HSOG Bridge Christmas Party

For the Juniors Christmas party I made up some boards that had already been played at the Buchanan Bridge Club. That meant even if we played a board only once I could generate a score for each pair by comparing with people who had played it previously. I chose hands from a Matchpoint evening with 26 tables, so each deal had a maximum score of 50 (2 points from beating each of the other 25 pairs), so I could double those scores to get a percentage.

For example:

When this deal was played our East-West pair duly made 3NT+2. So they get the same score as the other pairs who made 3NT+2, 27/50 or 54%. That turned out to be from our most experienced Junior pair, Niamh & Rachel, who won the event with 64%.

Although the double-dummy solver says the optimum contract is 7♥ it needs trumps 3-3, so is far from wise. 7♣ is better, but actually (as is usually the case) you can forget about the grand and bidding any slam will get you a good score.

Perhaps West opens 1♦, North ovecalls 2♠ East doubles, West bids 3♣ then East can drive to 6♣. Would our Senior pairs have bid it? Maybe.

The full results of hands from the Buchanan club can be found here: Buhcanan Results 10th May (then click on Travellers).

Rowan vs Stirling

The Glasgow league matches consist of four tables. In this match against high-flying Stirling when the first two tables had finished we were 310 points up. But when the second match, featuring Anna and I, finished, we were 5000 points down. It's fair to say we were not on top form, or even on medium form. 

It was a demolition. Of the 24 boards there were only two where we achieved a result above par. I was guilty of pushing too hard, against some very disciplined opponents. They defended well, we played poorly, and the result was inevitable. 

Here are three of the worst:

Against 2NT Anna lead a Diamond to my Queen and I returned a Diamond to the Ace. Declarer then ducked a Spade to me. I don't really want to lead any suit, but had worked out that declarer likely only had two Hearts, possibly ♥KQ, so a Heart return was safe. I tried the ♥9, which declarer ducked to Anna's Queen. She cashed her Diamond and that was four tricks to the defence.

At this point I strongly suspect declarer is down to a singleton King in Hearts, so if Anna returns a Heart it's one down, and a great defence. But I foolishly threw a low Club, encouraging Clubs. I was just thinking about Anna making a safe exit, rather than realising we actually had enough tricks to beat the contract straight away. The result was therefore 2NT=, when it was nearly one down. A missed opportunity.

On other tables East-West variously made 2NT and 3♥.

This part-score battle soon became irrelevant, as we gave away a few large penalties and one massive one. Here is an example of fine judgement by the opponents:

My 5♦ bid is a calculated overbid, luring West into 5♠, which goes off one. But instead he doubled me for -500.

At the other tables the results were 4♠=, 5♦x-2 and 4♠x=.

Finally one where I thought the opponents were lucky, but actually I misdefended:

My 4♣ is another 'pressure-bid' that backfired as they got to 5♦. Anna cashed the King of Clubs then switched to a Heart. Declarer naturally finessed, and I correctly switched to a Spade. But declarer immediately went up with the ♠A, and was able to draw turmps via a finesse, then cross to dummy's Hearts to discard all his Spades. Note it doesn't actually matter that Hearts split 5-1, as on the run of trumps North has to discard a Heart (or the King of Spades).

The correct defence now appears simple. We need three tricks to beat the contract, so need a Spade. On Anna's ♣K lead I should overtake and return a Spade. Then it's surely one off.

On the other tables the results were 3♦=, 4♦= and 3♣+1 the other way.

Overall, a crushing defeat.

Adamson vs Smith

For our last match of the league we needed a win to avoid relegation. We didn't get one. From my perspective there were four interesting hands:

In this one John and I got our best board of the first half:

After South opened a weak NT John doubled for penalties. I have a flat hand so passed this. North's 2♦ shows Diamonds and Hearts, and South's subsequent pass at least three Diamonds. It looks like they've made an effective escape, but John doubled again and I passed (with slightly more doubt).

In fact we have plenty to beat it. John started with a couple of top Hearts, then drew trumps, and in the end declarer was limited to just four tricks (one trump, two Spades, on Club). Even though they were non-vulnerable 2♦x-4 for +800 was a good score.

On the other table South opened 1♣, and East-West played in 3NT. This could go down, but with few good options South led the ♠A and 3NT made for -600, still a small gain.

Shortly after we gave back all those IMPs and more:

North's 2♦ showed both majors, and South's 3♦ at least five Spades. I have a great hand to overcall Clubs, but didn't think it was right to come in as high as 4♣, so let the opponents bid and make 4♠.

On the other table on a more natural auction East-West won the board by getting to 5♣, and when our North-South bid 5♠x-1 it was a heavy loss.

This next board was my highlight:

Even though I was dummy, and watched John make 4H, it's a highlight as I clearly saw the winning line.

At first it looks like a possible missed slam, but with trumps 4-0 it gets tricky. On both tables South led a top Club, which declarer won and started on trumps. What do you do after play the Ace of Hearts and finding the 4-0 split?

After taking the ♥AK declarer just needs to play Clubs to set up dummy's Jack, for throwing a Diamond. You lose just two trumps and a Club.

When it was my turn to actually be declarer I didn't do so well:

After a not-completely-clear auction I got to 4♦. West began with two top Hearts, the second ruffed in hand. If I draw trumps and get Clubs right I have 11 tricks, but since I was only playing 4♦ (but wondering if I should be in game somewhere), I thought it was safer to play on Clubs while leaving a trump out (so if I lose the lead I could ruff the Heart return in the North hand, not with my top trump in South).

So After drawing two rounds of trumps I led a Spade up, and took a losing Club finesse. West did well to then play Ace and another Spade giving partner the ruff and one down.

I think I was sort of right to delay drawing trumps, but an early round of Clubs (dropping the Queen) would have really paid off here.

In the end we lost the match by 26 IMPs.

Interschools League: Glasgow vs Eton

Last night there were two matches in the InterSchool League. In Division 2B it was the match I'd been waiting for, as two High School of Glasgow teams faced each other. In the end it was a victory for the senior pupils, as the Lion Kings beat the Spy Kids 26-16.

In the evening two undefeated teams from Division 1B played on RealBridge, as Glasgow Alpha hosted Eton. From the early boards it was clear that Eton were a good side, as their careful card play gave them an advantage. Board 3 was a good one for us though:

Game EW S deal ♠ Q T 9 4 ♥ A K Q 8 ♦ J 4 2 ♣ J T ♠ K 2 ♥ J 9 7 6 5 ♦ Q 5 ♣ A Q 4 2 13 12 7 8 ♠ 8 7 5 ♥ T 4 3 2 ♦ A K 9 7 ♣ 7 5 ♠ A J 6 3 ♥ - ♦ T 8 6 3 ♣ K 9 8 6 3

Kevin Michael W N E S - 1♥ - 2♥ x - 2♠ - - -

After the opponents started 1♥-2♥ Michael sitting South risked a takeout double with a weak but shapely hand. Kevin kept things low with a 2♠ response, which is where he played.

