LONDON TROPHY FINALS – 2007

by Michael Hill

On 3rd June, the Royal Automobile Club generously provided a venue for the finals of the London Trophy, the LMBA competition for sports and social clubs. This consists of three matches played simultaneously using the same boards - the final for the London Trophy itself, the play-off for third place between the losing semi-finalists and the final of the competition for first round losers for the Della-Porta Plate.

 

The three matches were: -

 

            London Trophy final:     

Cameron McKenna vs. Sundridge Park Golf Club 1

 

            Third place play-off:

MCC vs. Royal Wimbledon Golf Club 1

 

            Della-Porta Plate final:

RAC Pall Mall 1 vs. Old Actonians

 

It is strange that, whilst slam swings are what matters most in an aggregate scoring event like this, the greatest interest is often in the part scores. The second board was a case in point.

 

Board 2 

Dealer E. NS game.

                        S 9654

                        H KQ

                        D A7

                        C J9874

S A7                                         S KQJ102

H 8543                                     H 62

D J932                                      D Q8

C A63                                      C KQ102

                        S 83

                        H AJ1097

                        D K10654

                        C 5

 

East opened 1S and, at most the tables, North-South were silent and the auction continued 1NT-2C-2S, where it ended (although one South tried a take-out double of 2C along the way and one tried a protective 2H overcall after East initially passed West’s 1NT). The normal C5 lead picked up that suit for declarer (although he should always be able to do it for himself) so, after drawing trumps, there were nine top tricks and no prospect of more. At one table in the third-place play-off, West decided he was worth a response of 2D instead of 1NT and this led to a contract of 3S - but somewhere, declarer lost her way, in spite of the club lead, and came to only eight tricks. However, the interest focused on one table in the Plate where South found an immediate overcall of 2H over 1S, which silenced West. North raised to 3H on his KQ doubleton and that ended the auction. An immediate trump lead would have doomed declarer but, not unreasonably, the defence began with three rounds of spades. Harvey Thomas, for Old Actonians, ruffed the third spade high, cashed the AK of diamonds, ruffed a diamond, ruffed another spade high and ruffed another diamond with dummy’s last trump. West was down to four small trumps and the CA, so the forced club exit endplayed him to lead into declarer’s trump tenace and concede the ninth trick. Had West discarded the CA instead of a small club, East could have won the club exit – but the defence still has to be careful. East must lead the H2 and, when declarer wins and leads the last diamond, West has to ruff small and East has to over-ruff his partner to be able to lead though declarer at trick 12. If he chose to exit with the H6 rather than the H2 at trick 10, he cannot over-ruff while, if he exited with a black card, declarer merely discards his diamond and West, who has only trumps left, is force to ruff his partner’s winner. Either of these sets up the same end-play as before for declarer’s ninth trick. A lot of hard work for a swing of 280 points.

 

Board 4 provided the first big swing – but only in the third-place play-off. At most tables, North opened 1H second in hand on his six-card suit and ten points but, in this match, the Royal Wimbledon North passed. The MCC East-West pair then bid unopposed to a thin 3NT. With no bidding from North to guide her, South led a diamond from KJ1096 into declarer’s AQ – and that tempo was enough to enable him to bring home the contract. On a heart lead, seven tricks would have been the limit. At the other table, the MCC North-South were allowed to play quietly in 2H making eight tricks – so that was a swing of 740 points to MCC.

 

Board 6 gave us the first big swing in the Trophy final. It was a routine 4H for East-West, making twelve tricks on a favourable lie of the cards and bid at five of the six tables. However, the Sundridge Park East decided not to “correct” 3NT to 4H and paid the price of seeing the defence cash the first six club tricks for a swing of 850 to Cameron McKenna.

 

Board 7 was the first serious slam prospect.

 

Board 7 

Dealer S. Game all.

