Two bad boards

 At the EBU pairs this Sunday Anna and I had a good night, finishing in 7th with 62%. On one board we got a great score when I opened 1NT then misclicked double and we got them off in 2♦x. In general our defence was very good, we just messed up the declarer play on these two:

Anna made a solid 2♦ overcall then when she came back in with 3♦ I thought 3NT would have good play. I was imagining seven Diamond tricks plus an outside Ace-King for 3NT. However, as Anna said afterwards, at Matchpoints I should probably have just left it in 3♦.

You can see that I was sort of right to bid 3NT, as there are seven Diamond tricks there, plus a working Spade finesse for a couple more tricks. However... I got a low Diamond lead. I didn't think too much, just playing low and losing to the (singleton) King. When the inevitable Club came back it all fell apart and I got 3NT-5 for 2.5%. I think I was right to play low, as just occasionally a good West might underlead his King of Diamonds, but it proved very costly here.

On this board it was Anna's turn under the spotlight:

I opened 1♣ and Anna replied 1♠. After I replied 1NT Anna has nowhere to go really but 4♠. This is probably the right contract, as there are two Diamond losers, but in reality almost all Easts led a Heart.

On the Heart lead you have plenty of entries and top trumps to set up the Clubs, and generate a second discard for 4♠+3. What's interesting is that nearly all human declarers were happy to take their one discard on the Ace of Clubs for 4♠+2, but whenver a robot was declarer they always got the Clubs set up to take all 13 tricks.

Clever Bots.

A couple of bodges

Anna and I played our first competitive bridge for a month or two last Monday - the 12 board EBU evening tournament. We both did very poorly. Here's two bodges from me in defence:

I've got the big West hand. I doubled, and after Anna showed Spades decided to go straight to 4♠. This was due to go one down, but quite reasonably North bid on to 5♣. I was happy doubling this.

I led my King of Spades, and Anna showed odd count. That means she has five, so I know that no more Spades are cashing. The safe thing to do would be to switch to Hearts, and set up our trick there, to go with my Spade and the Ace of Diamonds. I got greedy though, wanting two Heart tricks, and continued Spades. The danger of this soon became apparent, as declarer drew trumps and set about playing Diamonds. Luckily Anna had the ♦T, so declarer couldn't quite get all of dummy's Hearts away and it finished one off.

Anna didn't notice my bodge there, or at least didn't say anything, perhaps as we got 83% for a rare good board. This one she did notice:

Defending 1NT we get off to a good start in Spades, and all I need to do is find an entry back to Anna's hand to beat the contract comfortably. However, as declarer ran the winning Diamonds I discarded down to ♣A so couldn't get over to Anna's hand, and declarer got three more Heart tricks than he should have. I was overly focused on keeping all my Hearts to match the Heart length in dummy, but (as Anna pointed out) that was pointless anyway as my Hearts were ♥A543.

We got 7% on the board and finished with 43% overall. Luckily our season is over, and Team Rowan finished top of the second division of the Glasgow League to gain promotion for next year.

Got the timing wrong

After concentrating hard in the SOL match last night I thought I'd relax in tonight's 12 board matchpoints with Anna. It turns out playing relaxed isn't a very good idea, and without proper concentration I made a lot of mistakes.

Things didn't go well for either of us and after bad scores on the first five boards we were both on the tilt. This lead to some aggressive actions, which all surprisingly seemed to work.

This was our best score, a 4♥ I misplayed but got away with:

After Anna's double I am worth a raise to 3♥, and with all her points working I like Anna's raise to game.

After a Diamond lead my plan is to lead up to take my ♥AK, lead up to the ♠K, and ruff some Diamonds. Hopefully losing just one Heart, one Spade and one Club. But what order to do it in?

I went for taking out the Hearts first, then lead up to the ♠K. To my surprise this held. I lead a Diamond back, ruffed a Diamond, and lead a Spade from dummy. I'm now stuffed - as whichever defender has the last trump can win this Spade and draw dummy's last trump. Luckily for me, after East played the ♠Q West overtook with the Ace, and had no trump to return. So I made 4♥=.

As Anna pointed out to me afterwards, I should play two rounds of Spades immediately. I win my King, then play another round. Now if the defence play trumps I'm still in control.

Depsite 94% on the board we finished as badly as we started and ended up on 46%.

Taking gifts

Last night Anna and I played in EBU evening tournament. There were plenty of gifts from our opponents. On the first board they had a Gerber auction, discovered they had all 4 Aces between them, then signed off in 5♠. How many Aces were they hoping for?

