Trick 1

Last night was the final Buchanan Lockdown Teams, as the club now has proper pair's evenings organised. I played with Ted, and our team won 36-7. Of the seven IMPs we lost, six were on the board below:

I open 1♦ and rebid 2NT showing 18-19. Ted bid Checkback Stayman to check for a fifth Heart, and we finished in 3NT. North lead the ♣5.

I have a certain two stops in Clubs. Given time I have plenty of further tricks, likely four Diamonds, two Hearts and a Spade to get me to nine. The problem is I'm missing three Aces, so the defence have plenty of time to set up their Clubs.

On trick one I played the ♣2 from dummy, South the ♣9 and I won in hand with the ♣J. I've still got one Club stopper, but that's not enough. I forced out the Heart Ace, lost my last Club stopper, forced out the Diamond Ace, then South did well to play a Spade across to North, to cash a few more Clubs. In the end I lost three Clubs and three other Aces.

If I play the ♣Q on the first trick it holds. Now my remaining ♣AJ is worth two more stoppers, if I lose the lead to South. As it happens South has the Aces in both the suits I'm going to play, so I'm still down.

My play of the ♣2 on the first trick would only gain if North had lead away from ♣T9xxx, which is much less likely.

The other table played 2NT and made it.

Safety Play

In the Buchanan Teams last night Ted and I took a bit of a beating. Our one higlight was bidding and making a very poor 6♠ contract:

Ted liked this hand and rebid 3♠, so I thought he must be strong enough to have something in Diamonds so launched into Blackwood, and he showed two keycards without the Queen of trumps. The auction so far was identical at both tables. But whereas my counterpart now signed off in 5♠ I ploughed on and landed partner in 6♠.

We have 7 trump tricks, but only 3 outside winners. There are possiblities in Clubs and Hearts, but how best to combine your chances? I like Ted's line of trying Clubs first (playing the ♣A from dummy if North doesn't cover), then reverting to Hearts. But as you can see everything works so that was a lucky 13 IMPs in.

I gave it back on the hand below:

We reached a good 4♠ contract and the defence begin with the ♦K. I was expecting two rounds of Diamonds then a Club switch, which if I got wrong and the trump finesse failed would be one off. But instead North overtook with the ♦A and returned a Heart, clearly a singleton. I've bags of Heart tricks to come so I just need to draw trumps now avoiding a ruff.

Time for a safety play!

I lead the ♠J from dummy but played the ♠A anyway, to avoid losing to a singleton or doubleton King in South and suffering a Heart ruff. But actually, South was void in trumps! So when I tried to keep drawing them North got back in, crossed to his partner's ♦Q and they got their Heart ruff in the end. I think my line was correct (fails only on this layout, finessing fails if South has Kx or K of trumps), but cost the game. On the other table they played in 5♥ and although a Spade ruff is in theory possible the defence are never likely to find it.

Finally, here's one I got right:

Ted's 2NT rebid showed 15-19, and my 3♣ asked for extra length in Majors. He denied this so I know he has exactly four Hearts and at most three Spades. With my Spade void 3NT might be in trouble, so I removed to 4♥. This is a decent contract, especially when Ted happens to have the ♥QT and got the the ♥J lead. I think 5♣ is even better though, so perhaps I should have bid that.

While following the hand as dummy I was hoping the Club finesse would fail, as that would mean only 8 tricks in 3NT. The other table were in 3NT, and did get a Spade lead, but the defence got in a tangle and declarer came home for a flat board (maybe that's an advantage of 3NT I hadn't considered - how often it makes when it shouldn't!)

Overall we lost the match 32-77

Textbook

Playing in the Buchanan Saturday teams I overbid to 4♠:

After the first few tricks I'm in dummy and ready to play trumps. If I can play trumps for no losers I can make it. I lead the ♠J and ... took the finesse. This failed (and in fact there's no way to succeed) but playing the ♠A is the right play. By this point West has shown up with ♦AKJ and so East must have the ♠K, both to give him enough points to double, and because West didn't respond to the double.

It's a textbook hand, which I'm sure I would have got right in a book, but didn't at the table. Nor did the other declarer on the same defence though, but the opponents got other stuff right and we lost the match 21-32.

