Buchanan vs Bonnyton

Last night Anna and I played in a Realbridge match against Bonnyton, in Glasgow Division 1. Afterwards, Anna said she thought we might be Division 2 players. We lost the match 15-1 overall, although it was fairly close on our table.

The opponents made several 24 point 3NT games, did better on the distributional hands (we missed the sacrifices), and benefitted when we underbid a couple of hands at the end. Overall it was quite a long evening, with a delayed start and a further delay while one of their team went to look for an iPad charger - turns out he was in Tenerife, hence he was the only one playing in a vest.

But amongst the 24 boards we had at least three or four triumphs. This was the best of them.

Playing our weak NT system I opened the West hand a natural 1C. Anna replied 3C, which for us is 10-12 with Club support. She has a strange hand, and maybe should bid something different, but I'm not sure what. As we tend to do when we have a good minor fit, I bid 3NT.

North lead a small Heart (the 5). I was a bit worried about my lack of a Diamond stop, but dummy has them well covered. In fact Spades are the issue. South won the opening lead with the Ace of Hearts and I dropped my Jack of Hearts. A great ruse. South continued with Hearts. I hastily took the King and 11 more tricks in the minors for 3NT+3.

Afterwards North claimed the Spade switch was obvious, but I like to think my deceptive Jack of Hearts (looking like someone with JT or making KJ) fooled South into continuing Hearts. This was the full hand:

You can see that on the other table our opponents played 5C-1, perhaps a sounder contract but much easier for the defence to take their three tricks. In the other match 5C made when the defence tried three rounds of Spades, and 3NT made on another Heart lead and continuation.

 

Halloween bridge

John and I had an OK game last Tuesday, playing for Team Buchanan against Gilmorehill. The first hand we bid up to 6H, and I'm glad I was dummy as my hands were shaking from all the sugar from trick or treating. The slam made, but not much else did. Through misunderstandings and optimism I kept putting John in hopeless contracts. He played them well for down one, maintaining good concentration while dressed as a Jedi throughout.

In defence I was more alert than usual, and had a full count of declarer's points and shape for most hands. There was one I was proud of; after a disastrous AH lead setting up declarer's King I kept concentration and later ducked twice to cut declarer off from dummy and get the contract one off. That was the highlight. A lowlight was 2S-1 when I guessed trumps wrong with K9x opposite QTxxx. I first lead the Queen, then instead of finessing on the second round made the cowardly play of the King.

Another lowlight was the hand below. 

After a poorly controlled auction I ended as East in 3H, where actually you'd like to be in game. They lead a Spade, and I immediately started on Diamonds. The defence won and played Ace and another Heart. At this point I can virtually claim nine tricks; four Hearts, two Spades, one Diamond and a Club. I just need to ruff a Diamond and return to hand with a Spade to draw trumps.

But I had another plan. Leaving the Jack of Hearts in dummy as a trump policeman I started on the Clubs. If they had of split I would actually get 11 tricks. But they didn't split; someone ruffed the second round of Clubs and now I only had 8 tricks.

This didn't both me too much at the time - I was glad I wasn't in 4H, but I did wake up at 5 am the next day with an uneasy feeling then the correct play on this hand occurred to me. 3H-1 when I should have had 3H=.

In the end we lost the match 4-12. 

Derryvolgie Bridge Club

Despite numerous visits to Belfast, this was the first time we managed to get to the local bridge club. Several times during the day I put our system card in front of Anna but she waved it away, insisting that she was going to play on instinct alone. As it she got lucky, as there were no difficult bidding hands. Her declarer play was also excellent, making crucial overtricks on all her contracts.

I played a single contract of 2♠, which got 21% after I should have done better.

We got a few gifts from lax declarer play, but also suffered when the local declarers bid ambitious contracts and made them. During the first half I was wondering if we should have gone on the more challenging Thursday-night game, but then a series of 0% scores reassured me we were in the right place. The low-point was when doubling them in 2♥, making with an overtrick.

It was a friendly atmosphere and nice talking to people. Anna hasn't since commented on the poor quality of my chat so I assume it was OK.

Here's an interesting hand from early on.

Danny Anna W N E S 1♥ - 1♠ - 3♥ - 3NT - - -

I opened 1♥ and rebid 3♥. I was close to rebidding 3♣, who knows where we would end up then. As it is Anna bid a sensible 3NT, and got a Diamond lead.

She won with the Ace and with the aid of a Heart finesse took 9 tricks. This scored exactly 50%, beating a few pairs who stopped short of game and one in 4♠. Those in Hearts took 12 tricks.

Overall we came third with 59%.

Team Buchanan vs Hamilton

This Glasgow league match started at 1930 to accommodate us and I just made it on time, after finding a parking space on Cadzow street. When I reassured the rest of them that John was arriving soon on the train there was general uproar: "The train?" but he got there in time to start.