There are potentially lots of losers, but luckily East made the normal Heart lead. Kevin threw away three Diamonds from dummy, then set about ruffing Diamonds in dummy, and Clubs in his hand. In the end he couldn't be prevented from making 9 tricks.

On the other table our West made nine tricks in Hearts for a 7 IMP gain.

The next board featured excellent defence and declarer play:

Game EW E deal ♠ T 9 8 6 4 2 ♥ Q J 3 ♦ 5 ♣ J 6 4 ♠ A J 7 ♥ K T 9 8 4 ♦ A ♣ A T 9 3 4 16 9 11 ♠ Q ♥ 6 5 ♦ K Q 9 8 7 6 2 ♣ Q 8 5 ♠ K 5 3 ♥ A 7 2 ♦ J T 4 3 ♣ K 7 2

Kevin Michael W N E S 3♦ - 3NT - - -

East opened a Weak 3♦ and the Eton West had a tricky bid. 3NT feels wrong with the Diamonds blocked, but he tried it anyway. North led the ♠T, to the ♠Q, ♠K and ♠A and declarer immediately unblocked his ♦A and looked for a way to get to dummy.

He tried the ♣T, ducked all round, then the ♣3. If North covers this the suit is blocked, but he didn't know this and played low. Declarer put in his ♣8 from dummy. South had to take this with the ♣K, and now declarer has an entry to dummy. But all is not lost for the defence as you can see the Diamonds don't run.

After winning his Club trick South played Spades, ducked to North, then the defence played another round of Spades. Declarer won, crossed to dummy, tried the Diamonds, and although they didn't work out he still collected 9 tricks, via 2 Spades, 3 Diamonds, 3 Clubs, 1 Heart when the Ace was onside.

In fact, to beat the contract the defence need to give up on Spades and establish their Heart trick, which is not easy to see.

On the other table after a 3♦ opening our West bid 3♥, which East passed. Declarer played well to make 3♥, but still a 10 IMP loss. At the half way point were were 7-20 down.

In the second half this was the most interesting board, and featured my first director ruling.

S deal ♠ 8 7 5 2 ♥ A Q J 5 4 2 ♦ T ♣ A 8 ♠ Q 4 ♥ K T 9 8 6 ♦ 9 8 3 ♣ 7 5 2 4 16 9 11 ♠ A J 3 ♥ - ♦ A Q 6 5 4 ♣ Q J T 9 6 ♠ K T 9 6 ♥ 7 3 ♦ K J 7 2 ♣ K 4 3

Alexander Harry W N E S - - 1♥ 2NT* 3NT x - - -

North opened 1♥ and East overcalled 2NT. South asked what it meant, waited a while with no response, then decided to bid 3NT anyway. Just then West announced that the 2NT overcall was 20-22 points, and doubled 3NT! It should have been clear to West (and everyone else) that there weren't enough points for East to have 20-22 points, and his bid shows the minors.

South believed the explanation though and asked to change his bid. I decided not to allow this (as though he thought he'd been damaged actually he hadn't), and let him play the hand.

On a Heart lead he finessed successfully, and established 2 Spade tricks, to go with this 3 Hearts and 2 Clubs. Then, he ran the Ten of Diamonds, which held. That gave declarer eight tricks. For the ninth he needs to read the distribution and give East a Club at the end, after which East will be forced to return a Diamond into declarer's waiting ♦KJ. Although close to it he missed this endplay so the result was 3NTx-1.

After the hand and with some discussion I ruled that the result should stand, as East-West had basically damaged themselves by West thinking that his partner had a strong hand and doubling. Perhaps a more just result would have been if 3NT made, but here Eton got a bit lucky as East actually had a very nice 15 points so 3NT was beaten.

On the other table North played 4♥ very nicely to go just off one. We ended up losing the match 22-33 overall, which in a 12 board match translates to 6-14 VPs.

Rowan vs Hamilton

Last night Anna and I took on Hamilton in what is likely to be a relegation battle in Glasgow Division One. We had a pretty good game, albeit with a few mistakes. Early on we bid aggressively to push them into 5♦, which I then doubled:

You can see that declarer has three losers, a Spade, Heart and eventually a Club, but the defence has to be very careful. Anna made a good start with a Club. Declarer won in hand and drew trumps (I threw a discouraging 9 of Hearts), then led a Spade up. Anna took her Ace and it's decision time.

The King of Spades is now a winner in dummy and declarer is likely out of Spades in hand, so has a discard. Anna therefore took her Ace of Hearts. This turned out to be fatal, as it set up declarer's ♥K for a Club discard in dummy. Three losers became two and the game made.

Taking the Ace of Hearts is essential if declarer started with a singleton Heart, but that relies on me starting with seven Hearts which is unlikely (though I did have six). Cashing the Ace of Hearst doesn't cost if I have the King (though I'd signalled that I didn't), but does costs on this layout. That meant we conceded 5♦x= for -550.

On two other tables North-South made 4♦= and 5♦-1 (at the same crunch point West played another Club), and on the fourth East-West were allowed to play the contract, in 5♥, which went four off after a failed Spade finesse. So not a good board for Team Rowan.

When you open 2NT and it gets passed out you are normally in trouble, as 20 points opposite 0-3 is not a good combination. On this one I put down a 0 point dummy:

2NT is not a good contract. You have five top tricks in your hand, with hope of developing a long Spade and maybe a Diamond or Club.

The defence led the ♥7, to the ♥2, ♥J, ♥A (should South know from the lead that partner has the ♥8 and play low?). Anna set to work on the Spades, starting with a low one (it is better to play the Ace?). Although Spades didn't break, her Ten of Hearts in dummy somehow became high, giving her an extra trick there, and the entry for a Spade finesse, and when she managed a long Club too that was eight tricks. That felt like a great result, 2NT= when it could easily have been two off vulnerable.

What's funny though is that on all four tables the result was 2NT=. It is really so hard to defend against? Maybe it is.

In the second half we beat them in a couple of games and stole a 4♠, when they were easily making 4♥/5♥/6♥. They bid a tight 6♥ which needs trumps 2-2 (they were) so things felt about even.

Our most pleasing board was the very last one:

I considered passing out 1NT but decided to show my 5-4 shape with a natural 2♣. Anna liked this very much and took it to 4♠. This got a Heart lead and has excellent chances. I tried to play it carefully, setting up the Clubs before drawing trumps (if Clubs are 3-1 and they get a ruff I don't mind), but actually everything sits nicely and I couldn't fail but make 4♠+1. The other tables played 2♠+3, 2♠+3 and 1NT=.

