CONTRACT BRIDGE National teams title to Auckland four

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33068, 8 November 1972, Page 19

CONTRACT BRIDGE National teams title to Auckland four

(Contributed b 3 J.R W.) ' Over Labour Week-end four bridge teams gathered in Wellington to contest the final of the New Zealand knock-out teams championship. In its first year this new event had attracted an original entry of 147 fours of whom these were the survivors. The sudden-death principle adopted in the competition was undoubtedly one of the reasons for its popularity, but it also ensured, of course, that many prominent players would be eliminated. Be that as it may, the standard of the final rounds was very high, probably in fact higher than in any previous bridge tournament held in New Zealand. In the semi-final S. J. Abrahams’s Auckland quartet (M. Cornell, W. Kun and D. J. Evitt) defeated the Hamilton four who were the backbone of the Waikato team that won the interprovincial championship earlier this year. Meantime, J. R. Wignall’s Canterbury team (L. S. Julian, W. A. Sadler and J. Vryenhoek) was beating the champions of Central Districts and Wellington. While both semi-finals were close-fought, the issues were seldom in doubt, and the stage was set for an interesting final. The young Auckland four, with an average age substantially under 30, played probably their best bridge

and always had a slight edge over their opponents. After 12 boards they had a small lead which they increased to a useful margin by the halfway stage. In the third quarter, though the Christchurch players tried hard to make some headway, they could make no impression and the score remained unchanged. This left Abrahams still in front, and in trying to make up the deficit Wignail lost further points to be beaten by a margin that did not really reflect the closeness of the match. This deal produced a swing to Auckland:

With Julian and Wignall North-South the auction was: W. N. E. S. No INT 2H 3D 3H All Pass Neither side was vulnerable, so both South and East gave some thought to their final calls, but decided discretion was the better part of valour and left the contract at three hearts.

West opened the defence with the ace and king of diamonds. The declarer ruffed the second of these, and led a small spade to dummy’s king, which was allowed to hold. The jack of hearts was led from the table and this won the trick when both East and South played low. A small heart to the ace drew the queen from East and a diamond from West. Then the ace and king of clubs were made and the third round ruffed in dummy. The declarer led the queen of spades from the table, allowing East to win with the ace and cash his king of hearts, but South claimed the balance of the tricks with trumps and the established clubs. Having lost only to the aces of diamonds and spades and to the king of hearts, he had made his contract of three hearts with an overtrick. When the board was replayed, the Auckland team held the North-South cards and their auction was much more aggressive: W. N. E. S. No INT 2C 2D 4H No No Dble redble

It may seem strange, but there is an explanation. After the opening one notrump bid on his right, South’s overcall of two clubs was in accordance with a convention known as Astro, not to be confused with a headache cure. On this occasion it showed a twosuited hand with clubs and hearts. After West’s natural bid of two diamonds North decided he had just the right cards, and jumped to four hearts. He was in fact so confident that when West doubled, he redoubled with no apparent hesitation. As the cards lay, no defence could beat four hearts, and 10 tricks were quickly made by a similar line of play to that followed at the first table. Four hearts bid and made, doubled and redoubled, scored 830 points, including the usual 300 bonus for calling a non-vulnerable game. This was a substantial improvement on the 170 the Canterbury team had scored on the same cards, and was a rich reward for confident bidding.