Pairs at St Andrew

My parents have been learning to play bridge, and have so far had three months of lessons. These have focused almost exclusively on bidding, and have got as far as one level openings and responses. So it was a big step up when last night I took my Dad to the St Andrew's Saturday evening tournament, a No Fear event. On the upside, this is an event advertised for beginners and looked after by Raymond, a very patient mentor to many new bridge players.

I tried to remember my first experiences playing competitively. My hands shook and I was glad to get a bad hand and have nothing to do. I noticed the same thing in my partner. Of all the new things (Bridgemates, Stop and Alert cards, contracts above 4♠, competitive bidding, changing seats, "any questions?"), the one that surprised him most at the start was the fast pace. Despite being a beginners tournament a rather ambitious 28 boards were scheduled, with rounds of four boards every 25 minutes. I think for the first few deals Dad was just focusing on finding the right card and following suit.

There was no messing about from our opponents - and they quickly bid to games and slams. Dad made his first ever overcall, and was rewarded for his bravery when I was able to lead a Diamond to his ♦AK and beat 6♥.

To begin with he was blessed with bad hands, but then came the moment that certainly relaxes me - when you get to be declarer for the first time:

♠ 9 5 3 ♥ A J 7 4 3 ♦ 6 ♣ 7 6 3 2 ♠ A J T ♥ Q 8 ♦ J T 8 5 ♣ A K Q 4

W N E S 1♣ - 1♥ - 1NT - 2♣ - - -

South has a balanced 17 points so opened 1♣. I was North and have a nice hand in support of Clubs, and thought about passing out 1♣ just to make things easy. But then I remembered my rule; to bid with beginners as normal. So I replied 1♥, and Dad replied 1NT showing a balanced 15-17. Textbook bidding! Then I bid 2♣, passed out.

This is a nice hand for your first ever hand, with a good chance to ruff some Diamonds in dummy. It was duly wrapped up, 2♣+1.

There was no let up to the fast pace. I kept up my policy of bidding as I normally would, and landed Dad in his first ever slam. He was South, I was North:

♠ A K 6 5 ♥ K 2 ♦ Q 8 6 ♣ K Q 6 2 ♠ Q 9 3 ♥ A Q 6 5 ♦ A 7 5 3 ♣ A 5

W N E S 1♦ - 1♠ - 2NT* - 6NT - - -

I've starred the 2NT rebid as it was accompanied by an apology "I'm not really sure what I'm doing here". I took a look at my 17 points and decided it was time for some decisive action. "I bet you weren't expecting this!" I said as I bid 6NT. "You can have a biscuit if you make it" I added.

He didn't make it, but still took a biscuit (or two). But from this failure came the highlight. After playing three rounds of Spades, Dad cashed the long Spade from dummy. Afterwards he admitted "I was 99% certain it was a winner".

After another biscuit, things picked up and we finished well. Or at least I'm guessing we did, as the scores weren't posted online.

Overall it was a very enjoyable experience. It's always great to get to the bridge club, and play a few hands. I didn't mind it when we got a bad result. And we did get a few bad results, but some good ones too.

Honey the bear

Aggregate at St Andrew

Having not played for a while I've a few games coming up. Tonight was a practice match with John Faben at St Andrew, practice for him as he has a match in the National League tonight. We were therefore playing the system that he'll be using, which was unfamiliar to both of us. 5 card majors, 14-16 NT and 2/1 game forcing, and plenty of other things I highlighted on the Convention Card (Ghestem, Drury, Bergen Raises, DONT).

As tends to always happen, not much of it came up, but I was ready when it did. On the third board I had a two-suited hand, and was determined to get the right bid. Playing Ghestem you can bid all the different two suiters. Here's the options when the opponents have opened 1♣:

2NT	The lower two remaining suits (Diamonds and Hearts)
A cuebid (2♣)	The lowest and highest remaining suits (Diamonds and Spades)
A jump in s minor (2♦)	The other two suits (Hearts and Spades)

I was dealt Diamonds and Spades. South had just asked me a friendly question, but I had to say "hold on" and think for a bit about my bid first, before correctly choosing 2♣. I was delighted when John alerted this as Diamonds and Spades. This was the full deal:

W N E S Danny John 1♣ 2♣ 3♣ 3♦ 4♣ - - -

John then raised me to 3♦, but we were outbid and the opponents stopped in a good spot of 4♣, making with an overtrick. I might have tried 3NT as North, which fails when the Clubs don't split.

