Barcelona Open

I'm just back from a weekend in Spain playing in the Barcelona Bridge Open. It was fun with lots of good bridge. I played with Yuqi, a Japanese U21 player who is on an exchange in Spain. We finished an extremely average 78th out of 156 pairs, with 49.9%.

Final scores and Full results

Here is a diary I kept, supplemented with some bridge hands and photos.

Friday 30th January

Left work in a hurry this afternoon and drove to Edinburgh for a flight to Barcelona. It was arranged that I would arrive half-way through the first session and take over from a substitute, so I was keen to get there as quickly as possible. Once the plane landed I dashed through passport control and got a bus to Hotel Catalonia, barely stopping for a single pastry before bursting into the bridge room, which was the whole of floor minus one. 

Taking my seat, I settled in for the highest standard bridge tournament I've ever played in. The most similar experiences I've had are a few years ago playing a season online in the top division in Scotland, and twenty ago playing in the Brighton Congress where I nearly said hello to my hero Zia Mahmood. Since then it's all been school bridge and the occasional club night. 

Before starting, I introduced myself to my partner, who I was meeting for the first time. Yuqi is a talented Japanese player who was also looking for a partner. We'd agreed to play the system he used at the Youth World Championship, reduced from thirty pages to four pages, and had practiced a few times online alongside the Scottish Juniors, who were rather hoping he would defect to play for us. 

I sat North. On the very first board I was pleased to have an easy pass, then my left-hand opponent opened 4♥, passed out.

Danny Yuqi W N E S - - - 4♥ - - -

Yuqi sitting South led the Queen of Spades, on which I encouraged. He followed up with the Jack, which I overtook with the King and cashed the Ace. First three tricks for the defence. Where was our fourth trick coming from?

I promptly played a Spade, deliberately giving declarer a ruff and discard in the hope of promoting a trump trick for us. After considerable thought (three or four minutes, some with his head in his hands), declarer threw a losing Diamonds and accepted down one.

On reflection, my Spade is a bad play. If declarer has any Diamonds left, then it's better for me to play a Diamond to my partner's presumed Ace. Given my Hearts of Q8, it's quite likely that if I play a Spade declarer can ruff and draw trumps then throw his Diamond on dummy's good Clubs. I know my partner has either one or two small Hearts only. So in fact declarer could have succeeded either ruffing with the Jack of Hearts or a high one.

But I had played my Spade with such confidence that I think declarer assumed he was sure to lose an overruff (because South had the Queen), and he was worried about going down two. Phew! We got 91% on the board, as most stopped in 3H, or made 4H. 

On the next board I defended safely for down one, and by Board 3 felt confident to risk a friendly joke, against a pair of stony faced Italians who did not respond. After that I would my neck in. A delightful Dutch couple made me feel welcome then pleasantly destroyed us in 4H+1 when everyone else was only making ten tricks. With the matchpoint scoring conceding an extra trick got us a very bad score. 

At the end of the session we had 47%. I made no big mistakes but was maybe a bit timid. After the session a welcome beer and snacks were provided.

Saturday 31st January

Slept in until 9am. Wanted to take advantage of the hotel breakfast but instead went on a run through the city, which was perhaps a mistake as it was very crowded with lots of roads to cross. A Green Man means cross if you dare. 

With no morning session Yuqi and I went out for paella. He says Spanish food is a bit like Japanese, lots of rice and seafood. Then I went for a nap and to another cafe, ready for the 5 pm start.

We got off to a great start, and then I got a bit carried away. This was the turning point. North opened 1H and I was sitting East.

Yuqi		Danny
W	N	E	S
	1♥	4♣	-
-	-	-	-

The textbook bid is 3C, or maybe Pass. I went one extra with a 4C overcall. I hoped this would put pressure on the opponents, but they happily passed. My partner of course has the best hand at the table but has to pass too.

4C lost the first three tricks in Hearts, then South played a Diamond. I won in hand, crossed to dummy, threw my losing Spade on another Diamond (not expecting the spade finesse to work), and led a Club up. North snapped up his Ace and played another round of Hearts, putting me to a guess, as to how high to ruff. You can see that on this layout I can't guess wrong, but even so, 4C-1 netted only 31%. Top result was 3NT East-West, which a few pairs did find.

Then I had a chance for some good declarer play in 2NT. I had a secret Club suit of AKQ6, which I planned to play at the end, fairly confident that by then both defenders would be squeezed into throwing away too many Clubs to keep a stopper. Despite making a deliberate effort to watch out for Club discards, I missed one, and bottled it at the end and didn't risk playing my winning Six of Clubs.

Missing a squeeze is forgivable, but then I made my only really big blunder of the weekend. I was in another 2NT, needing four Club tricks from AKxxx opposite xxx. The suit split 3-2, but I foolishly cashed the Ace-King then played a third round, and was now stranded from my other two winners (should duck on first or second round). 

Firmly on the tilt, I accidentally made a game forcing bid when I just wanted to play at the two level. I had done a good job memorising the system but bodged here. The auction continued out of control until luckily Yuqi bid one of my suits, and I was able to pass 3H, to the surprise of everyone else at the table. This made exactly, for a solid 56%, and after that good fortune we finished the session well, moving up to 49% overall.

Afterwards I went for a drink with the Welsh Juniors (James, Jo and Sophie), then on to the official bridge dinner, on a friendly table with Serbian and Swedish bridge players. I had a fantastic egg dish followed by a very meaty Catalan stew. I think the Spanish style is to have only large meal a day. I've had two, and am surprised that Yuqi, a slender Japanese man half my size, is eating the same.

Sunday 1st February

After a three course meal last night starting at 10pm I once again didn't really feel like breakfast, but had plenty of orange juice and coffee instead. 

The final session of the bridge was about to start. Could we haul ourselves above 50%, in a very good field?

Things started well when I made 3NT with no Heart stopper.

Yuqi		Danny
W	N	E	S
	-	1NT	2♥
3♦	-	3NT	-

I opened the East hand 1NT, preferring it to 1D for reasons I don't remember. South overcalled 2H showing Hearts and a minor, and Yuqi bid the West hand 3D, natural and game forcing. Although I have massive Diamond support I instead bid 3S, and Yuqi bid 3NT. I thought this promised a stopper, and maybe South did too, as he led a Diamond.

I have nine top tricks. I could have cashed all my Diamond winners then maybe taken a Spade finesse for an overtrick, but realistically I was never going to risk the contract, so I just claimed after checking if the Queen of Spades fell. Making this terrible 3NT was worth 77%, not even more as 5D also makes for the more sensible bidders.

We kept up a good start, until the wheels fell off when I made a fairly decent 2D overcall, which got doubled. We ran to 3C doubled, even worse, when 2NT would have been a decent spot. 

A highlight was getting to play against the great Argentinian Diego Brenner, who had a cool demeanour and leather jacket. I was also looking good in some shorts and 'double penguin' (T-shirt and socks). We got one good board against him when I played 2C-1 (could have made it, nearly did) then Diego fixed us with a four card overcall.

   

Yuqi Danny Diego W N E S - - 1♦ 1♠ 2NT 3♦ 3NT -

I opened the East hand 1D and Diego bid 1S with the South dross. Yuqi bid 2NT, which I alerted, then realised that I'd forgotten I opened the bidding, and withdrew my alert. Diego was very nice about it. We ended in 3NT and North found the Spade lead to hold us to 9 tricks. 3NT= was worth just 15%. What a big difference Matchpoint scoring makes.

About half the players were Spanish and the other half from all over Europe. There were some friendly Croatians who had been in Barcelona a week to watch a Champions League Match. We also played against the Italian great Alfredo Versace, who wore a big hoodie often with the hood pulled tight around him. 

