BBO Vugraph - Australian Summer Festival in Canberra

Vugraph #229

We return this week to the Australian capital of Canberra for the two-week long Summer Festival of Bridge. The highlight of the second week of the festival is the South-West Pacific Teams, from which the top eight teams advance into the knockout stage to contest the National Open Teams title. A field of 74 teams began the week. With only four of the original top eight seeds making into the knockout stage, this was how the top teams finished:

 #4 ZIGGY769.88 VPs
#6 NEWMAN      167.06
#1 LEIBOWITZ164.72
#2 ASHTON153.48
#12 TRAVIS147.30
#15 BUTTS 146.50
#10 APAHEILI145.00
#30 AA      144.41
#5 MULLAMPHY143.31
#13 HOFFMAN142.63

The format of the knockout rounds is 64-board matches divided into four 16-board stanzas. Victory in all four quarter-finals went to the higher-seeded team, as ZIGGY defeated BUTTS 160-118, NEWMAN hammered TRAVIS 161-51, LEIBOWITZ ended the run of AA 154-107 and ASHTON beat APAHEILI 165-93.

We start our coverage with the semi-finals, both of which appear to be heavyweight contests. As usual, though, we start with some problems for you. Firstly, with neither side vulnerable, you are West holding:

What action, if any, do you take?

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

What action, if any, do you take? What action, if any, would you take if North’s opening was 4♠?

Finally, with only your opponents vulnerable, you hold as South:

¿Qué pujas?

While you consider those, we begin this week’s coverage in the opening stanza, on a deal that produced a major swing in both matches. All four players had to decide what action to take on the first of this week’s problem hands (although at one table South’s 1♣ opening was of the ‘any 16+’ variety).

At this first table, E/W had a ‘method’, so Siegfried Konig’s 1♠ overcall showed either spades and a minor or only diamonds. I know that reinventing the wheel can sometimes be fun, but there is a reason why this method is not widely played, the most important being that East cannot raise spades immediately, so you lose so many pre-emptive opportunities. Renee Cooper made a negative double and East had to pass to see which variant his partner held. This allowed Jamie Thompson to describe his hand accurately with a jump to 2NT. Cooper raised to 3NT and there matters rested. West led a spade and declarer was soon claiming eleven tricks: N/S +460. As an indictment of the methods, this was the only one of the four tables at which E/W did not bid to 4♠.

Matthew Thomson (left) first represented Australia at the 1995 Bermuda Bowl in Beijing. He has made numerous appearances in the national side and he was a member of the team that achieved Australia’s best result this century, reaching the quarter-finals of the 2003 Bermuda Bowl in Monte Carlo.

Thomson’s 3♠ overcall proved to be much more successful. It injected just sufficient impetus into the auction to cause the opponents to misjudge and get overboard.

Liam Milne stretched to a negative double on the North cards and Peter Newman increased the pre-empt with a raise to 4♠. James Coutts doubled to show extra values, Milne removed to 5♣, and Coutts guessed to raise to slam.

Thomson accurately led a spade to his partner’s ace. Although declarer had two discards on his diamond winners, that was one too few, so there was no avoiding a heart loser at the end. N/S -50 and 11 IMPs to NEWMAN, which restricted ZIGGY to a 10-IMP lead (30-20) at the end of the first stanza.

In the other semi-final:

A native Norwegian, Geir-Olav “Geo” Tislevoll (right) is the sole current-Kiwi representation in this year’s semi-finals of the NOT. His international debut came as a member of the Norway team that won the 1980 European Junior Championships. He made his first appearance for his adoptive country at the 2012 World Bridge Games in Lille. He has been a member of the most successful New Zealand teams this century, reaching the quarter-finals of the 2016 Bermuda Bowl in Wroclaw and finishing fourth in the same event a year later in Lyon.

Sartaj Hans also settled for a 1♠ overcall on the West hand, but Andy Hung could raise here. Although Nick Jacob jumped to 3NT, Hans was not willing to let him play there. By the time Tislevoll bid 5♣, Jacob thought he had already shown his full values, so he let sleeping dogs lie. Here, too, a spade lead held declarer to eleven tricks. N/S +400.

