Thursday 24 May

Playing with Gerry we came 4th  in a Howell with a respectable 59%.  Two slam hands gave us a top and a bottom.

 The first was a typical punt by me where I know 12 tricks are likely but 1 off might be expected.
Gerry opened West 1H, I bid 1S and Gerry rebid 3C.  I now closed my eyes, crossed my fingers and bid 6H.
Steve led 5D to Q,K and A.  Gerry immediately played a heart to Q and A, spade back to Q, K and A and a heart to the K dropped the Jack for 12 tricks.
A bit reckless but fortune favours the brave.

Here Gerry opened West 1S and I bid 2C.  Gerry bid 4C, I found he had 1 keycard and decided on 6C rather than 6N.
Nicol led 4H, it might be from Q so I tried the Jack and Steve played Q and I took the Ace.
I now ran 9C to Steve's Jack and after just a little thought Steve returned a heart for Nicol to ruff and down 1.
Of course I ran 9C in case Nicol had KJx of trumps.  However as Gerry pointed out I could afford a club loser, the small heart is now maybe from 42 or 4 singleton.  Of course if I had finessed QC, cashed AC, QD, AS AKJ of diamonds throwing a heart and two spades I would have made it

Thursday 16th May

Playing N/S with Gerry we had a terrible start, about 25% after the first 5 boards.  However after a storming second half we managed to come 1st with 64%.

Our fortunes started turning for the better on this board.  After two passes Irene opened 1C, Gerry overcalled 1D and Phyllis passed.  I bid 1H, Irene bid 2C and Gerry 2S. With the doubleton club I decided to pass and let Gerry play in the Moysian fit rather than bid 3D.
Phyllis obviously led a club and Gerry cashed AK and ruffed a club while Phyllis discarded a heart. Now Gerry ducked a diamond to Phyllis's Queen and she returned a heart. Gerry won AH, finessed a diamond, played AD which was ruffed. Phyllis now plays a spade and Irene cashes AK and exits with a club.  Gerry ruffs, draws last trump and diamonds are good for 9 tricks.

 I'm afraid I stole a big score here against Ian Swan and Robert Aitken.  After opening 1C, Robert overcalled 1S.  Gerry bid 2S which is that sort of hand (game going, won't have 4 hearts, won't have 5 diamonds) and looking for something in spades. I thought I had 17 points, but even with 16, if Gerry has enough for game I reckoned he was odds on to have Kx or maybe Ace bare in spades.  I couldn't see a sensible bid so, of course, made the stupid bid of 3NT!
Well if you think Declarer has Qxx in spades would you lead a spade from the East hand? Robert didn't, he lead a diamond. I had 4 Diamonds, 4 Hearts and 4 Clubs off the top. Sorry about that.

With West's fine 15 count and his partner having an Ace, you don't expect to be defending against a slam.
Gerry opened 1C and Willie doubled.  I bid 1H and David passed. Gerry thought about this, the obvious rebid is 3C but the power of major says always bid them so he bid 1S. Willie passed and I liked my hand now and bid 3S.  Back to Gerry who liked his hand even more and bid 5S (have you got two top honours partner?).  Well I had KQ of trumps so bid 6S.
Willie led KD, Gerry won in hand and led a spade to Q, ruffed a heart, led a spade to K and claimed by running clubs, just losing AS. Not just the power of majors, the power of four to the 9!

Thursday 9 May

Playing N/S with Gerry came 1st with 57.5%.

 Got some good scores against Helen and Ivan.  On this one I opened 1N and after a heart transfer I ended in 3N.  When partner puts down 17 points and a 5 card suit you might expect to make 11 tricks most times, but here there were only 9 sure tricks.
Ivan led JS, great I can finesse his 10, so I win in hand and immediately play back a small spade and Ivan shows out!  I took the Ace and decided to ensure my 10 tricks rather than gamble on hearts, so I played K then Q of diamonds and Helen took that with her Ace. She now surprised me with KH.   After the singleton spade lead and no real values in the minors I suspected Ivan had good hearts.  I even thought this King was singleton   Anyway I took my Ace and led back a heart.  Ivan paused, good, eventually played low and I won the Jack. I now played 9S, covered and won in hand and Ivan let a club go. Everything looks rosy now and with 4 spades, 4 clubs, 2 hearts and 2 diamonds I had 12 tricks.

