Dealer: N Vul: E/W
NORTH
♠ K965
♥ AKQJ42
♦ 5
♣ J10
WEST EAST
♠ QJ432 ♠ 87
♥ 1098 ♥ 75
♦ AK2 ♦ Q10974
♣ 75 ♣ AQ83
SOUTH
♠ A10
♥ 63
♦ J863
♣ K9642
“Who was to blame” was the title of a series of bridge articles analysing the failure of players to bid games and collect the bonus for doing so. On this board (No. 9 from last Friday) only David Moran and Pat Kelly bid 4H, which required ten tricks to be made. At the other four tables the bidding ended at 2H. The best any of them could do was to score 170 for ten tricks. David and Pat stood to score 620 if they made ten tricks.
East led the ten of diamonds, which was won by West’s Ace. Any continuation but a trump would help declarer, who could see that an attempt would have to be made to trump a spade or two in dummy (South). First, the Ace and King of spades would be played – in that order. A third spade was advanced, but was trumped by East’s seven. Declarer won East’s return, took out one round of trumps as insurance and then trumped the fourth spade. It was easy to return to hand, draw West’s remaining trumps and play a club. East cannot prevent South’s King from winning whatever East plays. Declarer wins six hearts, two spades, a spade trump and the King of Clubs. There are other paths to ten tricks if East returns a heart when on lead with heart eight.
So who was to blame for those four pairs failing to bid 4H? The blame rests surely on North’s shoulders. North held eight almost certain tricks: six hearts and two spades. A raise to 3H carried little risk but great rewards if South could supply two tricks. If North had bid 3H and South had passed, failure to bid game would have been South’s fault – but do remember: if things go wrong it’s always partner’s fault.
The Teams Champions for 2024 are Noela Collins, Mavis Simpson, Pat Kelly, John Nankervis (89 VPs). Second were Judy Mobbs, Sue Goddard, David Moran, Neil Bonnell, Sandra Head (72 VPs). Friday, 01/11/24 (5 & 1/2-table Howell): D. Moran P. Kelly (72.8) 1; J. Smith R. Hart (61.7) 2; T. Hinde J. Mobbs (60.1) 3. M. Simpson N. McGinness (54.3) 4.
