Muddled

At my now semi-regular Monday night game this week I played with Ted Black, another member of John Di Mambro's Wanderer's team. In the ten minutes before starting we found out that we both prefer weak NT and four card majors. Checkback Stayman was agreed, but we didn't discuss if it was game forcing, and on the first board I found myself in a doomed 3NT. I could have collected eight tricks for a 30% score, but took a ridiculous line and got seven tricks for a 0% score.

At the end of the evening Ted was berating himself for not finessing for a missing Queen (with a nine-card fit), as he thought in retrospect there were clues from the cards played. He won't be too worried about that (possible) minor slip-up when I reveal my horrendous declarer play on the board below. I have to admit I was feeling a bit muddled all night, struggling even to count trumps, and the board below is something of a low point:

W N E S Ted Danny - - - 1♣ - 1♠ - 3♣ - - -

I was getting all the hands tonight and had the nice 17 count as East. After three passes I opened 1♣ and partner replied 1♠. I think my only sensible option is 3♣, so I bid it. This puts Ted into a difficult spot, but I think he is right to pass. As it happens if he risks 3♥ we end up in a good 3♠, but 3♣ should be fine too.

I got a lovely lead of the 7♥ from South, gratefully won by the ♥T. I plan to play Spades to discard a Diamond. At this point I was thinking clearly and realised that I couldn't take the Club finesse and safely play three rounds of Spades, so just cashed the ♣A. This also meant that if someone ruffed the third Spade it might be with the ♣K. Anyway I went ahead and cashed the three Spades, discarding a Diamond, and leaving me in dummy. If at this point I simply lead a trump up now I've got eleven tricks, just losing one Diamond and one trump.

Instead I lead another Spade from dummy. This was great news for the defence, and North swiftly discarded his last Heart, and now the defence is getting a Heart ruff. I've just blown one trick and could now limit the damage by throwing my other Diamond, but instead uselessly ruff the Spade low. South overruffs and plays a Heart and I end up with four losers. 3♣= was worth 11%. 3♣+1 would be 40% and 3♣+2 would be 60%.

After this hand I was slightly on the tilt, and on the next board third in hand opened ♠AQJT64 ♥4 ♦T654 ♣K7 with 3♠. I got lucky when this was doubled and made.

My second featured hand is a bidding problem with no solution. Or at least, no solution to us, most other pairs were fine.

W N E S Ted Danny - 1♠ - 2♣ - 3♠ - 4♠ - 4NT* - 5♣* - 5♦ - 5♥* - 6♠ - - -

Now I've got the 21 point East hand. I go for a conservative 1♠ opening, and thank goodness Ted has enough to respond (next time I'll open it 2♣).. Over Ted's 2♣ I bid 3♠, which is surely forcing and shows good Spades. Ted is in a quandary here, and as he's thinking I decide that whatever he bids I'll try 6NT. But he makes a surprise raise to 4♠, so I try Blackwood, even going so far as to check for the Queen of trumps. Ted doesn't have it, or in fact any Spades at all.

As dummy goes down Ted quickly informs me that his raise with no Spades is reasonable, and I think he's probably right. If you're going to play in slam 6♠ isn't too bad. It comes down to hoping for one Spade loser, which means they must be 4-3 and you guess if the hand with only three has the Queen or the Ten. Perhaps there's better psychological plays, maybe the ♠9 early on, hoping an opponent with ♠Txxx or even ♠Qxxx might covers it.

I decided to play someone for ♠Qxx and things begin well when I win ♠AK. On the third round it all goes round as North shows out, though oddly South lets my ♠9 hold so I've only two Spade losers and collect 6♠-1.

A few other pairs are also failing in slam so we get 28%. If South had of doubled 6♠ I would have happily bid 6NT, which can make here with the minors all breaking (there is one defence to beat 6NT but it takes a while to find double dummy so unlikely to be found at the table!).

That board took such a long time that on the next one Ted and I didn't mess around and quickly got ourselves to 3NT on a combined 19 count. Ted (wisely) escaped to 4♦ which went off one for a good result.

Overall, we had some good boards, but also had a few mishaps and some poor declarer play by me, and so finished on 52%.

The claim game

At the Buchanan bridge club last Monday I played with John Faben. We had a 56% game, finishing 9th.

The only outright blunder I made was defending 3NT, when I cashed my ♦A to take the contract two off and didn't even look at partner's signal. As it happened he had the ♦K and we could have taken one more trick, but as you would expect there wasn't much between +200 and +300 so it didn't matter much.

On the board below I was guilty of being rather meek. I didn't really have a bid, but should have bid anyway:

W N E S Danny John F 1♥ x 1♠ - 2♣ - 2♥ - - -

I have the 20 point West hand and am agonising over whether to open 1♠ or 2NT when South gets an opening bid ready. I'm expecting a weak pre-empt (perhaps 2♦) but she opens 1♥. I decide to begin with a double. North replies 1♠, and South bids on with 2♣. I'm stuck for a bid and pass, then pass again when North corrects to 2♥. I considered 2♠ and 2NT, which would both have made with comfort.

Although the double-dummy analysis says we can beat 2♥ that's unrealistic as it relies on me starting with a low Spade. In reality I lead the ♠A and we only get one Spade, one Diamond, one Heart and two Clubs; for 2♥= and -110. This is worth just 6%, tying with the three other Wests who suffered the same fate. Most common was East-West playing in Spades, some even getting to game.

