Hertfordshire v Bedfordshire in the Eastern Counties League      October 2007

THE clash with Bedfordshire on Sunday, October 14 produced two convincing wins and one narrow loss for the three county teams of eight.

The C team won by 20-0 and the B team scored only one fewer victory points, but the elite squad were squeezed out 19-1 in the match in Wilstead Village Hall, just south of Bedford.

The B squad in which I played scored well in the slam zone, bidding some sound six-level contracts and avoiding bad ones unwisely attempted by our opponents.

Quite a few souths went wrong declaring six no-trumps on this deal.


NORTH

S - KQxx

H - xx

D - Kx

C - AKj9x



SOUTH

S - AJ10

H - AQJx

D - AJ9xx

C - x


On a neutral spade lead it is fairly straightforward to play diamonds first as they may produce five tricks, and if they are worth only four you can play for the club queen dropping and then take two heart finesses. In fact you can score three diamond tricks only as there are five to the queen on your right, but no matter - there are still two entries for the successful heart play.

But on a club lead, which takes out one of dummy's entries early, declarers who played diamonds at trick two went off as the four-two spades produce one entry only. If the heart finesse is taken straight away, however, the king of diamonds provides the extra entry needed to make 12 tricks.

I got that one right, but failed to find the best defence to three no-trumps on this deal:


WEST (dummy)

S - Kxx

H - HJ8x

D - Kxxx

C - KX


SOUTH

S - 987x

H - K9x

D - Qx

C - AJ9x


West opened one heart and raised a natural two no-trumps to three.

Partner led a diamond from four small, and declarer cashed AJ10,
giving me a discount problem. Reasoning correctly that he was probably 3334,
I threw a spade, which I didn't think would cost. In fact it cost the
contract.

I got in twice in hearts, playing spades each time to establish a
trick from partner's QJx. In again with the ace of clubs, I was aghast to
find I had thrown away the only possible fifth defensive trick.

While a club discard could have been exploited by declarer to develop
a trick in that suit, in practice this is hard for him to spot.

EAST

S - A10x

H - 10xx

D - AJ10

C - Qxxx