Just before Christmas, we were in Sydney to see the highlights of the playoff final to determine Australia’s Mixed Team for major competition in 2024. Now we are at the Summer Festival in Canberra, and it is the turn of the Women. Before the National Open Teams begins later in the week, it is the playoff to see who will represent the Wallabies in the Women’s Teams at the 2024 South Pacific Championships and in the World Teams Championships at the World Bridge Games (formerly known as the World Team Olympiad), which will be held in October 2024 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In one semi-final, JACOB (Ella Jacob, Jenny Thompson, Renee Cooper and Jane Reynolds) defeated COATS 198-155. In the other semi-final, WILSON conceded after five of the six stanzas, down 221-95 against LUSK (Sue Lusk, Viv Wood, Paula McLeish, Pele Rankin, Jessica Brake and Susan Humphries).

The final will be played over 96 boards divided into six 16-board stanzas.

As usual, we start with some problems. Firstly, with only your side vulnerable, you are East holding:

What action, if any, do you take?

Next, with both sides vulnerable, you are sitting in the South seat with:

What do you bid?

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

What action, if any, do you take?

While you mull those over, we start midway through the opening stanza.

Jane Reynolds (left) made her debut in the Australian Women’s team at the 2016 World Bridge Games in Wroclaw. On this deal, she had a tricky decision after South’s third-seat 1♦ opening. Doubling is always dangerous with a singleton in an unbid major, but 1NT would be an underbid so Reynolds started with a double, presumably intending to rebid notrumps to show around 19-20 balanced after a heart response. When Renee Cooper competed freely in hearts over North’s diamond raise, Reynolds decided that her hand was too good for just 2NT, so she jumped to game.

North led a diamond and dummy was exactly what declarer wanted. Reynolds won and played a club to the queen, which won. She now switched to the ♠J and, when that won, she played a second spade to the king. When that held too, she could revert to clubs and claim nine tricks. As the cards lie, the defenders can never take more than two black aces and two tricks in whichever red suit they attack after winning with the first of their aces. E/W +600.

Ella Jacob (right), then Ella Pattison, made her international debut as a member of an Oceania Under-26 Women’s team at the 2012 World Youth Championships. She just missed out on a medal as part of the Australian squad that finished fourth in the Junior Teams at the 2015 World Championships but, a year later, she collected a silver medal from the Under-26 Women’s Teams at the World Youth Teams in Salsomaggiore. That same year, she represented New Zealand at the 2016 World Mixed Teams in Wroclaw. Returning to the ‘mainland’, Jacob made her debut in the Australian Women’s team in the 2022 Venice Cup in Salsomaggiore.

On this deal, Jacob put a spanner in her opponents works with a mini-psyche that left Viv Wood with the first of the problems posed at the top of this article. There has been some discussion of late as to whether the old-fashioned approach of using a double to show hearts in this auction still stands or, in an era where psyches of 1-Major after a takeout double have almost disappeared, a double is best used as responsive to show the unbid suits. Clearly, Wood would have been better placed if she had been able to double to show hearts on this deal. Presumably, she could have bid a natural 2♥, but this hand is not good enough for that.

When 1♥ was passed back to her, Sue Lusk doubled again to show extra values. Jacob perhaps tipped her hand when she ‘ran’ to 2♦, but Wood felt she was only good enough for a competitive 2♥ now. When Lusk advanced with 2NT, Wood had a close decision – Pass, raise to 3NT or retreat to 3♥. She chose the latter.

A club lead (with North ducking the first round of the suit) would have beaten 3♥, giving the defenders two aces, two natural trump winners, and a club ruff. When Jenny Thompson led the ♦Q, Wood was in control. E/W +140 but 10 IMPs to JACOB.

Jenny Thompson (left) was non-playing captain of the Australian Women’s team at the 2016 World Bridge Games in Wroclaw. She has also filled the role of coach for both Open and Mixed Teams. She made her debut as a playing member of the Women’s team at the 2022 World Championships and also played in the 2023 Venice Cup in Morocco.

