Round 4 Novice Kirwan League
Here are the full set of results and the League Table at the end of Round 4
The big match of the round was that between Louise McKenna’s Vernon team and Deirdre
King’s Raheny team. And what a match it was. In the first session there were no big swings, but
Vernon picked up enough small swings to lead by 16 IMP’s to 6. They were still ahead when it
came to board 20.
West is dealer and passes. North with a balanced hand and 20 points bids 2NT. East passes.
What does South do?
The recommended bid with a hand like this is to use Stamen.
So the bidding could go like this:
South bids 3 Clubs (Stamen)
North bids 3 Hearts showing 4 Hearts.
South should now bid 3 Spades. This shows 4 or 5 Spades and 4 Hearts (If they had 5 Spades
and 3 Hearts, they would have originally bid 3 Hearts as a transfer to Spades. They would have
bid 3NT with 4 Spades and 3 Hearts and they would have bid 4 Hearts with 5 Hearts or with 4
Hearts and 3 Spades.)North now must decide whether to play in 3NT or 4 Hearts (With only 2 Spades, they should not
bid 4 Spades.)
If North bids 3NT, then they are expected to make the contract. If they bid 4 Hearts or 4 Spades,
they are expected to go down 1.
(I couldn’t tell you what I would have done. Hindsight is a great thing!!)
Well what happened in the “Clash of the Titans”?
On Table 1 Glasnevin’s Fionnuala O’Malley bid and made 3NT, but on Table 2 Vernon’s Caroline
Mahon bid 4 Spades and went down 1 - a swing of 12 IMPs to Glasnevin and enough for them
to get the overall win by the smallest of margins. It wasn’t enough though to knock Vernon off
the top, so both teams remain in first and second place.
The Raheny and Malahide match was also tight. Raheny were ahead by 2 IMPs after session 1,
but Malahide did enough in session 2 to win the overall match by 13 IMPs. Board 20 didn’t
impact on the final score. Both Raheny’s Lars Steffansson and Malahide’s Kathy Murphy bid 4
Hearts and went down 1 - a draw! Malahide remain in third place, but have reduced the margin
with the teams ahead of them and with a match in hand are in a very strong position.
The final match of the round was between Donabate and Frank Clarke’s Vernon team. Vernon
had a very good win and did enough to climb ahead of Raheny into fourth place. Board 20
contributed to Vernon’s win with a swing of 11 IMPs. On Table 1 Donabate’s Margaret O’Brien
bid and made 2NT (Leo must have been very tired by this stage!) while on Table 2 Vernon’s
Jackie Dawson bid 3NT and made 3NT plus 3.
The 5th round games are as follows and must be complete by Friday 14th March.
We will have a DNR facilitated session on Thursday 13th March at 19.00 in St Paul’s College,
Raheny if any of you would like to avail of this.
See you all soon.
Dan
Here are the full set of results and the League Table at the end of Round 4
The big match of the round was that between Louise McKenna’s Vernon team and Deirdre
King’s Raheny team. And what a match it was. In the first session there were no big swings, but
Vernon picked up enough small swings to lead by 16 IMP’s to 6. They were still ahead when it
came to board 20.
West is dealer and passes. North with a balanced hand and 20 points bids 2NT. East passes.
What does South do?
The recommended bid with a hand like this is to use Stamen.
So the bidding could go like this:
South bids 3 Clubs (Stamen)
North bids 3 Hearts showing 4 Hearts.
South should now bid 3 Spades. This shows 4 or 5 Spades and 4 Hearts (If they had 5 Spades
and 3 Hearts, they would have originally bid 3 Hearts as a transfer to Spades. They would have
bid 3NT with 4 Spades and 3 Hearts and they would have bid 4 Hearts with 5 Hearts or with 4
Hearts and 3 Spades.)North now must decide whether to play in 3NT or 4 Hearts (With only 2 Spades, they should not
bid 4 Spades.)
If North bids 3NT, then they are expected to make the contract. If they bid 4 Hearts or 4 Spades,
they are expected to go down 1.
(I couldn’t tell you what I would have done. Hindsight is a great thing!!)
Well what happened in the “Clash of the Titans”?
On Table 1 Glasnevin’s Fionnuala O’Malley bid and made 3NT, but on Table 2 Vernon’s Caroline
Mahon bid 4 Spades and went down 1 - a swing of 12 IMPs to Glasnevin and enough for them
to get the overall win by the smallest of margins. It wasn’t enough though to knock Vernon off
the top, so both teams remain in first and second place.
The Raheny and Malahide match was also tight. Raheny were ahead by 2 IMPs after session 1,
but Malahide did enough in session 2 to win the overall match by 13 IMPs. Board 20 didn’t
impact on the final score. Both Raheny’s Lars Steffansson and Malahide’s Kathy Murphy bid 4
Hearts and went down 1 - a draw! Malahide remain in third place, but have reduced the margin
with the teams ahead of them and with a match in hand are in a very strong position.
The final match of the round was between Donabate and Frank Clarke’s Vernon team. Vernon
had a very good win and did enough to climb ahead of Raheny into fourth place. Board 20
contributed to Vernon’s win with a swing of 11 IMPs. On Table 1 Donabate’s Margaret O’Brien
bid and made 2NT (Leo must have been very tired by this stage!) while on Table 2 Vernon’s
Jackie Dawson bid 3NT and made 3NT plus 3.
The 5th round games are as follows and must be complete by Friday 14th March.
We will have a DNR facilitated session on Thursday 13th March at 19.00 in St Paul’s College,
Raheny if any of you would like to avail of this.
See you all soon.
Dan