Wanderers Team Match #2

Yesterday Ted and I had another game playing in the Wanderers Team Match. The match was due to start at seven, but unfortunately one player delayed the start by twenty minutes. He'd foolishly moved toddler bedtime back by half an hour to account for BST, and had forgotten that this would make him late for the game. On checking his phone (during a Peppa Pig omnibus book) he found many texts and missed calls, so raced through Thomas the Tank Engine and the Windy Day at double speed, put the boy down in his cot and rushed through to log on.

Thankfully, the first four boards were fairly quiet and gave me time to recover. Board 5 I had a high level decision to make, and got it very wrong:

I have a very appealing South hand, especially when partner opens a natural 1♣. Over the 1NT I blasted 4♥, then found out the 1NT was a conventional bid. Didn't matter though. When Ted competed with 5♥ I pictured him with some useful Aces and Kings, and pressed on to 6♥. As it happened, partner's hand was not the one I was hoping for. And, as he tends to do, Tam doubled me.

All three finesses lost (as you would expect from the bidding) leading to 6♥x-3. The other table also misjudged slightly to play in 5♥-1, when actually 5♦ goes down.

Later we gained some of those lost IMPs back when Ted bid 4♥ that missed at the other table, then we saw the opponents unlucky to miss out on the slam bonus with the trump suit below:

	♠ A J 2
♠ K Q 9 8 3		♠ T 7 6 5
	♠ 4

6♠ went one off. However, this was another 9 IMPs away as on the other table East-West had bid on to 7♠! North found a shrewd double and beat it by two. In fact, the 7♠ bidders were lucky 6♠ goes down too.

Next Ted and I had a misunderstanding over the meaning of a 2♣ overcall of a 1♣ opening, where the opening could be short. I wound up in 4♠ in a 3-3 fit, which actually played quite nicely for one off but still a small loss. Then we overbid to 4♠x and the opponents overbid to 6NT-1. It was not a night for aggressive bidding! We finished the first half down by 21 to 33 IMPs.

The most interesting hand in the second half came where I picked up a lovely hand, and duly overbid it to a failing slam.

After my 1♦ opening the opponents competed aggressively in Hearts;. I was happy to leave alone 4♠ but when Ted competed to 5♠ I took the plunge and bid six. I've got exactly the sort of hand that makes lots of tricks.

Throughout the auction I thought Ted had more Spades then he actually did (he's bid them three times!), and doubtless he was also rather disappointed with my dummy. If trumps are 3-3 there's actually pretty good play, if you can set up the Diamonds. Ted played it nobly, going all out for the 3-3 fit, but not to be and the result was 6♠-2. At the other table North-South got off lightly in 3♥x-2, so actually we'd have won the board playing 4♠ (or doubling 5♥).

Just for balance my final hand is one where we gained 13 IMPs. Not for doing anything clever, just getting a lucky lead.

When the ♠J held the first trick I was delighted, and 11 tricks were easy from there. At the other table West got a Heart lead, and very nearly stole the contract. He managed to sneak by a Spade to the Jack, and after that would have had nine tricks if Clubs broke.

In the end we lost the second half by 19 IMPs to 32, keeping up my 100% record of losing every stanza. Thanks to Ted for another enjoyable game and John for organisation.