Thursday, June 14, 2018

Euro Teams Round 24 LATVIA

Board 17
North Deals
None Vul
Q 9 8 6
8
K J 9 7 6 2
Q 5
J 10 7 4 3 2
A 7 4
4
7 6 2
N
WE
S
A
K 10 9 2
5
A K J 9 8 4 3
K 5
Q J 6 5 3
A Q 10 8 3
10
EW 5; EW 3; EW 2; NS 3; EW 1N; Par −300: NS 5×−2
Yikes .. Boland and Moran managed to bid a fairly good 3 NT .. It makes 10 tricks on a lead out of turn or a non- lead as one of my acquaintances indicated. Unfortunately the Latvians both held 5 plus s so someone led 4th highest and that was that .. Luckily the Latvians missed the 5  game as well so it was only 7 imps away .... We already had a 1-1 fit in these championships and paid out a pile of imps that time too. I suppose its like the "Irish slam"
We might call this in future "The Irish 3 NT " ... just the 2 flaws .. both have a singleton.. in same suit and neither has an Ace.... The Irish slam is famous worldwide for being off 2 cashing aces ..
Board 19
South Deals
E-W Vul
Q J 7 2
10 7 3 2
5 2
Q 9 2
A K 10 8 6 4
A 4
4 3
J 7 6
N
WE
S
K Q J 8
K 9 6
A K 10 8 5 3
9 5 3
9 6 5
A Q J 10 8 7
4
E 6N; E 6; E 6; W 5N; E 4; W 4; W 3; W 4; E 2; W 1; Par −1440
Boland and Moran brought home a small slam in s. One best not examine too closely how the  Q was located but 12 tricks was 13 much needed imps for Ireland.
Board 23
South Deals
Both Vul
5 4 3
A K 9 5 4
7 6 5
Q 9
K 10 9 6
7 6
Q 10 9 3 2
J 5
N
WE
S
A J 8
Q J 10 3
4
10 8 4 3 2
Q 7 2
8 2
A K J 8
A K 7 6
NS 2; NS 1N; NS 2; NS 1; NS 1; Par +110
I could not see 9 tricks here but now maybe I see a way .. Win lead with  J and cash  A  K.
The East defender might pitch 2 s from 5 to the 10 before he realises the danger and declarer grabs all ... 3  4  and 2  .. For Ireland it was minus 600 and minus 200 = 13 imps gone.
Its easy if one sees all 4 hands ...but its very easy to toss 2 early if under pressure .. with incomplete knowledge. Well done the Latvian declarer if thats what happened. However I don't know what happened but this is a good scenario ... Done him like Seabiscuit as Declan the Donplayer would say ....He never thought I would do that ...did he Eamon..
Board 24
West Deals
None Vul
A 8 7 4
A 9
J 7 2
9 7 6 2
J 10 5 2
K 5 3
10 9 5
10 8 5
N
WE
S
K Q 9
J 8 7 6 2
A 6 4
K 3
6 3
Q 10 4
K Q 8 3
A Q J 4
NS 4N; NS 4; NS 4; NS 2; NS 1; Par +430
Latvia bid 3 NT with 14 opposite 9 and that was another 8 imps ..
Latvia bid 5C on both 28 and 29 where the Irish played partscore ..
Both vulnerable making games and both 10 imps to Latvia ..both on 22-23 high cards.
Latvia won 51-27 and that was just the 4 VPs for a struggling Ireland.


Done like Seabiscuit ...

However back in the live action it was Ireland versus Belgium ..maybe we could get 20 VPs.
It was 8-0 early on ..when I started writing this blog. Now its 9-0 after 5 scores.

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