The final of Oxfordshire’s teams of four knockout competition was a 48 board match between BROWN (Brown-Day; Lonsdale-McPhee) and BADIANI (Badiani-Walker; Fearnhead-Fearnhead; Cohen-Noble). For the most part I will do my best to be objective, but I hope it will be clear when I am giving a very personal opinion. I did not watch the play when I sat out, and I am happy to record my thanks to Richard Lonsdale, Steve Noble and Paul Fearnhead for helping me fill the gaps.

This was the full hand:

Up until 4§ , this auction makes as much sense as any, I suppose. When my partner bid 4ª I knew that she did not have primary spade support (she could have set spades as trumps by bidding 3ª over 3§ ), that her diamonds were not worth stressing (she could have bid 3¨ over 3§ ) and that she did not have a balanced hand (she could have bid 4NT natural over 4§ , showing a hand too good to sign off in 3NT on the round before). From my perspective, North might well have been cue bidding with clubs implicitly agreed because with § Qxx for example, she could not commit to clubs until she knew I had the fifth club. In our system, North would be obliged to cue bid spades before diamonds so a grand slam was still possible. After the response to keycard, I thought I could place the contract at 6§ . Partner corrected to 6ª and McPhee, no doubt aware that all suits were breaking badly, chanced a double (perhaps hoping to induce a misguess in the play).

Lonsdale-McPhee did well enough to find out that neither had a club control. The problem was more that they had locked themselves into playing the wrong trump suit. I’m not sure that particular East hand is entirely suitable for a fit-jump: although it is easy enough to construct hands where it is vital to play in hearts, the disparity in suit length (particularly in a style where West may easily have a four card major) makes it a dangerous bid. Still, with Lonsdale showing a balanced hand and then a high card in spades it ought to have been possible to get back to spades. The 5 level in hearts was simply too high. Walker cashed the ace and king of clubs, and North-South collected a trump trick in due course. Notice that 5ª does make: if the defence cashes § A and § K, there are two discards for the losing hearts, and if not then a club loser goes on ¨ A.

Here, Cohen knew Noble had 15-17 with at least four diamonds and precisely four hearts. Given that 7ª is cold facing a perfect dummy (Ax/KQJx/xxxx/AKx) and very good facing something like Ax/KQxx/Axxx/Axx, her 4ª bid looks cautious. Even so, that was 650 to Badiani to go with 100 from the other room for 13 imps.

With neither East nor West prepared to bid no trumps, I was fairly confident partner had © K and led © 7. Walker won and fatally played ª A and another. McPhee could let this run round to my queen and all I could do was cash another heart. This is a common enough situation, in which to keep control of the hand North must simply play a low spade. If declarer has three hearts, he cannot dispose of his losing hearts without allowing North in again to draw dummy’s second trump. This also caters for the distribution above, when South can switch to a diamond on winning the spade queen. Of course, if I had led a diamond the defence would have been even easier. With Cohen-Noble making 3§ at the other table, this was a small opportunity missed.

When Badiani-Walker held the North-South cards, they bid uncontested to 3NT (1¨ -1ª ; 1NT-3NT). Lonsdale led § 10, and with no realistic alternative I played § A at trick 1 hoping McPhee might forget to unblock with § KQx, or have § KQ as here. When he followed with § Q I feared the worst, but when he failed to produce a third club after winning ¨ A and cashing § K I was relieved to claim nine tricks. Cohen had no inhibitions about opening the East cards 1NT vulnerable. Brown thought long and hard before passing. Now when Noble passed, North-South defended 1NT and defeated it by four tricks for a strange +400. Noble’s decision might have been based on Brown’s pause for thought but I fear it may have been for the more prosaic reason that his methods did not allow him to sign off in 3§ ! With 2§ only down 1 and game not easy to reach, perhaps it was as well for his team that Brown did not double. That was 5 imps to Badiani, who led by 18 imps after 8 boards.

Lonsdale led ¨ A, saw that McPhee had an odd number of diamonds, and found the good switch of ª K. When this won, Lonsdale continued the suit. Declarer won, drew trumps and exited with a diamond to West’s ace. Whatever Lonsdale did, declarer would lose at most just two further tricks. Note Fearnhead’s careful play of the spade suit. Had he taken the first spade, he could have found himself later needing to guess the club suit to make his contract. As it was, McPhee could only get in to cash his winning spade if the defence first played clubs (thereby giving South a helping hand with his problem in that suit).

