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.