St David and Goliath

By Gilly Clench

My first dilemma was whether to bid on on Board 2:

West	North	East	South
Laura	Auken	Gilly	von Arnim
		Pass	1♦
3♥	3♠	4♥	4♠
Pass	Pass	?

Holding ♠A763 ♥93 ♦K72 ♣QJ73 would you bid on? Would it make any difference if partner had bid 4♥? Well, if you find the 5♥ bid, it happens to be right; only one pair did so, over any bid by West, so I was not too unhappy, though rather surprised at my partner’s unusual restraint. The full deal

Board 2 ♠ K Q 10 9 8 4

Vul: NS ♥ void

Dlr East ♦ J 6 3
♣ K 9 8 4

♠ void ♠ A 7 6 3

♥ K Q J 10 8 7 6 4 ♥ 9 3

♦ Q 8 ♦ K 7 2

♣ 10 6 2 ♣ Q J 7 3

♠ J 5 2

♥ A 5 2

♦ A 10 9 5 4

♣ A 5

The next board to present a difficult decision was Board 5.

Board 5 ♠ 9 6 3

Vul: NS ♥ A Q 5

Dlr: N ♦ K Q J 7 4

♣ K 4

♠ Q 2 ♠ A K J 8 7 5

♥ 10 4 2 ♥ 8

♦ A 6 5 2 ♦ 10 9 8

♣ J 8 7 5 ♣ Q 10 9

♠ 10 4

♥ K J 9 7 6 3

♦ 3

♣ A 6 3 2

North opened 1NT and I was looking at ♠AKJ10xx ♥8 ♦1098 ♣Q109. In our methods, I can show a Weak 2 in spades, but I figured that they might have a heart fit, so I chose 3♠ (I hear a lot of gulps) to take up space, which led to this auction:

West	North	East	South
Laura	Auken	Gilly	von Arnim
	1NT	3♠	4♦
4♠	5♣	Pass	5♥

5♥ was one off, for 12 IMPs to Wales. Sabine could be forgiven for thinking her partner had a singleton, but 4♠ is a good save anyway, so we were always gaining. In the other room it went:

West	North	East	South
Alberti	Liz	Schraverus	Sheila
	1♦	1♠	2♥
Pass	4♥	All pass

On the next board, madwoman Sheila went into action and they found the save of 4♠ doubled over 2♥, instead of a two off 3♣, which might not have been doubled - right idea, wrong contract.

On Board 10, the German No. 1 bid the cold 4♠ with 13 HCP opposite 9 over my weak 1NT, so we were 5 IMPs behind (not that we knew that, of course).

Board 11 was right up our street:

Board 11 ♠ Q 7 4

Love All ♥ 10 9 5

Dlr South ♦ J 9 3

♣ A Q 8 7

♠ 5 2 ♠ A K J 8 3

♥ A K Q 7 4 ♥ 6 3 2

♦ K 8 5 4 2 ♦ A 7

♣ 2 ♣ K 6 3

♠ 10 9 6

♥ J 8

♦ Q 10 6

♣ J 10 9 5 4

West	North	East	South
Laura	Auken	Gilly	von Arnim
1♥	Pass	1♠	Pass
2♦	Pass	3♣	Pass
3♦	Pass	3♥	Pass
3♠	Pass	5♥	Pass
6♥	All pass

At the other table, madwoman Sheila, getting a bit bored now, stuck in a double over their 4♣ bid, which may well have put them off, so we were back to 6 VPs in front.

Next, we arrived in the only non-making contract:

Board 12 ♠ 10 7 6 2

Vul: NS ♥ A Q 8

Dlr: West ♦ 8 7 5 4

♣ A 2

♠ K Q J 9 3 ♠A 4

♥ J 6 4 ♥ K 7

♦ J 9 6 3 ♦ A K Q 10 2

♣ K ♣ Q 8 7 3

♠ 8 5

♥ 10 9 5 3 2

♦ void

♣ J 10 9 6 5 4

West	North	East	South
Laura	Auken	Gilly	von Arnim
Pass	Pass	1♦	Pass
2♠	Pass	3♣	Pass
3♦	Pass	3♠	Pass
4♠	All pass

2♠ was a fit jump, showing 5♠ and 4♦. After 3♣, one of us needed to ask about a heart stop (Laura, I think; Gilly, she thinks). The German EW pair had a completely different auction: – I might have thought of 5♦ on the East hand after a Lucas opening by West showing a maximum 5/5 with diamonds!

West	North	East	South
Alberti	Liz	Schraverus	Sheila
2♠ *	Pass	2NT	Pass
3♠ *	Pass	5♦

The next two deals clinched it. On Board 13 the Germans played in 2♥ making 11 tricks when Laura made a semi-psychic 2♣ rescue bid over their double of 1NT, while an aggressive 2NT raise by Mrs S led to the making 3NT. On Board 14 we competed to 3♥ (the official record is hilariously wrong so we seem even more lunatic than we really are), so they subsided in 3NT while Sheila and Liz reached 6♦. I admit to a flight of fancy on Board 19, bidding 4♠ when 3♠ was the spot, as did the other East; but Sheila gaily bid on to 5♦X - all of us too high. We came to our senses on Board 20 and gained 5 IMPs to win 18-12. What a great start; thanks, Patrick, for writing up this 1812 Overture in the Bulletin.

Until Round 15, this four had not lost a match together. If we had finished after 11 rounds, Liz and Sheila were an amazing 15^th on the Butler and we were only 10VPs below 10^th place. We were poised for the Venice Cup – optimistic, maybe, but not as much as Sheila who kindly offered to sponsor us if we obtained a place!