There were only three tables at the event, mostly made up of Raymond's and students from his class. It was a friendly atmosphere and no one was too worried about the scores. But one pair afterwards were delighted when they bid and made a slam no one else did. This was our auction to 6♠:

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

John opened 1♠ and a replied 2NT with a game forcing raise in Spades. After that the bidding was mostly natural, as we trundled towards 6♠ (I tried to stop in 4♠ but John kept going). It was a good contract, but doomed when the defence accurately found the Diamond singleton lead and return. In aggregate scoring this was expensive, 6♠-1 when the other tables were making 6♠ or 4♠.

But never mind the points, my personal highlight was when I did something clever when against a 1NT contract. As a defender I was cashing my long Clubs and had enough to get the defence up to six tricks, leaving one card left for everybody. I was fairly sure that my partner had winners in both the Majors, but was worried that when he got down to the final card he wouldn't know which winner to keep. So rather than cashing my last Club winner (and giving John a long pause and awkward discard) I played a Heart across to partner at Trick 12, and John was able to cash the last two tricks. I've thought of doing this before but not been bold enough to do it.

Overall it was a fun night at the Club, and I hope John is now ready for the National League tonight!

Party at St Andrews

High times at St Andrews Bridge Club in Glasgow last Friday at the annual club party. We missed the sandwiches but arrived in time for the bridge.

Here's one where I had a tricky decision, and steered my way out of it with 0% of the Matchpoints.

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

I have the massive North hand, 21 points. I'm ready to open 2♣ when Anna opens the bidding with a weak NT. I have a few options but decided to delicately start with Stayman. When Anna denied a Major I showed my Clubs. I thought this was probably forcing, but wasn't sure, so decided to find out, by bidding it. Anna passed. 3♣+4 was not a good score. I thought I kept a poker face as I thanked Anna for the dummy and claimed at trick one, but she informed me afterwards that I looked a bit upset.

1. So is 3♣ forcing?

Our opponents at the table thought not. They would transfer to Clubs (via 2♠) then bid Spades. But for the record Anna and I have now decided that Bidding Stayman then bidding at the three level is forcing. Also for the record, we decided two other points of system:

• Bidding Stayman and getting a positive response you bid the other Major to set trumps (e.g. 1NT-2♣; 2♥-2♠), so a direct 4NT (e.g. 1NT-2♣; 2♥-4NT) is quantitative not Blackwood..
• After 1NT-3♣ which is strong opener bids: 3NT - weak doubleton in Clubs, 3♥/3♠ - natural with 5 card major, anything else - cuebid agreeing Clubs (e.g. 1NT-3♣; 3♦)

After this I had a couple more 20 point hands. I've never opened a 20 point hand at the one level before, and now I did it twice:

2. What would you open these hands?

♠8 ♥AQJ3 ♦AQ98 ♣AK52

♠AJ8532 ♥AK ♦AQ3 ♣Q5

On the first I opened 1♣ (and ended in a doomed 3NT), on the second I opened 1♠ (and ended in 2♠=).

Apart from this excitement we mostly had very poor hands. Anna only got to play two all night. Here's one where we defended against Norman and John. I did two foolish things and one clever thing (not a bad ratio).

John Danny Norman Anna W N E S 1NT - 2♥* x - - 3♣ - 3NT - - -

East opened a weak NT and West transferred. I decided to get active and doubled, for the lead. This was a bit risky, and I got worried when East passed really quickly. He would have bid 2♠ with three card support, but also could have redoubled to play. That could have been embarrassing, but hopefully Anna could have saved me by bidding Diamonds. As it was we defended 3NT, and following my double, Anna lead a Heart. Then I did my second foolish thing, and covered the ♥J with my ♥K, giving declarer an extra Heart trick. But now for my one clever thing - when declarer lead the ♠J I ducked with my doubleton King. Declarer finessed again and now I was able to win my ♠K, and now declarer can't get to dummy. As it is, he made 9 tricks anyway (three Spades, four Hearts, one Club and one Diamond) and so we only got 36%.

At the end of the night me and Anna crept to 50.9%. Standout winners were Trish & John Matheson (North-South) and Kerry McGee & John Gorton (East-West).

