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.
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