Marc Smith visits the English Premier League

The British equivalent to America’s Spingold or Vanderbilt, but played over the course of a whole year rather than a single week, the Gold Cup has been held annually since 1932. This year’s final, played over eight 8-board stanzas, pitted ALLFREY (the 2014 winners) against GILLIS (winners in 2016). Each team included four members from their captain’s last victory. 

The English Premier League is contested as a triple round robin of 16-board matches over the course of three weekends. At the end of each season, two teams are relegated from the first division. In Match 6, the teams lying first and second in the table, DHONDY and De BOTTON, met head on. The hundreds of spectators who watched the action on BBO VuGraph were not to be disappointed. Let’s get straight onto the action.

Both Vulnerable - Dealer West

Artur Malinowki had little choice but to respond 1NT. Janet De Botton should perhaps have preferred a reverse bid of Two Hearts rather than the direct raise to game when her partner was known to hold at most three spades. Brian Callaghan’s decision not to overcall paid dividends when Heather Dhondy opted to lead the stronger of her four-card majors. The play did not take long, Callaghan winning the opening lead with the ♠A and the defenders quickly cashing six tricks in the suit. E/W -200.

West - Myers North - Bakhshi East - Brock South - Townsend

Brock did reverse over the 1NT response, and Myers advanced with a forcing Three Diamonds. An exchange of club cue-bids then left Brock with a game/slam decision. Although there was only one obvious loser, she was mindful of her partner’s initial 1NT response and thus realized that it was unlikely he would fill all of her gaps. The defenders had one spade to take and eventually came to a slow club trick: E/W +600 and 13 IMPs to DHONDY. 

The very next deal generated another significant swing:

N/S Vulnerable - Dealer North

Heather Dhondy’s club lead ran to declarer’s king. The ♦A and a diamond to the queen confirmed five tricks in that suit and declarer then led the ♣Q, pitching a heart from his hand. The ♠J switch was won in dummy and declarer could cash two more clubs. With the spades potentially vulnerable he could not risk the heart finesse, so Malinowski settled for ten tricks. E/W +430 and what looked like a fairly normal result. Bridge is a strange game, though…

West - Myers North - Bakhshi East - Brock South - Townsend

Barry Myers’ off-centre 1NT opening in fourth seat proved to be just the temptation to lure the vulnerable opponents into an auction where they did not belong. David Bakhshi’s double showed a four-card major with a longer minor, and Sally Brock’s redoubled was of the penalty variety, announcing that the deal belonged to her side. Tom Townsend might have tried his luck in a minor, but with each defender equipped with a five-card holding there, that would have been swiftly dealt with too. Myers was quite happy to wield the axe against Two Hearts and the defense was ruthless. 

Myers kicked off with two top diamonds and then switched to the ♣K. Of course, declarer could not know that this was the last chance he had to score the ♣A and, when he ducked, -800 had suddenly become four figures. Declarer ruffed the third round of diamonds and tried his luck with a spade finesse. A trump came back to jack and queen and Myers played a second spade. Declarer decided not to finesse for a second time. Winning with the ♠A, Townsend now tried to cash the ♣A. Curtains! West ruffed with his low trump, played a spade to Brock’s king, and still had the ♥A-10 to come. E/W a magnificent +1100 and another 12 IMPs to DHONDY.

The next deal looks innocuous enough:

E/W Vulnerable - Dealer East

It’s not a great hand but De Botton opened One Spade, as would most players these days. Malinowski responded with a forcing 1NT and then had to decide between a Two Spade underbid and a 2NT overbid at his second turn. Not unexpectedly, the Pole opted for the choice most likely to get his side to a vulnerable game. De Botton, quite understandably, was not the least bit interested, though, so there matters rested. 

The contract never had any real chance. Indeed, a low spade lead would beat it by two. Dhondy kicked off with a high club and switched to a diamond at trick two. Declarer played a club, Dhondy winning and exiting with the same suit. Declarer now took the only chance he had for his contract, a heart to his king. When Dhondy won the ♥A and returned the suit through dummy’s jack, declarer was finished. Callaghan won with the ♥9 and advanced the ♦Q. When declarer ducked this trick, Callaghan simply cashed the ♥Q for one down: E/W -100.

West - Myers North - Bakhshi East - Brock South - Townsend

Here Myers started with an Acol-style Two Club response, which left him with a comfortable Two Spade preference at his second turn. This may look like a safer spot, but it too is also booked for one down from the off. 

The ♦Q does not look like the best start for the defense, but that impression is deceptive in that declarer wins and is in peril if she does not immediately start on one of the black suits. When Brock, instead, led a heart to the king, the roof fell in. North won with the ♥A and switched to clubs, playing three rounds for South to ruff. Callaghan now cashed the ♥Q and continued with the ♥10, which North ruffed. Dhondy played a fourth club and declarer tried ruffing with the ♠8, but South overuffed with the ♠J and played a fourth round of heart. Already at least three down, Brock elected to ruff with the ♠A, hoping the remaining trumps were splitting. When they failed to do so, declarer had to settle for just four tricks: E/W a more than useful -400 and 7 IMPs to DE BOTTON.