On the final hand I finally got to play a singleton-invite system that we had agreed.

Yuqi		Danny
W	N	E	S
		1♠	-
2♠	-	2NT	-
3♣	-	3♥	-
3♠	-	-	-

I opened the East hand 1S, and Yuqi raised to 2S. I bid 2NT, forcing Yuqi to bid 3C, then I showed my Heart shortage. Yuqi settled for 3S, and I played there. 

South lead a Diamond. I have six top Spade tricks, the Ace of Diamonds, and at least one ruff, so eight tricks to start off with. I set up the Clubs, and was able to ruff both a Club and a Diamond, plus the 8 of Clubs became a winner, for ten tricks and 3S+1. A great one to finish on, getting us 64% on the hand.

In the final session we moved up slightly to finish on 49.9%. However, remember that the first few boards of the event were played by Yuqi and a substitute, and they only averaged about 43%, so for the boards I played we actually averaged 50.5%. Sad that for me a win is beating 50%, I'm a long way from really winning.

After the bridge I popped into Barcelona for a quick haircut then went to the airport, where I was able to play a couple of hands online with the Scottish Juniors before flying home.

It was a very tiring weekend but lots of fun. The event was well run and thanks to the organisers including Nico, the tournament directors, and all the friendly Catalan people.

Now that's done I can concentrate all my bridge efforts on getting the Scottish Juniors ready for the Peggy Bayer in three weeks.

Buchanan Congress Pairs 2016

This is the third year in a row I've entered this event. In the last two years, with Anna, we narrowly failed to qualify for the final, and I narrowly failed to arrive on time (report here). This year I was playing with John Faben, who in previous years had done very well playing with Norman McGeagh, finishing 2nd overall and 1st overall.

Things started well when we both arrived thirty minutes before the start time, to fill out our System Cards. The main point of interest is that we play Puppet Stayman in all situations when it's appropriate, and many when it's not. Therefore, in the section on the bidding card for General System, I'd just written Puppet Stayman, which I regretted when somebody picked up our card and asked what system we play. It was like the time in the University Championships when my partner Jake and I wrote Post-Prandial Slump on our System Card, and an opponent asked what it was and when it applies (after lunch).

With the Puppet Stayman agreed the rest of the system fell into place. John made me agree that "2NT in competition is never natural" which is perhaps a good idea, but since we hadn't agreed what it was (only that it wasn't natural) this caused some confusion during the day, when 2NT bids were alerted, asked about, then explained only as "not natural".

On the very first board, at favourable vulnerability, I was dealer with this rotten 11 point hand:

♠ K ♥ 92 ♦ KJ86 ♣ A97643

I opened 1♣, and regretted it 30 seconds later when John leaped to 6NT, doubled and off two. But on the very next board he played a quiet 2♦ with two unexpected overtricks for a top score, so in the strange world of Matchpoints we broke even on the round.

We bid Puppet Stayman wherever possible, and scored a triumph here:

Danny John W N E S - - 1NT - 2♣* - 2♦* - - -

John opened the South hand 1NT (12-14, may contain a singleton) and I had the weak North hand. I bid 2♣ which asks for a 5-card Major. I knew that if John had one, ideally Spades, we'd be in at least a 5-2 fit, which is no worse than a transfer, and if he didn't have a five card Major we'd play in 2♦, as happened here.

2♦ went well as with the perfect layout of trumps declarer lost just one Diamond, two Spades and two Clubs. It scored 80%, just losing to the couple of North-South pairs making made more tricks than they should have in 1NT.

John was declarer most of the time, which suited me fine. The first time I was declarer I overbid my strong hand, trusted my ♥Kx was a stoppper and ended up in a dicey 3NT. My stopper was not a stopper and it went four off vulnerable. This turned out to be a reasonable score when we realised they could make 4♥ there way, on limited points. We were all a bit surprised when we saw the traveller for that one.

The hand I regret the most is one where we got 60% and bid a Grand Slam. My bidding is somewhat embarrassing here but I'll show it anyway:

Danny John W N E S - 2♣* 4♥ 5♥ - 6♦ - 6♥ - 6♠ - 7♠ - -

I had the nice North hand and when John reached for the Stop card I expected him to be bidding a weak 2♦. Instead out came 2♣! West wasted no time bidding 4♥, an excellent bid. My ♥A is a massive card and I thought about just bidding 7NT, but I was keenly aware that John might only have 16 points and a very distributional hand following his comments on my previous post here. So I bid a very confusing 5♥. John did what he could to make sense of this and bid 6♦, then I threw him again by bidding 6♥. He got that I was looking for another suit and bid 6♠ which I raised to 7♠.

7♠ made when the trumps were 3-1 (it can go down if they are 4-0) but of course 7NT makes too. The 4♥ bid helped me know that John had virtually all of the missing high cards (as West has at least ♥KQ) but still worried that John could have a hand like he does but missing the ♦Q or ♦J, in which case 7♠ makes and 7NT goes down.

Of the 14 North-South pairs 3 were in 7NT, 2 in 7♠ and the rest in small slam (and one in 5♦).

With the top half of the pairs qualifying for the final we knew it was going to be close. We finished on 52%, but that was only good enough for the top runner-up spot, and a place in the Consolation Final. Worse than that, in the final round before the break the pair we were playing defended incredibly slowly (and accurately) so we were last in the queue for lunch. We had some sandwiches then went to Kelvingrove park to look at the hands.

The top qualifiers were John Di Mambro and Ronald Gaffin with 62%.

In the Consolation Final we had a few good results, but also seemed to get a lot of things wrong. Once I opened 2♥ with a poor suit and John had a void. I lost five trump tricks and went two off. The hand below shows a notable bodge:

Anna Danny W N E S 2♥ x 3♥ - - x - 3♠ - 3NT - 4♠ - - - -

This time North opened a weak 2♥ before me and I had the 20 point East hand. I considered a light 3NT or a heavy 2NT but decided for a double. When it came back to me in 3♥ I doubled again, and this time John bid 3♠. I should be able to tell he's got a very weak hand as he would have voluntarily bid 3♠ the round before if at all possible. But I bid 3NT anyway, and he wisely corrected to 4♠, which still went two off. I've read somewhere that novice players tend to overvalue good hands and undervalue weak hands; that was certainly me here.

4♠-2 was worth 17%, as John outplayed the pair in 4♠-3.

Looking at the hands now maybe I can blame John for not bidding 4♣ over 3NT, which certainly would have worked here.

In general I was guilty of not bidding directly enough, and we both made mistakes in the play, such as playing to give partner a ruff even though you know he has no trumps. This is only marginally better than playing to get a ruff yourself when you have no trumps. We did manage to generate a few positive swings, such as when John supported my Spades (at the four level) with ♠84 which lead to the opponent reaching a hopeless 6♥.

My final featured hand is a seemingly routine 3NT, played by South.

John was on lead and found the normal Club lead, which gives declarer time to set up the Hearts and after a Club finesse come to nine tricks. However, whenever 3NT was played by North it went down, as East found a Diamond lead. This seems reasonable enough, and it's just a swing based on luck of who is declarer. But the hand record shows that 3NT makes on any lead. How do you make 3NT on a Diamond lead? It looks like the defence have four Diamonds and a Heart.

The answer, which I worked out while walking home, is that declarer must play Diamonds herself. The defence do get their four Diamond tricks but West is squeezed so much that if she wants to keep her Heart guard she has to give up an extra tricks in Spades and Clubs, letting declarer get to nine tricks with only two from Hearts.

