It's November once again, and the Cal Bears have traveled down highway
101 to face the Stanford Cardinal in the third annual Big Match.
Every year about this time, an athletic team from each school tosses
around a football for the honor of the traditional "Axe" which is
given each year to the winning school to be kept until the next annual
contest. However, the more important prize, fondly nicknamed the
"Ax", goes to the winner of the annual bridge matchup between the
schools.
Despite the general apathy with which campus seems to be greeting this
year's football competition (this in spite of Stanford's likely bowl
invitation if they win) excitement in Terman 453, the site of the
match, is high, spurred on by Stanford's "Good Luck Trees" banner (a
Memphis souvenir) on the wall. The previous two Big Matches have been
very competitive - in 1993, Stanford held a slight lead after 12
boards before losing by some 30 IMPs in the second half, while in 1994
Stanford trailed by 10 at the half before storming back to a 63-40 victory.
Taking the field for the Bears will be three members of last year's
team - Dean Hildebrandt, Bill Chen, and Andy Lewis - along with
newcomer Ed Ionides. The Cardinal, meantime, returns the entire
championship squad from last year's Memphis triumph - Steve Altus,
Bert "toast" Hackney, Scott Benson, and Joel Singer. The room is
also occupied by the B squads from both schools, who are playing the
same boards, and several kibitzers who have gathered to observe the
action.
=================================
After a somewhat delayed start, caused by a misguess on the part
of the Berkeley driver (Chen), excitement began on the very first
board. Holding JTx xxx Q JT98xx, and hearing Ionides open 1S in first
seat, Hackney decided to create some action by overcalling 1NT. LHO
doubled, Altus passed (forcing redouble), and Hackney pulled to 2C,
exposing the psych. After a 3S bid by Hildebrandt, Altus, looking at
x KQ KT987x AQxx, took the advance save in 5C, down 2 doubled for
-300. This was good for 5 IMPs, as Benson-Singer reached 4S, making 6
when Chen ducked the club ace. Stanford 5, Cal 0.
Following a push on board 2 where both sides went down 1 in 3NT,
you hold the following hand in 3rd seat: Kxxx Tx 98xx J97. White on
red, and playing weak NTs, the bidding goes 1C-pass to you. Do you
take a bid? Benson passed, leading to +70 in 1C. Ionides bid, getting
Cal to the superior 1NT contract for +90. A highly significant IMP to
Cal, it would turn out.
Board 4 was a quiet club partial, but on board 5 the fireworks
began. What contract would you like to reach on the following hands?
AKT7 4
T9854 AK2
KQ A92
65 AKQ432
Hackney-Altus had the following uncontested auction:
Hackney Altus
1H 2N* * Jacoby
4H** 4N ** no shortness
5D*** 7C *** one keycard
7NT
When clubs broke 3-2, 13 tricks were there. Meanwhile, Chen-Lewis had
a Kickback mixup, and Chen, observing that his side apparently held 6
key cards, signed off in 6H. An inescapable heart loser held them to
+980, 11 IMPs to Stanford, now up 16-1. (In the B-team match, both
pairs holding these cards bid to 7H off 1 for no swing.)
Board 6 gave Stanford an overtrick IMP, board 7 was a push in 3N
making 5, and board 8 swung another IMP to Stanford when Altus-Hackney
pushed to 3D off 2 while Chen-Lewis sold out to 2H making 3. Stanford
picked up 6 IMPs more on the next board when Hildebrandt-Ionides missed a
good 4S game. Board 10 was more of the same, as Lewis-Chen this time
stopped in 2C on 26 high card points. Altus-Hackney reached 3NT and
made 4 on friendly breaks, 10 more to Stanford, now up 34-1.
The rest of the half was pretty quiet; Stanford picked up 2 for
being in 4S+5 instead of 3N+3, and both sides made 8 tricks in a NT
partial. So at the half, the score stood Stanford 36, Berkeley 1.
=================================================
Part 2: The matchups switched in the second half; Altus and Hackney
would now be facing Chen and Lewis, while Singer and Benson faced
Hildebrandt and Ionides. Berkeley would need a near-miraculous comeback
to win, but stranger things have happened, especially in Stanford-Cal
matchups.