Most of our good results came from overbidding. I chanced a speculative slam - dummy was most unhelpful but I got lucky on the lead and made it. Then John did more or less the same thing, playing me for some useful cards I didn't have but scraping home our second 6♠. The slam below was also a very poor contract that made, but this time it was bid against us:

W N E S Danny John F - 1♣ 2♠ 3♥ - 3NT - 6NT - - -

South opened 1♣ and I made a weak jump overcall as West. It's not really a suitable hand, vulnerable, but I did it anyway. North bid a natural 3♥ and South the obvious 3NT. North thought for a while and came out with 6NT. I lead the ♥J.

There are 12 easy tricks with the Hearts all coming in, but of course declarer doesn't know that. Since you already have an Ace to lose you can't afford to establish the Hearts, meaning that most likely you have only 2 Spades, 4 Diamonds, 3 Hearts. That means you need 3 Clubs without losing the lead, which is barely possible. There are squeeze chances but it all gets a bit tricky. In the end declarer gratefully took the Hearts and made twelve tricks.

On the very next board we conceded 2♥x for a pair of poor boards. Then I played 3NT+1 and twenty minutes later was convinced I'd actually made the last trick with the ♥7 in dummy so it should have been 3NT+2. I was wrong though, as West pointed out he still had the ♥T98. Oops.

One more Matchpoint Monday

For the third week in a row I've been at the Buchanan with John Di Mambro. The first week I was too timid; the second week too bold; this week about right. "Not too many regrets", I said to John afterwards. Having said that, the board below was full of rue:

W N E S Danny John - 1♦ 1♥ 2♣ 2♥ 2♠ - 4♠ - - -

I opened the West hand 1♦, North overcalled 1♥ and John bid a natural 2♣. South bid 2♥ and it was back to me. I was starting to like my hand a lot, with Kx in partner's suit and a Heart void. Rather than rebid my seven card Diamond suit I tried 2♠. John raised this to 4♠ and there I played. "Could be a Moysian fit" he warned as dummy came down, and indeed it was.

I got a trump lead from North. My plan was to play on Diamonds and hope trumps were 3-3, so I should have begun by ducking this Spade. But I didn't. Anyway with trumps 5-1 it was doomed, and while I didn't quite suffer the ignominy of having the defence draw my trumps I lost control and went three down. I think actually on this layout to make as many tricks as possible you need to ruff everything in hand, and eschew the Diamond finesse. But down one, two, or three is always going to be a bad score and so it turned out, as we collected 0% on the board.

If I bid a more normal 3♦ on the second round, or John doesn't raise Spades, it still seems likely we're going to end up in 3NT. This makes if they lead Spades (as happened on some tables) but on our table with the Heart overcall 3NT also fails. Well done to all the pairs who made it to 5♦ (eight tables out of twenty-five), making eleven or twelve tricks.

My other featured hand is the classic scenario when you've got a great hand but before you bid partner pre-empts:

W N E S Danny John - 2♦* 2♥ 3♥* - 4♦ - - -

John opened the East hand with a Weak Two, in what must be a minimum for suit quality standards. I can see nine tricks (six Diamonds and three Clubs) so just need some sort of stopper in the other suits. When South overcalled 2♥ I bid 3♥ asking for a Heart stopper (I hope). John's King is actually enough, and he might have counted it, but perhaps wisely settled for 4♦. I'm now thinking if 5♦ will have play. It will if John has the ♠A, but I decide he's not likely to have that card and pass 4♦.

South went for a slight surprise Spade lead and hit the jackpot as the defence took the first four tricks. In 3NT they would take the first five tricks, also for one off. Our 4♦-1 is worth 48%. We beat those East-West pairs making a Heart contract but lost to those East-West pairs allowed to make extra tricks in Diamonds.

Despite those setbacks we scored well on other boards and finished on 66.4%.

More Matchpoint Monday

After finishing second by a single matchpoint last week, we returned to the Buchanan Club for the Monday Matchpoint.

John was just back from playing in the National League at the weekend, and was perhaps used to a partner with slightly sharper defence. A few times he was waiting for me to give him a ruff, and is still waiting. I don't think it cost too much though, and as is often the way with matchpoints things don't always turn out like you expect. You can stumble into a bad 4♦-2, apologise to partner, then realise it's a good score as they should be making 4♠.

In the hand below John dealt and opened the North hand 1♠. East passed and I responded 2♦. All normal so far. Then West came in with 2NT. This was not alerted, but was clearly meant to be some sort of Unusual 2NT, showing 5-5 in the other suits. John bid 3♠, which must be showing a pretty good suit, so I raised to game.

W N E S John Danny - 1♠ - 2♦ 2NT* 3♠ - 4♠ - - -

East had the rare opportunity to defend game with six trumps, and wisely didn't double. If he had of doubled I would have bid 5♦ on my own as South, and made it with an overtrick.

The 6-0 trump split is unfortunate, but careful play limited the losses to minus two, scoring 28% (five of ten North-South pairs found the Diamond game).

Here is the first hand of the evening that I declared, a tricky 3NT. It was a psychological battle, as I was aware that despite a combined 27 count I ought to go down unless I can dupe the defence.