In the first half we barely had any hands. In fact the strongest hand I had all night was 14 points. So lots of defending. Once when declarer in 2NT finessed I smoothly ducked my King, and the contract went down one. Afterwards John explained that if I just defended normally and took my King and returned his suit it would have gone two off.

This was a rare hand I got to play:

I opened the South hand 1H and rebid 2H. 

On seeing dummy it looks like I possibly have one loser in each suit. But when the lead was a Club, I thought I was going to take 10 tricks. Heart to the Ace revealed the bad news, and now as well as two Aces I now have three trumps to lose, which luckily I can afford as I'm only in 2♥.

I made 2♥= but possibly we should have been in game. Twice more we stayed low, once making 3♥= then 3♠+1, so maybe we were slightly underbidding.

Apart from that things went well. I got rather warm and might have been sweating a lot as one of the opponents tactfully said that I was very warm-blooded.

On the final hand the opponents were about to play 2♥, but I made a takeout double. The opponents were shortly in 5♥, which I felt obliged to double. Obviously it then made, for a bad finish of -550 points, but overall Team Buchanan had done enough to win the match 15-1.

 

Team Buchanan vs St Mungo

This was the second match of the season for the newly formed Buchanan team, but the first outing for John and I. Last week e had a practice night at the club, and have also been using the Cuebids App. It was therefore good that we didn't have any bidding misunderstandings, and played a reasonable game. Although I was able to remember the more complicated parts of our system I still haven't quite got the philosophy of playing five-card majors and 2/1, and sometimes I'm surprised by how weak John's hand is.

The first hand I played was 4♠x-2 after John raised my 1♠ opener straight to game on a zero-count. Unfortunately this time the opponents weren't making anything (except 3NT, so technically we got the par score). Near the end I opened 1♥ with a nice 17 count and after John made a simple raise went straight to game. It had no play, unless an opponent revoked, which they did, but we were nice and let them take it back.

The other three hands I played all went off one or two, where if I'd have guessed right I'd have made it. Guessing right is the hallmark of good players, and I didn't have it tonight. This was my only highlight:

Love all S deal ♠ A K Q x x ♥ Q x x ♦ x ♣ A K x x ♠ x x ♥ A K x x x x ♦ A x x ♣ J x

Danny John W N E S 1♥ - 4♦* - 4♥ - 4NT* - 5♦ - 7♥

John opened the the South hand 1♥ and I knew that the only cards I cared about were the missing keycards; ♥AK and ♦A. But for some reason I feared an immediate Blackwood might be misunderstood so went through an unnecessary splinter. When I found John did have the keycards I duly bid 7♥.

West led a Heart. With 12 top tricks the obvious thing is ruff a Diamond for the 13th. So win the first Heart in dummy with the Queen, then cross to the Ace of Diamonds, ruff a Diamond, and cross back to hand to draw trumps. Although neither John or I spotted this at the time trumps were 2-2 and he duly made 7♥=. The other tables all made 13 tricks in 5♥, 6♥ and 6♥, so a good board for Team Rowan.

Overall we lost the match by a mere 1000 points, leading to a 10-6 loss.

Southwold Summer

Anna and I played an evening at the Sole Bay Bridge Club. We mostly defended, and mostly defended well, but the key to doing well in Matchpoints is to get a few gifts from your opponents, and that helped us to 66%. I had a couple of deep thinks (very slow) that made no difference.

We also played a few hands with Christine and Stanley. A few times we pushed them to high in the bidding, so when I doubled them in 5♥ they were expecting to go down. What would you lead from:

♠ A 9 8 x x x ♥ x x x ♦ K x x x ♣ -

Your side has bid and raised Spades, and they've bid and raised Hearts.

I found the bold lead of a low Spade,. In a book of bridge stories this would definitely be the lead to beat the contract, putting Anna in with her King of Spades to give me a Club ruff. It's not good playing it safe and starting with the Ace of Spades, as it's too likely declarer or dummy has a singleton Spade, then you lose the chance to put partner in for a ruff. I specifically lead the ♠2, to ask for a low suit return.

Turns out it didn't matter which Spade I lead. This was the whole deal:

All Vul W deal ♠ K ♥ Q T 9 x x ♦ J x x ♣ J x x x ♠ A 9 8 x x x ♥ x x x ♦ K x x x ♣ - 7 7 9 17 ♠ Q J x x ♥ - ♦ A Q x ♣ x x x x x x ♠ x ♥ A K J x x ♦ x x x ♣ A K Q
Danny Christine Anna Stanley W N E S 1♥ 2♠ 4♥ 4♠ 5♥ x - - -

There are four top losers, but look at how my lead lets 5♥x make. Declarer's Spade loser disappears when he wins his singleton King, a nice surprise. Then he draws trumps and runs the Clubs, throwing a Diamond loser.