Overall, I estimated we got 55%, which turned out to be accurate. We were the East-West pair due to sit out on the final round, so went home early, after waiting for the Tournament Director to inform of us a ruling from earlier. The top pair in the Consolation Final were Kathleen Craig and Bob Innes with 62%. In the main final, the top three were:

1	Horst Kopleck & Ricky Finlason	68%
2	Jim McMenemy & Paul Maiolani	65%
3	Iain Taylor & Andrew Symons	58%

So, curiously, after his success of the last two years John was unable to repeat that when playing with me. I can only think that's because he played a lot worse this time :)

European Youth Bridge Championship - Tromsø 2015

This is a spectator's report from kibitzing at the European Youth Bridge Championship in Norway this summer.

Two weeks ago I was watching this tournament on BBO, then one week ago I was on holiday travelling from Oslo to the Northern Cape. On the way I stopped off in Tromsø and watched some of the final round of the U26 and U21 teams.

In the morning I sat with England coaches Bryony Youngs and Alan Shillitoe, who lamented their teams problems in coping with extremely aggressive opposition.

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Then I caught up with Scotland coach Liz McGowan. The U16 Scottish team had already finished their games, but the U21 team were in action. They recorded a good result in the first match of the day with a narrow loss to Denmark. I met Ronan Valentine & Liam O'Brien, who were not playing that match, then in came the rest of the team: Jun Nakamaru-Pinder & Stewart Pinkerton along with Suzanna Nesom & Olivia Bailey. We tried to work out how Olivia had managed to make a very tricky 3NT. Then we watched a video with Ronan and Liz being interviewed by the organisers (available here and surprisingly non-embarrassing, they are both pros in front of a camera).

Despite not doing too well in the event the team were in good spirits and seemed to be enjoying the trip. Jun told me the cheapest place for a pint in Tromsø, a steal at just 65 Kroner (£5)!

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In the afternoon I watched a live match of Scotland against Italy. I sat behind Ronan Valentine, and it was tense. For all of the first three boards he had big hands, and big pressure.

This was the biggest board of the match:

Love All W deal ♠ A T 7 2 ♥ Q 5 ♦ A K 8 7 3 ♣ A 4 ♠ J 6 3 ♥ T 7 6 3 ♦ 9 2 ♣ T 6 5 2 17 1 6 16 ♠ Q 9 8 5 4 ♥ J ♦ Q 6 5 ♣ J 9 8 7 ♠ K ♥ A K 9 8 4 2 ♦ J T 4 ♣ K Q 3

Ronan Liam W N E S - 1♥ - 2♦* - 2♥ - 3♥ - 3NT* - 4♠* - 5♦* - 5♠* - 6♦* - 7♥* - - -

The 2♦ response was 2/1, game forcing. Then 2♥ apparently showed six, as North was able to raise with a doubleton. 3NT was a slam try, and 4♠ was asking for keycards in Hearts (they play kickback, where the suit one above trumps is Blackwood). 5♦ showed two keycards without the ♥Q. 5♠ was a follow up ask for Kings, and the 6♦ reply showed either the ♦K or the other two Kings. Here, North knew that South was showing the other two Kings, ♠K and ♣K, so he confidently bid 7♥.

The auction was swiftly done and they were right in sync. The Italian West was a very quick player and as soon as he sensed they were getting to a grand slam he shuffled a Heart to the front of his hand, then instantly lead it. As you can see, with Hearts 4-1 there is an inevitable trump loser and the contract had to go one off. It was a tough break on the Scots, when the other table was only in a small slam.

Overall about one third of the tables were in a grand slam, which I think is good bidding. 7NT is the best contract, but still goes down as the Diamond finesse also fails.

The Scots went on to lose the match, and did not do well in the overall rankings. In fact it's fair to say it was not a classic tournament for Scotland.

In the U21 category this was the final table, with the top six qualifying for the next World Championship (in Italy).

U21
1	Netherlands	218.22
2	Sweden	205.23
3	Israel	189.18
4	Italy	171.98
5	Germany	169.71
6	Latvia	169.32
...
13	England	118.40
...
16	Scotland	49.22

The U16s featured a very young Scotland team:

U16
1	Poland	153.05
2	France	148.92
3	Sweden	148.48
4	England	144.41
5	Netherlands	142.75
6	Israel	134.78
...
11	Scotland	31.09

In the U26 these was no Scottish team, but note that England qualify in 4th:

U26
1	Poland	241.80
2	Sweden	241.54
3	Norway	229.41
4	England	210.64
5	Netherlands	209.15
6	France	204.31

If you want to pick over the full results, they are here.

Buchanan Congress Pairs 2015

It's congress season and last Saturday Anna and I were at the Buchanan. This is our home club, even though we don't play there that often, and so it was a bit embarrassing when some other members asked us where we usually play.

Last year at the congress we bombed in the qualification, then bounced back to win the consolation final (report here). This year we did our best to repeat that, by again failing to qualify for the main final.

It was a hectic start. I had ambitiously entered a running race at Pollok in the morning, while Anna went to get a big picture framed. We met at the event in separate cars. She made it on time, but I didn't, so Horst demoted us to the sit out table on the top floor. Once we got going things went rather well, give or take the odd mishap. An early highlight came when I discovered that there was tea and coffee outside the playing area, for those who missed the pre-start tea.

I like to bid a slam on the final round (ideally the final board), and got my wish here:

Anna Danny W N E S 1♥ - 4♦* - 4NT* - 5NT* - 6♥ - - -

I have the East hand and opened 1♥. South passed and Anna splintered with 4♦ showing Heart support and short Diamonds. We recently agreed that you only splinter with weak hands, or strong hands, or any hands. I couldn't remember which, and thought Anna probably couldn't either. So even though I have an awful holding in Diamonds opposite a shortage (♦KJxx) I decided to press on anyway. I bid RKCB and Anna bid 5NT, showing a void and two keycards. This bit of the system we did remember. For Anna's benefit, it's documented here (apparently we play Exclusion Blackwood too).

Against 6♥ South cashed the ♠A and I was able to draw trumps and quickly claim.

At the end of the qualification event I figured that we had finished on at least 60%, but I must have had too many teas, got too excited and wildly over-estimated, as we only got 53%. This wasn't quite good enough, so we only qualified for the consolation final.

In the break we had an excellent lunch. Anna wrestled with the problem of how many sandwiches she could fit on her plate, both physically and following etiquette. We went for a short walk into Kelvingrove Park and then came back raring to go (but rather rather tired and not concentrating as much) for the consolation final.

The relaxed attitude paid off, and we had five 100% Boards in the session. This one was the most pleasing:

Anna Danny Anna W N E S 1♥ - - 1NT - 2NT; - 3NT - - -

1. What would you open the North hand?

We play a weak NT and are allowed to open on 5422 shape if the doubletons are strong, as they are here. However, I've got the majors and opened 1♥, ready to rebid an awful 2♥ if I had to. This was passed round to West, who overcalled 1NT. East raised to 2NT as she wasn't sure if this showed a normal 1NT overcall or a slightly lighter one in the pass out seat (we play 12-15 here, right Anna?). West liked her Hearts and bid 3NT.

2. What would you lead as North?

I picked out the ♥9, as we play second highest from only small cards. Declarer won this in dummy, and lead a Club to her ♣K and my ♣A. Now I had a bit of a think. I really want to play Spades but it won't work if lead them from the North hand. I've got to get partner in. To make things tough for declarer, I lead my ♦7. Declarer made the very reasonable guess of putting in dummy's ♦J, which Anna sitting South was able to win.

