Lincolnshire v Notts - 14^th September 2008

September 2008 may be remembered by some as the month when Fabio Capello came good with England beating Croatia and Theo Walcott scoring a hat trick. For Notts bridge players it will be remembered as the time when the county teams travelled to Scunthorpe and won all three matches - 17-3, 17-3 and 16-4. Surely a vindicaton of Captain Eagling’s tactics.

The Teams:

Dawes - John and Irene Auld; Keith Rodgers and Lloyd Eagling; Sandy Fulton and Steve Mulligan; Geoff Topol and Andrew Scott.
Porter - Ellin Overton and Martin Mellor; David Burgess and Graham Lee; Mike and Daphne Coggles; Janet Jacques and Will Irving.
Markham - Sally Cook and Bernard Moore; Barbara Hatfield and Chris Clarke; Phil Dale and Ray Furlonger; Sylvia Goodlud and Nick Clark.

If you sat West on Board 13 and picked up this hand, you would probably expect to bid a slam:

All Vul - Dealer North

It might come as a surprise that the contract was a mere 2♠. Even more surprisingly the hand defended 2♠ - undoubled. This strange fate befell Andrew Scott.

South opened a weak 2♠ and Andrew decided his assets had depreciated and viewed to settle for a collection of 100s. It was not a large collection because he was constantly thrown in and conceding extra trump tricks. Nonetheless it beat two Wests who irrationally doubled and saw their partners bid a full blooded 4♥. Too rich for me.
Lloyd Eaglings opponents did better when he employed a Lucas 2♥ on the North hand. West doubled and East passed (again too rich for me but very successful). Lloyd escaped for -800.

Declaring on this deal proved a trial and only one Notts player made a contract. Irene played 3NT on a spade lead - unwisely taken by South who switched to diamonds. Later South was stuck for a discard on clubs. He let go a spade and Irene`s long spade was a winner. If he discards a heart instead he is eventually endplayed in spades.

Board 10 revealed a widespread lack of judgement:

All Vul - Dealer East

East generally opened 1NT and West generally transferred to spades. North bid hearts and often E/W staggered into 4♠. Some Easts settled for a partscore and some sold out to hearts. No one bid 6♦ or 6♠. This suggests an excessive respect for both point count and for major suits. With a 7-5-1 hand opposite 1NT, game in one suit or the other must be bid. Moreover the Losing Trick Count says you have 5 losers and that suggests a slam investigation.

Playing simple methods there is no reason to eschew a 3♦ response to 1NT, over which North will bid hearts and East will support diamonds. It is now simple enough to cue bid hearts and East will surely cooperate with strong diamonds.

A number of pairs did well but according to the infallible Butler IMPs analysis the best pairs were the Aulds in the Dawes team, Overton and Mellor in the Porter and Dale and Furlonger in the Markham.

Match Report by John Auld