July 2011 - 25

Cavendish Invitational

Dlr: West  A Q 6 3
Vul: Both  A K Q 10 5
75
K7
 K 10 9 7
542
N
74
W E -
 10 9 8 4 3 2
S AKJ
4
AJ98532
J8
J98632
Q6
 Q 10 6
and claimed Hamman should have bid
3NT - try and defeat that contract,
with the diamonds blocked! 4 went
quietly down one. Weinstein, with the
North cards, opened 1 and sold out
to 5 when Deutsch made that call
directly at his first turn, for plus 300.
Of course, it was possible for East-
West to do better than defend a game,
or go for 500. Look at what happened
to Kit Woolsey, West, who heard Fred
Stewart as East bid 2 then double
4. He took out to 4, and when
doubled there by Michel Bessis,
he wisely removed himself to 5.
Nobody doubled, but 5 was unbeatable and, in fact, collected 620. Geoff
Hampson as West followed the same
route for the same result. You think
that's good? Neil Chambers as West
was also doubled in 4, and when he
escaped to 5, he was doubled. After
a top heart lead, he ruffed in dummy,
played the A and ruffed a club,
crossed to a top diamond and ruffed a
club high, then drew the last trumps,
and had 12 tricks for plus 950!
Dlr: East  -
Vul: E-W  K
KQ9874
 J 10 8 7 5 4
Q652
J97
N QJ
 A 10 9 8 6 5 4
W E
-
S  J 10 6 3 2
63
Q92
 A K 10 8 4 3
732
A5
AK

Eric Greco and Geoff Hampson had
a great result on this layout against
the father-son duo of Bob and Shane
Blanchard:
West
Shane
2
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

North
East
Hampson Bob
Pass
3
Pass
4
Pass
4 (2)
Dbl
Redbl (3)
Pass
6
All Pass

South
Greco
1 (1)
3
4
Pass
4

(1) Strong.
(2) Key Card Blackwood.
(3) Answer the question!
Hampson found three key cards,
then offered the choice of slams.
Greco guessed very well which suit to
play, although it seems not to matter when there is a trump and an ace
to lose. Not so fast! Come the hour
cometh the man, and West "knew" his
partner had a heart entry; wanting a
diamond ruff, he underled his A,
and Greco scored a surprise winner
at trick one. Knowing diamonds were
5-0, he set up spades instead, and
emerged with 12 tricks painlessly
enough. Most of the field playing standard were faced with the unopposed
sequence 1-1NT; 3NT-? North
could do nothing but pass and go
down two or so, which was basically
close to average on the deal.
As the final session drew near
the end, both Levin-Weinstein and
Woolsey-Stewart (in first and second
place, respectively) sat in the same
direction for the last eight deals. On
the first of those sets of four deals,
each bid a good game, defeated a
partscore, made a notrump partscore,
and defeated a partscore to have a
comfortably plus set. An extra vulnerable undertrick meant the leaders'
margin was very thin (80 cross-IMPs).
In the last round, Levin-Weinstein
took on Sam Lev and Jacek Pszczola,
while Woolsey-Stewart played
Piekarek-Smirnov.
On the first deal, both pairs defended 3NT, down a trick. (Woolsey did
his best to introduce a note of variety

by opening 3 on:
10 4 10 2 Q 8 7 2 Q 9 5 3 2
in first seat with nobody vulnerable;
but no harm was done.)
Then Smirnov elected to double
a 1 opening on his right, facing a
passed partner, with:
Q 9 6 2 A Q 6 K 9 2 K 6 4.
That got his side to 3 on a
two-way finesse for the J, which
Piekarek guessed right, while
Pszczola passed 1 and conceded
minus 80. The lead for Levin-
Weinstein was up to 120 cross-IMPs.
The next deal seems unremarkable:
Dlr: South  K Q 9 6 5 3
Vul: None  8
 A 10 6 5
97
4
 A 10 7
N AQ
KJ97642
W E
K832
S Q97
3
 A 10 6 5 2
J82
 10 5 3
J4
KQJ84
When South passes, you'd expect
the East-West auction 3-4, making 450, wouldn't you? Even if West
opens 4 you'd hope East would find
a way to stop in 5.
The leaders duly conceded 450 -
but that converted into a loss of 98
IMPs, because eight pairs messed up
the East-West cards - some by getting too high in hearts, some by doubling a spade sacrifice and not collecting a satisfactory penalty. None failed
so spectacularly with the East-West
cards as Smirnov-Piekarek, who bid
4-4; Pass! 4 was natural and
there was no agreement about the 4
call, the sequence apparently never
having come up before. In any event,
it converted to plus 250 cross-IMPs
for Woolsey-Stewart, and a lead of
150 IMPs going into the last deal, and
an eventual win by that number after
both pairs defeated 3NT when each
led their five-card major to defeat a
notrump game.
r
July 2011 Bridge Bulletin

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2011