Tuesday 1 March

Playing a match against Stirling we lost 10-6 (960 aggregate).  Gerry and I were E/W and actually had a great score due to some luck.

A rather pushy 4H that two other tables were also in, but they went down.
KC lead, I won Ace and finessed heart. First decision, do you use diamond entry for second heart finesse and lose options in the diamonds? Well I decided HK was more likely to be in a hand with three.  So I crossed to AD, took second finesse and drew last trump.
I didn't reckon opponents were going to fall for a spade to the Queen, so on a diamond guess.  I tend to favour QD in these situations, it's more flamboyant pinning the doubleton Jack, however I always get it wrong!  Anyway I just played a small diamond from hand, South won KD perforce and 10 tricks made.

Big, big swing here for us.  Gerry opened 1H, South bid 2H and I toyed with a jump to 4H but what happens is North bids 4S and neither Gerry or myself know anything about each other's hands.  I decided on 2S, surely game going values and lacking 4 hearts.  North decided to double (3S much better) and Gerry bid 3C.  South passed (again 3S better) and I bid 4H.  Possibly North saw defence, this was passed out.
South found small spadde after the double by North to King and spadde back to Ace.  After some thought South exited with small diamond. It is irrelevant but Gerry tried KD and ruffed North's Ace.  Heart to King, 9, T and J back.  Club finesse, heart to Ace, QC, KC and AC and claim for the loss of two spades and a heart. 4S makes the other way as long as you play for the double finesse in diamonds (see previous post!) and not AD and another.  It was 4Sx at another two tables for 790 against our 620.

John and Nigel made 3NT+2 by North on a favourable diamond lead.  At the other three tables it was played 4S by South all on a heart lead.  Alex Wilkinson made it.
At our table the heart was won in Dummy and QS played.  Declarer took four rounds and threw two clubs from table giving up her chance of making it.
She now played diamond to 10 and Q, club back to singleton Ace, heart ruff, diamond to J and Ace, heart back, ruffed, two clubs to lose to go with the two diamonds.
Now there is only a 25% West has KQ clubs and a 50% chance you will get a diamond trick (with a doubleton you just guess for either Q or A in West hand).  However, there was no point in throwing the clubs, throw the hearts on the trumps.  Now when you mis-guess the diamonds (well it's always wrong), East returns a heart which you ruff, now try West for KQ clubs. Play a club, West puts in Q and you can duck or win it.  Either way it a diamond next, Gerry wins and plays another heart, you ruff and another club guarantees the contract.

Wednesday 24 February

Playing E/W with Gerry,  finished well down with 47%.

Holding something like A x x  opposite Q T x x x you play Ace then low to QT. When LHO plays small you basically have a 50-50 chance of losing one trick. Overall it is better than 50% as an honour might have appeared but it is a horrible choice when, as usual, one doesn't.
Things change when you have the 9 in either hand.

A x x  opposite  Q T 9 x x  gives you a double finesse. Run the Queen then run the Ten. This gives a 75% chance of just losing one trick as it only loses two when both K and J are in RHO's hand.

Against Anne & Malcolm Tyre we picked up the cards the wrong way round so I had Gerry's West hand and was soon in 3NT.
Anne led her 4th best heart so Dummy's 9 held the first trick.
I tried a diamond to the Queen and it held, Anne playing the 9.  I never dreamt that the Ace would be there and thought 9x most likely so decided to play on clubs for an extra trick.  Having QT9 I went for the double finesse starting with running the Queen to Malcolm's King. A heart came back to my Queen, I crossed to AS and ran the Ten, no luck this is the 25% of times when you lose two.
The spades broke and I made 10 tricks for 50%.







At the next table against Maureen and Victor I opened East 1NT.
Only 11 points but better than a lot of 12 point hands.
We're not reserved even at pairs so Gerry raised to 3NT, a 2NT contract should be illegal anyway.
This has good prospects even after a small heart lead to King, heart to J ducked and Maureen cleared the suit.  I just need Victor to have AC and he signals clubs on the third heart.  Great, QT9 of diamonds again, double finesse into the safe hand, 75% chance of making.  Oh well I lost two diamonds two hearts and a club, who said 2NT was a daft contract? A complete 0 this time.