Anna then had a think before emerging with exactly the card I wanted to see, the ♠9. Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton were in perfect harmony. She had managed to avoid leading a Heart (the suit I opened) and a Diamond (the suit I switched too) and found a Spade, and by leading the ♠9 declarer is pickled.

We ended up with three Spade tricks plus a few more, for 3NT-3, and a top. Surprisingly, despite having 25 points and all suits stopped only three tables in our event were in 3NT (and none at all in the main event final). Most played in Clubs.

On the very next board we also got 100%, as Anna loves a double fit:

Danny Anna W N E S 1♦ - 1♠ 2♥ 2♠ 3♥ 3♠ 4♣ 4♠ 5♥ - - x - - -

East opened 1♦ and Anna sitting South passed. At favourable vulnerability she could have made a 3♣ weak jump overcall but didn't fancy it (or forgot about it). West introduced Spades and I overcalled 2♥. When it got round to me again I decided to show my Club suit, which hit the jackpot for Anna and she competed to 5♥, doubled.

East lead the ♦A then switched to a Spade. I drew trumps and played a Club. East won and had a dilemma. Should she try and cash a Diamond or a Spade? She wrongly chose to play a Diamond, which I could ruff and win all the Clubs to make 5♥x=. As 4♠ was making on every table it was played we would have got a good score even for one down.

Those were two great results. Would I get carried away? Yes indeed. A couple of boards later I had this marginal hand. Vulnerable against not, with three passes to me:

3. Would you open this? ♠A ♥J75 ♦T82 ♣KQJ632

The Rule of Fifteen says you should only open fourth in hand when your points plus number of Spades is 15 or more. This hand has 11 points and one Spade, so is a definite pass. The thinking is that the points are evenly split and since you don't have Spades the opposition do, so opening the bidding just helps them to a Spade part score. And so it proved. I recklessly opened 1♣, and after a competitive auction our opponents bid and made 3♠ for -140 and 30%. Passing the hand out would have got 60%.

Later Anna had this one, with both sides vulnerable and also fourth in hand:

4. Would you open this? ♠KQ32 ♥52 ♦8742 ♣AJ9

This one's got only 10 points, but four spades. Anna followed the rule and passed it out. This got us 55%, beating the one pair who did open and ended up overboard in 3♠-1, which shows another danger of opening light.

As the afternoon turned into evening we fell into a nice groove. It was nice and warm upstairs and a packet of Fruit Pastilles melted in my pocket. The only hiccup came when twice we were undone by the Multi 2♦. That's one to work on. In the end we finished on a decent 57.9%, which was good enough for 5th.

The consolation final winners were Iain Taylor & Andrew Symons with 61%.

In the main final the top three were:

1	Iain MacIntyre & Bobby Moore	61.67%
2	Ronald Gaffin & John Di Mambro	60.32%
3	Norman McGeagh & John Faben	59.04%

Full results from the consolation final here and main final here.

New Melville Bridge Congress 2015

Despite living in Glasgow I've become something of a regular at this Edinburgh Congress. In 2013 me and Anna played together and thanks to a generous Novices handicap we finished 3rd overall (read my blog report here). Then in 2014 Anna was working a night shift so I paired up with John Faben and we handicapped ourselves by playing a ridiculous Culbertson system (report here).

This year I was back with Anna, and we were well prepared. For the first time that I can remember Anna agreed to look at a couple of practice hands in advance, so for any auction that required a 1NT response we were more ready than ever. We were also well prepared in arriving early, to enjoy a relaxing tea in the New Melville. The club has great facilities and was also totally full, with 58 pairs competing for the Pairs Trophy.

I started well with a series of Passes, which is a bid I often find difficult. When I finally got a good hand I showed admirable restraint:

Anna Danny W N E S - 1♥ - 1♠ - 2♥ - 3♦ - 4♥ - - -

I have the 17-point 3-loser East hand. Anna opened 1♥, and I replied 1♠. She rebid 2♥, and I was still dreaming big. I tried 3♦, which is game forcing. Anna showed her minimum with long Hearts by jumping to 4♥. At this point I still expect we have a slam, as all it needs is Anna to have a doubleton honour in one of my suits. However, I figure it will be too hard to find so ruefully pass out 4♥, and put down my monster dummy with a trump-void. What a waste. North leads a Spade and Anna soon collects 4♥+1 for 64%.

And on the other tables? You can see that 6♠ or even 6♦ make, via a lucky ruffing finesse in Hearts. However the one pair in 6♠ went down, and the several pairs in 6NT also obviously failed.

And how about John Faben & Martin Stephens? Their auction was the same as ours until East's final Pass, where John instead bid Blackwood and got a 5♠ reply. He thought about passing that but bid 6♥, which could make on a favourable lead but went down when the defence cashed their Aces.

1. Would you have bid on over 4♥?

After that excitement things settled down again. On one hand an opponent opened the bidding, and Anna started making faces to me. Finally I realised that she was gesturing towards my cup of tea. I passed it over, just as my right hand opponent invited game. Anna sipped the tea, decided she didn't like it and passed it back to me, while the opponent's bid on. We took them down two, then Anna informed me that the tea was stewed.

Then we fell away a bit. I had two big bodges. Once I forgot to cash a winner in defence, allowing it to disappear and give an overtrick. Then I played an easy 2♥ contract and was thinking to myself how we should have been in game. But I had a Diamond suit of ♦6542. I wasn't too worried about it but then found myself with no trumps left in dummy and the opponents cashing Diamonds.

So going into the last few boards we needed a bit of luck. On our last board of the day I had a 6-5 and came alive:

Danny Anna W N E S 1NT - 3NT 4♠ - - x - - -

East opened a weak NT. Anna sitting South could have overcalled 2♦, which for us shows a six card Major, and 8-15.

2. Would you have bid as South?

Anna went for a quick pass, and West bid 3NT. I decided with it being the final hand I should push the boat out, and so I pulled out a 4♠ bid.

3. Would you have bid as North?

I figured worst case I would lose three Spades, one Heart one Diamond and one Club, and when Anna turned up with ♠Q I lost only five tricks for 4♠x-2. Even though they can comfortably make 3NT my sacrifice only got 36% of the Matchpoints. This is because lots of East-West pairs were in 5♦-1 (which supposedly can be made but nobody did). And what of John and Martin? They played 6♦-2.

At the end of the day me and Anna finished on 54.9%, good enough for 12th out of 58 pairs. Way out in front with 64% were Archie Leith and Diana Drysdale. Unfortunately, since we didn't win Anna didn't let me go to the zoo so we just drove back to Glasgow.

East Swiss Pairs 2014

Last year I played in The East of Scotland Swiss Pairs with Kris Nyugen from Edinburgh and we finished 11th (read my report here). This year I was playing with Anna. One thing stayed the same though. Just like last year I was part of the the last pair in the room, jogging in at a minute past one.

Since we live in Glasgow now we left quite quickly afterwards to drive home, and in my hurry I picked up two copies of the hand records from the first half. Hence I'm going to focus on the early deals.

In Round One we played in a slow and measured way. We bid conservatively and took no risks, apart from two wild moments (out of six boards).

Non-vulnerable, this was Anna's hand. We play standard Acol.

♠ A K Q J 8

♥ K J T

♦ 8 6

♣ A Q T

1: What do you open?

Anna went for the usual 2NT opening. We're not too strict about this bid and it could even include a singleton. I raised her to 3NT which was passed out, or so I thought. Then Anna pointed out that she hadn't actually passed yet, and still had a bid. After some thought she pulled out 4♠, which surprised everyone. She was worried about the Diamond suit. This was the full deal.

