Dealer: S Vul: E/W
NORTH
♠ 5
♥ 94
♦ KJ1097432
♣ 93
WEST EAST
♠ 10432 ♠ K986
♥ Q8762 ♥ J103
♦ 5 ♦ A6
♣ J82 ♣ Q1065
SOUTH
♠ AQJ7
♥ AK3
♦ Q8
♣ AK74
Bold bids are becoming more common. Last Monday Pat Kelly and Sandra Head were the only pair to bid 6D – a small slam worth 920 matchpoints. The bidding was brisk. Sandra (South) started proceedings with a bid of 2D, which showed 22 or more high card points and nothing about the distribution of the suits held. Pat responded with 2H, which simply asked partner for more information. Sandra then bid 2NT to show a balanced hand. Trusting partner to have three Aces and a diamond or two, Pat jumped to 6D. The odds looked good. Because Sandra had been the first to mention diamonds, she became declarer.
At both tables where diamonds were trumps, West led a low heart, which Sandra won with the Ace. (Why advertise possession of the King?) The Queen of diamonds was then led and won by the Ace. This was the last trick for the defence. Declarer now had no losers. A pair of Ace-Kings took care of losers in hearts and clubs, with the Ace of spades covering the five in dummy. For those who settled in 3NT it was a different story. At the first opportunity, South led the Queen of diamonds, in the vain hope that East would rise with the Ace, but East could count. North held eight diamonds, East two, while South and West had played one each. At both tables East made the calculation that South may have a second diamond and allowed South to win with the Queen.
Declarer could now not now reach dummy’s diamonds and could not muster the necessary nine tricks to fulfill the contract.
Results, Monday 11/05/26 (4 & 1/2-table Howell): R. Hart N. McGinness (63.5) 1; N. Bonnell M. Simpson (62.5) 2; P. Kelly S. Head (56.8) 3. Friday, (4 & 1/2-Table Howell) P. Kelly L. Don (68.9) 1; N. Collins M. Simpson (58.1) 2; N. Bonnell A. Hade (55.6) 3.