SBU Matchpoint Tournament

This Tuesday I convinced Ted to play in the Scottish Bridge Union (SBU) tournament. It's matchpoints which he says he doesn't like, but I thought it would suit us. Our cardplay and defence is relatively good, with our main weakness sometimes going for massive penalties.

Over the 24 boards we did nothing clever, but made few mistakes, and finished comfortably top in a large field. We had rather a charmed existence and there were only three boards where we scored below 50%. Once was when the opponents had a misunderstanding and underbid to 3♥ which just made, once was when the opponents bid and made the obvous 1NT and we got 40% (most matchpoints events you suffer loads of these), and once when I made the blunder below:

East opened 1♣ and I made a rather dubious 1♥ overcall. West had just enough to overcall 1♠ (showing five or more) and East optimistimcally raised straight to game. It's optimistic as the hand is good but the ♥K might be useless.

The problem with my 1♥ overcall now became clear to me, as Ted lead the ♥Q. Normally this would promise ♥QJ (or maybe a singleton), but once I've bid Hearts he might just be leading them for that reason. The ♥Q was covered by the ♥K and ♥A and I had the crucial decision. I didn't realise it was the crucial decision though and just played a heart back straight away. We've now lost the chance for a Diamond ruff, and when Declarer lead Spades from hand picking up the ♠A the hand was over.

If I played a Diamond back I would get a ruff when Ted took his ♠A. It would be obvious for him to give me a ruff as leading a Diamond is an odd thing to do with ♦AKTx on the table. There is some danger though that leading a Diamond will let declarer draw trumps and discard a losing Heart (if he started with say ♦Qx in hand), but I think if I'd have thought about it I might have got it right.

Five Diamonds Twice

I was watching some Scotland Lockdown Teams on Bridge Base the other day. All excellent declarers, but they had some blind spots playing these 5♦ contracts.

Put yourself in East's shoes. You've done well to get to 5♦. On the Spade lead you finesse and it holds. You now have good chances of 11 tricks: six Diamonds (assuming they split 4-2), two Spades and three Clubs, if they split 3-2 and the King is onside. They key is that if you're going to get all those Club tricks you need to keep an entry to dummy.

You play a Club back to hand and draw three rounds of trumps. They don't split so there is still one master trump outstanding. You have to leave it out and play on Clubs now, while you still have the spade entry. Declarer here didn't do this and played another Diamond, but got lucky when South didn't knock out the Spade Ace. On the other table declarer was also in 5♦, but inexplicably played low on the first Spade trick so always had to lose one Spade, one Diamond and one Club.

On to the next 5♦:

East lead the ♣2, which looks very much like a singleton. Declarer won, and wisely discarded a losing Heart from hand (on the other table declarer discarded a Spade and then had no chance). After taking the ♥A and a heart ruff it's decision time. The winning line is to cross to hand, draw trumps, then give yourself a 50-50 shot at guessing Spades. Instead declarer tried a second round of Clubs, ruffed by East and one off.

Am I being unfair on these declarers? Perhaps it's all only obvious seeing all the hands.

Vosnajakova Bridge

Last night I joined friends in Slovenia (mostly) for a monthly online game. This was the last hand, so I overbid a bid.

2♠ was natural and weak. My 3♥ was natural, though there was some discussion over what it meant. Actual discussion, as all four players were on a Zoom call together. I claimed it was forcing, to which West replied "So what am I supposed to bid now?". She settled for 3♠, and I tried 3NT.

On seeing dummy both 4♥ and 4♠ look better, but maybe 3NT has chances too. If you're very lucky and get a nice lead like a Club you have time to set up dummy's Spades, but failing that you still might get six Hearts, two Clubs on a finesse and one Diamond makes nine.

South lead a Heart, which the King won in dummy, North following with the ♥J. This is double bad news as it means the one entry to dummy is gone, and also Hearts aren't splitting.

This was my one chance to finesse Clubs so I tried that, and noticed the ♣K popping up onside. I cashed a few Hearts, confirming the 5-1 break. I could give up one Heart and accept one down (winning five Hearts, two Clubs and a Diamond), but instead lead a Spade. South took the ♠A and found the best return of a Diamond, which I ducked once then won.

