One bad, One good

With our next league match on Thursday Anna and I had another practice game at the Saturday night SBU pairs. This is a cross-IMP'd event, so is closer to the total points used in league matches. I was pretty relaxed about the game, maybe too much so.

In our first three five-board matches we finished slightly ahead, despite missing a grand slam with 14 top tricks. 6♥+1 actually got us +0.00 IMPs, as the same number of pairs got to 7♥ or 7NT as stopped in game. Then against opponents playing transfer responses I doubled a 1♥ transfer to Spades holding ♥JT9xx. Surprisingly this double was left in, as the opponents chose to play 1♥x on a 3-2 fit. They made it with an abundance of high cards, but missed an easy 3NT so that was a good one for us.

My casual attitude allowed me to let the opponents play 5♦-3, which didn't actually get us a very good score. I think I've become too used to Matchpoints, and didn't see the value in doubling. Just for good measure, I also blew a trick in defence, so maybe it could have been 5♦x-4.

That was an example of missing out on a good result. My low point was worse, turning a good result into a bad one. Our opponents bid a very poor 3NT which can only make with some extremely generous defence:

I made a simple 1♠ overcall. North asked about a Spade stopper then bid 3NT anyway, which clearly shows some sort of weak stopper of his own. I missed this inference, and when Anna lead the ♠7 assumed declrarer had ♠AK. Playing partner for the ♦A, I then found a reason to duck the Clubs not once, but twice, upon which a surprised declarer was able to scoop up 9 tricks. Conceding 3NT was worth -6.9 IMPs, beating it (by two) would be worth +4.5 IMPs.

Here's one where we did well - the very next board in fact

Anna doubled the weak 2♦ then passed my 3♣ (we don't play Lebensohl). North lead out the top two Diamonds, then switched to a Heart. I finessed and lost, then South cashed his ♠A and returned a Spade, presumably waiting to get his trump trick.

At this point I lead a Club to the Ace and dropped the singleton King. There is no room for North to have it alongside ♦AK (and presumably ♦Q too). This was the technically correct play, but I was still surprised it worked.

North could have beaten it by leading lower Diamonds (in which case I would have probably finessed the ♣K and lost), or better playing a third Diamond and South then can't be prevented from making the ♣K.

On the last board I sensed a slam and enthusiastically jumped to 5♥. This had three top losers but was allowed to make, which meant we finished just above average on +7.85 IMPs, 23rd out of 56.

Team Strathclyde vs Team Rowan

Last night Anna and I played our first match for several years for Team Rowan. They let us start fifteen minutes later to get the kids to bed, then we kicked off with the first of 24 boards against a friendly pair from Strathclyde.

The first swings came on Board 2:

East opened 1♠ and I had the nice South hand. We play an unusual 2NT, showing both minors, but only for weak or strong hands. This one falls in the middle, so annoyingly I had to settle for a 2♦ overcall. When we ended up defending 4♠ I was a little anxious about not having shown my shape, but at this vulnerability it's unlikely we have a good sacrifice, and I've also not given away too much to declarer.

I lead my ♥Q, which declarer won in hand. She then cashed two top trumps. This is probably the right play in trumps - after I've shown long Diamonds in the auction finessing is a better bet in isolation, but on this deal you don't want to lose the lead with the risk of a defensive Heart ruff. But once declarer has seen I've shown out of Spades she should be able to play off the Hearts, discarding Clubs from dummy. However, she mistimed the play and lead a third Spade to Anna's Queen.

It's crunch time for North. A club switch is required, but this looks risky and she's expecting me to have a Heart trick, so continued Hearts. (I did signal for Clubs though, we play McKenny and I threw a low Diamond). On the heart lead declarer let it run round to her six, an instinctive play but a costly one. Hearts are now blocked, and in returning to hand she has to play a Diamond. I snapped up the Ace of Diamonds and it was my turn to err. Instead of simply cashing the ♣A and across to partner's King, I lead a low Club. Anna did well to take her King and return a Club for one down.