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W N E S John Danny 1♣ - 1♠ - 2NT - 3NT - - -

We play five card majors so I opened 1♣, and we quickly got to 3NT (as did all but one table, who suffered in 4♠). West lead a Heart and I had a think.

There are six top tricks, and two more can be developed in Clubs. But if the defence duck Clubs twice then they could take an extra trick there (or two). I also have the potential of a long trick in Spades. Diamonds could give me one or two extra tricks, but could also be the best suit for the defence.

I won the opening Heart lead in hand and lead a Club to the Jack. East won her Ace and played a Diamond to my Jack and West's Queen. West didn't want to continue Diamonds so seemed likely to also have the Ace, and be waiting for another Diamond through from partner. I was hoping he'd cash his Ace anyway (and present me with a ninth trick) but he wisely held off and played another Heart. My only hope for another trick now is Spades, which involves giving up one first. But I can't let East have the lead, as she can put another Diamond through (meaning I lose three Diamonds, one Club and one Spade). So I snuck a Spade through East. Thankfully, she played low and my 8 forced West to win.

I'm happy now. Even if Spade's aren't 3-3 I still have chances with a Spade endplay, if West has four. As it happened they were 3-3 and I got nine tricks. Almost every other declarer also made nine tricks (one made eight, one ten), so it was an average score, but a pleasing hand.

After that burst of concentration my head got rather cloudy, and I didn't know if I needed more coffee or less. Thankfully I was only declarer once more in the evening, and we finished on a better-than-expected 60.2%.

Matchpoint Monday

Last night I played the Buchanan Monday night Matchpoints with John Di Mambro. We did OK, finishing on 58%, just one matchpoint behind the North-South winners, Martin Bateman and Ted Black.

I was dummy a lot, but didn't mind as John was squeezing every possible trick out of NT contracts. He has admirable match-point savvy, and once even managed to steer himself into 3NT while 6-6 in the minors (and make it - Martin and ted got an overtrick). But on the hand below we both knew it was going to be a bad score:

W N E S John Danny - - 1♠ x 3♠ - 4♠ - - -

When East opened 1♠ I made a take-out double, West bid a natural 3♠ and East raised to game. I lead the ♣Q with high hopes. But declarer won the lead in hand and played the ♠A, dropping my King! Although the contract always makes, this vital overtrick gave her most of the matchpoints (one other table also somehow made 4♠+1). After the hand I asked declarer why they had played trumps that way - had I given something away with my body language? Declarer told me it was because I was known to have most of the points (true) and there weren't many entries to dummy (false).

Martin and Ted held it to 4♠ for 67%.

Soon after, I got to play my first hand of the evening, as we navigated to a dicy 6♥. At the end of the auction West thought for a while, doubled, then cashed his two aces. I carefully took the rest of the tricks for 0% anyway.

In the next one I may have overbid slightly:

W N E S John Danny - 1♣ 1♠ 2♣ x - 3♥ - - -

East opened 1♣ and I overcalled 1♠, planning to double later. West supported Clubs and John doubled, perhaps afraid 2♣ would be passed out. I have a good hand now. I'd like to bid 3♣, letting John choose the contract, but was too afraid he'd bid 3NT so just jumped to 3♥. Everyone was happy to let me play this and passed.

On the lead of a low Club I tried the ♣J which lost to the ♣Q and I ruffed. Things look bleak. I don't have many losers but am destined to quickly lose trump control. A cross-ruff would only get me to seven tricks, but being vulnerable, two off is no good. I need more tricks, but there's no way I can draw trump and make anything out of the Diamonds.

I did a bit of ruffing, drew trumps keeping one master, and set up the Diamonds. When I played winning Diamonds through East he was reluctant to ruff, and I started accumulating more tricks than expected. I now had a cunning plan to endplay him to lead away from the ♣A and give me my eighth trick. At the end I sighed "one off" but apparently I had nine tricks for 3♥=. A lot of work and some luck for 50%. A Diamond contract is much easier, and of course Martin and Ted made 5♦.

W N E S John Danny 2♠ - 2NT* - 3♦ - 4♠ - - -

This last one shows how tough Matchpoint can be. I opened a Weak Two and John bid a 2NT enquiry. I bid 3♦ showing a singleton or void and he leapt to 4♠. I'm not sure what he would have bid if I'd have given a different response (perhaps 3NT?).

There are three top losers and the defence duly took them. Because East knew I had a singleton Diamond it was easy for him to cash the ♦A, without waiting to try and get a Diamond through from partner.

Our par score of 4♠= was worth just 8%, as nearly all the other declarers got overticks. Martin and Ted managed a remarkable 4♠+2, on a low Diamond lead from West. I can only assume that East was allowed to win the ♦J, then tried to cash the ♦A and declarer had the rest.

Wanderers vs Lyndoch

After last week's warm up at Buchanan Martin and I took to the table again for a Glasgow League match against Lyndoch. This being our third time playing together we had developed a reasonable system of 15-17 NT, 5 card majors, Puppet Stayman, basically everything I'm unfamiliar with.

On the first few hands I felt very warm but also shaking with the cold and made repeated pre-empts. At one point, when asked, Martin said "he's probably got a reasonable hand as he's vulnerable". But I didn't have a reasonable hand at all.

