Mixed Blessings

Of the four Australian teams in the respective open, women's, seniors and mixed all-play-all qualifying stages at the 46th world teams championships in Marrakech that ended yesterday (2 September), the one that most nearly figured in its ensuing knock-out was the mixed team. Its three playing pairs were Phil Markey partnering Lauren Travis (both SA), Sophie Ashton and David Wiltshire (both NSW), Renee Cooper (WA) and Ben Thompson (Vic) and their non-playing captain was Mike Doecke (SA). After the eighth of 23 16-board qualifying matches they actually occupied the crucial eighth placing and on six subsequent occasions they were lying handily ninth; but they sadly didn't manage to climb back up.

But for today's deal a narrow ninth-round win over bronze medallist to be Romania would instead have been a loss. At one table Thompson was on lead against 4♠ by South. The play went ♣A-6-4-2, ♣K-9-10-8, ♣3-J-Q-♠3, ♠5-J-K-7, ♠2-8-A-♦4. At that point the result was agreed as one down. Rising with ♠A at trick five suicidally defied the Law of Restricted Choice. Save in the here unlikely event that South knew enough about West's habits to be certain that from a hypothetical holding of ♠QJ he would infallibly table the Jack, she should instead have inserted the ♠9 and almost halved her risk of losing an unaffordable trump trick.

Against 4♥, played by Markey (North) after the diagrammed auction - in which the as yet unrevealed systemic meaning of Travis's alerted multi-purpose artificial 2♣ response was - here indistinguishably(?) - either an otherwise unspecified balanced game force or an at least invitational three-card support heart raise - East led ♣4 to 2-K-6. Able (unlike his counterpart above) to defer any spade decisions Markey continued ♣A-9-5-8, ♣7-J-Q-♥6, ♥A-7-3-4, ♥J-2-K-5, ♥Q-♦2-♠3-♥9, and then led his singleton ♦8. When East followed "second hand low" dummy's ♦K won the trick, after which incurring a spade trick loser via ♦9-6-♥8-♦5, ♠2-8-9-J cost Australia merely one of the 11 available IMPs for the thus forgone overtrick. Visit abf.com.au for links to much more about what transpired in Marrakech.

Of probable interest to many readers are the following (here moderately reworded)  announcements: 

"The South Canberra Bridge Club advises that it will be running a RealBridge trial on Friday evenings starting September 8.  This session addresses a demand the club sees for an additional friendly and cost-effective online evening session.  It is an extra session and not a replacement for the current Thursday evening SCBC/Capital BBO session. SCBC continues to fully support the joint Thursday evening BBO session.

SCBC welcomes any Capital members to join our Friday evening RealBridge session.  The September 8 session will be free and subsequent sessions will be $5 for SCBC members and $6 for visitors.";

and

"The Bridge Federation of the ACT is holding a Gala "Gold" Pairs Day on Saturday 16 September 2023 at the Canberra Bridge Club starting at 9.45am. The two top-placed available contending pairs will form the well-subsidised ACT2 Team in the early December Grand National Open Teams final and the likewise subsidised ACT Provincial Team there will be the top 2 contending pairs that qualify with ACT Provincial status, i.e. those from provincial areas or those with less than 300 masterpoints per person. Entries should be submitted by 10.00am on 14 September. The per-person cost of the Gala Day is $15 for full-time students and pension concession card holders and $40 for all others.

Entry by MyABF. If you need help accessing MyABF please chat with the Directors."