E/W Vulnerable - Dealer North

The auction here seems normal enough, although perhaps you could say that everyone opted for the conservative view of their hand. My good friend and fellow BBO VuGraph commentator, David Bird, refuses to write up hands where declarer plays in 1NT or Two Diamonds. As you can see, I am not quite so pedantic, although I will not bore you with the details of the play other than to say that both the defenders and declarer did their best and eight tricks were made: N/S +90.

West - Malinowski North - Dhondy East - De Botton South - Callaghan

Not for the first time in this match, we see an off-shape 1NT opening producing a dramatic result. This time it was Brian Callaghan in third seat. As is frequently the case, Malinowski chose to bid in a situation where many would not do so. Perceived wisdom says that single-suited hands should have six-card suits to come in over 1NT and this deal perhaps provides an example of exactly why. For a start, it is so easy for the opponents to double for penalties in this situation. Indeed, even here, where North does not have anything close to a classic penalty double, West ends up getting caught by circumstances. Many pairs playing strong notrump re-open routinely with a shortage (ie a doubleton) trump in this auction. Here, it was even more obvious for Callaghan to do so. With nowhere attractive to go, Dhondy metaphorically shrugged her shoulders and opted for defense.

The contract was always booked to go one down, but declarer lost an additional trick when he ‘misguessed’ at trick one. Dhondy led the ♣3 and Malinowski opted to play low from dummy: a strange choice, perhaps, holding only a doubleton club and with dummy otherwise entryless. This allowed Callaghan to win cheaply, with the ♣10, and switch to his trump.

Declarer immediately played a club to the jack and ace, and Callaghan got out with the ♦Q. Declarer won with the ♦K and tried the ♥9, which held. He now exited with a diamond, but the defense still had to come to two spades and a trump. Two down: N/S +500 and 9 IMPs to DHONDY. 

DHONDY had built a 44-15 lead, but there was still time for one more teaser from the Great Dealer. It is rarely good news when you and your teammates both play in the same suit. The last board of this match was no exception:

E/W Vulnerable - Dealer West

This looks like a fairly routine sequence. Perhaps Brock’s raise to Three Hearts is slightly pushy, but it is an auction that would surely be duplicated at many tables, and we have all been in plenty of worse games that have made.

Bakhshi got the defense off to the best start by leading a trump. Declarer won in dummy and led a spade to his king and Bakhshi’s ace. He won the next trump in hand, cashed his high spade and ruffed a spade, came back to the ♣A, and ruffed another spade with dummy’s last trump. When declarer then tried to cash the ♣K, though, North ruffed and began forcing declarer with diamonds, Declarer could make just his two high trumps: E/W -200.

If events at the first table were close to normal, those in the other room were at the other end of the scale:

West - Malinowski North - Dhondy East - De Botton South - Callaghan

For the third time in this 16-board set, an off-shape 1NT opening (from the third different perpetrator) scored a huge goal. Dhondy’s Two Club overcall showed both majors and, whilst it may not be the universal choice I suspect that in this day and age where everyone bids as often as conceivably possible, more than a few would fall into the same trap.

Janet De Botton doubled to show a good hand, and I am sure that Brian Callaghan searched diligently for the special green card in his bidding box that said ‘All Pass’. Alas, he only had normal pass cards and Dhondy also failed to receive the telepathic message coming across the table. Her Two Heart bid showed longer hearts, and De Botton doubled again. What action would you have taken with Callaghan’s hand?

It probably doesn’t matter: wherever North/South finish from here is going to be expensive. Callaghan knew that spades was only a 4-2 fit, so he passed, hoping that his partner had a decent six-card suit. In fact, she had neither a sixth heart nor a decent suit. 

Quite understandably, De Botton failed to alight on the unlikely spade lead that would have ensured nine tricks for the defense, and instead kicked off with a diamond. Dhondy won cheaply (after recovering from her first sight of dummy, presumably) and set about the long task of drawing trumps. Malinowski won and cashed the ♣A, but has now to switch back to diamonds to legitimately beat the contract by three. When he played a second club, declarer was in with a chance of salvaging something from the wreckage. Dhondy ruffed and correctly played a second trump. Malinowski won and switched to the ♠K, taken by declarer to play a third round of trumps. Malinowski won again, cashed his ♠Q and played a third spade. Declarer needs to finesse now, but when she instead rose with the ♠J and East ruffed she was back to three down. De Botton cashed her ♣K now and declarer correctly discarded her spade. However, Dhondy claimed four tricks at this point, evidently not realizing that De Botton had only diamonds left and that she needed only to lose to the outstanding high trump. E/W +800 and 14 IMPs to DE BOTTON. That one extra undertrick doubled the swing, as -500 would have cost only 7 IMPs.

DHONDY won the match 44-29. At the end of the firswt weekend, MOSSOP (D Mossop, Jason Hackett, Justin Hackett, E Jones, T Paske) held a narrow lead over DE BOTTON and DHONDY. We will return in future weeks to see more action from the second and third weekends of the English Premier League.