Not as good as Robin Hood

Me and Anna have both been reading the excellent Robin Hood series of bridge books my David Bird. Robin is usually the hero, and will smile pleasantly when Maid Marian raises him into an impossible contract, which he then makes by some clever method. Last Friday at St. Andrew Bridge Club neither me or Anna was playing like Robin Hood, and we were lucky to finish on as much as 44%.

Despite misdefending many hands, and giving gifts to nearly every table we played against, there were a few highlights. Three times I had long suits and high level decisions to make, and each time I got it right, pushing the opponents just enough but not overbidding myself. This got us good plus scores for defending 4♠-1 on Board 8 (when we refused to sacrifice in 5♣), 5♥-1 on Board 13 (when I chose not to bid 5♠ even though I had eight of them) and 5♠x-1 on Board 17.

In my featured hand below it's Anna with a tricky decision to make.

Board 25 Dealer North EW Vul ♠ A 8 ♥ 5 4 ♦ 8 4 3 ♣ K J T 8 7 4 ♠ K Q 6 5 ♥ J 7 ♦ Q J 7 2 ♣ 6 5 2 8 9 10 13 ♠ J T 7 4 ♥ K Q T 9 3 2 ♦ A 5 ♣ 3 ♠ 9 3 2 ♥ A 8 6 ♦ K T 9 6 ♣ A Q 9

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

Anna sitting East has only ten points, but a nice hand with both majors so opened 1♥. South has 13 points, but has no bid, so passed. I was sitting West and started with a 1♠ bid. North then bid 2♣. Playing weak jump overcalls, and especially at favourable vulnerability, I would have gone for 3♣ instead. The advantage of that is when East then bids 3♠ over your 3♣ West doesn't know how strong the 3♠ is. After the 2♣ overcall when East jumps to 3♠ (as she did) that shows good support in Spades and a six loser hand. It's also a bit pre-emptive, as Anna could have bid 3♣ with a really good hand. South has good support for partner and bid 4♣. West has eight losers opposite partner's six, and nothing wasted in Clubs, so bids 4♠. North then had another look at the vulnerability and sacrificed in 5♣. Anna sitting East passed this, but when it came back round to me sitting West I doubled. This is mostly because 5♣ feels like a sacrifice, but also because I've got a fairly flat hand so don't mind defending.

When the double came back round to Anna, she was a bit nervous about passing. She has shown a decent opening hand, but has only 10 HCP, which might be a lot less defence than partner expects. Me and Anna have had a few blunders where we've wrongly rescued partner's penalty double, but mostly now we just pass them out. Anna did pass out 5♣x.

There's not a lot to the play. Declarer has only nine tricks (six Clubs, one in each other suit), and with a flat dummy no chance of any extra. 5♣x-2 was worth +300 to us. This was worth 75% of the matchpoints. The double was important, as it took us from +100 to +300 and passed all the pairs sitting East-West making part scores. And what about East making 4♠? The three tables playing in Spades all made ten tricks, although it can be beaten if North leads a Diamond either on the opening lead or after winning the trump Ace.

My second hand features Anna wilfully ignoring the advice of Bernard Magee, and getting away with it. We subscribe to Bridge Magazine, edited by the wonderful Mr. Bridge. The last few issues have had an Acol Bidding Quiz on the front cover, by Bernard Magee. Each question subtly illustrates a particular point in bidding, which people often get wrong. Try this question, in Bridge Issue 133 from January this year:

The answer, says Bernard, is easy once you understand the auction. With a good hand East would double the 1NT. So his 2♠ must be a weak hand with a lot of Spades. West must therefore pass. A link to the full online version of Bridge Issue 132 is here.

This was the auction me and Anna had on Board 16. Not quite the same, but similar:

Board 16 Dealer West EW vul ♠ 8 ♥ J 9 6 4 3 ♦ Q 4 ♣ 9 8 7 6 3 ♠ Q T 9 7 6 5 3 ♥ T 8 5 ♦ 9 8 7 ♣ 3 2 18 17 ♠ A K 4 ♥ Q 7 ♦ A K 6 3 ♣ Q T 4 2 ♠ J 2 ♥ A K 2 ♦ J T 5 2 ♣ A K J 5

Danny Anna W N E S - - 1♣ 1NT 2♠ - 4♠ - - - -

I've got the exciting West hand. I thought about opening a Weak Two in Spades, reasoning that my seventh Spade might balance only having two points. I think this would have worked OK on this deal, we still get to 4♠, but on other auctions partner might expect me to have slightly more defence. So I passed. Anna sitting East opened 1♣, and South has an easy 1NT overcall, showing 15-17 and a good Club stop. It's now time for me to show my Spades. I remembered Bernard Magee's Acol Bidding Quiz and made a weak sign off in 2♠. I was then rather alarmed when Anna raised to 4♠. I think she might have suspected that I had a normal two level overcall (10+ points, 5+ Spades), rather than a hand two weak for a Weak Two.