Overall we lost the match 12-4.

Adamson vs BShenkin

As we approach the crunch point of the season John and I needed a good result. We nearly got one, with a narrow loss to Barnet Shenkin's team. There was some good stuff, but also a couple of howlers. At the time this looked like the worst of them:

John opened a fairly standard six-card weak three Diamonds and West bid an immediate 3NT. I have a few options, including Double, 4♦ and 4♥. I went for a cautious pass. Time for the opening lead.

You can see that a top Heart works rather well, and we can take the first six Heart tricks. In fact, whatever I lead, declarer only has eight tricks (2 Spades, 1 Diamond, 5 Clubs). So there's not much chance of making the contract. Except...

...I led a low Heart. A grateful declarer grabbed the Queen and claimed nine tricks. Although I normally don't discuss the hands during the play, I felt this was worth an immediate "sorry" to my partner.,

Here are the arguments in favour of a high Heart:

• It won't give away a cheap trick if declarer has ♥Q or ♥Qx in one hand.
• If it's clearly wrong (e.g dummy shows up with good Hearts) I have time to switch to a Diamond.
• On many layouts it lets us defeat the contract with the first six tricks.

Afterwards John suggested I should hae led the King of Hearts, after which he would have given count. I suppose after that I assume he's got three, and play my King expecting him to unblock his Jack. If I start with the Ace instead he would presumably encourage, after which I could either play a low Heart to his Jack or again another high Heart for him to unblock.

But although it seems easy enough for us to take our six Heart tricks I could well see something going wrong.

These are the arguments in favour of a low Heart:

• John might have ♥Qx (or ♥Q) in which case we need a low lead to get all our tricks.
• Declarer could have a stop like ♥Jxx opposite ♥Qx in which case we need to lose a trick, and keep our entries open.
• Declarer could have a Heart suit like ♥QJxx in hand (opposite a singleton) and it needs the second Heart to come through from John's side.

What would you have lead?

Rowan vs Bonnyton

Last night Anna and I played a Glasgow Division 1 league match against Bonnyton, a strong team who include many members of the David Shenkin team.

On our table we had 24 boards against cblackeyes and Bbigelow, who played a fast and accurate game. We were on good form, and didn't make many mistakes. But our opponents had the cards so we didn't have much to do. They stretched to bid games and compete in partscores, so Anna and I did a lot of defending.

The first board was typical:

It's not common to overcall a 2NT opening, but I felt like wading in. I could have maybe improvised a 3NT bid (undiscussed, but presumably minors?) but stuck with my best suit and 3♣. South had a think then pulled out 6♥. This is not without risk, as if I have ♣KQ and an outside Ace it's going down. However, this time he hit the jackpot with a very suitable dummy. ♥AKxx isn't bad support.

South could have bid an invitational 5♥ (which here North would have had an easy raise of), but I like the direct 6♥ too.

I thought about doubling 6♥ to try and get a Spade lead, but this has two problems. Firstly, we don't play Lightner doubles. Secondly, even if I do get a Spade ruff the score is just 6♥x= instead of 6♥+1.

Anna led a Club and declarer soon wrapped up 13 tricks. Our team-mates David and Heather also found 6♥ (after East overcalled a conventional 2♦ opening with 2NT). In the other match Bonnyton had an unopposed auction to 7♥ (well done Steve Male and Martin Diamond), and on the last table East came in with 4NT so North-South stopped in 5♥. So definitely a good hand for interfering in the auction.

If I do show both minors perhaps Anna would have sacrificed in 7♦. This has four top losers (-800), with maybe a fifth if the defence get their ♦Q (-1100). So not a great sacrifice.

Overall this was a good board for Bonnyton, and their extra 1000 points turned out to be roughly the final difference, and they ran out 11-5 winners. As we are minnows in Division 1 we accepted that as not a bad result.

Over the evening Anna and I only made two games, but we did collect +500 for this defence:

I made a 3♣ overcall, which I thought would probably be fairly ineffective, and South bid a prompt 3NT. The ♣Qxx stopper doesn't look like much, but even if Anna has ♣Axx and I have ♣Kxxxxxx it's going to be enough. But not this time.

Anna led a low Club, and I won the King and returned a Club. There's a high danger of us blocking the suit, but luckily I returned the ♣8, and when Anna had cleared the suit she played the ♣9 to my ♣T. On the run of Clubs declarer is in trouble, and after I cleared the Spades Anna took the last two, for a splendid 3NT-5.

Anna did very well not to double, as the opponents then have an easy escape to 5♦ (+1).

On the other table Bonnyton were East-West and played 5♣-4, for a total of 9 undertricks on the board. In the other match is was 3NT= and 3NT-1, so a good one for Team Rowan.

Adamson vs Peden

As predicted the team bounced back with a narrow win against Peden. In the first half things were fairly quiet on our table, and every contract made. Our team-mates Glen and Gints had been a bit more optimistic than our opponents and bid a few thin games, and when two out of three made we were slightly up.

In the second half we maintained our narrow advantage, and picked up a few more with some tight defence. There were a couple of times we had them beaten and I cashed out for one down, but with some thought I could have taken them two off, or at least given declarer a difficult guess. Cashing out in defence was partly me not being totally confident I'd remembered all the cards correctly, but I think also a personality thing. Rather than go for the kill I was happy to bank a small win. Certainly this has been my philosophy with investments, when for example I sold my Dogecoin far too early.

We were about 20 IMPs up going into the last board (though didn't know it of course).

I opened 1♥ and John responded 2♦, which for us is a game-forcing two-over-one bid. My 2NT rebid is a special convention showing a good six card major, which I certainly had. John could have supported with 3♥ (a strong bid since we are game forced), but wanted so show his good Diamonds with 3♦. I could have signed off in 5♦ but thought my support and Hearts were good enough to try 4♦.

We were soon in 6♦, for the second time in the match. The first time it depended on a trump finesse, which worked but when trumps were 4-0 still went down. This time it just depended on the Heart finesse.

South led a Club that North won, and found the best return of a Spade. There's no benefit in taking this finesse so John correctly went up with the Ace, and was able to draw trumps in two rounds (if trumps are 3-1 it gets trickier as you might need an early Heart finesse in case they are 4-0). When declarer led the ♥9 North took the ♥K and cashed a Spade, for two off.

If the Heart finesse works we make 12 tricks, if it fails we make only 10, so in a sense 6♦ is the right contract (no point playing 5♦). Although the other table managed to play 4♥= so we lost 11 IMPs, instead of gaining 10.

