The Tuesday
night duplicate at Cheadle Hulme provides a good competition for those
who find the standard on Mondays and Fridays too challenging. I
played
in it for the first time a couple of weeks ago, there was a good
turnout of ten tables with a pleasant atmosphere.
Pairs E/W Vul Dealer South (Board rotated for convenience)
(1) Natural and game forcing (2) Since we are in a game forcing situation this showed extra values and a good suit (one loser or a solid suit) (3) A control in clubs, agreeing spades (4) Two key cards (5) There seem likely
to be plenty of tricks so going for the higher scoring contract.
Also (see the very first deal of the week 26th Aug 2015), when there
are plenty of tricks play in six notrump rather than six of a suit in
case trumps break badly. Here if spades had split five nil then
six notrump may make by playing on diamonds. There seemed little
point in investigating a grand slam, since the room is likely to either
miss the slam or play in spades. In fact six spades is a better
contract at pairs, because it is possible to get a club ruff in dummy
if clubs break reasonably which is much better odds than the diamond
finesse.
There was little to the play, spades broke and the diamond king was onside, so I made thirteen tricks. As predicted, three tables missed slam and the other four tables played in six spades, so six notrump scored a top. |