REPORT

BRIGHTON SUMMER MEETING 2011

by Simon Cope

AUGUST saw the return of the eternally switched to the king of hearts and another, second-placed team, led by Pat Collins:

popular Summer Congress in Brighton but now the defence was helpless to

and for once, as well as more bridge than pre vent ten tricks, as they had no

you could shake a stick at, we were lucky com munication between their hands. N/S Game. Dealer South.

enough to see some sunshine! The events Hoffman had placed his opponents under ´ 10 3

were as usual well attended and the enormous pressure by playing (as usual) ™ KQ763

weekends were especially competitive, so at lightning speed, and giving the defence t A53

let’s take a look at the winners’ secrets for very little information to work with. Plus ® K 10 4

success – by seeing them in action. 180 was worth 87% of the match-points to ´ J875 ´ 42

the winners. ™ AJ82 N ™ 94

W E

First Weekend – Swiss Pairs t 92 S t KJ864

® A93 ® J872

Having led from the end of play on the ´ AKQ96

Saturday, Martin Hoffman (still going ™ 10 5

strong at the age of 81) and Mark t Q 10 7

Teltscher held on to seal the win after ® Q65

fourteen matches. Playing 1NT contracts

never seems too exciting at teams, but

playing pairs, it is the bread and butter, McGann, sitting South for team Byrne,

and often produces an enterprising battle decided to upgrade his 13 count to open a

between declarer and the defence: 14-16 no-trump (sensible enough given

the chunky five-card suit and the couple of

tens). North raised to 3NT, showing his

E/W Game. Dealer West. five-card heart suit on the way via a

´ AQ8 transfer. West understandably started with

™ J82 his fourth highest spade lead, and when he

t Q 10 9

Martin Hoffman (left) and Mark Teltscher, saw dummy he was pretty happy with life,

Swiss Pairs winners

® 9843 but considerably less so after declarer’s

´ KJ3 ´ 642 nine of spades won the trick. This enabled

™ K65 W

N

E

™ A 10 7 4 3 Second Weekend – McGann to play a heart towards the king-

t J87 S t 653 Four Star Teams queen in the dummy, and when this held,

® Q 10 7 5 ® K2 he played a diamond towards the Q-10-7

´ 10 9 7 5 The format of this event remains un- in his hand – East could win his king but

™ Q9 changed: the teams fight it out until the

t AK42 cut-off point, which occurs after ten

® AJ6 matches on Saturday night, after which

the top eight teams go on to compete in an

all play all ‘A’ final, while the next eight do

The auction was short and sweet, with the same in a ‘B’ final. The finals are

three passes to Hoffman who opened 1NT traditionally an extremely strong affair,

from the South chair, and there he played. and that was the case this year too. When

West led the five of clubs to the three, king play finished, the Anglo-Irish team of

and ace, and declarer now played a low Michael Byrne, Duncan Happer, Tom

spade to dummy’s eight (a nice touch by Hanlon and Hugh McGann emerged vic-

Hoffman not to lead the nine or ten from torious by the relatively comfortable mar-

hand as then it is easier for West to play gin of 5 VPs – particularly impressive as

the king, which may cause South to think Byrne-Happer are a new partnership,

he has ´K-x and play ´A-Q and another despite having played numerous times as

spade, burning a trick). He came back to team-mates. Let’s take a look at a hand

the king of diamonds, played two more where all four members of the team com- Duncan Happer (left) and Michael Byrne

rounds of spades via another finesse, and bined to produce a big swing in what holding the Four Star Teams Cup they won

then ran the nine of clubs. West won and turned out to be the key match against the with Hugh McGann and Tom Hanlon

16 English Bridge October 2011 www.ebu.co.uk