That meant we won the match by 34-28 IMPs.

Adamson vs Stevenson

For this iteration of the league our team has rebranded as Adamson. Two of our pairs (Pinder-Barton and Adamson-Saunders) did well in the recent trials and have been selected for the Scotland team in the Camrose (see here). With that talent in the squad, surely we'd be unstopptable?

Unfortunately, John and I were not picked for the Camrose Team, and didn't even get close to entering the trials. He actually played the first two hands with new baby Xander. I had no such excuse. We had an off night, starting with this very disappointing 6♠ I let through:

I've made a slightly wild 3♥ overcall and propelled them to 6♠. There's no point leading my singleton Diamond (partner can't have the Ace), so I tried a Club, and was pleased when declarer refused the finesse and won the first trick with the ♣A. He took the ♥A, ruffed a Heart, then the King of Spades to my Ace. Crunch time.

I returned a top Heart, forcing him to ruff high in dummy (as he thought from the auction I had seven Hearts so East might be over-ruffing. Then he lead a Spade from dummy and finessed, losing to my bare ♠T. One off.

At least, that's what should have happened. Actually, when in with the ♠A I was worried about giving a ruff and discard so returned a tame Spade, not realising the power of my ♠T. Declarer won this and was able to quickly claim, for 6♠= against 4♠+2 on the other table (where South had only overcalled 2♥). An 11 IMP loss, that could have been a 10 IMP gain.

The first half continued to not go terribly well and at the break we were down by 50 IMPs to 1. In the second half we steadied the ship (but still lost slightly) to finish 53 IMPs behind.

On the upside John and I didn't have any bidding misunderstanding (just lots of poor defence), and I expect we will bounce back with a win in tonight's game against Peden.

How to make extra tricks

Usually when you are declarer you have a stronger hand than dummy, and more trumps. You can therefore view your hand as providing the main source of tricks, with dummy giving a bit of help. Sometimes dummy helps with high cards, sometimes with a shortage that means you can ruff. Sometimes dummy helps with a long side-suit that you can establish, which is a bit harder to spot.

Very often when dummy has shortage (meaning you can ruff), it also has a long side-suit (which you can establish). But it's usually difficult to do both, and you have to decide which to do. For example, take this hand that my Junior teams played in the Inter Schools Trophy.

You are East. Playing 4♥ you have 9 top tricks: 1 Spade, 5 Hearts, 2 Diamonds, 1 Club. You only need one more trick. The easiest way to get it is to ruff a Diamond. Then take the Spade finesse for the overtrick.

But what about if you are playing 6♥? Not so far-fetched, as one Junior Pair bid it. You now need three extra tricks on top of the nine you already have.

• Option 1 is to go for two Diamond ruffs, plus the Spade finesse. If this all works you get 2 Spades, 5 Hearts, 4 Diamonds, 1 Club for 12 tricks.
• Option 2 is to try and set up the Clubs for one loser. If it works you get 1 Spade, 5 Hearts, 1 Diamond, 5 Clubs for 12 tricks.

Although going for the ruffs is the natural thing to do for most players, it's going to be tough. You need the 50/50 Spade finesse, plus a lot more, as getting back to hand each time to ruff, then draw trumps, is going to be tricky. In Option 2 if Clubs behave reasonably you are home, and that's it. So if you need 12 tricks then setting up the long suit is the better option.

On this layout the Spade finesse fails, so Option 1 will never get you 12 tricks. Option 2 will lead to 6♥= unless you get a Spade lead.

In total the hand was played four times. The two more experienced Junior declarers in 4♥ both took a Diamond ruff, and picked up a second Club trick, for 4♥+1 (the Spade finesse failed). One of the less experienced declarers got to 6♥, and got a Diamond lead. Unfortunately the play didn't match the bidding, and perhaps overwhelmed by options and the level of the contract declarer neither ruffed Diamonds or set up Clubs and finished with the 9 tricks he started off with, for 6♥-3.

Summary: if you need lots of tricks consider setting up a long suit in dummy.

How to make a doomed contract

Suppose you are playing 4♠, with four top losers. What are you supposed to do? Claim down one (maybe against top opposition). Better is to try and steal the contrract.

One option is to play off all your trumps, then hope something good happens at the end. Perhaps the opponents will have to throw away so many winners they keep the wrong thing. Or they end up clashing their King and Ace on the same trick. Or one defender wins but ends up having to return something to help you. A few ways to win.

The alternative approach is to try and steal the contract early on by sneaking a trick past the defence. Perhaps you can grab a singleton King, or set-up a suit without the defence get organised.

Which of these two approaches you go for I think is partly a question of personality. If you like to leave the washing up to soak, and put off the nasty work, you go for the first approach. Take your 9 winners, then hope something good happens. If you're the sort of person who likes to rip a plaster off quickly, and deal with the problem straight away, you go for the second approach, and try and steal your 10th trick immediately.

Here's an example hand:

You open the South hand 1♠. Your partner makes a slightly dubious 2♠ raise and with your strong hand you raise to game.

West leads a Heart which you win in hand. There are four top losers. One Spade, one Diamond, two Clubs. Claim down one? Not yet.

These are your two options:

• Draw trumps, and if the defence haven't taken their four tricks yet then play off all your trumps and your Hearts. Finally play a Club and hope the defence end up crashing their ♣AK.
• Immediately start on Clubs. If the defence don't get round to playing Diamonds you can discard a losing Diamond on the Clubs in dummy.

The first line is the safest, as it begins by drawing trumps, and is probably the one most declarers will take. At the table declarer chose this (and went one off).

The second line looks like it shouldn't work, but just might do. You know the defence can safely play Diamonds, but they don't. West in particular might be relcutant to lead away from his ♦K. And maybe when East wins his Club honour he'll want to play trumps to cut Heart ruffs (he doesn't know you've got a solid Heart suit), or he might even return Hearts (his partner's suit).

The point is, defence is the hardest part of the game and what's clear to declarer might not always be clear to the defence. So make life as hard as possible for the defence, and they'll get it wrong sometimes.

For this particular hand there is a third option, a bit harder to spot:

• Play four rounds of Hearts, discarding three Clubs from dummy. On the fourth round one opponent will be out of Hearts (even if they split 4-3), but he might have to ruff with the singleton Ace of trumps. You could try and improve your chances by sneaking a round of trumps through first (e.g. leading the ♠J), which increases the chance that later when an opponent ruffs your Heart it's with the Ace.

This gives you a small genuine chance of making it, but risks going down two if the defence ruff a Heart winner then take their other four tricks. So perhaps this is the best line against expert defenders, when you expect them to always take their tricks.

