Buchanan re-opening party

Last night the Buchanan Bridge Club reopened after being closed for the summer. The main work was the electrics, but there was also a fresh lick of paint. I enjoyed the complimentary glass of wine, then knocked over a new bidding box. But it was a left-handed bidding box, so no one minded.

I played with John Faben. We don't really have a system, apart from bidding Puppet Stayman whenever possible. I thought I understood this, but actually I didn't. Our first Puppet Stayman misunderstanding lead to me propelling John into a bad 3NT, then things went even worse when we had a ridiculous auction which finished with me desperately bidding 6NT, doubled and off two.

Against Horst and Ricky we had three very bad boards. With no method to escape we suffered 1NTx-4, then went overboard with 3♠-3, then I played 1NT with a juicy 23 points but only made 4 tricks, for 1NT-3. Since I'm the author here I'm not going to publish the details, but I played it terribly.

Here's a hand where we both made a minor mistake in defence, which combined to give a very poor score.

Board 8
No vul W deal ♠ Q 9 5 2 ♥ A 7 6 ♦ K J 5 4 ♣ 8 6 ♠ K 8 6 ♥ J T 2 ♦ 6 ♣ Q J 9 4 3 2 10 7 8 15 ♠ J 4 ♥ K 5 4 ♦ T 9 7 3 2 ♣ A T 7 ♠ A T 7 3 ♥ Q 9 8 3 ♦ A Q 8 ♣ K 5	Danny John W N E S - - - 1♥ 3♣ x - 3♠ - 4♠ - - -

I'm sitting West, dealer and non vulnerable. I'm tempted to open 3♣, but I can't justify it and have to pass. North and East pass too, and South opens 1♥. I now come in with 3♣. This probably looks like I've got seven Clubs and a four card Major on the side, which stopped me opening 3♣ to begin with. Anyway, I couldn't bid 2♣, and I wanted to bid, so it had to be 3♣.

North doubled this, for takeout, but I was a bit worried it would be passed out. South came in with 3♠ (must have been close to bidding 4♠), and North raised to game. I think John was tempted to bid 5♣, but let it go.

I lead my Diamond singleton. Declarer won in dummy and lead the ♠Q, round to my ♠K. I'm eager for a Diamond ruff now, and want to put my partner in, so I lead a Club. Unfortunately, I chose to lead a low Club. John won his ♣A, and returned a Club. Declarer now won his ♣K, drew trumps, lead a Heart up to the ♥Q then gave up a Heart at the end for 4♠=.

John's mistake was not returning a Diamond for me to ruff. As he pointed out afterwards, when I initially lead the ♦6 it's obviously a singleton (and not a doubleton) because he can see all the other low Diamonds. My mistake was to lead a low Club to John's Ace, rather than the ♣Q. If I lead the ♣Q it's obvious I don't have the King, so John won't try for a second Club trick and will instead give me a Diamond ruff.

After that, John found a good 4♦x sacrifice, and we doubled the opponents twice for good results. It wasn't enough though, and we finished on just below 45%. Anna claims this poor result proves that she must be the strong link.

To finish, here's a hand where we got an OK result, but missed a slam. But how do you bid it? In the pub after, even knowing the contract we want to get to, we couldn't find a reasonable auction to slam.

♠ J 8 ♥ 8 3 ♦ A T 7 6 ♣ A K Q 9 4

♠ A 2 ♥ A K Q 6 2 ♦ K 8 5 ♣ T 6 3

W E 1♣ 1♥ 2♣ 2♦ 3♦ 3NT

I've got the West cards, which is an easy 1♣ opener. John's got the East hand and replies 1♥. I'm close to a reverse, but don't have enough, so rebid 2♣. John needs a forcing bid, so came up with 2♦. My hand looks even better now, and I'd like to do more but all I can come up with is 3♦. John knows I don't have Heart support now so bids 3NT. We're both maximum for our bids, don't know how we can do more to get us to 6♣.

We got a Spade lead in 3NT, which John won with the Ace. There's not point ducking this, as you might have 13 tricks if Hearts and Clubs both split. When the Hearts didn't split John just got his 11 top tricks, for 3NT+2. With any other lead, you can make 12 tricks in no trumps, as some tables did. One pair got a bottom for 5♣+1, and one a top for bidding and making 6♥.

6♣ is excellent, as it only needs Clubs 3-2 or Hearts 3-3.