The second half started out slowly, with a push in 1N making 1, and
2 more IMPs to Stanford from setting a white 1N an extra trick.
Berkeley finally got on the board again as Stanford misplayed a 3H
partial, and Berkeley now trailed 7-38.
Observe the following layout and see if you can predict the result:
Board 16 Q
Dealer: W xx
Vul: EW T98xxx
Kxxx
xx AJxxx
9xxx QJT8x
--- AQ
AJ98xxx T
KT98x
AK
KJxxx
Q
At one table, Singer opened an offbeat 3 clubs, passed around to
Hildebrandt, who made the unfortunate balance of 3S. This was off 3,
+150 to EW. Meanwhile, Chen passed the west hand, allowing Altus to
open his own offbeat preempt of 3D. Lewis overbid slightly with 4D,
and Chen took a shot at 6H. Hackney managed to find a double,
and Stanford collected 800 and 14 IMPs.
A misplayed 4S gave Cal back 10 IMPs on the next board, but the
swings continued on board 18:
AT987x Jx
Tx Jx
x AKJxxxx
Kxxx Ax
When Cal held these cards, Hildebrandt opened 2S, and a 3H overcall
by Singer was passed around, down 1 for +50. At the other table, Chen
elected to pass Hackney's 2S opening, and Altus, observing that he
had the magic holding in clubs, took a stab at 3NT, on the theory that
the opponents would expect him to have hearts stopped. Indeed, Lewis
was taken in and led a club, and Altus wrapped up 10 tricks when Qx of
diamonds turned up onside. 11 to Stanford, now up 63-17.
If that wasn't enough to seal the match, the next board certainly
was:
Board 19 Kxx
Dealer: W 76
Vul: NS J9xx
Axxx
T98 xx
KT54 Q82
AQTxx Kxx
x JT98x
AQJ7x
AJ93
x
KQx
Stanford reached 4S after the auction began p-p-p-1S; Berkeley
reached the same spot but only after Altus had been allowed to psych a
1D opening with the east cards, a point which may have had some
influence on the play.
The play at one table was simple: Benson won the opening club lead
with the ace, played a heart up to the 9 and 10, ruffed the second
diamond, played heart ace, heart ruff, and drew trump losing 2 hearts
and a diamond for +620. So how did the contract go down at the other
table?
Lewis, declaring for Berkeley, faced the same opening lead, and also
won the ace and played a heart off dummy. However, Altus played a
deceptive queen of hearts! Lewis won, naturally, and
guessed wrongly to exit the three of hearts. Altus won the 8 and
played back a club for partner to ruff. Hackney had no problem
leading a diamond to the king and collecting his second ruff for +100
and 12 IMPs.
At this point the match was all but over. Both sides went down in
4S on board 20, and Stanford picked up 6 more when Hildebrandt
misguessed everything to go down in 2S while Hackney made 3. Board 22
was a flat 3NT, but the following layout provided a good bidding challenge:
AJx Tx
9xxx AKxx
AQx Kx
ATx KQ98x
Singer Benson
1C 1H
2H* 3D * shows distribution or extra values
3S 4N ** 0 or 3 keycards
5C** 5D*** *** trump queen ask
5H**** 6H **** no trump queen
6H made easily when hearts split 3-2, for 13 more IMPs to Stanford,
now up 94-17. The match closed quietly, as Stanford picked up 2 more
by making 11 tricks in a heart partial.
Stanford, in probably their last match together as a team, had won
the "Ax" for a second year, this time in very convincing fashion.
Looking back over the match, there were a surprising number of boards
where creative bids and plays paid off big for Stanford (the 1NT psych
on board 1, the gambling 3NT bid on board 18, and Steve's clever heart
queen on defense on board 19.) However, good slam bidding and
generally consistent bridge also contributed significantly to the victory.
P.S. Stanford's football team, spurred on by our success, went on to
win back the Axe and was invited to play in the Liberty Bowl.
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