This is our last visit to Mount Maunganui, on the north coast of New Zealand’s North Island, from where we have been enjoying the final of the Open Teams at the 2023 National Congress. The format is a 60-board match divided into five 12-board segments. On our previous visits, we have seen the highlights from the opening three stanzas. The Australian/American foursome, COUTTS, have opened up a lead of 61 IMPs (111-50) over CORNELL, the six-man team representing the home nation. Can the Kiwis make a match of it?

As usual, we start with some problems. Firstly, with both sides vulnerable, you are South holding:

What action, if any, do you take?

Next, with only your side vulnerable, you are sitting in the North seat with:

What do you bid?

Next, with only your side vulnerable, you hold as East:

A 4♦ overcall would be non-Leaping Michels, showing a strong hand with at least 5-5 in the red suits. What action, if any, do you take?

Finally, with both sides vulnerable, you are in the North seat with this collection:

What, if anything, do you bid?

While you consider those, we start our coverage with the opening board of the fourth stanza. Both South players were faced with the first of the problems above.

Mike Doecke rebid his suit after Martin Reid’s 2♥ overcall. Peter Newell raised to game, and Adam Kaplan saw no reason to get involved further on the South cards. When dummy came down in 4♥ with that spade stack, I suspect Kaplan mentally patted himself on the back for not being tempted to take another bid.

Doecke led his club, Kaplan winning with the ♣A and delivering his partner’s ruff. Doecke cashed the ♦A next, but that was all she wrote for the defence. E/W +620.

After an identical start, Michael Ware (left) put his head (actually, his partner’s head) into the lion’s mouth with a 4♠ bid at his second turn. After the singleton diamond lead, the defenders can get two hearts, two spades and two diamond ruffs for +800 against 4♠-X. Alas for the Australians, James Coutts never got the chance to double, as Justin Mill bid a fifth heart in front of him.

The defence against 5♥ followed a similar path to that taken at the other table, but here finding the ruff was worth so much more than just saving an overtrick. E/W -100 and 12 IMPs to CORNELL to open the stanza.

Those watching live on BBO VuGraph did not have to wait long for the next swing…

Ware opened the South hand 1♥. Malcolm Mayer (right) advanced with a forcing 2♦ after West’s 1♠ overcall, and Ware asked for a stopper with a 2♠ cue-bid. Having identified the spade weakness for no-trumps, the Kiwis exchanged support for each other’s suits at the three-level. Ware knew that hearts was only a seven-card fit, but his suit was good so he raised to the major-suit game.

The defenders started with two top spades but, with both red suits behaving, declarer had the rest. N/S +650.

Adam Kaplan got the ball rolling with a 15-17 1NT, and Martin Reid’s 2♦ overcall, showing Majors, then left Mike Doecke with the second of this week’s problems. Doecke knows he has the values for game. However, with no stop in either of West’s suits, his jump to 3NT looks to me like pushing your luck just a tad too far.

Getting to 4♥ after West has shown both Majors was never going to be easy, but N/S do still have a making game to which bidding is not beyond the realm of the possible. Whether you play Lebensohl (so 3♦ is natural and forcing) or Rubensohl (3♣ is a transfer to diamonds), that seems to be the best way to start on that North hand. Over a natural 3♦, South would advance with 3♥, showing a stopper in that suit and suggesting spade weakness. North can then grope with a 3♠ cue-bid to ask for a half-stopper (such as a doubleton queen). Unable to bid 3NT, South would probably head for game in the 5-3 diamond fit. There are two spades to lose, but that’s all, and the cost would have been only 2 IMPs.

Needless to say, Reid managed to find the spade lead against Kaplan’s 3NT and the defence cashed the first five tricks. N/S -100 and another 13 IMPs to CORNELL. After just three deals, the set score was 27-0 and the deficit had been almost halved.

CORNELL won the fourth stanza 41-19 and thus went into the final set down by 39 IMPs (130-91). It did not take long for the action in the final stanza to get going. Both East players had to answer the third of this week’s problems on the opening board of the segment.

Ashley Bach (left) made his first international appearance in the New Zealand Junior Team at the 1993 World Youth Championships. Two years later, he collected a silver medal from the same event. He made his debut in the Kiwi Open team at the 2003 Bermuda Bowl and he has now been a regular member of that team for two decades. He was part of the team that produced New Zealand’s best ever result at the highest level, finishing fourth in the 2017 Bermuda Bowl.

