Saturday 28 July 2018

Mull of Kintyre

Last week in the Mull of Kintyre I had the pleasure of playing a few hands with Anna's family. They don't play bridge competitively but have very good card sense, and there were some interesting deals.

The makeshift bidding worked well, though we missed a few slams. This was the biggest hand:

♠ A J x
♥ K Q J 9 x x
♦ A K x x
♣ -
♠ K x x
♥ T x
♦ x
♣ A Q x x x x x
18
98
5
♠ x
♥ A x x x x
♦ x x
♣ K J x x x
♠ Q T x x x x
♥ -
♦ Q J x x x x
♣ x
WNES
2♥3♦
-4♦-5♦
---

North opened a strong two and South chose to bid the Diamonds instead of the Spades. They got up to game and West lead a small Spade. Perhaps fearing a Spade ruff declarer went up with the ♠A, drew trumps, then lead the ♥K, making all 13 tricks when the ♥A was onside.

6♦ and 6♠ are both excellent contracts, though hard to get to with the low point count and Heart misfit. Note that despite having twelve clubs between them East-West can't get into the auction.

During the evening we swapped round partners; here's an example of what happened when the two overbidders were paired up:

♠ K x
♥ Q T
♦ K x x x
♣ K J x x x
♠ x
♥ A J x x x
♦ Q J T x
♣ A x x
12
127
9
♠ x x x
♥ K x x x
♦ A x x
♣ x x x
♠ A Q J T 9 x x
♥ x x
♦ x x
♣ Q x
AlisonDannyEllisDave
WNES
1♠
2♥3♣3♥-
-3♠-4♠
---

South took a rosy view and opened 1♠, which West was quick to overcall. I had the North hand and wasn't sure how double would be interpreted so bid a natural 3♣. East did well to support partner with 3♥ and I had a problem when it came back round. With 12 points opposite an opening hand I thought we might have game on so risked supporting parting with ♠Kx and bid 3♠. This was duly raised to game.

4♠ has some chance, as in fact we have a double fit, and I needn't have worried about the trumps. Unfortunately though we were a bit light on controls, and the defence accurately took two Diamonds, two Hearts and the ♣A before declarer claimed the rest for 4♠-2.

The consolation is that East-West could make game in Hearts, where there's potentially eleven tricks if you get trumps right.

Overall an enjoyable evening, and I'm now keen to get back to the bridge club with Anna.

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