BLAST FROM THE PAST
The plan was that these columns, successors to those that appeared until mid-2023 in each week's Sunday Canberra Times, would appear here fortnightly. Of late, for a variety of reasons, I have failed to achieve that frequency. I hope to do better in future.
North's opening lead on today's deal won a 50% share of the $75 (which bought more than three times as much then as the same amount would buy today) of the 1983 Canberra Times brilliancy prize.
In the diagrammed auction 3♥ was systemically forcing. 4♠, the last of the three ensuing first-round-control-showing bids, bypassed the available 4♥ sign-off and accordingly logically implied more than tentative slam interest. 5NT was the so-called "grand slam force" convention. In its original 1936 form, it simply instructed partner to bid seven in the agreed or implied suit if and only if s/he held at least two of the three top trump honours but otherwise to sign off in six. It has however since been improved in a variety of incompatible ways. East-West, respectively Rob Van Riel (Vic) and Geoff Oystragh (NSW), two strong players but not an established partnership, hadn't (as the former duly revealed at the table when asked what the 6♥ meant) discussed which version they would use. From East's point of view, 6♥ did not necessarily deny the ♥K and might actually be promising that card. So he punted the grand slam, which seemed to him likely to depend at worst on a finesse.
The ♥K, as readers can see, was indeed favourably placed; and West's trump holding was less tenuous than it might well have been. Yet 7♥ went one down. How did that happen? Accurately deducing — from the East-West bidding, East's explanation and his own (North) cards — that dummy's trumps would be headed by the ace-queen, then-Canberran Phil Ryan tabled ♥3(!) as his opening lead. Though not blind to the possibility that Ryan might be trying to pressure him by leading away from ♥K, Oystragh judged it much more likely that this was a normal passive, low from three spot cards, opening lead against his freely bid grand slam. Were that the case, rising with dummy's ♥A would drop South's singleton ♥K. So, he called for ♥A. End of story.
The deal, which I had long forgotten, appears here because I saw it the other day in a recently published handsome hardback book titled A Compulsive Pastime. Its co-authors describe themselves on its back cover. "John Brockwell was brought up in farming communities at Tongala and Barwon Heads in Victoria. He began playing bridge in 1967 upon becoming a member of the Canberra Bridge Club. With an aptitude for tournament organisation, John convened national and international tournaments between 1969 and 2017, and got to know the thousands of people for whom bridge is a compulsive pastime." and "David Hoffman was educated in Canberra at the Australian National University. He was an academic at the University of New South Wales at ADFA, and editor for 1 of the Operations Research Society Bulletin. He joined the bridge community in 1966 and has since represented Australia in the Open, Seniors and Mixed teams. For his administrative work he was awarded Honorary Life membership of the Canberra Bridge Club. He is currently the Club Archivist."
To the foregoing I add that both David and John are both Australian Bridge Federation gold grand masters and that, in 1986, John accepted an invitation to join that body's Committee of Honour where he is described as a "Multiple term ABF President. Long-term contributor to national and ACT bridge administration over thirty years and major driver in the development of major tournament events and support for country clubs."
Their recommendable book can be bought for $60 if picked up at the Canberra Bridge Club To perhaps otherwise avoid paying $12 more than that for postage contact David at davidhoffman@iinet.net.au or 0407 782 756.