Danny Anna W N E S 2NT - 3NT - 4♠ - - - -

South lead a Heart. Anna now has ten top tricks (five Spades, two Hearts including a ruff and three Clubs). This is one more top trick than in 3NT, so ought to be a good score. However, lots of people made ten tricks in 3NT, getting their extra trick either in Clubs or Diamonds. Anna could have got her eleventh trick here, but guessed to play for Clubs 3-3 rather than the ♦A onside so only made 4♠=. I think this hand demonstrates how tricky Matchpoints is.

After this board I thought we must have been doing badly so pre-empted wildly on the last board of the set. This had no effect as the opponents calmly bid 5♥ over me and made it. In fact we hadn't done as bad as I thought, and we scored 8/20 VPs, and moved just slightly down the field.

In Round 2 came the Deal of the Day, with big decisions for all four players. With nobody vulnerable my left hand opponent dealt and opened 1♥.

♠ 7 2

♥ K 6 4

♦ A

♣ A K J 6 4 3 2

2. What do you overcall with this hand?

I decided I was too good for 2♣ so doubled planning to bid Clubs next round (which for us shows about 16-18 and a good 6+ card suit). It was only when the bidding got back round that I thought of 3NT. This was the full deal and auction at our table:

Danny Anna W N E S 1♥ x - 1♠ 3♥ 3NT - - -

After my double East was restrained in not bidding her eight card Diamond suit, and in fact was restrained throughout. Anna has the perfect hand to respond 1NT to my double (8-11 points, Heart stop), but curiously chose to introduce her three card Spade suit. This proved to be a tactical masterstroke, as the opponents can actually make 6♠ but were cut out of the auction by her unusual bid. Perhaps out of frustration West jumped to 3♥. I was now all set to bid my Clubs, but remembered about 3NT and bid it with some confidence. I've got seven top Clubs (probably) the ♦A and surely a Heart on the lead.

Unfortunately East thwarted me by leading a Diamond. I played the ♦Q from dummy hoping West would have to play the ♦K. He played low so embarrassingly I had to overtake my winning Queen with the singleton ♦A. With the surprise Club support in dummy I've eight top tricks. I thought about crossing to dummy and leading a Heart through West to try and steal a ninth, which probably would have worked as he wouldn't expect me to have so many cashing Clubs. If however he did rise with the ♥A though he could then lead a Diamond back, and the defence would take seven more Diamonds and the rest in Spades, for a rare 3NT-8.

I decided instead just to run all my Clubs, which would lead to one down at worst or make if someone messed up the discards. I think West presumed I had ♦AK because he threw his remaining Diamond and in the end I was able to safely set up my ninth trick in Hearts, and actually finished on 3NT+1.

We collected 13/20 VPs for this round and moved up the field a bit.

In Round 3 we persisted with our counter-intuitive matchpoint strategy of bidding minor contracts wherever possible. This worked out well, as we missed a few doomed games. I had a little decision when dealer with this hand.

♠ 2

♥ 8 7 4 3

♦ A 7 6 4 3 2

♣ 4 3

It's worth noting that if you were playing reverse bridge (lowest card wins the trick), this would be a 2♣ opener. As we were playing normal bridge I passed. Anna opened 1♥, a natural bid showing a four card major.

3. What do you respond?

I think that you'd be mad to pass as you have an excellent hand in support of Hearts. I bid 2♥, and felt quite comfortable when Anna raised to 4♥. Then, having passed throughout, one of the opponents went into a long think about sacrificing over 4♥. I'm glad he didn't, as it was a double fit hand:

Anna Danny W N E S - - 1♥ - 2♥ - 4♥ - - -

Against 4♥ North lead the ♠A then switched to a Diamond. Anna won the ♦A while also unblocking her ♦K, and went on to make the obvious eleven tricks. I think if South did bid 5♣ I might well have bid again.

We won this round with 17/20 VPs, and moved up to Table 5.

For lunch I had a scone:

In the second half we continued to bid calmly, declare averagely and defend generously. I have no records or memory of the hands so can only say we finished in joint 9th place, good enough for the 1st Bronze Prize:

Well done to Yvonne and David Wiseman on an emphatic win. Full results here and photos of the winners here (though this SBU News page might have changed by now).

Buchanan Congress Pairs

Last Sunday me and Anna played together in the Buchanan Congress Pairs. The afternoon session was a qualification event, to find the top 14 out of 30 pairs who would go on to compete in the final in the evening. This was the first event me and Anna have played in an event with qualification, and we buckled under this small extra pressure. After the first two boards were poor I told Anna not to worry as we'd just started. The next two were poor too. I kept telling Anna not to worry until it got to about Board 10, when I realised we probably weren't going to qualify.

We didn't do too much wrong, most of the time. But here's a definite blunder that cost us:

Danny Anna W N E S - - 1♠ - 2♣ - 2♦ - 2NT - 3♠ - - -

Anna was sitting South and opened 1♠. I was North and replied 2♣. Anna then rebid 2♦, and I bid a natural 2NT. All fairly normal up to now I expect. My 2NT is invitational to game, and of course Anna wants to accept. But she wasn't sure if 3NT or 4♠ was the best contract, so bid 3♠, expecting me to either bid 3NT or raise her to 4♠ with a doubleton. But I surprised her with a Pass. We've not discussed this situation and I assumed the 3♠ was a weak bid. I did consider bidding 4♠ anyway, but I've got weak doubletons in both Anna's suits, and I'd just gone three off on a previous hand and was a bit scared.

Anna started shaking her head as soon as dummy came down, and was still silently tutting as she took her eleven tricks for 3♠+2. For further embarrassment, at the half time break John Faben asked if we'd considered bidding a slam on Board 13, and I had to confess we weren't even in game. Following John's on-the-spot advice we've agreed for future reference that in these situations a bid like 3♠ is indeed weak.

After this disaster we rallied slightly, before finishing with two zeroes against Joan Lees & Michele Gladstone. Overall we scored 44.13%, good enough only for the Consolation Final. On the upside I was sitting North throughout, and operated the Bridge Mate perfectly with no incorrect scores.

The top pairs in qualification were Christine Howe & Trish Matheson (NS) and Grace & James Walker (EW).

In the break I wasted far too much time talking about the hands. "You were very boring" said Anna. I also largely missed out on the sandwiches, and had to make up for that with a plate of cake. The cake was a bit sweet for my liking, and I should know, as I had four slices.

For the consolation final I bought myself a gin and tonic and some iced water for Anna, but unfortunately they got mixed up and Anna had my gin. On the first deal I commented that all my cards were already sorted in suits and Anna chuckled at my stupidity. Apparently everyone knows that since the cards are computer dealt they're always arranged into suits on the first hand.

With the pressure off we did much better now, and everything seemed to go our way. For example, I doubled 6NT, which went off 3. Twice I stumbled into an aggressive 4-3 fit which got a good score. I made some dodgy bids, but they paid off. For example, this was a lucky one:

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

I was sitting West and opened 1♠. It was the best hand I'd had in ages, and I was excited. Anna replied 1NT and I pushed the boat out with a 3♦ reply, which is game forcing and shows 18-19. I don't have that, and my singleton ♥K is a bit rubbish, but I felt I was too good to just bid 2♦. Anna has no choice but to bid 3NT. South lead a Heart and I went off to get a whisky and another piece of cake.

