NEC CUP: ROUND TWO
Bd: 10 Dlr: East Vul: Both North 62 8764 987 J874 West 73 AQ KJ10652 Q93 East J10954 2 A3 AK1062 South AKQ8 KJ10953 Q4 5	After East opens 1, 3NT from the West side will usually end up with thirteen tricks - unless South doubles for a spade lead, in which case North/South can go minus 950 instead of 720. But what they don't want us to tell you is that there are some more creative ways to go minus odd numbers on this deal. Take, for example, the pair who played 4 - in the East/West direction! And if that isn't perplexing enough, East was the declarer. Poor South got endplayed and had to concede a spade trick to East in the endgame, so East only went for minus 400. At the other table North/South found the good save in 4 doubled for only 500, but that was the same 14 imps that minus 500 in 4 would have cost. Oh well.
In another match East declared 4 (that's right, 4!) and went for the same 400 as our intrepid declarer in 4. Their North/South teammates also found the good 4 save so they lost 14 imps as well. Wild horses couldn't drag the names of these players from our lips, but maybe, just maybe, for a price ...

Bd: 11 Dlr: South Vul: None North K107 10432 QJ5 Q54 North A3 QJ8 A10643 J102 East QJ65 A K987 K987 South 9842 K9765 2 A63

5 and 3NT were the popular contracts on this one, with the former a much better bet than the latter, with West declarer. 3NT goes down on a heart lead because declarer has to lose the lead twice. If you had to guess who made 3NT, you would bet heavily on the word "twins." Perhaps they were just unlucky that Akama/Furuta reached 5 at the other table to hold the YOUTH loss to just 1 imp. It was 43-1 for GREAT BRITAIN at that point, so perhaps luck had nothing to do with it. Liu/Zhang for CHINA also made 3NT while Kaz Yamada/ Takahashi went down in the same contract in the other room, so CHINA gained 10 imps to take the lead, 19-18.

The play in 5 is interesting. On a heart lead, declarer wins, plays king and ace of trumps, and runs the jack of clubs. When South takes the ace he switches to a spade but declarer gets home by rejecting the finesse to play on clubs, discarding his spade loser on the fourth club as North ruffs in (or not).

On the very next deal, 5 and 3NT were again the two contracts of choice, but this time 3NT was laydown while 5 had no play. The board was flat at plus 600 in our match and also in PABF OPEN vs NAITO, but Mizuta/Tanaka gained 12 imps for TAKAYAMA by finding the right game where Shimamura/Fukuda did not. Kohno/Harada stopped in 4 while Mavromichalis/ Hackett played 3NT, so that was 10 imps more to GREAT BRITAIN, building their lead over YOUTH to 52 imps. In CHINA vs YAMADA, Akihiko Yamada/Ohno outbid Fu/Ju in the game zone, and gained 12 imps to move back in front in the match.

Bd: 12 North Dlr: West AK87 Vul: N/S 85 A742 K72   West   East    1052 QJ643    AJ2 Q107    8 1095    A108654 93 South 9 K9643 KQJ63 QJ Very early in our match, it became apparent that Hara/Tatai were marching to the beat of a drum we hadn't heard before, but apart from their homegrown system (which they employed to excellent effect throughout the match), they often exhibited some unusual judgment. Take Board 12, for example. After 1 by West (a little light, perhaps) - Pass - 1, South has the other two suits. He could show them with a takeout double, or perhaps with some two-suited device, or he could bid hearts and hope to show diamonds later. Hara preferred a 2 overcall and nothing bad happened to him. Tatai jumped to 3NT over West's support double, and that was that.