                        S AKQ42

                        H Q84

                        D 97

                        C A94

S J963                                      S 105

H 63                                         H 752

D Q52                                      D 108643

C KQJ7                                    C 632

                        S 87

                        H AKJ109

                        D AKJ

                        C 1085

 

6H is an excellent contract and does not look too hard to reach, but both tables in the Trophy final subsided in 4H – and made only eleven tricks. One table in the play-off also stopped in 4H and one in the Plate stopped in 3NT, both making twelve tricks. When MCC duly bid to 6H, a significant gain was in prospect – but declarer somehow found a way to hold himself to eleven tricks and the gain had suddenly become a loss of 780. At the final table, Old Actonians bid to 6NT – a rather more daunting prospect than 6H for declarer. But, having sharpened his declarer skills as reported on board 2, Harvey Thomas was up to it. He ducked the CK lead and won the club continuation. Five rounds of hearts then squeezed West in three suits. In practice, he bared the DQ, so the DJ was declarer’s twelfth trick. The squeeze would also work on most other distributions of the East-West cards as long as declarer reads the position. Either hand will be squeezed if it holds four spades and guards one of the minors while a hand which guards both minors will be squeezed on the subsequent run of the top spades. The three-suit squeeze operates a trick earlier so, as the cards lie, declarer could have made all thirteen tricks had he not ducked the club at trick one. In hearts, of course, the grand slam is better, making whenever either defender holds both black suits as declarer can ruff his third diamond before running the trumps for the black suit squeeze. (If, of course, West does not lead a club at trick 1, the squeeze is not needed – declarer can now set up the fifth spade with the CA as an entry to it).

 

Board 9 was interesting in that both North-South and East-West played it in hearts! South had a 1444 shape and, when he chose to open 1H, ended up going off in 3H or 4H, despite the 4-4 fit. Once, however, when he chose to open 1C, West found a not unreasonable 1H overcall on AKQ2 and this silenced everyone. Alas, he made only the three top trumps (although why he did not also manage to cash his SA is not clear).

 

Board 10 was a straightforward diamond slam, bid at both tables in the Trophy final but played in 3NT at both tables in the play-off! Thus the only swing was in the Plate where RAC bid the slam but Old Actonians subsided in 5D.

 

At half time, Cameron Mckenna led by 860 in the Trophy final, MCC by 940 in the play-off and RAC by 380 in the Plate. Still everything to play for in all three.

 

The second half started with a bang – well two bangs actually.

 

Board 13

Dealer N. Game all.

                        S KQ

                        H AQ973

                        D K4

                        C K932

S 75                                          S J962

H J64                                       H 105

D Q76                                      D J9532

C J10764                                  C Q8

                        S A10843

                        H K82

                        D A108

                        C A5

 

The first question is what should North re-bid after 1H-1S? Some tried 3C, which would find a club fit if there were one rather stretches the quality of the club suit. Others tried 2NT, which better defines the hand but risks missing a club fit. On the actual hand it shouldn’t matter as either should get you to the right slam, but…….. Cameron McKenna, Royal Wimbledon and RAC duly got to 6H with no difficulty but MCC found their way to 6S (albeit still a making slam) after South failed to show support for hearts. Sundridge Park had a disaster, stopping in game after North re-bid 2NT and South simply raised to 3NT. It was left to Old Actonians (again!) to add the sparkle. Theirs was the only table where South responded 2S on the first round and then agreed hearts with his next bid. Now North was the one in a position to use Blackwood and find that South had all the missing aces and kings making the grand slam almost 100%.  (At the other tables where South had used Blackwood, there was no way he could identify the key major suit queens in the North hand). Bidding and making 7H put Old Actonians back in front in the Plate.

 

The second bang followed immediately, another slam hand.

 

Board 14 

Dealer E. Love all.

                        S J108762

                        H Q2

                        D Q10

                        C A93

S 9                               S AKQ

H AJ83                                    H K9654

D AJ8632                     D K

C KJ                            C Q854

                        S 543

                        H 107

                        D 9754

                        C 10762

 

