I blame Blackwood

I am the non-playing captain of the second Scotland Junior Team. They will compete next month in the Peggy Bayer tournament against the other home nations. We have been doing some practice events, and this Tuesday two of them wanted to play in the New Melville Teams. Anna and I made up the four.

The boys played well. They didn't miss any games, and possibly bid some which they shouldn't have after a couple of lucky misunderstandings worked out well. Anna and I bid our games too, and we were looking good. It was only in the last round that things went awry (for Anna and I, the boys did fine). On the penultimate board I watched in amazement as Anna played a bizarre 3♥. She avoided drawing trumps, then took a strange finesse. As the hand unravelled it became clear she thought she was in 3NT. She would have made 3NT too, but did't make 3♥.

Then on the very last board we had a missed opportunity:

Danny Anna W N E S - - 1♠ - 4♠ - - -

Anna opened 1♠ and I had an automatic raise to 4♠, showing a weak hand with five trumps.

Nearly all of the time, Anna should pass this, as I could be very weak. But actually, almost any hand I have with five Spades is going to have play for 6♠. And if I have the ♠K, which very often do, slam is almost certain. She can count 5 top Spades, 5 Clubs, and a couple of Heart ruffs in hand.

Although in fact I have a pretty unsuitable hand (no ♠K, wasted values in Hearts) all 13 tricks were there when the trump finesse worked (although it looks like my Diamond singleton is necessary it's not, as any other Diamonds I might have could be discarded on Clubs). In fact it's very hard to construct a North layout where you don't want to be in 6♠.

I think counting tricks makes it very favourable to bid 6♠, but the void makes people wary of bidding Blackwood, and they don't want to bid a slam without Blackwood. In 30 tables it was bid just 7 times.

Despite this missed opportunity the team finished 9th out of 30.

Norfolk and Norwich Bridge

After another day quarantining Anna really fancied a game in the evening. Our local Buchanan club were having their Christmas party, so we looked further afield. On the recommendation of some locals we were put onto the Norfolk and Norwich Bridge Club. I looked at last week's results and it looked like there was a good standard.

The event was on Real Bridge, starting at 1915 but login from 1850. We have got better at getting the kids to bed early (dinner just after five helps, bath before dinner too), and were comfortably sitting down ready for this game.

The first few boards were competitive. I was pushed to 3♥, doubled and off one, for a good score against their making 2♠.

We were warned about Bogdan being a good player, and were slightly nervous on joining his table. It didn't help that they played a Polish Club system, where the 1♣ opening has three meanings (weak NT, 15-17 with Clubs, any 17+). We do actually have a defence for this (double is majors, 1NT is minors), but not surprisingly in the two board round it didn't come up anyway.

On the first one Bogdan propelled himself into an uncomfortable 5♥. We were unable to extract our three tricks and it made, giving us 30%. On the second I pushed to game with a distributional 10 point opener, and ended up making +2 when I managed to sneak a Spade through, giving us some matchpoints back.

One thing about Real Bridge is after every round you get to see the current standings. At the half way point we were in the lead, with Bogdan lurking in second.

In the second half I was mostly dummy. Anna played most of the hands, including these two with a similar theme, where you have to hold off ruffing in dummy so that you can establish the side suit.

The first was not a triumph:

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

I open the West hand 1♦ and when Anna responds 1♥ I decide I am good enough for 3♥. It's not sensible for me to bid an immediate 4♥ as if Anna has four weak trumps and wasted Club honours it's got no chance. As it is, Anna has a very suitable hand, with the crucial fifth trump and King of Diamonds (my suit). It's a textbook hand that is weak in points but strong in tricks, but Anna chose to pass.

In 3♥ dummy has Clubs that can be ruffed, and also a source of tricks in Diamonds. It won't be possible to do both. At the table the defence took two Spades then North switched to a Diamond, which ran round to the Queen and Ace. At this point it's clear to go after the Diamonds, unblocking the ♦A, drawing trumps, then leading the ♦T from dummy and running it. Even if this loses you still have ten tricks (five top Hearts, four Diamonds and a Club ruff). On this layout you get 11 tricks, as North has the ♦J.