In the same set we landed in the right contract and Gerry played well to make 12 tricks.
Gerry opened 1C, I bid 1D and Ivan came in 2S.  Gerry bid 2N which came round to me. You hate to play in a minor at Pairs but I was unsure. Temporising I bid a checkback 3C and Gerry bid 3H. I decided that made it a little less likely that Gerry had a double spade stop and I bid 5C.
Double dummy we can see that running 8D is a sure way to 12 tricks, but not a likely way to play it.  Gerry won the spade lead, ruffed a spade, diamond to the Q, ruffed a spade.  He now drew trumps and finessed 10H.  Now came a small diamond.  If Ivan takes the Ace then diamonds are set up.  He ducked and Helen won, but she is end played as a diamond exit will see Ivan's Ace ruffed and dummy's diamonds are good and a heart exit is a free finesse. A much neater way of making 12 tricks.

After some successes there had to be some failures and I got us a zero against Mike and Michele.
Mike opened East 1C and Michele bid 4S.  What do I lead?  If we discount AC is a red suit a good lead? Maybe 6D was correct, but I figured Michele for 7 good, probably 8 spades and I have 3.  Is a spade lead going to lose partner a trick, I thought unlikely and led 3S.  Could not have been worse.  Yes it did cost a spade trick and not leading the diamond lost us that as well.  Instead of 1 down it was plus 1. Gerry won AS and returned a small club looking for a diamond but I couldn't see the point as she will be forced to win Ace and discard diamonds on clubs.  I just returned a club.  Michele won this, threw a diamond and ruffed a club with 10S. That gave her the rest.

Against Cliff and Jim, Gerry got us another top by bidding slam on this board.  After a 2N opening I transferred to hearts and bid my spades.  Gerry launched into 6H.  With my distribution and those club tricks this must be a reasonable shot. Anyway Jim found the best lead of 2D which Gerry won and he played 3 rounds of clubs discarding the rest of my diamonds. Now the trumps, but there was no guess, AH and another produced the Jack, so just a heart loser and my remaining 2 spade losers went on the clubs.  Easy.

However I managed to find another bottom on this set.  Gerry opened a multi 2D, I bid an asking 2N and he bid 3S showing a minimum.  4S isn't very likely now, but 8 tricks are certain and partner has something outside.  OK I shouldn't do this at Pairs but couldn't resist trying 3N.
Cliff found the perfect lead of JD. If they are 4-4 and AC onside I can still make this, however I can't let them take two diamonds then switch to hearts.  So I won AD, ran all my spades but to no avail, even with AC onside they had 4 diamond tricks.
Interestingly what If I do hold up?  I can't see Cliff finding a heart switch. So if I had won the third diamond I would have been home.

In the same set Cliff plays this hand in 3N.  We got a decent score because spades was better.  However I failed to find the defence to defeat it.  Gerry led 9H, as CLiff hadn't bid hearts I knew this was 109x(x). I played QH and Cliff won the King. He ran QS which I ducked. Another spade and I took the King returning a heart and Cliff has 9 top tricks.  However, what if I just return a spade? Declarer only has 8 tricks, can he make a 9th? After running the spades he might exit with 10C (AK of diamonds gives us 5 tricks). Gerry wins the King and plays back a diamond and again we must get 5 tricks. Obviously I don't want to give away overtricks at Pairs and setting up our hearts did seem best at the time, but maybe I should have thought it over.

