Dealer: N Vul: Nil
NORTH
♠ 62
♥ 9842
♦ AQJ2
♣ J93
WEST EAST
♠ AJ103 ♠ Q9754
♥ Q75 ♥ AJ3
♦ 985 ♦ 103
♣ 1052 ♣ A64
SOUTH
♠ K8
♥ K106
♦ K764
♣ KQ87
Partscore battles can often be more interesting than higher level contracts where the result is a foregone conclusion. Board 1 (above) from last Friday turned out to be mainly a contest between East/West’s spades and North/South’s doamonds. At one table South (Ros Hart) managed to win the auction in 1NT. This put West on lead.
From West’s point of view, a spade looks like the best source of tricks, but South may well have a spade stopper. In that case it may be better to try to put partner on lead. The seven of hearts is a discouraging lead, but it should give East the right message. East can see the weak spade suit in dummy and should win the first trick with the Ace of hearts and switch to a spade. South’s King is trapped. The defenders will win five spades and two Aces, defeating the contract by one trick.
As it happened West led the three of spades, allowing South’s King to win and run four diamond tricks. This forced East to make discards and a spade was allowed to go. South was later able to win three clubs to bring North/South’s total to eight for a score of 120 – a top.
Tony Hinde and Len Don were the only North/South pair to be allowed to play in 2D. Once East failed to open 1S, they found their diamond fit and happily won eight tricks for a 75% result on this board. Three East/West pairs were pushed to 3S after North/South bid as high as 3D but they failed by one trick. It might have been better if they had defended against 3D and scored plus 50 instead of minus 50.
Results, Monday, 31/03/25 (5 & 1/2-table Howell): N. Collins M. Simpson (67.6) 1; J. Smith H. Price (63.4) 2; N. McGinness R. Hart (60.2) 3: J. Mobbs D. Moran (57.4) 4. Friday, 04/04/25 (5 & 1/2-table Howell): J. Smith R. Hart (60.6) 1; N. Collins M. Simpson (60.2) 2; C. Hall N. Bonnell (59. 7) 3; P. Kelly D. Moran (54.6) 4.