On the hand below Anna opened 1NT and I had a rubbish hand with short Clubs. I started Stayman (best to get out of 1NT) and we found our 4-3 Heart fit. As expected the opposition had points and got into the auction too, surprisingly ending up in 3♥. This actually nearly made:

Anna did well to start with her two top trumps. When she switched to a Spade I had to be careful. Declarer does actually have enough tricks to make the contract (just losing three Hearts and one Club), but needs to unblock the Diamonds. If I covered this Spade switch with the Queen declarer can later unblock the Diamonds and has a Spade entry back to dummy to discard Clubs.

As soon as the first Spade trick was completed the hand timed out. The score was recorded as A==, then a few minutes later the director adjusted it to 3♥-1. This is quite a big call, as there was still the chance for us to misdfended and let the contract make, but felt justified to me as they had bid and played it very slowly.

After the adjustment we scored 88% on the board. In fact, even conceding 3♥= would have scored 70%, as there were lots of North-South pairs making 3NT, or beating 1NT doubled.

Overall we played fairly well, with just one bidding misjudgement and me playing foolishly for a second overtrick (and not getting my first overtrick). We finished on 60.64% for 7th out of 74 and a trickle more EBU masterpoints.

Listening to the auction

Last night Anna and I played the EBU pairs again.

We discussed this board afterwards:

I led the ♠4 and when dummy played low Anna had a decision to make. She knows I have a Spade honour for my low lead, which could be the Jack or King (or both). Against 3NT the right play would be the 9, but I think on this auction the Ace is right. Declarer has shown five Hearts and at least four Diamonds, so has at most four black cards, with three winning Clubs in dummy. So we are getting at most one Spade trick, hence we should take it.

Anna played low worried about setting up declarer's Queen of Spades. On this layout it doesn't cost, and declarer should make 11 tricks either way. Our declarer misplayed by ruffing a Spade in hand, shortening his own trumps, and could no longer enjoy his long Diamond.

So we got 76% for holding declarer to 4♥=, which goes to show that the best way to get a good score is still the opponents making mistakes, rather than defending accurately.

Overall we got 57%, for 13th/76 and a trickle more EBU masterpoints.

Finding an extra trick

Last night Anna and I did a bit better on the EBU 12 board pairs. We finished on 58% which felt about right after a few top boards (1NTx-1 which they could have been made) and a few bad ones (3NT-3 after we had a Multi 2D mix up).

The last board caught my eye:

On the one hand it's a very flat board, with nearly everyone getting to 4♥ and making 10 tricks. That's what we did, for 51% on the board. As long as South makes the obvious ♣K lead the defence get one Club, one Diamond and one Spade.

But the question is, at the table, once you've drawn trumps how can you maximize your chances of getting to discard a losing Club? There is hope in the Diamond suit, but if once you lead the ♦J every defender should take the Ace then cash their Club. A bit better is leading the ♦2 from hand, when it's not quite as obvious you're looking for a Club discard.

But I think the best line is to cross to dummy and take the Spade finesse. If Spades behave you have a genuine chance to get away your Club loser (from dummy), and make 12 tricks. And if the Spade finesse fails you're in the same position as before.

When to double

Last night I played the 12 board EBU pairs with John Faben. He agreed to play my system, with the inclusion of the Culbertson New Asking Bid. This is a rather complicated method of slam bidding, which of course didn't come up at all. 

Instead our score was decided by a combined poor defence to 2NT, and a couple of misjudgements from me

On this one I really should have doubled, but didn't:

The auction strongly suggests a 4-4 Spade fit, so I know they are breaking 5-0. I also have lots of other defence and I'm not worried about them running to 5♣. So although it's John who has the trumps it's me who knows the whole picture, and should have doubled it.

I thought we'd get a good score just for beating it, but actually just 56%, as 4♠-2 was a common score.

Now here's one where I definitely shouldn't have doubled, but did:

It's a messy auction. I opened 1NT and John transferred to play in his long Diamond suit. Along the way North doubled Clubs then bid his Spade suit. When 3♠ came back round to me I know they've got to a silly contract, so doubled.

As it happens, my partner has two tricks for me (a Heart ruff and the ♠K), and we get 99% for 3♠x-2. But if I hadn't doubled, we still would have got 96% for 3♠-2, and I had no reason to expect two tricks in my partner's hand, so 3♠ might have made. Worse than that, my double could help them run to a better contract. If South bids 4♣ (and I think he would have if he was confident North's double shows Clubs) that's only one down;, and 4♥ is making. So my double had not much to gain, and a lot to lose.

Overall we finished on 61%.

EBU Wednesday Night

Having spent the weekend watching other people play bridge, I was thinking how easy it all was. Time to put that to the test. Tonight Anna and I played the 1930 twelve board EBU tournament. 

Things did not start well, and it soon became clear we were in a battle to finish above 50%. Then it became clear we were going to lose that battle. At least we finished on a high. This was the last board:

The 1♠ is a five card major and the 3♠ four card support with 0-6. When this came round to Anna she reasoned I must have a few points and doubled. I failed to work out that she was unlikely to have four Hearts (she would have doubled the first time) and bid a reluctant 4♥. I clicked it in what I hoped was a confident way though, and West quickly bid 4♠. In for a penny, in for a pound, I doubled this.

