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 W E 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 W E 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 W E 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 W E 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.