Marc Smith visits the final of the 2019 New Zealand Teams

This week we head Down Under for a taste of southern springtime in early October. We are here to see BACH and GROSVENOR face off in the final of the New Zealand Teams. All six members of the BACH team had recently returned from a gruelling two-week World Championships in Wuhan. Ashley Bach/Michael Cornell and Matthew Brown/Michael Ware were members of the Kiwi Bermuda Bowl team that finished just behind Italy in ninth place, narrowly missing out on a place in the knockout stages. Brian Mace/Tom Jacob had played in the Seniors event in China. Would fatigue play a role in this 72-board encounter for the national title?

BACH led 32-22 after the first of the six 12-board sets, but that was just the appetiser for an action-packed second stanza. The first board appeared fairly innocuous, but: 

Both Vulnerable - Dealer North

I am not a fan of five-card, two-level overcalls in a minor, but this one worked out well for Grosvenor/Lloyd when they were able to stop safely in Two Spades. There was little to the play, declarer losing just three diamonds and a trump: E/W a fairly unremarkable +140.

West - Bach North - Courtney East - Cornell South - Depasquale

Michael Courtney’s four-card major opening offered the BACH East/West pair a slight opening, and boy did they kick the door down and charge through with all guns blazing. Cornell opted for a takeout double on his shapely ten-count and Ashley Bach chose to defend right there at the one-level. 

When the opponents tell you that you are in the deep stuff at a low level they are often right. Certainly, the defence here can start with two spades and three clubs before you even get to the trump suit. Courtney chose flight, more in hope than expectation, but was it a case of the frying pan into the fire? Despite only three low trumps, Ashley Bach was having none of it and quickly wielded the axe.

Courtney won the trump lead in hand and could have drawn trumps right away to get out for two down. Instead, he led a heart to dummy’s queen. Bach won and switched accurately to clubs. Cornell played three rounds of the suit, Bach ruffing. Now came a heart ruff, two high spades and a second heart ruff. E/W +800 and 12 IMPs to BACH out of nowhere.

The next deal is an advertisement for keeping things simple:

None Vulnerable - Dealer North

To my mind, when he rebids Two Hearts there is no hand that North can hold that does not include six hearts, so Brian Mace’s raise to game seems like the obvious move. Grosvenor found the only lead to give the defense a chance, a diamond. Lloyd won with the ♦A and needs to switch to his low spade to give declarer a guess. When he returned a diamond at trick two, declarer was able to draw trumps and pitch the second spade from his hand on dummy’s long club. N/S what it seems to me should be a routine +620.

West - Bach North - Courtney East - Cornell South - Depasquale

Perhaps there is some systemic reason for Depasquale’s Three Club bid. In my world, North would very rarely hold three spades on this auction: with a minimum hand and three-card support he should just raise to Two Spades at his second turn. Players who insist on four-card support for a simple raise fail to realize the myriad of hidden complications that not doing so leads to. Here, Depasguale presumably expected three spades opposite. Even so, his failure to offer hearts as an alternative game seems somewhat shortsighted.

The defense can easily hold declarer to eight tricks by cashing two diamonds and then switching to the singleton heart. They can then score two natural trump tricks and a heart ruff. Bach/Cornell started with three rounds of diamonds, giving declarer a useless ruff-and-discard. They then won the first round of trumps and played a fourth diamond. A good effort that it seems should garner a sixth trick for the defense. However, the play records are incomplete and apparently declarer still managed to scramble eight tricks. N/S -100 and another 11 IMPs to BACH.

BACH won the second 12-board set by a resounding 73-11, opening up a 72-IMP lead with only one third of the match played. GROSVENOR needed to begin the comeback immediately:

N/S Vulnerable - Dealer East

Courtney’s jump to game on this monster seems a tad conservative to me. Declarer won the diamond lead, pitched his diamond loser on the ♣A, ruffed two hears in dummy and guessed the trumps correctly. N/S +710 hardly looked like the ideal way to start the comeback. Strange things often happen in that place known as the other room, though, so you can never be sure.

West - Lloyd North - Brown East - Grosvenor South - Ware

One of the interesting developments to come out of Wuhan, was the huge number of good boards gained by players opening five-card weak two bids. Perhaps Grosvenor had learned from that, although I do seem to recall that pre-emptive bidding in Oceania has long been ‘out there’. Whatever the reason, he certainly picked a great moment for a five-card three-level opening. 