Anna cashed the ♥A then switched to the ♦J. I thought we would have loads of tricks but actually with declarer's singleton Diamond it was just one off. Still, +100 was a matchpoint top, to propel us to 47% overall and 84th place.

Going for Broke

In last night's EBU 12-board tournament Anna and I got off to a great start. On the first board I opened third in hand with an awful 9 points, got raised to the three level and made it. We were flying along, at least for the first three boards. Things slowed down a bit as we both failed to make overtricks, through a combination of their solid defence and our unimaginative declarer play. With one board to go we had dipped below 50%, so needed something good on the last:

West opened 1♥ and Anna overcalled 1NT. I know she's got a decent hand with a good Heart stop, and considered bidding 6♣. I made the sensible bid of 3NT though, expecting it to make comfortably.

My plans were scuppered when West bid 4♥. Anna doubled this, I suppose showing she really did have a very good Heart stop. Not many tables would be playing in 4♥x, so this could be the swing I was after.

However, having been restrained once I couldn't resist the second time, and had a go at 6♣. Since this was matchpoints there wasn't much point bidding only 5♣, as even if that made it would be a poor score losing to the majority of tables playing a comfortable 3NT.

6♣ was passed out and West lead the Ace of Spades and another. Despite dummy having nothing in Clubs it has some play. It could all come down to guessing trumps. I decided to play the Ace on the first round then finesse, reasoning I could cope with trumps 4-1 onside. But in fact they were 5-0 onside. This might not have been fatal if I had enough winners to play through East (meaning he has to ruff and I can overruff) but here it's got no chance.

Given West's unusual bidding, perhaps I should assume there's a void somewhere, and Clubs is the most likely place for it. So that argues for finessing Clubs on the first round, though in fact that's still not enough to make it.

If I leave in the double of 4♥ that's no good either. Despite Anna's excellent trumps, my ♥Q and are other two Ace-Kings we only get six tricks for +500, still losing out to 3NT making. And that's assuming we don't crash any of our trump honours. As it was going down in 6♣ didn't score well either, and we finished on 46%.

EBU Robot

Anna and I have a strong record of always finishing 'in the prizes' in the 12 board EBU tournaments. The prizes are BBO Masterpoints, which I think they award to the top 40%, but there you go.

Last night we were cruising on around 60% until four bad boards at the end took us to 52.4%, and 28th out of 74, earning 0.07 BBO points.

I'm sure it's no coincidence the last two rounds were against people playing with Robots. We never seem to do well against the Bots.

Here's one where I could have done better:

Anna has the big East hand. I like her 2NT rebid compared to 3♦. I am quite happy to play 3NT but bid checkback Stayman, to see if there's a Heart Fit. When Anna shows three Spades I decide I ought to play there instead.

3NT (With East declarer) would actually have been an easy 11 tricks.

In 4♠ I got a Club lead. There's no need to risk the finesse. I won the Ace, and discarded a Club on a Diamond. I set about ruffing the Hearts, including ruffing the last one with the ♠Q. This was over-ruffed, and I now have three trump losers. If I'd have guessed to ruff with the ♠7, or threw that last Heart on the ♦, or drawn one round of rumps earlier, I'd have made 11 tricks. 4♠= was worth just 22%, 4♠+1 would have been 75%.

I think my line was reasonable, but looking at the hands afterwards we thought playing the third round of Diamonds is better. It gains if Diamond are 3-3, or the short hand is ruffing with a Spade honour, or if the short Diamond hand is before you then you can over-ruff.

Here's a tough defensive problem for Anna:

My lead of the ♥2 promises four to an honour. When Anna wins her Diamond she has to decide if it's worth continuing Hearts. I think from declarer's play on the first trick (winning the Ace in hand) I can't have ♥KJxx or even ♥Kxxx (declarer would surely have tried the ♥Q on table with Qx opposite Axx or won cheaply with the Jack with Qx opposite AJx), so East can find the Spade switch.

Doing so would have got us four tricks in defence, for 3NT= and 90%, compared to 3NT+3 and 21%.

Finding the overtrick

Last night Anna and I had another go at the EBU pairs. I bid and defended quite recklessly, and got lucky as pretty much everything came off. The high point of good fortune was bidding a terrible 3NT that relied on getting four tricks from ♠AJ92 opposite ♠K6.

The hand below was the most interesting:

North made a light third-in-hand 1♦ opening, which Anna overcalled 1♥. She should really double first with six hearts and 16+, but the overcall worked well enough here when I supported with 2♥ and she could bid game.

