Monday 3 October

Playing N/S with Adrianne, we came first. As usual you can always do better.



Against the two Davids we were the only ones to have 4H bid against us. After 3 passes David Young opens 1H:

1H - 1S - 2H - 3S - 4D - P - 4H - passed out.

Adrianne cashed 2 top spades and played a third, ruffed. DY played a heart to the Ace, runs the QC and then leads JD to Queen and King. KH now and just play out winners until Adrianne takes JH.

No matter if I cover QC, David just goes bacck to dummy to lead JD. If I don't cover JD, David says he was letting it run.


On the next board we recovered. The bidding went:

P - 1H - 2C - 2H

3C - 4H - passed out.

DY led small club to Ace. Now I don't have the entries for a heart finesse and double spade finesse. However David Cree is in a quandary. Obviously a heart return is out and a diamond must be wrong. A club return could be wrong as well if say I hold Axx in spades I could discard a spade and then another on QC. Anyway David led a spade and so I got all my finesses to make 10 tricks.



Only 4 pairs out of 12 found the slam on this board. Of course one was against us.
Of the 4 slams 3 were in hearts and only 1 in spades.


Anyway Raymond opened the West hand 1S, Alec bid 2H and Adrianne came in 3C. Raymond bid 4H and Alec used Keycard to get a response of 2 and bid 6H.


Adrianne led AC, ruffed, Alec knocked out AH and claimed, the losing diamond going on the long spade.


I made a complete mess here against Mike & Steve. The bidding went:

1S - P - 1Na - x
4C - 4H - x - passed out.

Steve led KS to Ace and a spade ruff. AH to find 5 - 0 break, club to King and a diamond to King and Ace. Mike returns a club to Ace, I ruff club to confirm count and knowing Mike has 1 diamond left finesse into singleton Jack.
Spade comes back for Steve to discard diamond and I am 2 down for -500.
Go up with QD and I make. I have 6 tricks, 2 more diamonds for 8 tricks then play a winning diamond, discarding a spade to end play Steve in trumps.


Another bad score here against Jack and Robert. Adrianne opened 2S, Robert doubles, I bid 4S and jack bids 5D.

This can't make of course on a spade lead which ensures a spade, a heart and a club trick. However Adrianne naturally tries her singleton heart.
Jack plays well goping up with the Ace, drawing trumps and playing on clubs to get a spade discard.






We do better here against David and Katie.
After 3 passes I open 1S, Adrianne raises to 3S and I bid game.

David leads a heart, I go up with King and lead JS. No cover, so I rise with Ace and 10 tricks made

You win some and lose some.

Monday 26 September

Playing with Adrianne at Butler scoring we did very badly, 3rd bottom with -23, though everyone seemed to bid their games and slams against us.

We got a bad score here against Robert & Jack.

As West, Jack opened 1S. Technically 1D is the correct opening as opening a major implies 5 in any rebid and lying about diamonds is better as it more likely leads to 3NT.

Anyway 1S works brilliantly here.

Adrianne overcalls 2C, Robert passes and I bid 4C. Using Unassuming Cue this shows distribution.

Jack doubles and now Robert has a very obvious 4S bid. This comes round to Adrianne who now knows I am likely to have at most 1 spade and probably 5 clubs. She therefore can't see any defence and bids 5C. Jack doubles and we are down 2. 4S goes off 1. C'est la vie.

Bad score here against Barry and Lester. Some made 3NT, some 4S, some got a good double of 4H, I went down in 3NT.

Lester opened 2H passed round to Adrianne as South who doubled. I bid 3NT and barry led JH.

Doesn't look good, Barry has 3 hearts and I need to set up both minors for 3 tricks each. Spades has a possibility I thought. Lead JS, covered, take Ace and finesse 8S coming back. However if I was Lester I probably wouldn't cover JS, as North has at most 3 spades and if he has A9x it will not matter in the end.

Maybe QC is doubleton. Anyway I decided to take the worst option first, I tried AK of diamonds! I followed with AK and another club and went down 1.

All I have to of course is play Ace and another spade, 9 tricks via 3 spades and 3 AKs.

Against Avril & Stephanie, Adrianne opened 1NT and Stephanie bid 2D. I doubled and there we played.

I decided to lead one of my black doubletons. Of course I choose the wrong one and lead 10S. We make 5 trumps and that is it, Stephanie can dump her losing club on Dummy's 4th spade.

Again against Steph & Avril, we did manage to do well on this hand after a mix up.

Steph opened 1D and I bid 1H, Adrianne bid 2D and I bid 3C. Now we play long suit trial bids and although this sequence hasn't come up before, I thought that is what it would mean. Adrianne took it as showing probably a decent second suit, bid 4H.

I explained my bid before the lead, but Avril led a diamond. Steph didn't try to cash her two clubs, so I made 12.

