Tuesday is the second day of the Interstate Teams Championship. The first round robin concludes today.
The Open Team played four matches against WA, Queensland, NSW and SA. 2 wins and 2 losses. Running 5th out of 8. Full results here.
The Womens Team won by 8 against SA, had a 1 IMP losing draw to NSW, won by 19 against Victoria and lost by 38 to WA. Running 5th out of 7. Full results here.
The Seniors Team had a bye in the first match, lost by 37 to Victoria, lost by 53 to Queensland and lost by 70 to SA. Running 7th out of 7. Full results here.
Our first match was against WA.
Board 18 was interesting.
On the SJ lead I won in hand, finessed the DQ then ruffed a diamond. Two more rounds of trumps ending in the dummy, then DA and a diamond ruff established the two long diamonds. The HA provided the entry to cash them. 6 spades, 4 diamonds and the HA was 11 tricks for +650.
At the other table Hilton Francis led the HK. This took an entry out of the dummy and made the play a lot trickier. The declarer ended up ruffing a club with the SQ, now when the trumps were 3-1 there were 4 losers, 2 clubs, 1 heart and a spade, +100 for 13 IMPs.
On Board 20 Tania and I were the only NS pair in the Open field to bid a good slam.
Neither of us were clear what Tania's 4D bid was, either natural or a cue agreeing hearts. Now when I bid 4H, Tania was not clear whether 4S would be natural or RKCB agreeing hearts. She chose a practical bid of 6H. The contract was excellent and made easily when all the suits were friendly. +1430 for 13 IMPs.
A 30 IMP win was just what we needed. The Victory Point Conversion that is used in this event is unusual. Basically if you win or lose by 30 or less, each IMP is worth a VP. If you win or lose by more than 30 the excess IMPs are only worth 0.1 VP. This means that a 30 IMP win gets you all the 'whole' VPs. As far as I know the ITC is the only event that uses this VP conversion - a matter of tradition but interesting for a change.
The second match for the day was against Queensland. Another good win by 24 IMPs. Scores here.
After lunch we played NSW who played well at both tables and got almost everything right. 63 IMPs was a bit of a flogging but it was their day not ours. Scores here.
Last match of the day was SA. This time we suffered the 'perfect' loss by 30 IMPs. Scores here.
Tomorrow the second round-robin starts. Having finished fifth in RR1 we have a tough start to the draw with matches against the four leading teams.