Return to Buchanan Club

John and I made a return to face to face bridge on Monday with a most welcome game at the Buchanan. It's been over a year since either of us played a real match, and it was great to be back at the club. It was still light outside and with a cool breeze, perfect conditions for bridge!

As usual, John and I handicapped ourselves by playing his system (or maybe it's oringally his partner's Frazer's system). It's not a bad system, but is fairly unfamiliar to me. I spent much of the week before reading it, and even made a couple of online quizzes to test my understanding. On the second board I bid 3♥ to show a Club singleton, which to my surprise John alerted as a Diamond singleton!

Despite the misunderstanding I ended in a reasonable 6♥. In fact, without the misunderstanding I may well have ended up in 7♥, and six was high enough. The small slam made exactly for 73%, as most people were in it.

In my featured deal below we made a lot of tricks

=	John Danny W N E S - 1♣ - 1♦ - 3♣ - 3♠ - 3NT - - -

I had the big East hand and opened 1♣. John replied 1♦, and I thought about a speculative 3NT but went for the more sensible 3♣. When John rebid 3♠ I went for the NT game.

I got a Heart lead, and immediately looked to the Club suit. If Clubs are 3-2 I just have to lose one Club, and if one defender had exactly Queen-Ten then I can win all the Clubs. Even if they are 4-1 without an honour dropping I still have a good chance of nine tricks (four Spades, three Hearts, two Clubs). Is there any benefit in leading low to the Jack? I couldn't think of any, so played Clubs from the top and waas rewarded with all 13 tricks.

We got 77% as although nearly everyone played 3NT, some made only 12 tricks.

HighSchoolOfGlasgow vs Lithgae Players

Last night my team of ex-school pupils suffered another loss in Division 1 of the SBU Bronze League.

This was surely the unluckiest board:

Defending 4♥ West made the normal looking lead of the Queen of Clubs. This caught his partner's ten, and declarer was then able to pick up the Clubs and make the contract. On another lead there are at least five losers.

Conceding 4♥= was a doubly bad result as East-West have an easy Spade game. I've encouraged East to bid more next time and weigh in with 3♠.

On the other table our North-South pair did well not to push too hard and wisely sold out to 3♠, which made with two overtricks.

Overall we lost the match 24-53 IMPs which translates to about 4-16 I'd guess.

HighSchoolOfGlasgowJuniors vs Aardfap

It's school exam season, which meant I only had two Juniors available for my team this week. Phil and I stepped in to be the other pair. In this match we had the pleasure of playing against Peter Edmond's Bearsden Improvers Club. Peter is also a former HSOG maths teacher (like Phil) so it was a true reunion.

I like Phil's style, as like me he is always on the lookout for a possible game and slam, and together we bid pretty aggressively. This produced some very good results, though this is not one of them:

On both tables East opened 4♥. This is definitely not my choice, as you might miss slam, or your partner may sacrifice when in fact you have lots of defence.

Phil had the big South hand and took the reasonable decision to double. He got to response he didn't want, 4♠, and had to pass.

In 4♠ I got the expected ♥A lead. How do you play it?

In fact the best option is to duck this trick, throwing a Club or Diamond from dummy. Then when East continues Hearts (as he surely would) you can ruff it, draw a couple of rounds of trumps with the Ace-King, finesse Clubs and run winners. The defence just gets that one Heart at the start, and two trumps. It needs a lucky layout in Clubs (and Spades 4-2 oddly) but works here.

It's an interesting deal in that the winning play relies on ducking, in a suit contract, which you don't see often.

This duck did not occur to me at the table. I was just trying for as many tricks as possible, and planned to ruff two Hearts in dummy. The problem with this is that each time you ruff a Heart you have no entry back to hand. I finished on 4♠-3. On the other table East-West pushed on to 5♥, which South gratefully doubled and beat by two tricks.

Despite the 14 IMP loss on this board, we scraped home to win the match 50-45.

Sole Bay Bridge Club

Anna and I are on holiday in Suffolk and took advantage of the trip to visit the Sole Bay Bridge Club again. This was our first time playing here in a while, and it is always very enjoyable. There was a nice atmosphere and a brisk 21 boards. We mostly got good results but three times I tried to be clever, and three times it backfired.

The first time was when I thought for ages, and finally decided it was safe to duck my winners in the hope of setting the contract two. To my surprise declarer then took the rest! Well done Jenny and Alan. In my analysis of the hand I'd forgotten that the ♦A was still out there, what a blunder.

Then I had this promising hand:

♠x ♥x ♦Qxxxx ♣AKxxxx

First to bid, no-one vulnerable. I probably should have opened 3♣, but decided to pass. Then Anna bid 1NT and I considered several options (including minor suit Stayman) before passing. I definitely should have transferred to 3♣ now.

Anna had a rough time in 1NT, the Clubs did not come in and it was 1NT-2.

