Ireland Imps Pairs Late sleeps in

Tonight Thursday April 16th  we will post as soon as Fitzwilliam finish their afternoon 3pm session of 18 boards. So about 1710 or so for a 1730 start.... Unclocked ..
Later I will be back at 2130 for a 2207 start ....the full Swiss Imps ..

Last night it seemed the Ireland Imp Pairs late session was gone forever. Several sad souls commented on its disappearance from the bridge radar. However just like back in the day on the odd morning one slept it out and one Saturday morning I walked all the way to work feeling a little strange only to realize my normal mode of transport is cycling to work and there is no work on a Saturday. So on awakening at 1040pm it would be too late to be starting the Ireland Imp Pairs.

However we did manage to run session 1 and the results are below. Michael O'Connor is agusaris and I have no clue who the next 5 names are. 4th place might be vincent mcmahon and tommy banks.

Anyway I got a message from michlest indicating I was doing good things for bridge.
So I looked at the heavy losing hands for michlest. They could have won the event with a few misclicks.

Above on board 1 they got doubled in a cold 4H contract and drifted 2 off.
This is 18 imps swing ..

 At trick 5 they needed to know some more card play technique and timing ..
Agreed we need to ruff a spade but then we lose 3 more tricks ..How about some timing ..
set up the clubs for some discards and later ruff the spade. Win 8 instead of losing 10.

Next item on the agenda

A 3H opening bid and our 18 count probably hims and haws and passes.
Via the diamond finesse we can make slam in diamonds ..or more normally plus 1 in a vulnerable game compared with the few 50s we collected. 11 imps swing at minimum.
Running total 29 imps
Next

We as North need to make another push here. Double a 2nd time means the same as first double but more points. 19 points easily is enough points to compete some more. This gets either 4H making or the opps if they are very good opps might push on to 4S and get doubled down 1 or if they are weak dummy players down 2. About 10 imps ...running total is 39. We are now in top half of field.
NEXT

Here we bid to 4H which makes for plus 420 and we allowed the opponents offer us up a couple of 50s instead. Double them and collect 500 instead ..about 8 imps better off an total is 47
Next

Here we doubled two likable lads in 5C and then helped them make it.
We have 2 spades 1 heart and well not even the well known trickster Huey can disappear a trump trick. So down 2 and plus 300 instead of minus 550 ..
What went wrong ... Well it should be ... Lead KING for COUNT ..partner tells you odd so 3.
Not playing this we blundered on and for some reason make the QJ HEARTS good for the Huey monster. No doubt the smooth talking ELY contributed the mandatory.."well played partner and hard luck opps" ZacZacZac would never let this make.
And that is another 18 imps ... running total now 65 imps

And there is more .. cos I forgot one earlier

This one gets a little tough in the middle I think but keep ploughing away at the spades and it goes down quietly. Its about 14 imps worth. Giving a total of 79 imps approx in the plus column from the ending total of minus 28 ..
Just a few misclicks and it could have been so much better

So if one puts this in the context of a Kirwans League match ..a comfortable win was turned into a disasterous loss and the pair may not even know what was going wrong. They might just say the opponents played awful well on all the boards.
Last time I played in Kirwans League the Meath opponents commented on their way out the door ...
"That was like our boys playing against the Dubs in GAA" They were 63 imps behind at the end.

No offence is meant to the featured pair ...its meant to be a lesson in getting better.
And there is only a little difference between near bottom and a comfortable mid table position.
This pair would have been first if they performed the plays indicated above.
They would have been plus 51 and as one of their losses was against the winners that 12 imps comes off the winners score.
.........................
Last night I diverged from the normal pulsating Swiss Pairs format where leaders play leaders.
A much more comfortable competition for me to run ...
All I had to do was guide Sonic74 past the endless supply of thoughtful players she was encountering. The fast players were able to finish the event in about 90 minutes..
Even for the legendary John Comyn ..thats a fast pace for 20 boards.

If you get this far you might note I spotted the elegant Bryan Wallace a legend of the bridge out in Malahide failed on hand 1 of
Bridgez .. a daily 16 board competition with rashers and sausages

Its a sweet little hand but was beyond the great man.
Can others do better .. Down 1 is even better I think ..