Here's another hand, this time from a Glasgow League Match:

I was East. 4♠ is not a bad contract, but when South found the killing Diamond lead it looks like I've got a certain four losers. I turned to Hearts immediately, before drawing trumps. The logic is that if you're going for the steal-a-trick route, you need to do it as early as possible. Leaving trumps out is fine as there's no risk of a ruff. It also the defence more to think about. Finally drawing trumps would give the defender who runs out first a chance to signal.

In the Heart suit there is the chance of getting a useful discard from dummy, but surely once I touch Hearts it'll be obvious to the defence what's going on. Certianly if I started by leading the King of Hearts then the defence would take their Ace, see the winning ♥QJ in dummy, realise they can only get one Diamond (before dummy ruffs) so turn to Clubs.

I therefore tried leading the ♥9 from hand. This feels awkward, as I've blocked the Heart suit, but that's not actually going to a problem. North took his Ace of Hearts, cashed a Diamond, and went into a think. I could see that there were two Clubs to lose, but he didn't know that. He also didn't know I had the King of Hearts hidden in my hand. The longer he thought, the more my hopes got up. Only a Club will beat me. Finally he played a Diamond, and the contract made.

So here's what I've learned. If you're going for a deceptive play:

• Do it as soon as possible before the defence know what's going on
• Hide the honours in the closed hand

And don't be surprised if some of the time the defenders help you out - it's much harder for them than it is for you.

A final example, from a Glasgow League match in 2020. You are declarer in 5♥. You've overbid, so you better make it:

You get the ♠Q lead. There are three top losers. What's your plan?

Following the rules above (do it quickly and use the closed hand), you cross to dummy to lead a Club towards your singleton Queen. Looking at all four hands it's obvious for North to take the Ace of Clubs (then take two Diamonds for one off), but what if you had a Club void in hand? Then North playing the Ace of Clubs would be a big mistake.

Leading a low Club from the North hand early on makes the defender guess, and at least some of the time they're going to guess wrong.

The benefits of overbidding

My Junior team have been competing in the SBU Bronze League, which has all been online. If I'm the home captain I set up the match on Bridge Base andcan watch the boards.

I've taught my Junior team to "pre-empt to the max" and "bid all games" which combined with their natural attacking instincts makes for some exciting boards. I would say on the whole their aggressive style gains more than it loses, although I do wish they would stop bidding bad slams.

Here's an example from a match against Razputin. You are vulnerable against not, and your right-hand opponent opens 1♦. Your bid?

I'm pleased to say our South went all-out with 4♠. Jumping to game-level is very effective, as the opponents can't tell if you are pre-empting with a weak hand or bidding with a good hand that expects to make. So there's a very good chance you won't get doubled.

If the opponets play a lot of takeout doubles it might be hard for either of them to double you. Here though, 4♠ did get doubled. and was heading for three off, vulnerable. Is this an argument against such bold overbidding? Maybe not. The defence isn't always perfect and declarer escaped for down two:

The defence took one Club then played three rounds of Hearts (setting up dummy's Jack). Then declarer drew trumps, corrrectly by leading the King of Spades. West won and guessed to play on Diamonds. That meant declarer could ruff the second round of Diamonds then cross to the winning ♠8 to take a winning Heart and discard the other Club. So he escaped for only two off, doubled.

At this vulnerability that was still -500, more than letting East-West make a game. But perhaps East-West can make a slam? If both the minors split there are 13 top tricks, and even with Diamonds 4-1 there are 12. It's hard to bid though. Our other pair made 5♦+1 (after South only overcalled 2♠), so overall a small loss on the board.

So perhaps pre-empting all the way to 4♠ on this board only makes sense if you are playing really good opponents who might get to the slam.

Here's another hand from the same match where we overbid:

East made a weak two opening and our South overcalled 2♠. West has an easy 4♥ bid and its over to North. On the one hand you have a weak hand with only two card trump-support. On the other hand it's favourable vulnerability, and when you bid 4♠ it's very hard for them to double. West has a likely three tricks in his hand, but possibly no more than three, so just passed. He may also have been put off by the fact he'd doubled North in a making contract on the previous hand.

As it happens 4♠ hits the jackpot here, as your partner has strong Spades. And, crucially, little enough defence so that 4♥ would have made.

Playing 4♠ isn't too bad, and only has three top losers. Here the defence played trumps and declarer ended up losing two Hearts, one Spade and one Diamond for one off. A good result.

In conclusion (based on these two boards and three seasons in the SBU Bronze League) overbidding is often effective. It works especially well when the defence are in the dark. That means you need to bid high quickly, especially with jumps to game level. Then it'll be much harder for them to double you.

Glasgow Division 1: Rowan vs Buchanan

For our second match in Division 1 it was a sort of derby between two teams based at the Buchanan Bridge Club.

Anna and I had an unusually solid game, and as Anna said afterwards "I still felt sharp at the end". I couldn't see any full mistakes that we made, just this board that we could have done better on:

I have the East hand. Although the hand isn't ideal for a weak three (or even good) the fact I was second-in-hand vulnerable convinced me it was worth opening. In this position and vulnerability you want to have a decent hand, which I felt I had.

The hand did indeed belong to us, and Anna has a nice hand. You can see that 4♥ would go very well. I have three very useful cards for Anna; the ♠K, ♥K and ♦J none of which she is expecting. With only a Club singleton she felt she had to pass, and I was stuck in 3♣.

South lead the ♠J covered by the Queen and Ace. To stop a Spade ruff North returned a trump, to my Ten and Ace. At that point south switched to a low Diamond. I have a choice of taking a simple finesse in Diamonds or a ruffing finesse. I guessed right to take the ruffing finesse. With Clubs 3-1 I then just made it.

However, I was well aware that 4♥ would have made (especially with the ♥QJ coming down).

On the other table in our match the auction was the same. Against 3♣ the defence never returned a trump so declarer could ruff a Spade and make it without guessing Diamonds.

In the other match both Easts also opened 3♣ but the Wests responded 3♥ and they got to game (4♥+1). Maybe those pairs had more precise agreements about opening a Weak Three (so East guaranteed some strength) or maybe just more optimistic Wests.

Overall then a flat board for Team Rowan.

The rest of the match was typically close. Anna and I stole a couple of games on our table (and caught them in 3♣x-4), but our team-mates were unlucky in bidding two slams on a finesse that both failed. At the end of 24 boards on 4 tables we lost by just 80 points. That meant a loss by 8.5-7.5, but (mainly by virtue of having played more matches) we are currently top of the league!

Glasgow Division 1: Rowan vs Metropole

Last night we began a new season with Team Rowan in Division 1, having just got promoted. As our captain said, there are some very good teams in this division, but the worst that can happen is we get relegated again. Our first match was against Metropole, who recently got promoted too, and we narrowly lost to last time Anna and I played against them (see here).

