Monday afternoon August 11, 2008
Board 12
West Deals N-S Vul | ♠ K J 8 7 ♥ 9 4 2 ♦ 6 3 ♣ 8 5 4 3 | ||||||||||
♠ A 10 9
♥ K 5 3 ♦ 9 8 5 ♣ K 10 7 6 |
| ♠ 6 4 3 2
♥ Q ♦ A K Q 10 4 2 ♣ A Q | |||||||||
| ♠ Q 5 ♥ A J 10 8 7 6 ♦ J 7 ♣ J 9 2 |
| West | North | East | South |
| Pass | Pass | 1 ♦ | 1 ♥ |
| 1 NT | Pass | 2 ♦ | Pass |
| 3 NT | All pass |
| 3 NT by West |
| Made 6 — +490 |
Lead: two of hearts
The queen is taken by the ace and the jack is taken by the king. Declarer goes to the clubs for two rounds, then proceeds to run off six diamond tricks, North discarding at least one club. Back to the hand with the ace of spades to run the other two clubs, making six. It wasn't biddable.
Monday afternoon August 11, 2008
Board 5
North Deals N-S Vul | ♠ K 8 ♥ K Q 8 4 2 ♦ J 10 7 3 ♣ J 4 | ||||||||||
♠ A J 6
♥ 5 ♦ K Q 9 8 ♣ A 10 9 7 3 |
| ♠ 9 7 3 2
♥ A J 10 ♦ A 2 ♣ K Q 6 2 | |||||||||
| ♠ Q 10 5 4 ♥ 9 7 6 3 ♦ 6 5 4 ♣ 8 5 |
| West | North | East | South |
| Pass | 1 ♣ | Pass | |
| 2 ♣ | Pass | 2 ♠ | Pass |
| 3 ♦ | Pass | 3 NT | All pass |
| 3 NT by East |
| Made 5 — +460 |
Lead: nine of hearts
The lead of the nine shows either "top of nothing" or two above it. North looks at the board, then his hand and figures since they're playing the contract in NT that partner is "top of nothing." An observant East will see that he needs to establish the extra heart before the defense gets to spades and drives out the queen of hearts, making his jack good. The spade shift is too late and declarer scampers home with 11 tricks, five clubs, three diamonds, two hearts and a spade.
Two of the contracts bid tonight made it to NT. The 1C-2C is called Inverted Minors and is alertable. It shows 5+ support cards and 10+ points. This convention allows declarer to take it slow in order to find 3NT. A 1C-3C bid puts East in a bind, as does his 3S reply. What to do? Some Wests may go to 4C, missing a 460 point game.
Monday afternoon August 11, 2008
Board 26
East Deals Both Vul | ♠ K 8 6 5 4 ♥ A 9 3 ♦ 10 9 6 5 ♣ 7 | ||||||||||
♠ Q J 3
♥ K Q 10 4 2 ♦ Q ♣ K 8 6 2 |
| ♠ A 9
♥ 7 5 ♦ A J 3 ♣ A Q J 10 9 3 | |||||||||
| ♠ 10 7 2 ♥ J 8 6 ♦ K 8 7 4 2 ♣ 5 4 |
| West | North | East | South |
| 1 ♣ | Pass | ||
| 1 ♥ | Pass | 3 ♣ | Pass |
| 4 ♣ | Pass | 4 NT | Pass |
| 5 ♣ | All pass |
| 5 ♣ by East |
| Made 6 — +620 |
Lead: four of clubs
All four of the teams that played this hand made 6, losing only the ace of hearts. Declarer draws trumps and drives out the ace of hearts. There are multiple ways to make the contract a contract of six clubs, but the easiest is to see if the hearts break. Cash the ace of diamonds, ruff a diamond and float the last heart. Now the board has two good hearts on which to pitch the last diamond and a spade.
Monday evening August 11, 2008
Board 14
East Deals None Vul | ♠ A J 7 6 4 ♥ K 4 ♦ 4 3 ♣ 8 5 3 2 | ||||||||||
♠ 5 3
♥ A J 2 ♦ A K 10 8 5 ♣ K Q 10 |
| ♠ K 9 8 2
♥ Q 8 ♦ Q J ♣ A J 9 6 4 | |||||||||
| ♠ Q 10 ♥ 10 9 7 6 5 3 ♦ 9 7 6 2 ♣ 7 |
| West | North | East | South |
| 1 ♣ | Pass | ||
| 2 ♦ | Pass | 2 ♠ | Pass |
| 3 NT | Pass | 4 ♣ | Pass |
| 4 ♠ | Pass | 5 ♣ | Pass |
| 5 ♠ | Pass | 6 NT | All pass |
| 6 NT by West |
| Made 6 — +990 |
Lead: ace of spades
A second spade lead finds declarer on the board needing to take the remaining eleven tricks. Fortunately, he doesn't need to rely on the heart finesse, which would go down; instead he can rattle off five diamonds, five clubs and the ace of hearts. None of the pairs this evening managed to get to slam; a perfect use of Gerber. When partner shows two aces and two kings, it would be bad luck indeed if the missing cards were in the same suit.