So, it’s pre-emption that win the day…. Or, is it?

At this table, Peter Gill’s 1♣ opening was Precision-style, showing any 16+. Paul Gosney’s answer was a weak jump to the two-level, but that did not stop Sophie Ashton making a natural, game-forcing 3♣ response. Tony Leibowitz upped the ante to the four-level, but Gill had a comfortable 5♣ bid. We seemed to be headed for a flat board until Gosney decided to chance his arm one more time, suggesting that perhaps he had reassessed and decided that his initial 2♠ overcall was, perhaps, not quite enough.

Gosney’s enthusiasm might have cost him only a couple of IMPs. Ashton led the Q and switched to a club, declarer ruffing. Gosney then played the J to South’s king. However, when Gill switched to the 4, declarer misguessed, rising with the king. Now the defenders had two hearts, three diamonds and one spade for four down: N/S +800 and 9 IMPs to ASHTON.

Whilst the swing on this deal helped to make the other semi-final closer, in this match it was just part of an avalanche of IMPs going in one direction, and ASHTON ended with a 54-IMP lead (65-11) after 16 boards. 

Early in the second set, all four North players held the second of this week’s problem hands.

Andy Hung had to deal with a 4♠ opening from Paul Gosney. He went quietly and collected a small plus when the contract failed by two: N/S +100.

At this table, Nabil Edgtton was less aggressive with his pre-empt, which left Paul Dalley (left) with what is perhaps a more challenging problem in the North seat.

Maybe we will find out in some future month what the BBO expert bidding panel make of Dalley’s dilemma, but I suspect a large majority will shrug their shoulders, simply accept their fate, and hope to go plus defending. But Dalley is clearly made of sterner stuff. Undeterred by his lack of a spade stopper, a source of tricks or, for that matter, a particularly large number of high cards, he followed the principle that balanced hands bid no-trumps.

Like all the best partners, Tony Nunn duly produced a dummy to justify his partner’s bidding. East led a diamond, dummy’s ten winning. A heart to the seven then lost to the singleton Q, which gave East a chance to beat the contract with a spade switch. But, after this auction, how could East possibly expect his partner to hold any help in spades? Edgtton understandably opted to try his luck in clubs. West won with the ♣A and returned the suit, but Dalley put in the ♣10 and was able to claim nine tricks. A spectacular N/S +600 and 11 IMPs to LEIBOWITZ.

At both tables in the other match, East opened 4♠. At one table, North adopted the same pragmatic approach taken at the first table above: N/S +100. However, Renee Cooper was not prepared to fold her tent and steal away into the night, so it fell to Jamie Thompson in the South seat to determine the direction in which the IMPs would flow…

Cooper opted to double on the North cards. Had Thompson managed to pass, he would have gained a 5-IMP swing by collecting +300 on defence. When he chose to remove to 4NT, showing two places to play, his side was in trouble. They landed in 5 and, although no one doubled, the contract drifted three down so that was still N/S -300 and 9 IMPs to ZIGGY.

ZIGGY won a high-scoring set 46-43, increasing their advantage to 13 IMPs at the midway point of the match. In the other semi-final, LEIBOWITZ mounted something of a comeback, winning the stanza 52-25 and thus exactly halving the deficit. With 32 boards remaining, it was ASHTON by 27 IMPs, 90-63.

The third stanza ended with only two of the four Souths facing the last of this week’s problems, which was strange in that the North hand surely looks like the world’s most obvious 3 opening. However:

Sophie Ashton did not open the North hand. Tony Nunn tried his luck with a light, third-seat 1♠ opening and Peter Gill took a practical approach by overcalling 3NT. West led a heart, so declarer settled for his ten top tricks: N/S +430.

Geo Tislevoll did start with 3 on the North hand, but Nick Jacob took what looks to me to be an incredibly pessimistic view with his 3NT bid. Indeed, with a singleton heart, if you are worried that partner’s diamonds may not run in no-trumps, would you not perhaps think that 5 might be the safer game?