4♠ was passed out, and when I saw dummy I was greatly relieved. I have seven top Spades, two top Diamonds, and am very likely to get a Heart ruff for my tenth trick. Whenn North lead a Diamond I won in dummy and immediately started on Hearts. This is necessary just in case trumps are 3-0, in which case drawing even one round of trumps could mean I've no trumps left in dummy by the time I get my Heart ruff. I did finish with ten tricks, then wondered if I could have done more to try and develop a Club trick, by ruffing out the Clubs, though in fact that wouldn't work here.

Making 4♠ was worth 69%. Everyone playing in Spades made 10 tricks, except one 4♠-1 and one 4♠x+1. The best score for North-South was South playing 1NT (presumably after a 1NT overcall and West passes). This made a remarkable ten tricks, which means that West definitely didn't lead a Spade.

Full results from St. Andrew's here, well done to Donald Kennedy & Alasdair Forbes winning on the evening with 63%.

Farquaharson Magazine Pairs

As SBU Magazine subscribers (and contributors) we were invited to play in this special event in the new St. Andrew Bridge Club. It was a high quality field of 14 1/2 tables. Me and Anna were one of only three Bronze Pairs, meaning we had a decent chance of finishing with a prize.

We started with three boards against John Di Mambro and partner Douglas. Sitting East-West they navigated this one to a tricky 3NT:

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

Anna sitting South lead the ♣2, the unbid suit. As we play fourth highest leads this showed a four card suit. I found this quite surprising sitting North as it meant East has six Clubs, though he'd never got to bid them. I took my ♣Q and ♣K, declarer ducking, and it was crunch time. The defence are due five tricks - three Clubs a Heart and a Diamond, but we've got to get them before setting up declarer's Clubs. I really thought about a bold Heart switch, but couldn't bear to lead into such a strong suit in dummy. So I chickened out and played a Diamond. Anna won her ♦A and had her chance to switch to Hearts, but she bottled it too and cashed the ♣A. Declarer now has all the tricks.

Our defence was helpful for declarer in setting up his Club suit. If he's left on his own he can still get nine tricks - six Spades, two Diamonds and a Heart, but it could be awkward. No one else managed to defeat 3NT, so it would have been a good defence from me and Anna if we'd have managed it. The tables playing in 4♠ or 4♥ all went down.

We bounced back and were doing fairly well at the break, above 50%.

After two cups of tea came our only 100% Board, where we bid and made a splendid 7♠. It's the first time I can remember that me and Anna have bid and made a Grand Slam. Unfortunately the hand doesn't appear on the St. Andrew's website, but since we did so well on this Board I've taken the trouble to copy it in here:

Board 45 Dealer North Game All ♠ 6 4 2 ♥ A 8 4 2 ♦ - ♣ K 7 6 5 3 2 ♠ 3 ♥ K J T 9 ♦ Q J 6 5 4 3 2 ♣ T 7 7 4 22 ♠ 9 7 5 ♥ 7 5 ♦ K 9 8 7 ♣ J 9 8 4 ♠ A K Q J T 8 ♥ Q 6 3 ♦ A T ♣ A Q

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

I had the North hand and passed, so did East. Anna's got a monster hand sitting South, and opened it 2♣. West now made a fine vulnerable overcall of 3♦, further raised to 4♦ by East. This is good bidding, and they actually would only go one trick down in 4♦. Anna has an easy 4♠ bid, and now it's over to me. All the Diamond bidding has made my hand, with it's Diamond void, very powerful. I've only got three small Spades but I know Anna's going to have a very good suit. The only question is, how high to go? I decided that if Anna had the ♣A then we'd have all the controls, and plenty of tricks for the Grand Slam. Cue-bidding to find the ♣A is awkward as the bidding is already so high, so instead I bid Blackwood. Anna bid 5♣ to show four keycards, so we've got them all. I then bid 5♦ to ask about the trump Queen, as I was worried about a bad split in trumps, and Anna's 6♠ response shows the ♠Q and no other Kings. I could now bid 7♠.