My third bodge was in a competitive auction. I pushed on to 4♥, thinking the opposition would surely be making 4♣. It went one off (fine), but I think 4♣ might have been failing too. Everyone else played 3♥=, so I suppose we have to say well bid to Vivien and Linda for pushing us too high.

Despite my off-night Anna did well and we finished with a winning score of 64%.

Here's an interesting hand:

Love all S deal ♠ Q T ♥ x x x ♦ K Q x x ♣ A K x x ♠ x x x ♥ x x ♦ A x ♣ Q T 9 8 x x 14 6 14 6 ♠ K ♥ A K Q x x ♦ J T 9 x x ♣ J x ♠ A J 9 8 x x x ♥ J x x ♦ x x ♣ x

Anna Danny W N E S 3♠ - - -

It was a simple auction at our table; 3♠ passed out. I agree with the 3♠ opening bid; you'd like stronger Spades but it's a decent seven card suit with a singleton.

North is close to a raise. You have three Heart losers but it's likely that partner has shortage (not today though). You expect about four losers (one Spades, two Hearts, one Diamond), so at Teams might bid an optimistic 4♠. Here North did well to pass.

With the East hand I was thinking about a double of 3♠. If partner inevitably bid 4♣ I'd just have to pass. But North looked like she had a good hand so I chose to pass, and was glad I did when I saw such a good dummy.

In defence to 3♠ Anna lead a Heart. I took three top tricks then a Diamond for 3♠=. Anna was quick to notice that if I switch to a Diamond after winning my the first Heart then we can beat it, as Anna can then throw her small Diamond on a top Heart and get a Diamond ruff for the fifth defensive trick. I have to admit this never crossed my mind.

I think if Anna leads the Ace of Diamonds, a fairly normal lead after the pre-empt, we might have found the winning defence. One table did as the result was 4♠-2, but another table presumably lead a Club and conceded 4♠=. A two trick swing on the opening lead.

HighSchoolOfGlasgow vs Acuity

With the Peggy Bayer last weekend three of our team were busy catching up on University work, so the reserves were brought in for this league match against last season's champions. I played with Kevin, and Harry with Phil Moon.

As the host of the match I was responsible for the setup, so take full blame for accidenally leaving the barometer on, meaning we could all see the scores. I also take the blame for this one:

Expecting a Heart stopper of something like AQx, I went for a surpise Spade lead. Declarer collected the next ten tricks, and as the hand revealed itself I realised that partner must have had the Ace of Hearts all along. Perhapas it's time for an agreement of what it means when we double their cuebid in our suit, then Kevin can double 3♥ when he has the Ace like this.

I also take responsiblity for making an ever so slightly light overcall on ♠854 ♥AQ985 ♦74 ♣J76 , leading to conceding 5♦x. Because I'd left the barometer on, I could see that we'd just lost 26 IMPs.

We pulled it back though. Kevin and I bid aggressively to keep them out of a few games (which Harry and Phil made), and defended well to beat a few games (which Harry and Phil made). My favourite hand though is a rare part score, played at the other table:

The 2♠ overcall is borderline but it finds good support and with 1NT making could lead to a gain. There look to be five inescapable losers - one Spade, one Heart, two Diamonds and a Club. If the Heart Ace is onside you can throw a Club from dummy, but that fails here. Harry played on Diamonds and eventually set up the suit when they split 3-3 and could throw two losing Clubs from hand. Of course the defence had plenty of time to switch to Clubs and foil this plan, but never did, so the hard work paid off and Harry made 3♠=.

We won the match by 78-33 IMPs and will climb back up to about mid-table.

Peggy Bayer 2023 - Round 9 Scotland vs England

First, team photos from today:

Scotland Peggy Bayer (U21)
Jamie Day, Michael Kennedy, Harry Stuart, Al Duncan, Kevin Ren

Scotland Junior Camrose (U25) team plus NPC Alisdair

I am now away from the event (work Monday morning) so followed this last match on my phone on a replacement bus service somewhere in North-West England. 

With another new face, Tamsin Munro was promoted to our U21 team it was an untested quartet hoping to upset the runaway leaders England in the final match. 

We got off to a great start, as did Scotland U25, also playing against England. The final result in our match was England 47 IMPS, Scotland 45 IMPs. Not bad turnover for 16 boards. Could we have won? Who knows, but a great result. The final standings are therefore

For those 99 Victory points we beat Northern Ireland three out of three times (just), Ireland twice, and England no times (nearly at the end though).

In the U25 Scotland heroically held on to beat England in the last match and end the event on a high. Their final standings:

Playing each team twice, Scotland scored one great win against both England and EBU Juniors, and surprisingly the only team they didn't beat was Wales.

As the players have dinner and prepare for the closing ceremony, here are some of my reflections on the whole event.

