The pendulum – Summer National Pairs – Session 3
The last set of the finals perhaps had the most interesting hands. As promised, I’ll try and go through each of them.
In the first round we faced off against Shubham and Soumalya – the young guns who have lately been making their presence felt. The session started off with a bang, nothing less than a grand slam
7♣ is a great contract on the cards, and 7N is pretty good, requiring nothing more than ♦ break, or failing that ♥ Finesse. Well above 80%.
After pd shows 54 minors and short ♠ , IMO East should bid 4♣ . He has a great hand, 9+card fit, great honors in other minor, and full values. ♠ KQ will atleast provide a discard.
Over 5♣ , leap to 7 seemed to be a bit of gamble, but hey, the risk appetite of young is always high. It was the conversion to 7NT that was somewhat baffling.
It was our lucky day that both ♦ and ♥ were unfavourable for the declarer. If declarer had ♥ T, he had the option of playing for a squeeze.
Thank you Sandeep. The hands and the problems faced come alive with your narrations. Thinking of the field and par actions and still getting the rough end. Tough.
Very instructive and enlightening thought processes in the ozone layer of bridge.
Let this be the 1st of many chapters to come in a great book !
All the best.
TJ