I still have a chance, if I can get the defence to help me. Assuming that South has the remaining Club honours, and no more Diamonds, I can give her the lead and she will be forced to lead a Heart round (meaning I make all the Heart tricks) or play a Spade to dummy, giving me extra tricks there. I tried this, cashing the ♣A then continuing Clubs. It looked good for an instant but South had one more Diamond to return and I therefore finished two down. Well defended.

The best I can do in 3NT on that lead is one down. What about 4♥? I think it suffers from the same problem as 3NT (no entry to dummy's Spades) and is also down. What about 4♠? You have potentially two Spade, two Diamonds and a Club loser and I don't think you can reduce that to three. Looks like it was all doomed!

Failure to alert

Last night Anna and I had our third outing at the Buchanan Saturday tournament. After complaining that she didn't get to play any hands Anna had a run of four in a row. She played the first 4♥ beautifully to give us a lead in the match, and the rest were mostly flat.

I had one rather frustrating outing playing 2♣, where after the opening lead I asked the opponents what carding they play. What is a reasonable amount of time to wait for an answer? After a few minutes I got the reply "varies". I asked for details, got none, and decided to just play on. A couple of hands later when dummy I realised they were playing reverse attitude, both when following suit and when discarding. I wrote this to the table (so Anna could see), and an opponent then confirmed with "low like, high hate".

Anna and I are good at alerting out bids, although there is a quirk on Bridge Base that means sometimes when you're declarer the alert pops up covering the left hand side of dummy. If you click "OK" it disappears for an instant then another alert appears covering the right hand side of dummy, then they both appear. It happened to both me and Anna and neither of us could work out a way to get rid of them. It explains what I have written on the alert on the 2♠ bid below!

The auction is fairly standard, Anna transferring and getting a nice dummmy. With the Spades offisde there are two to lose, plus a Heart and three Clubs. However, I got a Heart lead and return and could throw away one losing Club on the Diamonds for 2♠=. On the other table North was declarer in 2♠, and East found the astonishing lead of the ♣2 to take the contract one off.

In the end we won the match 25-11.

Wanderers Team Match

Last night I joined Ted for our first teams match together for a few months. There was the usual system discussion beforehand, though with a bit less time spent on Lebensohl than before (thankfully it has still never come up).

We got off to a sensible start, competing well in the part score. The first board gave me lots of decisions, and on this occasion looking at it now I agree with myself:

Ted opened the good 11-count as North, and I needed to respond. Three options: I could have supported his Clubs (the opening bid of 1♣ promises at least four), I could have bid my five card Diamond suit, or I could skip them both and bid Spades. I went for the major. Ted then had no choice but to redid his Clubs, and I've got another decision. I've got good Clubs, and more importantly, it seems likely opponents can make something (proably in Hearts), so I bid 3♣. This is in theory invitiational which I'm too light for but worst case we end up in a poor 5♣. I've given up hoping to buy the contract cheaply, against 2♣ good opponents are never going to let it get passed out.

3♣ ended the auction and Ted got a Heart lead. He made nine tricks via four Hearts, four Clubs (East eventually getting the ♣8) and a Diamond.

This felt like a solid start, and gained 2 IMPs when the other table competed and went down in 3♥ (losing two Hearts, a Diamond, a Club, a Spade ruff). What's interesting is that you can actually make 3♥, using a clever trick. If you can see the Spade ruff coming you can set up the Diamonds and use then to discard one of East's winning Spades.

Ted and I produced a few more decent results, before becoming unstuck when an opponent had the boldness to interfere with my 1NT opening. We ended in 4♠ in a 3-3 fit, off two. Then I was a bit bold overcalling 3♥ and that was off another two doubled. At the break though we were just 7 IMPs behind.

In the second half we were doubled twice more, once rather spectacularly at the six level - details withheld!. Instead here's a hand where I got duped by a very light opening:

Martin opened 1♦ non-vulnerable third in hand and I stretched to make a 1NT overcall. 3NT is not a bad contract, and after South lead the ♥T I'm up to nine tricks. I thought it was impossible South had either Spade honour so set about establishing the Spades and collecting my ninth trick. But North took the ♠A and cleared the Hearts, then South popped up with the ♠K and cashed the Hearts. If I'd have thought this a possibility I can make by ducking the first Heart trick. I did consider this, but sadly didn't do it.

In the end we lost the match 17-52.