Wednesday 16 January

Playing N/S with Gerry we did not have a good game and scrambled 50% in the end.

Did not manage to find the best spot on this hand.  Against Sandra and Gloria I opened 1H, Gerry bid 2C and I rebid 2D.  Gerry bid 2S 4th suit and I bid 2NT which shows my limited hand.
Gerry now bid 3D, this is surely a slam try and I have told partner I don't have extras. I decided to bid 4D, Gerry 4N and finding me with one keycard he bid 5D.
This was not good news at Match Points.  I thought about bidding 6D anyway or even 5N but getting a negative score would be even worse, so I passed.
With hearts 3-3 and KD right sided, 13 tricks rolled in.
The real mistake I think is my 4D bid.  After Gerry's 3D I should bid 3N or 6D and I think 3N is probably right.

Gerry did get us a good score against Morag and Susan by playing this hand perfectly. After two passes Gerry opened 1D, Morag doubled and I bid 1N.  Round to Gerry who bid 2H and Morag bid 2S.  I passed as did Susan and Gerry bid 3D to end the bidding, though Susan should have bid 3S.
Anyway Morag has a lead problem but settled for JS which didn't cost as Gerry took the Ace and ran JH. Morag tried a high spade, ruffed, AH and now Gerry ruffed a heart with QD and followed with a diamond to Ace.
Now all he loses are a heart, diamond and club for 10 tricks.

After bidding a stupid slam on the previous board I got us to another dodgy one on the next board against Mary and Moira.
I need a very good 5 card major to open and rebid it, otherwise I have to open 1N with up to 14 points.  This heart suit was quite good, but I felt too good for 1N.  I decided to open 1H and over Gerry's 1S I bid 1N (15/16).
Gerry bid 3C and I bid 3H showing 2-5- probably 3-3.  Gerry went to 6N.  After their success in the previous hand when Moira led Ace against the stupid slam and found Mary with the King, Mary led AD.  However this time I couldn't go wrong with KS onside, but on the run of the clubs Moira let a heart go which made it even easier.

Thursday 11 January

Playing with Gerry came second with 59%.  Had a few mixups / mistakes but got a few presents as well so can't complain.

 Against Alistair and Bob we had no interference and I opened West 1S, Gerry bid 3D which describes his hand perfectly, a solid raise to 3S.  Now at aggregate I would bid 4S, at MPs I decided not to. Ten tricks are straight forward, you should lose a spade a heart and a diamond and QC, AC, ruff a club will see you home.
Only one other person failed to bid it and though some might have been pushed up by opposition heart bidding, it was still a mistake by me not to bid it.  This isn't such a thin game.  I know Gerry has 4 spades, surely with an honour, 4S must be a good bet. Game isn't about points, its about 10 tricks and I failed to remember that.

We got a decent score against John and Ronald when most N/S are in 3C making.  Our bidding went:
1S -  x  - 2S  - x
3S -  passed out
I was given the chance of a top when  Ronald  led a small heart which I happily won with the Jack.  I ran 10D to John's Queen and he returned a club to the King, Ronald returned a club to John's Ace and he exited with a third club.
Things look very rosy now, I've lost three tricks and just have to negotiate spades for 1 loser.  I discarded a heart as I won the JC and led a spade.  John jumped up with Ace immediately which made me suspect he had AJx (with Axx might he not play low in case partner has Qx?).  Anyway John led a 4th club.  What do I play?  Am I being suckered into ruffing high?  I didn't know but went with my instincts, I discarded a diamond and Ronald's Jack won, 3S -1. Useless instincts.

A good score against Len and Avril as only two of us managed to bid slam.
After two passes I opened 1H and Avril bid 3D.  Gerry bid 3S, Len 4D.  Well, in theory, Gerry has 10 points, 5 spades and no wasted values in diamonds.  Of course he can push with less but I though I could afford 4N.  Avril bid 5D, Gerry 5S which was 2 with and so I bid 6S.
Len led a diamond and Avril continued, Gerry ruffing with the 5S.  He then cashed J and 10S before trying AK of hearts.  When the Queen fell, he ruffed a heart high, drew the last trump and had two discards for his clubs.

Monday 7 January

Playing N/S with Adrianne managed to come last with a Butler score of -48 on 24 boards. We did not play at all badly, only one misjudged bid by me that got us into the wrong slam. In fact that was the only real error of the night.