Great to play in person. I met a few people I've seen online who knew me by name but had never met me. I was starstruck by seeing Sally Brock. Many of the Juniors I've seen in online matches and were very friendly. There is definitely a community of adults working hard to promote Junior bridge.

The standard was not as high as at the European Junior Championships. No big surprise there. But as Michael on our team said, that meant that we could actually win a match which was nice.

The bridge all went very smoothly. Well done to the tournament directors and anyone else working behind the scenes. The only hiccup was that at one point we were scoring 16 board matches on a 12 board victory point scale (using last year's spreadsheet). It was me who noticed this and pointed it out, even though it cost my team some fraction of a victory point. 

The hotel had perhaps taken on more than they could handle and struggled somewhat with the meals, with the hardworking staff having to work extremely hard to serve everyone. The first dinner was in fact not even finished before the bridge began (I got a lemon meringue pie and Ireland pocketed one each for later but most didn't get dessert).

Scotland showed some promise for the future. Our U25 team I would say need to be more disciplined in the bidding. They forgot their system a few times or bid on inappropriate hands and punted far too many slams. But they have a huge amount of talent and can beat good teams. The U21 team was disciplined in bidding, and I think have the most to learn from more solid declarer play and defence. As non-playing captain they were very easy to manage.

England did the right thing fielding a weaker team - their U16 played in the U21, and still won it but had a few close matches (and famously lost to Northern Ireland, and nearly to us at the end).

I have just been sent a message about a hand to feature on the blog, but that will have to be for another time, I'm signing off now until next year.

Peggy Bayer 2023 - Round 8 Scotland vs Northern Ireland

In the last round I watched with Wayne Somerville and along with most of the bridge following people in the lounge we noticed that Northern Ireland had taken a lead against England. Miraculously, they held on for a famous win.

Now Scotland, usually the underdogs, were Northern Irelands next targets. I'm pleased to say we've gone from underdogs to being a team-to-beat, at least in the Home Nations.

With Kevin & Michael heading home early (and me on a train back too), our group of five players was down to three for the last two matches. Not quite enough for a bridge team. Tournament Director Gordon Rainsford allowed us to field a substitute player from the U25 ranks. This however makes us 'playing without standing', ineligible for the trophy, both as they are over-age and by using two different players our squad is up to seven. 

This didn't matter too much as we are also ineligible to win by being a long way behind England. 

Against Northern Ireland our ringer was Antone Huang, a skilful cardplayer but maverick overbidder who I'd enjoyed watching on Vugraph but was more anxious about having on the team.

Given that most of our team have similar bridge backgrounds (i.e. they went to my school bridge club), and play simple systems, we have had no bidding misunderstandings at all as far as I know. Certainly people could have bid better, and missed opportunities, but no out-and-out calamities.

As ever though, the plays the thing, and I'm scratching my head as to how we went down in 5D here:

Queen of Hearts lead. The contract went two down, which must only mean you were left with some Heart losers at the end.

We bid two no-play slams, and were in trouble, but came through in the final board here:

Playing 3NT, our West got a nice Queen of Hearts lead. There are now two Hearts, four Clubs, and a Diamond finesse gets you up to nine.

A routine Spade lead puts 3NT at least two down, as happened on both tables in the England-Ireland match. On our other table North bought it in 2S, one off.

At the end of this match we won 50-43 IMPs for a narrow win.

 

 

  

Peggy Bayer 2023 - Round 7 Scotland vs Ireland

In this triple round-robin we are on to our final match against each team. With just 20 minutes between this and the last one Alexander sensibly went for a walk outside (looks like a lovely day), the rest of the team discussed the missed opportunities. They were all back for a partial team photo:

For Round 7 I sat behind Kevin and Michael for the first few boards. They seemed to be playing quite well. Normally they play worse when I'm sat behind them. 

On the first board I saw Michael had a weak hand with eight Hearts to the Queen and four points total. When partner opened the bidding 1♦ he duly replied 1♥, then when the opposition got to 3♠ made a disciplined pass. This was rewarded when 3♠ went one off (and so would 4♥).

We therefore went five IMPs up. But gave 15 back. Current score 5-15 to Ireland.

Final score - a narrow win for Scotland.

Peggy Bayer 2023 - Round 6 Scotland vs England

Today I went down for breakfast a full two hours before my team. Twice the hotel staff asked me to move into the lounge as soon as I was finished eating, as they were very busy today. To keep the table I therefore had to have multiple breakfasts, which actually I was planning to do anyway.

With the crunch match against England starting at 10 am, the first of my team arrived at 0930. They weren't late, just playing it cool. Here's me in the lounge.

I watched the first couple of boards. On the first the English declarer had the interesting puzzle of playing 3NT with a Diamond suit as below, with no entries to the long suit.