South lead a Diamond to the Queen and Ace. There are now ten tricks - six Hearts, two Diamonds, a Spade and a Club. Anna drew trumps then used the Club entry to take a Spade finesse. This would gain a trick if North had both missing honours, but as it is he ducked correctly to South's ♠Q and later Anna had to give a trick to the ♠K.

4♥= was a common score and got 46%.

The wining play is to realise that you need to finesse Spades twice, so need two dummy entries. That means ruffing a Diamond in dummy, even though it's a winner. As Anna agreed afterwards, it would be easier if you'd be dealt ♦Axx.

We finished on 62.8%, good enough for 11th out of 102 pairs.

Too Obvious

Yesterday I went for a snooze after putting the children to bed. Anna woke me up, and five minutes later we were playing in our second-ever EBU tournament. On the first board I made a 2♣ bid, and alerted it as "Checkback Stayman, forcing to game". I'd got confused though, and it wasn't Checkback Stayman. Anna correctly passed, and we played 2♣+2 with a combined 27 count. Amazingly, no game made, and we scored 83% for our efforts. I apologised to the opposition.

We had got lucky there, but also had plenty of missed opportunities. This could have been glorious:

I'm 5-5 with Clubs and Spades, and decided to open 1♣. When Anna replied 2♣ I was a bit anxious about not showing my Spades but couldn't really make a forcing bid so passed. When it go back to me at 3♥ I still haven't shown my Spades so rather foolishly bid them now. This must show five, but with Anna only having a doubleton she put me back in 4♣. West doubled, and lead the ♠T.

The lead went to the ♠Q, ♠K and ♠A and now my Spades are all winners. If I can just draw trumps I could only lose one trump and two Hearts. Or I could even get rid of the Hearts on the Diamonds. I cashed the ♦A, and lead my ♠J, hoping the lead was a doubleton. It wasn't. West ruffed, took his ♣A and two Heart tricks for one off.

There is no legitimate way to make the contract, but I could have done a lot better. Leading the ♠7 rather than the ♠J would mean that West might not ruff (ruffing could cost a trump trick if his partner has ♣Jxx). Also, I could instead have tried to get to dummy with a low trump to the ♣Q, after which I can discard my Hearts. Or, maybe I shouldn't even unblock the ♦A, which is so obviously a singleton, but rather start on trumps and hope West continues to be reluctant to lead Hearts (thinking I have the ♥K).

Conceding 4♣x-1 was worth 12%. If we leave in 3♥ and beat it we still only get 37%. Making 4♣x would of course been a top.

After this we played 6♣+1 not 6NT for another bad score, then got 0% where I failed to switch against 3NT and it made with an overtrick instead of five off. But we had a few good ones too and finished on 56.5% for 34th out of 148 pairs.

EBU Debut

Last night Anna and I played in our first EBU tournament. It was only 12 boards, starting at 1930.

We got off to a good start, but two minor slip-ups and two good boards for our opponents held us back.

On the one below it only occurred to me afterwards that I could have done better:

North didn't alert any of her bids, but I asked and it turned out she'd shown 5-5 in the majors. I lead a Diamond. Declarer drew trumps and played Spades. I took my Ace and played Clubs. Anna was alert to the danger and took her ♣A before it went away. Conceding 4♥+1 was a common score, and was worth 41%.

But, as you can see, I could have given Anna a Spade ruff. From the auction I know that North has five Spades, I've got four, and South must have at least two for the 1NT opener. Could I have pictured my partner with a singleton and lead the ♠A? Maybe I should have. After the Ace and a ruff we still need to cash our Club trick, for 4♥= and 77%. Not easy, especially with my nice Diamond lead.

By contrast, here's a board I did well on:

South opened a weak two in Diamonds and I had the West hand. 2NT is my bid, but I didn't like it. I'm flat, with only 15 points, vulnerable, and with a poor Diamond stop. But I bid it and hoped for the best.

Dummy was a disappointment, with just an Ace of Spades. North lead a Diamond and South took the ♦A and played another. I won my King, and North discarded the ♠3. On asking, she revealed that she played reverse attitude discards (!). I lead the ♠T, expecting a cover from North's ♠QJxx, but when that didn't come I played Spades from the top and collected four Spade tricks along with my Diamond trick.

The good news is that South has now shown a full 9 points, so has no cards to ever get back in with. So I now exited with the ♣Q, giving North a problem. He won and gave me a Heart trick (trick number seven), then was endplayed again to give me a second Club (trick number eight).

My enjoyment was only tempered by the fact that we were running out of time, and it looked like we weren't going to get to the end before the clock reached 0. With one trick left before my claim the cards disappeared, and we were awarded an average score. But to my relief the director immediately adjusted it to 2NT=, for 89%. Going one off would still have got above 50%, as North-South were making 110 in 2♦+1.

Overall we finished on 57.8%, good enough for 25th out of 134.