Playing 4♦ as non-Leaping Michaels after North’s 3♠ opening, East has a number of choices. Pass is perhaps one option, as are double and 5♦. You might even decide that A-J-10-7 is nearly a five-card suit and risk 4♦, although you are short of both a heart and some high cards for that action.

Michael Cornell chose to enter the fray with a double. Adam Kaplan raised to game on the South cards, and it looks normal for Bach to join in with 5♣ on the West hand. Cornell was willing to play there undoubled, but Kaplan was having none of that. When the double came back to him, Cornell ran to his seven-card suit and Kaplan doubled again.

Kaplan led the ♥K and it looks as if the defence are due four tricks: two aces plus a heart trick and a heart ruff. Cornell had other ideas. He won the opening lead with the ♥A and took a club finesse. When the ♣Q won, he then cashed the ♣A to shake his spade loser. Now he played a trump to the king and ace. Kaplan cashed the ♥Q and led a third round of the suit for his partner to ruff. The defenders’ spade trick may have disappeared, but they had a second string to their bow and, when Doecke played a third round of clubs, the ♦J was promoted. The defence did have four tricks after all: N/S +500.

Faced with the same problem, James Coutts (right) was also not deterred by the adverse vulnerability. He opted for an immediate jump to 5♦, a contract which, as we have seen, is booked to cost -500. However, by getting there quickly, Coutts left Michael Ware with a tricky decision on the South hand. When the Kiwi chose to bid a fifth spade, Justin Mill closed the brief auction with a red card.

Leading a high diamond would have netted the defenders four tricks, but Coutts chose to open his singleton club. Declarer played low from dummy and Mill won with the ♣Q. A low club for East to ruff and then the ♦K would have given the Australians four tricks but, when Mill cashed the ♣A, their diamond trick disappeared. With the ♣J now established for a diamond discard, all the defenders could get was the ♥A. Mayer had escaped for one down, but N/S -100 was still worth 12 IMPs to COUTTS.

Bridge can be such a difficult game. It is amazing how it is possible to get what looks like a really stupid result without anyone doing anything particularly absurd. Take a look at the very next deal in this set.

As is the popular expert style these days, Mike Doecke (left) elected to start with a 2♣ overcall of Ashley Bach’s third-seat 1♦ opening. Michael Cornell raised to 2♦ and Doecke reopened with a double when that was passed back to him. His partner’s 2♠ bid then left Doecke with the last of this week’s problems.

It’s an interesting problem and, at some stage, we’ll see what the experts on the BBO bidding panel make of it. I suspect we’ll get a range of answers, as there is no obviously right action. I suspect there will be only limited support (if any) for Doecke’s decision to Pass. Although that could certainly be the winning action, it wasn’t on this deal. With suits breaking favourably, Cornell made 11 tricks in his spade partial. N/S +200. Strangely, getting to game would not have saved the Australians many IMPs.

Malcolm Mayer preferred to start with a takeout double of the 1♦ opening. Here, too, East raised to 2♦, and now Ware joined in with a responsive double on the South hand. Mayer cue-bid to try to get his partner to choose a suit, and Ware did exactly the same. Mayer then insisted, by making yet another cue-bid, producing an unusual auction in which the bidding has reached the five-level with only one suit being named, and with that suit bid by all four players at the table.

Ware finally relented and bid his spades. When Mayer then continued with 6♣, Ware knew his partner also had hearts. How often to you get to bid a new suit at the six-level holding four to the 10?

Slam is not a thing of great beauty but, as Bob Hamman famously observed, “Any slam that makes is a good slam.” The defence started the ♦A, declarer ruffing in dummy. Then came a club to the ace and a trump up. West rose with the ♥A and forced dummy with a second round of diamonds. Ware ruffed, cashed the ♥K, and chortled all the way to the bank when the ♥J came down. A club ruff back to hand allowed him to draw the last trump and claim twelve tricks. N/S +1430 and a most unusual 15 IMPs to CORNELL.

Alas for the Kiwis, that was about their last hurrah. COUTTS won the final stanza 28-23 and the match by 44 IMPs (158-114). Congratulations to the Australian/American foursome, James Coutts, Justin Mill, Mike Doecke and Adam Kaplan.

Coming up in October are the second weekend of the English Premier League, the first weekend of the French Premier League, and the final stages of the Australian National Open Teams, so we'll be significantly adding to our collection of air miles to bring you the best of all the action. First, we will be returning to England for the final of the prestigious British Bridge League Gold Cup.