Ella Jacob’s first seat 3♥ opening left Thompson with the second of this week’s problems. Do you try to find a spade fit or do you perhaps take a shot at 3NT? In my partnership, I have a rule that opener is not allowed to bid beyond 3NT when responder forces with 3-Major in this type of auction, which would have solved Thompson’s guess here. Lacking such an agreement, I think 3♠ is still clearly better than 3NT. With the hand packed with aces rather than slow values, it is hardly unsuitable as dummy in a high heart contract if partner cannot raise spades. Indeed, with partner’s hand potentially useless if played in anything but hearts, it would not be at all unreasonable to simply raise her pre-empt to 4♥.

A diamond lead would have beaten 3NT trivially, but Sue Lusk opted for the ♣3, which theoretically meant that declarer was now booked to go two down. East played the ♣K and declarer won immediately with the ace. Thompson now unblocked the ♥K and then played the ♠A and a second spade. Winning with the ♠K, Lusk correctly continued clubs, however, she did so by leading the ♣7. East had to rise with the jack to kill declarer’s ten, and now, with West holding the Q-9 and East four cards headed by the eight, the suit was blocked. An unexpected nine tricks for declarer: N/S +600.

Fortunately for E/W, the defensive mishap cost almost nothing…

Jessica Brake (right) made her first international appearance in the Australian Under-26 Women’s team at the 2014 World Championships. Along with Ella Jacob (an opponent in this final), she was another member of the silver-medal winning Australian team two years later. Brake made her debut in the Women’s Team at the 2022 Venice Cup.

Susan Humphries did not open the North hand, which left Renee Cooper to get the ball rolling with a pre-empt of her own, 3♣, on the East cards. Brake brushed that aside with a leap to 4♠, which Humphries duly raised to slam. Well judged!

Brake pitched a diamond from dummy on the club lead and won in hand with the ♣A. She then played the ♠A and, when both defenders followed with low cards, she claimed 12 tricks, losing just to the high trump. N/S +1430 and 13 IMPs to LUSK.

JACOB led 33-23 at the end of the opening stanza. The action began early in the second segment.

Jenny Thompson found herself faced with the last of this week’s problems. Let’s first deal with the meaning of North’s 2♣ bid. For my money, 2♣ (and 2♠) should both be natural in this type of auction. You have plenty of options, a takeout double, 2NT, or perhaps 2♦ or 2♥, when you hold length in both of the unbid suits. There is only one way to bid a decent hand with very long clubs (or spades), and that is to bid your suit at the two-level, so these bids should be natural. (Perhaps the exception is 2♥ when the auction has begun 1♥-P-1♠ and opener has shown a five-card suit but, to make it easy to remember, it is best just to play them all as natural. Then again, why shouldn’t you be dealt something like xxx/KQJ10987/A/Ax, when you surely want to bid a natural 2♥ after it starts 1♥-P-1♠.)

It seems clear that Jenny Thompson knew 2♣ was natural: If it showed red suits then surely this South hand is worth 3♥ or even 4♥. Given that partner has come in with a natural 2♣ overcall, it is hard to fathom why you would even consider bidding on this South hand. The only good news for the JACOB pair is that East was not alert enough to what was going on to double when 2♥ came back to her.

Leading either a trump or the ♣J holds declarer to just five tricks in 2♥. Pele Rankin kicked off with two high spades and gave her partner a ruff, which should have saved declarer a trick. East cashed the ♥A and then switched to the ♦J, covered all round. Declarer now played the ♣A and ruffed a club with the ♥3. That allowed Ranking to overruff and, once again, the defenders had eight tricks. E/W +300. (Declarer has to either ruff with the 9/10 or pitch a diamond loser on the second club to make six tricks.)

Renee Cooper (left) is probably the best-known of the young Australian stars. (She features as one of the ‘Rising Stars’ in the second volume of my World Class – 21^st Century, which will be available in bookshops in the next few weeks.) Cooper made her international debut as a member of the Australian Youngsters Teams at the 2012 World Youth Championships. She was a member of various Australian youth teams over the next eight years, including the silver-medal winning Women’s team from 2016. She has been a regular member of her country’s Mixed Team since 2019.

