By Neil Bonnell, Warwick Bridge Club
The winners of the May Red Point Event are Tony Hinde and Judy Mobbs. On Board 19 last Friday (above) they were one of only two pairs who bid 4S and made all thirteen tricks. The other pairs, who played in diamonds and no trumps, either made pessimistic assumptions about their opponents’ cards or failed to count carefully.
The late Eddie Kantar wrote a whole book on the value and method of counting. On this hand, Judy (East) received the optimistic, but logical, lead of the Queen of hearts, which she duly won in hand with the Ace. Now is the time to take stock and to count – your high card points, their high card points, your possible losers and their possible holdings. Assuming that the trumps are split evenly between North and South there are no losers in spades, but there are two possible losers in both hearts and clubs. You can’t be sure about the length of South’s hearts, but it should be safe to trump one in dummy (West). Then you go fishing for the Jack of diamonds by playing the ten, but you play the Queen whether the Jack appears or not. You do watch to see whether North pauses for thought. Now there are three ways to continue: try to trump a second heart (North overruffs), finesse the Jack of clubs (North wins with the King) or run the diamonds (winning line). When the defenders’ diamonds lie 3-2 you have enough diamond winners in dummy on which to discard those remaining three losers in hand. A final thought – never underestimate the value of those intermediate cards: 10, 9, 8, 7. They can often be promoted very quickly.
Results: Monday, 16/05/22 (5-table Mitchell): N/S L. James S. Head (60.4) 1; J. Mobbs P. Campbell (58.7) 2. E/W M. Johnston R. Hart (65.0) 1; B. Reid J. McKeen (55.4) 2. Friday, 20/05/22 (5 & ½-table Mitchell) N/S R. Hart L. Munson (54.6) 1; M. Johnston C. Duggan (50.4) 2. E/W J. Mobbs T. Hinde (61.5) 1; J. Rose Jenny Smith (56.5) 2; S. Goddard N. McGinness (53.0) 3. Red Point Event overall: J. Mobbs T. Hinde 1; S. Goddard N. McGinness 2; N. Collins D. Moran 3.
