We are now down to just two teams in the 2024 Vanderbilt Knockout Teams here at the North American Spring Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky. Despite the strength of the international competition spread across the 60-team field that began the week, for the first time in a number of years we have an all-American final.

The two teams who have made it through five knockout rounds are #1 NICKELL (Nick Nickell, Ralph Katz, Steve Weinstein, Bobby Levin, Eric Greco and Geoff Hampson) and #14 BATHURST (Kevin Bathurst, John Hurd, Ron Smith, Chris Compton, Jing Liu and Hongji Wei).

The format is a 60-board match divided into four 15-board stanzas.

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 neither side vulnerable, you are sitting in the South seat with:

What do you bid?

Finally, with only your side vulnerable, you hold in the West seat:

Do you agree with your initial pass?

What action, if any, do you take now?

While you consider those, we start early in the opening stanza.

Jing Liu was able to open 1NT on this hand, although the wisdom of doing so on a flat 14-count vulnerable in third seat is another question entirely. Hongji Wei then had to decide whether to stick or twist… He decided to take his chances with Stayman and was no doubt disappointed by his partner’s 2♦ response, but he had no choice now but to pass. When I do that on this shape, my partner always seem to show up a 3-3-2-5 hand on which we would have been much better off in 1NT, but Wei’s luck was in. The best partners always hold the hand to justify their ox’s bidding, and Liu certainly fulfilled that role here 😊.

On this layout, 1NT would also have been an easy make. 2♦ made an overtrick, so there doesn’t seem to be much in the deal. E/W +110.

Some players just seem to have the knack of manufacturing swings out of nothing…

In the replay, Eric Greco opened a Precision-style, limited and nebulous 1♦ on the East cards, leaving Kevin Bathurst with the first of the problems posed above. I suppose whether you double on this type of hand is a matter of style. It’s not mine, but Bathurst did. Geoff Hampson joined in with a redouble (showing hearts) and John Hurd volunteered 2♣. When that came back to Hampson, the limited nature of his partner’s opening bid meant that he knew that his opponents were likely to hold the balance of points. But, that did not stop him reopening with a double on his three-suiter. Greco could have bid his diamonds, but he decided that his hand was more suitable for defence, and quite right he was too.

Greco led the ♥10 and the defenders duly came to two hearts, a heart ruff, two diamonds and two trumps, a total of seven winners. E/W +500 and 9 IMPs to NICKELL on what looked like a nothing board.

A few boards later, both South players had to answer the second of this week’s problems…

Kevin Bathurst (right) chose to rebid 2♠ at his second turn. John Hurd showed his heart support and Bathurst raised himself to game. Nothing out of the ordinary there, but the contract is a tricky one, with three aces to lose off the top, a 4-1 trump break to handle, and a lot of work to do to establish ten tricks.

There is an opening lead to legitimately beat the contract, but not one that Geoff Hampson was every likely to find – a low club. (Declarer cannot afford to draw all of the trumps, but if he doesn’t the defenders can score a club ruff.)

Hampson opened the ♠8. Winning with the ♠A, Greco switched to a club, Hampson winning and playing a second round. Bathurst thought he could see a straightforward route ten tricks now, so he not unreasonably won with the ♣K, ruffed a spade, cashed the ♥Q, and played a heart to the ace. Declarer had no reason to play for a 4-1 trump break but, when West discarded on this trick, he was one down. N/S -50.

How is it that elite players so often seem to know when to avoid doing what looks obvious to the rest of us?

After the same start, Steve Weinstein (left) did not feel the need to show his spade suit when his partner had already denied four-card support. He also apparently had a forcing 2NT available, which many of us wouldn’t. I’m sure that most of us would have admitted to three-card heart support now with that North hand, but Bobby Levin chose to bid his diamonds a third time, and Weinstein duly closed the auction with 3NT. They had neatly avoided the likely ill-fated 4♥, but there was still the problem of making nine tricks in no-trumps.

Could Hongji Wei find the winning spade lead? There was no reason why he should, and he understandably led a low club from his five-card suit, which was all the help Weinstein needed. He won in hand with the ♣K and immediately advanced the ♦J, which was allowed to win. Now Weinstein played a club. Wei won and switched belatedly to a spade, but declarer had nine tricks now, via five hearts, two clubs and a trick in each of the pointed suits. N/S +400 and 10 IMPs to NICKELL.

