Hiyo Silver

It’s silver points for a week again. So far I’ve only played one session. The field wasn’t large, considering, at 17 tables. But it made up for that with quality – it seems that a lot of the local pros had clients that wanted silver! So I was well pleased to have a session with few mistakes and scoring over 50%. We actually finished on 53%, and 7th place, but with one round to go we were at 55% and 5th very close to 4th. The last two boards dropped us out of contention without us making a gross error. But that’s the way of matchpoints when the field is tight.

We got off to a good fast start. First board:

Love all, dlr S

          ♠ A J 3 2
          ♥ 6
          ♦ Q 5 4
          ♣ 10 6 5 4 2
♠ Q 9                 ♠ K
♥ K 9 7 4 3 [ ]       ♥ J 8 5
♦ J 6 3 2             ♦ K 10 9 8 7
♣ 9 3                 ♣ K Q J 7
          ♠ 10 8 7 6 5 4
          ♥ A Q 10 2
          ♦ A
          ♣ A 8

S    W    N    E
1♠   pass 4♠   All pass

Perhaps the jump to game is a bit ambitious, but the North hand looks very good for a raise to 2♠. Even if that’s all you do, South is worth a raise anyway. He only has five losers, and the sixth trump provides some compensation for the lack of honors. Nevertheless, we scored above average for this – some people didn’t get there.

Third board:

Game all, dlr N

          ♠ Q 4 2
          ♥ J 8 7 4 2
          ♦ 9 8 4 3
          ♣ 9
♠ 8 7                ♠ 10 9 6 3
♥ 10 6 3   [ ]       ♥ Q
♦ K Q J 2            ♦ A 10 6 5
♣ A K J 6            ♣ 10 8 7 4
          ♠ A K J 5
          ♥ A K 9 5
          ♦ 7
          ♣ Q 5 3 2

N    E    S    W
Pass pass 1♣   pass
1♥   pass 4♥   All pass

West decided to pass over 1♣, and I decided I couldn’t pass with a singleton and a 5-card major. South should probably only raise to 3♥ (on most people’s evaluation scale, anyway) but he liked his controls and went all the way. When the ♥Q dropped, I had ten easy tricks and cashed out for all the matchpoints – nobody else reached this one.

We got another clear top on a psychological defence, pressuring a declarer who erred at trick one.

Game all, dlr W

          ♠ A Q 7 4
          ♥ Q J 4
          ♦ 9 8 3
          ♣ 10 8 6
♠ J 9 6 5            ♠ 10 3
♥ 10 7 5 2  [ ]      ♥ A K
♦ 7 4                ♦ A K J 10 6 2
♣ A K Q              ♣ J 9 7
          ♠ K 8 2
          ♥ 9 8 6 3
          ♦ Q 5
          ♣ 5 4 3 2

W    N    E    S
Pass Pass 1♦   Pass
1♥   Pass 2♦   Pass
2NT  Pass 3NT  All pass

I started prosaically enough with the ♠4, and declarer foolishly played the ♠10 from dummy. Partner won the ♠K and returned the ♠8, covered by the 9 and Q. Obviously, partner’s only possible entry was the ♦Q, so I switched to the ♦9. This gave declarer something to think about. I had an easy safe exit in hearts, so why switch to a diamond? Was I trying to talk him out of a winning finesse? Declarer won the ♦A and crossed to a club to lead another diamond, but that didn’t really help him. Eventually, he decided I was being a smartass and finessed. Down one, with everyone else making, and many of them taking ten tricks.

AQ opposite K can be a difficult suit to cash out, unless you’re defending against us.

N-S Game, dlr S

          ♠ A K Q J 3
          ♥ K J 9
          ♦ 8 2
          ♣ J 6 4
♠ 10 4               ♠ 9 8 2
♥ 5 4       [ ]      ♥ 10 8 6 2
♦ A 10 6 5 4         ♦ 9 7 3
♣ K 9 8 7            ♣ A Q 2
          ♠ 7 6 5
          ♥ A Q 7 3
          ♦ K Q J
          ♣ 10 5 3
S    W    N    E
1♦   Pass 1♠   Pass
1NT  Pass 3NT  All pass

Partner didn’t want to open his feeble club suit, but the result was disastrous. A natural diamond lead lets him run home with ten tricks. Instead, West led a club, and the defence cashed out for down one before he even got started. For variation, half the field was in 4♠, and that has four top losers for down one also. Nevertheless, that was making almost all the time too.