You play a lot of boards at the Spring Fours. Even more if you can actually play the game and make it through to the final day. But we didn't do that (but still played 200 boards over the weekend).
As last year the event drew 57 teams, but one dropped out at the last minute. The field was split into a number of head-to-head matches and some triads. There is a real advantage to being in a triad as you can get into round 4 just by winning the match on Saturday evening, whereas the head to head participants need to win two matches.
So we drew the #12 seed MOSSOP (John Carroll, Adam Mesbur, David Mossop, David Price, Colin Simpson & Gojko Zivkovic) for the first round. I knew David before he became a tax exile in Switzerland and was hoping that we could repeat the defeat that Sam and Stephen gave him at the same stage last year, but it was not to be. Two wrong slam decisions cost 25 IMPs and, more frustratingly, playing in a major fit rather than 3NT cost at least 30 IMPs to give them an easy victory.
In round 2 we played the unseed WILSON (Rob Procter, John Slater, Nick Smith & Alan Wilson). We all played a solid game and we came through this match by 27 IMPs. Wilson dropped into the first Punch Bowl round robin and would eventually be beaten by McIntosh in the semifinal of the consolation event.
In round 3 we played the #6 seeded team of sponsors and professionals of McIntosh (Ralph Katz, Andrew McIntosh, Reese Milner, Jack Mizel & Brian Senior). At least one of my readers knows Ralph well as he plays with her husband and he is currently hot-footing it back for the Cavendish (and then the US Trials) before we'll see him in Washington.
It proved a very close match. We were down by 8 IMPs going into the final set but solid play by Ralph and Tosh eeked out a further 13 IMPs and we were out of the main event. They would get knocked out in the next round by thegarv and company but would eventually win the Punch Bowl on Monday afternoon.
The big reason to play the Spring Fours as an event is that the subsiduary event is still very strong and well worth playing. On Sunday we played an all-day round robin group of 8 teams, needing to finish in the top two to qualify for the quarter-finals. We won 5 matches and drew one, but a big loss to the group winners meant that we would only finish 3rd.
And then on Monday we played in the strongest swiss teams event on the calendar. People are not taking it very seriously but the calibre of the teams is very high. We won two and lost four matches very narrowly and so finished above average. I'll post some of the more extreme hands later and perhaps highlight how a junior plays a 4-0 fit after partner has passed exclusion blackwood!
As always we thoroughly enjoyed the event and remains the best UK event by some considerable distance. The increased prize money over recent years has encouraged the top sponsors to attend, with a number of foreign stars coming in from Holland, Norway, USA, etc., and this encourages the top English teams to play too. Although an expensive event, the English juniors can play free when partnering another squad member, as Phil highlighted in an earlier comment. The hotel also provides excellent playing conditions, although I do wonder what our USA guests think of the hash browns at breakfast.
A lesson for the SBU? Increase the entry fee of the Winter Fours, improve the prize money and the playing conditions for the premier event, and perhaps we can improve the image and standard of the event. At least worth considering.
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