When I came back, Anna had got her nine tricks and was just losing the last four. "You're lucky I had the Ten of Spades", she said. With five Spades, three Hearts and a Club there's a routine nine tricks. You need the ♠T as an entry to the Hearts. Without it I guess you'd have to overtake the ♥K and hope for three Heart tricks anyway, if the ♥J falls. Bidding and making 3NT got us an excellent score, as only one other pair in the Consolation Final bid it (Mandy and Ronnie Simpson), and no pairs at all in the Main Final.

On the final board of the event me and Anna both got good hands, and reached an excellent slam:

Helen K Anna Cliff G Danny W N E S 3♥ x - 4♠ - 4NT* - 5♥* - 6♠ - - -

West opened with 3♥ and Anna had a think then doubled. The other option is maybe 3NT. Doubling looks better, but not sure what she would have done if I replied in Diamonds. As it is Anna hit the jackpot with her double as I jumped to 4♠, then showed two Aces and no Queen of trumps with 5♥. Without the Queen of Trumps Anna conservatively stopped in 6♠. I think 7♠ has a decent chance: I could have five Spades (with six I would have lied and said I had the Queen); the trumps could be 2-2; or you could find the Queen. As it is they were 2-2 (and in fact East dropped the Queen on the first round), so I duly made 6♠+1.

After the deal Anna asked if she should have bid the Grand Slam. I said that it would probably have made virtually no difference to our matchpoint score, but would have been glorious. I was proved right; 6♠+1 was worth a massive 93% as only one other pair in the Consolation Final bid the slam (Ricky Finlayson and Horst Kopleck). In the main final three out of eight pairs bid it.

We finished on a comfortable 63%, enough to win the Consolation Final. According to Anna, who took the envelope, the prize was only £1 each, but she did take me out to dinner afterwards.

In the main event the runaway winners were John Faben and Norman McGeagh. Second equal were Grace & James Walker and Jim McLaughin & Peter Cairns. There were supposed to be some tankards for the winners, I'll have to ask John about that.

Full results on the Buchanan website here here.

New Melville Bridge Congress 2014 - Part Two (Teams)

This is Part Two of my report of the New Melville Bridge Congress. Part One was the pairs, see here.

After the pairs finished we dashed to the pub for lunch, and some analysis of the afternoon's play. Two veggie burgers and two hot dogs. As the official results weren't in yet the main aim was to determine which pair had done better. With an ad-hoc BAM scoring system me and John concluded we'd won, but since neither pair did well at all we decided to switch the partnerships for the teams. I would re-unite with Jake, and Martin would play with John.

Me and Jake have played together competitively about once a year, beginning with a valiant but doomed attempt to win the Portland Bowl cup for Edinburgh University (see here). We have settled into a system of Weak NT (11-14), five card majors, and Rubensohl even though I'm not too sure how to play it.

The Teams Tournament consisted of only four matches, each of six boards. To give myself an extra boost of freshness I changed my T-shirt before the first round.

Match One: 20-0 (Total 20/20 VPs)

In our first match me and Jake were against Derek Sanders and Cath Dempsie, while Martin and Jake played Deirdre Sanders and Michael Marshall.

There were two big hands. Firstly, I doubled the opponents in 5♦, holding ♠ AK952 ♥ T94 ♦ - ♣ AQT63 . It was slightly risky, and I got very worried when Derek said he was thinking about redoubling. But I made my three top tricks, and opposite my Diamond void partner had five of them, so also got two trump tricks and it went three off. On another board Martin and John also collected an 800 penalty. These two hands were enough for us to win the match by 28 IMPs, which translated into 20-0 VPs. A flying start!

I should also apologise to everyone for Board 4, which I played painfully slowly, eking out a tortuous 3NT+1.

Match Two: 20-0 (Total 40/40 VPs)

Remarkably we kept things going in the second round, playing against Liz Barr and Ritchie Thompson's team. Jake bid an aggressive 4♠ which they missed at another table, and I eked out another 3NT by ducking a lot. Those were both game swings in. On the other table Jake and Martin collected yet another +800 when Martin punished a poor 4♠. Collectively those three good scores lead to +27 IMPs and another 20-0 win. That meant that whatever happened we were bound to finish on at least half marks.

Match Three: 20-0 (Total 60/60 VPs)

On this round against John Hamilton's team we got a bit of luck resulting in two game swings. John and Martin missed this slam, but so did the opposition. I think it's very hard to bid:

You can see that East-West have a big Diamond fit. There's just one loser in Hearts, as all the losing Spades go on the top Clubs. Even if you miss the slam 5♦ is a much better contract than 3NT, which needs Hearts 4-4.

Here's three attempts to bid the hand. I've starred the conventional bids.

W E 1♦ 2♦* 2♥* 3NT

W E 1♦ 2♦* 3♦* 3♥ 3♠ 3NT

W E 1♦ 1♥ 2♣ 5♦

The first one is from the opponents at my table. After the 1♦ opening there's an inverted minors response of 2♦, then East bids 2♥ to show a minimum (says nothing about Hearts) and West jumps to 3NT. Against 3NT I duly lead the ♥K and we got our four tricks. The second table is Martin and John bidding. This time after the inverted minor they used 3♦ to show a minimum, then West bid a natural 3♥. East didn't have enough in Spades to bid 3NT so bid 3♠, then West bid 3NT. What's the point of inverted minors if all it does is get you to 3NT?

The best auction I think was the third table from Derek Sanders and Cath Dempsie. East opens 1♦, West replies a natural 1♥ and East rebids 2♣. West has a powerful hand and jumps to 5♦. If instead of 5♦ West instead goes for a forcing 4♦, or fourth suit forcing you've a decent chance of finding the slam. On 24 tables 6♦ was bid only once, by Liz McGowan and David Liggatt I think.

Scoring up at the end of this match was more good news, we had enough IMPs for another 20-0 win.

Match Four: 12-8 (Total 72/80 VPs)

Going into the final round we were on 60 VPS out of 60, and our closest opponent on 45 VPs. This was the team of Irene Sime and David Kaye, who we had to play next. We all worked out that even if we lost the match by 17-3 (but no more), we would still win overall. I was terrified we were going to lose 20-0. I was pretty tired by now and went on a raid to the kitchen to get some tea. All I found was an old silver tin, which it turned out contained Earl Grey's, one each for me and Jake.

I was hoping for six flat boards. The first one ought to have been flat but I was too shy to rebid my Hearts, and so I landed Jake in a horrible 3♦-1 while the other table was easily making 4♥. Apart from some rather silly bidding with John in the morning, this was my only big blunder of the day. It cost us 10 IMPs.

This next board produced a heated debate in the Whigwam pub afterwards.

What do you open with the East hand? On our table the opponents opened 2♣, then rebid Clubs and got to a reasonable 5♣ contract. This went one off when the defence got two Spades and a Diamond - bad luck. When John and Martin sat East-West John opened the East cards 2NT [Edit - I had this backwards before, but I'm informed it was definitely John who opened 2NT]. Martin raised to 3NT and South lead a top Spade, the ♠A. The only signal the defence had available was for attitude, so when North discouraged South switched to another suit. What a relief for declarer! John took his ten tricks and we gained back 13 IMPs. On a different table when Derek was sitting East he instead opened 1♣, overcalled by South. He then twice cuebid Spades to try and encourage partner to bid 3NT. On the second time of asking Cath sitting West decided her ♠764 was a good enough stop and bid 3NT. North, not unreasonably, thought the opponents had Spades stopped so lead a Diamond. 3NT+1!

I have to admit if I was East I would have opened the hand 2NT. Of course it's not ideal, but so often you can make 3NT even when it's a bad contract (as happened here on two tables). However, Jake is adamant that 1♣ is the best bid. I now agree, as long as you are playing with a partner and opponents who will make sure the bidding doesn't die in 1♣.

