Marc Smith visits the 2019 English Premier League

Eight teams contest the top division of the English Premier League, playing a triple round robin of 16-board matches over three weekends. MOSSOP led after the first cycle, with DE BOTTON second and DHONDY third. Early in the second weekend, MOSSOP faced DHONDY in what proved to be an explosive clash.

With more than 90 IMPs changing hands over 16 boards and seven significant swings, there were plenty of interesting deals from which to choose. It can be both instructive and entertaining for readers to see how experts lose IMPs just as easily as we mere mortals. Slam bidding, of course, is something that the top pairs do far better than their less-experienced counterparts. The very first deal offered the East/West pairs to demonstrate how it should be done...

None Vulnerable - Dealer North

With North/South competing only to the three-level in hearts, Brock could not know that her partner was void in the suit. (Bidding Four Diamonds over Four Clubs would not have solved the problem, as Four Hearts from Myers would then have been kickback rather than control-showing.) So, Brock chose to show a slam invite in one of the minors via 4NT (a stronger route than just bidding the minor). Myers had great controls and shape, but only a weak opening bid in high-card terms. With such a feeble club suit, he was not interested if that was the suit partner was agreeing, hence his signoff in Five Clubs. When Brock then corrected to diamonds, though, perhaps he should have realized that he had what was needed and raised. There was nothing to the play: E/W +420 and the door was open for MOSSOP to begin the match with a substantial gain.

West - Ja Hackett North - Dhondy East - Ju Hackett South - Callaghan

After South’s heart overcall, Jason’s jump to Two Spades was fit-showing (spades and diamonds). Justin showed his second suit, and then his heart control when Jason doubled to show at least game values. Now came Blackwood, with the 5NT response showing two aces and a useful void. Even regular partners, who have played together for years, have not discussed every possible sequence, though. Jason bid Six Clubs intending it as asking for the ♣K, whilst Justin took it as showing that card. Seven Diamonds had an unavoidable club loser: E/W -50 and 11 IMPs to DHONDY when it could easily have been the same number in the MOSSOP plus column.

The next deal looks like a routine game contract for North/South. Indeed, in one room it was just that:

Both Game - Dealer West

Brian Callaghan’s Three Diamonds was artificial, showing a high-card heart raise to at least the three-level. Dhondy showed her shortage and then gave up when her partner showed no further enthusiasm. The defenders made their two aces: N/S +650.

West - Brock North - Jones East - Myers South - Paske

My fellow bridge writer, David Bird, and I have often discussed the impossibility of putting many things that happen at the table into a book because readers would automatically think, “Well, I’d never do that!” It seems glaringly obvious to say that you should never use Blackwood if you cannot handle all of the likely responses, and yet here we have a player who is an established international making what can only charitably be described as a beginner’s mistake.  

When his partner showed up with two key cards and the trump queen, Ed Jones found himself in the embarrassing position of having to bid a slam knowing he was missing two key-cards. On another day, he might have come up smelling of roses (if partner puts down a minor-suit ace and the ace-queen of hearts, with the trump finesse working). Not today: N/S -100 and 13 unexpected IMPs to DHONDY.

Not exactly renowned for his timidity in the bidding, it is rare for Jason Hackett to finish on the rodent side of a “man or mouse” debate. I suspect, though, that he would not have been the only one to do so on our next deal.

None Game - Dealer West

Four Hearts would have been one down, but having decided to double on the first round Justin Hackett was more or less obliged to bid his clubs when the bidding came back to him. Callaghan led the ♥K and switched to the ♦J at trick two. Justin won with the ♦Q and took his only chance by ducking a diamond immediately. The ace did not appear, so he was left with an unavoidable spade loser at the end. E/W -50.

West - Brock North - Jones East - Myers South - Paske

After the same start, Sally Brock manned up and introduced that motley spade suit in response to her partner’s takeout double. Wow! I confess that would be too rich for me too, but you cannot argue with success. North carried on to Four Hearts but now Myers could bid the game to which there was no defense. North made two red aces and a trump trick, but that was it: E/W an excellent +420 and another 10 IMPs to DHONDY, who had built a 44-4 lead over the first half of the match.

Students regularly ask me to teach them how to get high-level bidding decisions right. All I can really do is point out that even the experts frequently judge these difficult positions poorly, although some, as our next deal illustrates, more so than others.

Both Game - Dealer East

Although there are 19 total trumps here, there are only 17 tricks available: North/South must lose a pair of ace-kings playing in spades, whilst the defenders can score two pointed-suit aces and two diamond ruffs against hearts, and still have a club trick to come at the end. So, absolute par on the deal is N/S +140 in Three Spades. Predictably, neither side got particularly close to achieving par.

Jones went beyond his side’s par with a splinter jump to Four Diamonds, although in doing so he did pave the way for the winning defense against a heart contract. Myers quite understandably offered the defenders +500 in Four Hearts, but Paske (again not unreasonably) opted to go minus instead by bidding Four Spades. Whether Jones would stand for a double of Four Hearts on that North hand is moot, but he was never tested. Myers gilded the lily with a double and the defenders quickly collected their four tricks. N/S -200 (or similar) is a result that would surely be duplicated frequently if the deal was played by a large field.

