Scottish Cup Plate Round 1

Our inexperienced team scored a surprise win against Fiona Greenwood's quartet in the first round of the plate. I would say we were somewhat fortunate, with a few misplayed hands still making, a successful gambling 3NT, and our team-mate miscounting his points and jumping to an unbeatable 3NT.

The first half, against Fiona and Julia Palmer was very enjoyable, and we emerged 3 IMPs up. It felt like the second half was much harder work. It may have been as we were playing a pair with transfers over 1♣, because it was approaching 11 pm, or just because we weren't getting any good hands. When I picked up this one I wanted to make the most of it:

Of course I opened 1♥ and had no hesitation in rebidding 3♥ (if Anna had responded e.g. 1NT I might have tried 3NT). When dummy came down I counted 10 tricks, carefully counted them again, then concluded that this one was in the bag, which was good news as we'd been playing for nearly four hours. The defence (Andrew Symonds and Iain Taylor) was good - they took their three Diamonds then West played the fourth Diamond. When your only likely source of tricks is trumps then giving a ruff and discard is often correct. Here I had no choice but to ruff high and hope that trumps were 3-2. My solid contract wasn't looking quite so secure now.

As it turns out trumps were 5-0, and I had to go two down. Ruffing high had cost an extra undertrick, but is always the right thing to do as often it lets you make the contract.

On the other table our defenders began with three Diamonds, but didn't continue them so just got four tricks and 4♥-1. So not only did I not make the contract, I lost IMPs on the board.

Enough other things went our way, and we must have done a few things right as we won the secod half by 29 IMPs, and won the match by 32 IMPs. Bring on Team Harry Smith next Tuesday.

SBU Bronze League Division 2 - vs Pentland Panthers

Phil and I did a bit better tonight. My main regret was when I had a trump suit of

♠AQxxx 

 ♠T9xx.

I could afford one loser. The right play as I well know, and advised Anna of the other day, is to play the Ace. This gains when there is a singleton honour offside, and doesn't cost anything. The only time you might lose out is if there is ♠KJx(x) onside, when you could have made an overtrick. But seeing as I was in a contract that started with four top losers, I would have been very happy just to make it.

Here is the full deal.

A weird auction as I didn't know what Phil's 3♣ bid meant. I guessed it was a splinter (as I had good Clubs myself), but we ended in 4♠ which isn't a bad spot.

When it came to playing the trumps I led the ♠T, which looked fine when I picked up the Jack, but later a suprise ruff in Clubs cost me. Laying down the ♠A would have have let me clear trumps with just one loser.

4♠-1 was a small gain against 4♠-2 but it could have been more.

Here is a hand that Phil played really nicely. We have once again overbid, and 5♠ looks doomed with three top losers.

The only hope is to find the Ace of Hearts onside, and for the defence to not take their tricks. Phil gave himself the best chance by playing Hearts immediately, before drawing trumps. Then when the Ace won, West crossed over to East's Ace of Diamonds. Because Phil had left trumps out, East didn't know if he should be giving his partner a Club ruff, or if he should try and cash a Diamonds. There are clues out there, but the defence got it wrong and we survived in 5♠

The other table played 4♠+1 on the ♥A lead so the board was flat.

On the other table Harry and Michael had a good game and we won by 32 IMPs.

SBU Bronze League Division 2

I found myself involved with the Junior team again last Wednesday, with old friend Phil Moon. Playing with an irregular partner you tend to be a bit more straight-forward with your bidding, but I could maybe have done a bit more here:

I have the nice 5-5 hand and opened 1♥ (higher of two five-card suits). When it came back round to me I was worth 3♦. I think we are game forced now, after Phil has shown 10+ and I've shown a good opener. So Phil's 3♥ should be stronger than 4♥, and he does indeed have a good hand. I should bid 3♠ now, a fairly safe cuebid (Hearts is obviously trumps, and Spades obviously not natural). Showing a Spade control is exactly what Phil needs to here (as he fears two Spades losers), and maybe then we'd get to 6♥.

