Sole Bay Bridge Club

As part of our holiday double-bill Anna and I also had a game at Sole Bay Bridge Club, right in Southwold. It's just behind the post-office and I couldn't remember quite where so we were slightly late, but luckily were making up a table so were welcome.

I was mostly dummy, as Anna was mostly declarer. I had decided in advance that I would 'go for everything', meaning I'd always take the risky action. So I bid an Unusual 2NT with a slightly unsuitable hand, underled an Ace, and even under-ruffed when I thought it might endplay my opponent (it didn't).

My boldest action was this one, when Anna bid an invitational 4NT and I replied 6♣. This accepts the invite while also suggesting a trump suit. Anna hadn't seen this before. She had ♣AQxxx and wasn't sure I could also have Clubs, but wisely passed.

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

In 6♣ Anna got a Heart lead and drew trumps in two rounds. There are 11 top tricks, and with a couple of Diamond ruffs in hand that was an easy 6♣ +1. This was a top score as no one else was in slam.

In 6NT you are likely to finish with just 11 tricks, unless you get a friendly Diamond lead from the King. 

Blyth Valley Bridge Club

With the Summer holidays Anna and I made our comeback to live bridge, with an afternoon session in Walberswick. 

On our first board I had a tricky 1NT. I needed two tricks from a suit of 

♦ KQ65

♦ 98

I led up to my honours and the Queen held. Pleased, I returned to hand and led up to my other honour. West played low again. At this point I should have realised that East held the Ace of Diamonds (and had made an excellent duck the first time). Because there's no way that West would have ducked twice, as no one ever ducks twice. That's the lesson I learned here. 

Luckily, Anna was on top form. Once, when I was dummy, she delayed drawing trumps to set up her side-suit. This paid off well when trumps split 4-1 and the side-suit 4-2. Her score of 4♠+2 was a top.

I made another error misreading the defenders, and one bidding bodge.
With the hand below, I opened 1H. Anna bid 1S. Your bid:

♠Axx ♥Axxxx ♦Kxxx ♣x

This is the perfect hand for 2♠, a rare three-card raise. My hand would be a nice dummy with a singleton Club, and Anna could surely scramble eight tricks in Spades cross-ruffing.

But I bid 2♦ and went one off.

Anna may not remember the hands but reminds me that I delayed the start of the penultimate round, when I very generously made two cups of tea for my opponents.

Scotland at the Euros

At the European Bridge Championship in Denmark last week the Scottish Open, Senior and Mixed team fared little better than the national football team. Can the youngsters do any better? They are currently in Poland, competing against some very good U26 teams.

Scotland's six are Kevin Ren & Michael Kennedy, Jamie Day & Kajetan Granops, Rufus Behr & Tamsin Munro. Two of them are former pupils of my High School of Glasgow Bridge Club, although the system they now play is a long way from the one I taught them (personally I think a weak NT would surprise the other countries and be quite effective, but no one else does).

In their first match Scotland claimed an impressive 20-0 win against Estonia. It took me a while to find Scotland in the table as they were right at the top. They followed that up with a great win against Germany, before sliding to losses against Israel, Ireland and Poland, finishing yesterday with a comfortable win against Bye.

Full results at http://db.eurobridge.org/repository/competitions/24wroclaw/microsite/Results.htm

Kevin and Michael are guilty of overbidding sometimes. However, here's a rare board against Ireland where they stayed out of slam and were a bit unlucky as the way the cards lie it makes easily:

In 6H there are 10 top tricks, so you need two from Clubs. With South having the Ace-Jack that works nicely. I think to succeed you need the Jack of Clubs to drop in three rounds, or a ruffing finesse with the Ten-Nine of Clubs. Alternatively, you can try and ruff a Diamond in dummy, after throwing one on the Spades. This needs Diamonds 3-3 or South to have the Nine of Hearts (so works here too).

So not a brilliant slam, but it's got chances.

This is the Scotland auction. I think 2H must have been Kokish (showing a good hand with Hearts, and forcing 2S), then 3D showed Hearts and Diamonds. East's 3H bid showed a non-minimum (could have jumped to game with a weaker hand), and West signed off.

On the other table the Irish East directly supported Hearts then they cuebid then Blackwood.

On 18 tables 6H was bid eight times, with the rest in 4H (and one table in 3NT).

Good luck to the team today when they take on Finland, Netherlands, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Update: after a great start Scotland U26 slipped heavily to finish in 19th and last place. The results I looked at there were only a few real errors, mostly just a lot of misjudgments. In the crucial final match against Austria this was typical:

Kajetan sitting South opened 1C, and the Austrian West overalled 1D. Kevin sitting North bid 2C. This is probably not the right bid playing five-card majors (where the 1C opening could be short), but I think it's well understood that raising there could be very weak. South blasted 3NT though, and with the cards sitting badly it was not a success.

On the 18 tables in the U26 no one else ventured as high as 3NT, with the best results for North-South from playing in Spades.

Our one gain in that match (we lost 60-11) was when Kajetan was one of the few declarers to make 4H on the deal below:

I think it just comes down to guessing trumps - choosing to lead the Queen on the second round rather than cashing the Ace (unless you get a helpful Club lead). Our declarer got it right, to avoid a 20-0 match whitewash. Of the 18 tables the 8 playing in 3NT all made it too.

The top eight below qualify for the World Championship:

I watched some of Netherlands and Israel and they were very good. They knew what they were doing, didn't try too hard to win IMPs and played the cards safely.

In the U31 event Scotland finished 11th out of 13 (France won).

Finally, to fit the narrative of Scotland losing and complaining about hard luck, here's an excellent double of 4H you'd never expect to make:

West opens 1H and after lots of bidding between West and North, West bids 4H. North is delighted to double, and makes a sensible lead of the Ace of Diamonds. North is never able to attack Spades, so declarer only loses two trumps and the Ace of Diamonds. 

The winning lead is a low Diamond (South wins and returns a Spade). But that's never going to happen. A low club from North also works, and is more tempting, but still needs an unlikely Diamond underlead.

Everywhere it was bid 4H made, including when Scotland were doubling the 4H. Bad luck Kevin.