I fancied that hearts were 5-2 although Victor always returns the 7 with K73. However even if I take the second heart, I only have 8 tricks with only three diamonds.

It was never going to be our night.

Tuesday 9 February

Playing a match Vs GUU we played E/W against Jim Forsyth and Jim McMahon. We won by 1290 giving us a 10-6 victory.

There were quite a few swingy hands with some big distributions.

After two passes Jim M opened 1D.  I have a choice here, punt 4S or double and bid spades to show a strong jump overcall (here I can jump rebid). However I chose 3NT, this seems to me to have better chances all round.
Jim F quite rightly avoided the diamond lead and led QH, I won, crossed to JS and led a diamond.  Jim M immediately went in with the Ace and tried AC, getting an encouraging 2C, that was me down 1, the same as everyone else who bid 4S for a flat board.  I still prefer my chances.  Partner could have had 5 small clubs, the clubs could be blocked.  I don't expect a diamond lead really, but sometimes North is stuck, South has to be alert and jump in with AD, even so he might have AQ of clubs and be unsure what to do.

Gerry opened 1H and our bidding went

1H - 2D - 3C - 3S - 3N - 6C

3C is an overbid but 2H is under, so better choice at teams. However I was hoping for a bit more.
As it happens it is a good slam 3-2 clubs or AH on a ruffable finesse look like good chances.  However both are wrong but a third chance arose after the spade lead, as North was guarding both red suits (as well as needing to keep a spade honour!) and 12 tricks materialised.
Nobody else bid that.

Gerry opened a Lucas 2H, Jim M passed, what to do? Will 4H buy the contract? I doubted it, North is probably a decent two suiter and I'll have to bid 5H anyway, they might even be making 4/5S.  I bid 5H.  We have no agreement, not something that crops up. If it has a meaning, a jump to 5 usually asks for 6 if you have two of the top three honours.Well I knew Gerry didn't have that!
North wasn't so good and 5H was passed out. Jim M led QS and Gerry wrapped up 12 tricks.

Every N/S made 3NT here except against us.
Gerry led 4H and Jim put up the Q from Dummy.  Lucky for me, I have a terrible decision if he plays low, has Gerry led from Kxxx or Jxxx?  I am also aware it can be a three card suit, South had bid spades twice so Gerry is bound to have 4 or 5. BTW, if Declarer had played low and I had taken 20/30 secs to think about it, there is no UI.  Everyone is allowed to pause at trick one, so unless Declarer pauses for 30 seconds, defender can take their time.
Anyway, nothing to pause about, I took the Ace and returned the 5 to the Jack, Gerry cleared the suit.
Jim probably doesn't fancy his chances now, but my hand might be 'safe', Gerry having the hearts, so he ran 10C to my Q and I cashed the hearts.

Very unusual to pick up 7 - 6 in the reds and great news when partner opens the bidding then supports you.
I opened 1S, Gerry bis 2H and I bid 4H.  Gerry now bid 4N and it actually crossed my mind to bid 6H. I must have a very suitable hand and QH might not matter, however it is much more sensible to answer the question, so I showed two without and Gerry passed the 5H.
Only the KH to lose for an easy 12 tricks but Gerry was berating himself, 4N with two voids!  He should of course have cued 5C, I bid 5D and I must be hot favourite for a top heart.

Monday 28 December

Playing E/W with Adrianne in an aggregate tournament we didn't make any obvious mistakes and managed to come first.