AKJxxxx     xx

With plenty of tricks to play with, one solution is to lead the Jack from hand. Instead declarer finessed the Jack, which could fail if there is Qxx offside. But today there was Qx onside so everything worked. 

We are currently 22-11 down to England.

Update: things got worse and we lost 62-24. From a viewing perspective most of the losses came in the last few boards, which was demoralising. Here is a missed opportunity, as Scotland got to slam missed at the other table:

6S was played by West. There is work to be done, as you have a potential loser in Spades, Diamonds and Clubs. The Club loser is the most subtle, and the English did well to lead a Club. I would suggest an immediate Diamond finesse (of the Queen), followed by a Spade finesse, then cross to Diamond Ace and finesse trumps again. Making 6 Spades, 2 Hearts, 2 Diamonds, 2 Clubs. But then, I can see all the cards.

Our declarer went one off. I don't have the play details, but there are many ways of losing two tricks (most likely a trump and a Club).

That loss puts us still second but well adrift of England in the standings, and needing to bounce back with a win against Ireland to consolidate second place. 

Peggy Bayer 2023 - Round 5 Scotland vs Northern Ireland

As expected we won this quite comfortably, collecting a lot of undertricks against some dubious contracts. For North-South the most challenging board by far was this last one:

Kevin Michael W N E S - 1♠ - 2♥ - 3♦ - 4♣ - 5♠ - 6♣ - 6♦ - 6♠ - - -

You can see it's a misfit hand. After a normal start of 1♠-2♥, Kevin went for 3♦. Michael bid a natural 4♣, and we've got all the way to the four level without agreeing a suit. Kevin jumped to 5♠, then they considered a few six level contracts before settling in 6♠.

With Spades 3-3 and every finesse working the contract has good chances. Kevin got a Diamond lead, and drew trumps then put everything on the Hearts, which worked out well here.

I think the challenge of this hand is how to stay out of slam. The Northern Irish pair settled in 4♥+2, so were unlucky to lose IMPs on the board. I'm told their auction was very fast as they only had four minutes left on the clock. In the U25 Scotland's John Russell made 6NT (his favourite contract), on another table it was 6♥-1 and 4NT=, marked with a star on the score card so maybe it was an adjusted result.

After this win the Peggy Bayer standings look like this (5 of 9 matches played):

We still have to play England twice more but are currently comfortably in second.

In the Junior Camrose Scotland are also doing well:

Peggy Bayer 2023 - Round 4 Scotland vs Ireland

With the scores delicately poised could we repeat our triumph against Ireland? I sat behind Kevin and Michael, and watched in despair, as some Irish underbidding proved to be very effective. They overcalled a seven-card weak two and we generously doubled them into game, conceding 2♠x=.

Here's another mishap:

Kevin Michael W N E S - 1♣ 1♠ - 2♦ - - -

East opened 1♣. I'd said at lunch that the time to stretch was when partner had passed, and indeed Michael ventured a sub-minimum 1♠ overcall. West thought for a while then passed, which I thought might be a trap pass (waiting for East to double). But when Kevin bid 2♦, which is non-forcing (especially as a passed hand) this was quickly passed out, and went two down.

My first thought was that the opponents had missed a game, and this would be a good board for us. But in fact game for East-West isn't easy (in the U25 match featured on Vugraph the English East-West played 4♠-1, the Scottish East-West 3NTxx-1). So when Jamie and Harry went off too it was a loss on the board.

After 9 of 16 boards we are losing 35-22.

Update: lost narrowly overall.

Peggy Bayer 2023 - Round 3 Scotland vs England

I sat behind Jamie and Harry for this match. On the first board I saw England got into something of a mix-up (I think someone overcalled 1NT with 2NT, which their partner didn't expect), but got out of it in 3♥=. Lucky kids. On the second board Scotland badly overbid this hand:

Jamie		Harry
W	N	E	S
			1♣
2♠	-	3♠	-
4♠	-	-	-

After the English South opened 1♣ Jamie made a weak jump overcall of 2♠. You have four Hearts on the side but I'm OK with this. Harry made a standard raise with three cards. As our bidding gets more sophisticated and we move from all raises being natural, to using cuebids for raises, there's bound to be some confusion, and this was the case here. Jamie raised 3♠ to 4♠.

This is a bad idea as Harry might have had nothing but a few trumps. Here he has a decent hand, but unfortunately his strength in Clubs is opposite the void. The defence took two Diamonds then East South made the strange switch to a low Club and North played low. At this point the contract is actually makeable. You win the Club cheaply in dummy, and rattle off three more Clubs, throwing all your Hearts. North ruffs, but if you guess trumps right you hold your losers to two Diamonds and one Spade. This didn't happen though and it went two off.

At the other table East-West played 3♠-1, so a small loss on the board.

We lost the match by 28 IMPs to lose 4-16 in Victory Points and stay second behind England.