 This board was typical of our luck.
I showed a balanced 24/25 NT and Adrianne bid 6N.
Davina led a heart which I won with the 10 in hand. I tried the diamonds, but 4-1, I played KS to Barbara's Ace and she returned a heart.  I won in dummy and finessed the club for one off.
Only two of us in 6N, everyone else in game.  It is 68% that 5 cards break 3-2 and the 32% they don't I had a 50% chance of the finesse.  An 84% slam but I very bad score.

I don't really understand our bad score here. Cathy opened a strong NT, Bob used a 4H transfer and Cathy is in 4S.
Adrianne leads a trump and Cathy wins AS and crosses to KS to lead a club to Q and K.
So Cathy has 5 points in spades and presumably AQ of clubs.  With a max she could have both red Kings, but I gave count on the clubs so Adrianne is fairly certain Cathy has 5 and she might have JC. Knowing either Cathy is not max and so I have a red King or Cathy started with AQJxx clubs in which case a club return is fatal, Adrianne did the most sensible thing and cashed both red Aces to see if I would encourage in either. Nope, a club return would have beaten it! Many went off.

Against Jim and Nigel Adrianne opened South 1C, I bid 1D and Adrianne bid 1H.  I thought about bidding 2S but my hand says 3N and that is what I bid.  Adrianne went to 6N.
6S would have been easy with two heart discards on the AQ diamonds However this is still a 75% slam needing one of two finesses but both were wrong and I was down one.
Before leading Jim asked about Adrianne's length in clubs and hearts and I said she could be 4441 and have equal length or she will be at least 5 clubs, 4 hearts.  If I thought she could be 4441 why didn't I bid that 2S!!!

Wednesday 2 January

Playing E/W with Gerry we came 1st with 58%.  Most of the hands were for N/S, we defended reasonably well but you are dependent on your opponents in these situations and our fortunes seemed to average out with some lucky ones, some not so lucky.

Nobody found the slam on this hand.  Len opened South 1N, I bid 4H and Russell bid 4S.  Gerry bid 5H and there I played.
Russell led 7S which I took in dummy.  I have three trump entries so I played on clubs cashing AK, over to a heart, ruffed a club high and hey presto 13 tricks.
A diamond lead can only keep it to 12 which most North's found (presumably after a 1D opening), so a top for us.

 Joyce opened a weak 2S as South and I doubled.  Catherine raised to 3S passed round to me.
Easy just to pass but with four likely tricks I ventured a '2 way' second double and Gerry with no sensible bid left it in.
After AC and a discouraging 8 from partner I was tempted to try a small diamond but I cashed my four tricks and Gerry made his trump trick for 200 and another top.

 Joyce made up for that on the next hand.  The bidding went:

1C -  P   - 1H - 2D
3C - 3D - 3H -  P
3S -  P   -  4S

I led KD, followed with 10D to Ace and Gerry exited with 9C to Joyce's Ace.  Joyce finessed 10S to Gerry's Q, again Gerry has to exit with club to Q, K and ruff.  Now AS, another spade to my K and Joyce was 1 off for a joint top with the pair who were 1 off in 3C.

 Very nearly in a slam here and a bit unlucky for those who were.
Against Christine and Adrianne Gerry opens 1C and I bid 1H.  Gerry rebids 4H and I get excited.  4N gets a disappointing 5C (1 or 4). Still I fancy my chances but bid 5D asking for the Queen.  Gerry denies with 5H. I trust my partner and pass.
Christine leads an attacking spade and as dummy goes down I understand Gerry's denial of the QH with his 10 count, however I still fancy my chances.
I win AS, play AH, over to QH then try AK of clubs but Adrianne ruffs and cashes AD to keep me to 11 tricks.

Wednesday 19 December

Playing N/S with Gerry came second with 56%.  Let ourselves down on a few boards.

Had an interesting set against Martin and Alec.
It is good practice to double a conventional bid to get a good lead from partner.  In fact Andrew Robson devoted a Times article to it just recently.
So, Alec opened a strong NT, Martin bid 2C and I doubled. Alec bid 2D and Martin went to 3N.
Gerry duly led 6C to 9, J and K. Alec crossed in spades, finessed JD which Gerry took with K and he played his second club and I took my three club tricks but Alec had the rest for his contract.
However if I don't double 2C, Gerry leads a small heart and we make four hearts, KD and AC for two down!