Many serious partnerships play 4♣ as some kind of trump-ask in response to a three-level pre-empt and, if that was available, it would look like the obvious way to start on this South hand. As it was, it was a chance missed: N/S +430 and a flat board.

Winning the stanza, 35-7, ASHTON more than doubled their halftime lead and went into the final 16 boards ahead by 125-70.

In the other semi-final, Renee Cooper also chose to pass the North hand. I will leave you to draw your own conclusion about what Jamie Thompson’s fourth-seat 3NT opening says about his confidence in the partnership’s constructive bidding capabilities. N/S +430.

James Coutts (right) made his international debut as part of the New Zealand Junior team at the 2008 World Bridge Games in Beijing. He later represented the Kiwis in the Mixed teams at the 2016 World Championships before switching his allegiance. His first appearance in the Australian Open team was at the 2022 Bermuda Bowl in Salsomaggiore.

On this deal, Liam Milne opened 3 on the North cards. Perhaps Coutts had no methods to investigate the hand properly, but his assessment that his monster was worth a shot at slam seems much closer to the mark than the 3NT tried in the same position in the other match.

East led the ♣K, so declarer was soon claiming 12 tricks. N/S +920 and 10 IMPs to ZIGGY, who just edged their third consecutive stanza, this time by a score of 39-32. They have now built a lead of 20 IMPs, 115-95, going into the final set. Our last deal this week created a major swing in both semi-final matches.

North’s 2♠ overcall, although not an unreasonable choice, was not a great start for his side, and N/S never really got to grips with this hand. Peter Newman led the K and Matthew Thomson overtook and cashed the ♠A. A club to the king then enabled the defenders to take a spade ruff. The ♣A was the fifth defensive trick: N/S +300.

Like his partner, Liam Milne (left) started his international career in the New Zealand Junior team at the 2008 World Bridge Games. Milne then switched allegiance and played a number of times for Australia at junior level before his debut in the Wallabies’ Open team at the 2015 Bermuda Bowl.

Although Renee Cooper started with a more aggressive pre-empt on the West hand, Milne opted to show the two-suited nature of his hand at his first turn. Jamie Thompson raised to 5, but that was not enough to shut out James Coutts, who advanced with 5NT, asking which minor his partner held.

There was little to the play in 6, declarer just losing a club trick: N/S +1370 and 14 IMPs to ZIGGY.

Although each of the first three sets had been close, and the lead only 20 IMP going into the final 16 boards, ZIGGY blew their opponents away in the final set, winning it 75-15 to register a commanding 80-IMP victory.

Andy Hung also started with a 2♠ overcall on the North cards. However, when Sartaj Hans doubled East’s jump to 4, Hung chose offense over defence and introduced his second suit. His hand significantly improved, Hans had no problem raising to slam. N/S +1370.

Michael Whibley also started with a three-level opening but Tony Nunn settled for a spade overcall. Again, East bid 4 and South doubled. Nunn also chose to bid his diamonds and Dalley raised to the excellent slam. Facing a three-level pre-empt, Nabil Edgtton (right) could be virtually certain that declarer would make his slam, so he chose to save at the six-level. Well judged: N/S +800 and 11 IMPs to ASHTON.

LEIBOWITZ made a valiant attempt in the final set, narrowing the margin to just 15 IMPs with a handful of boards left but, in the end, it proved to be too little, too late. LEIBOWITZ won the final stanza 63-44 but ASHTON advanced to the final with a 36-IMP victory 169-133.

The final, to decide the winner of the 2023 Australian National Open Teams title, would be ZIGGY (Siegfried Konig, Liam Milne, James Coutts, Justin Mill and Rodrigo Garcia da Rosa) against ASHTON (Sophie Ashton, Peter Gill, Andy Hung, Sartaj Hans, Nabil Edgtton and Michael Whibley).

We will be back next week with the best of the action from the opening sets of that final.

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