THE NEC CUP: ROUND FIVE

Bd: 1 Dlr: North Vul: None North A8 AQ93 A654 KJ4 West KQ743 1076 72 A82 East J952 K84 KJ98 97 South 106 J52 Q103 Q10653

Many pairs got overboard on the North/South cards, 3NT being the most common overreach. Both East and West had fairly normal spade leads against that contract when North opened 1 and everyone who landed there failed by from one to three tricks. Miyakuni-Imakura climbed their way to 3 on the East/West cards for PABF OPEN and failed by two tricks, giving USA a 5-imp pickup. NAITO's Setoguchi-Ouchi somehow managed to stay at the one-level, going plus 90 in 1NT. When Ohno-Nishida failed by three tricks for PABF WOMEN, NAITO picked up 6 imps. The rest were all undertrick battles in some number of notrump except for Maeda-Hayashi, who managed to play in and make 3 East/West for a 3-imp gain for TATAI.

Board 4 produced 12-imp swings in three of the five matches. After 1-Pass-1 East/West typically ended in 3NT, posing a lead problem for whoever was unlucky enough to find himself on opening lead. Dawei Chen chose a heart from the South side, presenting Colker-san with an easy ninth trick. In practice a spade lead also presented declarer with the contract, since the 7 falls doubleton and the tempo is now in declarer's favor. Those North/Souths who started clubs registered the plus scores on the board, and were rewarded with 12 imps for their effort. But while a club lead is clearly best for the defense, 3NT can still be made with careful play. Say declarer ducks (best) and the defense shifts to a spade. Declarer is now in control. He ducks, wins any continuation, finesses the diamond, returns to hand with a club, finishes the Q, then cashes the A and tries the heart finesse. South wins and has no reply. If a spade exit is available it begets a second high heart from declarer and South cannot avoid yielding the ninth trick in that suit.

Bd: 4 Dlr: West Vul: Both North KQ102 9 7532 Q1063 West J98 8 AKJ106 A852 East A653 KJ1075 84 K7 South 74 AQ6432 Q9 J94

Bd: 5 Dlr: North Vul: N/S North KQ932 K106 J9 AQ5 West 54 QJ853 1085 974 East 10876 A94 A7 K1063 South AJ 72 KQ6432 J82

Board 5 produced another double-digit swing potential. Most auctions began 1-Pass-2, after which North became declarer in 3NT. When Kenji Miyakuni started a low heart from ace third he gave Mark Itabashi a chance for a brilliancy prize - by ducking at trick one! Alas, poor Mark seized his king and the contract was no longer makeable. In GREAT BRITAIN versus TAKAYAMA Jason the Hackett led the Q when Masaaki Takayama became declarer from the South side. Masaaki also fell from grace when he failed to duck at trick one. Both declarers were rewarded for their transgressions with a 13-imp loss.

3NT from the South side (but not of Chicago, which would be bad, bad Leroy Brown's milieu) is unbeatable, but two Wests (not including Kokish-san) managed to do just that. Since the result sheets fail to record even the leads at these tables, we can only speculate as to how this was accomplished - we can, but we won't.

Bd: 6 Dlr: East Vul: E/W North Q985 Q A105432 KJ West AK10 9832 K96 A85 East 642 J764 J 76432 South J73 AK105 Q87 Q109

Bd: 7 Dlr: South Vul: Both North AQ9 K10965 KJ7 Q5 West J1054 Q8 Q986 J109 East K83 732 532 AK82 South 762 AJ4 A104 7643

When Ino-Chen bid to game via 1NT-3NT, Colker-san chose to lead his better major rather than a high club, expecting the club to concede a tempo with the minor-suit length on his left. That presented Ino his ninth trick. Itabashi-Simpson did well to stop in 2NT at the other table since Kenji Miyakuni found the winning K lead, holding them to eight tricks. That was worth 10 imps to PABF OPEN. YOUTH's Akama-Harada sitting East/West appear to have gone for 500 in 2 doubled against CHINA's Ju-Fu, giving up 12 imps when 3NT failed at the other table. And Maeda-Hayashi for TATAI gave up 400 declaring 3 against YAMADA's A Yamada-Ohno, also worth 12 imps when 3NT went down two in the replay.

