Senior Semifinals

England - Indonesia and Poland - USA2 - by Mark Horton

With 16 deals to go the D’Orsi Seniors Bowl was the only event in which both semi finals would go the distance. England held a handy 28.5-IMP lead over Indonesia, but USA 2 were a slender 2 IMPs ahead of Poland. It was this match that witnessed an explosive start:

Board 17. Dealer North. None Vul.
	♠ K J 6 3 ♥ A Q 9 8 5 ♦ A J 2 ♣ K
♠ 5 ♥ K 6 4 3 2 ♦ K 9 7 ♣ A Q 10 6		♠ Q 9 8 7 2 ♥ ♦ Q 10 6 4 ♣ 9 7 3 2
	♠ A 10 4 ♥ J 10 7 ♦ 8 5 3 ♣ J 8 5 4

Open Room

1♣ Polish, 12-14 balanced, 15+ natural or any 18+

When North passed South’s reopening double it was clear he had a strong hand with hearts. East’s retreat to One Spade was entirely understandable, but perhaps a redouble, asking West to pick a spot, would have been a better idea.

South led the jack of hearts and declarer ruffed and played a club to the queen and North’s king. Back came trump to South’s ten and declarer was forced with another heart. He now tried a club to the ace and when North was able to ruff that declarer was in big trouble. He was forced to ruff the ace of hearts, leaving him with one trump to his opponent’s four, and when he played a diamond to the king North took the ace and played another heart, South ruffing with the four of spades as declarer discarded a club.

The best defence now is for South to cash the jack of clubs, North discarding a diamond and then play another club. If North discards his last diamond on that the defenders will score all their trumps separately for three down. That was hard to see and after cashing the jack of clubs South cashed the ace of spades allowing declarer to ‘escape’ for down two, -300.

Closed Room

East led the four of diamonds for the king and ace and when declarer exited with the king of clubs West won and played back the nine of diamonds. East took two tricks in the suit and then played the last diamond, West discarding his singleton spade. Declarer ruffed in dummy and played a spade to his ten, West ruffing and exiting with a club. When declarer decided to ruff that he was soon three down, -150 giving Poland 10 IMPs and the lead.

A recent survey by Pietro Campanile that suggested that the idea of opening 2♥/2♠ to show a modest major/minor two suiter was an IMP-losing option would have been lost on the Americans after the next deal:

Board 18. Dealer East. N/S Vul.
	♠ ♥ A Q 9 7 ♦ J 8 5 3 ♣ A J 7 3 2
♠ A Q J 6 5 ♥ K J 10 4 ♦ K ♣ K 10 6		♠ 9 3 2 ♥ 8 6 2 ♦ 10 7 6 ♣ 9 8 5 4
	♠ K 10 8 7 4 ♥ 5 3 ♦ A Q 9 4 2 ♣ Q

Open Room

2♠ Spades and a minor, 6-11
2NT Forcing relay

If North had no game interest he could have responded with a pass or correct Three Clubs, so West’s entry into a live auction was extremely dubious.

North led a diamond and South took the ace and switched to the queen of clubs, covered by the king and ace. North cashed the jack of clubs and played another club for South to ruff. Declarer ruffed the diamond continuation and exited with the king of hearts. Had North simply cashed the queen of hearts now the contract would have been no less than seven down, a cool 1700, but he played a diamond and according to the official score declarer lost a mere 1100 (it looks like 1400 is still a certainty, but what’s the odd 300 points amongst friends?).

Closed Room

East led the six of hearts and declarer took West’s king with the ace and played a diamond to the queen and king. West returned the four of hearts and when declarer put in the seven East was able to win with the eight. There was no way declarer could generate a ninth trick and he had to concede one down, -100 handing Poland 15 IMPs and a commanding lead.

This deal also saw a big swing in the other match:

Open Room

Another dubious entry into the auction saw West find the relative security of the 5-3 spade fit (it only costs 500) but North/South pressed on to game. When West led the queen of spades declarer won, played the queen of clubs for the king and ace and then lost a trick to the king of diamonds. He won the club return with dummy’s jack, cashed his diamonds and took a heart finesse, +600.

Closed Room

2♣ Game forcing
4♦ RKCB for diamonds

With a horrible hand to lead from, West tried a speculative king of hearts. Declarer won with the ace and played a diamond to the queen and king. West’s jack of hearts exit was taken by dummy’s queen and declarer played a diamond to the ace, West discarding the six of clubs. Declarer played the queen of clubs, covered by the king and ace, cashed the jack of clubs and ruffed a club.

At this point declarer needs to cross to the jack of diamonds and play the nine of hearts, pinning East’s eight. When he missed this, electing to ruff a spade, he could not recover, down one, -100 and 12 IMPs to England.

As the matches continued USA 2 could make little impression on the Polish lead, but Indonesia suddenly staged a dramatic conterattack.

Board 23. Dealer South. All Vul.
	♠ Q 5 4 ♥ K J 8 ♦ K Q J 10 6 ♣ 6 5
♠ A 10 8 6 3 2 ♥ 10 ♦ 8 5 ♣ A K J 3		♠ J 9 7 ♥ Q 7 4 ♦ 9 7 4 3 2 ♣ Q 4
	♠ K ♥ A 9 6 5 3 2 ♦ A ♣ 10 9 8 7 2

Open Room

West cashed the ace of clubs and followed it with (to my eyes a strange play), the ace of spades. He then went back to clubs, cashing the king and playing the three. Now South, who had already made a number of excellent plays during the course of the tournament had another chance to shine.

