Among
the morning line favourites in the 1999
Canadian National Teams Championship was the
Toronto squad of Jim Green-John Guoba, Arno
Hobert-Marty Kirr, John Gowdy. Two well-oiled
partnerships, playing sophisticated forcing
club systems, one versatile but realistic
Gowdy, who insisted on playing a simple
standard system when paired with one of the
other four.
This type of arrangement has been known to work, but it's tricky changing
systems in mid-stream. The GREEN team
struggled to qualify sixth in the round
robin, but lost its first knockout match,
exiting the CNTC disappointingly early.
Post mortems can be particularly fruitless when a team is playing below
its capabilities. One such discussion took
place after a session in which Messrs Guoba
and Gowdy went down in an unlikely 6 with
the North/South cards on today's deal while
their counterparts bid and made 6NT at the
other table.
Both sides vulnerable South deals
West |
North |
East |
South |
|
Guoba |
|
Gowdy |
|
|
|
2(1) |
Pass |
2(2) |
Pass |
2NT |
Pass |
3 |
Pass |
3 |
Pass |
5NT |
Pass |
6 |
End |
|
|
|
(1)
Strong, artificial; (2) Waiting, artificial;
(3) Stayman
Opening Lead: 2
North intended his 5NT as "pick a slam," a treatment that has gained
strong expert support in the nineties. Alas,
this was one of 17,003 auctions that had not
yet been discussed by our heroes. South
thought 5NT might have been the Grand Slam
Force in hearts, checking on trump quality
for seven. With weak hearts, he signed off
at 6,
and North, believing his partner held a
fifth heart to rebid them, passed. Voila. At
least 6
was playable.
Gowdy: "Sorry, guys. Lousy auction, lousy result, but not such a bad
contract. Besides, I should have made it
with the lucky trump break."
Green's men in unison: "What's so lucky about a 6-0 trump break?"
Gowdy: Well, I got a club lead, won the queen, crossed to the A,
cashed ace-queen of diamonds, and the K.
When I led my last club, West discarded a
spade, so I couldn't make it any more, even
with the spade finesse right. Had I cashed
the
K
at trick two, I would have found out about
the trumps and would have known that I
needed West to hold specifically 2-6-2-3
shape to make 6.
I would have played this way: spade to the
queen,
A,
ace-queen of diamonds, A, K,
club. West has only trumps. I over-ruff with
dummy's ten, cash the
Q,
and play the
K,
discarding my spade loser. West ruffs and
has to lead from the guarded jack of trumps
around to my ace-nine. Piece of cake. So,
I'm sorry about the play too.
Kraft: What a guy, that Gowdy.
Kokish: An original.