CONTRACT BRIDGE Christchurch Success At Invercargill

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31540, 30 November 1967, Page 6

CONTRACT BRIDGE Christchurch Success At Invercargill

/Contributed by

J.R. W.

The last tournament of the season is always that run by the Invercargill Bridge Club, but all who have attended would agree that it is by no means the least. Rejoicing in the title of the “Murihiku Pairs,” it is held over show week-end to enable Canterbury enthusiasts to travel down in leisurely fashion, and so there is always a capacity and representative attendance. The welcome and hospitality are warm and friendly, a fitting contrast to the unpleasant weather which often marks the event. This year hail and gales were the order of the day, but the winners at any rate were undisturbed. “The wind blew solidly behind us all the way,” said one of them modestly. None, however, would begrudge L. S. Julian and Sir Joseph Ward, of Christchurch, any luck they may have had to enable them to win the event, for both have been enthusiastic supporters of this and other tournaments and both, playing with different partners, have been very close to success on several occasions. Narrow' Margin Mrs G. R. Hanan and Mrs M. Wilson set such a strong pace for two sessions, that even though they faltered slightly in the third round they still had a useful lead. The greater experience of the Christchurch pair told in the final session, however, and they ran out winners by a narrow margin. It was still a fine achievement by the Invercargill ladies to beat a number of very strong pairs. They are by no means the first pair from one of the smaller clubs to perform with distinction in a major tournament this year, reflecting a general levelling up of standards. The third pair were Dr and Mrs A. J. Sinclair of Dunedin. This deal from the tournament gave the winners a good score. North was the dealer.

opened one strong no trump and South without further ado raised to three. Where East chose to lead a small spade against this contract the declarer had no trouble in making four tricks in clubs, the three top hearts and the ace and king of spades'for nine in all. It is generally a waste of time to attack a suit with a holding

of four to the jack, so several defenders chose the much better and certainly more effective lead of a diamond. West’s ace won and a small one was returned to East’s queen. When the king was played off the declarer had to discard, so it was a simple matter for East to lead his 7 and for West to overtake with his 9 and to make his fifth diamond. The declarer claimed the rest in high cards, but he was still one down having lost the first five tricks. Better Contract Julian and Ward arrived at a much better contract: W. N. E. S. 1H No IS No 2 NT No 3S No 4S All Pass. After opening one heart and receiving a response of one spade, Julian jumped to two no-trumps to show a strong relatively balanced hand. Ward rebid his spades, so North with good cards for a suit contract went on to the four. West’s opening lead was a club won in hand by the declarer who continued with a spade to the singleton queen and dummy’s king. He then led another spade from the table and when East played the seven he put on the eight which of course won the trick as West discarded a diamond. South cashed his ace of spades and queen of clubs before leading the jack of clubs and overtaking it with dummy’s king. On the ace of clubs East played his remaining trump, the jack,

but the declarer was able to discard one of his losing diamonds. The defenders then made one diamond trick, but South ruffed the second and claimed the rest of the tricks with the sole remaining trump and the ace, king, and queen of hearts. He had made his contract with an overtrick, having lost only one trick in spades and one in diamonds.

The key play in this deal occurs when declarer leads the second round of spades from dummy. If he takes the view that West’s queen was a singleton, he must just cover whatever card East plays. But if West started with the queen and jack alone the declarer must play his ace. It is mathematically twice as likely that the queen was single as that it was accompanied by the jack alone, so Ward was correct to play the way he did. Knowledge of the odds brought a rich reward on this deal.