Peggy Bayer 2023 - Round 2 Scotland vs Northern Ireland

Last night I stayed up late (for me) watching Scotland against the EBU Juniors in the U25 event. They make every board exciting and I really enjoyed Michael Byrne's live commentary.

On the first board Scotland made 3NT redoubled with a couple of overtricks then gave it back with a massive penalty on 5♣, "on a part-score hand" someone in the audience said. "Not in this match," said Michael, "both tables are at the five level." A few 6NT= later and Scotland won the match, to leave them top of the U25 table after two matches played and two wins. Just like the Six Nations though they have many tough matches to come.

Here is a hand Scotland gained on:

After North (Adam Tobias) made the dubious decision to open South (John Russell) was never stopping so Scotland U25 had no trouble getting to slam. As Michael Byrne, said "At some point in this auction South is just going to punt 6NT". Everything went nicely for 12 tricks

Today in the U21 event my team are playing Northern Ireland first, then England. I presume my team will be well rested as so far I've been up for breakfast on my own for an hour.

Update: we were expected to beat Northern Ireland, and indeed after four boards were about 20 IMPs ahead. But then it went even, and I was starting to worry. Luckily, we gained big on the last board for a good win overall:

After a 1NT opening from North, and a Stayman auction Kevin arrived in 3NT. He got a friendly low Spade lead. Later West lead a low Diamond and Kevin gussed Hearts right for three tricks there, and an impressive 11 tricks overall. 3NT went down elsewhere, including crucially when Al and Jamie were defending. Well played guys.

In the other match this morning England were run surprisingly close against Ireland (also clinching it on the last board), so after two rounds Scotland are narrowly ahead. Next our big challenge - the precocious England Juniors!

Peggy Bayer 2023 - Round 1 Scotland vs Ireland

I'm here at Altrincham near Manchester for the 2023 Peggy Bayer, the U21 Home Nations tournament. Our bright young team is kicking off in a couple of hours against Ireland. We are hoping to take some IMPs off them and England (who are boldly playing their U16 team), and compete fiercly with Northern Ireland.

Line-ups and convention cards: here

Running scores: here

Delayed Kibtzing: here

The Ireland team was without one of their players meaning their top pair couldn't play their Precision Club system. Could we take advantage? I was playing a few practice hands with a pair from the U25 team when I first dared to check the scores, and to my astonishment we were 30 IMPs up after four boards. That is even more surprising when you realise that our top pair, Kevin & Michael, bid to 6♥-2 on the first board. I'd told them to play their usual game and unfortuantely that includes bidding dubious slams. They've asked me not to print the auction. Luckily, on the other table Harry & Jamie defeated 4♥ to hold the loss.

Here is a better 6♥:

Kevin Michael W N E S 1♠ - 2♥ - 3♥ - 4♣* - 4♦ - 4NT* - 5♥* - 6♥ - - -

I've included the auction as it has a nice feature - the 2♥ reply over 1♠ showing five cards and not the usual four. That allowed them to find the 5-3 fit quickly and away they go.

In the play, North lead a Club, the Seven. Even though you are opposite a singleton here, I think the correct thing is to take the finesse. The reason is that if it loses you 'break even' by being able to throw a Spade loser on the Ace of Clubs. The West hand is then nearly high, just needing to ruff a Diamond or two. In fact when the Club finesse works you can even eschew the Heart finesse and safely take 12 tricks.

At the table there was some confusion about what the Seven of Clubs lead was, and believing it to be 'top of nothing' declarer went up with the Ace and had to rely on the Heart finesse. 6♥= was a big gain against 4♥+2 at the other table.

Here is a rare 6♥ that Kevin and Michael missed - the key as so often the case with low point count slams is to diagnose the shortage opposite small cards:

Kevin Michael W N E S 1♦ - 1♥ - 1NT - 4♥ - - -

We play weak NT and five card majors, hence East's 1♦ opening and 1NT rebid. West sensibly jumped straight to 4♥. Here is a possible route to the slam - West bids Checkback Stayman over 1NT (even though he already knows there is a Heart fit), and when he hearts 2♥ from East he can splinter with 4♦. Now East knows his hand is all useful cards, which is often more important than overall strength or shape (doesn't matter that you are 4333 when partner has 6-5 shape).

Both tables of course played 4♥+2 for a flat board.

On the other table highlights include Jamie making an excellent 3NT that went down on the other table, and a bizarre auction that I think involved someone asking for Kings and their partner passing. 5NT= was the final result!

In the end we won 59-29, for a strong start.

