Don’t give up!

After working as NPC all last week, I had to play in the Transnational Open Teams. My team-mates were Josef Harsanyi, Susan Culham, Pony Nehmert, Maurice De la Salle and Dan Jacob. 

The format is Swiss, 15 rounds of 10 boards, top 8 qualify for the KO. The following two hands were lessons in not giving up when all seems lost.

Round 11. Board 16. Dealer West. E-W Vul.

 

West Pony				East Michael
♠	Q976			♠	AJ104
♥	J72			♥	AK
♦	A32			♦	KQJ10
♣	K97			♣	AJ8

 The auction was simple and direct.

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	2♣	Pass
2♦	Pass	2NT	Pass
6NT	Pass	Pass	Pass

2♣  Strong. 2♦ Waiting. 2NT 22+.

The lead was the diamond nine. I could see six spade was cold with the spade finesse for seven. However I was in six No-trump. After the spade finesse lost at trick two, I had to find the winning line.

This was my line.

   

As everybody could take a simple club finesse, I decided to play for a squeeze. I was happy to push the board as our opponents were in six spade making.

Three boards later, Pony and I were in another tough spot.

Board 19. Dealer South. E-W Vul. 

West Pony				East Michael
♠	QJ			♠	AK10432
♥	AK8432			♥	J7
♦	J654			♦	K
♣	2			♣	AKJ10

This was the auction. 

West	North	East	South
			Pass
1♥	Pass	1♠	Pass
2♥	Pass	3♣	Pass
3♠	Pass	4NT	Pass
5♣	Pass	5♦	Pass
5♥	Pass	6♠	All Pass

4NT-RKC. 5♣-1 or 4. 5 ♦-queen ask. 6♥-king of heart and queen of spade.

Pony made the key bid of 3♠ , that got me thinking slam with some certainty.

South led the spade eight, I decided to win in the dummy and took the club finesse to the jack. If that won I would ruff the club ten and claim.

However the club finesse lost! Much to my surprise, LHO returned the heart queen. I gratefully took this with the heart ace. Having given a second chance, I proceed to make the slam. Here was my line.

   

This was the first time I made two slams via squeezes in the same match!