The ladder had a big shake up this week as the draw contained matches where teams were generally 4 or 5 rungs apart. This was necessary in order to avoid having too many repeat matches.
The big match was the leaders, First Sun, up against the 5th placed Snakes. Aggressive game bidding by the Snakes on boards 3 and 4 saw a double game swing and a vulnerable swing to net 27 imps and effectively end the contest. First Sun fought on well but the Snakes ended their reign of 3 weeks at the top win a 46-25 win.
Central Climbers have risen to the second rung with a good win against Aussie Flavoured. It seems that their alternate name of Central Celler Dwellars will no be required. This team seems to have finally struck form with some being unkind enough to suggest that it was no co-incidence that tarakiwi was at the rugby last night!
In previous weeks, despite the reverse grid, lower runged teams have really struggled to beat their higher ranked opponents. The week The Masters were the only team to fend off the challenge from below. In a very close match the 13 imps exchanged on board 4 proved decisive. A very difficult 6nt was available. Tuckaway and Mastersg signed off in 5nt. Buch99 and Clarkson bid 6nt at the other table but buch99 couldn't quite bring it in. The Masters survived 25-21.
The previously unlucky Western Gals scored a 43-4 win against Trans Global. The board of that match being a grand slam bid and made by jenter62 and blinkers. Blinkers has been unwell and out of action for the past 8 weeks but she seems to have lost none of her edge. Trans Global have done a sterling job in the last 6 weeks to remain in the top four but are now unlucky to find themselves crashing all the way to the bottom on the strenth on one loss. Whoever plays them next week should be wary!
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2 comments:
Yes the 6NT was difficult. Obviously a squeeze will be required but which one? It is clear to duck a club to establish a menace in this suit and rectify the count, but not so obvious to play for the heart-club squeeze. Anyway the bidding's the thing as they say and even 5NT may be too high. 1H-2C-2nt-3nt seems like a reasonably normal acol auction to me (or perhaps 1H-2C-2nt-4nt-pass if the 2nt rebid has a wide range) but interestingly both tables started with the same off-shape reverse: 1H-2C-2S. In my opinion this is a mistake and north would be better advised taking the first available opportunity to show a balanced hand.
Good analysis Gerry. And thanks for being the first person (other than cascade (Wayne Burrows) and I to actually post a comment.
For those of you who can't easily retrieve the hands opener held:
AQJ4 A975 K54 Q3
Responder:
96 K8 AQ82 AJ64
The lead was a small spade.
Wayne knows a fancy trick where he can set out the whole hand, bidding and play and perhaps he will add this to this post so that everyone can follow the hand.
Finally, thanks to Gerry for acting as host in my abscence. It looks like things went so smoothly I'm beginning to feel redundant!
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