The matches start at 7pm, which is quite early for us, and Anna was still reading bedtime stories at 6:59. This may have contributed to our slow start, as we missed a chance to beat 3NT then both underbid here:

I decided to make a Weak Two despite having four Spades as they were so weak. Anna bid Ogust and I showed what I thought I had, a weak hand with good trumps. Anna settled for 3♥. I thought about bidding on anyway but made a disciplined pass. On reflection I have exactly the sort of hand that could easily make game so should have bid 4♥, and maybe should have replied to Ogust differently too. I thought we judged hand strength by high card points (in which case I am weak), Anna thought by losers (in which case I'm strong). I think her way is probably better. This hand also shows why I don't like Ogust, as it doesn't really tell you anything useful (unless perhaps you play very wide ranging Weak Twos).

Against 3♥ the defence led a Spade, and took the first two tricks before East returned a third Spade for West to ruff and me to overruff. At this point the play in 4♥ would be tricky, as if the Diamond finesse fails I might lose a Spade as well (if I draw trumps first) or a Heart (if I ruff with dummy's Ace of Hearts). I think the best line would be to ruff a Spade high, and hope that you can still draw trumps without a loser.

In 3♥ I could just draw trumps, and when the Diamond finesse was on I made 11 tricks. 3♥+2.

Our team-mates Jill and Barbara also played in 3♥, and it was only one Metropole pair who got to 4♥, on the auction 2♥-4♥.

After this we settled down a bit, and had a few good boards making 6♠, then 4♥x+1.

Our daughter has just got her own clock and is allowed to stay up until 8pm, so during the first hour of the match I heard her chatting away to herself. Then she ran in to tell me it was "a very unsusual time, eight-ninety!", which was actually 8:09. I tried not to get distracted, but did then forget to bid Checkback Stayman and Anna made a comfortable 2NT+1 (missing 4♥=). Then there was one more slam board:

I had to count my points twice to believe it was really 20, as it didn't feel good enough. Perhaps I should have gone with my instinct and downgraded it. After I did open 2NT Anna bid Stayman then wasn't sure what to do when I hit her suit with 3♠. We play that an immediate 4NT here would be quantitative, so to set Spades as trumps she needs to bid the other major (here 4♥). But we don't play much together and I suppose Anna didn't want to risk a mix up so bid an immediate 6♠.

West led a Club. Dummy was a disappointment, and it looks pretty hopeless. We have good trumps but otherwise the hands don't fit well together. Move my Queen of Clubs to the Queen of Hearts and it would be an easy 12 tricks. As it is I need to play Hearts for one loser.

I thought for a long time how best to do this. Then apologised to the opposition and had another think. It needs some imagination to find any winning layouts. I decided the best chance was to lead low from dummy hoping to get either a singleton Queen or Ace-Queen doubleton onside. You can see this didn't happen and in fact I went two off.

When I was dummy on the next hand I looked it up on Suitplay and was pleased to see my line was best, giving me about a 7% chance of success.

Our team-mates and one opposition pair also played the board in 6♠ (all going down), with one opposition pair getting to the making 4♥. So not a good board for Team Rowan.

After this we finished with a few good games bid at all the tables. The final result was a loss of 180 at our table, but +1460 at the other for a 10-6 win overall. A winning start to the season!

Partscore battle

With the Glasgow League starting again soon (and our Team Rowan promoted to Division One) Anna I thought we should get some practice. The EBU Matchpoint evening isn't ideal, its not IMPs, but it's short and starts at a good time (1930). In general we don't have too many bidding misunderstandings, the main thing I think is defence.

Here's a matchpoint battle:

We play a weak NT and prefer to open the lower of four card suits, hence my 1♦ opening. Having passed, West then made a takeout double and Anna made a very light Diamond raise. This is the one time she can bypass a four card major. I stretched a bit with my 3♦ bid, and when they bid 4♣ I was very happy to double. I have a couple of Ace-Kings, a likely Diamond trick, and partner may well have something in trumps. At IMPS I might still have doubled 4♣, as I was expecting at least two down.

I led my Ace of Spades and Anna discouraged, and also discouraged in Hearts and Diamonds. As it turned out we had just four tricks. 4♣x-1 was worth +100 and 82%. If I don't double then we get +50 for 74%, not much difference.

Any positive score is good for North-South here, as most pairs were in 1NT-1, or defending a lower level Club contract.

We got a few gifts (6NT-2) and finished on 64% for 5th overall. Bring on the league!

Two bad boards

 At the EBU pairs this Sunday Anna and I had a good night, finishing in 7th with 62%. On one board we got a great score when I opened 1NT then misclicked double and we got them off in 2♦x. In general our defence was very good, we just messed up the declarer play on these two:

Anna made a solid 2♦ overcall then when she came back in with 3♦ I thought 3NT would have good play. I was imagining seven Diamond tricks plus an outside Ace-King for 3NT. However, as Anna said afterwards, at Matchpoints I should probably have just left it in 3♦.

You can see that I was sort of right to bid 3NT, as there are seven Diamond tricks there, plus a working Spade finesse for a couple more tricks. However... I got a low Diamond lead. I didn't think too much, just playing low and losing to the (singleton) King. When the inevitable Club came back it all fell apart and I got 3NT-5 for 2.5%. I think I was right to play low, as just occasionally a good West might underlead his King of Diamonds, but it proved very costly here.

On this board it was Anna's turn under the spotlight:

I opened 1♣ and Anna replied 1♠. After I replied 1NT Anna has nowhere to go really but 4♠. This is probably the right contract, as there are two Diamond losers, but in reality almost all Easts led a Heart.

On the Heart lead you have plenty of entries and top trumps to set up the Clubs, and generate a second discard for 4♠+3. What's interesting is that nearly all human declarers were happy to take their one discard on the Ace of Clubs for 4♠+2, but whenver a robot was declarer they always got the Clubs set up to take all 13 tricks.

Clever Bots.

Faben vs Stevenson

This was our last match of the season, a rearragement with big implications for the league. With the Division 1 table very tight, depending on the result we would finish between third and seventh, out of ten teams.

I was well prepared for the match, as it started at 1930 and I thought 1900. The first few boards John and I got off to a great start, defeating 3NT then making our own 4♥. But as so often happens when you play good people, the exact same thing happened at the other table.

Then we got our first break, when the opponents bid to 6♠. I was feeling pretty pleased with my ♠JT63 and in fact there were more problems for declarer, and it finished two down for +11 IMPs. John and I kept a pretty good card, except for two misadventures. I pushed a bit hard resulting in 4♥-1, then we both overbid on this one:

I'm not sure why I opened the bidding. Perhaps because I was quite pleased with making a good 2♠ on the board before? I wonder if I overbid following a good result, and underbid following a bad one.