On this one Martin opened 3C third in hand (a good tactic with this sort of hand after two passes, something I do myself with up to 12 points). I rather brazenly bid 3H and Gerry bid 3N.
Martin found the diamond lead to Alec's King and he returned a club to the Ace. Martin cashed 2 more diamonds and exited with a heart.
Gerry won Ace in dummy, cashed 10D discarding a spade and played KS. The double finesse was then available to pick up all the spades and contract made.
Of course we would never have bid 3N if Martin had opened 1C, so the 'good tactic', like doubling the 2C backfired again but this time in our favour.

Here, after two passes I opened a multi 2D and Alec doubled. Martin bid 2S over Gerry's 2H and Alec bid 4S.
I don't have an attractive lead, but there is surely a very good hand on my left. I decided AH couldn't be the worst lead and landed lucky.  I followed with 3H (indicating a club) and Gerry duly took KH and returned 10C to J, K and Ace.  Martin couldn't avoid a spade loser and club loser. (actually there is a play eliminating diamonds and clubs and end playing Gerry with KS, but very difficult to find).
Of course if I don't lead AH, a heart loser goes on a diamond.

I opened a multi, Issy inquired and passed.  Gerry bid 2S, round to Issy who inquired again, told it showed interest in going higher in hearts, and he doubled.  Gerry bid 3S, Willy 4C and Issy took a flier at 5C.
I think I would normally lead QD but felt that Gerry might have a useful holding over Issy's hearts and I certainly didn't want to leave him end played later.  So I led 10H.  Willy played well now. Took the Ace, two rounds of trumps and a heart taken by Gerry.  Spade cashed and a diamond exit but too late, spade ruff, heart ruff, spade ruff for two diamond discards on the hearts. We both had to play a diamond at first opportunity.
I'm still wondering what Issy would have done if his partner had bid 4D? Then what over 4Hx? Fortune favours the brave.

This was actually board 21 and we were the only ones who found 6D.
Gerry opened 2N (21/22) and 10 points and a six card suit are usually good enough for a slam. However punting 6N didn't look quite so attractive BUT we have a gadget for minors, we use 3S as Stayman for the minors -- 3N no four card minor. So I couldn't resist thinking 6C could be a good contract.  Anyway Gerry astonishes me by bidding 4D.  No option now, 6D it has to be!
Of course it is possible to be missing AC/H and AD but for that to happen partner would be AKQ and probably J of spades, a less likely scenario.
If my partner had bid 3N I would probably have passed and reckoned that would be average.

Monday 10 December

 Came 5th playing N/S with a Butler score of 16.  We made a few errors on the way, Adrianne unsure of a common sequence after playing this for 20 years leading us to a wrong game contract.  On another, we play 2N in the pass out position is 20 points but  I decided (?) Adrianne would forget this as it never comes up (she didn't) and I just doubled.  Failed to reach an easy 3N.

 Ally Gordon opened 3C 3rd in hand (3C statistically is the most productive opening bid you can make, in fact I do it with say a 12 count and 6 clubs 3rd in hand).
Anyway, I would like to bid 3N with my 15 count (if opener has say 8 points, the other two hands have 17 between them and you can 'expect' about 8 points in partner's hand). However I am aceless and pre-empts mean bad breaks, I just don't quite have enough.  I passed and Adrianne is a bit short for protecting so 3C it was. I led a spade and we forced declarer in that suit and didn't open up diamonds so put it 3 off.
3N is the winning bid.  You find the QH perforce as after a club lead, then knockout AS and club continuation, you can't possibly finesse into the hands with the clubs.  Four pairs were in 4S, this is not a good contract as you must lose two black Aces and two diamonds (the third going on a club) also the heart finesse is two way.  However all four made 10 tricks, the defence obviously thought they had to lead diamonds.

