Nickell at the helm
Nick Nickell and Ralph Katz earned a nice swing in Vanderbilt Round of 8 by bidding aggressively and then bringing home a game contract opposite a tame 1NT at the other table.
I did not catch all the spot cards, but this is my general recollection:
| Dealer:
Vul: |
North
♠ xxx ♥ QJxx ♦ KJxx ♣ Ax |
|
| West
♠ AQ97 ♥ KT ♦ AQT ♣ Txxx |
 |
East
♠ KT8x ♥ A98x ♦ xxx ♣ xx |
| South
♠ Jx ♥ xxx ♦ 98x ♣ KQJ9x |
| West | North | East | South |
| — | — | P | P |
| 1NT | P | 2♣ | Dbl |
| 2♠ | P | 3♠ | P |
| 4♠ | All pass |
♣A, then ♣to K, then switch to ♦9, to T, and J. Then small spade exit to ♠J and Q.
Now club ruff to dummy, ♠ overtaken to hand, and another club ruff. That’s seven tricks in. North (Stansby) was responsible for protecting both red suits and calmly blanked his ♦K to come to a small spade, all four hearts, and the stiff diamond. Reading the earlier ♦9 perfectly, Nickell went up with ♦A drew the last trump and claimed.
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Bridge-related
Was the notrump range the same at the other table?
I know it is only a point difference, but 14-16 vs 15-17 would make a big difference to East.
Not sure about the range, Paul. I seem to recall that at the table that declared 1NT, the range was 14-16. But I am less sure about the range at the table shown, where 4S was the final contract.
I know that I would have passed as responder even if we were playing 15-17 … but these guys (even, in this case, the sponsor) can play the spots off the cards!