When I was dealer with the West hand below I was also vulnerable and a little too weak, but weighed in anyway. The auction is best done as a description: they competed to 3♦ and Martin doubled. I trusted that after my pre-empt his double was penalties and passed. They ran to 3♥ and he doubled, they tried 3♠ and he doubled, and were finally back in 4♦. At this point I doubled as Martin had run out of double cards, and by now I was feeling pretty confident it was going down.

W N E S Danny N Martin S 3♣ x - 3♦ - - x - - 3♥ x - - 3♠ x 4♦ x - - -

I was pleased they'd finished with Diamonds as trumps, as I had a clear lead; the ♥J. Martin won two rounds of Hearts then returned the ♥2, as a signal for a Club ruff. We took the first six tricks then the ♦K to come for 4♦x-4 and +1100. In aggregate this is a huge score, and is actually one of the reasons I don't like aggregate as a few hands can dominate the scores.

Luckily our opponents were experienced enough to take this in their stride and got right back into it, beating us on a series of marginal games. Towards the end of the evening I was getting rather tired, and was quite unprepared for this big contract:

Danny N Martin S W N E S 1♦ 2♥ 6♦ - - -

I opened 1♦, which is the agreed bid in our system. This is the only distribution where I could have only three Diamonds. North made a weak jump overcall in Hearts and Martin thought for just a few seconds before popping down 6♦. North lead the ♥J and dummy came down.

This was only my second hand of the evening and I was really hoping it would be easy. But there was work to do. My hand is not very suitable, with only three Diamonds and wasted ♥AK. I have a certain loser in the trump Ace and must therefore avoid losing to the ♦J.

After a considerable pause I realised there was also no way I could get rid of all my Clubs on the Hearts, so I would need the Club finesse. Assuming the Club finesse was working, and considering North's pre-empt, South was likely to have long Diamonds. So, I won the Heart lead in hand and crossed to dummy with a Spade, then followed my instinct by leading a Diamond to the Nine. This heldm and after that everything fell into place. After a few more long pauses, 6♦ was home.

In the end we won the match 9-7.

Matchpoints with Martin

As a warm up to next week's ur league match Martin Bateman and I played Matchpoint Monday at the Buchanan Bridge Club. It was a good night and we finished on about 56%.

I've two regrets. The first was not entering the score for the last two boards, which were therefore recorded as 'not played' and both pairs got 40%. This is particularly harsh on our opponents, for which they were two good boards. The three previous boards, which I did remember to score, were good for us. In my defence it was the end of the evening and I was tired.

My other regret is letting through this doubled contract. This is one of those where from declarer's perspective you can't believe your luck as you sit there and the defence do everything they can to help you. It was a debacle:

W N E S Martin Danny - 1♠ 3♣ 3♠ 4♣ - - x - 4♠ - - 5♣ x - - - -

South took a conservative view and passed her 12 count. West was less conservative and opened 1♠. I was sat East trying to remember the Bergen responses when North saved me by bidding a textbook 3♣. I settled for 3♠ and when 4♣ came back to me decided to double, based on my partner's opening bid and my ♥AK. Martin put us back to 4♠ but when they ended up in 5♣x I thought we'd done very well.

I was expecting us to take at least two Hearts and a Spade. I lead the ♥A for attitude, then immediately wished I'd lead the ♥K for count, as I didn't know whether another Heart was cashing. I switched to Spades, and here comes my second blunder. I boldly lead the ♠Q, to make it easier for partner if he had the suspected ♠AJ. Of course declarer covered with the King, promoting the Jack in his hand, and Martin then returned a Spade suspecting it was me who had lead from ♠QJ. A ruffing finesse in Diamonds later and declarer had 11 tricks and 100% of the matchpoints.

Pre-season warm up

Last week I had the pleasure of playing bridge twice. The first was the pre-season social for the Wanderers team, who play in Division 1 of the Glasgow League. I played in a new partnership with Ronald Gaffin. We had 'the run of the cards' and did quite well.

My only regret was Board 1 with a trump suit of ♠AKTxx opposite ♠xxx. I could afford one loser and there were complications in the other suits so I thought it simplest to play the Ace-King. But in fact the winning play was to insert the Ten, which I nearly did as it just felt West might have lots of Spades.

The highlight was not bridge related, a delicious tiramisu provided by our host John DiMambro.

On Monday John and I played together at the Buchanan club. There was early excitement, as I picked pick up the monster hand of

♠AKQ642 ♥AKQJ6 ♦JT ♣-.

What do you open the bidding with? Well it doesn't matter, as partner opens ahead of you, with 1♥!

My response was rather unusual. I bid 3♠, which was correctly alerted as a splinter. I'd mis-sorted my hand, leaving one Spade on it's own. I saw that singleton Spade and bid the splinter. In the end it didn't matter, as we quickly got to 7♥ when opener showed both missing Aces.

The theme of the evening seemed to be the opponents opening with a weak bid, passed round to John who passed or doubled, leaving me with a decision. This was a tricky one for both of us:

W N E S Danny John 3♥ - - x - 3♠ - - -

West opened a strong 3♥ and I passed as North. East passed and South had a decision. John went for double. I have a good suit but was trying to do the sensible thing so went for a conservative 3♠.

East predictably lead a Heart and there was the potential for lots of tricks, or not very many if I lost trump control. I ruffed and played two top Spades and was glad to see them split 3-2. I cashed the ♣K and now have loads of Clubs winners with just one top trump outstanding. I'm pleased to say I was careful and drew that last trump to prevent them ruffing in at the right time and cutting me off from dummy.

