Wednesday 11 April

Playing E/W with Gerry came 5th with 56%. There were certainly a number of interesting hands.

 Against Ian & Jim, Gerry opened 1D and Ian made the most practical bid of 4S. Now we are vulnerable and 5D will probably be -500.  However I pause for a while, the problem is 4S could be all sorts of bids, 8 spades very likely.  Partner could be 5-5 in the minors. After thinking for a while I hate passing, so 5D it was, Jim bids 5S and Gerry doubles.
Now a spade lead or diamond lead and spade switch would leave declarer with only 2 club ruffs.  However, as usual, I find an alternative lead to let the contract make.  I led KH, AH and a cross ruff in hearts and clubs gave Ian 11 tricks.
Still, we weren't doubled in 5D, if they get all their ruffs that will cost 800.

Against Louis & Harold their bidding went:
1C - 1D - 2D - 3NT - 4D - 5D

Now as we can see there is a spade and unlucky for declarer, 2 diamonds to lose. 3NT will probably make, heart lead, set up a spade trick and you have 9 tricks.  A spade lead would defeat 3NT whether declarer puts in the 9 or the Queen.

So what's the story? Well Gerry made the natural lead of a heart of course. Two spade discards and 11 tricks made.
Half the field made 3N or 5D, half went off.

Against Flora and Geraldine there were three passes to Gerry who opened 1D, North passed, I bid 1H and Gerry bid 3D leaving me an obvious 3NT to bid.

Geraldine plays AK of clubs and I have 9 tricks. Just luck again, South will never find the defence, but for those who play 3S by me asking for a stop, Gerry would then play it. A club lead and spade return would put paid to that contract.
Only 4 pairs made 3NT, lots of diamond and heart part scores.

 Against Charles and Vi, Charles opens 1S in 3rd seat and I overcalled 1NT.  Vi doubled and when that came round I bid 2D passed out.
KS led and taken by me and I played QD.  Charles wins this and plays QS and another.  Obviously he will be playing a spade again when he gets in, discarding hearts is possible but I think I can get them to open the suit, so I ruff with the 9 and exit with a small diamond to Charles who leads another spade, I ruff again leaving 1 diamond in each of 3 hands. If the heart honours are split, Vi will have to have QC for her double do I finesse the club and cash KC and Charles ruffs the third but must now open up hearts or give a ruff and discard so I made 8.

On the next board Gerry opened a multi, I bid 2H and Vi doubled.  Gerry bid 2S round to Vi who doubled.  Charles bid 3D and Vi bid 3NT.
I doubled this for the diamond lead and Vi converted to 4C.
Gerry led a diamond to my Ace, I returned QS taken by Ace and Vi played KH to Gerry's Ace.  He cashed a spade and exited with a diamond.  Vi runs her clubs and on the last comes down to Jx and a diamond in dummy with Qxx hearts in hand.  I have to discard from 9xx heart and QD, either being fatal, so 10 tricks made.

 Against Stewart and Bobby, what would you think the final contract would be?
OK it was 2D.  Now who played it?
South of course.
As East I opened 1D, Bobby bid 2D and Gerry thought about this and passsed.  Stewart took a view and passed.  I automatically picked up a pass and then realised maybe I should have thought about this, despite the hesitation I can deduce that North has a lot of diamonds and few cards in the majors.  I don't need a hesitation to tell me partner has holdings in hearts and spades, so maybe I could have doubled, but difficult after a hesitation.
Anyway Gerry found the best lead of KD and after three rounds of diamonds Bobby played AK and another heart, ruffed and over-ruffed.  I pulled the last trump and led a small club.  Gerry cashed his heart and returned a club to my Queen. AC and KS and Bobby gets last two tricks for 3 off.  Could have gone 4 off  if I had played KS instead of a club or if Gerry hadn't cashed QH. Anyway it wasn't doubled.  Even if they change to 2 of a major that will surely be 800 as well.

On the next board Bobby opens 1NT and Gerry doubles.  2S by Stewart and I bid 3S, so Gerry takes 3NT.
A spade lead to the Ace and AD catches the Queen and on the lie of the hearts there are 4 tricks there giving 11.  Only two of us were in 3NT, everone else in diamond partials.

What a board this is.  6C is the contract for N/S, nobody is in any number of clubs.
Against Eileen & Alistair Gerry opens 1D, Eileen bids 2H passed round to Gerry who bids 2S (I was passing a double).  Eileen now bids 3H, I double and there we play.
As you can see we have no tricks outside of trumps. I led a diamond ruffed, Eileen crosses to AC, finesses QS, cashes AS and leads a third. I decided to ruff with 10 and exit with a trump.  Eileen plays KC and a third which I ruff and exit with a diamond in the end I get my KH and another heart but at the expense of ruffing my partner's spade winner.  9 tricks made.

Against Willie and Issy I opened 1S and Issy passed as South.  Gerry gave me a limited spade raise via 3C.  Now I have no idea how many tricks I can make it could be anything from 8 to 11, so I just bid 4S.
Issy forewent the JC that would have made it really easy for me and led KD. I pondered what to do about the spades and decided to go up with Ace, no matter the King appeared, so just clubs to negotiate. I led a club to the King and Issy's Jack appears.  They say with a choice defender could play either Q or J so you should play other defender for Q.  Also Issy might be dutifully showing count with Jx.  Anyway I finessed on way back and had 13 tricks.  Like I said, I had no idea how many tricks this would make!

Two tricky boards against Maggie and Renee to finish.
Gerry opened 1S and our bidding went:
1S - 2H - 2NT - 3D - 3H - 4D - 4NT - 5H - 6H

Renee led a small club but it doesn't matter where the King is, this is about avoiding two red suit losers. I took the Ace and led QH.  Maggie covered (which costs a heart trick) and Renee show out.  I crossed to AS and ran 7H and finessed another heart and cashed a fourth.  Renee discarded a diamond.  Over to KS (forgot to cash a diamond first -  very poor) and finessed a diamond, cashed last trump and my diamonds are good for 13 tricks.

Here I opened 1D and our bidding went without interference:
1D - 1S - 1NT - 2C - 2H - 4H

Renee found the lead of Ace and JS which I ruffed.  I have to do something with the diamonds so led to the King and Maggie's Ace.  Maggie plays a third spade. If I ruff with the Ace, finesse 10H, finesse 10D, I will have 10 tricks via a club ruff  (6 hearts, 2 diamonds, 2 clubs).  However I didn't see it that way and ruffed with the 8, over-ruffed with the 9.  Renee exits with a club and I played 2 clubs discarding a diamond and ruffing a club, but I have had it now losing two hearts a diamond and a spade. I don't think I had a coherent plan, but Renee's lead really scuppered me. The two who made 4H from my side both got a diamond lead.  I think even I would have made it then.