One good board for us against Miller and Maureen.  I opened 2N and Adrianne went through Puppet Stayman to 3N.
Maureen led her 4th diamond to Miller's King and he returned a club taken by my Q.  I played 2 rounds of hearts  and as it looked like 4-2 split and I have no entry to dummy so I then played a diamond.  Maureen took the Ace and Miller showed out (if she ducks I'll take a losing spade finesse and go off). Another club to my Ace and my only hope was three rounds of spades, Maureen wins Q but is end played to give me two diamonds and my 4th spade.
Well 'honest Guv' that is how I would have played it when Miller had shown out in diamonds and I had a count of the hand.  However when Maureen won her AD she played a spade by mistake which I took with the Jack.

Monday 4 December

Playing N/S with Adrianne came 7th with a Butler score of 10. We were heading for a large minus but got some big scores towards the end.  Didn't do much wrong just that our opponents mostly did the right thing.

Got a bad score against Ian and Bobby where they were the only ones in 3N. Bobby opened 1C, Ian 1H, Bobby 2C, Ian  2D and Bobby 3N.
I found a good opening lead with the 2H won by Adrianne's Q and she played back 3S won by Bobby's Jack.  The contract looks set to drift one off.  Bobby played on clubs and Adrianne took the 4th, I discarded a spade. Adrianne returned KS won by the Ace and Declarer cashed the rest of the clubs leaving:
                               -
                               A
                               KJ4
                               -                  in my hand.
Bobby crossed to AD, played a high heart from Dummy and I was end played to give him QD.  Very well played. Of course Adrianne should have exited with 10D when in with AC, however I thought that was 'obvious' and had just discarded 5S as she knows my holding in that suit.  However that dissuaded her from a diamond as she would have expected me to signal don't play a spade with the 9 as we play inverse attitude, so my fault.

 Big swing on this board to our detriment. I opened 1N, Adrianne went through Stayman and just settled for 3N over my 2D. She does not have the option of 3C on the way as we play that shows 6, anyway 5 to the Jack doesn't look that compelling.
Dave led 7H taken perforce by Dummy's Ace.  Club finesse, heart to Alistair's King, heart back and I claimed whatever was left, i.e. 3 down.
6C is of course a great contract and if you don't play play weak NT you should have no trouble being in it as four pairs were.  What is rather galling though is Victor was in 6N, got a heart lead and made it!

A big board against Ernestine and Moreen where Ernestine opened her mountain 4S and I bid my mountain 4N.  Adrianne bid 5C and Ernestine went to 5S.  I doubled but Adrianne took it out to 6C, I corrected to 6D and Ernestine doubled more in principle that anything else.
Moreen didn't find the club lead so I just went one down.
We can defeat 5S by one but at this scoring it is usually better to take insurance in case 5Sx is making.
Only four pairs made their contract (one for 5S!?), three others for being allowed to play in 5D, everyone else was 'taking insurance'

 We began at last to get some good scores starting with the second board against Moreen and Ernestine.
I opened 1D, Adrianne 1S, I rebid 2D and Adrianne bid 4C. I settled for 5D, but Adrianne was not deterred and bid 6D. Moreen led AC, I ruffed, diamond to Ace, club ruff, took out last diamond and as long as spaes were no worse that 4-2 I can discard my last club and make 13, which was of course even easier as they are 3-3.
Only four of us in slam.  In fact I was a bit wimpish jumping to 5D (which is weaker than 4D here). If Adrianne has a singleton club and no wasted values there, my KS, trump holding and heart shortage must be massive.  If I cue 4S would Adrianne have found a 5N Grand Slam force? No, I think not, but I didn't give her the chance.

Len and Christine both helped along our score.  Len with Clifford stood for his 1Nx and we defended perfectly and took 1400.  Then Christine opened 1H which Adrianne with a good hand doubled, Ileen with a singleton heart, 5 points and four spades to the Jack could have bid 1S, but that could have been unwise when we could have a spade fit.  Anyway Ileen passed and I had six hearts to the Ace and left it in.  Christine could have guessed a bit better bu lost 500. Many were playing it in hearts by me.

Here after two passes I opened 1C and David playing with Willie bid 2C.  Adrianne, rather stuck for a sensible bid, made the choice of 3C.  We play double would show a 2C bid which was her other possibility. Anyway I took 3N.  David led a small heart, I went up with the Jack, played a spade and had 9 tricks, although I made 10 with KD.
KH lead would have been no better of course.  A diamond looks best for the defence but you need to lead the 8D to get three diamond tricks, anyway 3N still makes.