This hand was fairly typical of our night. Against ian and Michelle, I opened 1D and Adrianne bid 3NT which exactly describes this South hand. Worried about the spades, I bid 5D.

No chance, 3 obvious losers. As Ian will surely lead JC, 3NT is unbeatable.

thursday 26 August

Playing N/S with Adrianne we came second with 56% despite a few stupid mistakes mainly by me (too embarrassing to describe).




We got the best score we could on the first board against Bobby & Willie, yet got a big fat 0.
I opened 1D, Adrianne bid 1H and Bobby doubled, I bid 2D, Willie bids 3C, Adrianne 4H and Bobby 6C.
What is going on?? Well Adrianne needs very little if she has say 8 hearts. Bobby might be 6-6 with AH and diamond void. I certainly trust the fact that he expects to make 6C, the QS might be the only defensive trick and that might be ruffed away.
So I bid 6D, doubled. It loses 2 spades, a club and a heart ruff for 800, better than the 920 for 6C. Unfortunately nobody else bid 6C.




Against Issy and Gerald 1 Opened 1C, Adrianne bid 1S and I can't see any other sensible bid than 3S. Adrianne brings out RKC and is soon in 6S. After QD to Ace, she takes the heart finesse and easily makes 12.

Only other pair in 6S were Charles & Vi.








This board was against Brian & John where a bit of my woolly thinking came into play.
After opening 2NT, Adrianne wisely decided through a transfer that 4S would be the best contract. Brian led QH and I thought clubs were the priority and I would chance my luck in trumps. So I finessed QC, then for some unexplicable reason I cashed KH throwing a club.
Anyway I played Ace and a small spade, so got away with one trump loser, but now John returns a diamond and I took Ace, cashed QS but cannot return to dummy to take another club finesse (I could have ruffed that KH and made 12 tricks). However the play of the diamonds made me suspect Brian was sitting with a singleton diamond honour, so I exited with a diamond rather than risk cashing AC, so came to 11 tricks.

Monday 22 August

Playing N/S with Adrianne we came 4th with 58%.


We got an extremely fortunate top on this board. After 2 passes I opened 1D and East overcalled 2C, back to me I bid 2S, Adrainne bid 3D.
Now there are pointless hands Adrianne can have (e.g. with doubleton spade and 3 diamonds) where with very fortunate breaks I can make 5D. She might even have 3 spades to a Queen and nothing else and I can make 4S. Anyway I though I was worth one more and if Adrianne can see anything in my suits she can maybe bid game. So I bid 3S. Adrianne doesn't really see much but thinks if he can bid 3S on his own, he might as well be in 4!
So AC, ruffed, AK of Diamonds, AK of spades, ruff a diamond, played a heart, ruffed a club and ran diamonds, they can trump when they want, 10 tricks.
Apologies to Ronnie & Celia.



6 people in 3NT on this board, 4 made it. I didn't. Against Barry Cooper and Lester Cram a heart lead goes to the King. Being in dummy I led a diamond, Lester pounces with the Ace and the hearts are cleared before I have knocked out East's AC.

It is probably Lester's good play that ensures I go down but even so will I make it? If he plays small and my King wins, I will know that Barry can only have AC as a sure entry, so will play club to the King. Now I might try spade to Queen and King, Barry will exit with diamond to Ace and now the hearts are cleared, still 1 down. Of course if I just play another diamond, Barry will eventually be end played in spades, but I wouldn't have found it.


Got a great score here. May N/S are in 3NT which is very adventurous. many in 3D going down.
I however am the only one in 2S. I opened 1NT, Adrianne transferred and 2S is where I played.
The QD was led and after Ace and another spade I avoided a defensive cross ruff just losing 2 spades, a heart a club and 1 ruff.

Men's Pairs 17 August

Playing N/S with Russell we came 3rd with 54%.




Had a good score against Jim Mcmenemy and Ian Mcintyre.
After 2 passes and 1H by Ian I decided to bid 4S directly. What is Jim to do? Double looks like the sensible option even with the heart fit, so 4Sx.
jim leads a heart, I ruff. KD, AD, ruff a diamond high (though the 3 is high). Run 9S, ruff heart exit, play QS and claim for +1







Against Nat & Paul, Russell opened 1NT and I am sure 4H is best keeping out the opponents, lots of times you gain a trick by letting North play it, so 2D transfer. this let Paul in and I went to 4H and they went to 4S which Russell doubled. Very reluctantly I passed.
I can't remember the exact sequence but in the end we got 1 spade, 2 hearts (the 4th diamond was inaccessible), 2 clubs and a diamond for down 3.
I think it went AH, JC overtaken, small spade, heart ruff, but no quick way back to hand and Russell gets in to play Ace and another spade. Good defence Russell.