This was despite missing a game that 6 out of 12 managed to bid.
I opened East 1S, David overcalled 2H and Adrianne bid 2S (we play normal Acol raises even after an overcall --- it is a 10 loser anyway). This was passed round to David who decided to compete further with 3C. Adrianne bid 3S and all passed.
It didn't really occur to me to bid 4S, Adrianne reckons to have point in diamonds which are of no use, however note that even if her hearts are xx we are still good for 4S.
I got a club lead and thought that's good, David reckons to have singleton AS and other David singleton club, I'm just making 9, unfortunately there was no club ruff and the game was stiff.
Should I have bid 4S? Why did Adrianne bid 3S? Has she got a singleton in one of David's suits?  Do I make 4S opposite:
Jxxx   Qxx   KJxxx  x  ?  Well no.  How about :
Axxx  xxx KQxxx  x   ?  Again, no. though AD instead of KQ, yes I can.  Still think it's difficult not to imagine wasted diamond points in Adrianne's hand.

This time we missed a slam which 2 pairs bid and one stopped in 5S.  Didn't occur to me to go higher.
Our opponents didn't come in and our bidding went 1C - 1S - 2S - 4S.
QS dropped, easy 12 tricks.  Should I have tried something over Adrianne's 2S? Well 3D would be a long suit trial bid, Adrianne would bid 4S but really I would be none the wiser because she bids 4S with a) a solid 14 points, b) a singleton diamond or c) reasonable opener and diamond honour.  We have no way of finding singleton heart and that all our points are in our suits.  Could Adrianne have bid 3S instead of 2S with singleton heart? I think 12 points and none in spades is a bit light for that. No, we'll never find 6S, anyway, if we had, there would have been Qxx in the South hand.

I am sure everyone at some point has suffered something like this.
Green against red partner open 1S, RHO overcalls 2H.  This is passed round to partner who with their void in hearts doubles and you with KQJx of hearts leave in. As you chalk up -670 you vow never to double a part score into game just because you expect it to be one down.
Repeat, you VOW, NEVER to do that again, I know because I've made that vow often.
Adrianne opened the West hand 2S (6?-10 points), Victor overcalled 3H, I doubled. Well I expect to make 4 tricks, Adrianne must have a spade trick, down one?!?
I led KC and couldn't believe dummy, has Adrianne just KQJ of spades and singleton heart?  If she has three clubs I am in big trouble. I could switch to Ace and another diamond, Victor will cash AK of hearts and lead up his second club but I can duck ensuring two spades for Adrianne, we can still get this off, I hope.
Adrianne plays 6C and Victor the 8.  If that is genuine ---- I follow with AC and 4C from Adrianne.  Xmas has come, I play 2C for Adrianne to ruff, she obediently returns a diamond to my Ace and I play a 4th club. Adrianne has the magical 9H, Xmas and my birthday in one.  I now have two heart tricks and with a spade to come that is 3 off, +500 from panic to joy in two minutes. Remember now, NEVER at teams/aggregate double expecting one off.  You'll never catch me doing that, I've been caught out before.

Thursday 5 November

Playing N/S came first with 67%.  Some gifts of course but managed to do the right thing mostly and found some luck as below..

Here was a bit of luck. Elizabeth opened a multi 2D and I overcalled 2S.  Sheila bid 3H and this was passed round to me. Now at teams I pass of course but hate to have our contract stolen at Pairs. Partner surely has some points and therefore at most 2 spades. He has at most 3 hearts.  So worse case scenario 2-3-4-4 and if I double he chooses 4C. A good rule in bidding states : 'You shouldn't bid games/slams in the hope Partner has the perfect hand', the Macdonald Corollary states 'Don't not bid in the expectation Partner has the worst hand'.
So I doubled.
Gerry bid 4C (oh no, I hope he doesn't just have 4).  11 tricks later we had a top as Gerry managed to set up a long spade to give 6 clubs, a heart ruff, 2 diamonds and 2 spades.

The Strange Case of the Missing Diamond
We all make mistakes, some stupid, sometimes we are still suffering from jet-lag having returned from San Fransisco the week before.

Ivan East, opened a weak NT and, after Stayman, Helen passed 2H. This prevented me coming in as Helen could be expected to be 4-5 in the majors and so, luckily, I don't get to push them into 4H.

