There have been a lot of frantically close finishes in the big English tournaments recently. In the semi-final of the Gold Cup, the de Botton team edged the Norwegian Tøndel team by just one IMP (and went on to win the event). The Crockford’s Cup was even closer. Nick Irens and his team lost the final on a tie-break to the Hackett team (Paul Hackett, Tom Hanlon, Peter Lester, Hugh McGann and Ian Panto). That must have been particularly painful: I’d have been up all night agonising over every little missed trick.
For the victors, however, these close run-ins provide an opportunity to luxuriate in the memory of each hand that played a crucial role. I imagine this beautiful combined defence by Paul Hackett and Tom Hanlon is especially satisfying to recall:
At the tables where West opened one spade, he became declarer and the game could not be beaten. Declarer won the usual diamond lead, drew trumps and discarded a heart on the ♦K.
At this table, East was declarer. Hanlon, sitting South, thought it unlikely that West had a singleton as he hadn’t splintered, and so he found the dramatic opening lead of a small heart. Declarer played low from dummy. The queen won and a heart was returned to Hanlon’s ♥A. Now Hanlon stuck declarer in dummy with a diamond. Trying for an end-play, declarer cashed the ♣A. His aim was to draw trumps, cash the ♥J, eliminate the diamonds with the king and a ruff, and then exit with a club to force North into conceding a ruff-and-discard. Nice plan. But it collapsed at the first hurdle when Paul Hackett (North) foresaw the end-play and unblocked his ♣K under the ♣A!
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