Against Alec & Raymond we were one of the few who found 4H.
Our bidding went unopposed:
1S - 2H - 3H - 4H

The 2H looks like the only sensible bid with my hand. The 4H though was very dubious.
Raymond led KD, I took Ace, AC, club ruff, AK of spades throwing diamonds, spade ruff, club ruff, AH. Now I can just lose 2 hearts and my last club




Still against Alec & Raymond the bidding went:
P - P - 1S - P
1N -2Sa - x - 3H
x - passed out

The spade lead went to the Ace, AD, Ace and anothe heart. Russell now sets up the clubs (for 1 loser) and makes 9 tricks

Monday 15 August

Playing E/W with Adrianne we did not shine with 45%



We got a bottom score here against Michelle & Ian. Adrianne opened 3S, Ian passed and I though briefly about 4S, but thought we might get to play 3S and get a plus score. However Michelle bid 4C, Ian raised to 5C. Stupid me now has to decide what to do here. I'll bet there isn't a spade trick and there is distribution all round, so 5C looks to make, I bid 5S, doubled by Michelle.
Ian led AH, didn't find the small diamond switch, but played Ace and another diamond. Adrianne played a trump and Michelle gave Ian his ruff for down 2.
Most people got playing in 3S or 4S some making.




Did get one great score against Victor and Brian. Adrianne opened 1D, Victor bid 2C (double better).
I bid 4D and Adrianne put us in 6D.
Now I thought 4D showed this hand, Adrianne thought I had a bit more eg 10 points and a singelton.
Anyway, Victor cashed KC and switched to a trump. Adrianne played TD extracting the Jack from Brian. SO only 6D missing, the cross ruff looks good and so it was. AK hearts and AS just kleft a cross ruff of clubs and the majors for 12 tricks.




On this board against Rhoda & Maurice we also managed 12 tricks. The bidding E/W was 1D - 1H - 1S - 4S. Adrianne is quite good for her bid, but splintering in partner's suit usually causes confusion!
Anyway Maurice led a club, I took Ace and played a diamond to my Ace, Maurice drops the Queen. I played a small diamond ruffed in dummy and with the Jack coming down I have a diamond loser still.
I now played a spade to the Ace, Maurice tried a heart, won in dummy, I cashed a trump and led 8D. Maurice didn't have a spade to I ruffed, ruffed a heart, drew the last trump and claimed.



Our final two boards were against Jim Forsyth & Jim McMahon and were typical of our night.
Adrianne opened 1NT, I bid 2C and passed her 2H. JimMcMahon now find a 3D bid. This comes to me and I bid 3H, round to Jim Forsyth who bids 4D. I doubled, but Adrianne having most of her cards in my majors decided to bid 4H.
This went the obvious 1 off, with the opponents duplication there is no way they can avoid 2 off.
Bottom score.




Finally Jim opened the North hand 1NT, passed out and I led KH. Adrianne played the 3 to show me an odd number. Jim took the Ace and cashed 5D. Adrianne's first discard showed clubs. I then took the view (euphemism for made a stupid mistake) that Adrianne was probably 3 hearts and could hold AQxx of clubs as Jim has 4 - 4 in the reds.
I discarded my 2H, JS and a small club. OOPs
After the diamonds Jim exits with KC to Adrianne's Ace, a heart though now means I have to give Jim 2 clubs.
Pathetic really.

Monday 8 August

Playing with Adrianne, came 7th with 55% in the Festival Pairs. The usual couple of errors which cost dearly.
Managed to bid two Grand Slams, unfortunately in one of them which I bid we are missing a cashing Ace.

However against Cathie and Bob we were one of the few to bid this one.
Jump shifts are unusual these days and some people use them now for weak hands. Like most though, we still use 16+ with a very good 6 card suit. If that is the case when Adrianne South opens 1D, 2S by North, 4NT by South leads to an easy bid of 7NT as only a holding of a singleton AD and AQ of hearts would create a problem.
However, it is never that simple, Bob isn't going to be quiet with a 7 card suit. Our bidding went:
1D - 3H - 3S - P
4S - P - 4N - P
Adrianne showed 2 Aces and 1 King and I am happy to bid 7S. Adrianne might have bid 4H as she is too strong for just 4S, then I might have gone for 7N, but any grand slam usually scores well, which this one did.


Against Charles and Nigel we defend 3C.
Our bidding went:
P - 1S - x - P
2H - 3C - Passed out
I led a club to the 9 and Ten, Charles passed TD to Adrianne who reurned a heart, ruffed. Diamond to Queen and spade finesse. I gave Adrianne a diamond ruff and Charles makes the rest, ruffing out the spade.
When 4S, 3NT, 5C all make (albeit double dummy) you might expect a good score when Charles makes 10 in a minor, but no, below average. Lots of people off in spades, even 2S?!