As for North/South, perhaps the lesson to be learned from this deal is that ‘when you’re fixed, stay fixed’. Just hope your teammates have made things as difficult for their opponents at the other table. A good mantra for students of the game is that when the opponents pre-empt, you should aim for the best result possible rather than the best possible result. Of course, Michael Ware’s raise to the grand slam could easily have been right. When you start your auction at the six-level, though, you are always guessing. 

East led a club and, of course, declarer played the pre-emptive opener for the short spades. The play was quickly over: N/S -100 and 13 much-needed IMPs for GROSVENOR. 

The deficit was still 61 IMPs going into the final twelve-board set. Could GROSVENOR pull off a remarkable recovery?

None Vulnerable - Dealer East

Once East passed as Dealer, slam was never really in the picture and thus the decision was which game to play. Even so, Mace’s raise to Three Clubs seems incredibly feeble. As a passed hand, how much better can you be? Whether West would have ambitions beyond game I don’t know, but surely this East hand is worth a Two Spade cue-bid. When West bid on anyway, Mace had another decision. Despite his sterile shape, I am not a fan of his 3NT bid with such a fragile stopper when partner is very likely to be short. How often will North hold something like Q-x or K-x of spades, and you will go sailing off in 3NT with game or even slam cold in clubs? 

Mace was not booked to suffer that embarrassment this time. South cashed one high spade and then tried in vain to find his partner’s entry. E/W +490.

West - Lloyd North - Brown East - Grosvenor South - Ware

Once Grosvenor opened, there was no stopping Lloyd. He started with a Three Spade splinter bid, and Grosvenor flirted with the same danger as Mace had at the other table, although perhaps doing so here was more understandable. Lloyd was having none of it, though. Despite the likelihood of wasted spade values opposite he backed judgment over science and alighted in the top spot.

Slam was excellent, particularly played from the East seat. Declarer had time to test the diamonds with the heart finesse in reserve if that didn’t work out. E/W +920 and 10 IMPs to GROSVENOR, now 51 down with ten deals left.

Technicians amongst you may be disappointed that all the swings so far have hinged on the bidding, so we finish with a card play deal.

E/W Vulnerable - Dealer South

Matthew Brown got the defense off to the best start, leading the ♥Q asking for attitude. Ware’s ♥4 showed the jack, so Brown continued with the ♥9, which was allowed to win, and a third round of the suit, taken in dummy with the ♥A. In theory, declarer seems to have nine tricks via four spades, three clubs and two red aces, but entries are already starting to look fraught. Perhaps ducking a club at this point would have been best, but Lloyd instead crossed to the ♣K and played a second round towards dummy. Brown split his honors, so declarer won with the ♣A and played a third round, establishing dummy’s ♣10. After cashing his heart winner, North exited with the la articolul de pe BLOG da-i cu html si bagi ♦K in this position:

Declarer’s nine tricks are set up, but he can no longer get to them all. Lloyd won the ♦A and crossed to dummy in spades to cash his club winner, pitching his diamond loser. However, he then had to overtake the winning ♠10, and South’s ♠9 became the setting trick. E/W -100

West - Jacob North - Courtney East - Mace South - Depasquale

Michael Courtney’s Two Heart overcall showed hearts and minor. East’s jump to 3NT steered Courtney away from the heart lead and he chose instead the ♠J. Tom Jacob won with the ♠Q, cashed the ♠10 and played a diamond to his jack and North’s king. Now came the heart switch and Jacob ducked until the third round. Declarer had lost three tricks so far, and he now tightened the screw by exiting with a fourth round of hearts, pitching a club from his hand. These cards remained with North on lead and declarer needing the remaining tricks:

Courtney did the best he could, exiting with a low club. Jacob had read the position, though. He overtook the winning club with his king and cashed his top spades. North could afford one club discard, but the second spade forced him to abandon one of the minors. E/W +600 and another 11 IMPs to BACH. 

GROSVENOR won the final stanza by 11 IMPs, but the damage had been done in that huge second set. BACH won the title by an even 50 IMPs (208-158). Congratulations to Ashley Bach, Michael Cornell, Matthew Brown, Michael Ware, Brian Mace and Tom Jacob.