PORT ALFRED BRIDGE CLUB

Port Alfred Pairs Thursday, 16 November 2023 Board 01 Dealer N,

none vulnerable. BBO 10237 From the results shown below playing with diamonds as the trump suit different declarers made 8, 9 or 10 tricks. 8 tricks earned 2 out of 10 points; nine tricks earned 8 out of 10 points and 10 tricks earned 10 out of 10 points. Inspecting all four hands E-W have 1 loser in spades, 1 loser in hearts, 2 losers in diamonds and either 1 or no losers in clubs, depending on whether or not it is possible to ruff a club in dummy. Clearly the play of the cards and the defense are very important factors in scoring the deal. The likely bidding auction is shown below. West has good shape to his/her hand and may bid to the ‘three level’ even without support from partner, because of the vulnerability. East’s 3D is sensible, just showing preference for diamonds. Some North’s may compete to 3H considering the vulnerability and the fact that he/she holds 11 points sitting behind the strongest hand at the table.

Looking at all four hands with N-S playing in hearts they are likely to lose two club tricks, no diamond tricks, three heart tricks and perhaps no spade tricks therefore going one down. Thus if a 3D contract can make 9 tricks scoring 110 points, playing in 3H going one down losing 50 points is a better result for N-S. So at the bridge table you must listen carefully to the bidding and try to assess how you can obtain your best available score. 2CW -1; 2DW +1; 3CW -1; 3DW -1; 3DW +1; 3HS -1 1st J Fitzhenry & S Purdon ……53.6% 2nd H Clohessy & M Wesselo ..53.2% 1st J Tagg & K Botha ………… ..57.5%

2nd D Ellender & R Wood..… .... 55.8%