These were not the flat boards were were hoping for. On the next one Martin had a big hand and launched himself all the way to 5♠. This went off one, for a game swing out. But then he got another good hand and this time propelled himself to an excellent 6♥, making +1 and not bid at the other table. Must have been stressful for John, with weak hands each time watching partner make forcing bid after forcing bid.

After those ups and downs the last two boards were mercifully dull, and in the end we won the match by 3 IMPs to give a 12-8 win in VPs. This gave us a stonking 72 VPs overall, and clear first place. I think we were pretty lucky, and just happened to have four good matches. Since the tournament only had four rounds there wasn't much scope for the best teams coming through, and expect with more rounds we might have slipped back a bit. It's odd we all did well in the teams having done poorly in the pairs; and similarly I noted that the two that won the pairs came last in the teams.

In conclusion: a famous win.

New Melville Bridge Congress 2014 - Part One (Pairs)

What a day! The New Melville Bridge Club is in Edinburgh, right next to the zoo. Me and John Faben got the early bus across from Glasgow and met the rhinos, gibbons, tapirs, and of course the pandas:

Yang Guang and Tian Tian

This was a very relaxing way to spend the morning and I will try and do the same before each bridge tournament.

At the club we were the last pair to arrive. We curtly acknowledged Martin Stephens and Jake Corry, who would be our team mates later in the day but for now were just another opposing pair. Altogether there were 55 pairs in the tournament. Two years ago I think John won the event playing with Phil Stevens. Last year, with a generous handicap boosting our score, me and Anna came 3rd and Jake and Martin second. Read my report of last year's congress here.

This year instead of Anna I was playing with John. We were playing a terrible system we'd devised called Puppet Culbertson. It consisted of normal Acol, with the addition of two conventions, Firstly, we would use Puppet Stayman wherever possible, even though neither of us really understood it (or maybe he did, but I didn't). Secondly, and more fundamentally, all slam auctions would be conducted using the Culbertson New Asking Bid. This means that once trumps are agreed any new suit bid asks partner if they have control in that suit. I'd just written an article about this convention in the Scottish Bridge News, and was delighted that John had agreed to play it with me.

Armed with our makeshift system, could me and John evoke the spirit of Culbertson and cut through the field and surge to triumph? No. Could we finish above 50%? No. Could we even beat Martin and Jake? Sadly not.

We had one early triumph, where I deliberately bid wildly and it paid off.

John Danny W N E S - - 1♥ 4♦ - - -

South and West passed and North opened 1♥. I had the East hand. Probably the right bid is 2♦, but with partner having already passed I decided to pre-empt. Also, I calculated that there was virtually no chance of making a Puppet Stayman or Asking Bid on this auction, so we might as well get the hand over quickly. I bid an immediate 4♦. This puts South under pressure. I would definitely have bid something, not sure what, but she passed.

South lead a Heart against 4♦. When I saw dummy I was pleased John had such a weak hand, so thought the opponents probably had a game somewhere which they've missed. Although they only have a seven card Heart fit they're almost certain to make 4♥, and also 5♣ is easy. Also, as the hand record above shows, if North is declarer he can make lots of tricks in No Trumps. I know on Jake's table North-South did bid 5♣ so East-West sacrificed in 5♦x-1. Luckily I was only in 4♦, and I've a good chance of actually making it. On my table the defence cashed their two top Hearts then North lead another Heart. I was able to ruff high and start on Clubs, in the end just losing two Hearts and a Club to make +130. This was a top score for East-West, but strangely only got us 98%. Looking at the results here, there are a few results where someone should have got 0% or 100% but instead got 2% or 98%. Don't suppose it matters much. Anyway, that was our best board. I followed this success by doubling 2NT on the next deal, which declarer made with a healthy three overtricks.

About half way through the event me and John were doing quite well. There was one Puppet Stayman 'success', where we accidentally missed our 4-4 Heart fit but ended up making 10 tricks in 3NT for a good score. But then came Culbertson Corner. For one round we were sat right in the corner of the room, and unfortunately for us, both boards gave me an opportunity to use our slam bidding convention, which I eagerly took. On the first one, John wasn't playing ball:

John Danny W N E S - 1♦ - 4♥? - - -

John opened the West hand 1♦, and I got very excited sitting East. Straight away I'm thinking slam. I've got a Diamond fit and five losers. I know it's matchpoints, and we should look for a major fit, but if I bid 1♥ it might be hard to set Diamonds as trumps later. I decided to make an immediate Asking Bid in 4♥. The question mark in the auction above indicates that 4♥ is an Asking Bid, not that it's a dubious bid (it's textbook). The bid is supposed to set Diamonds as trumps and ask partner for second round control in Hearts. We'd discussed on the bus that Asking Bids are normally at the four level, so even though 3♥ would be basically the same, I decided to keep it simple and bid 4♥. John went into a think. Was he trying to recall the Culbertson Table of responses to Asking Bids? No, he was wondering if 4♥ was natural. In the end he passed. Disaster.

South lead the ♣A against 4♥. I decided that my goal for the hand was to not show any emotion and give away that we'd had a mix up. Secondary to that I would try and make the contract. I didn't think that mattered much as everyone else would be scoring better for being in a slam. But the ♣A revived my interest, and I now actually had a decent chance of making it. I crossed to the ♦A and finessed the ♥7. South won the ♥Q and returned a Spade. I went up with the ♠J, so now had only two top Spade winners. I cashed these, along with two Clubs, managed to sneak three Diamonds by the defence, and finally a Spade from table trapped North's ♥KT under my ♥AJ so I lost just two Hearts and a Diamond for 4♥=.

It was fun to make such a poor contract, and enjoyed playing it recklessly quickly - normal speed for everyone else I expect. But would we get any Matchpoints? Thank goodness for Jake and Martin. They bid to 6♠, and went off, as did a few other tables, so we got 34% for +420. John said afterwards that he was thinking about replying to my Asking Bid, but knew the proper response was 6♦, showing second round control in my asked suit (Hearts) and the outside Ace of Diamonds. He didn't want to leap to 6♦, but it would have been a great result. Got to trust the system John, don't argue with Culbertson.

Perhaps overly concerned by missing slam on that Board, on the next one I got rather carried away. In a competitive auction John invited me to game, and with a shapely 6 point hand I decided that actually game wasn't enough. I drove us to a terrible slam via not one but two Asking Bids. I'll not reprint it, as no one will benefit by seeing that auction again. When dummy came down I was delighted it actually had some play. How do you fancy 6♠ by East?

East Swiss Pairs

On Sunday me and John Faben got the train from Glasgow through to Edinburgh to play in the East Swiss Pairs. We got a bit lost walking there and arrived about a minute after the official start. My partner for the day, Krzystof Nguyen, was already there. I was hoping to eat lunch first, but there was no time, and Kris was bombarding me with a series of questions about 4-4-4-1 openings. To be honest I've never really thought about it, and deflected him by going to the toilet. Kris had kindly agreed to play all of me and Anna's system, which meant he would be in unfamiliar Acol territory.

The format was seven rounds of six boards each. You start at a random table, and if you win you move up the room towards the top table. Lose, and you move down the room further into oblivion. Right at the start on Board One we let the opponents make 3NT+4. They thought they'd missed a slam, but actually 3NT+4 was a very good score for them. Me and Kris were both defending to try and beat the contract, which could never be beaten, so we let through an extra overtrick. Then on Board 3 Kris had

♠ ♥ Q432 ♦ KJ53 ♣ KQJT3.