Assuming you get the expected Spade lead, making 12 tricks comes down to guessing Diamonds. On my table I got it wrong, playing Diamonds from the top, for 4♥+1. Though I like to think if I was playing the slam I'd have investigated a bit more before committing, and on playing a Club to the Ace would see East split (showing King-Queen) after which I could play West for those missing Diamond points.

On the other table, after a shorter auction (1♥-3♥-4♥) they got a Diamond lead so made 12 tricks. So we actually lost 1 IMP. Or rather, because I'd accidentally set up this Teams Match as matchpoint scoring, we scored 0% (I later went through each board fixing it, and we won 52-42).

Glasgow League: Rowan vs Metropole

Anna and I had a good set here, mostly in defence. I bid pretty boldly and stole a few contracts. This was our highlight:

I have a great hand as East and was poised to make a Michael's bid but instead opened 1♥. Surprisingly Anna replied 1♠ and I splintered in Clubs. My aim was now to get Anna to bid Blackwood so I could show my Club void. This all worked out well, albeit with some big pauses in the auction while we both tried to remember the responses. After my 5NT Anna knew I had a void, obviously in Clubs, so she knew her Ace there was worthless and signed off in 6♠.

This made comfortably, as it did on every other table. I've called it our highlight though as we were the only pair to investigate 7♠, and would have been able to bid it if it was there.

Overall Team Rowan lost the match 9-7.

Failing in 7NT

I have two teams in the SBU Bronze League this year - my 'veterans' who have now left school and my 'Juniors' who have just joined the bottom division. Last Wednesday I ended up playing for the veterans while also directing the Juniors - some of whom left at half-time thinking the match was over. I was madly messaging everyone to try and get that match back on track, while in the match I was playing I was faced with this hand:

Aidan had the big East hand and opened 2♣. I think most would say the hand is not good enough, as you have four losers and not enough tricks, but I have seen Aidan open a light 2♣ before so can't blame him for what followed. His counterpart, the East for our opponents Amisfield also chose to open 2♣.

With my strong West hand I was tempted to bid an immediate 7NT, but started with 2♦. Partner predictably bid Hearts, then Hearts again, and after my Blackwood bid showed the expected three keycards. If we had a method of asking for Kings I'd have done it; instead I just bid 7NT.

If partner has the expected solid Hearts, Ace of Spades, and at least one more King (Spades or Diamonds please) then we should be big favourites. As it is, it looks like it depends on a finesse.

Although you wouldn't generally like to be in a grand slam on a finesse, it's actually not too bad if you assume the other team are in 6NT. If the finesse works we gain about a game swing, if it fails we lose about a game swing. Of course the flaw in my reasoning is that if East opens 1♥ (as I would have) it might actually be quite hard to get to slam (makes the 2♣ opener look a bit better), and I'd feel foolish playing 7NT-1 against 4♥ on the other table.

In 7NT North led a Heart, a sensible safe lead. There are 11 top tricks. If the Diamonds come home you have plenty of tricks. Is there also a chance of a squeeze? Not really, as your only threats are the Spades and Diamonds in your hand. If North has the missing Kings (as here) he gets to choose what to discard after you, and if South has them that means the Diamond finesse was working anyway.

I ran a few Hearts then took the losing Diamond finesse. As I'd also cashed the ♠A in preparation for an end-position that didn't happen that meant off two. On this layout I can't do any better and I think I was technically right in assuming that I needed the Diamond finesse. I chose to take it early so I could then decide what to do if it won but the Diamond King didn't drop under the Ace, (if I play all my winning Hearts I have to throw away too many cards from dummy and can't then squeeze South).

