Wagar Women's Knockout Teams Final – Fourth Quarter

by Phillip Alder

At the Summer North American Championships in Chicago in August, the final of the Wagar Knock- out Women's Teams was between:

Lynn Baker of Austin, TX, Karen McCallum of Exeter, NH, Pamela Granovetter of Cincinnati, OH, JoAnna Stansby of Dublin, CA, Irina Levitina of Hackensack, NJ, and Kerri Sanborn of Delray Beach, FL and Cheri Bjerkan of Elmhurst, IL, Rozanne Pollack of New York City, Pam Wittes of Venice, CA, and Ljudmila Kamenova of South Setauket, NY.

After 45 of the 60 boards, Bjerkan led by 117 international match points to 98. Could Baker stage a rally? The action started immediately. ( 46 would normally be dealer East and neither side vul- nerable, but they were playing Board 16.)

North Dlr: West ‰ 7 Vul: E-W Š 8 3 ‹ A K J 9 5 2 Œ J 7 4 2 West East ‰ K Q J 9 5 ‰ A 10 8 4 2 Š 7 4 Š J 10 9 ‹ Q 7 ‹ 10 Œ K Q 6 3 Œ A 10 9 8 South ‰ 6 3 Š A K Q 6 5 2 ‹ 8 6 4 3 Œ 5 Table 1: West North East South Sanborn Bjerkan Levitina Pollack 1‰ 3‹ 4‰ 5‹ Pass Pass 5‰ All Pass

Levitina tried to buy the contract with her jump to four spades, then guessed to go to five spades. It is a standard team tactic to be willing to accept a small loss (both five diamonds and five spades go down), but not risk a large loss (five diamonds makes and five spades either does also or is only down one). However, given the prevailing vulnerability, she risked losing 500 when five diamonds was failing. As it was, she had guessed perfectly. Five diamonds was unbeatable and five spades went down only one. North led the diamond king, then shifted to the heart eight. South played three rounds of that suit. West ruffed high, drew trumps, and knew how to play clubs because North's hand had counted out as 1=2=6=4.

1 North Dlr: West ‰ 7 Vul: E-W Š 8 3 ‹ A K J 9 5 2 Œ J 7 4 2 West East ‰ K Q J 9 5 ‰ A 10 8 4 2 Š 7 4 Š J 10 9 ‹ Q 7 ‹ 10 Œ K Q 6 3 Œ A 10 9 8 South ‰ 6 3 Š A K Q 6 5 2 ‹ 8 6 4 3 Œ 5 Table 2: West North East South Wittes Granovetter Kamenova Stansby 1‰ 2‹ 3‹ 4Š Pass Pass 4‰ 5‹ Pass Pass Dble All Pass

Here Kamenova heard a simple intervention, not a weak jump , but understandably doubled five diamonds, which was unbeatable. She cashed her two aces to stop an overtrick. Minus 100 and plus 550 gave Baker 10 imps on the board. What should East have bid over two diamonds? She might have made a four-diamond splinter bid, but here that probably would not have mat- tered. West was not bidding five spades. The other option was a four-club fit-showing jump. Typically this would have indicated four spades and five clubs plus the values for game. Here, that would have worked well, because West would have known about the double fit and surely would have gone to five spades over five diamonds. But Kamenova and Wittes were not playing fit-jumps. For them, four clubs would have been a splinter bid. 1

After two flat boards and 6 imps to Baker came the deal on the next page.

1 I believe that in a competitive auction, having a splinter bid in either of the unbid suits is very unlikely. A fit-jump is both much more probable and useful. I play only that a jump-cue-bid in the opponent's suit is a splinter. 2 North Dlr: West ‰ 5 4 3 2 Vul: Both Š Q 3 2 ‹ Q 2 Œ 9 8 3 2 West East ‰ A 6 ‰ K Q Š K J 9 4 Š A 10 8 7 6 5 ‹ A K 10 4 ‹ 8 7 3 Œ K 6 4 Œ A J South ‰ J 10 9 8 7 Š – ‹ J 9 6 5 Œ Q 10 7 5 Table 1: West North East South Sanborn Bjerkan Levitina Pollack 1‹ Pass 1Š Pass 4Š Pass 4‰ (a) Pass 4NT (b) Pass 5‹ (c) Pass 5NT (d) Pass 7NT All Pass (a) Roman Key Card Blackwood (b) Three key cards (c) Asking for kings (d) Both minor-suit kings

Table 2: West North East South Wittes Granovetter Kamenova Stansby 1‹ Pass 1Š Pass 4Š Pass 4NT (a) Pass 5Œ (b) Pass 6Š All Pass (a) Roman Key Card Blackwood (b) Three key cards

Levitina thought she could see 13 tricks via three spades, six hearts, two diamonds and two clubs. She was unlucky that her partner did not have a third spade. As the cards lay, although Sanborn guessed the hearts correctly, she had to go down one after North led the club nine. At the other table, Kamenova settled for six hearts. South led the spade jack. East won with her queen and cashed the heart ace to get the bad news. The contract was still makable by eliminating the black suits, taking dummy's top diamonds, and throwing North in with her heart queen to concede a -and-sluff. Understandably, declarer did not find this line of play and went down one for a flat board. Both East-West pairs probably thought they had lost at least 13 imps. It just shows that you never can tell.

