Marc Smith visits the English Senior Trials

This week, we return to London for the second day’s play in the trials to select the England Senior Team for the 2020 European Championships in Madeira. We left the match with four stanzas played on Saturday and MOSSOP leading by 29 IMPs (136-107). We were only just past the midway point of the match, and there were three 16-board sets left to play on Sunday. 

It would seem that The Great Dealer must have awoken early to prepare today’s boards. The hundreds watching the action on BBO’s VuGraph coverage were treated to an extravaganza, as the morning stanza produced eight double-digit swings in 16 deals. 

As usual, we begin with some teasers for you to consider. We will find out later how your choices would have turned out. We start this week with a bidding decision. With neither side vulnerable, you hold as East:

Partner’s 3NT shows an undisclosed mini-splinter (9-11 HCP). You ask for his short suit with Four Clubs and discover, unsurprisingly, that it is in diamonds. What action do you take now?

Next, with neither side vulnerable, your hand as West is:

What action do you take?

While you mull those problems over, let’s get straight into the early morning action. A seemingly innocuous deal produced the first swing of the day:

E/W Vul - Dealer South

With two outside entries to dummy to set up and cash the diamonds, game was easy to make but not so easy to bid. The first three bids by East/West seem routine. Is the East hand good enough for a fourth-suit One Spade, which is usually played as the only non game-forcing fourth suit bid? No, said Norman Selway. When he simply rebid his diamonds, John Holland had no reason to advance and the good game was missed. 

South led a spade to king and ace, and North cashed his second winner in that suit before switching to the ♥K. South subsequently scored a heart ruff to hold declarer to eight tricks: E/W +90.

West - Hassett North - Mossop East - Ward South - Hallberg

An easy game, isn’t it? John Hassett’s off-centre 1NT opening struck gold when Trevor Ward had a routine raise to game. With spades 4-4 and South having no entry there was no winning defense. E/W +400 and 11 IMPs to DHONDY. 

Three boards in and MOSSOP’s overnight advantage had already been cut to just 13 IMPs. By the midway point of the set, MOSSOP was 43 ahead, but then DHONDY went on a run of five consecutive boards on which they picked up a double-digit swing. Norman Selway and Trevor Ward both faced a variation on the first of the bidding problems posed earlier:

None Vul - Dealer East

John Holland’s 3NT response showed an undisclosed mini-splinter (9-11 HCP, whereas a direct splinter would have shown 12-15). Selway asked where the shortage was, discovered it was in diamonds, and signed off in game. With trumps 2-1 and diamonds 4-3, declarer has an easy twelve tricks: E/W +480.

West - Hassett North - Mossop East - Ward South - Hallberg

The splinter was not so well defined at this table, so perhaps Ward expected a bit more, or maybe he realized that any hand with ace-fourth trump and a side-suit ace would produce a decent slam. E/W +980 and 11 IMPs to DHONDY.

The swing on our next deal effectively came down to which suit you open on a balanced hand with 4-4 in the minors. I have long argued that opening One Club makes it easy to find a fit in either suit, whereas opening One Diamond when you intend to rebid in notrump will often lose a club fit. If your One Club opening does not show more than a doubleton, though, opening One Diamond does have the benefit of showing a real suit. You pay your money and you take your chance, but the choice had a significant effect on this deal:

N/S Vul - Dealer South

The defense started with the ♠J, which won, and then two more rounds of spades. When Hassett switched to a heart, Mossop put up the king and then discarded the rest of his hearts when Ward cashed his spades. The ♥Q was the seventh trick for the defense and there was still one more in each minor to come. Declarer made just his three club winners and the ♦K: E/W +800.

West - Holland North - Mayo East - Selway South - Kendrick

Alan Mayo also overcalled 1NT on the North cards. Here, though, West had opened One Diamond so, when East’s double came back to him, Mayo decided to try his luck in his chunky five-bagger.

Again, the defense opened spades. At trick three, Holland switched to a heart and the defense played three rounds, East ruffing as declarer unblocked the ♥K. The ruff, though, was with West’s natural trump trick. Declarer now ruffed the third round of spades, drew trumps, crossed to the ♥J, and led a diamond towards his king. Holland could score his ♦A, but that was only the sixth, and last, trick for the defense. E/W +200 and 13 IMPs to DHONDY.

