Last weekend the Bridge Club held its first congress for two years. Although numbers were down, the event was well organized and was enjoyed by both visitors and locals. The top local players were John Nankervis and Pat Kelly, who found the excellent contract of 3NT by West, making eleven tricks, on Board 2 (above) from the afternoon session. The majority of other players settled in 4H, which commonly made only ten tricks.
On the few occasions that West played in 3NT, North led a diamond, which was won by West’s Queen. One winning line for West (John) is to play the Jack of spades. This puts South in a quandary. It is normal in this kind of situation to hold back the Ace once or twice to prevent declarer from reaching East’s remaining spades. In the end, it doesn’t matter when South plays the Ace, provided declarer preserves the Queen of clubs in dummy as an entry to the promoted spade tricks. When on lead with the Ace of spades, South will continue with a diamond to declarer’s Ace. Declarer can then cross to dummy and run the remaining spade winners. Declarer will make four spades, two diamonds and at least three clubs. Hearts will provide two more, either through a finesse or an end-play.
Under the scoring system used, John and Pat received only three IMPs, but in a close match against Toowoomba pair John Churchett and Trevor Henderson (eventual second place-getters) these points were very useful. The winners overall were Lyn Tracey and Mick Fawcett from Brisbane.
Results: Monday, 18/04/22 (4-table Howell): J. Nankervis P. Kelly (68.4) 1; R. Hart H. Richardson (55.4) 2; N. Bonnell T. Hinde (53.0) 3. Friday, 22/04/22 (6-table Mitchell): N/S N. Bonnell B. Bonnell (64.7) 1; N. Collins M. Simpson (59.0) 2; J. Nankervis T. Graham (53.3) 3. E/W L. Munson T. Hinde (63.7) 1; J. Mobbs N. McGinness (54.0) 2; J. Rose D. Moran (53.0) 3.
Handicap: N/S No change. E/W D. Dawes J. Hegarty 1; L. Munson T. Hinde 2. Congress: L. Tracey M. Fawcett 1; J. Churchett T. Henderson 2; B section: J. Nankervis P. Kelly 1; V. Rose P. Campbell 2; C section: S. Fraser S. Fraser
