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.