(1) 4+ hearts, either a limit raise to 3© or 16+ HCP

was on lead against 4ª after the auction

She chose to lead ¨ K and was confronted with the situation below:

Paul Fearnhead signalled an even number of diamonds and now it was difficult for Alex to do other than cash ¨ A, give her partner a diamond ruff, and hope for a heart trick or a trump trick. Unfortunately for her, the full layout was:

Passive defence defeats the game as we can see. As it was, when East ruffed the third round of diamonds with ª J it was with a natural trump trick. Paul then tried to cash © A. But Lonsdale ruffed and, catering to East having ª J9, ran the ª 10. That took care of the trump suit and when he later guessed the club suit that was an excellent 620 for Brown. With Badiani-Walker stopping in 2ª that was 10 imps to Brown.

1. Take Out

Here, where Walker was not tempted to open with two thin suits in second seat, I thought I had a difficult bid over the 3§ preempt, with 3© , 3NT, Double and even Pass all lively contenders. When Day raised aggressively to 4§ Walker had an easy take out double, and I think I had an equally clear pass. On further reflection, I think © A would have been a better lead but hoping to make the most of my small trumps I chose ª K. North showed an odd number of spades and I switched to © A. Partner’s © 10 was encouraging and I really should have continued hearts. When I went for complete safety by cashing ¨ A to observe partner’s signal in that suit I had ruined our chances. Walker discouraged with ¨ 3 and I switched back to hearts. Now Walker considered underleading her ¨ K for some time, hoping to reclaim the heart ruff I had spurned. Eventually she simply cashed a diamond for two down. A very poor effort from me when, in principle, we can take two hearts, a heart ruff, a spade and two diamonds before forcing dummy with a third diamond to promote § K for four down and 800. That board earned Brown 8 imps and came close to levelling the match.

Having already overbid my hand with double on the first round, it is unclear what prompted me to bid 3ª . With 3ª doubled likely to cost at least 500, this was a lucky escape to be sure. When Brown-Day pushed on to game and lost the three obvious tricks this looked to be even luckier. However, the Fearnheads declared 3NT on the East-West cards and went one down for a flat board.

Both sides bid 1NT-3NT and both Norths led ª 3. Brown won, cashed ¨ A, crossed to © A (Walker playing the 2) and played a diamond. When North showed out, the best Brown could do was win ¨ K and play on hearts for one off. Paul Fearnhead played a heart at trick 2, but here McPhee played © J. With eight tricks in the bag and, if the lead was to be believed, the defence having only four spades to cash, Fearnhead saw no harm in ducking a spade in the hope that North-South would cash their tricks in the suit (thereby improving declarer’s chances in the ending). With both minors locked up, McPhee really should have foreseen his fate if spades were cashed prematurely and should therefore have played § K before the spades. But he ill advisedly won ª KQ and played a third to Lonsdale, who cashed the last spade. Now when Lonsdale got out with a diamond, Fearnhead was able to play his heart winners to squeeze McPhee in the minors. Unable to hold on to both the diamond and club guards, he had to concede. McPhee must have been doubly sorry that he had four diamonds (with three, he could have tried coming down to the singleton ¨ Q over dummy’s KJ). Bridge is very much about mistakes rather than brilliancies, and a player who frequently gives his opponents the chance to go wrong is sure to gain on at least some of those occasions. Although it is easy to criticise McPhee’s defence, full credit to Paul Fearnhead for a superb effort. That board maintained Badiani’s edge, and his team led by 10 imps at the halfway mark.

Marian Day declared 3NT as West, East having shown four spades in an uncontested auction. Walker led a low club. Day won and immediately led three rounds of diamonds. Walker, unable to keep the suit guarded in any case, threw two hearts as I won ¨ 9 and followed with ¨ Q. Now when I switched to a low spade I thought Marian Day did exceptionally well to put in ª 10. When that forced the ace and the heart suit came in she was home and dry. I have every sympathy for the low club lead, but it does look as though the § Q would have worked better with this layout. That would deprive declarer of a cheap eighth trick and should lead to defeating the contract by a trick.

Lonsdale led his fourth best spade and Cohen understandably put up dummy’s king. McPhee won ª A and returned ª 2. Lonsdale won ª J and, concerned that McPhee might have started with ª A982, played a third, low spade. Although Cohen’s 2NT made no statement about spades, this still looks wrong for two reasons. First, McPhee might well have raised with four card support. Second, even though the ‘normal’ card to return from ª A982 would be ª 2, here McPhee would know to start unblocking the suit by returning ª 9. North and dummy both threw a club, Cohen winning with ª 9. Now Cohen read the hand very well: she cashed all her aces and kings before exiting with a club to North. McPhee could take his two club winners but then had to lead into dummy’s heart tenace to give declarer her ninth trick. A great effort from Cohen to flatten the board. Cohen could have followed a similar line even if Lonsdale had played a high spade at trick 3. It looks to be a difficult defence to find, but if he instead switches to clubs or hearts then declarer has no eighth trick and the defence should come out on top.

