Monday 31 January

Playing E/W with Adrianne finished 4th with a Butler score of 12. Not a lot of excitement in the hands, the worst was our very first board against Rhona & Maurice when I bid 3NT. It was only 5 off. Maurice followed this by bidding 3NT on a combined 23 count and 9 tricks off the top. So we were -13 after the first 2 boards.


Two boards against Steve & Mike are both slams for us, however we missed the first one.
After 3 passes Adrianne opened 1S, I bid 1NT, 3C by Adrianne and 3NT by me.
I got a decent MP score because Mike led a heart and when I advanced QC it was covered so 12 tricks, but -6 on Butler as 5 made the slam.
In 6H, 2 diamonds and 2 clubs go on the spades so as long as you organise a diamond ruff, you don't need the club finesse.
I thought it wouldn't really have cost to bid 3H, if Adrianne is 5-5 then 5C (or 6C) will be a good contract. Adrianne wasn't sure that she would have bid any more than 4H if I had, but I think she can. Next time though the club finesse will be wrong.
The next slam was a flat 6NT with 34 points between us.




Did go for a slam on this hand against Katie & Winnie. Adrianne opened 1S and the bidding went:

1S - 3D - 3H - 3S - 4S - 6S

When Adrianne just says 4S I reckon she is not looking at KD, still a singleton diamond could be enough, if not a finesse so I just bid it.

As the cards lie it can't fail. There were four 6S, two 6D and one incredibly brave 6NT.