Festival Teams 25 August

Playing N/S with Gerry and partners Les and Shirish we came 2nd. We won 7 of our matches and lost one  -- by 19-1!
An interesting match against the winners Jim and Paul (Ian and Bob their N/S pair).

Gained a few imps when Paul opened 1H and I bid 2D.  Jim thought and passed.  Difficult to decide on a bid here, 2N even 3N possible, 3H even 4H? but pass is sure to get a re-opening double as partner can't have many diamonds and South can't have points to say anything.
Right enough Paul doubles, I had been wondering why I hadn't bid 3D, so might as well do so now.  Jim decides to double and I made the obvious 7 tricks for -500, better than -650. So 4 imps up.

The next board however is a disaster as we wound our way to 6H.  Great contract on a club, diamond or heart lead, one off on the inevitable spade lead.
-11 imps, so 7 down.

Third board of the match. We play multi and Lucas but don't open a weak two in a major without a top honour. So in theory I have a pass.  However we can Lucas 5-4 green vs red, especially with a good minor so I rated my hearts as 5 cards and opened 2H.  Jim passed, Gerry bid 4H and Paul couldn't find the 4S bid for their making contract and passed.
If our partners make 4S we have won the match, unfortunately they ended in 5S down 1, so we are doomed, or are we?
Jim led KD taken by Ace and I led a small heart. Now I have 5 hearts for my Lucas bid, Paul put up the Ace and crashed Jim's King. Paul took KS and played his second diamond to the Queen leaving Jim on lead. Can't lead a club, even a small diamond doesn't look right as a diamond can be set up to discard my 'second' spade.  So Jim led a spade to Paul's known Ace. Ruff in hand while discarding a club from Dummy, 10 tricks made. 8 imps we won the match by one!

Our final match was against John Di Mambro and Ronald (partnering Sheila and Maida).
Ronnie opened 1H and I ventured 3C leading to an inevitable 5C, down 4, -800 against 680 so 3 imps down.

Ronnie opened 1S and I doubled. John bid 2S and Gerry bid 3D.  3S from Ronnie and I am wondering what is going on.  Has Ronnie really got an opening bid? I'm not sure what to do so temporised with 4S.  Gerry bid 5D obviously, back to me and I gave this some thought, probably shouldn't have thought, there must be play for 6D.  I thought for too long, I reckon if I'm this unsure then I shouldn't bid slam, I let their bidding put me off and passed.
Gerry had no problem just losing a diamond.
3NT at the other table making 10, so flat but you suspect you have a bad score.

John opened 1C, Gerry doubled and Ronnie bid 1H.  I should really pass but Gerry rates to have 4 spades and I can't resist 1S.  2C from John and 4S from Gerry.  This is a good shot, if I have few point then I will have 5 spades, with 4 spades I should have my points (such a trusting partner).
Anyway John cashes two clubs and I can see they are 5-3. He now switches to 8H and I can't imagine that being singleton (no chance if it is).  So I ducked that to the King and Ronnie has a long pause, this gives me hope, I think he can see this making!  Anyway he eventually exits with a heart and I took the Queen.  AK and a diamond ruff to set up the suit and I have a complete count, spades are 3-3, miracle!
Draw trumps, end in Dummy, cash the winners.
1Nx by East minus 1 at the other table for 11 imps and an 8 imp victory.

Thursday 6 August

Playing N/S with Gerry came second with 56%.

 

Board 1 got us off to quite a good start. Gerry played in 4S after

1D - 1S - 1N - 2C (checkback) - 2S - 4S

Sandra led a small heart and Dummy's Queen held.  Gerry crossed to AS and played a diamond to the Ten and Ace. Gloria returned a heart and Gerry cashed KD discarding a club then ruffed a diamond felling the Queen. He crossed to KS and led TD discarding another a club. That gave him 11 tricks just losing the diamond and the trump.  Very neatly played.
Of course the contract goes down on a club lead but who'll find that lead from KJ2? Strong NoTrumpers will pay 4S by North, now East could find a club lead, just your luck.

In a round about way we managed to settle in 3NT.  As it happens 4S makes with the 3-3 break and that makes 3N straightforward as well for 10 tricks, though that's not how I played it.

Gerry had bid diamonds so Robina favoured a heart lead into my Jack.  Going by the pips clubs were a better bet to provide 9 tricks rather than relying an odds against spade break.  So I played Ace then 9C which Phoebe took with the Q and returned a heart to the Ace.  I crossed to AS and forced out KC, Phoebe returned another heart which  took with the King leaving Robina with QH.
I cashed my clubs giving me 7 tricks.  I had AD and could have led to Q hoping KD was onside, however it is better to exit with a heart which leaves Robina on play. Robina plays a small diamond, now if I go up with Q and it wins I have 10 tricks.  However if Q loses to K and a diamond comes back with the J offside, I am down. If however I play a small diamond I am guaranteed 9 tricks. So I played small, the 10 won and I had AD for 9.

