Oxfordshire goes to the First Division by Carles Acero

Oxford, March 24, 2015

In the afternoon of Sunday March 22, at Oxford Bridge Club was played a decisive match to elucidate which of the two squads, Oxfordshire (local) or Warwickshire (visitors) would rise to the English Bridge Premier League.

Oxfordshire started with a clear advantage and unless a terrible disaster could happen… he was the clear favorite…

Except for the notable absence of the World Master Jason Hackett in the Warwickshire squad, both teams brought most of his best swords, in my team Oxfordshire played the Great British Masters Robert Procter, Alan Wilson, John Slater, Beryl Kerr, Freddie Illingworth (the selected English junior) and Nick Smith, co-author of a bridge book with the famous author Julian Potage.

Finally forecasts were confirmed and Oxfordshire won the match achieving the well-deserved promotion, although my performance was below expectations.  😥

Here is a hand from that match:

10 6 4 3               A Q 3  10 9 7 6  J 8

J 9          K 8  K Q 4 3 2            K Q 5 2

East, the dealer, opened the hand with a 1 bid, South said 1, supported by his partner and East ended as declarer of a 3 contract.

South won the first two tricks with the A and K and played a third spade, declarer ruffed in his hand, watching an even echo signal by North (standard count).

The Plan:

Declarer has two inevitable losers in the minors, the two aces, and his main concern should be; except not normal distributions in the other suits; avoid losing another trump trick.

East played a heart to dummy’s Q…¿How do you play the trump suit?

It seems that North has one of the 2 missing aces. If he has A J x, you can win the hand letting run the 10. If he has A x, no matter which card you play, if he wins the A and attempts an uppercut, declarer ruffs high and draw trumps. If he has a singleton, the hand is always down.

The best line is to run the 10 (or 9) to avoid an uppercut. When you run the 10 you only lose if South has Jx or J singleton.

If North started with J 8 or J 5, South after winning with the A returns a club, North wins with the A and plays the Q… looking for an uppercut but declarer has the possibility to ruff high, and now depends on the trump 2/2 distribution.

Alternatively, if North has the A singleton, you get to the same uppercut immediately when he returns the Q, this is inevitable.

Conclusion: In the fourth trick enter dummy with the Q and run the 10. This line loses to J, J 8 and J 5 in South, but you win if South has A 8, 5, or singleton 8, 5 or A.

The four hands were:

	Q 7 5 2   9 5 4   J 8           A 10 9 4
10 6 4 3               A Q 3  10 9 7 6  J 8		J 9          K 8  K Q 4 3 2            K Q 5 2
	A K 8     J 10 7 6 2  A 5   7 6 3

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