising 1♠ overcall on his chunky four-card suit. That action seemed to have little effect, but let’s see what happened.

Sue Lusk showed her diamond fit with a 2♠ cue-bid and Bruce Neill showed a hand that would have passed an invitational raise to 3♦. Lusk had plenty to spare and continued with a 4♥ splinter bid. Neill’s hand was looking even worse now, but Lusk still had one more grand slam try in her before allowing her partner off the hook at the six-level.

Beauchamp led the ♠K and slam did not look at all promising. Neill won with the ♠A and immediately cashed dummy’s top clubs. When the queen dropped from the East hand, Neill thought he saw a chance. With spades ‘known’ to be breaking 5-1 (after Beauchamp’s overcall), he just needed West to hold the ♦A. He played a trump and, indeed, Jodi Tutti won. Unfortunately for declarer, she then produced a ‘fourteenth’ spade. Beauchamp won with the ♠Q and gave his partner a ruff for two down. N/S -200.

Declarer here had been talked into a losing line. In the replay, there was no opposition bidding to lead declarer off the straight and narrow…

Warren Lazer’s 4♦ was Minorwood and the 5♣ response told him enough to commit to the small slam. Here, too, East led the ♠K and declarer won and cashed two high clubs. Pauline Gumby saw a way home, so she ruffed dummy’s low club with the ♦9. She then cashed her three high hearts, discarding spades from dummy. A trump went to the queen and ace and West played a fourth round of clubs, but Gumby ruffed with the ♦K. After drawing the remaining trumps, the ♣J provided declarer with her twelfth trick. N/S +1370 and a massive 17 IMPs to THOMSON, who now led by 16 IMPs with two board remaining.

There was still some drama left, with HARRISON picking up a game swing on the final deal, but it was not quite enough. THOMSON won the final stanza 71-36 and a thrilling match by a 6-IMP margin (245-239).

Congratulations to the THOMSON team, David Beauchamp, Jodi Tutty, Maurits van der Vlugt, Dagmar Neumann, Warren Lazer and Pauline Gumby. They will represent Australia at the 2024 South Pacific Championships and in the World Mixed Teams Championships at the World Bridge Games (formerly known as the World Team Olympiad), which will be held in October 2024 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

I am homeward bound for the New Year. On the way, I will be making a brief stopover in Indore in central India to bring you the best of the action from the Open Teams final at the 19^th Yeshwant Rao Holkar National Bridge Championships followed by a European mini-break to see the highlights of the ‘Coupe de France’ final.

Happy Holidays to everyone.