As we can see 10 tricks are stiff, however, Gerry led JH and I ducked to Ivan's Queen.  Ivan decided to take an immediate diamond finesse and ran the Queen to my King.

So I gave this a little thought and reckoned partner can have at most QC or, twice as likely, one of the top spade honours.  I can see a chance of keeping this to 9 tricks, I returned a diamond.

Ivan played a trump from table, I jumped up with AH and under-led my AS, the 9 in fact (possible diamond preference?).  Ivan covered the 9 with the 10 (The dog that didn't bark in the night, Ivan didn't take the Ace, so he doesn't have it). Gerry won the King and returned a club.
To rub salt in the wound Helen remarked, 'oh, no diamond ruff then'.

What do you open the North hand? 3C is out of the question, no top honour and an AK outside, that is not a pre-empt.
I hate to pass, I opened 1C.
So 1C - 1S - 2C - 3N.  What now?
Gerry could have a great 17 count, equally a 12 count and some hope of a great club suit opposite. The failure to bid hearts made a heart lead look certain, so even with an excellent hand 3N might have no chance.  I bid 4C and Gerry bid 5C.

Talk about lucky, I can only lose 1 club and 1 diamond.

If I had passed 3N Partner would have started a blog entitled
The Strange Case of the Missing Opening Points
And no jet-lag to excuse it.

Wednesday 4 November

Playing a Howell with Gerry we came top with an amazing 69.5%.  Could have done better, there are always mistakes.  However obviously we got some gifts and just did consistently well on the majority.

This was the first board we played and got a top maybe via a little luck. Playing N/S.
Gerry opened 1D and Cathy bid 1S.  I doubled, Gerry bid 2H, Cathy bid 2S.  So what is going on, Cathy plays weak jump overcalls? Not sure, I doubled again.  Gerry bid 3C.
Well Gerry's hand is clear now, Cathy could have all the missing points and some sort of intermediate jump, what do I bid?
First of all I rule out 6NT, then 6H, this is far preferable to clubs at Pairs, however I fancy Cathy bid again because she is not looking at many hearts. A 4-1 (or even 5-0) heart break could make the slam too difficult.  The 9 card club fit looks superior and it might be that a reverse Dummy is the play.  So I bid 6C.
Cathy led a heart so nothing in the play.  Two pairs bid 6H and went 1 down.  Double Dummy this can make but it is a difficult contract. Ideally you would want to knock out AC before getting the hearts right, but you wouldn't want to lose a club ruff.
Cathy of course had made an error with 1S.  If she had bid 2S we would have been in 6H, but Gerry would have made it.

Another top for finding a better contract, though we pussy footed around to get there.
N/S again.
West passed and I opened 1C, Gerry 1H, I bid 1S.  Gerry bid 4th suit 2D and I bid 2N.  Gerry now bid 3S.  Yeas I can only have 4 spades but with doubleton diamond and as I will most probably have only Kx or Ax in diamonds offering the Moysian is a good idea.
Well if Gerry doesn't have anything in diamonds, I don't fancy 3N, however I gave him another choice by bidding 4C.
Gerry opted for the 4S, 5C is unlikely to make if there are 2 spade losers, you could however still make 4S with 2 spade losers if they break.
Anyway QD lead to my Ace and I played small spade. Mary took QS and played another diamond overtaken by Moira who played a third. The ruff and discard is no use to me, in fact it is a nuisance.  I discarded a club and ruffed in Dummy. I now ran JS which held and this is where that diamond ruff proves its nuisance value, I have no trump to play from Dummy (yes I can see I can play AH and heart ruff, play AS and crash both spades, but I don't know that) . I played A then K of clubs.  Moira ruffed with the King and I was home. I felt if AK of clubs held up then I would try to get back to hand with a heart and hope for 3-3, If the defender with a small spade had singleton club then that is OK, I can with the return, get back to hand and claim.  If a defender has two spades, they will possibly be singleton club and they can ruff if they like, as before I'll make the rest.
Of course 3N was a straightforward contract, but 4S scored more!