In the end we got 3♠+2 which scored slightly above average, beating the pairs defeating 4♥ but losing to the pair in 5♣.

On my other featured board I went into a deep think about a bidding decision which in the end I never had to make:

W N E S Danny John 3♥ - - - -

As before West opened 3♥, passed round to South. I was North wondering what I would do if partner doubled. The options are 3♠, 4♠, 3NT or passing the double. In the end John passed it out and we defended 3♥-4. East informed his partner afterwards: "It's best to have two of the top three honours for a pre-empt".

+200 scored below average as several pairs were making 4♠.

In the end we finished on a decent 62%.

Sole Bay & Halewsorth

This last week Anna and I were lucky enough to play at two different bridge clubs. The first was a return to the Sole Bay Bridge Club in Southwold, where we'd last visited in 2016.

We arrived promptly for the Wednesday evening game and made up an extra half table. Anna warned me "It's a while since I've played" but actually it went pretty smoothly. I bid a bold slam early on then got a bit lucky on the deal below.

No one is vulnerable, East deals:

♠ A K Q ♥ x x ♦ x x x x ♣ K x x x ♠ x ♥ K Q T x ♦ A K Q x ♣ A J x x 12 19 6 3 ♠ T x x ♥ A x ♦ T x x x ♣ Q x x x ♠ J x x x x x ♥ J x x x x ♦ J ♣ x

W N E S Anna Danny - - 1♥ - - 1♠ - - -

I picked up the weak South hand with 6-5 in the majors. I decided that if East opened I'd make a Michaels Cue Bid, as that was the one thing we'd discussed on the walk over. But when East passed I decided I couldn't really open a Weak Two, so passed. West opened 1♥ which came round to me. I should maybe pass, as I have five trumps in defence, but I felt like bidding so bid 1♠.

West thought for a bit then passed (they played penalty doubles so she couldn't double for takeout), and Anna sitting North made a disciplined pass with her excellent trump support.

Wehn dummy came down I realised I'd hit the jackpot; there should be six trumps and assuming the ♣K was onside that would make the seven tricks I needed. In fact I made nine, with a Heart ruff and the ♥J becoming high leading to 90% for 1♠+2. A couple of East-West pairs made a very dubious 3NT;, which makes as the Spades are blocked.

We finished with two bad boards (Doug making 3NT+3 against us, twice), but did enough to finish 1st with 65%.

The next Friday we went to the afternoon session at Halesworth Bridge Club. It was a friendly informal atmosphere which perhaps lulled us from maximum sharpness. This time we finished 3rd with 59%. Featured below is an early setback where, unusually, both Anna and I undervalued our hands and missed the game.

No one vulnerable, South deals:

♠ A T 7 3 ♥ T 9 7 6 4 3 ♦ K 6 ♣ 6 ♠ J 8 4 2 ♥ Q 5 ♦ T 9 8 7 ♣ J 9 5 7 4 16 13 ♠ Q 9 6 ♥ - ♦ A Q J 4 2 ♣ A K T 4 3 ♠ K 5 ♥ A K J 8 2 ♦ 4 3 ♣ Q 8 7 2

W N E S Danny Anna 1NT - 2♣* 3♣ 3♥ - - -

Anna chose to open the South hand 1NT, which sometimes works well but backfired here. I had the weak North hand and bid 2♣ as a weak version of Stayman, intending to correct a 2♦ response to 2♥. East thought for a while then bid 3♣, over which Anna bid 3♥. I re-evaluated as North. Only seven points, but with partner having four Hearts and opponents bidding Clubs it looks pretty good, so maybe I should have bid 4♥. But my general strategy was not to bid marginal games so I passed out 3♥, which of course made 10 tricks.

Turns out the rest of the field didn't think it was such a marginal game. Almost all of them got to 4♥, so 3♥+1 was worth only 17%.

At the break we had a cracking cup of tea and Anna took the chocolate Hob-Nob and fig roll.

Aggregate at Buchanan

I was lucky enough to get a game with John Di Mambro at the Buchanan Bridge Club this week. After several attempts to arrange it we settled on the Monday night aggregate. For a one-off game we had a fairly detailed system card but needless to say none of it came up, and as it happened all we needed was 5 card majors, strong NT, standard attitude in defence.

There were a couple of times when I was glad it was aggregate, as I didn't have to worry too much about the very best defence to get the contract two down. Once I took five minutes thinking about if I could make an overtrick with a squeeze, decided I couldn't, then realised we still had one board to play and apologised to the opponents for taking so long.

This was the most pleasing board, a 16-point game that I didn't expect to make:

Danny John W N E S 1♦ 1♥ 2♦ 2♥ 2♠ 4♥ - - 4♠ - 5♦ - - -

I've just been teaching the pupils at school about bidding two-suited hands and so was delighted to be able to pick up the North hand and show the shape by bidding Diamonds-Spades-Spades. Not surprisingly we ended up in 5♦ rather than 4♠. East lead a top Heart then switched to a low Club to West's King. She tried another Heart, which I ruffed.

My first thought was "we've only two losers" and my next thought was "how do I get rid of all my Spades?". I could ruff all four in dummy, but that would require Spades to split 4-4 (to prevent an over-ruff). This would effectively be a cross-ruff, making the Ace of Spades and ten trump tricks. This line could be beaten on a trump lead, but was still an option for me.

