Bridge - The Scotsman 12/06/2012

ANOTHER late season event is the Swiss Pairs for the Culbertson Trophy, run in Ayrshire. Convincing winners, with a score of 120, were John Matheson and Iain Sime. Second were David Weir and Douglas Mitchell.

This deal illustrated the difficulty of decision-making at the five-level. South’s weak two is normal with the only flaw the quality of the heart suit. Over West’s overcall North might cuebid 3S to show a hand that expected to make 4H, but since partner would never bid again anyway she felt that would be simply talking to herself. East’s 4S call looks all right at equal vulnerability. If you examine the East-West hands in isolation 4S appears to have just one loser in each suit, and -200 would be a good save against a making 4H. In practice 4S can be severely punished: South leads her singleton club and makes two ruffs, increasing the penalty to 800.

Northdecided that even a 500 penalty would not compensate for the vulnerable game at pairs. Bidding one more was dangerous, and appeared to swop 800 for 650 – till East decided to try for 200 with a double. South’s singleton club meant that declarer’s only losers were two diamond tricks, and the resulting 850 outscored everybody else. The Open and Women’s European Championships begin tomorrow in Dublin. You can follow the progress of the Scottish teams on the European Bridge League website.