Buchanan Bridge Club

I was standby last Monday, which I do about once a year. This time I got a game, with Harry Connolly. I agreed to his system, including Gemmel discards, which I can find no reference to online. 

We did OK. I made a few bold bids which generally paid off, and only one slip in defence.

Dummy has ♥AQTxx and leads a low one. You have ♥Jxx. What do you play? I instinctively played low. My partner won the trick with the King, and that was the only Heart we got. The whole suit was:

	AQTxx
Kxx		Jxx
	xx

Of course declarer could have finessed earlier, but had got stuck in dummy. So when he lead from table I should have played my Jack, which costs nothing and gains a trick here. 

Overall we finished on 57%, good enough for second in our section (a bit lower when combined with the online games).

This was an amusing deal:

On our table I was North and opened 1♥ (playing five card majors and strong NT). Harry sitting South replied 1NT and played there. West led the King of Clubs, ducked, then switched to a Diamond. East won his King and ran the Hearts. In the end declarer only got his three Aces.

Amazingly, with only 18 high card points between them, East-West can make 3NT, but of course no one bid it. 

Our score of 1NT-4 was worth 8%. I don't think declarer can do any better, expect for perhaps responding 1♠, after which I would have rebid 1NT and had to play the doomed contract instead. 

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.

Bridge Friendly - HSOG vs Hutchesons

Today I drove four S4 pupils across Glasgow for a friendly against Hutcheson's Grammar school. For slightly complicated reasons I had my six-year old boy with me (who doesn't play bridge, just Uno) so I didn't watch any of the action. I know the final result though, in an eight board teams match we lost 11-22.

Our pairs seemed happy enough with their play, but maybe lost out on a few part scores.

    

Peggy Bayer Match 10 - Northern Ireland

Our final match is against Northern Ireland, who we beat comfortably last time. While they get going, my reflections on the whole weekend:

- Great meeting in person, rather than online. Everyone agrees about this
- It would be nice if the same set of boards were used in the two tournaments, so that we could all chat together about the deals
- The bridge has been of quite a variable standard. I think in this situation the focus should be on encouraging the newer players, which it has been
- Hotel has been good, apart from the disappointing lunches (for those having the soup)

On this deal Al sitting South played in 4H. We've been working on dealing with losers in your hand (either by ruffing in dummy or throwing on dummy's winners), but here there's no need to do anything. Just draw trumps - 7 Hearts and 4 Spades means 4H+1, a game swing against 2H+3 at the other table (maybe a weak two passed out). 

Later I sat in to watch our East-West pair bid to a very bad 3NT. "I probably should have passed." said West. "Niamh, I hate you." said East. The contract made, but I hope they don't do it again. I'm not going to print the board in case it encourages them.

We won the match comfortably - well done the youngsters!

Final positions in Peggy Bayer (U21)

And in the Junior Camrose (U26)

All that remains is the final dinner and closing ceremony. Each federation has been asked to give a short speech. The other two Scotland coaches approached me and said they thought I should do it. Thanks guys. 

Peggy Bayer Match 9 - Ireland

I've not been following this match at all, as faced with another light lunch of soup (the exact same soup as yesterday) I booked myself into the Sunday Carvery. 

It was magnificent. The beef was a little dry but more than made up for by the turkey. Then I went back to get some of the more pork, and Bobby the chef came back out to carve it for me. Desert was a Bailey's cheesecake and ice cream. I couldn't finish it all.

Looking over the scores now, this board was a good one.

Kevin played 4H as North. One way the defence can beat it is with a Club ruff, another is by setting up a Spade trick. If they do both they get it two off.

But presumably they did neither, and Kevin managed to set up his Diamonds as he made 4H.

On the other table Rachel and Isla bid to 4S East-West. This is an excellent contract, and only needs Diamonds to break kindly. In fact, one of the prepared deals in my classroom in Glasgow is almost exactly like this - although in that one Diamonds are 3-2 and you can make the contract. Here we went one off, but still a good board.

Overall we lost 15-5, a similar score to against Ireland last time, and cementing us in 3rd place out of six overall.