My 1♥ opening was not a success. John chose exactly the wrong moment to be optimistic and bid 2♣, which for us is game forcing. There's now no recovery, and 4♥ was the best we could hope for. We avoided 3NT with no Diamond stopper, but still had to lose three Diamonds, and when North cleverly lead a fourth round of Diamonds I was down two, losing a further two tricks in trumps.

I should say North was Liz Commins from England, and her partner was David Stevenson. This was very exciting for me, as he wrote the excellent Law & Ethics letters page in Bridge magazine, which was my favourite bit, hearing his no nonsense put-downs "I've very little sympathy for either side...".

To compound our losses on the board above our team-mates (Paul and Gints) played in 1NT by South. On their table East sensibly passed but South opened, so not a good board for opening light.

The last board of the first half was our highlight:

John's 1NT rebid shows 12-14, after which my 2♠ was natural and game forcing. After John bid 2NT I nearly signed off in 3NT, but thought I was worth one more go with 3♦. 4♦ then set Diamonds as trumps, and the redouble I think showed the Ace of Hearts. At this point I tried to sign off in 5♦, but John recognised the power of his hand (great controls) and raised me to 6♦.

I got the ♥K lead, and assessed the prospects. I have 11 top tricks (6 Diamonds, 1 Heart, 2 Clubs, 2 Spades) so need one more. This could come from a Spade ruff if trumps are 2-2, a long Spade if Spades are 3-3, a high Spade if the Queen or Jack is doubleton, or a Spade ruff even if neither trumps or Diamonds split if the hand with the long Diamond also has the long Spade. So overall, prospects were good.

I drew one trump then played two round of Spades. When North split her honours I was home, though with trumps 2-2 I'm always making. The other table played 5♦+1 so we got +11 IMPs, and ended the first half up by 22.

In the second half I confess to having something of a slump. I tried to avoid it, but it came anyway. Not sure if it's because Anna dragged me up Dumgoyne in the morning, I'd just had my second vaccination, it was getting late, or just not used to playing lots of difficult boards (probably that one). We had three boards in the middle where the opponents bid a slam, we overbid a slam, we missed a slam. An expensive trilogy. This was the opposition slam, which impressed me with the speed of the play:

After the transfer the 3♠ was a super-accept, based on three good trumps. This was enough for West to drive to slam. John found the best Spade lead, and looking at my hand I thought it might be down. I have a sure-trump trick to come, and the King of Spades too? Sadly not. Declarer rose with the Ace of Spades, played off two top trumps, then used the Diamonds to discard Spades. 6♥=.

We lost the second half of the match by 20 IMPs, to hang on for a 2 IMPs win. This gives us just enough Victory Points to vault up the table to third place, a good result seeing as we only averaged about 11/20 per game.

Congratulations to Gipson on winning the league (again?)

A couple of bodges

Anna and I played our first competitive bridge for a month or two last Monday - the 12 board EBU evening tournament. We both did very poorly. Here's two bodges from me in defence:

I've got the big West hand. I doubled, and after Anna showed Spades decided to go straight to 4♠. This was due to go one down, but quite reasonably North bid on to 5♣. I was happy doubling this.

I led my King of Spades, and Anna showed odd count. That means she has five, so I know that no more Spades are cashing. The safe thing to do would be to switch to Hearts, and set up our trick there, to go with my Spade and the Ace of Diamonds. I got greedy though, wanting two Heart tricks, and continued Spades. The danger of this soon became apparent, as declarer drew trumps and set about playing Diamonds. Luckily Anna had the ♦T, so declarer couldn't quite get all of dummy's Hearts away and it finished one off.

Anna didn't notice my bodge there, or at least didn't say anything, perhaps as we got 83% for a rare good board. This one she did notice:

Defending 1NT we get off to a good start in Spades, and all I need to do is find an entry back to Anna's hand to beat the contract comfortably. However, as declarer ran the winning Diamonds I discarded down to ♣A so couldn't get over to Anna's hand, and declarer got three more Heart tricks than he should have. I was overly focused on keeping all my Hearts to match the Heart length in dummy, but (as Anna pointed out) that was pointless anyway as my Hearts were ♥A543.

We got 7% on the board and finished with 43% overall. Luckily our season is over, and Team Rowan finished top of the second division of the Glasgow League to gain promotion for next year.

SBU Bronze League: HSOG vs Northern Lights

Last night I watched my school team playing in the SBU Bronze League. They did very well, with some excellent judgement and solid card play. What I've noticed watching them is that matches are usually won and lost by declarer play, and especially defence. More rarely, there is a chance to gain in the bidding.

This was the last board of the match:

On the first table our North opened 1♣ as we play a weak NT. East had a clear 1♠ overcall and it was over to Michael sitting South. I'd been encouraging them to "pre-empt to the max" and that's what Michael did here, with an immediate 5♣. It's the right time to do it, with a big trump fit, distributional hand, no defence and at favourable vulnerability. What makes the bid so effective though is that it's a jump all the way to game, so West doesn't know if the 5♣ is bid to make or as a sacrifice, so it's very hard for him to double. Also, Michael has pre-empted before they've found their fit, and so West is definitely going to want to show his Spade support.

Over 5♣ West really had to bid 5♠. This contract appears to have three losers (one Heart, one Diamond and one Club), but if declarer can set up the Diamonds he can throw his Heart losers. Luckily Michael found the Heart lead, and that set up three tricks for the defence and Kevin was able to cash out for minus one.

Over to the other table:

Here North chose to downgrade his 15 points and still open 1NT. Opening 1NT often makes it harder for the opponents, but here it hid North-Souths Club fit. Al overcalled 2♠ and Harry recognised the power of his hand and bid 4♠. South lead a Club to the Ace and when North returned a Heart that was exactly ten tricks too, this time for 4♠=. A good team board to gain 12 IMPs.

Overall we won the match 19-1 VPs, putting us in 3rd place in the league with one match to go. The top three get promoted, and next week we play the team in 4th.

Glasgow League: Team Rowan vs Shawlands

We managed to get the children to bed 15 minutes before the start of this match and I'm sure that helped, as Anna and I had a good game throughout. Three times we doubled them in 1NT. This was the most profitable:

Our doubles of a Weak NT are 14+, which happens quite a lot. In general I will only remove with a weak hand with a long suit. Here I am very happy to pass.

I'm not sure if East-West had a method to escape, especially as this was a double from the pass-out seat where different agreements apply. You can see that running to 2♦ would have been bad too, but not as bad as 1NT.

