Some exciting Ireland Imps Pairs ..April 11th results

Sunday ... April 12th starting times

Session 1 .. 20 boards open for entry 1730 .. starts play at 1750
Session 2 .. 20 boards open for entry 2130 ... starts play at 2210


Last night saw some exciting and some weird plays and some folks get a little My Karona

Well we struck out at 1730 with the entry for the first Ireland Imps Pairs. Folk don't seem to like the 1750 hours start of play time imposed on us by the deluge of new online players.

Here we saw Paul Scannell and Enda Glynn see off all comers and build a plus 72 imps score.Some people doubled the Cheating Priest. Apparently this is his moniker from before my time because he must be cheating because he is so good. I once finished 2nd with Thomas MacCormac in Dundalk Congress Pairs about 1996 and was told CP was ahead of us. I tried to figure out who was CP.
I think it was Enda Glynn with Pat Quinn.
Here is CP in action after getting doubled in 3S ..

The contract was 1 down but East West managed to let it out
Then CP sent it back to down 1
Then EW handed it back to CP to make as many as 10 tricks .. maybe it was some misclicks by East

Then at 10pm the storm took on a new front .. Storm Peter and BJ blew in from the East.
Well they must have killed the field as a score of plus 85 imps might indicate.
They say if you don't know how to bid you better know how to play .. Pigot in fairly good at both playing and bidding. After all he teaches the game ... He has more disciples than Jesus
The Peter Pigot Bridge Club
As for BJ he consistently lands on his feet standing up most of the time ..
One year he won 6 of the 9 National titles and podium-ed in the other 3

Drillable BBO for BJ Peter

There was plenty of action last night ...

This hand caused some angst ...you only have 8 tricks due to the spade blockage.
3 rounds of Hearts was the start ...and its just down ..
However the Wojtek decided he would help thegarve by allowing an unblock as he cashed the Heart Jack when he needs to do something better. I mean it is clear that Garvey owns spade ACE.
I mean its fairly easy to figure Garvey has spade stopper and long clubs ...unless he has lost his mind or got a hand out of a different board. I have heard a few decent players say Wojtek is a top player but this hand might indicate the reality.
Now Garve claimed a misclick but as his partner is privately explaining to me about trick 5 being the misclick and garve meant to pitch SA on the gifted heart Jack .. it is not 100% clear .. Meanwhile Wojtek having let the contract out says .."It can never make ..always down " ..someone else is talking about getting to dummy on 3rd club .. and finally a kibitzer pipes in with "ALWAYS DOWN"
As its possible it was a change of mind or a reflex click on small diamond I could not see it as a 100% misclick ... Anyway there was nothing to be done as the tourney was set up without UNDOS.
Why does anyone need an UNDO ...presume because not 100% focused.
Garve let it go in fairness but made some notes in his large black folder.

Then we saw someone getting creative ,,, Frank in the West bid to a making 7S contract and all was well. There was no mention of the 11 card diamond fit in the auction. Mind you the bidding was crowded to the 5 level. However when partner converted to 7NT ...even the normally distracted Caz was able to apply the double and cash the club Ace.
Now all hell broke loose ...Somehow it was thegarves fault that the opponent bids 7NT ..the director was called and witnessed some good handbags and mudslinging. Somebody said something about obnoxious and mirrors in the house. I thought it was interesting as I am a student of bridge players psychology.
Meanwhile on this same hand with the above mentioned Wojtek at the helm in 7NT ..the opening leader spurned the lead of the ACE OF CLUBS .. She might even be a member of the bridge club called ACE OF CLUBS. That would be like a 30 imp swing ..

 And on we go ..this time finding the well known North East player  Brendan Sheridan at the helm in
7C. Now Brendan is too good to take a heart finesse to make the grand slam .. so he goes the sexy way.

So here we are at trick 9 with thegarve spreadeagled on the cross ..nails in both hands. Play another trump and caz has to let go a spade or the 2nd in command DJ. Up top garve can let go a spade.
on the final trump both North and South have to suffer the pain.

However sadly Brendan lost track of wht was going on and unfortunately missed out on the correct line in probably the greatest hand he has ever played against the greatest player he has ever played against. The DIAMOND 2 was the card that garve was wishing would be discarded .. and so it became and the greatest hand of Brendan Sheridan and the diamond 2 was consigned to another slam down and about 25 imps swing to garve.

Board 8 was a good story hand. The story of the NO TRUMPS ...
What do you call .. AKQJ98764 ........... I say trumps .. Jim Doyle says NO TRUMPS

Sure did'nt I stop them bidding 6H slam ...a good move .. 1100 minus instead of 980 minus.
As for Jims partner ...I don't know who it was ... but those are TRUMPS ...even if Jim Doyle bids NO TRUMP. If Jim Doyle has the stuff to make 3NT ..then surely 6S is on ice or very unlucky.
One might note ...the elegant bridge teacher , expert and international player put the double on you.
Maybe backing out to the 9 tricks guaranteed 4S ..might be a good idea .. add in a trick from Doyle and you might even make. Not sure if the elegance will stop off to double you though ..thats a question for the next Peter Pigot class.