However, I now wonder if I should have ran all of the Hearts, which would put a lot of pressure on North. He was already slowing down with his discards. I know that my Clubs aren't a threat but he doesn't, and I wonder if he would have been forced to e.g. bare the Diamond King. Would I have then dropped it with my Ace, or finessed anyway? Who knows - it would have been an interesting test.

As it was that was 14 IMPs out against 6NT= on the other table.

After that I was slightly on the tilt, but in a good way, and made just enough IMPs back on the last two boards. We won the match 53-35 overall.

This earlier deal was a great result for Aidan and I:

I made a rather reckless 3♥ overcall (having length in right-hand opponent's suit is a good thing I thought) and over their natural 3NT Aidan found a bold 4♥, doubled. There is at least one loser in each suit, plus I need to ruff some Spades but also draw trumps, and guess Diamonds right.

On a Spade lead from North I played low and South played the Ace, then tried to cash some Clubs. I ruffed in and now have to be careful. If I try and draw trumps then the defence could duck the King. Then what do I do? If I play another round of trumps they could win and play trumps again, leaving me without a Spade ruff. If I play Spades myself I could get stuck in dummy and forced to lead away from the Diamonds. I attacked the problem head-on and led a Diamond to the Jack and Ace. With Diamonds 3-2 I'm home now (as it happens with trumps 2-2 I'm always safe).

4♥x-1 for -200 was a good score against game making the other way. Our opponents said they were thinking about bidding 4NT. This has exactly nine top tricks, but who knows what might have happened on the run of the Clubs. On the other table North chose to double the 3♥ overcall, leading to 5♣=, so we gained 7 IMPs on this one.

A rare triumph

My new team of youngsters have been having a tough time in Division 5 of the SBU Bronze League, losing all their matches rather heavily. On more or less every game hand they lose about 10 IMPs. However, this was a rare triumph that made me very proud. 

The more experienced neevie14 was substituting in and found herself declarer in 3NT on the hand below (we have more trouble with the play than the bidding). 
  

East led a Heart and declarer had a think. It looks obvious to develop the Clubs, coming to 2 Spades, 5 Clubs and 2 Hearts. And you do have just enough time to develop the Clubs before your Heart stoppers are gone. But what if the defence duck the Clubs? If on the opening lead you make the instinctive second hand low play of a low Heart from dummy, winning the Ace in hand, you could be forever stranded from those Clubs. What did neevie do?

I'm delighted to say she rose with the ♥K, knocked out the ♣A, and collected nine tricks. Bravo - a great hand for advance planning.

On the other table 3NT was played by South, and the defence was not as challenging resulting in 3NT+2 and a loss of 2 IMPs. But we'll take that.

SBU Bronze League Week 3

This was the debut of my S2 players in the SBU Bronze League. They did well, with plenty of good stuff. The lunch-time before we'd done a lesson on ruffing in dummy, and I was pleased to say they took it on board and did lots of ruffing in the match. In fact, maybe too much ruffing, as there were a couple of times they could have drawn trumps but didn't. They played the first 8 boards, then in the second half myself and the more experienced S3 took over. We did slightly worse, but did well on this deal:

I opened 1♥ and Isla correctly replied 2NT showing 10-12 balanced. I raised to 3NT, and West led the King of Diamonds.

At this point I encourage the pupils to count sure tricks. You have 2 Spades (Ace and King), 0 Hearts, 1 Diamond (the Ace you just won), 3 Clubs. That only makes six.

Where are the other three coming from? You can get two more from Diamonds (the Ace-King are already gone, knock out the Queen and you have the next two). You can get one more from Hearts. What can go wrong? In theory, nothing. You have no weak suits so have plenty of time to establish your three extra tricks.

Our young declarer got me worried by cashing a couple of Spades and a couple of Clubs. Those are not the suits to build extra tricks. However, right at the last minute, she switched to Hearts then finally played Diamonds to secure nine tricks. Well played!

This was a great relief. We bid and made a game. This was a rare flat board but we lost the match overall.