Day opened the West cards with a multi 2¨ . Brown responded 2© and when Day rebid 2NT to show a balanced 19-20 Brown ‘transferred’ to 3© then, after long thought, passed. Holding two aces under the strong balanced hand (and with Brown apparently close to bidding game), I decided to try to make the most of any opportunities to lead through dummy and force declarer to guess early by leading § 6. Day must have been concerned when she tabled a dummy including © AKQ. It would have been easy for my partner to play a learned but pointless § 4 yet she covered dummy’s queen with her king and switched to the ª J. I won and gave her a spade ruff with ª 3. When she returned a club to my ace I had to decide whether she had © J. Given Brown’s pause for thought it was clear he didn’t have as much as an ace so I played a diamond for the ‘certain’ down one. (I think North should cash ¨ A before returning a club to South’s ace: that ought to guarantee a spade return from South and would defeat the contract by two tricks.)

During the entire 48 boards, it was rare for the Badiani team to bid to a higher level than Brown but this was one of those occasions. Noble opened 2NT (20-22) and Cohen, with no idea how the hands meshed, took the aggressive route and transferred to hearts before raising to game. That looked to be a gain of anything from 3 to 5 imps for Brown. McPhee led ª J but it was hard for Lonsdale to tell that this was a singleton. He won ª A and played a club to McPhee’s king. Now when McPhee returned a club to South’s ace, Lonsdale returned … a club. Noble ruffed, was relieved to see trumps break 2-2, and claimed. Certainly Lonsdale would have been right if, for example, declarer had a hand such as KQx/AKx/AJ/QJxxx. Should McPhee have cashed ¨ A before returning a club? I think so. The only danger in cashing ¨ A is that it sets up declarer’s diamonds for club discards. This requires declarer’s spades to be only king high (if declarer has ª KQ he can always throw a club on the spades) and his diamonds to be KJx or similar, i.e. something like Kxxx/AKJ/KJx/AJx. But even if partner has done so well as to play a low club from Qx, surely declarer would have run it round to the nine in dummy. So I think McPhee was careless: he assumed that his partner would know to return a spade but in reality the spade position was hard for Lonsdale to read. Cashing ¨ A looks like a virtually no-cost way to defeat the contract whenever it can be defeated. Differences in bidding methods played a small role here as well. One of the disadvantages of the multi is that it allows the opponents two bites at the cherry but, as in this case, it can also lead to wrongsided contracts. Here, the defence against 3© was made much easier as a result of the strong hand being dummy (this could, and perhaps should, have been avoided by East responding 2ª ). A fine result for Cohen-Noble, gaining 12 imps for Badiani who now led by 19 imps with 16 boards left to play.

Walker led § A and continued the suit to Lonsdale’s queen. He played ¨ J, covered and won with the ace in dummy, before throwing his heart on dummy’s club king as Walker ruffed. She continued with ¨ Q and a diamond for me to ruff. With two trumps to come, that was one down and +100 for North-South. Now I hate to admit this, but in reconstructing the hand to gauge our result I gave South § Q rather than East. I further convinced myself that we were quite likely to make 3NT and had therefore perhaps just lost 10 imps or so. Not to worry too much, that would still leave a lead of 18 imps.

I am unrepentant about the 2ª bid, and it is certainly in keeping with partnership style (weak, very wide-ranging facing a passed partner, and frequently a 5 card suit) and description. Within that style, the South hand cannot afford to bid 4ª . Having very good defence against 3NT and 4© , it looks better to try 2NT (relay, similar to a 2NT response to a weak two bid). McPhee’s double was described as penalty. (I have no doubt that I was given the correct description of the partnership agreement, but from East-West’s point of view I think there is a world of difference between doubling with a void spade and doubling with, say, a doubleton spade. For example, interchange a spade and a diamond between North and East to see what I mean. Here, the final contract was going to be the same however double was described.) That was 500 to Lonsdale-McPhee, and I was seriously concerned that if team mates failed to bid to 5¨ we might well have lost another 8 imps or so. Still, even if both boards so far did prove to be disasters, we had about 10 left in the bank.

McPhee’s 3§ was forcing. With both black aces it must have been tempting for Lonsdale to shoot out 3NT but he judged extremely well to bid 3© . That left McPhee with too little in the black suits to try for 3NT and the pair bid well to the best game contract.

On the ª Q lead, it looks to me as though there are several possible lines. For example, if South has something like KJxxxx/xx/Qxx/Kx declarer can cash § A, cross to © A and finesse © J before throwing his losing spade on the king of hearts. South can only ruff at the expense of her trump trick and with diamonds breaking evenly declarer loses just a trump and a diamond.