Overall, across the two tables, one of our declarer's and one of theirs made it, for a flat board.

The biggest hand of the night was this one. North's hand is massive, and partner is bidding strongly too.

Our East opened 2♠, a nice compromise with a poor seven card suit. I made a 2NT overcall, showing 15-19 points and a Spade stop. I don't have the points but I've certainly got the Spade stop, plus the potential for tricks in Diamonds. Anna leapt to 4♣ over this, which is a natural bid with slam interest. I have poor Clubs but co-operated with a cuebid of 4♦. At this point, with total faith in our system, Anna could have bid 4NT to ask for Aces, then 5NT for number of Kings and ended up bidding 7♣ or even 7NT.

However, this is a not-very-common auction for a pair who don't play together much, so Anna reasonably signed off in 6♣. As she said after, it would be too sad being left to play in 4NT, if I took it as natural, or invitational to 6NT.

We were not alone in missing the grand slam. On the other table in our match they had an unopposed auction, got as far as Blackwood, but without agreeing the trump suit, so when North got an impossible 'two keycard' response decided in the confusion to sign off in 6♣. Our team-mates with the North-South cards had to deal with East opening 3♠, after which North bid 5♣ and South passed. On the fourth table South overcalled the 3♠ opening with 4♦, North bid Blackwood then signed off in 6♣ opposite one Ace. Missed opportunities all round!

In the rest of the early boards we missed a couple of games, but so did they, and I thought we probably had the better of it. Then the opponents went on a run of bidding and playing quickly, making six of seven rapid fire contracts. Anna admits to feeling a bit dazed during this stretch, and although we defended accurately, it was a lot of points in the minus column.

On the very last board we finally picked up some cards:

After three passes I opened 1♠ and Anna jumped to 4♠, showing a weakish hand with seven losers. I should almost always pass this, but could see that with my controls if Anna had any sort of decent second suit in Clubs or Hearts we might have a slam, and I always like to bid a slam on the last board. I didn't quite know how to explore this though, and just bid Blackwood. Anna showed no keycards (the most she could have had is the Ace of trumps), and I signed off in 5♠. In fact, her not having the Ace of trumps probably makes her hand bettter, as what I don't want is too many points wasted in trumps with something like ♠AQJxx, in which case even the five level might be too high.

As it happens Anna's hand kings make for a decent fit, and there are 11 easy tricks. I got a nice low Heart lead for trick 12, not needing the Club finesse.

In retrospect a better bid to explore the slam would have been a cuebid of 5♣, hoping Anna could bid 5♥ (bypassing 5♦ showing she has nothing wasted there), after which I can have a punt at 6♠.

The other table in our match had a misunderstanding and played 3♠+3 after West muddied the water with a Michael's 2♠ overcall. In the other match both pairs bid 4♠, so overall the board was a gain for Team Rowan.

Although the slam is not great (and bidding past 4♠ is dangerous), I'm pleased to say when I gave the hand to my school bridge club today they enthusiastically bid up to 6♠, making on the Club finesse.

Overall Team Rowan gained 2090 in our match and lost 1840 in the other for a narrow win, translating to 8 1/2 - 7 1/2 victory points.

Warming up

Before our first league match next Wednesday Anna and I had another go at the Saturday night SBU pairs. There are some very good pairs playing, but you also get given a few gifts (and we give plenty too).

On the very first board Anna and I defended 3NT in such a way to concede 12 tricks, when at every other tables 9 tricks was the limit. That means W we were at least three tricks worse than every other pair in defence. Some even defeated 3NT; we conceded 3NT+3. Fortunately (as I discovered at the end of the round), it was cross-IMPs rather than matchpoints, so it was only a bad score and not a zero.

