On Thursday 25th March Les’ Crowthorne ‘B’ team (Les, Simon, Chris, Dave) played their twelfth and last match in this season’s BBL division 2. The match was against the Bracknell Forest ‘A’ team. A 17-3 win leaves Les with a 5-7 record this season and an 8.3VP average.
Les jumped out to an excellent 27imp (40-13) lead after the first half and improved that lead marginally in the second half by 3imp (21-18 ) for an overall 61-31imp or 17-3VP win. This leaves Les needing Finchampstead ‘A’ to score less than 10VP for his team to avoid relegation to division 3.
There were 5 double figure swings 3 to Les – a total 15imp swing to Les. 15 boards produced a 3imp swing or less – totalling 5imp to Les. The 4 intermediate swings, 3 to Les, totalled 10imps to Les.
Les excelled himself again recording every lead. Here are the double figure swings and a board where Chris and Dave missed game:-
Board 2 - 13 imps to Les as he (North) made 6
+2 (+1430) on the
8 lead whilst Bracknell Forest’s South made 4
+2 (-680) on the
8 lead.
A nicely judged slam by Les and Simon on 28 HCP but bags of distribution to compensate. Even on a
lead and the 4-1
break, Les just has time to set up his
suit to discard dummy’s third
for a ruff. Simon – how did the bidding go?
Board 4 - 12imps to Bracknell Forest as their North made 6
* (-1660) on the
K lead whilst Les (North) made 5
*+1 (+1050) on the
K lead.
This was a hair-raising board! Chris and Dave pushed Bracknell Forest into 6
, doubled it and failed to find the
lead to beat the contract. After the auction (3
) – 4
- (4
) – 4
- (5
) – 5
- (6
) – X – All pass this was not that surprising. 5
should go 5 down (-1500) – would Chris and Dave have found the par contract of 6
*-2 (-500) – Dave doesn’t think so! Anyway Les and Simon did their best to limit the damage playing at the highest achievable level in the
suit.
Board 7 - 11 imps to Bracknell Forest as their North made 3
+1 (-130) on the
2 lead whilst Simon (South) made 3N+1 (+630) on the
7 lead.
Accurate defence holds Simon to 8 tricks but it looks easy to go wrong as the
suit starts to rumble. Nothing wrong with the
lead or a
return but after that a minor must be played. A
to the
A and another
through yields 5 tricks quickly whereas a
leaves declarer to suffer a lingering death or get lucky with a mis-defence.
Board 16 - 13 imps to Les as their West made 5
-2 (+200) on the
Q lead whilst Les (East) made 3N (+600) on a
x lead.
| Board | 16 | | Dlr: | N | | Vul: | None | | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
The bidding was something like (1
) – NB – (3
) – 3
- (3N) – 4
- (5
) – All pass. Dave was ploughing a very dodgy lone furrow given Chris’ silence with his second
bid but it pushed Bracknell Forest from a making 3N to and impossible 5
contract. As it turned out 4
turns out to be only 1 down.
Board 17 – 6 imps to Bracknell Forest as Dave (South) made 3
+1 (+170) on the
5 lead whilst Bracknell Forest’s North made 3N (-400) on the
Q lead.
| Board | 17 | | Dlr: | N | | Vul: | None | | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
Chris and Dave’s auction was 1
- 1
- 2
- 2N – 3
- All pass. Partnership agreement is that this sequence is forcing, but Dave choose to pass given his poor
suit, having only 10 points and Chris weak rebid. This turned out to be spectacularly wrong as 11 tricks can be made in
s and
s, 10 tricks in NT and
s (a 3-3 fit) and even 9 tricks in the 4-2
fit!
Board 23 - 10 imps to Bracknell Forest’s as their South made 3N+1 (-630) on the
3 lead whilst Dave (South) made 2N+1 (+150) on the same lead.
After 1
- 1
- 2N, this is a tight decision for Chris. 7 points opposite a known 17-18. His intermediates are not bad and Dave would be inclined to bid the game as we are vulnerable. But switch the
K from East to West and 3N goes down.
We await the result of Finchampstead 'A's last match with interest!
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Bracknell Forest 'A' (A) - (25/03/10)
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