How to misdefend.  This was classic bad defence by me. Phoebe (West) is in 4S.  I didn't fancy any lead and seriously considered each suit (8S lead doesn't cost if West has KS).  However I decided on 2C.  Phoebe went up with the Q in Dummy and lead a spade to J and my Q.
What to do now? I know from Gerry's 3C at trick one that Phoebe has 5 spades and 3 clubs.  If she has 3 hearts then my club is going on the 4th heart.  If she has doubleton heart, then if Gerry has KD he will get it eventually anyway.  I decided to continue clubs hoping Gerry has JC and we have a club trick set up while I have AS.
So I continued clubs, what a disaster! Phoebe won the Jack, gave me AS, no use leading a diamond now, four round of hearts got rid of the diamond loser and 11 tricks made.
I don't mind not finding a diamond lead but should have thought out my second lead when in with QS.  However what about the initial lead.  I did not want to lead 2C and 8S would have been better.

However the best lead is AS and that didn't cross my mind.  Why is it best, well a) you still have 2 spade tricks when the K is on your right and b) you see Dummy and a diamond switch will look best now.  There is a third reason which works when KS is on your left.  If declarer has JTxxx   opposite K9x they will run JS and you will only make 1 spade trick but lead AS then switch and I bet they won't play you for AQx and will cash KS when they get in!

7D, 6H, 6S and 6N all make on this hand.  I went down in 6N.
Gerry opened 1C, I bid 1S, Gerry 2C and I bid 6N.
Issy led 10C and things didn't look good.  How can I make 12 tricks?  If I can find QD ( and I hate having a two way finesse, bound to guess wrong), I then need diamonds and spades to break. Not likely. I would have played that way on a heart lead but the club lead intrigued me as it went 10, 3, 2 and Ace. Has Isssy led from 1098?  It certainly looks that way.  I crossed to KH, played KC and Mike dropped JC and Issy the 8. Surely that is it, I played a third club and that was one down.
I also didn't like trying diamonds first as I reckoned we are all in 6 of something and it looks odds against making so ensuring 1 down rather than 2 down is a good score.  Would I have got the diamonds right?  Well I'm in hand with AC, I tend to favour playing from the hand I find myself in and would have finessed the Jack.

Wednesday 15 July

Playing with Gerry came second with 59%.

Got a top following a favourable lead on this board.  Most are in 4S and 12 tricks are always there with a 4th club following a ruff and a second heart.  A favourable heart lead would certainly help and some made 12.
I however opened 1NT and Gerry raised to 3N.  Barry led a diamond and Lester won the King returning a diamond to my Jack.  I crossed to AS and finessed JC then cashed AC, Barry dropping the Q (correct play if you started with three).  I tried KC but Lester has a winner. I now ran my spades and Lester has to find three discards bringing him down to KQ hearts and 10C.  I had 10H, AD and 7C in Dummy and AJ hearts and 9D in hand.  I crossed to AD and what could Lester throw?  He let QH go as keeping the club was essential but I crossed back to AJ of hearts making 12 tricks.
Not that I see this squeeze initially, just the beauty of, you have 11 tricks, you've lost one, run your long suit and watch the discards carefully seeing what happens

Another top here with a favourable layout.  I opened 1H, Gerry bid 1N and I bid 3D.  Gerry is a bit stuck now but has to bid 4D.  I fancied this might be 4 card support and therefore stronger than just bidding 5D.  I cued AS, Gerry bid 5C and I took 6D.
Issy led a spade which gave me a good start, just have to set up the hearts.  Normally you would just cash AH then ruff a heart, spade, ruff a heart to lessen the danger of an over-ruff.  However if I then run QD to Issy's K he might be able to play a 4th heart for Willie to ruff.  Whereas I can cash AK of hearts and ruff the 4th heart with QD for a safer line (assuming a 4-3 break).  So AK hearts (Willie dropped the Q, but I'm not having that), heart ruff. Back to a spade, planning to ruff a fourth heart with QD but in fact Issy shows out and discards, so small heart ruff. Run QD to Issy's King, spade back, ruff, draw trumps, claim.
Issy might have ruffed in with 8D forcing my Q, but no difference.

Friday 10 July

Directing at SBU Summer Congress I was asked to make up a team with Russell Frame.  We did well and came joint second.  Two interesting hands where I was perplexed on where all the hearts were.  The second one was a real blow as I got it wrong.  It was against the eventual winners Bob, Cathy, Peter & Willie and would have won the tournament for us.


