Wednesday 24 March

Playing N/S with Gerry came first with 61%. A lot of big hands and long suits and got some good scores when running suits and making discards difficult for opponents.
Managed to let a 3NT make which we had beaten.  Well I was on lead half way through and it goes down automatically if Gerry has AH or AC. A problem is, if he has KC I cannot lead that suit. However in the bidding Declarer who had opened 1H had had the chance to rebid them on the way and hadn't, so with 4 hearts I can count she is a trick short, so it is safe to play the heart.  Duh! Opponents were playing 5 card majors, she had 9 tricks.

East passed and Gerry opened 1S.  I don't think 1NT is appropriate with my hand, 2D is surely the only rational bid. Gerry bid 2H and I bid 3D which describes my hand perfectly.  With the singleton club Gerry raises to 4D and liking that singleton I bid 5D.

Nothing to the play really.  Issy led KC which held and played another club which I ruffed.  AS, discarding a heart, AK of hearts, spade ruff, club ruff, spade ruff, club ruff, spade ruff and claim.

Note you always make 12 tricks.  Let's say diamond led, with 9D, play AS discarding a heart, ruff a spade, AH, ruff a spade, KH, ruff a spade high, exit with club.  Diamond back, win KD in Dummy, ruff a heart and Dummy is high, bit lucky though.

Thought I had blown it here.  Our bidding without interference went:

1S  - 2C - 3C - 3NT

I prefer to open South 1C to make sure I can bid both suits, but as bidding is so competitive nowadays, it lets West in too easily with a red suit.
Anyway I am sure Gerry would have preferred a black suit contract but despite everything trust me and passes.  I know South has 5 spades but I am 3433 and really would prefer a heart lead towards my hand rather than through it.

Joyce led a heart to Raymond's Q and although it could be right to duck twice, if I get it right I can make 12 tricks, so I took the King.
I played AK of spades then a club to the Ace.  I then ran the spades, Joyce shedding a club.  I feel the best chance now is dropping QC so lead KC, Q appears and as I put my card down I realise I have played 9C, not the Jack.  Oh no, blocked.  I ttok my 10 tricks thinking spades will make 11, bad score.  However everyone in 4S only made 10 as of course they took the club finesse.

When West passed, I passed as well.  You are just as likely to be pre-empting your partner in 2nd position and a pre-empt without any top honours is just plain wrong here, especially as I can easily play this in spades.

Aileen opened a multi 2D, Gerry doubled and Jill bid 2H.  Now I can bid my hand!  So 5C from me and Gerry raised to 6C.

Easiest hand of the night, won KH in Dummy, played A then Q of clubs and claimed.
Sure if I had opened 4C or 3C Gerry would have bid 6C, but more often he'll have a big hand with one or no clubs and I would stymie him.

Thursday 10 March

Playing in a Howell with a Gerry we came in second with 56%.

We had (sorry, I had) a very unusual bidding sequence. Without interference I opened West 1C and it went:

1C - 1D - 1N - 2D - 3N

2D is of course to play. However Gerry must have 6 diamonds and something like a King outside or at worst QH and JS, so I fancied my chances.

Mary led QS to Davina's Ace, they can cash 3 hearts now to keep me to 9, but the spade return is more obvious and I ran 10 tricks, Davina threw a club too many and there was 11.

Making 9 would have been a top anyway.

What a brilliant hand, three of us ended in the granny, one poor pair in 7NT (a club cue bid?), losing the first 8 tricks.  We were in 7H as were Ian and Cathy.  However Cathy got AC lead, diamond discard in HER hand, draw trumps, two diamond discards on the long spades and 13 tricks.

As E/W we bid
1H           - 2N* (game raise (+) in hearts)
3C* (4C) - 4N   (3C shortage)
5S           -  6C (no agreement!)
6H          -  7H

Gerry assumed I had singleton club, Bobby had length with the Ace, all consistent on the bidding.  I must have 5 hearts if I have a singleton club, so 5 hearts, 6 spades, AD and a club ruff equals 13 tricks.  Expertly worked out but not to be!

Bobby led 9D against me, no option but to let it run, I conceded another one down for a spade ruff.  C'est la vie.

David opened 1C and Gerry found an off kilter double.  Katie bid 1D and I bid 4H.  Even if Gerry passes, Katie bids 1D and I'll bid 1H, I reckon Gerry is bound to go to 4H anyway.  However we were the only ones in it.

Diamond led to my King, heart to Ace and finesse a heart back, draw last trump.  AC, AD, throwing a club, spade off table.  Most holdings look like 3 losers as I can't get back into Dummy but as Katie has played her lowest I tried the 9.  David won the 10, returned a club which I ruffed.  I now played QS which David took with Ace, crashing Katie's King and 11 tricks.

Gerry opened East 1S and I bid 2S, Susan came in 3C and Gerry bid 3S passed out.
Club was led to Ace, a spade return is going to lose the trump trick and North tried a heart.  Gerry won, ruffed a club, diamond to King and Ace, ruffed a club and cashed KS. A heart from Dummy now gives 10 tricks as North can just ruff a diamond or take a spade.

A top but others weren't in spades and I suspect some West's might have bid 1NT leaving them to defend 3C.  This is a mistake with a distributional hand and 3 card support.  Yes partner might have only 4 spades (they are guaranteed to be 15+ points if they do) but you'll find a 1S opening is 5+ most times and if you play checkback like Gerry and I do, then 90+% of the time 1S is 5+ cards.

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.