With major championships upcoming around the world, this is the height of the trials season. This time we are in New Zealand, for the final of the trial to select the team to represent the Kiwis in the Mixed Teams at the South Pacific Championships and at the World Bridge Games in 2024.

The two teams who have made it to this final stage are BERRINGTON (Ian Berrington/Fuxia Wen and Pam Livingston/Malcolm Mayer) and CARTER (Julie Atkinson/Patrick Carter and Jenny Millington/Barry Jones). The format is a 56-board match divided into four 14-board stanzas.

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

What action do you take?

Next, with neither vulnerable, you are sitting in the West seat with:

Quelles mesures prenez-vous, le cas échéant ?

Finally, with both sides vulnerable, you hold in the North seat:

Quelles mesures prenez-vous, le cas échéant ?

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

Ian Berrington found himself with the first of the problems above when South’s 1♠ overcall was passed back to him. Did you find the winning Pass on that East hand? The only legitimate plus scores come from defending 1♠ or playing in 2♦. At the table, Berrington made what looks like a takeout double that, with a void in the unbid major, looks very dangerous to me. Luckily for him Fuxia Wen was so weak that she could bid hearts only at the two-level, so he was able to correct to 3♦. South’s club lead then gave him a ninth trick. E/W +110.

At the other table, E/W were playing a Strong Club system. Would that make this hand easier or more difficult?

I cannot tell you exactly what the double and redouble in this auction showed. The only certain thing is that Patrick Carter’s hand turned out to be not as good as he thought it was. Whether he was bidding 5♦ to make or taking what he expected to be a cheap save against an enemy heart game, he was a ways off on both counts.

Pam Livingston (left), a member of the New Zealand Women’s team at the 2023 Venice Cup in Morocco, got the defence off to a good start with a heart lead. Declarer played low from dummy and ruffed in this hand, and then tried three rounds of clubs. Livingston ruffed with the ♦8 in front of dummy and then exited with her remaining trump. That left declarer with a loser in each minor as well as two spades. Three down: E/W -500 and 12 IMPs to BERRINGTON.

Perhaps Livingston’s double of the 2♥ relay is a trifle ambitious, but 4♥ is certainly a game you would want to reach. Patrick Carter led the ♠Q, his partner overtaking and cashing a second winner in the suit. Looking at dummy, it was not particularly difficult for Julie Atkinson (right) to switch to her singleton diamond. Carter won with the ♦A and duly delivered his partner’s ruff for one down. An unlucky N/S -100, but you would expect the board to be flat.

After the same start, Ian Berrington did not relay with the East hand. That meant that Barry Jones (left), a member of the New Zealand Mixed team at the Morocco world championships last year, bid hearts on the South cards. Jenny Millington raised invitationally to the three-level, and Jones went on to game.

Fuxia Wen opened the ♠A and continued with the ♠K at trick two. Opening the diamond suit with K-J-x-x in dummy looks much more dangerous with the hand played this way round, so Wen continued with a ‘safe’ third round of spades. Jones didn’t need a second invitation. He ruffed and drew three rounds of trumps. A diamond to the queen won, so he crossed to the ♣A, overtook the ♣Q on the way back, and discarded dummy’s low diamond on the ♣J. Dummy was now high apart from the ♦A. N/S +620 and 12 IMPs back to CARTER.

Julie Atkinson opened a natural weak 2♠ in first seat non-vulnerable, as one would, and no one else had anything to say. North’s ♠10 enabled declarer to pick up the 4-1 trump break successfully, so Atkinson had five spade tricks plus her three minor-suit winners. E/W +110.

Fuxia Wen did not open the West hand, so Jenny Millington (right), another member of the Kiwi Mixed Team from Marrakech, got things rolling with a weak 2♥ opening showing hearts and a minor. Two passes then left Wen with the second of this week’s problems. She could have gone quietly with a Pass, or perhaps competed with a 2♠ overcall, but Wen went for all the marbles via a takeout double. Ian Berrington thought he had a good hand, so he jumped to 3NT. Barry Jones also thought he had a good hand, so he ended the brisk auction with a red card.

Jones led the ♦Q. Berrington won in his hand with the ♦K and immediately cashed five rounds of spades. North was immediately under pressure, having to find four discards, and Millington released two hearts, a diamond and a club. What should South throw on the fifth round of spades?

Discarding from neither minor looks attractive, so Jones released his low heart. Now declarer led a heart from dummy and Millington, down to just K-Q-10 in the suit, understandably put in the queen. Of course, Jones had to overtake with the ace. Had Jones switched to the ♣K now, the defence would have prevailed, but his diamond exit was fatal. Berrington won with the ♦A and led a heart through North’s remaining K-10. The ♥J provided declarer with his crucial ninth trick and he even scored a second heart trick at the end. Ten tricks and a spectacular E/W +650 and 11 IMPs to BERRINGTON.

Jenny Millington got to open in fourth seat. Ian Berrington overcalled 1♠ and Barry Jones’ 1NT closed the auction. There is a defence to defeat this contract but it is very difficult to find. E/W went a fair way down the winning path…

Wen led a low diamond, ducked to the queen. Berrington accurately cashed the ♣A and continued with a second club, declarer’s ten losing to West’s jack. West now needs to switch either to her spade or to the ♥K. Too difficult! Wen continued with the ♦A et ♦J. Declarer won and played the ♠K and a spade to the jack, then ♣Q and a fourth round of clubs. Jones now had three spades, two clubs and a trick in each red suit. N/S +90.

Malcolm Mayer (left) is by far the most experience player in this final. He made his international debut in the New Zealand Open team at the 1980 World Team Olympiad. In 1983, he was part of one of the most successful Kiwi teams ever, reaching the quarter-finals of the Bermuda Bowl. Mayer marked his fifth decade as a member of the Kiwi team at the 2023 Bermuda Bowl in Morocco.

On this deal, Patrick Carter opened 1♠ on the East cards. Two passes then left Mayer with the last of this week’s problems. None of the options, Pass, Double, 1NT or 2♥, are ideal. I suspect that there would be a majority on an expert panel for 1NT, which would have been much more successful on this layout than Mayer’s choice of 2♥.

2♥ was always at least two down, and declarer lost an extra trick in the play. N/S -300 meant 9 IMPs to CARTER on a deal that at first glance looked quite innocuous.

CARTER emerged from an exciting opening stanza with a 19-IMP lead, 46-27.

We will be back soon with more highlights from this final.