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Here’s the first of these boards. Norman opened a strong NT, and Anna paused for a while before passing, looking like she was going to bid but finally deciding not to. John also passed, and I came in with a controversial Crowhurst 2♣, showing majors. In normal circumstances I think my bid is just about OK, but after Anna’s big pause I should probably pass. I should pass not because Anna’s pause has suggested my bid (I’m pretty sure I’d do it anyway), but because after her pause, which suggests bidding, I have an alternative bid of Pass, and if there’s any sensible alternative I should take it.
As John states on his blog here, my bid didn’t actually affect the score that much. Either we get +140 for 2♠+1 or we get +100 for beating 1NT by one trick. Both of these beat all the East-Wests losing points by going down in 3♦, so Anna’s dodgy Pass had already won the Board.
My overcall was lucky, finding partner with good Spade support and some distribution. Next on Board 24 hand I compensated by underbidding. Anna opened with 1♠, and I had 13 points. Even after she rebid Spades I only invited to game, and we stopped in 3♠. After we had failed to bid a game, I was hoping that everything would break badly, and it did, combined with some deadly defence from John and Norman. Anna finished on 3♠-2, which was actually good news as it meant I’d guessed right not to bid 4♠.
Here’s a couple of hands where me and Anna showed a lack of partnership trust.
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I swithered for a long time then bid a dubious 1♥. South overcalled 1♠ and Anna gave me a generous raise to 3♥. North bid 3♠ and I didn’t really know what I was doing and bid 4♣, thinking this might help Anna on lead if we were in defence. South bid 4♠, and Anna doubled. This was a well thought out double. Anna knew the opponents had some Diamond length (I had Hearts and Clubs), and was planning to lead A♦ and another. Then when she got in with her AS she could cross to my hand and get a ruff. In fact, on this layout, she could have got two ruffs for 4♠x-2.
But I was anxious about defending with a ten card Heart fit, and removed her double with a reckless 5♥. This was passed out. After a Diamond lead I took the Ace, and cashed the AS, discarding a Diamond with the air of someone discarding his last Diamond loser. My simple ruse worked, and later when North lead a Club I was allowed to discard dummy’s losing Diamond on a Club. So after misbidding I got a very undeserved top for 5♥=. That’s how you do it.
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Next it was Anna’s turn to bottle it. South opened a weak NT and Anna overcalled 2♥, showing Hearts and a minor. Her hand is a bit too good for this bid, but the alternative of double isn’t very nice either. I was planning to pass this as East, expecting partner to make it. But over Anna’s 2♥ North came right in with 2♠. I still passed, and Anna came back in again with 3♦. I corrected this to 3♥, and now South chose to show some support with 3♠. With all his points in Spades this seems quite a reasonable bid (and I might have raised Spades before with that South hand), but actually it could be expensive. Anna passed 3♠ and I doubled it. I doubled as partner has shown a good hand, and I can see a couple of Club tricks for myself, and maybe partner can get a Club ruff too. In fact defending 3♠x we take two Hearts, three Diamonds and two Clubs, for 3♠x-4 and +1100. But since she had a distributional hand and a Spade void (and hadn’t looked at the vulnerability), Anna removed my double by bidding 4♥.
With both finesses onside, this made twelve tricks, for 4♥+2 scoring +480. This was a good score, as most East-West pairs weren’t in game. We wouldn't have been in game either, but for the intervening bidding from North-South, who can count themselves unlucky for pushing us into a making game.
So, you can see we made a few mistakes but got away with it. Don’t think we’re going to make it to Peebles, so apart from one more league match this could be our festive retirement until the New Year – or beyond, as there’s no Winter Pairs in January.
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