At this table, West’s 1♠ response showed at least four diamonds. North did not come in with a natural 2♣ overcall, and Cooper rebid an 11-14 1NT. Jane Reynolds started with a 2♣ puppet to 2♦ and then showed an invitational hand with four spades. With an ill-fitting minimum, Cooper turned down the game invitation. Whether declarer would have scrambled home in 2NT is unclear. Suffice it to say that it is all fairly messy and the outcome might have been E/W +120 or N/S +50. However, Susan Humphries came riding over the horizon like someone from an old Western moved coming to save the day. Unfortunately, she not only committed suicide but also massacred half the cowboys with friendly fire too. To say that Cooper had an easy double of 3♣ would be something of an understatement.

I suppose the moral of this sad tale is that, if you are going to bid, it is far safer to get in early, before the opponents know exactly what is going on. To wait until the opponents have investigated all possible fits and then decided that they don’t have quite enough to bid game, and then to enter the auction at the three-level is akin to offering your head on a silver platter. Even the doziest of opponents will be able to work out when they should be doubling.

There were no options for declarer here. Cooper led the ♦J and the defence duly held declarer to the six tricks to which she was entitled. E/W +800 and 11 IMPs to JACOB, extending their lead.

Pele Rankin (right) is one of the most experienced players in this match. She made her debut as a member of the Australian Women’s team at the 2011 Venice Cup. For more than 10 years, she has been a regular member of Australia’s team in either the Women’s or Mixed events at major championships.

On this deal, Rankin came in with a 3♦ cue-bid to show both majors. It is a good idea to play a jump to 4♦ as both majors in a really strong hand as part of a Leaping Michaels structure. Using the three-level cue-bid to show both suits then enables you to describe more moderate hands. On grounds of frequency, this is surely better than wasting the cue-bid by reserving it for stop-asking.

Ella Jacob took a shot at 3NT, and Paula McLeish led a spade from the East side. Rankin won with the ♠A and continued with the ♠Q. Declarer won and cashed the ♦A, trying to drop a singleton ♦10 or ♦Q from the West hand. When that failed, she advanced the ♦J looking for a 2-2 break. No cigar there, either!

Jacob cashed her club winners and led a heart towards her hand. The defenders could have untangled the spade suit to beat the contract by two, but not without risk, so Rankin cashed the ♠J to ensure a plus score for her side. N/S -50.

Rankin’s decision to show both suits via a cue-bid follows on from the theme of the previous deal – get in and out quickly. West at the other table had to learn the lesson the hard way…

Perhaps Jane Reynolds did not have a three-level cue-bid available to show both suits, so she began with a 2♠ overcall. When Susan Humphries’ raise to 3♦ then came back to her, she backed in with 3♥. That seems fair enough. When Cooper gave preference to spades (having shown no interest in raising the suit at her previous turn), perhaps alarm bells should have been ringing in the West seat.

Now Humphries decided that she should take a shot at 3NT, effectively trading a small plus score for a small minus. The one message that surely should have been clear was that North had good hearts but only moderate spades. Apparently not. When 3NT came back to her, was Reynolds perhaps worried that her partner had a reasonable hand with three hearts and only two spades? I don’t see why she should have that hand (and she didn’t), but I can think of no other explanation for wading back in when the opponents thought they could make game and there was nothing to suggest that partner would have anything much of use.

At least Cooper had four trumps to put down in dummy, or the carnage would have been even worse. As it was, 4♠-Doubled was an expensive phantom. Is that such a surprise when you remember that the opponents had been reluctant to bid game? E/W -500 and a much-needed 11 IMPs to LUSK.

LUSK won the second stanza 58-40 and thus led by 6 IMPs (80-74) after two of the six segments.

We will be back soon with more highlights as this final progresses.