Over the last few weeks we've been practicing on Bridge Base at lunch time, and playing in a few tournaments at the weekend. The boys have been great and have come on enormously.
Today at 5pm we had our first match against our rival Scotland Team. It was an exciting game with lots of swings on our table. In practice events we'd fared well against these more experienced opponents, but on the big stage they got the better of us, running out 67-27 winners, translating to 18-2 Victory points.
There were two boards where we gave it away, overbidding and getting doubled, but the rest was just losing out in competitive bridge. Both teams played very well and it was a good standard to watch. This was the most enjoyable board forme:
Kevin had a maximum 2♣ overcall and Michael responded 2♠, having a decent hand with five of them. Kevin bid 4♣ which describes his hand perfectly and Michael recognised the value of his Aces and Kings and bid 5♣. A Diamond was lead.
Kevin threw a losing Spade on a top Diamond and lead a Heart up, soon enough 11 tricks were in the bag.
5♣= was a great score.
At the other table Harry opened a weak 2♦. Although this is below our official range (5-9) points it's exactly the right sort of hand to open a Weak Two, a solid suit with no defence. I think it's fine opening weak twos like this as long as you and your partner are disciplined, and don't bid again.
On that table East overcalled the 2♦ with 3♣ which was passed out. Declarer made the same 11 tricks for 3♣+2, Scotland gaining 10 IMPs on the board. Of the six tables in the Peggy Bayer, two bid game.
Although it was a heavy loss, they played well, and the team have now won their first Victory Points for their country. Not many, but a few. And we have promoted the other Scotland team to the top of the table! Here is the scores after Round 1 - with Ireland playing very well to get the better of the strong England team.
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