 Managed to get us another bottom against Alex and Rod.  Gerry opened 1H which went round to Alex who bid 2C.  Gerry doubled, Rod bid 3C. Now I had three options, the most obvious is pass, less obvious is 3H, but I thought if we can make that we'll easily defeat 3C. I couldn't resist that third option and doubled.
Well Gerry is end played at trick one. He knows he'll almost certainly have to open up hearts eventually, so starts with Ace and another heart.  Alex wins the Jack discarding a diamond.  King of clubs and a finesse back and a diamond lead to Gerry's Ace.  Gerry tried a small spade to Q and K. In the end Alex just loses two spades a heart and a diamond.  I didn't get one club trick.

In the same set I ended in 4S though Gerry thought about 3N.  However looks a good contract especially when Alex led 10D.  I could make 12 tricks here.  I covered and Rod played the king and I won the Ace. I immediately led a small spade, Alex followed with the 6.  It is normal to duck a spade with this holding as you retain control if they don't break, however I don't want to lose a low spade to Rod and have one of my diamond winners ruffed so I went up with the Ace thinking I can duck on the way back. Oh no. I have two discards for my hearts in dummy and I've just removed the only entry. Alex has to win three spade tricks and although I set up my winners in Dummy, he correctly finds heart exits to make sure I can't get discards, 1 down, if only I had played KS first, then AQ clubs, 8D, third diamond. Alex will be stuck and can't stop me getting rid of the heart losers as long as I play KC first when in Dummy with AS.
The reason I am showing the Match Points, we are pair 1 and got 4 points.  If I had made 4S, we would still have got 4 points. Funny old game as Jimmy Greaves used to say!

Thursday 25th April

Playing in a Howell with Gerry, came second with 58%.

 I had a bidding problem on this board against Victor and Phil.  Victor opened East 1N and Gerry as South doubled.
I can't remember what Phil bid but back to Gerry who bid 4S. Phil bid I think 5H? though 5D seems more likely but anyway what do I bid now? A pointless 4333 at the 5 level equal vulnerability.  Well I chose 5S because a) Phil figures to be void after Victor's NT opening and Gerry's 4S. b) To beat their contract Gerry has to have 3 sure tricks and avoid an end play. If he has 3 sure tricks can we not make 5S?
Well I was lucky they just go one off but Gerry ruffed the AD lead high, crossed to 8S and finessed QH, crossed to 9S and led a club.  Just two club losers and 5S made.  Most people in 4S making 11 so no advantage as no double.

 A good illustration of why you shouldn't cover until you have to.
Against Alex and Alistair, Alex opened East 1N and Alistair through heart transfer and spade bid got preference for hearts and bid 4H.
Gerry led KD won by Ace, Gerry won second heart and exited with a heart to clear Alex of trumps.  From Dummy Alex led JS and I played low, this ran to Gerry's King. A club to my King, diamond exit and Alex had to lose another spade to me.
Note if you cover JS with Q, Declarer will take Ace and drop partner's King losing just one spade.

There is nothing to this hand, just an illustration of the vagaries of bridge scoring and the luck that is inevitably involved.
The bidding is simply 2N by East, 6N by West.  The play simply involves finding the Queen of diamonds.  There is nothing you can reasonably do to improve 50-50.  If you play 3 rounds of clubs and find more spaces for the Queen in the South hand you improve the odds a little but can go more off than the rest when it is wrong as in this case.  So pure luck in making 12 or 11, half the field should get a good score, half a bad score.  Nothing is as simple as that though!
In our case I open 2D, Gerry responded 2N so played in 6N.  He got a club lead, finessed the right way and made 12 for a middling the score.  Played by East a spade lead gave two pairs 13 a non spade lead gave two pairs 11.  Then you get a pair who didn't bid it, got a spade lead, didn't go up with Q and finessed wrong (not their best hand!).  But they got a middling score. Such is Bridge.

Monday 22nd April

Playing N/S in the Celtic Sims came 3rd with 54%.  A few ups and downs as usual.