DHONDY won the first set of the day 78-31 to turn the match on its head. Having held a decent lead overnight, MOSSOP was now behind by 18 IMPs (167-185) with 32 boards left to play. In the first eight boards of the penultimate stanza, MOSSOP gained 13 IMPs (26-13) to reduce the deficit to just 5 IMPs. The second half of the set was all one-way traffic, with just one flat board and MOSSOP gaining IMPS on the other seven. This was the biggest of the swings:

Both Vul - Dealer East

I simply do not understand the logic behind John Hassett’s bidding on this deal. I would have no objection to a Two Heart overcall of South’s One Spade opening. However, if you decide that the hand is not good enough for an overcall, how has it suddenly become better once LHO announces game-forcing values? On general principles, you are much less likely to be doubled for penalties if you bid early in an auction, before the opponents have had an opportunity to express their combined values and shape. If you let them describe their hands and then enter with this type of delayed overcall, you essentially give the opponents fielder’s choice: it is now much easier for them to decide whether to bid their game/slam or take a penalty.

With only three cards in his partner’s two suits, suggesting defense was not difficult for Brian Senior. A diamond was led to South’s king, which held. Paul Hackett then cashed three top spades, North discarding clubs. A trump switch would now have netted the defense +1100. When Hackett, instead, played a second diamond, declarer was able to ruff his loser in that suit with dummy’s singleton trump. He then disposed of his club loser on dummy’s ♠J, North ruffing. Declarer ruffed the ♣A exit but had still to lose three more trump tricks. N/S +800 was destined to produce a substantial swing in one direction or the other.

West - Holland North - Mayo East - Selway South - Kendrick

John Holland did not enter the fray on the West hand and soon found himself on lead against a slam. How would you play on the lead of the ♥10?

David Kendrick quite reasonably decided not to put all of his eggs in the heart finesse basket, so he rose with the ♥A and cashed the ♣A to dispose of the second heart in his hand. Now came a trump to the jack and ace, and West exited with a trump which ran around to the ♦9 in declarer’s hand. Kendrick ruffed a low spade with dummy’s last trump and all that now remained was how to get back to hand.

As you can see, a heart ruff would have allowed declarer to draw West’s last trump and claim twelve tricks once spades behaved. When, instead, Kendrick tried to re-enter his hand by ruffing a club, though, John Holland overruffed with the ♦10 to put the contract one down. N/S -100 and 14 IMPs to MOSSOP, when making the slam would have been and 11-IMP swing in the other direction.

MOSSOP won the second half of the sixth set 44-0 to lead by 39 IMPs (237-198) going into the final stanza. With DHONDY having won the first set of the day by 47 and MOSSOP the second by 52, though, a 39-IMP lead could hardly be considered decisive.

Our final deal rather sums up how the game has changed in recent years. The high-card points were split 22-18, so why should it be any surprise that game was bid confidently at both tables?

None Vul - Dealer North

John Holland faced the second of the bidding problems posed at the top of this article. With such a motley spade suit and a void in partner’s suit, many might be tempted to pass, but it has become a bidder’s game and Holland had no hesitation in taking positive action. Norman Selway had a routine raise to game despite his 11-point opening bid, and East/West had duly sailed into an impregnable contract.

Holland ruffed the opening club lead in dummy and advanced the ♥K. South ducked, and away went one of declarer’s losing diamonds. Next came the ♥Q, covered and ruffed, declarer noting the fall of North’s ♥9. A trump went to jack, king and ace, and Callaghan did what he could, cashing the ♦K and continuing the suit. Declarer was in control, though: he ruffed, drew the last trump ending in dummy, and led the ♥10, pitching a club when South did not cover. A heart was ruffed to hand and Holland now established his tenth trick by running the ♣K to South’s ace. E/W an impressive +420.

Could the DHONDY East/West get to game to flatten the deal?

West - Hassett North - Senior East - Ward South - Hackett

Good luck getting to Four Spades after this start!

Brian Senior opened what has become almost a routine weak two in diamonds on the North hand, and Trevor Ward made a fairly normal-looking Two Heart overcall. With three aces and the ♦K, Paul Hackett surely fancied his chances in 3NT opposite ♦A-Q-x-x-x-x. Even ace-sixth and nothing else would give him play. 

What could John Hassett possibly do? Perhaps you could try Four Diamonds for takeout, intending to bid spades over Four Hearts from partner, offering a choice of black suits? A nice idea, perhaps, but does this not sound like a heart raise and then a spade cue-bid? It is fair to say that Hassett was well and truly castled.

Leading either black suit holds declarer to seven tricks, four diamonds and three aces, but it does not matter much how many 50s you take against 3NT when your opponents have bid and made game in the other room. E/W +100 and a well-earned 8 IMPs to MOSSOP. 

DHONDY won a close final set 42-36, meaning that MOSSOP won the match by 32 IMPs (272-240). Congratulations to David Mossop, Gunnar Hallberg, Norman Selway, John Holland, Paul Hackett and Brian Senior. They will be England’s representatives in the Senior Teams at the European Championships in Madeira this summer. We wish them the best of luck there!

Next week, we take the short hop across The Channel to Paris, to witness the action as the French select their Mixed Team for Madeira.