Dealer: W Vul: Both
NORTH
♠ —
♥ AJ10653
♦ A1065
♣ J43
WEST EAST
♠ 872 ♠ KJ109
♥ 9872 ♥ Q2
♦ 973 ♦ Q8
♣ K109 ♣ AQ872
SOUTH
♠ AQ6543
♥ K
♦ KJ43
♣ 65
Local pair Noela and Mavis Simpson fought off strong opposition from formidable Brisbane and Toowoomba players to win this year’s Warwick Butler Pairs Congress. Having played at or near the top table for most of the day they put themselves comfortably ahead of the field with a strong performance in the second last round. On Board 20 (above) they were the only pair to bid and make 5D.
At half the tables South thought that it was a good idea to play in spades, with mainly disastrous results. Only locals Len Don and Carole Harris escaped the carnage. Noela and Mavis traded bids in hearts and spades before Mavis (South) chose diamonds as her second bid. The North hand, with a void in spades now became more powerful. 5D by South became the contract. For reasons known only to West, West led the eight of spades. A club was shed in dummy and Mavis beat East’s King with the Ace. The Queen was held as a guard in case the defenders regained the lead. Now a start could be made on drawing East/West’s trumps. An important play was cashing the King of hearts before crossing to dummy to draw West’s last trump and play the Ace of hearts. When the Queen dropped under the Ace, the rest of North’s hearts could be won and spade losers in dummy discarded. Eleven tricks were made for a score of 600, which was well above the average for that board. In the final round, stout defence by Noela and Mavis enabled them to maintain their top position.
Results, Friday 19/04/24 (4 & ½-table Howell) N. Bonnell B. Bonnell (72.9) 1; N. Collins M. Simpson (64.6) 2; P. Kelly D. Moran (57.6) 3.Monday, 22/04/24 (4-table Howell): R. Hart N. McGinness (60.1) 1; C. Duggan J. Nankervis (58.9) 2; N. Bonnell V. Prentice (54.2) 3. Friday, 26/04/24 (4 & ½-table Mitchell): N/S J. Smith R. Hart (56.3) 1; N. Collins M. Simpson (53.6) 2. E/W D. Moran N. McGinness (61.1) 1; D. Dawes V. Prentice (54.1) 2.