Bd: 13 North Dlr: North J10 Vul: Both AJ5 K83 A7653   West   East    A87652 K4    9 K8763    J965 107    Q9 KJ42 South Q93 Q1042 AQ42 108 This was the auction at our table: West North East South Kokish Tatai Colker Hara 1 * 1 Dbl. * 1 2 Pass Pass 2 Pass Pass Dbl. * All Pass   1 showed a weak notrump, the first double enough to offer a play for 1NT, fewer than four spades, the second double an extra queen. Tatai led a trump, which ran to the ace. Declarer led the 9, ducked by North. A second club went to the queen and ace, and North returned a club, declarer ruffing to lead to the K to play the master club. South ruffed and declarer discarded his heart, planning to make his contract when South had the A (indeed, not playing a heart up was part of this vision of the layout). South played a heart and declarer could not take a diamond trick in time. One down; minus 200. Tiger bridge. Had declarer led a heart at trick two, it might seem that he could get home, but that is not so. Say that North wins the ace and plays K, diamond to the ace. Now a club to the ace and a third diamond. If dummy ruffs, South gets two trump tricks. If declarer discards he loses a third diamond immediately, and the fourth diamond permits North to uppercut with the 10. Declarer actually goes two down. Two declarers in 3 took eight tricks. We might be willing to hear how they did that well ... perhaps tomorrow.

Bd: 14 North Dlr: East Q98 Vul: None A5 KQJ75 A104   West   East    432 AJ1065    QJ982 K7    1082 A3    92 QJ65 South K7 10643 964 K873 This looks like a diamond or notrump partial, North/South, or perhaps a touch-and go 2 for East/West, and there were a few of those results lurking. But try to beat North in 3NT. We didn't, after a low club lead, declarer ducked East's heart switch and that was that. We lost 10 imps to TATAI when our teammates went down in 3. That tied the match at 23. Naito/Moriyama also bid and made 3NT against Hisatomi/Teramoto to gain 6 imps. If East leads a middle spade, declarer wins the king and knocks out the A. East switches to the K, ducked, and exits with a heart. The fifth diamond forces East to part with a club or blank the A, and declarer must come to a ninth trick. Bidding it is more than half the fun.

West North East South Kokish Tatai Colker Hara 1 Pass 1NT * 2 Pass 3 Pass 3NT All Pass   As if we weren't even there.

Bd: 15 North Dlr: South KQ10632 Vul: N/S 864 1053 8   West   East    97 J84    K532 AQJ109    72 84    J10963 K42 South A5 7 AKQJ96 AQ75 West North East South Kokish Tatai Colker Hara 2 * Pass 2 * 2 3 5 5 Pass 6 All Pass   West North East South Shimizu Capp Hirata Lipscomb 1 Pass 1 2 3 4 Pass Pass 5 All Pass   Perhaps Hara/Tatai would have bid their slam if some of us hadn't been so busy, but as it went they were effectively pushed into it. Tatai, who showed 0/1 control with 2, had to have very good spades to bid them at the five-level, so Hara's decision to bid slam was very reasonable. 13 imps to TATAI, untying the match. Only two other pairs reached slam with the North/South cards, and they had the bad luck to do it in the same match. Well done by Fu/Ju and Yamada/Ohno.

Bd: 16 North Dlr: W K Vul: E/W Q53 K10652 10653   West   East    10986 AJ53    10987 AK2    93 A8    J87 AK92 South Q742 J64 QJ74 Q4 For once, Hara demonstrated some mortal qualities by leading a spade against 2NT. Somewhere along the way everyone threw a heart and Colker-san took 11 tricks in notrump for the only East/West plus across the field. 7 imps back.

Bd: 17 North Dlr: North Q987 Vul: None Q9 A6 QJ763   West   East    42 AJ106    K1083 J654    QJ102 K94    A84 K5 South K53 A72 8753 1092 Left to themselves, East/West might reach 3 or even 4 (two pairs did) but in our match Tatai's 8-11 HCP with the North hand shut everyone out. Down 50, but 3 imps to TATAI when Hirata/Shimizu returned with plus 140. Nickels and dimes. Not to mention chunks of yen. The big result on this deal was the plus 500 achieved by Hisatomi/Teramoto after doubling Naito/Moriyama in 1NT. PABF OPEN led that one by 23 imps.