Thursday 3rd July

Board 5

..................ME
............... ♠ 5
............... ♥ 10 8 7 5 4 2
............... ♦ K 2
............... ♣ Q 7 6 3
♠ A Q 9 4................. ♠ K J 7
♥ A....................... ♥ 9 6
♦ J 6 3.................... ♦ Q 9 7 5 4
♣ A K 8 5 2............... ♣ J 10 4
.................Adrianne
............... ♠ 10 8 6 3 2
............... ♥ K Q J 3
............... ♦ A 10 8
............... ♣ 9
After two passes Adrianne opened the South hand 1S, West bid 1NT and I bid 2H which is weakish with heart length, to play. East thought passing would not get a good score and bid 2NT, Adrianne bid 3H and West bid 3NT to end the bidding.

I led a heart and West cashed his 7 tricks for two down. However East was right as letting us play in hearts would be a bad score as we make 10 tricks., but we’ll never bid the game, but should I have doubled? I think so.


Board 8: Our bidding went (with no interference) 1D – 1H – 1S – 1NT – 2H – P

..................ME
............... ♠ 9 4 3 2
............... ♥ A K 4
............... ♦ A K 6 3 2
............... ♣ 6
♠ J 10 7................. ♠ K Q 6
♥ Q 3.................... ♥ 10 8 7 6
♦ 10 8 4.................. ♦ J 9
♣ A K 10 7 5............. ♣ Q 9 3 2
.................Adrianne
............... ♠ A 8 5
............... ♥ J 9 5 2
............... ♦ Q 7 5
............... ♣ J 8 4
This is a very difficult contract to devise a good play for. This is what Adrianne did.
West led AC and continued a club which Adrianne ruffed. She now played a diamond to the Queen, ruffed her last club and then two top diamonds, East ruffing the second one. A heart came back to dummy’s Ace and Adrianne led another diamond on which East discarded a club and Adrianne discarded a spade, West wins with QH. West played his last club, East discarded a spade and Adrianne ruffed. Adrianne played Ace and another spade end playing East to make the last two hearts for 9 tricks.

On board 21 I am in the obvious 4H. This contract has an obvious 4 losers but can defenders ever take their tricks?

..................ME
............... ♠ K
............... ♥ K Q 7 6 2
............... ♦ J 10 9
............... ♣ Q J 7 5
♠ 9 7 5 3 2................. ♠ J 10 8 6
♥ 4......................... ♥ A 9 3
♦ A 5 3...................... ♦ K 7 6
♣ K10 6 2....................♣ 9 8 3
................Adrianne
............... ♠ A Q 4
............... ♥ J 10 8 5
............... ♦ Q 8 4 2
............... ♣ A 4

I got the 8C lead and took the Ace. I played a spade to the King and then a small heart to dummy. Well at some point we have all put up an Ace and crashed our partner’s singleton King, West just isn’t going to rise with the Ace, dummy’s Jack wins and two diamonds go on the AQ spades. But sometimes we have to ask ourselves, why did Declarer play a spade to the King before playing a trump? And if partner gives count on the spade perhaps we will have the answer.

Monday 30th June

Made a nice 9 tricks on this No Trump hand:

The lead was a heart, won by the 10 in dummy. I played KS, ducked, followed by 10S taken by Ace (better to duck twice), East showing out. Another heart was played to dummy's Ace. I now led a small diamond to my Queen, East playing the 10D. I know from the carding that East started with 6 hearts, has been shown to have 1 spade and it looks like doubleton, possibly singleton diamond. It looks like I can end play west in either spades or diamonds. I exit with 7S to West's 8. West plays JC ducked all round followed by another club to my Ace. I cashed KH and decided to end play in spades so I cashed QS and exited with 6S to get a diamond into my AJ for 9 tricks (3 diamonds, 3 hearts, 2 spades and a club).

Just one thing --- I was only in 2NT. Adrianne opened 1C and our bidding went 1C - 1S - 2C - 2NT - P.

I would not have opened Adrianne's hand 1C, 1NT is surely better, bidding that suit twice --ugh! However we will still bein 2NT after 1NT - 2H - 2S - 2NT - P

On hand 22 we ended up in an impossible 4S after 1S - 2S - 3D - 4S:

Adrianne does well to make 8 tricks, but at Match Points we shouldn't have been there. South has a 7 loser hand and I have the expected 9 losers for my raise to 2. South should pass 2S. Then over the trial bid I could still settle for 3S, maximum points but stiff QJ of clubs probably not worth anything.

