Report by John Auld

Our third match of the season was at home to Gloucestershire.

The teams:

Dawes: William Crook and David Hodge; Graham Brindley and Graham Lee; David Burgess and Gordon Fullerton; Irene and John Auld

Porter: Daphne and Mike Coggles; Carol Fisher and Martin Mellor; Janet Jacques and Will Irving; Frank Ball and Keith Rodgers

Markham: Phil Dale and Ray Furlonger; Sylvia Goodlud and Nick Clark; Faye Kirk and Roger Staton; Bernard Moore and Mary Cook

There are always issues hotly disputed by bridge experts who need to get out more. One such current argument is whether to open the major or the minor on 4432 hands outside the 12-14 No Trump range. Irene and I have opted for the major suit route which helped us lose 11 imps on our first board number 7:

Either of us could have stopped bidding but of course we attempted the vulnerable game. A club lead had to be followed by Ace and a heart finesse and a diamond attack; five down for -500.

For Gloucestershire Pat Shields and partner bid 1C-1H-1S-Pass, so the winners of today`s exhibit are the bid the minor advocates.

Another current theory is that against opponents eschewing Stayman en-route to 3NT it is usually right to lead a major. That did not work on board 4:

South led Q of spades and I made 11 tricks, By contrast David Hodge did the traditional thing and led a diamond. Now when Willy Crook won the Ace of clubs and cleared the diamonds declarer had only 8 tricks and 5 losers. However cashing the clubs had a nasty effect on the defence`s tricks; David could not guard spades and keep winners. He kept calm and carried on, releasing a spade unconcernedly. Declarer misread the hand and played hearts for one off.

The news must have travelled because another Gloucester player led diamonds against us in a similar situation on board 31:

Those Wests following the new wisdom and leading spades rather than the scruffy diamonds went unrewarded. Against my partner they led diamonds and now the contract essentially relied on the clubs. In isolation the odds favour Ace and a finesse catering for four clubs on the left amongst other things. However Irene was not in isolation and found the play of finessing through East to make 3NT.

That was one of our few positive contributions to the day and the Dawes team lost by 3 imps-11/9 VPs. The Porter team were outgunned 19/1 but the Markham team had a very decent 15/5 victory. Well done to them.