Anna followed this then mentally misclicked and ruffed dummy's ♦T, and she now can't set up the Diamonds and 11 tricks became 9. Lucky we were only in 3♥. 3♥= scored 10%, but as it happens even making 11 tricks would still only have scored 30%, as really the board was lost in the auction. It shows the good standard of the club that many were bidding 4♥ despite the limited values.

With two rounds to go we had slipped into second. Could Anna pull it back?

Danny Anna W N E S - 1♥ 1♠ 3♥ 3♠ 4♥ - - -

Anna has the strong NT hand sitting East and opened 1♥. South overcalled 1♠ and I made a pre-emptive bid of 3♥. Although I would like a fifth Heart for this, I have the distribution to play at the three level and it makes life hard for the opponents. My second choice would be 4♥, which (according to Andrew Robson) will often bounce North into 4♠, which goes one off.

Despite her flat nine-loser hand Anna found the raise to game, perhaps recognising her ♠Axx was likely opposite a void. The defence began with a Spade which she took with her Ace.

At this point a weaker declarer would undoubtedly have ruffed some Spades, as ruffing in dummy is so often the right thing to do. But the mark of a good player is to be more circumspect and play the suits in the right order. Anna saw the potential for dummy's Diamonds and so held off ruffing Spades, instead beginning with two top Hearts, catching South's ♥Q. At this point it would have been tempting to draw the last trump, but again the right play is all about timing and often it's best to live dangrously and start on side suits before drawing trumps.

Anna was in dummy, and now lead a Diamond up. North had to take the ♦K. He found the Club switch and Anna rightly rejected the finesse (there's time to set up the Diamonds for a Club discard, and Spade discard. At that point Anna drew the last trump and lead up a Diamond. South paused for three or four minutes, then ducked the Ace of Diamonds. In fact it doesn't matter, the Diamonds are going to be established and declarer makes 4♥+1 for 80%.

Along with that highlight there werew a few dodgy ones, and going into the last round we were sitting in third. Althouh we had a bad round our rivals must have done even worse, and so we ended up rather fortunately in first, with just 56.2%, one matchpoint ahead of Bogdan in second.

SBU Winter Congress Mixed Pairs (Bronze)

I've played bridge three times this week, which must be a record. The SBU pairs on Tuesday with John, Team Rowan with Anna on Thursday and last night the SBU Winter Congress Bronze Pairs. Thinking ourselves to be among the better bronze players, we fancied we had a good shot at winning this. Anna was very interested in the first prize of two bottles of champagne.

It turned out not to be. Although we started well, a couple of bad decisions, a couple of mistakes, and some good play from our opponents denied us the good fortune you need to do really well in a pairs event. For example, once Anna chose to open 1NT; holding ♠KQJxx and we ended up in a non-making 3NT instead of a good 4♠; on another day our 3NT contract would be the winner. We finished 10th on 55.8%.

The event was played on Real Bridge, a new website where you can see everyone's face and hear them. It took a bit of getting used to, but actually I think I quite like it. It all worked smoothely, and certainly feels a lot more like actual bridge.

Anna played well as declarer, and her bold bidding got us a few rewards. We were all quite surprised on the first hand when she made a takeout double with 7 points (three Queens and a Jack) but it worked out well. On this one she is declarer in a tricky 1NT contract:

Danny South W N E S 1NT - - -

Anna opened the South hand 1NT. I thought for quite a while about bidding Stayman, then decided to pass. My Stayman bid would only really backfire if Anna had five Clubs, which is indeed the case, so I'm glad I passed (we would have ended up in an awful 2♦).

The prospects in 1NT are good, as you have six top tricks and either the ♠K or ♥Q could be the 7th. After a Diamond lead the defence took the first four tricks, then it was crunch time for West. The lead of either major will allow declarer the 7th trick. But he lead a Club. Anna unblocked the Clubs and lead a Heart up, but East took her ♥K and now the Hearts are blocked. For this reason it's probably better to lead a Spade up to the King, as if that is onside you do actually get a 7th trick. But from my seat in dummy I was also thinking "lead a Heart!", so we were both wrong.

There was no way for Anna to untangle her tricks so 1NT-1 was the result, for a 20% board. Most other tables got the same Diamond lead, but made 1NT. I suspect this is because after West took the fourth Diamond he switched to either Spades or Hearts (perhaps following a signal from partner). 1NT= would have scored 65%.