Board 8 looks like everyone's 3NT North/South, but NAITO's Setoguchi-Ohta reached the six-level and failed by three tricks to yield 11 imps to PABF WOMEN who stopped two levels lower and scored one trick more in the play. TATAI's Hirata-Shimizu wended their way to the inglorious contact of 5, failing by one trick when they had to lose a trump in addition to the inescapable spade and diamond. That was 11 imps to YAMADA.

Bd: 8 Dlr: West Vul: None North Q106 103 A10832 A64 West 74 J86 KJ74 10872 East A9532 7542 95 J9 South KJ8 AKQ9 Q6 KQ53

Bd: 9 Dlr: North Vul: E/W North A1054 8 A109 Q10642 West Q63 A6532 752 J3 East 92 K97 KQJ83 A75 South KJ87 QJ104 64 K98

If we were told that two pairs were crazy enough to get to 4 on the North/South cards on Board 9, we'd have guessed that one of them would be Messrs Hackett and Hackett, aka "Les Enfants Terrible." But we'd have been wrong - though not far wrong. One of the two culprit pairs was none other than Papa H. and John Armstrong, "Les Vieuxs Terrible," who managed to not only get there but to make it! And the other crazy duo? Our very own Crazy Mark and Dirty Gene, Itabashi-Simpson. But not to worry, for their fate was the same as Papa-John's. Plus 420 earned both pairs a handy pickup (6 imps for GREAT BRITAIN, 7 for USA) and a "get into the asylum free" card to be used at their first legal opportunity.

Slam is in the offing for East/West, but how high must you bid to win imps? In USA versus PABF OPEN, both East/West pairs reached 6, with USA earning an imp on the overtrick. CHINA's Ju-Fu bid to the seven-level and brought in their contract to pick up 13 imps against YOUTH's 6. In the other three matches one pair at each table bid only to game. Six was reached by PABF WOMEN against NAITO for a 13-imp gain and the grand was bid by YAMADA (Shimizu-Hirata) against TATAI and by GREAT BRITAIN (the Hackett twins) against TAKAYAMA, both for 17-imps pickups.

Bd: 10 Dlr: East Vul: Both North Q5 QJ7 QJ106 10875 West K3 A98 AK9875 A3 East AJ109764 10543 3 6 South 82 K62 42 KQJ942

Bd: 11 Dlr: South Vul: None North 876 AJ8762 - KQJ5 West KQ109 543 K7432 10 East AJ5432 Q Q86 763 South - K109 AJ1095 A9842

East/West have a great save against any North/South slam, but only one pair (Shimizu-Hirata for YAMADA) managed to find it - at the four-level! 4 doubled went down only 100, which was a 14-imp pickup when A Yamada-Ohno bid and made 6. GREAT BRITAIN picked up 10 imps when TAKAYAMA's Kobayashi-Takayama stopped in 5 while Papa-John bid to 6 and scored the overtrick. Yoshida-Masamura for YOUTH outbid CHINA's Ju-Fu at the other table when they reached 6 to the mainlanders' 5; 11 imps to YOUTH. And finally USA pipped PABF OPEN by 2 imps when their 6 scored higher than 6, both with their respective overtricks.

Board 12 swung between 5 and 8 imps in each of the five matches. We managed to beat 3 one trick when Colker-san started with four rounds of clubs, Kokish-san ruffing with the 10 to later provide East/West a trump trick when Ino misguessed and cashed king-queen. Meanwhile, Itabashi-Simpson were collecting a cool 100 against 2 doubled for 5 imps. China dumped 6 imps to YOUTH when Ju-Fu overbid to 4 while Yoshida-Masamura stoped at the three-level and made it. We didn't ask, and they didn't tell us, how Papa-John climbed their way to 4NT on the North/South cards. When Kobayashi-Takayama played 3 and made it that was 8 imps to TAKAYAMA. YAMADA's Shimizu-Hirata competed to a brazen 3 on the East/West cards and were lucky not to see a red card on the raised felt surface. Minus 150 was not a good result to bring back to A Yamada-Ohno, but they were in no position to criticize when they reached the ambitious 4 game and went one down; 6 imps to TATAI. And finally, in the battle of the "femme fatales" PABF WOMEN picked up 8 imps on NAITO when Setoguchi-Ohta also reached game in hearts and failed by two tricks while Ohno-Nishida stopped in three and made it.