After West won the ♣K I saw another option. Presuming that East hadn't underlead the ♣A it must be with West, meaning I could take a ruffing finesse in Clubs and set them up. I checked I had enough entries, then drew trumps in two rounds (if they're 3-0 I'm down), ruffed a Spade, lead the ♣J (covered) then crossed back to dummy with a final Spade ruff.

It's only occurred to me now that it might be best for West to win the first Club trick with the Ace, disguising the location of the ♣K, but in fact on this layout everything is nice for declarer.

On the other tables there was another Diamond game and one pair managed 5♦x+1 (on the lead of ♥AK I think). Mostly East-West made nine or ten tricks in Hearts.

Overall we finished mid-table, missing a couple of 50-50 slams and bidding one that went down.

Gilmorehill vs Maccabi

For my next league match I had another new partner, and agreed a simple system with Martin. We had a poorish start, the low point being this agonising decision I got wrong:

♠ Q 7 4 3 2 ♥ 8 7 3 ♦ 6 3 ♣ A J 6 ♠ A 8 5 ♥ J ♦ A Q J 8 5 4 ♣ Q 8 2 7 14 16 3 ♠ K J 9 6 ♥ A Q 9 ♦ K ♣ K 7 5 4 3 ♠ T ♥ K T 6 5 4 2 ♦ T 9 7 2 ♣ T 9

W N E S Martin Danny 1♦ - 2♣ - 3♦ - 6♦ - - -

West opened a precision 1♦, which is limited to about 15 points. He then rebid 3♦ and East went into a very long think. He had faith in his partner's bid and chose 6♦. West wisely made no comment.

On the first trick Martin found the excellent lead of a Heart and declarer finessed, my King winning. When declarer had to follow suit with the ♥J it was clear that he now had two Heart discards in dummy, and I needed to get the right switch. Could I find my partner's Ace and defeat the slam?

I came close to leading a Spade, but finally settled for a safe trump lead, reasoning that gave almost no chance of declarer making it. However, the spade finesse is onside and furthermore North is squeezed into discarding Spades, so only one finesse is needed for four Spade tricks, and all three Clubs can be discarded. Declarer took full advantage of my generosity and the favourable position and brought home the slam.

At the half way point we were down about 1000 points on each table. Certainly our opponents had got the better of us so far. Captain John Di Mambro reminded us that at this stage in the league the match was effectively a free shot. We took this advice to Heart and after the break brought in consecutive 6NT slams. Both times I began a Puppet Stayman sequence then realised I didn't know the continuations so had a punt. It would have been three slams, but I underbid on this one:

♠ K ♥ T 5 3 ♦ Q 9 6 ♣ Q J 9 8 6 3 ♠ Q J 7 ♥ J 6 4 ♦ K T 4 3 ♣ T 7 2 8 7 10 15 ♠ T 8 ♥ A K Q 9 8 2 ♦ J 8 7 5 2 ♣ - ♠ A 9 6 5 4 3 2 ♥ 7 ♦ A ♣ A K 5 4

W N E S Martin Danny 1♥ 4♠ - - -

East opened 1♥ and I bid an immediate 4♠. When I saw dummy I realised that 4♠ had excellent play, but that 6♣ was even better. On Ronald's table he began with a double from the South hand, and after partner jumped to 3♣ East-West competed but he was able to play in 6♣.

My thinking was that if I double I let East-West into the auction, and I knew by this point in the evening that they certainly weren't afraid to compete. They could have found a cheap sacrifice, especially if they find the double fit. With my values in South I could well have ended up doubling 5♥ off two, which is actually worse than making a vulnerable 4♠.

We defended quite nicely sometimes. My declarer play was rather shaky but here's one that did go nicely:

♠ Q J T ♥ J 8 7 ♦ 4 2 ♣ J 7 5 4 3 ♠ A 7 6 5 3 2 ♥ 5 2 ♦ 9 5 ♣ Q 9 8 5 6 13 16 ♠ K 9 8 4 ♥ 4 3 ♦ A Q J T 8 ♣ K 2 ♠ - ♥ A K Q T 9 6 ♦ K 7 6 3 ♣ A T 6

W N E S Martin Danny - 1♥ - 2♥ - 3♠* - 4♥ - -

I have the lovely South hand and opened 1♥. An advantage of playing five card majors is that North was able to scrape together a raise. I pictured a perfect hand opposite and tried a Splinter in Spades. At this point Martin regretted even responding and signed off quickly in 4♥. I got a trump lead, and taking a leaf from my opponents' book took some time to consider the hand.

I could win the heart lead in Dummy and lead up a Diamond. If the Ace is onside I'll get my ♦K plus one Diamond ruff (assuming they can continue Hearts) which still only adds up to nine tricks. I could establish a Spade by force but don't have the entries. But if Clubs are 3-2 I'm home, using two trump entries to dummy. So I won the first trick in dummy and lead up a Club, the ♣T losing to the ♣Q (is this a situation where East should maybe play the ♣K?). I was later able to establish the Clubs, and the ♦A was onside so that was in fact eleven tricks.

After the Red Velvet cake in the last match I played today our captain had produced an excellent lemon sponge. It inspired our half-time comeback but the match was still lost 9-7.