If he ruffs with the king of hearts and then passes the jack of hearts he sees the ten fall. He discards the ace of diamonds on the queen of spades (with a polite thank you to West) and the losing clubs go on the diamonds. However, declarer, after long thought, elected to ruff with the eight of hearts and that was that, -100.

Closed Room

Here West cashed the ace of clubs and then continued with the king. When East’s queen appeared he had only to play a third club to defeat the contract, but like his counterpart in the other room he cashed the ace of spades. He then gave South less chance to shine by playing a second spade. Declarer ruffed, unblocked the ace of diamonds, crossed to dummy with the king of hearts and tabled the jack, running it when East followed with the seven. Now the diamonds took care of the losing clubs for a splendid +620 and 12 IMPs.

Board 24. Dealer West. None Vul.
	♠ 10 8 6 3 ♥ J 7 6 ♦ Q 7 5 ♣ 6 4 3
♠ A 7 4 2 ♥ K 8 ♦ 4 3 ♣ A Q 10 9 7		♠ K ♥ 10 9 4 3 2 ♦ A K J 10 6 2 ♣ K
	♠ Q J 9 5 ♥ A Q 5 ♦ 9 8 ♣ J 8 5 2

Open Room

A heart lead would remove a vital entry to the West hand and make it impossible for declarer to unscramble his tricks, but that was clearly impossible given East’s initial response. South led a diamond and declarer took North’s queen, unblocked the black kings and with suitable Indonesian prayers played a heart to the king. When that held declarer was home, +990.

Closed Room

South led the queen of spades and declarer won with the king and played diamonds from the top (the jack of diamonds at trick two was an option). He gave up a trick to the queen of diamonds, ducked the spade return, won the next spade, crossed to the king of clubs and cashed his diamonds. If the ace of hearts had been wrong then now even 3NT might have been in jeopardy, but as it was declarer had ten tricks for +430, still a loss of 11 IMPs.

Indonesia’s run continued on the next deal:

Board 25. Dealer North. E/W Vul.
	♠ Q 8 7 6 4 3 ♥ A ♦ Q 6 4 ♣ 10 8 6
♠ K J 10 2 ♥ Q 10 8 2 ♦ J 8 7 ♣ 7 3		♠ 9 ♥ 6 5 3 ♦ K 9 3 ♣ A K Q 9 5 4
	♠ A 5 ♥ K J 9 7 4 ♦ A 10 5 2 ♣ J 2

Open Room

East started with his three top clubs and West overruffed dummy’s five with the ten and switched to a heart. Declarer won with the ace, crossed to the ace of spades, ruffed a heart and exited with the queen of spades to West’s king. West cashed the jack of spades and dummy discarded a heart as East parted with a club. When West exited with the seven of diamonds declarer guessed to put up the queen and now had to go three down, -500.

Closed Room

2♦ Multi
3♠ Pass or correct

The play was virtually identical, but this time declarer got the diamonds right, playing low on West’s diamond exit, so he made eight tricks, -50 and 10 Indonesian IMPs.

England’s once commanding lead had shrunk to 13.5 IMPs, but they immediately steadied the ship:

Board 26. Dealer East. All Vul.
	♠ J 10 6 5 ♥ J 8 5 ♦ K ♣ A 10 8 5 3
♠ 9 7 3 ♥ K 10 9 6 3 ♦ 8 5 3 ♣ J 4		♠ K 8 2 ♥ A 7 4 ♦ Q J 9 2 ♣ Q 7 2
	♠ A Q 4 ♥ Q 2 ♦ A 10 7 6 4 ♣ K 9 6

Open Room

West led the nine of hearts and declarer was allowed to win in hand with the queen. With the heart suit now wide open he could not afford to lose a trick. Rejecting any idea of playing back a heart, hoping for some pressure to be applied if the defenders cashed four tricks in the suit, declarer crossed to the king of diamonds and played the jack of spades (essentially hoping to find East with ♠Kxx). When that held he played a spade to the queen, but then exited with a heart. East took the ace and switched to the queen of diamonds but declarer could win in hand, cash the ace of spades, cross to dummy with a club, cash the last spade and score the ninth trick with the king of clubs, +600.

Closed Room

East/West stole the pot here. With best defence four down is possible, but after leading a club, ducked to East’s queen, South discarded both his hearts on the run of the clubs (North having taken trick two with the king of diamonds). Now he had no exit card after winning the third round of spades, so declarer was only 300, a gain of 7 IMPs.

There were still six deals left, but England put the issue beyond doubt on this board:

Board 29. Dealer North. All Vul.
	♠ 10 8 6 5 ♥ K Q 8 7 2 ♦ Q 4 ♣ A K
♠ A 9 7 4 ♥ J ♦ A 7 3 ♣ Q J 10 7 5		♠ 2 ♥ 6 4 ♦ 10 8 6 5 2 ♣ 8 6 4 3 2
	♠ K Q J 3 ♥ A 10 9 5 3 ♦ K J 9 ♣ 9

Open Room

East led his spade and West won and incredibly cashed the ace of diamonds before playing back a spade. East could ruff but that was the last trick for the defence, +620.

Closed Room

2♥ Flannery
3♥ 4522 minimum

Even without the helpful bidding there is no way David Price was going to get this one wrong. He won the spade lead and returned the nine for partner to ruff. The ace of diamonds and another spade ruff meant one down and 12 IMPs that secured a place for England in the final.

They would face Poland in the first ever all European final.