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).