Swiss Pairs I
This hand comes from Wednesday 7th June on which night my Hutt club was playing Swiss Pairs:
Board 20 Dealer W ALL Vul
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K75
A962
J5
Q854Swiss Pairs is an event that pits pair against pair with teams scoring rather than match point. You play 8 boards against the same pair and your scores are compared to all the others and a score calculated that is in “i.m.p”s rather than normal match points. We need not get too much into the finer details, suffice to say that you will score “imps” rather than match points, and your final score will be calculated in “imps” which will then be converted to “Victory Points”.
“imps” is short for “International Match Points” and not, as is a common misconception , “Imperial Match Points”. But whatever, this method of scoring is like in teams play and it is important that you bid and make as many available games as you can, which will score you more imps and hence “Victory Points”.
This week's deal gives us a very good example of that. There is a 4S game available for EW, but only if they BID it, and then, if East knows how to play it. Three EW pairs were successful in 4S but a number of others failed to either bid to game or make it. Both tasks should in fact be quite routine.
East opens 1S after North passes, South overcalls 2H and West bids 2S. That should be enough to propel East into game. With even minimum spade support and 6-9 HCP East can hope that there will be no more than three losers. If South overcalls with 2H, most Norths will raise to at least 3H, or more likely 4H. Neither should stop East from bidding 4S as long as West has shown some support. I note that not one South was in FIVE hearts, which is not a bad sacrifice as it is only down one, and if doubled -200 as against the 620 that is available for EW. But at this level, it might be better to let opponents play in 4S and hope declarer is not up to it, as did happen a few times.
Making 4S should be easy enough as there is ony one option for declarer. It is necessary to be able to finesse in trumps, so dummy needs to be entered in order to lead the queen through North. The only possible entry is in diamonds, so declarer leads towards the king after ruffing the opening heart lead. South, with the ace, cannot prevent the entry to dummy with the king. Then the spade finesse can follow and as long as declarer makes sure of leading the queen not a small one, the finesse can be repeated if North does not cover.
There is much more to this deal than that, and I will be revisiting it in my coming book “Tips and Quips”,.