When dummy comes down 7♠ is a bit tricker than you'd hope for, but has excellent chances. Declarer needs dummy's Clubs to get rid of the Heart losers. If Clubs are 3-2 it's fine, or if trumps are 2-2 you've got time to set up the Clubs. You can still make if neither Spades nor Clubs split, but you'll need to leave a trump out as an entry to set up the Clubs, and hope the person with long trumps isn't able to ruff a Club (as is the situation here).

West lead the ♦Q and Anna has an immediate decision where to win the trick. She wisely won it in hand with the ♦A, saving a key entry to dummy. She played two round of trumps, and when they didn't split followed the plan above and ruffed out the Clubs. It was a bold play, as it's a bit nerve-wracking to leave the last trump out. There were only two pairs who bid to 7♠, and the other declarer went one down (probably drew all the trumps and played for Clubs splitting), so 7♠= and +2210 was a top.

After this triumph I got a bit hot sitting next to the radiator and went seriously on the tilt. I could feel it slipping through my fingers and was perhaps guilty of trying too hard to get a good score. Here's my low point, on the final Board, where I collected just 4% for my effort:

I'm sitting West and was dealt a great hand. That's the last thing you want when you're on the tilt.

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

I opened 1♠ then eagerly bid 4♠ on my next turn. All I need is a couple of good cards from my partner and there's an easy ten tricks. Anna's got nothing useful in dummy though, except maybe the chance of a Diamond ruff. North lead the ♣K, then paused. He wisely switched to a trump, specifically the ♠J. I won this and desperately tried Ace and another Diamond, on the wild chance that a defender had ♦KQJ and no more trumps to lead. It was not to be. South won the second Diamond and returned a trump. I had a decision to make here, whether to take the finesse in trumps or go up the ♠K. The Principle of Restricted Choice says to finesse, but I was suspicious of the crafty way North selected to play the ♠J the first time, so played him for ♠QJ. I got this right, so duly made the nine tricks I was dealt in my own hand. 4♠-1 scored poorly as nearly every other pair stayed low.

Me and Anna finished on 48%, not a great score but good enough to be the top Bronze Pair.

Back in the game

Anna and I went to St Andrew Bridge Club for the Friday night game, our first bridge of 2014. We've not played in about a month. I don't think that's very long, but Anna was getting ready with all the excuses before we started about how rusty she was going to be. As it happens, we did get a very poor start, against Maida Grant and Sheila MacDonald.

On the very first board I timidly let the opponents play in 3♥ (we can make 4♠ our way), and we both misdefended to let declarer make it. Then our opponents had a Blackwood mix up. They had agreed Diamonds as trumps, and in their system East then used 4♥ to ask for Aces. But West gave the responses as if partner had asked with 4NT, and ended up showing an Ace more than she had. I was thinking this is great, they're going to end up in a slam missing two Aces, but actually they ended in 6♦ and made it exactly.

Then came my lowlight of the night. My right hand opponent dealt and opened 2♥, which was a Lucas Two, showing at least five Hearts and four cards in a minor and less than opening strength. Me and Anna keep it simple and just defend against these sorts of bids just as if it was a Weak Two. This was my hand:

♠ KQ964 ♥ AK3 ♦ A84 ♣ 62

I've got three options. I can overcall 2♠, showing a good hand with 5+ Spades. I can overcall 2NT, showing 15-19 points and a Heart stop, or I can double. I went for the 2NT overcall. This was passed out, and West predictably lead a Heart. When dummy came down I was extremely disheartened to be playing 2NT:

Board 6 N deal, NS vul ♠ J T 5 3 ♥ 7 5 2 ♦ 6 ♣ K J T 9 7 ♠ A 7 2 ♥ T 8 ♦ T 9 7 5 2 ♣ A Q 3 5 10 9 16 ♠ 8 ♥ Q J 9 6 4 ♦ K Q J 3 ♣ 8 5 4 ♠ K Q 9 6 4 ♥ A K 3 ♦ A 8 4 ♣ 6 2

Anna Danny W N E S - 2♥ 2NT - - -

Dummy has a beautiful fit in Spades, and 4♠ would have been easy (making 11 tricks in fact). Playing in No Trumps is going to be no fun, and in fact to add insult to injury I'm not even likely to make 2NT. I counted two Heart tricks, four Spade tricks once I knock out the Ace, and one Diamond. There's only seven tricks, and assuming the defence find the Diamond switch I've no time to set up the Clubs. That's the way it went, I finished one off.