The first one was a success.  I held

Russell passed and Derrick Peden opened 1H.  I doubled, Malcolm Copley passed, Russell bid 2D and Derrick passed.
So what is happening with all the hearts? In fact if Russell had bid 1S I would have suspected he had a 3 card suit and 5 hearts but 2D must be genuine.  However he still figures to have 5 hearts, 4 for certain.
I need to try something so I bid 2H, I expect Russell to bid 2N then I'll bid 3D surely showing something like the hand I have.  Russell bids 3NT, brilliant, let's play there.

This is the full hand, Derrick led a small heart to Russell's 10. Club to the Q.  He tries AK of diamonds, so no sure way back to hand and plays KC hoping for a stiff Ace.  However Derrick took the Ace and that was that.  A spade was tried, the King won and 11 tricks chalked up.

I must say I would have bid 1NT with Russell's hand however that gives me a problem.  Will we really have enough for 3NT?  I suppose West would bid 2N and then get there.

I opened 1C and Bob bid 3S.  Russell bid 4C and Cathy 4S.  I bid 5C, passed round to Cathy who thought for a while and passed.
Bob led QS.  Where are all the hearts here?

Now I see Russell's hand, 10 hearts are missing.  I imagine Bob to be 7420 / 7411 / 7321 sort of thing.  I took AS and cashed QC, so Bob is 7411 or 7321, surely Cathy would have bid hearts if she had 8 or more. With her pause I am hopeful that she might have AKx and Bob Qx or even AQxx and Bob singleton King. Either way I believe I can get her to crash Bob's honour. You are not going to duck here especially as I have not given anything away and she will be hopeful of a heart trick.

So I led a diamond from Dummy and Cathy took the Ace exiting with KS.  I ruffed and led another diamond but Cathy produces the Q and exits perforce with a heart.  I win and on the third diamond Bob shocks me by producing the King.  One down and unfortunately our other pair went to 5S going down.

Double dummy we can see this is an easy make.  Win AS, ruff a spade, club across, ruff a spade.  Heart to Ace, cross to a club, ruff a heart and now lead a diamond.  Cathy is end played to give a ruff and discard and Dummy's third diamond disappears.
I just couldn't place Bob with 3 diamonds and he was unlikely to have two honours in the suit.

A long time ago I was playing with Bobby Moore and in a similar sort of situation I failed to bid an 8 card suit and supported his weak two instead.  We missed a good sacrifice in my suit.  After it he asked me what is it you call an 8 card suit?  TRUMPS!

Monday 29 June

Playing N/S with Adrianne came first with a big Butler score of 61.

We were the only pair to bid slam on this hand.  Adrianne opened South 1C, I bid 1D and Davina came in 2S.  Adrianne now bid 4D. Well there goes 3N I thought, second thought why jump to 4 of a minor? She must be 6-4, maybe 6-5 in the minors.  All her points in the minors as well.  I decided not a big 6-5 as 4D is passable so something like x   xx  AKQx  AKxxxx.  Well that's what I hoped so I bid 6D.

Davina led AS and Dummy was a little disappointing as I had to find QD and KC.
Davina switched to a heart, I took the Q and cashed AD finding the Queen.  Over to AH and led QC, Davina with an air of resignation covered with the King.  I won the Ace and with an air of relief drew the trumps and claimed.

Another big score when Adrianne opened 1D and Ernestine overcalled a strong 2H.  I bid 4S passed round to Ernestine who bid 5H (luckily not 5C as then Moreen would go to 6C, an excellent sacrifice).  Adrianne bid 5S and Ernestine doubled.
Moreen led a heart, Ernestine tried to cash a second and I ruffed. AK of trumps, win all the diamonds and 12 tricks made.

Took a big chance here, both vulnerable, but got away with it.

Adrianne opened 1D, Willie overcalled a spade and I passed (?). David raised to 4S and this was passed to me.  I bid 5H (?) and this was passed out! Phew, not doubled.

David amazingly found the only lead to defeat this, the 2C.  I went up with the Ace and Willie ruffed.  Oh well at least 4S was surely making.  Anyway instead of an immediate spade back for another ruff, Willie tried to cash AD. Yes!  I ruffed, laid down AH, oh yes!, drew the trump, back to hand with a diamond ruff, run 9C, finesse another club, get rid of a spade on the long club and made 11 tricks.

Need to buy a lottery ticket this week.

Men's Pairs

Playing with Gerry came a close second in the club's Men's Pairs with 61%.  Well done to the winners Alec and Raymond.

We were E/W and I opened 1D, Gerry bid 1S and I improvised with a 2H reverse as I can't splinter with an Ace.  Gerry bid 3C 4th suit and I bid 3S, Gerry bid 4S.
So I know we have a 9 card spade fit and I always upgrade my hand, especially with a singleton. I know partner isn't minimum after the 3C bid, though will have something in clubs.  I couldn't resist 4N and with two keycards I bid 6S, though thinking that a diamond finesse might be necessary.
Club lead, AD dropping the Q, diamond ruff dropping the King.  Gerry drew trumps and dumped 3 hearts on the diamonds making 13.
Fortune favours the reckless.

