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BULLETIN #8, CACBF CHAMPIONSHIPS-TRINIDAD, SAT-JUNE 5^th,BRIAN SENIOR

GUADELOUPE WINS NATIONAL OPEN TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Guadeloupe are the new CACBF National Open Team champions. They defeated Venezuela in the final. After a close first 32 boards, Guadeloupe took control in the third set and consolidated their lead in the fourth, leaving Venezuela with too much to do to come back. The final results was 212 IMPs to 103 IMPs.

The Open Teams was won by Joanne Greene’s US squad, who went into the last set of their final against Paul Hackett’s team just 1.5 IMPs ahead and extended that to 15.5 at the finish of the match (131.5 to 116).

This morning’s Callaloo Pairs was cancelled due to lack of interest, but the Mixed Pairs attracted an entry of 21 tables and was won by Katherine Lawrence of St. Lucia and Gabriel Jardine of Trinidad.

So another CACBF Championship is over. I, and all my team, have thoroughly enjoyed both the tournament and the superb Trinidad hospitality and can’t wait to come back again. I hope we will see you all again soon.

The Open Teams Final

The final of the Open Teams, between Greene and Hackett, was close throughout. Greene had a small carry-over advantage but Hackett overturned that in the first set and moved into the lead. They had some good fortune on the following deal.

BOARD 12		ª A J T 6 2
VUL: N/S		© T 8 6
DLR: WEST		¨ J 6
		§ J 9 2
ª --					ª 9 8 4 3
© A 5 4					© Q J 9 7 2
¨ A K 9 8 7					¨ Q 3
§ A K Q T 8					§ 7 6
		ª K Q 7 5
		© K 3
		¨ T 5 4 2
		§ 5 4 3
North	East		South	West
	Tchamitch			Senior
--	--		--	1¨
Pass	1©		Pass	3§
Pass	3©		Pass	4§
Pass	4¨		Pass	4ª
Pass	5¨		Pass	6©
All Pass

For Greene, Sontag/Weichsel stopped safely in game on the East/West cards. Senior/Tchamitch reached a poor slam. The problem is that, while there is only really one loser – a heart – a spade lead leaves declarer very awkwardly placed to draw trumps while still keeping control of the spades. Senior could see the danger, hence his 4§ bid rather than just going straight for slam in hearts, but he eventually gave up on the minors and settled for 6© , thinking that the 3© bid must show a decent suit as East had bypassed preference to diamonds.

Sure enough, the lead was a spade, ruffed in dummy. As the cards lie, crossing to the ¨ Q to lead the © Q allows you to pick up the whole heart suit without loss. Tchamitch tried a different play, which rated to work against © Kx on either side. He led a low heart to the nine at trick two, so was able to ruff the next spade with the ace of hearts, cross to the ¨ Q, and draw the remaining trumps; +980 and 11 IMPs to Hackett.

Set two saw Greene retake the lead, albeit by only 0.5 IMP. This next deal was the key to the set, giving Jason Hackett a chance to either gain or lose 13 IMPs, according to how he read the ending in a thin slam.

BOARD 20	ª A J T 3
VUL: BOTH	© T 5 4
DLR: WEST	¨ 8 6
	§ 8 7 6 5
ª K 7 5 2		ª Q 6
© A Q 9		© 8 2
¨ Q T 5		¨ A K 9 7 4
§ K Q T		§ A 4 3 2
	ª 9 8 4
	© K J 7 6 3
	¨ J 3 2
	§ J 9

Jason played 6NT from the West seat after opening a strong no trump and East showing 5-4 in the minors. The lead was a club. It all came down to the endgame where, after playing a spade to the queen and cashing nine minor-suit tricks, Jason was down to ª K and © AQ and knew the ª A was on his left. Now, should he take the heart finesse or play North to hold the © K also?

In the latter case, there were two possibilities, that North had bared the © K and it would now drop, or that he had bared the ª A and could be endplayed to lead into the heart tenace. Jason was confident that he had the count of the hand and that North had come down to one heart and two spades, so the endplay was not an option. After much thought he decided that the reason for the club opening lead, which could have been risky with dummy known to have club length, was that North had high cards in both majors and did not wish to lead from them. He led a heart to the ace, trying to drop a bare king, and was one down.

I doubt that it is much consolation, but Smith got the ending wrong at the other table for much the same reason, but he was only in game so still made +660. That was 13 IMPs to Greene when it might have been 13 to Hackett.

In the National Open Teams Final, Steve Hamaoui of Venezuela played this hand in 6¨ from East. The lead was a spade which ran to his queen. Hamaoui drew three rounds of trumps and North pitched a heart. Now he played a spade and ducked when South’s nine came up.

South switched to a heart so Hamaoui had to finesse the queen – much better odds than trying to ruff out ace- third of spades, which would also still leave the fourth club to be catered for. Now he ruffed a spade, just in case the ace might appear, then played ace and ruffed a heart. As the cards lay, this play was unnecessary, as the clubs were coming in for four tricks, but had North held § Jxxx, it would have squeezed him between the clubs and the ª A and would have been essential to the fulfillment of the contract.