The East-West auction usually began 1H-2D, although one West (for Cameron McKenna) not unreasonably thought that the heart fit justified an immediate 3D. (This worked well as West could now agree hearts with his second bid and East could – and did - use Blackwood and bid the slam once two aces were confirmed). At two tables, North now ventured 2S (for the lead?!) and was rewarded when this somehow diverted East-West from bidding their slam. The Sundridge Park East bid 3NT over the intervention, which West rather lamely converted to 4H to end the auction. Royal Wimbledon’s East bid only 2NT in the same situation, over which his partner bid 4NT. It is fairly clear that West intended this as Blackwood but it ought to be natural in this sequence and that is how East interpreted it. With something in reserve and so a wish to co-operate in a slam try, he bid a natural 5C (alternative strain in which to play). However, West took this as denying any aces and signed off in 5H where, of course, they played. MCC had a similar problem without any interference from North. East’s first re-bid was 3NT and West bid 4NT which again should be natural but wasn’t. This time East did give the Blackwood response of 5D but, curiously, West still signed off in 5H. It was left to both Plate finalists to show how it should be done. After 1H-2D, both Easts re-bid 3C. Old Actonians West immediately used Blackwood and, finding one ace opposite, duly bid 6H. RAC’s West agreed hearts at the three-level to leave space to explore then, when East merely raised to game (nothing more to say) simply bid 6H. So, a flat board in two of the matches but a serious blow to Sundridge Park in the Trophy final.

 

Royal Wimbledon put a nail in MCC’s coffin on board 15 when their East picked up

S AKQ92  H A  D K3  C AQ1052

and elected to open it 2NT. This was raised to 3NT and who could blame South for leading a fourth highest club from five to the K9. When dummy produced C J83 (and the H KQ), declarer could hardly fail to make four club tricks and force South to give him a second red-suit trick to bring home the game, while MCC failed in the superficially more reasonable 4S.

That was a contract which Old Actonians managed to make when declarer was allowed to discard his diamonds on dummy’s KQ of hearts, to extend their lead. 

 

Board 17 generated a slam swing in each match. Three tables bid the reasonable slam, which had to fail when the trump finesse was wrong. The other three stopped in game and claimed a 500-point swing for their efforts.

 

In the Trophy and play-off, this all came back two boards later when the teams which had bid the failing slam brought home a thin 3NT (on two poor 12-point hands) when the opposition picked the wrong opening lead, while those that had stopped in game on the earlier board stopped in the part score (advisedly as their opponents picked the right opening lead). Curiously enough, this board was passed out at one table in the Plate.

 

By this stage, the Trophy and Plate finals were as good as over and there was little scope for any major upsets in the last five boards. But the play-off was much closer and there was still one act to come

Board 21 

Dealer N. NS game.

                        S 8

                        H Q10973

                        D 9432

                        C K64

S 95432                                    S AQ10

H AK2                                     H 5

D QJ86                                     D K1075

C 7                                           C Q10532

                        S KJ76

                        H J864

                        D A

                        C AJ98

 

If East does not open 1C, South probably will! Indeed, in the Trophy, Sundridge Park opened 1C at both tables. Their East-West pair then crawled to 4S, which South doubled to collect 300. At the other table, the South’s 1C was doubled for take out and the Cameron McKenna East-West pair were allowed to play in 1D making nine tricks for a swing of 410. Similarly, in the Plate, Old Actonians opened 1C at both tables. Their East-West pair also reached 4S, but more confidently so they weren’t doubled and conceded only 100. At the other table, West overcalled 1S, North raised to 2C and East ended the auction with a jump to 3S. A small swing to RAC? No! North led the C4 and South won with the C8 and returned the C9. Declarer ruffed and led a trump to the 10 and J. He ruffed South’s club continuation and led another trump, discovering the bad news. Winning the ace, he led a diamond from dummy and South won, drew trumps with the king and exited with a heart. Ruffing declarer’s next diamond, South again exited with a heart but declarer then, instead of cashing his two diamonds exited with his third heart and the defence took the rest for four-off and 200. Was there scope for more variety in the play-off? You bet there was. The Royal Wimbledon East-West did exactly as Old Actonians had done and duly conceded 100. However, at the other table, their South found a brave, but not totally unreasonable take-out double of the 1C opening and this enabled them to find their heart fit and a competitive auction saw them end in 4H doubled, played by North. East led the SA against this and declarer was in with a chance. Although the defence now played three rounds of trumps, she could win the third one in dummy and had enough entries to find she could ruff the SJ good and enjoy it without giving up the fallback of the double club finesse for a huge +790.

 

 

Results

 

Trophy:

Cameron McKenna beat Sundridge Park Golf Club 1 by 1610 points

 

Third place play-off:

Royal Wimbledon Golf Club 1 beat MCC by 350 points

 

Plate:

Old Actonians beat RAC Pall Mall 1 by 1660 points