Thursday 26th June

3NT proved a very difficult contract for me, all were easy double dummy but I just didn't have the insight. Here are three typical examples.


Board 3 (N/S)

After two passes the bidding went 1C – 1D – 1NT – 3NT, East led a spade to the Jack and I immediately took the Ace, not wanting a heart switch. I played AD, 10D, not covered which I ran, West discards a club (looked like a signal for hearts). I cashed AC and led my last diamond to the King.

Now double dummy I have 9 tricks by giving up a diamond (and ducking a spade continuation), however I feel sure that if East gets in I will be losing 5 hearts. So I tried the JC and West shows out discarding a spade, so I took my King. Now seeing the distribution as likely to be 5-5-1-2 in the west hand and assuming the AH is there, I decided to cash KS and exit with a spade to West, end playing that hand to ensure my KH and down 1 which I hoped would beat everyone else down 2. However although I got my King, the Ace had been onside all the time. Average score.

Board 9 (E/W)
South opens 1H, Adrianne doubles, North passes and I bid 2NT. Adrianne takes a very rosy view and bids 3NT. A small heart is led and I don’t fancy my chances much, however if I win that heart, bring home 5 diamond tricks, exit with KS to South’s supposed Ace and South gives me another heart, 9 tricks are there, although defenders can easily scupper this. Anyway I win the heart, finesse the diamond and down 3.

Double dummy of course I should win the heart, lead a spade to the King, cash 5 diamonds from the top (unblocking my Jack), cross to Ace clubs and lead another spade, whatever South does I make 9.

Board 19 (E/W)
The bidding was passed round to me and I opened 2NT. Adrianne went through Baron and we finished in 3NT (though Adrianne had seriously considered 4H). I got the obvious diamond lead and dummy’s Jack held the trick.

Now double dummy I have 9 tricks by leading QS (it does not matter whether it is covered or not). I must get 4 spades and 4 hearts to go with the diamond. However I was just hoping for a 5-5 diamond split and going 1 off (two 3-3 breaks in the majors and KS onside didn't seem likely). I played on clubs and of course ended up -2. Two East’s managed to make this contract, obviously I accept defeat too easily.


Board 17 (E/W) was a good distributional hand which worked well for us despite me making completely the wrong bid.
North opened 1D, I passed and South bid 1H. Adrianne bids 4S passed round to South who bids 5D, North decides to change this to 5H. Now Adrianne will happily double this and we should manage 3 off (4 off on a diamond lead), but I'm not in this game for the easy life! I bid 5S (Harry will be birling in his grave --- I can hear his refrain "the 5 level is for the opponents") which North doubles.

North leads AD on which South drops the Queen. North tries AC and then decides to continue with KD! Our opponents were still arguing as we moved onto the next table. I never found out what the QD was for, his partner couldn’t understand why he didn’t just show count.

One day I'll learn Harry's lesson and pass at the 5 level.

Monday 17th June

We found a 4 Hearts on board 4 which most people missed.

1C – 1D – P – 1H – P – 2H – P - 4H

Thereby missing a superior 4S, however the contract has no problem making a safe 10 tricks. East should have bid 2C even if playing a prepared club, but Adrianne would still try 2H. If East opens 1NT, this would be passed round to Adrianne who should bid an Astro 2D and then we shall be in 4S ( I say 'should', we guarantee 5S with 2D Astro, but this would be an exception).

Everyone finds a slam on board 20, but most were in spades.

I decided to open 1S and Adrianne replied 2H. Well that is enough for me to take a dive at a slam. I rebid 3S, Adrianne bid 4S (3NT more logical?), then I bid 6H which I thought paints the best picture of my hand. Adrianne passes. This makes 13 by ruffing the spade loser. I have no idea how you can bid 7H, you would need some sort of exclusion RKC asking in hearts and then ask for QH and get the bonus of KC.

Thursday 12th June

An interesting board 5 where the entire field is in 4S -1 and I made 10.

I opened 1NT and Adrianne quickly transferred me into 4S. South led AC and luckily for me didn't play a diamond next, but continued a club. So I discarded a diamond and played a third club discarding another diamond. North ruffed this and cashed AD. North now played 7S.