We also seem to do badly on the first board. And the first match in fact. After that we recovered, with some good defence steady bidding (meaning I underbid and we missed some slams, but so did everyone else). The hand below was a missed opportunity:

I sat West. North opened 1♣, passed round to me. Rather than let it get passed out I bid 1♠. This seems the obvious bid, but I was slightly nervous as on the hand before when I did that Anna raised me straight to game (which made, to my surprise). But this time Anna just made a raise to 2♠ and there I played.

The chances look good. Clubs and Spades should be onside, leading me losing possibly just little as one Heart, two Diamonds and one Club loser. I got the ♣K lead.

My first thought was to duck the opening lead, thus creating a finesse position (North surely holds the ♣Q too). That will put North off continuing Clubs. But instead I played the ♣A of course, then had to lose six tricks.

Overall we finished on +26 IMPs for 5th out of 56 pairs.

Tuesday night SBU

Ted and I had another game together on Tuesday. In felt very tired, and made a few errors in the endgame. Once I could have ruffed my partner's winner and returned a trump to put declarer two down; I sort of knew this was right but couldn't bring myself to do it and settled for one off, which turned out to be a bad score. I put that down to a missed opportunity to play well, rather than a mistake.

There was one highlight - the hand below is the first one I think I've ever opened a Strong Two:

We play Standard Benji so my 2♣ showed a strong suit (or strong and balanced), then when I showed Hearts Ted passed with his minimum hand. I thought this was a textbook Benji Two bid, a 'strong suit with 7 1/2 to 8 winners', but apparently it's actually too weak, and I should have opened 1♥. On this occasion it worked well as a sort of pre-empt, with my strong opening keeping them out the auction. Even better, once they lead Spades my 7 1/2 th trick became my 8th and 2♥ made.

Misclick!

Anna and I played in the SBU pairs last night. We had a few poor ones but lots of good results too, and finished joint 6th out of 56 pairs, on 58.18%. The highlight was a couple of boards were we took them off three, with some very satisfying defence. Strangely, both those boards were played with me kneeling on the kitchen floor with the laptop next to the kettle, trying to make a cup of tea.

The lowlight was a real low - me misclicking to cost a game contract. I've never done that before, and up to now sort of assumed other people 'misclicking' was actually them changing their mind. I have more sympathy now.

I've got to a reasonable 3NT, though it's going to be tricky. I probably should have ducked the Heart lead, but didn't. You can see at Trick Two I make the highly unusual play of the ♠T from hand. This was the card next to the ♥A I'd just won, and my finger must still have been down on the track pad. Unfortunately my ♠T lost to South (meaning the Spade finesse would have worked), and now there's no time to set up the Diamonds.

Before the misclick my plan after I won the ♥A was to run the ♦Q, which probably would have been ducked, then crossed to dummy for a Diamond finesse. Not a great plan but would have worked here. Across the tournament all 28 tables were playing 3NT by West, which can't happen very often. My score of -2 was worth just 15%.

A losing action

John and I made another poor start to the Tuesday SBU pairs, and kept that going to finish on just 40.9%. I made a couple of mistakes. On one board I miscounted trumps, meaning I played an embarrassing extra round once everyone else was out. That meant I had one fewer entry to set up another suit. My only defence was that both opponents were messaging me to ask what my bid meant (a bid I'd already alerted), and the still-awake two-year old upstairs was asking for a hug from his Daddy. I tried to ignore the distractions, but evidently failed.

On the hand below we had a doubly poor result. Not only did the opponents take a lucky punt on a making 6NT contract, but I found a lead to give them an overtrick.

Against 6NT I lead a low Heart, which went round to the King. Declarer needed the Diamond finesse so took it, and when that worked ended up with all 13 tricks. In fact there are always 13 tricks outside Hearts, so any lead except the ♥A leads to 6NT+1. A few tables found the ♥A lead, but I'm not convinced it's a good idea as it might let declarer get to 12 tricks without needing the Diamond finesse. And since you're getting a poor score for conceding 6NT anyway (21%) you might as well try to beat it.