Ian opened 1H and I am stuck, so I just overcall 2D.  This was passed out.
Bob led JH, ducked to my Q.  I took AKQ of diamonds then my 4 club tricks, discarding my spade and Bob ruffed.
Spade back, ruff, give up AH and claim 11 tricks.
Martin Diamond made 3N against Michael and Derek on the JD lead.  Can see 8 tricks there but don't know how defence went wrong.
Difficult to know what is best to bid with the South hand.  However I think I could have doubled, partner can't have the values to bid more than 2S, then I can just bid 3N.  Over 1S I can bid 2N.

This is a straightforward slam to bid and everyone is in 6S.  However Alec opened 2N with the East cards, part of their tartan twos showing a weak 5-5 or better in the minors, though this is ultra weak.
However it gives me a great problem.  I decided on the simple 3S bid.  Gerry bid 4C, I bid 4D.  Now Raymond bids 5C (double dummy 8 off, probably 7 off). However Gerry saw a grand slam and bid 5NT.  Now I do have two of the top three honours but I don't have AD as he expects.  I just bid 6S ans so in our round about way we played in the par contract.

I played this in the standard 3N as South but got some help from Charles to make an overtrick.
Alan led 3H to Charles' Ace and Charles switched to a club.  Alan took the Queen and switched to 10S, covered by J, Q and Ace.
Playing a heart is the obvious card now for 9 tricks but doesn't get you tops in Match Points.  I ducked a diamond to Charles who returned a spade which I won with the 9.
I now cashed four clubs and Charles discarded a heart and a spade and another heart.  Now I played KH, keeping AKx of diamonds in dummy and 2 spades and Jx diamonds in my hand.  Charles has to discard from K spades and QTx of diamonds.  Either was fatal and I had 10 tricks.
Lucky.

Monday 25 May

Playing N/S with Adrianne came 5th with a Butler score of 9.

As usual with this scoring a big swing on one hand transforms your score.  As usual it was to our detriment.

Adrianne opened 1D, I bid 2C, Adrianne bid 2S, strong (ish), unbalanced.  I can't ask in diamonds now but even so, although we could be missing AH and KD or even AK hearts, we are just as likely to be making 12.  I just bid 6D.
Rod led AH, continued with another and Alex ruffed for 1 down.
-13 was our score instead of +12 for making it.  25 Butler points on one hand.
Two pairs though bid 6NT and deservedly got the big score. Adrianne could have rebid 3N over my 2C and that would have got us there, or I could have bid 1H over 1D and Adrianne rebids 2N making 6N by me easy to bid.  Alternatively I could have bid 3H 4th suit forcing. However when Adrianne then bids 3N I am not really any the wiser about 6N or 6D being superior.
I'm happy in our sequence I just blasted 6D.  A spade ruff might have been the 12th trick, or ruffing a club to set up 4 tricks might have been necessary. However bidding 1H might have been best.
C'est la vie.

Some people got a great score on this hand (6H!), others went down in 4H.  Nobody doubled 4S.
Alec opened East a multi 2D, Adrianne doubled, Raymond bid 2H.  What do you do with my hand?  5C is very tempting but what has Adrianne got for her double and which major does Alec have?
Raymond's 2H implies <4 4h.="" 6="" alec="" and="" badly.="" be="" bid="" break="" could="" don="" even="" has="" have="" he="" hearts="" it="" must="" nbsp="" not="" p="" spades="" t="" the="" too="" urely="" void="">This was passed round to Raymond who bid 4S.  Icouldn't resist bidding 5C, Adrianne converted to 5H and Raymond doubled.
I got a spade lead, took the Ace and discarded a diamond.  I think hearts are going to be 3-2 but even so I worry about the other distributions and can't see how I can set up a minor to make this.  I can't set up diamonds and draw trumps and take care of spade losers. I can't see how clubs can be set up either.  However with 2 Aces and a cross ruff for 8 trump tricks I am 1 down.  No point in risking anything when I am doubled.  So I ruffed a spade, ruffed a club, Cashed AD, ruffed a spade, ruffed a club and claimed another 4 on a high cross ruff for 10 tricks.
Ian Burn made 12 in 6H on the AC lead.  Now you can set up clubs! However should I have passed 4S and let Adrianne double?  I lead a club, ruff, AH I drop the Queen, small heart to my Jack, club ruff, AD and AS to come for 3 down ( 4 down if you can underlead AK hearts twice)
Another lost chance, 14 points of a difference.