A good score by Adrianne in 3H.  Lennie opened 1D, Adrianne overcalled 3H and Sally presumably not having a negative double eventually passed, as did we all.
Sally led 8D and Lennie took King followed by Ace which Adrianne ruffed.
Three rounds of trumps and a club to the 8 which held, ruff a diamond and a second club leaves Sallyn between a rock and a hard place with only black cards left.  A club gives Adrianne two spade discards but she rightly played a spade and two spade tricks cashed meant 9 tricks for Adrianne and a good Match Point score.

Davina and Barbara got an excellent score against in 3N after 1S - 2C - 2N - 3N. Less than half the field found game.
Adrianne led a heart won by the Jack and Davina immediately played a diamond to the 9. OK better percentage is to play to the Jack but going for the diamond right away was an excellent choice. Now Adrianne in with the 10 could defeat it by playing a club, but how does she know Davina hasn't got running clubs and weaker spades? Also at Match Points passive defence is always more inviting. So another heart to the Ace and another diamond by Davina taken by me. I played my last heart. Davina unperturbed plays another diamond and has 9 tricks, well done.

 Clifford did very well against Adrianne on this hand where we are only one of three in 3N but the only ones to go down. Our bidding was 1C - 1D - 1N and a bit of a pushy 3N.
Clifford led 4S and Adrianne took immediately in Dummy to play a diamond to the King, smoothly ducked by Clifford.  Adrianne continued a diamond, she had an instinct to play the Queen but surely it is right to put in the 10.  Nope, only 8 tricks now.  Of course if Clifford puts AD on the King, Adrianne still has a guess but the duck made sure she got it wrong.
You should always try and put your Aces on Kings but in NT when Declarer is playing their suit, it is also usually good to hold up your Ace.

On the very next hand we failed to bid game.  Of course the game can't make but those who bid it did.
I opened 1H and Adrianne bid 1N passed out.  I don't agree with 1N and would have bid 2D. However now North bids 2N, South bids 3H and 4H would be the contract which must go down.  Shows what I know.
Anyway Adrianne got a spade lead (club anyone?) taken by the Queen and intelligently played Ace and QH while the spade entry remained.  Len took the King and tried a diamond.  Adrianne won the King, cashed her hearts and spade, exited from Dummy with a diamond and made 9 tricks.

Thursday 4th April

Playing E/W with Gerry came second with 54%.

Against Alex and Alistair Gerry opened a multi and rebid 2N showing 19/20.  I transferred to spades, Gerry cue bid diamonds and so I declared 4S as East.
Alistair led 6C to Jack and King, Alex returned a diamond.  I had 9 tricks with 5 trumps, AK and a diamond ruff and a heart.  Two ways to get 10, promote a club or find a doubleton AH. The hearts were extremely unlikely so I had to find a club trick.
I won the diamond, two rounds of spades and led a club towards dummy.  Alistair played 3C. Well if he started with a doubleton there is nothing I can do but play Alex for doubleton AH. However this is also consistent with four small, did he start with 10653 or 8653? Either way I just played a low club and Alex won the 10, that made me a club trick as I can ruff out his Ace.

 A thin game against Victor and Willie.  Gerry opened 1D, I bid 1N (guaranteeing clubs), 2N by Gerry and I bid game.
Willie led 4H and the rule of 11 tells you that looks good.  Victor might have the 10, but much more likely to have honour doubleton or singleton.  So I played low and Victor's Q won.  The expected club came back as Victor tabled the Jack.  I know I am getting a good score for making game and a quick calculation and look at the intermediates tells me to cover this right away.  I'll lose three clubs to go with the heart but make the rest on a heart finesse. That is exactly what happened as they cashed their three clubs.  If they only cash two and exit with say a spade, I just play a club myself.