Maccabi vs Rowan

Very enjoyable bridge last night, against good opponents (Steve Male and Marilynsil). It felt like they got a lot right, bidding a slam missed at two other tables and twice getting to a making five of a minor after we'd pre-empted. We also got caught in 2♣x, when I would say Anna needlessly volunteered a 2♣ rebid on a five-card suit, but then I'd entered the bidding with 2 points so must take quite a lot of the blame too:

I would definitely reply 1♥ without the double and decided to do it anyway. When Anna rebid 2♣ I assumed she had a very long Club suit. I also knew that she was likely void in Hearts, as I have seven and both opponents have them. Removing to 2♥ wouldn't help here, it's equally bad (but might not get doubled). I did think about redoubling 2♣, which Anna assures me she would indeed have taken as an escape. That might get us to the decent spot of 2♠, which can make lots of tricks on a cross-ruff.

At the other tables the contracts were 4♠x-1 by South (helpful ♦A lead), 3♠-1 and 2♥-2 by North. So not a good board for North-South.

Perhaps chastened by this misadventure we bid rather conservatively, and played 3 of a major many times. This was nearly always the right thing to do, as the cards lay badly, though didn't feel right at aggregate scoring.

Here's one we did bid game on, albeit the wrong game:

Playing a strong NT West opened 1♦. With 19 points I'm too strong to overcall so started with a double. In response Anna jumped to 2♥. We weren't clear on whether this jump shows a decent hand (7-10 say, with 4+ Hearts), or just good Hearts. I bid my Spade suit hoping Anna could rebid her Hearts if she did have length, but instead she supported my Spades with only two. My slam inquiry of 4♣ was quickly closed down and I was left to play 4♠.

It takes extra concentration to play what you know is the wrong contract.

I got a Diamond lead. With no extra entries to dummy I can't ruff out the Hearts, so have to rely on getting them right first time (either a finesse or dropping the Queen). But first I drew trumps. When they split 4-2 I had three trump losers, but this wasn't necessarily fatal, as the defence hadn't touched Clubs yet. My plan was to get rid of the last trump then rely on Hearts coming in. Even though it meant further weakening my trumps I played a fourth round to draw East's master trump, so that he couldn't ruff in during the Hearts. This was a rare time to break The Rule of One and draw a master trump.

Once trumps were drawn I played the King of Hearts and lead up to dummy. Crunch time. I knew that the Club honours were split (with KQJ West would have lead one) so to have enough points to open I thought West had to have the Queen of Hearts. I also knew she had 5 Diamonds and 2 Spades, so my only hope was 5422 shape with doubleton Queen of Hearts. Not impossible. I therefore played Hearts from the top. It didn't work, and because I'd drawn that extra trump I went three off. But I took consolation from the fact I think I played it the right way.

The one good thing about the Heart finesse failing was that it meant 4♥ was unlikely to make. However, on one other table North made 1♠+2, when South only replied 1♥ to the double, and on another North made 1♠+1 when he just overcalled instead of doubling. On the last table North made 3NT+3, after the Heart finesse miraculously won (West ducked the Queen of Hearts, perhaps a misclick). So 4♥ wasn't the popular contract I assumed.

Overall we lost our table by 110 and the match by 1230.

Strathcylde vs Rowan

Anna and I had a fairly subdued game here, mostly defending unbeatable contracts and not beating them. My highlight was making this game:

I thought about overcalling 3♥ but decided the hand was too good, then when Anna showed some points got to 4♥. I got a Club lead.

You can see there are 10 easy tricks, seven trumps and three Aces. But after the King of Hearts brought out the Ten, I tried a Heart finesse. I think the odds were in my favour, as South had a weak NT sort of hand (they played five card majors) so I felt was more likely to have Qxx than xx. Anyway it's a close call, and I got it wrong.

Now that my ten tricks have turned to nine, I need the Diamond finesse. But after playing through other suits it become increasingly clear that finesse was doomed. So instead I played of all my trumps, and when South came down to a top Spade and ♦Kx I played a Spade, letting him win then lead a Diamond round to me. If he'd have seen it coming he could have avoided the endplay by throwing all his Spades (hoping his partner had the Jack), but at this level it's much more likely I would just finesse so he probably defended correctly (another option would be blanking his Diamond King and keeping two winning Spades).

The other tables played 4♥= (playing Hearts from the top), 3♥+1 after a weak jump overcall (playing Hearts from the top) and 2♥+1 after South opened 1NT (also taking the losing trump finesse).

My other featured hand is a fun one:

I opened 1♥ and when North doubled Anna made a pre-emptive 3♥ bid. North bid 4♦ and I made perhaps a slightly undisciplined 4♥ bid. North wasn't done and bid 5♦, passed out.

Declarer has hit a rather nice dummy - with five trumps and a singleton to take care of your Spade losers. We took our three top tricks for one off.

How about 4♥? There's four losers, five if the defence arrange a trump promotion, but it's not easy to defend, and might make in practice. On the other tables there was a 5♦x-1, 4♦= and 4♥+1, where in defence North took one Diamond then switched to a Spade.

Overall we lost the match 10-6 to put us near the bottom of the Glasgow League Division 2.