This was an interesting hand.  We were E/W and Gerry opened East 1C.  Maureen overcalled 1S and I doubled. Victor made a good bid of 4S.  Gerry thought about this and passed.  At Pairs I double here (not at aggregate), certainly not clear after a hesitation but I doubled.
How am I supposed to know what Gerry is thinking? 5C because he has a 10 count and 7 clubs? 5H because he has 4 hearts, 6 clubs and a very basic opener?  I don't see I am using any UI and I always think it damages the opponents not to do what you would normally do, 4Sx could easily be making.  Anyway nobody complained.
I led AC and gulped at the sight of Dummy, however I was rescued by Gerry dropping the KC.  I switched smartly to JH, AH, ruff. Gerry cashed QC, then AD and a third club.  I ruffed with the 9S and Maureen over-ruffed in Dummy.  She played KH, ruffed by Gerry, over-ruffed, ruffed a diamond.  Maureen made an error now and ruffed a high heart to ruff another diamond and went two down instead of 1 down.
5 of a minor makes our way if you guess the diamonds after AD drops the 10 from North.

Wednesday 30 September

Playing N/S with Gerry, came first with 65%.

We're not shy about bidding but I don't like opening weak 4441 hands as you often have to lie about your shape (i.e. your rebid is likely to promise 5 in your first suit).  However when the singleton is diamonds it can be good to get into the bidding and find a 4-4 major fit.  This is what happened here as Gerry chose to open South and it was third in hand anyway.

  P   -   P   -   1C   -   1D
  X  -  2D  -   2H   -   P
 3H  -   P   -  4H  all pass.

Morag should have bid more than 2D, I can consider bidding 4H instead of 3H, double fits are worth extra especially if partner is 4-5 hearts and clubs, however it was a third in hand opening, Morag and Susan won't bid without the values and anyway, Gerry isn't shy about bidding games.
How right I was, Gerry loves his singleton diamond and bids 4H.
Susan led QS taken by Ace, heart to K and A and Susan plays QD.  Now Morag just has to overtake this (she knows from the bidding Gerry is singleton) and play a spade for a ruff and 1 down.  However she probably isn't thinking that maybe seeing the lead as from QJx.  Anyway Morag lets QD hold, another diamond ruffed, trumps drawn and Gerry negotiated the clubs for 1 loser, game made.

Another top against Morag and Susan as they went down in 3N while everyone else makes 10.  However it is difficult to say that Morag did anything definitely wrong in the play.  In fact I think it would have been going down at most tables except for our bidding and subsequent lead.
I expect it just went 1N - 3N via a heart transfer at the other tables and a small diamond was led.  With hearts breaking a heart, a diamond and a club are all that are lost.
At our table Morag opens 1D and ends in 3N.  Gerry led 9S taken in hand, A, K and another heart and Gerry plays another spade to Dummy.  Two hearts cashed and now a club, ducked, I took the second club and simply end play Dummy with a spade.  Dummy just has Kxx in diamonds left and Gerry has AQ diamonds and a spade for 1 down.

How to get a bottom, I'm good at this. Playing in the obvious 4S it is well nigh impossible not to make 10 tricks, however at Pairs I am of course looking for more.
Mike led QC which I won with Dummy's Ace. This looks to be a great start if lead is the natural one from QJ9(x).  I played spade to Ace and Katy dropped 10S. Now that really tells you nothing but does make QT more likely, however singelton is a little more likely as well making the finesse essential.  Like I said, the 10 doesn't really tells you anything, you can play it from a variety of holdings. I decided to not play the finesse, cashed KS, back to AH with the intention of finessing 10C, cashing King for a diamond discard and with luck clubs might be 3-3 and another diamond discard.
Oh boy, losing finesse in clubs, two diamonds cashed and QS to come for 1 down
The perspicacious among you will have seen of course that 12 tricks are available.AC, A, J, K of spades, KC, ruff a club, heart to Q, ruff a club, heart to Jack cash a club throwing a diamond, claim all but a diamond. Only an idiot could go down on this hand.