Winter Pairs - Round 4 Part Two

This is the my second featured hand from me and Anna's adventures at the Winter Pairs on Wednesday. This hand represented both a highlight and a lowlight. It was a highlight, as we were the only pair to bid and make 6♠. It was a lowlight as it took me so long to bid and play it - nearly the entire time that we were supposed to complete our two board round in.

Board 13 Dealer West Love All ♠ A 8 3 2 ♥ A J T 8 7 4 2 ♦ 9 7 ♣ ♠ ♥ Q 7 5 ♦ K J 5 4 3 ♣ K 7 6 5 3 9 9 5 17 ♠ Q T 9 6 ♥ 9 3 ♦ 8 2 ♣ Q J 8 4 2 ♠ K J 7 5 4 ♥ K ♦ A Q T 6 ♣ A T 9

W N E S Anna Danny - 1♠ 2♦ 4♣* - 4♦ x 4NT - 5♦* x 6♠ - - -

I was sitting South, and opened 1♠. West found a 2♦ bid, and Anna sitting North went for a big 4♣. This shows a singleton or void in Clubs, and sets Spades as trumps. I like getting the trump suit sorted early, and I think Anna was right not to bother showing her massive Heart suit. I re-evaluated my hand. The Diamonds have got worse with West's bid, but the Clubs have got better, as I expect partner to have a singleton. I cuebid 4♦, West doubled (just for fun I think), and Anna launched into Blackwood. I reckon she'd have been better off cue-bidding 4♥, then let me bid Blackwood and she can show her void. As it is, I replied 5♦, showing three keycards. This is nice for Anna, we have all the keycards, so she doesn't have to try and work out if one of my keycards is the ♣A. Although we've got all the keycards, Anna wisely reined herself in and only bid 6♠.

West lead a Diamond, and things look good. I have no immediate losers, and might only lose one trick in trumps. However, I've not many high cards, and I think to make it I'm either going to need to cross-ruff, or set up dummy's Hearts. After winning the opening lead with the A♣ (to preserve dummy's trumps), I unblocked the ♥K, then cashed the ♠A and saw the bad news. Although the trumps are 4-0, at least I know where they all are now, and I know the finesse will work. Rather than drawing trumps I crossed to dummy by ruffing a Club, then played ♥A and ruffed a Heart in hand. Dummy's hearts are now good, and I could cross-ruff my way along. Eventually East ruffed in, but was then down to two trumps so I could finesse her ♠Q and claim the rest.

What I didn't mention, is that I did all this very very slowly. At one point, the Tournament Director announced that there was two minutes left to finish the round. "Is this still our first hand?" I asked. "Yes", said the defenders and dummy together.

After four rounds we are currently in second place, behind Hugh McCash and John Di Mambro.

See the full results on the Buchanan website here here.