Well South started with 7 clubs and didn't lead a singleton. If she is 7 - 2 - 2 - 2 I don't think North is playing from K7 of spades, K to 3 is possible, but I reckoned that this defender would be less likely to do that. I decided to go for gold and rose with the Ace. Contract made.

Thursday 8th May

Playing Match points I opened 1NT on hand 4:
The next hand bid an Astro 2D and Adrianne used Lebensohl to make me declarer in 6C. Certainly this is a punt as we could easily have two losers off the top, but there are plenty tricks in the South hand. Anyway, East did not oblige with a spade lead and I was 1 off. Others just settled for 3NT or 5C. However it is unlucky that there was no play for the contract. We have 10 points in diamonds, but only 3 tricks plus I am a complete minimum.

On the next hand Adrianne gets a top being the only one to make 12 tricks:


We had a simple 1S-1NT-3S-4S auction.
Adrianne got a club lead, took two trumps and finessed 10D. Back to hand and finessed QD to discard the heart loser on AD. She will make 12 on any lead by playing the diamonds thus and then leading to the clubs.

I managed a top on board 13.

I couldn’t decide what to open, but plumped for 2NT. Luckily Adrianne responded and we found the heart fit and I played in 4H without any interference. I managed 11 tricks as the opponents didn’t take their spade and I got it away on a club that was ruffed. If you make a more sensible opening of 1C with my hand, then West obviously bids spades and then all sorts of things can happen as was reflected in the scores at the other tables, but no other N/S made game.

Monday 5th May

Playing aggregate with Adrianne, this was mostly a tale of slams. Our first bad one isn’t quite a slam, but we weren’t even in game:

Board 8:

West opens and the bidding proceeds: 1S – P – 1NT – x – 2D – 3C – 3D – 3H – P – 4C and this was passed out.
East inevitably leads her partner’s first suit and after J – Q – K – A spades, I have 13 tricks. The winners our way managed to bid 6C, why did we not even find game? Adrianne’s double followed by 3H would show 16+ points and a good heart suit (normally 6). I don't think that let's me find 5C, I think partner has to see that she hasn't shown this trump holding, but still, with everyone bidding, it is not that easy. However, why don't I just overcall the 1S opening with 3C? Adrianne will have no problem bidding on.

On board 16 Adrianne found a good slam which most people weren’t in.
The bidding went: P – 1D – 1S – x – 4S – 5C – P – 6D. Adrianne knows there must be 12 tricks, but has no idea if I have 2 small spades or not. I suppose the bidding suggests not.


On board 19 slam wasn’t too difficult to bid (actually there is a grand, but nobody finds that).

Our bidding went (with opponents silent): 1D – 1S – 4C – 6D

Perhaps at aggregate I should have bid 3H over the 1D opener, but no matter, even if my club suit isn’t so useful after partner’s splinter, there must be excellent prospects here. Adrianne left the diamonds in rather than go back to spades (obviously I have longer diamonds), there is always a worry of a diamond ruff, or with a bad spade break there might be a discard on hearts or a club finesse for a spade discard if we play in diamonds.

On board 21, 3 pairs find slam, but 2 go down. We are just in 4S:
We had no interference (though West surely has a take out double and East can jump to 4H). Anyway it went 1D – 1S – 2S – 4S. Now Adrianne has a 5 loser hand and knows we have a double fit. A jump to 4C would have been better. Anyway after QH lead, Adrianne wins the Ace, ruffs a heart and leads the JS from dummy, no matter what West does she can only lose 1 spade.

Finally on board 25 came our Nemesis. A 1640 point swing on a lead.
Our bidding went:

2H – P – P – x – P – 4D – 4H – 5D – 5H – 6D – x

Now things could have gone differently, perhaps Adrianne should bid 4H immediately? Should a pre-empter like me bid 5H because I have a diamond void? Anyway, Adrianne on lead fancies I will be short in spades and lay down AS. Slam made.
It just seemed luck that the wrong Ace was led, but as usual with a little afterthought, we reckoned why is partner bidding 5H – has he 3 small diamonds, even 2, definitely not, therefore he surely has a few spades. With West using a take out double over 2H, it is unlikely that East has any spades. Or is that just knowledge after the fact? Probably.