McPhee won ª A and crossed to ¨ A (both North and South showing an odd number of diamonds). If he was going to pursue a line such as the one mentioned above, he could not afford to take a losing club finesse. Not willing to forego the trump finesse, declarer ran § Q. Walker won, cashed a spade, and played another spade to leave McPhee needing a favourable, but not entirely unlikely, layout in the red suits. He needed to find North with either © Q109 precisely, or © Qxxx and four or more diamonds. When declarer ran the trumps I was indeed squeezed in hearts and diamonds. By the time he played his last trump, I had to discard from © Q1073/¨ QJ ahead of dummy’s © KJ85/¨ 87 and had no answer. A great effort from Lonsdale in the auction and McPhee in the play looked to be another game swing out from my point of view.

(1) Weak two in either major, with precisely a 5 card suit
(2) RKCB
(3) 2 keycards, no ª Q.

In my view Lonsdale’s hand required more subtlety than that bludgeon of a leap to 4NT. As it turned out, he was merely gambling that one of McPhee’s keycards was not © A, but the problem would have been even more acute had McPhee shown 3 keycards. 7ª would be cold facing AKxxxx/xxx/Ax/xx or AKxxx/xxx/AQx/xx but there could be no confidence in bidding it. McPhee ruffed the heart lead and might well have made the contract now had he not drawn any trumps. (Ruff heart lead, § AK throwing a diamond, club ruff, diamond to the king, and now play on cross-ruff lines; it doesn’t matter if North wins ¨ A to lead a trump because all of declarer’s hearts can still be ruffed. With North having a singleton spade, even an initial trump lead cannot damage this line. On a non-trump lead all that is required is that ¨ A is onside and diamonds are not 5-1.) When he chose to draw trumps, however, he was left with one heart that could not be ruffed away and needed to find ¨ Q onside. One down and some breathing space for Badiani. And so to the final board:

On © 9 lead this contract had no chance. When Walker played © K, A and 10 to the first three tricks it was clear that she had an ace outside (otherwise she would have ducked trick 1 in an effort to keep communications open between the North and South hands). When McPhee threw a spade from dummy on the third heart and played a diamond up, it was easy enough for me to play ¨ Q and lock him in dummy. Forced to concede a diamond trick to North, he ended up losing four hearts, a diamond and a club for down two.

On Board 13 Brown-Day did indeed reach 3NT, declared by South. On Alex Fearnhead’s heart lead, this contract had no play whatsoever. With the club suit in dummy wasted, declarer eventually went 3 down. That was 9 imps in when (owing to my inexplicably giving South § Q while trying to judge our score) I had thought we might lose 10!

1. Single-suited escape
2. Forcing and consistent with a penalty double
3. Unwilling to defend 2ª doubled

3© looks as though it should make in some comfort, either by ruffing spades in hand and a club in dummy or, if the defence play trumps, by playing on diamonds. But declarer lost her way to go one down. Plus 50 to go with plus 500 added up to 11 imps for Brown.

On Board 15, when the ‘normal’ lead would probably have allowed a thin 4ª to make, Brown-Day also stopped in 2ª making 10 tricks for a flat board. Board 16 was an overtrick imp to Badiani.

On Board 11 Brown also opened 2¨ and Alex also overcalled 2ª , but where Lonsdale had launched into RKCB Paul Fearnhead preferred to splinter in hearts. He made one further try with 5§ over his partner’s sign off, but when she rebid spades again he passed. 5ª made easily for 11 imps to Badiani.

1. Hearts and clubs

Brown looks to have done too much here. I suppose on a good day he would have found himself in a playable 4© facing something like xxxx/Qx/xx/Kxxx but his hand looks very defensive to me. Perhaps he felt the state of the match warranted a stretch with these cards. He cannot have enjoyed the play very much. Alex led a diamond to dummy’s queen and Paul’s king. East then played ª AK, on which West signalled an even number with ª 8 followed by ª 2, before switching to a trump. Brown finessed, losing to West’s queen of hearts. When declarer ruffed the diamond continuation and chose to draw trumps he was in trouble. Down to one trump in hand with the clubs yet to be established, South tried a low club. This was won by East’s § 10, and a further diamond attack took declarer’s last trump. When declarer played § A and another Alex found herself, on lead at trick 12 with ª 103 under dummy’s ª J7, wishing she had not wasted the eight earlier. When she played the three, declarer had to guess who had the ten. His misery was complete when he called for dummy’s jack and lost the last trick to West’s ª 10. A nasty result for Brown, who went three down vulnerable. Declarer would have done better to win the trump switch at trick four and play on clubs immediately, although two down would hardly have been a triumph.