The #1 seeds dominated the first stanza, and emerged with a 39-IMP advantage, 56-17, after the opening 15 boards. However, anyone thinking that this match might be over by halftime was quickly disillusioned. The underdogs struck back on the first deal of the second stanza, with the deal featured in the third of this week’s problems.

Ralph Katz (right) answered the first part of the problem posed at the top of this article by opening the West hand. Jing Liu came in over Nick Nickell’s 1NT response with a simple 2♦ overcall. When that ran back to Nickell, he continued with an invitational jump to 3♠. Having opened that piece of cheese in the first place, it is hardly surprising that Katz declined the game invitation.

The defence began with a diamond to the king and ace, followed by two rounds of hearts. Katz ruffed, cashed one high trump from his hand. He then cashed the ♣K and played a club to the ace. South failed to follow suit, but he couldn’t ruff. That was okay as declarer now crossruffed his way to nine tricks, scoring seven trumps and two top clubs. E/W +140.

Chris Compton (left) did not open the West hand, so Ron Smith got things going with a third-seat 1♣. When Eric Greco intervened with a jump to 4♦, Compton was left with the third of this week’s problems.

Greco’s jump the four-level made it highly likely that Smith held real clubs for his opening. Compton effectively decided to bid 5♣ as a two-way shot, but showed his spades on the way, sure that his partner would understand that, as a passed hand, he must also have a club fit. Smith was quite happy with spades, so there was no further bidding.

Here, too, the defence began with a diamond followed by two rounds of hearts, forcing declarer. Compton ruffed, ruffed a diamond in dummy, and then drew trumps in four rounds. All he had to do now was to guess the club position. South was the pre-emptor, but he had already shown up with a singleton spade. Had the really started with two singletons? Compton cashed the ♣K and continued with a low club to the jack. South discarded and declarer claimed the rest. An impressive E/W +650 and 11 IMPs to BATHURST.

Perhaps it is a sign of how gruelling it is to play bridge at the highest level day after day, as the only explanation I can offer for the swing on this deal is pure tiredness. It looks like a deal on which N/S are virtually certain to bid to a game that is destined to fail…

Geoff Hampson started with Stayman. I am sure that he had a way to show his shape after the 2♦ response, but I suspect that he only bid 2♣ in the hope of finding a nine-card spade fit. With an abundance of high cards (here North knew the partnership held a combined 27-29 HCP), there are sound arguments for preferring 3NT to an eight-card major-suit fit, which may fail on bad breaks.

Choosing to play in 3NT will often be the right decision, but not today. Chris Compton had an easy club lead and the defenders duly cashed the first five tricks in the suit. N/S -100.

Hongji Wei (right) also began with Stayman, but he continued with a Smolen jump to 3♥, showing four hearts and five spades. He then suggested 5-4-2-2 shape by bidding 3NT over his partner’s 3♠. Despite holding only a doubleton spade, Jing Liu did not like his club holding when his partner also held only two, so he converted to game in the 5-2 spade fit.

Ralph Katz led his singleton heart, which gives declarer four tricks in that suit. With trumps breaking 3-3, declarer appears to have ten tricks (five spades, four hearts and the ♦A). However, there is a problem. Declarer can win the heart and cash the ♠A-Q. How, then, does he get to dummy to draw the third round of trumps without allowing the defenders in to take a heart ruff?

The answer is that he cannot, so this contract, too, is destined to go one down. However, when Liu played the second round of trumps, Katz inexplicably followed suit with the ♠J. This allowed Liu to overtake with the ♠K and draw a third round of trumps with the ♠10. Now he had ten tricks: N/S +620 and another 13 IMPs to BATHURST.

Tiredness. It’s something that we see commonly in the late stages of long competitions. Perhaps Katz just pulled the wrong card. Maybe he had missorted his hand and thought he had only a doubleton ♠J-x. Who knows, but such a simple mechanical error cost a double-digit swing. BATHURST won the second stanza 42-15. At the midway point in this final, they trailed the #1 seeds by just 12 IMPs, 71-59. This match is certainly not over by halftime!

We will be back soon with the best of the action from the remaining two stanzas and the exciting conclusion of the 2024 Vanderbilt final.