I led a Heart. Declarer won his ♥J in hand and started on Diamonds. They do not sit kindly. Anna won and continued Hearts. I didn't know how the Hearts were splitting, so took my ♥Q and switched to the ♣Q. This turned out to be a good switch, as it set up Anna's top Clubs.

Declarer finished with just one Spade and one Heart, for 1NTx-5 and -1100. There was the possiblity of a third trick for declarer if he'd hung on to a Club, but was forced to find a lot of discards.

On the other tables the results were 1NTx-4, 1NT-3 and North-South playing 2NT+2 when West made a surprising transfer over 1NT.

This was a hand where I could have defended better:

I led a low Heart, hoping partner had something in the suit. Anna produced the Queen which declarer won in hand and immediately led the King of Spades. I ducked, and declarer started setting up the Diamonds. My hope was that Anna had the ♥T, in which case we could get two Hearts, two Diamonds and the Ace of Spades. So I tried the Jack of Hearts, but when that didn't work out declarer actually had an overtrick for 3NT+1.

It was a mistake to duck the King of Spades. I know from the auction that Anna's ♥Q is her only high card. So if declarer has ♠KJ(x) then he always has five Spades, and the Ace-King of Hearts and Spades. That's nine tricks, with no shortage of entries to dummy.

So I might as well take my ♠A. I still have a decision to make, whether to go for the Hearts, or the Clubs. Here the ♣Q switch would work (same as it did against 1NTx in the hand above), as declarer doesn't now have the entries to set up Spades and Diamonds and goes off a lot. However, if I continue Hearts (as I probably would have) declarer still makes it comfortably, so I think I was quite far away from beating 3NT.

On the other tables East-West played 4♠-1, 3♦+1 and 3NT-2 by West, where North's Club lead makes it more difficult (declarer needs to play on Diamonds not Spades).

In the end we won our table by +3290 and the match by +3080 to win 13-3. Team Rowan are (for now at least) top of Division Two!

Faben vs Outred

John and I had quite a good game here. On Board 1 we had a mix-up defending against their Strong Club opening. I made a 'natural' 2♣ overcall, which actually showed the majors:

John's accidental psyche of 2♥ kept them out of their best fit, and left me in 2♠. It went three off. This was a good result against their making 4♥. The nice thing about playing in the SOL is that if 4♥ was making the other way you can be pretty sure our team-mates (Derek and Alex) bid it, and indeed they did.

Later I mistakenly passed John's forcing 3NT:

3NT made comfortably enough. The other table got things right in getting to 6♥, but went two off for an undeserved 11 IMP gain.

Apart from these happy accidents there was some good play and we were up at the break.

In the second half this was the most exciting board:

Over their Weak 2♦ John bid 4♦, alerted as the majors. I was on the same page here, and knew he had a big 5-5 hand. I felt quite bold jumping to 6♠, but maybe I didn't do enough. John had a think and then passed. He's got the ♠AK, and I've got the other three Aces, so it was an easy thirteen tricks and 6♠+1.

On the other table the auction started the same but Charles Outred bid 5♦ with my hand. Vi responded with 6♥ and Charles bid 7♠, making. This meant an 11 IMP loss for Team Rowan.

Overall we hung on for a narrow win.

Glasgow League: Team Rowan vs Morison

On Monday in the National League John and I had a good game, beating Team Goodman. In fact, I think more accurately our team-mates had a good game, but still it was nice to be on the winning side. I found it very challenging when Iain Sime and Brian Short were defenders, as everything seemed to go wrong for me as declarer. Tonight it was more straight forward in the Glasgow League Division Two, and we rattled through the boards with me declaring about half of them. Playing total points is also the most relaxing format, as you know that overtricks really don't matter, so lots of early claims.

Perhaps due to complacency or fatigue here's one near the end I could have done better on:

I got the obvious Diamond lead and ducked twice before winning the Ace. This was the same on all four tables. I then lead a Heart up to the Queen. West played low, but after a long enough pause to make me pretty sure he had the Ace. I cashed my four Clubs, East throwing one more Heart. I then led a Heart from dummy and the Nine appeared from East. At this point if I'm really on the ball I can work out the whole suit. I don't think West would have ducked from ♥AJx, so East must have the Jack, hence West is down to a bare Ace. Playing a low from hand should produce the Ace, and I've got 7 tricks (and luckily they can't cash out in Spades).

Of course, I did the normal thing and played the King of Hearts, reasoning I might still make my Ten of Hearts in dummy. I didn't, the defence took three Diamonds, two Spades and two Hearts for 1NT-1.

Every other table made 1NT=, after West took the Ace of Heart straight away, cashed the long Diamond, and returned a Spade, East greedily grabbing the Ace-King and giving the contract.

Despite this minor mistake we were pretty good otherwise and got a few big swings on our table, stealing a few games from our opponents. Our match (along with Colin & Sheena) finished +1580, the other table (with David & Heather and Neil & Anna) was +940. That meant a 12-4 win

SOL4: Faben vs Maiolani

We lost this match by about 12 IMPs. I think there were two boards where I gained IMPs for the team (a double of 4♠, and a risky 3♥ vulnerable overcall) but several where I lost some. This was the low point:

With a massive hand I didn't mind coming back in with 4♣. I was close to bidding 5♣, and so was John. A Spade was lead. My first thought on seeing dummy was "We've missed 5♣". I tested trumps and when they weren't 3-2 I knew what to do; set up the Diamonds straight away. However, something went wrong. I left two trumps out instead of just one, and they were the ♣QJ in West. That meant after clearing the Diamonds I couldn't draw trumps and get back to the East hand. I ended up one down.

I've looked at this hand quite a lot since. The easiest way to make it is to draw three rounds of trumps, and leave just one out. On this layout I actually do best to start on Diamonds straight away (before drawing trumps), and maybe that's what I should have done.

The other table got it right and made 3♣+2. On their table South didn't overcall at all - a missed opportunity as North-South make 4♠ I think.

My other bodge was this one:

John's double showed at least four Hearts, but that still wasn't enough to convince me to go to 5♥. You can see that I've made the right decision to defend 4♠. John led the King of Hearts, I encouraged, and he played a low Heart to my Ace. I took it as suit preference and switched to Clubs. John won and returned a Diamond. I got back in with the Ace of Spades and it was decision time. I was convinced that John had ♣AQ and that it didn't matter which minor I played. So without too much thought I played a Diamond, and now John got endplayed and declarer escaped for -2.

4♠x-2 was +300. On the other table South opened 1NT and after a 2♥ overcall North bid 2♠, East 4♥ and South had no choice really but to bid 4♠. This wasn't doubled but went three off, holding our gain to 4 IMPs. If I get the defence right instead it's +8 IMPs.