Things got better and the highlight of the night was a pair of defences to 3NT. The first one was bad for us - I found a promising Heart lead then as declarer cashed his tricks me and Anna both desperately clung onto our Hearts until the very end. This meant throwing everything else away, and so declarer (John DiMambro) made 3NT+3 for a top. But in the second one we'd learnt our lesson, and after I found a promising Club lead and declarer was cashing his tricks me and Anna both abandonned all of our Clubs, and kept the other suits to restrict declarer to 3NT+1, a good score for us.

Finally here's a hand where Anna made what I consider to be an absolutely outrageous overcall:

Board 15 E deal, EW vul ♠ A K 9 ♥ 8 7 6 3 2 ♦ A Q T ♣ A 2 ♠ 6 ♥ K Q T ♦ K 9 8 4 3 ♣ K J 8 3 17 12 10 1 ♠ Q J T 5 3 2 ♥ A J 9 5 ♦ 6 ♣ Q 7 ♠ 8 7 4 ♥ 4 ♦ J 7 5 2 ♣ T 9 6 5 4

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

East has an excellent 10 point hand and opened 1♠. West replied with a natural 2♦. Anna sitting North has 17 points, but no sensible bid. This didn't stop her though, and she weighed in with 2♥. Unbelievable. East, who was probably going to bid 2♥ himself, settled for 2♠, and West has a hearty Heart stop so bid a natural and invitational 2NT. East, who still only has 10 points, passed.

Against West's contract of 2NT Anna lead the ♥7 (second highest from a suit without an honour), and when dummy came down I wondered what sort of Hearts Anna had, given that West had also shown a Heart stopper. Declarer was able to set up Clubs and Spades and also took an embarrassing four Heart tricks, to make 2NT+2.

As lots of pairs were actually in game, we got a relatively good score for only conceding 2NT+2. Anna made the spectacular claim that it was her fine 2♥ bid that stopped them getting to game.

The best result for North-South is if Anna passes throughout, then makes a Lightner Double of 3NT for a Diamond lead.

Barristan the Bold

On Saturday night me and Anna went down to St. Andrew Bridge Club. The hands were all hand dealt, which means no hand records, but with Anna's help I've reconstructed this board. Anna was sitting West, and me East.

No vul S deal ♠ J 6 5 ♥ T 7 6 4 ♦ K J ♣ K J 9 8 ♠ A Q 9 7 4 3 ♥ J 9 5 ♦ 9 4 ♣ T 2 9 7 11 13 ♠ T 8 ♥ K 6 3 ♦ A Q 6 5 2 ♣ Q 5 3 ♠ K 2 ♥ A Q 8 ♦ T 8 7 3 ♣ A 7 6 4

Anna Danny W N E S 1NT - - -

South opened a 12-14 1NT, passed out. Anna could have stretched a bit to bid 2♦, showing a 6 card major, but didn't fancy it. North passed, and so did I. Anna lead the fourth highest ♠7. When North put down her 9 point dummy she said that she could have bid, but didn't have enough points. She added that if she wanted to bid, she'd have to take here shoes off. I didn't know what this meant, but declarer seemed to understand, and called for the ♠6 from dummy. I covered this and she won the ♠K in hand.

Clearly, Anna has found the killer lead. From my perspective, sitting East, if the ♠7 is indeed fourth highest then I know that Anna has all the remaining high Spades, and probably five or six of them. I can also see my ♦AQ sitting nicely over dummy's ♦KJ.

After winning her ♠K declarer started on Clubs. She cashed the ♣A then finessed the ♣J. I eagerly took my Queen and returned a Spade, to Anna's delight. At this point I should paraphrase Mike Lawrence's Bols Bridge Tip:

You are now in charge. Each one a little firmer than the one before, you pound out your remaining Spades. You're feeling a little ecstasy mixed with a little power as you turn the final Spade. Feels good, doesn't it? Now what? Cutting through a euphoric glow, you reconstruct the last four tricks. Partner discarded the - what did he discard?