Maccabi vs Wanderers

After what surely must have been an enormous number of illnesses and unavailable players I was asked to join the Wanderers bridge team, based out of the Buchanan Club in Glasgow. I agreed, then checked the league table; Wanderers sit sixth in Division One. Having not played in any league for many years this was going to be challenging. Last Wednesday I drove out to Maccabi club in Giffnock to meet the team.

Fortunately, I had a good partner (Mark Menzies) and the cards were friendly. My first contract was a 5♣ with 11 winners missing two Aces, and most of the rest were similar. I had a few 3NTs that could have been tricky if a key suit didn't split, but it always did.

The table played quickly and at the break it looked like we'd done OK. We had one big slice of luck, when I made a terrible blunder and got away with it:

♠ K T x x x ♥ T 9 8 ♦ A x ♣ A J x ♠ x x x ♥ x ♦ x x x x x ♣ x x x x 12 0 9 19 ♠ Q J x x ♥ K x x ♦ K x x ♣ x x x ♠ A ♥ A Q J x x x ♦ Q J x ♣ K Q x

W N E S Danny Mark 1♥* 2NT; - 3♦ - 3♠ - 4NT; - 5♦* - 6♥

Mark opened 1♥ and I had the North hand. I was about to reply 1♠ when I remembered we'd agreed five card majors. In the five minutes before the match most of that time was spent discussing Jacoby 2NT so I bid it here, showing a game forcing hand with exactly three trumps. Mark bid a natural 3♦ and I bid a natural 3♠ then he bid Blackwood.

I knew I had there good cards in my hand and so bid 5♦, showing three Aces. But I only had two. I realised almost immediately what I'd done and started to worry. Mark, who is a quick bidder and player, was in a deep think. I was desperate to put the breaks on, and was fearing what bid he produced. Whatever he bid, it was going to be one level too high.

Thankfully, he took the conservative route and settled for 6♥. West lead the ♠Q and I put the dummy down. The conversation went:

"Thank you partner"
"Sorry."
"You know you're supposed to have three keycards."
"Yeah I know, sorry."
"Thank you partner"

As the hand went on I waited for it to be one down, and was hugely relieved when Mark made it. I apologised to the opponent's and we moved on.

My other hand of interest is where we missed a game. I've rotated it so I'm South this time:

♠ T x ♥ A K x x ♦ T x x ♣ A x x x ♠ A Q x x x ♥ Q x x x ♦ A K ♣ x x 11 15 1 13 ♠ x x x ♥ x x x ♦ J x x x x x ♣ x ♠ K J x ♥ J x ♦ Q x ♣ K Q J T x x

W N E S Mark Danny 1♣ 1♠ x 2♠ 3♣ 3♠ 4♣ - - -

I opened the South hand 1♣, West overcalled and partner made a takeout double. East made a courtesy raise and I bid 3♣, showing a genuine Club suit. When West bid &Spades; again Mark bid 4♣ where I played. If he'd have doubled again I would have bid 3NT with ny good Spade stop.

West lead a top Diamond and dummy came down. It looked like a pretty clear two losers in Diamonds then I have to guess Spades for one loser. But, after cashing the ♦AK West cashed his ♠A and the hand was over.

At first I thought that we had done well to avoid 3NT, but actually Diamonds are blocked and we have time to set up a Spade trick, so it always makes.

Overall, we had most of the cards sitting North-South and got a good score. This was matched on the other tables and Wanderers won the event 11-5.

Hutcheson's Swiss Pairs

At this prestigious event I was lucky enough to be paired with current Scotland team member John Faben. We were hoping to do quite well, although had handicapped ourselves by agreeing to play all of the bidding system John is using in the Camrose with regular partner Phil Morrison. Of course John knows this well, but I don't, and it was quite a strain trying to remember ten pages of his system notes. On the first board I insisted we swap places so I could be South and wouldn't have any further burden myself by having to enter the scores too.

This is more bridge than I've played in a long time, and I was slightly daunted when tournament director Horst Kopleck announced at noon that the event was a full 48 boards, with the first three rounds taking us up until lunch at 3 pm. I endeavoured to save my energy and not think to much - a tactic which had mixed results.

The event is also open to Juniors, and I was delighted that two of the pairs were pupils from The High School of Glasgow. Two of them actually won a prize (£30) for being the top Junior pair. As it happened we didn't get to play against them, which would have been fun.

John and I won our first match and shot up the field, before shooting back down after losing to Gints and Martin. After that we narrowly won all our matches to finish a creditable 7th equal out of 54 pairs. The winners were Bill Durning & Duncan Rogers, with host John Di Mambro & Douglas Mitchell second. Full results available on the SBU website here.

John and I had relatively few mix-ups, but here's one of them. This was the first hand after lunch:

W N E S 1♣* - 1♥ - 1♠ - 2♦* - 3NT - - -

I had the West hand and opened 1♣, which shows various hands none of which I had. The problem was I thought three of my Diamonds were Hearts and had mis-sorted my hand. After John replied 1♥ I realised what had happened and calmly rebid 1♠. John bid fourth suit forcing (to game), inviting me to raise Hearts or bid NT with a Diamond stop. I did have quite a good Diamond stop so bid 3NT, following the rule that if you're in a mess and need partner to pass bid 3NT or 6NT depending on the level you are at. Thankfully, despite his big Heart suit, John left it in 3NT.

