Hamilton Bridge Congress

I didn't attend this event but there were several Scottish Juniors there. I glanced through the results of Shiva & Artem, and one result caught my eye, a 6H-1. Typical overbidding I thought to myself, but perhaps they were a little unlucky. 

You can see that with South having both the missing Heart honours 6H is doomed, and duly went down one. 

However, there is a twist, as 6H was doubled by South. It's a very poor double, as it converts +50 to +100 and so makes virtually no difference to the matchpoint score. The danger is that the double alerts both East and West that Hearts are breaking badly, and gives them a chance to correct to 6NT.

6NT was played on the majority of tables, and usually made 12 tricks. I think declarer should start by playing Hearts, low to the Ten. When North shows out on the second round of Hearts, you are forced to switch to Diamonds and Clubs. They work out very nicely, and you finish with 4+1+4+3 = 12 tricks. 

So doubling 6H could have been costly, but South got away with it here.

The pairs tournament was one by Angus MacDonald and Peter Hodgson, who have both helped out with Junior tournaments in the past. Hutchesons's coach Peter Clarke and Scotland U26 star Prajwal finished fourth. 

We await the results of the teams.