With my Club and Anna's five Spades we had six tricks. If Anna switched to a Diamond we had at least two more tricks. If she played something else, declarer could get all the last tricks and make the contract. I knew I wanted a Diamond switch, and on my first discard on Spades played the ♥6 - we play McKenny so this high card asks for a high suit. On my second discard I wanted to make it really clear that the ♥6 was a high Heart, asking for Diamonds, so now threw away the ♥3. This meant baring the singleton ♥K, but I figured it was worth it to make a clear signal, as I knew a Diamond switch would take the contract down.

On the next Spade I threw a Club. Then with West on lead to cash the last Spade this was the situation:

♠ - ♥ T 7 ♦ K J ♣ K 9 ♠ 3 ♥ J 9 5 ♦ 9 4 ♣ - ♠ - ♥ K ♦ A Q 6 5 2 ♣ - ♠ - ♥ A Q ♦ T 8 7 ♣ 7

Anna led her last Spade. Dummy threw a Heart, and I had another discard to make. Inspired by Barristan the Bold I decided that I might as well keep all my Diamonds, so threw away my ♥K. Declarer threw away a Diamond from hand. This was also bold, as she was keeping winners at the risk of throwing away a Diamond stop.

In her excitement at cashing all the Spades Anna had indeed missed my discards, so now had a guess. Although I didn't intend it this way, me throwing ♥K was a big clue that I didn't want Hearts, and she correctly switched to a Diamond. I then took five Diamond tricks, meaning declarer had only won the first two tricks. The result of 1NT-5 gave us +250. This was aggregate scoring, so didn't help too much, but nice anyway.

Later, there was some bold bidding.

♠ 7 5 ♥ K T 4 3 ♦ K Q 5 ♣ T 6 4 2 8 15 ♠ A J 9 4 3 ♥ A Q 9 8 ♦ A 4 ♣ 8 5

Anna Danny W N E S - - 1♠ - 1NT - 2♥1 - 3♥ - 4♥ - - - 1: Bold

I opened the East hand 1♠, and Anna replied 1NT. Since Anna has 6-9 points, and I only have 15, I was going to pass, especially as I think to rebid 2♥ I ought to have 5431 shape. I decided to bid, and it worked out well as Anna was able to raise, and I bid a good game. I got a trump lead, so was able to discard a Club, and made the hand on a cross-ruff.

Finally, here's some boldness that didn't pay off.

No vul E deal ♠ Q J 9 4 ♥ A K ♦ 7 3 ♣ A K J 8 5 ♠ A 8 6 3 2 ♥ T 7 6 5 4 2 ♦ - ♣ 7 3 18 4 14 4 ♠ - ♥ Q J 9 8 ♦ A K Q T 9 4 ♣ Q T 4 ♠ K T 7 5 ♥ 3 ♦ J 8 6 5 2 ♣ 9 6 2

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

I had the big fat East hand, and opened 1♦. Anna had only four points, but is well worth a bid. She bid 1♥, and North had an easy double. I was undeterred, and decided to go to at least game. I bid 3♠, as a splinter. Anna actually has quite a good hand opposite my splinter, with extra trumps and a seven loser hand, but wisely decided to sign off in game. It was still enough for North to double. I thought about redoubling, which I've never done before, but passed.

If Anna has any one of the four cards of ♣AK and ♥AK game would be easy, or even if we got a nice Spade lead. Unfortunately though North cashed the ♣AK, and it had to go one off. 4♥x-1 was worth -100.

Afterwards South said that she thought of bidding 4♠ - not sure what would happen then (would Anna double, would I pass?), but if everyone passes it might go one down.

In the end we finished the night third overall, with -170 points.

Unpopular bidding

Here's another hand from the aggregate pairs at St. Andrews last Monday. I faced two tough dilemmas. Not ethical dilemmas this time though, just straight up bidding decisions.