He had an Acol meltdown and opened 1♦, which lead to playing 2♦ on a 4-2 fit, which he played nicely for only one down. Then on Board 4 he opened a bold 4♥ and made it doubled, and on Board 6 made an excellent overtrick in 4♠. Things were going quite well, with me being dummy.

We won the first round 12-8, and moved up the room a bit. In the second round Kris kept playing and I kept being dummy, and we won 14-6 to move up to Table 6. This turned out to be a high watermark. In round three against a very good pair they stuffed us full of overtricks. Then on Board 18 I was sitting South, and had a tricky matchpoints decision. Sadly, I bottled it.

Board 18 E deal, NS vul ♠ A 7 5 ♥ J 9 ♦ A Q 9 3 ♣ K J 3 2 ♠ Q J 9 4 ♥ A K T 4 ♦ K J T 8 ♣ 9 15 14 4 7 ♠ T 6 ♥ 8 6 3 2 ♦ 6 5 2 ♣ A 8 6 4 ♠ K 8 3 2 ♥ Q 7 5 ♦ 7 4 ♣ Q T 7 5

Kris Danny W N E S 1♥ x 2♥ - - -

West opened 1♥ and Kris sitting North doubled. East bid 2♥, which is a great bid. I wasn't sure what to bid as South. I didn't really like my hand, and thought it was too flat, and lots of other excuses, so I just passed. We beat 2♥ by one trick for +50, but actually that was a bad score as we could make 2♠ (on a 4-3 fit) or even 2NT.

Next up was Board 13. This was undoubtedly the Board of the day. I promise you this isn't a misprint:

Board 13 N deal, Game all ♠ A 7 5 ♥ J 9 ♦ A Q 9 3 ♣ K J 3 2 ♠ T 4 ♥ A K ♦ Q J 7 6 ♣ A K T 9 6 15 17 8 9 ♠ J 9 8 3 ♥ Q 6 4 ♦ K ♣ Q 8 7 4 3 ♠ A 7 5 2 ♥ J T 9 5 3 ♦ A 9 5 ♣ 5

Kris Danny W N E S 1♣ - 1♥ 1NT x - - -

Kris sitting North opened 1♣, and I replied 1♥. West overcalled 1NT and Kris doubled. This was passed out. I was sitting South, feeling good that we were going to beat this contract. Then, Kris lead the ♥J. I also had the ♥J in my hand. I stared at his lead for at least a minute, in disbelief. I was checking they were both Jacks, and checking they were both Hearts, again and again. Finally I called over the Tournament Director, who realised what had happened straight away, and assumed the cards had been wrongly placed in the wallet from the previous deal. Then we figured out that actually Kris had just kept all his cards from the last deal! Compare the North hand in this diagram with the one above.

Here's what must have happened - he finished the previous Board, shuffled his cards and put them down. Then, a few seconds later, picked them up, sorted them, and started bidding again! To be fair, he was sitting North and dealing with the Bridgemate, which no one enjoys doing. West said that when he saw dummy he was looking forward to it too as he thought he could make it easily - what he didn't know of course it that we were playing with a deck with nearly 50 points in it.

The Director ruled that we couldn't play the Board, and automatically awarded us an average minus (40%) and the opponents an average plus (60%). This 40% was actually one of our better deals, and we lost the round heavily. We lost the next round too, as by now we were both very hungry.

I had some coconut soup and a delicious coconut cake for lunch. The cake was so good I bought two to take away to give to Anna. I was feeling pretty relaxed - I think I'd only played about three hands so far. In fact, in the whole day, of 42 boards, I played only 5, and was dummy 19 times. I think this might have been because of my conservative bidding, and Kris's bold bidding. I'm pretty sure we were the only ones playing 6♣x-2 on Board 11.

After the break we emerged refreshed and had a fun match against Jun and Yvonne. I thought we were doing well, but we somehow lost this one too. There was a lowpoint on Board 27. I opened 1♦, Yvonne showed both majors with 2♦, and Kris ended up having a punt at 3NT with no Spade stop. The hand quickly unravelled for 3NT-5. Then Jun and Yvonne avoided 3NT and bid an excellent 4♥ on Board 30, so maybe on balance we did deserve to lose the match.

We were now firmly in the bottom half of the field. In the penultimate round we played Frances and Ronnie from Glasgow. Like I do in every round, I decided that now was the time to make our move. This time I meant it though. I decided to stop being shy, and on Board 34 powered to 6♥ based on a 5-2 Heart fit. When this made I knew it was a good round, and we moved back up the room a bit.

On the final round I kept up the momentum, and bid up to the maximum on the final board. I've starred the conventional bids in the auction below:

Board 42 E deal, Game all ♠ A J 9 8 6 5 ♥ A J 2 ♦ 3 ♣ A K Q ♠ T 4 ♥ Q 9 7 5 ♦ 8 6 5 ♣ 7 5 4 2 15 17 8 9 ♠ Q 3 2 ♥ K 8 6 4 3 ♦ T 9 7 4 ♣ J ♠ K 7 ♥ T ♦ A K Q J 2 ♣ T 9 8 6 3

Danny Kris W N E S 1♦ - 1♠ - 2♣ - 2♥* - 3♣ - 3♠* - 4♠ - 4NT* - 5♥* - 5NT* - 6♦* - 7♣ - - -

Kris sitting South opened 1♦, I replied 1♠, and he bid 2♣. All normal so far. Then I bid the fourth suit, 2♥, which we play as fourth suit forcing to game. Now that we are forced to game we can both relax and show the shape of our hands. Kris showed his 5-5 shape with 3♣, and I showed a sixth spade with 3♠ (If Kris had three Spades he'd have bid them last round, so for me to still have interest in Spades I must have six of them). Kris raised me to 3♠, and now we've now found the eight card Spade fit. I can now figure out that his shape must be 2-1-5-5 or maybe 2-0-6-5. The important this is that he can only have at most one Hearts, so looking at my hand we've no Hearts losers - and if Spades are good no losers in any other suit either.

I bid 4NT Blackwood, and Kris's 5♥ reply showed 2 keycards (the ♣A and ♦A) and no queen of trumps - i.e. no Queen of Spades. Since I know he doesn't have the Queen of Spades I know that 7♠ is going to be a dodgy contract, depending on the Spade finesse at best. But, I slowly thought to myself, if we have another trump suit, we'll be able to set up the Spades by playing off the Ace and King and ruffing one in his hand. There's still a chance of a grand slam, just not in Spades. I bid 5NT to ask for Kings. He bid 5♦, which could show one King or the King of Diamonds depending what system you play. I didn't care, which he had, and went ahead and bid a massive 7♣.

Kris did remarkably well to pass this, given that he only had five Clubs to the Ten and I'd shown no Club support before. West lead a Club, and when the ♣J dropped from East it was nearly home. He drew a second round of trumps, then crossed to the South hand via ruffing a Heart. He ruffed his ♦2, the only possible loser in the South hand. He could now draw trumps and claim. So, in fact his Diamonds were so strong he never needed my Spades. And in fact you can make 7NT just by cashing top tricks as well. But I prefer being in 7♣, and I think this beat most of the field who were in 6♠. Fools.

With this strong finish we came 11th overall, good enough for the 2nd Bronze prize. Full rankings are here, congratulations to the overall winners Catriona Gardiner & Malcolm Mccardle.

Afterwards we went to Bennetts Bar with the other juniors (in bridge terms I'm still a junior) for a drink. We also met up with some of the bridge players from the Scottish Pairs Trials. But make no mistake, the big event of the day was taking place at the Carlton Club. If you are interested, the results of the Scottish trials can be found on the SBU site here with a brief report on Paul Gipson's blog here.