Memories of Dublin 2002

by David Stevenson

Contents:

• The Question
• The Answer

The Question

Merseyside v Dublin in Dublin, annual friendly match. Sadly I missed the final dinner with the drinking and the singing, because I had to return home early, and the start on Sunday had been delayed by extra time and penalties in the Ireland-Spain match. When I left Merseyside was winning, and my team had the best score of the eight teams.

The format? Four teams a side of 4+ players, Open, Officials, Ladies and Club. In each session you play 5x5 boards, 5 boards against each opposing team, twice against your own. so Officials play each other first and last in a session. Naturally duplimate boards, copies of hands. WBF 25 VP scale. Excellent format.

I played for the Officials. One of Ireland's top half-dozen players was playing for their Officials which added to the fun!

You are West. LHO deals at Amber [v v v] and they bid unopposed:

Dummy K5 AKJ95 AK82 A6 You Q863 6 Q743 JT92	North South 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 4NT 7 Pass

You are told that 2 is Acol, ie artificial game force or 23+ balanced, 2 is natural, positive, showing an ace and a king, 3, 4, 4, 4 are cue-bids, 4NT is RKCB.

You lead the J. Playing distributional signals and discards, partner shows an even number of clubs. Declarer proves to have QTxxxx and a singleton diamond. He eliminates diamonds and runs his hearts, partner discarding two spades and two clubs. And you?

	Dummy K5 -- -- 6
You Q863 -- -- JT92

What three cards do you keep?

Final score:

Open: Ladies: Club: Officials:	251 197 208 260
Liverpool:	916	Dublin:	875

The Answer

Yes, it was easy, wasn't it? If partner has not got the K declarer would have claimed - or if declarer does not know what a claim is, he would still have thirteen tricks. So you come down to Qxx.

However, a member of the Dublin Open team, who got as much stick as Ian Harte did, assumed declarer had the K because of the description "showing an ace and a king" and discarded his spades!

	Dummy K5 AKJ95 AK82 A6
You Q863 6 Q743 JT92		Partner T974 4 JT65 K875
	Declarer AJ2 QT8732 9 Q43

We do play it as showing an ace and a king so he was not misinformed, and I was very pleased when I cashed my K and the queen appeared - 17 imps!

However, our Open team did not do so well. After drawing trumps, declarer cashed the K and led a spade towards hand. She took the A out of her hand [seen by both defenders], changed her mind, and played the J. Our player did not notice the change of mind nor look at the card played so she played low! 17 imps out!

This was played at the same time as the football World Cup, and Ian Harte was an Irishman who had a dreadful tournament.

Editor's note:

• If you want to comment on these articles, why not write direct to David Stevenson?
• I shall be pleased to hear from you!

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