Over the next eight boards, Bjerkan outscored Baker by 14 imps to 12 to leave Bjerkan ahead by 131 imps to 126. There were two boards to go. The first is on the next page.

3 North Dlr: North ‰ J 9 7 5 Vul: Both Š Q 10 4 2 ‹ – Œ A J 10 7 6 West East ‰ A K 8 ‰ Q 10 2 Š 9 8 6 Š A J 7 5 ‹ 7 6 4 ‹ A K J 9 5 Œ Q 9 4 3 Œ K South ‰ 6 4 3 Š K 3 ‹ Q 10 8 3 2 Œ 8 5 2 Table 1: West North East South Sanborn Bjerkan Levitina Pollack Pass 1‹ Pass 1NT Dble Redble Pass Pass 2Œ Dble All Pass Table 2: West North East South Wittes Granovetter Kamenova Stansby Pass 1‹ Pass 1NT Pass 2NT Pass 3NT Pass Pass Pass

Bjerkan's looks normal to me. Then, when Levitina made a takeout double over North's two-club runout, Sanborn was happy to pass. Perhaps East should have led the club king (not that it mattered here), but she chose the diamond ace. North ruffed, played a heart to the king (West dropped the six, lowest from three), and returned a heart to her ten. On this trick, West played a suit-preference nine to show spade cards. East won with her heart jack and now led the club king. North won, ruffed a heart, trumped a diamond, and ruffed her last heart. West overruffed, cashed the club queen, and played her last . The defenders then took the last four tricks with three spades and one diamond for down two. In the other room, when Granovetter stayed out of the auction, East-West pushed into three notrump. In theory, this could have been defeated, but in practice never would have been. North led the club ten, showing an interior sequence with at least one higher honor. Declarer, after winning with dummy's king, cashed the diamond ace to get the bad news. At double dummy, North had to discard a club! Understandably, though, she threw a spade. Now declarer led a low heart from dummy. If South had played low smoothly, Wittes would have had to read the deal perfectly to get home, but not surprisingly South won with her king to return the club eight, hoping the suit would run. However, West covered with her nine. North took the trick and shifted to a spade. West won and led the heart nine, which was covered by the queen and ace. Declarer returned to her hand with a spade, ran the heart eight, and had nine tricks: three spades, three hearts, two diamonds and one club. Minus 500 and plus 600 gave Bjerkan 3 imps and an 8-imp lead into the final deal, which is on the next page.

4 North Dlr: East ‰ Q 9 7 5 Vul: None Š K 10 4 ‹ 5 Œ 8 5 4 3 2 West East ‰ K 4 ‰ J 8 6 2 Š Q J 7 Š – ‹ K J 9 6 4 2 ‹ A Q 10 8 7 3 Œ Q 6 Œ K 10 7 South ‰ A 10 3 Š A 9 8 6 5 3 2 ‹ – Œ A J 9 Table 1: West North East South Sanborn Bjerkan Levitina Pollack 1‹ 1Š 2Š (a) Dble Pass 4Š 5‹ Pass Pass 5Š Dble Pass Pass Pass (a) At least game-invitational values with diamond support

As you can see, five diamonds was laydown for East-West, so Pollack was right to “” in five hearts. Sanborn led a diamond. South ruffed, drew two rounds of trumps ending in the dummy, then led the spade queen, thinking East would have the king for her opening bid. Here, though, this was an expensive error. West won with the king, cashed her high trump, and exited safely with a diamond. South ruffed to give this position:

North ‰ 9 7 5 Š – ‹ – Œ 8 5 4 3 West East ‰ 4 ‰ J 8 6 2 Š – Š – ‹ K J 6 4 ‹ A Q 10 8 7 3 Œ Q 6 Œ K 10 7 South ‰ A 10 Š 9 8 ‹ – Œ A J 9

Unable to get into the dummy, declarer cashed the spade ace and led another spade. East won and exited with a diamond, so South had to lose two spades, one heart and two clubs to go down three. Now let's look at the other table.

5 North Dlr: East ‰ Q 9 7 5 Vul: None Š K 10 4 ‹ 5 Œ 8 5 4 3 2 West East ‰ K 4 ‰ J 8 6 2 Š Q J 7 Š – ‹ K J 9 6 4 2 ‹ A Q 10 8 7 3 Œ Q 6 Œ K 10 7 South ‰ A 10 3 Š A 9 8 6 5 3 2 ‹ – Œ A J 9 Table 2: West North East South Wittes Granovetter Kamenova Stansby Pass 1Š 2‹ 2Š Dble Pass 3‹ Pass 5‹ 5Š Dble Pass Pass Pass

East made two dubious decisions here. The less serious was not to open the bidding with one diamond. Her double, though, with only jack-fourth of spades and that huge diamond fit, was ill-judged. It was unlikely her side had a 4-4 spade fit (West might have made a takeout double over one heart with four spades), and the main feature of her hand was the great diamond support. A four-heart splinter bid looks much better to me. The double doubly backfired when West's was the spade king. Stansby won, cashed her heart ace, led a spade to dummy's queen, and played another spade. East won with her jack and shifted to a club. West got one trick there and a trump later, but South's third club disappeared on the spade nine. That was down one. Plus 500 and minus 100 gave Baker 9 imps on the board ... and victory by 1. The final score was 135 imps to 134. Wow!

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