West - Ja Hackett North - Dhondy East - Ju Hackett South - Callaghan

Callaghan hamstrung himself when he elected to pass what even an ultra-conservative bidder such as The Abbot would consider a routine opening bid these days. When his partner then entered the fray with a spade overcall, Callaghan found himself with a lot of catching up to do. He started with a jump cue-bid, showing a mixed raise, which prompted Dhondy to jump to game.

Dhondy’s action worked well in that it persuaded Justin Hackett to misjudge the hand to the extent that he put his (partner’s) neck on the line for what could have been a phantom sacrifice costing 800. Alas for Dhondy, whilst the operation was a success, the patient still died as Callaghan soldiered on to the five-level. 

For students asking themselves what they would have done in this situation, remember a point that has been made regularly in this column over the past few months: do not sacrifice on balanced hands. “The five-level belongs to the opponents” is also a mantra that you ignore at your peril. You should be virtually sure that at least one side or the other can make eleven tricks before you bid five-over-five. Doing so on this South hand was certainly poor judgement.

Five Spades-Doubled lost the obvious four tricks: N/S -500 was 7 IMPs to MOSSOP , but the real loss was three times that, as defending Five Hearts-Doubled would have netted 14 IMPs in the DHONDY plus column.

We have so far seen plenty of swings won and lost in the bidding. We finish with two deals on which the play and defense determined the destination of the IMPs.

None Game - Dealer East

The two Souths played in Four Spades on the lead of the ♥K, and both allowed West to win at trick one. Against Tom Paske, Brock continued with the ♥Q at trick two, East discarding a club and declarer winning with the ♥A. Declarer ruffed a heart in dummy, Myers overruffing with the ♠10 and returning the ♠5. Paske won win the ♠A and ruffed his fourth heart in dummy. When Myers could only overruff with the ♠K, Paske was able to win the diamond return in hand, draw Brock’s last trump with the ♠Q, and subsequently discard his club loser on dummy’s diamonds. N/S +420.

At the other table, Jason Hackett found the more testing switch to the ♣4 at trick two and Callaghan made the fatal error of playing dummy’s ♣Q. East covered with the king and declarer won with the ♣A. Callaghan now played three rounds of diamonds, discarding his club loser, but Jason ruffed to score the second defensive trick. East ruffed the heart continuation and played a fourth round of diamonds for a trump promotion. Declarer had no winning option. Callaghan ruffed with the ♠Q and cashed the ♠A, but Justin Hackett’s ♠K was the fourth defensive trick. N/S -50 and 10 IMPs to MOSSOP.

Declarer can still succeed after this start by playing low from dummy at trick two. He wins in hand with the A♣ and then advances the ♥A. Although this gets ruffed, East now has no winning play: declarer can win a diamond return in dummy, take the trump finesse and draw trumps in two rounds. He can then unblock the diamonds, ruff a heart with dummy’s last trump, and discard either his club loser or his heart loser on the ♦Q. Why does declarer playing the ♣Q make any difference? Because, with the ♣Q out of the way, East can then underlead his club honours after ruffing the ♥A. West wins with the ♣10 and plays a third round of hearts, allowing East to overruff dummy with the ♠K for the fourth defensive trick.

Defensive tricks in the trump suit are also the key to our final deal.

E/W Game - Dealer West

Jones led the ♦8 to his partner’s ace, and Paske can beat the contract by simply returning a diamond.. (Declarer can try variations of cashing clubs and discarding spades and/or diamonds, but whatever he does the defenders have an answer.) 

Instead, Paske cashed the ♠A at trick two. This is not in itself fatal as long as he then continues with a second spade at trick three. (After a heart to the jack, North wins with the ♥A and plays a third round of spades, allowing South to uppercut with the ♥Q, promoting the ♥10 into the fourth defensive trick.) When, instead, Paske switched back to diamonds at trick three, declarer was home. Brock won with the ♦K, played two rounds of clubs throwing her last diamond, and played a heart to the jack and ace. She won the spade continuation in dummy and played a second heart. When trumps behaved, she had ten tricks: E/W +620.

West - Ja Hackett North - Dhondy East - Ju Hackett South - Callaghan

Jason did not open a weak two so, although the contract was the same it was played from the other side after a Texas transfer sequence. Callaghan kicked off with the ♠A, and then continued with a second spade without first cashing the ♦A. This gave Jason Hackett a chance: he won in dummy and immediately played four rounds of clubs, discarding all three diamonds from his hand as Callaghan ruffed the fourth club with the ♥8. He then ruffed the first round of diamonds and had to guess the hearts. Advancing the ♥K at this point would have been the winning line, but he instead attempted to reach dummy with a third round of spades. Callaghan ruffed with the ♥Q and the defense still had the ace of trumps to come. E/W -100 and 12 IMPs to DHONDY, who won the match 73-21 to go to the top of the table.

Next week we will again see the DHONDY team in action, later in the second weekend, against the strong HINDEN team, who were now just behind them in third spot.