I received a Heart lead, won by the ♥K in dummy, and everyone was a bit surprised when I showed out of Hearts. John did well not to say anything, especially as I had actually revoked earlier in the day. After a Spade finesse and knocking out the ♦A I took a bold finesse of the ♦8 and had ten tricks in the bag. As I cashed the Diamonds I was vaguely aware someone might get squeezed but didn't quite work it out and lost the chance of 11 tricks, still scoring a somewhat undeserved 92% for 3NT+1.

I was pleased to see afterwards one of my pupil pairs also bid and made 3NT+1, while the other made 4♦=, also getting an above average score as many were in a failing 4♥.

John and I got most of the high-level decisions right, pushing the opponent's up and sacrificing when it was profitable. We also bid some part scores aggressively for good results, as John helmed some dicey 4-3 fits. I know that he will be rueing the 6NT-1 that could have made though. My biggest regret is the hand below:

W N E S - - 1♣ - 1♠ - 1NT - 3♥ - 4♥ - - -

I passed the strong West hand, only 9 points after all. We were playing a strong NT so John's 1NT rebid showed 12-14. I invited with 3♥ (also showing 5-5) and he couldn't have much better so bid the game. The defence lead Ace of Hearts and Nine of Hearts. I paused to consider.

Counting losers, I could lose one Heart, one Spade (can't ruff them all now), one Diamond and one Club. So I determined to get rid of my Diamond loser, by winning the second round of Hearts in hand and leading a Club up to dummy. I was hoping the Ace would be onside, and that West, who looked like he wouldn't have any more trumps, wouldn't be able to draw dummy's last trump. But East won the ♣A and returned a trump, and now I'm stuck with two Spade losers and one off.

The winning line is to win the second trump in dummy and finesse Spades, getting to ruff one and still having time to establish the Diamond discard. Of course if the Spade finesse fail the defence can knock out your Ace of Diamonds and you go two down, so now I'm not sure what is best.

Anyway I tried not to let this rattle me, although I did knock a bidding box on the floor shortly afterwards.

As fatigue set in my main bridge lesson was in discards, especially when you are defending an opposing 1NT or 3NT and declarer is obviously going to make it (once there were eight running Clubs in dummy) and you have to throw more cards away then you want to. Twice in the last set I gave away extra overtricks, but made up for it with some spirited bidding and doubles.

Podium finish next time.

Christmas Cards

Anna and I were lucky enough to play bridge twice over the holidays. Not at a bridge club, but with friendly couples in their houses.

This first deal comes from the drawing room table in Belfast. We'd all had quite a few mince pies and Anna hadn't played any hands yet so seized the contract, justifying it by joking that she was "worth an extra trick".

♠ T x ♥ A Q J x ♦ K x x ♣ A K J x ♠ x x ♥ x x ♦ A Q J x x ♣ x x x x 18 7 5 10 ♠ Q x x ♥ K T x x x ♦ x x ♣ x x x ♠ A K J x x x ♥ x x ♦ x x x ♣ Q x

W N E S Danny Anna 1♣ 1♥ 1♠ 2♦ 3NT - 4♠ - - -

In our style of Acol (Dutch? Swiss?) we open then lower of four card suits so I opened the North hand 1♣. Everyone else bid their suits and when it got back round to me I had the points and stoppers for 3NT. Anna thought for a while then removed to 4♠, which could be right if I have a singleton Spade. It's one of those strange situations where the worse my Spades are, the more we want to be in 4♠.

As it happens, 4♠ is about the same as 3NT and basically depends on the diamond finesse working, which is a good bet after the bidding. West lead a Heart, and Anna finessed (expecting it to lose) but later got trumps right to make eleven tricks.

My second hand is from a sleepy village on the Norfolk-Suffolk border, and was the very last hand of the night. I knew I was being a bit silly exploring a slam, and indeed we willingly went off at the five level.

♠ A K J x x x ♥ K 9 x ♦ x ♣ J x x ♠ 9 x ♥ J x ♦ x x x ♣ A Q T x x x 12 7 7 14 ♠ x x x ♥ A T x ♦ x x x x ♣ K x x ♠ Q x ♥ Q 8 x x x ♦ A K Q J x ♣ x

W N E S Anna Danny - 1♥ 2♣ 2♠ - 3♦ - 4♥ - 4NT* - 5♥* - - -

I opened the 5-5 hand 1♥ and West overcalled 2♣, then nearly put it back. This is authorised information to me; she doesn't have a 2♣ overcall but maybe nearly does. I couldn't quite work out what that meant she did have though.

After showing her Spades Anna recognised the misfit and signed off in 4♥. I ploughed on, and we ended in 5♥, missing two Aces and with weak trumps.

West lead the ♠9, and I had a choice to make.

To legitimately only lose one trump I need to find someone with ♥Ax. Then I can lead through them once and duck the second round. But, having avoided a Club lead, there's other options. I could try and get rid of the singleton Club in my hand on the Spades, but that would require three rounds of Spades and on the last one someone could ruff it. Similarly, I could get rid of the three Clubs in dummy on my Diamonds but again the last one could be ruffed. But if someone is ruffing with a winning trump I'm OK.

I decided to play trumps early, leading from the South hand, guessing that West had the ♥A. But it didn't work as East beat my ♥K and accurately returned a Club for one down. Oh well.