A very competitive hand against Phyllis and Irene. Irene opened 1D and Phyllis bid 1H.  Now we have three ways of showing the other two suits.  A double obviously which will show decent values, 1N will show at least 5-5 but lacking points.  I bid the 3rd option 2N which will show this type of hand which has a lot of playability if partner has a black suit fit.
Irene bid 3D and Gerry doubled.  Phyllis bid 3H which went round to Gerry who bid 4C, back to Irene who ventured 4H. We all passed.
Whoever bought this contract at the 3 or 4 level was not going to do well.  I led QS won in dummy, Phyllis cashed AC and needed to get some ruffs.  She tried AS, Gerry ruffed and played a heart to my Ace.  I returned JS ruffed by Phyllis who ruffed a club.  So Phyllis got 5 hearts, 1 ruff, AC and AS for down two.

Thursday 21 March

Playing in a Howell with Gerry, came third with 54%.  We had been going well but had a disastrous final two sets.

Lucas Twos can lead to some hairy contracts but we have always scored well with them.  I was West here against Alex and Raymond. I thought about opening 1S and probably would at aggregate but decided it is better to be max than min at pairs  and opened 2S.  Alex passed and Gerry bid 4S (much more sensible than 3S) to stymie Raymond.
QD lead which I took with Ace in dummy, thought about finessing club now, but decided on a spade.  Raymond wins perforce and plays K and another diamond for Alex to ruff.  Ace and another heart now, ruffed.  Spade to Raymond, another heart ruffed.  I can't afford to cross to dummy for club finesse, should have done that at trick 2.  Anyway King is offside and I am down 3 for -150.  Straightforward 4H available for N/S.

 Gerry opened South 1D, Ileen bid 2H and I bid 3C.  Back to Gerry who bid 3D. I gave this some thought but decided that I shouldn't try 3H and certainly not 4D as the four level could easily be too high.  If I had bid 3H and Gerry 3N, would Ileen have avoided the heart lead?
Anyway against 3D Ileen led AK and another heart for Christine to ruff. Chrisitine exits with a diamond, Gerry takes in hand, crosses to a diamond and exits with QC to end play Christine.  She chooses the spade won in dummy by the Jack, now JC destroys her. Nine tricks made.

On the next one Gerry opens South 1C, I bid 1D and Gerry bids 3D.  3N might be right but one of these majors will be a liability.  I decided on 5D.  As it is Christine would probably have led a spade and 3N would have made.
Anyway Christine led JC, I won the Ace, throwing a heart, AD, Christine played the 9, another diamond, Christine played the 8.  I decided that tells me nothing, anyway to lose to a doubleton Q in Ileen's hand and then get a heart through was not attractive.  So I rose with the King, Tried the clubs but Christine ruffed the third and cashed AS for one off.

 I got this hand all wrong.  Playing 3N as West after Gerry opened 1H, 1S, 2C, 2N, 3S, 3N.
Steve led JD and I ducked.  Steve immediately played QD.  I don't know why the Jack, but anyway if it from four or five he figures to have QJ10 as a small diamond is usually led from QJxx missing the 9.
I have to get club tricks to make this so I took QD with A and led a club to Marilyn's K. She returns a diamond.  If they are 4-4 it doesn't matter what I do (remember Steve must have 10). I decided to go up with KD, led another club, oops, Marilyn has two diamond's to cash, down 1.

 Mike found a great defence against Gerry on this board. Mike opened 1D and Gerry bid 4H to end the auction.
Jim led JD to Q and Ace and Mike returned 4S.  Brilliant, Jim wins King, returns a spade for Mike to finesse the Jack and cash the Ace for down 1.
Nothing you can do about that.

Did get one back against them even though I missed bidding game.
Gerry opened 1C, Jim bid 1D and I bid 1H (guarantees 5).  Gerry raise to 3H.  I would just go for 4H at aggregate, but passed the 3H here.
JD lead which I took with Ace, cashed AC and played A and K of hearts.  I now ran 10C, exit with a heart and just lose that and a diamond as my two spades go on the clubs.
Eleven tricks, 200 was a good score especially as others were in clubs.