Bd: 12 Dlr: West Vul: N/S North Q8 A986 AQ84 1087 West A7652 107 J10732 2 East 93 J52 K65 AKQ65 South KJ104 KQ43 9 J943

Bd: 13 Dlr: North Vul: Both North 632 J10432 53 K95 West J10875 85 A AQ763 East KQ9 Q97 J8762 J10 South A4 AK6 KQ1094 842

When Dawei Chen opened the South hand with a strong notrump Kokish-san made a spades-and-a-minor 2 and Colker-san raised gently to three. Kokish-san bid the excellent game, depending only on the club finesse through the opening strong notrumper, but as with many other sterling contracts the editing duo bid this day a plus score was not to be had. But Itabashi-Simpson managed to by the contract in 2 and go plus 110 at the other table to salvage a push. Wow. Game on a finesse and the opponents played in 2 making! Akama-Harada for YOUTH played in 2 making three while their teammates, Yoshida-Masamura, outbid Liu-Zhang for CHINA and played in 2 going one down; 1 imp to YOUTH. Shimamura-Fukuda for PABF WOMEN reached the 4 game East/West and suffered the same fate as your editors, but when Sekizawa-Amano stopped in 3 for NAITO the fickle Dame Fate dealt NAITO 6 undeserved imps. The twins bid the 4 game and yielded 5 imps to TAKAYAMA when Papa-John went one light in 3 North/South. And finally, both Shimizu-Hirata and Maeda-Hayashi bid the spade game in YAMADA versus TATAI for a push. Well done, gentlemen.

3NT, 5 and 5 are cold for North/South on this deal, and in four of the five matches two different contracts were reached at the opposing tables for a 400-point push (give or take a notrump overtrick). In a fourth match Hirata-Shimizu somehow ended up in 4 from the North side. (That'll teach you to cue-bid, Makoto.) The five-two trump split actually worked to declarer's advantage, as he was able to escape with ten tricks (the AK, four clubs, two diamonds, one spade, and the J en passant at the end) after drawing two trumps before running the clubs; and it's cold on any lead That wins Hirata-Shimizu our Even-a-Blind-Squirrel-Finds- an-Acorn-Every-Once-in-a-While Award.

Bd: 14 Dlr: East Vul: None North 84 AK K872 AQJ107 West KQJ953 43 J105 K9 East 102 Q10652 Q6 8542 South A76 J987 A943 63

Bd: 16 Dlr: West Vul: None North K3 K10 85 AJ96543 West Q10962 QJ75 - K1087 East A7 86 AKQJ7432 2 South J854 A9432 1096 Q

East/West are cold for 3NT via an auction such as: Pass-1- 3 (bid 3NT with a club stopper)-Pass; 3NT. The only catch is, North/South might not let them play there if North tries 4, as is likely. This will leave East with a difficult problem. If he presses on to 4NT North will have to find a red-suit lead as either black suit gives declarer his tenth trick. If East tries the "safe" 4 he is likely to meet with a cruel fate as the defense can manage four tricks by cashing the A and AK before putting East in to fend for himself. That's what happened at both tables in USA versus PABF OPEN. In TAKAYAMA versus GREAT BRITAIN both 4NT and 4 failed, the Japanese picking up 3 imps on undertricks. In TATAI versus YAMADA 3NT made at both tables, with TATAI picking up 3 imps when A Yamada tried the K for his opening lead. In CHINA versus YOUTH, CHINA picked up 12 imps when they made 3NT with an overtrick at one table while beating 4 at the other. And finally, in NAITO versus PABF WOMEN the East players had a slight difference of opinion in their evaluation of the East hand. Sekizawa for NAITO played in 2 (yes, you read that right) making plus 130 while Shimamura for WOMEN reached 5 doubled, minus 500. That was 12 imps to NAITO.