Here's my big hand:

♠A3 ♥74 ♦AKQT8 ♣AT84

Lovely. At favourable vulnerability, my right hand opponent dealt and opened 1♠. This was a five card major. I've got three options now:

• Double - it's a 17 point hand
• 1NT - it's a semi-balanced 15-17, with a Spade stop
• 2♦ - a maximum overcall with a good suit
• 2NT - Showing minors

I think the modern style is to go for 2♦, as it makes things easier in later rounds. I didn't like that as it doesn't get across the strength of the hand, and we might easily miss a game. I didn't even consider 1NT, but maybe I should have. It's maybe too strong for that though. In the end I doubled, planning on bidding Diamonds on the next round.

Double might not be the best, but me and partner have agreed that doubling then bidding a suit shows 16-18 and a good suit, so at least we'd know where we stood. In fact, later in the night we had that auction, when the opponents opened 1♦ and I had ♠AQ ♥AQ82 ♦T2 ♣AQT72 I doubled then bid 2♣.

Over my double though things took an unexpected turn. Left hand opponent bid 2♥ and opener raised to 4♥. Here's my hand and the auction so far:

♠A3 ♥74 ♦AKQT8 ♣AT84

Danny Anna W N E S 1♠ x 2♥ - 4♥

Now I have another dilemma. I'd originally doubled because I have such a good hand. Am I going to go quietly now, or will I bid again? Here's the options:

• Double. Two ways to win. It might be going down, or if partner has a really distributional they might sacrifice.
• Pass - They're probably going to make it.
• 4NT - for minors.

I think bidding 4NT is definitely wrong, as for all you know 4♥ is going down. It's better to involve partner. The problem with doubling is, partner might still think that you have Hearts for your first takeout double. I thought 4♥ was probably going down, but I convinced myself to pass. This was the full deal:

NS vul S deal ♠ K ♥ K J T 3 2 ♦ J 6 3 ♣ K J 9 2 ♠ A 3 ♥ 7 4 ♦ A K Q T 8 ♣ A T 8 4 12 17 4 7 ♠ Q 9 8 7 ♥ 5 ♦ 9 5 2 ♣ Q 7 6 5 3 ♠ J T 6 5 4 2 ♥ A Q 9 8 5 ♦ 7 4 ♣ -

Danny Anna W N E S 1♠ x 2♥ - 4♥ - - -

So 4♥ was passed out. When dummy (South) came down we were all a bit surprised. Not wanting to open a hand with such good majors he's opened a cheeky seven point hand! Risky, but hit the jackpot when partner bid Hearts. Anna, sitting East, lead a Club. Rather than ruffing, declarer discarded a losing Diamond from dummy, and let me win the trick in West. I cashed a top Diamond then played Hearts. When declarer lead a Spade from dummy I ducked my ♠A, as I thought that maybe if he had something like ♠K9 he might have a guess, and could go down if he got it wrong. As it happened he had singleton ♠K, which won the trick for 4♥+1.

There were eight tables altogether. The others had North-South in 3♥+1, 4♥=, 4♥x= and 5♥x=-1. On the other three tables EW played, and scored 5♣-2, 5♦x-2 and 5♣x=.

According to the hand records, there are nine tricks available in Diamonds and ten in Clubs. But you could get more if they defence fails to take their Heart, or less if you don't drop the singleton ♠K. But it looks like it's a good sacrifice against 4♥. The problem is, if I double on the second round, will partner pass or bid? Anna was coy about this, and said she might have bid 5♣.

I posted the problem of what to do on the second round on the Bridge Base Forums. Most people ignored my question about what to do on the second round, and just commented on how much they hated my first double. As for the second double 5/7 people favoured Pass, and 2/7 Double, so I feel vindicated.

Bridge Base Forums comments here.

Good try, bad result

Here's a hand from the Matchpoint Pairs at St. Andrews on a Wednesday night. Me and Anna were playing Reverse Benji, and having an average evening, when along came this opportunity to shine.

North is dealer, and no one is vulnerable. Here's our auction.

♠ T 6 ♥ J T 6 5 ♦ T 7 ♣ A K 8 6 3 ♠ A K Q J 9 4 2 ♥ A Q 7 ♦ 2 ♣ Q J

N S - 2♣1 2♦2 3♠3 4♣4 4♦4 4NT5 5♦6 5♥7 6♠8 1: 23+ or any game forcing 2: Weak or waiting 3: Single suited with Spades 4: Cue bids agreeing Spades 5: RKCB 1430 6: 0 or 3 keycards 7: Do you have ♠Q? 8: Yes, but no outside Kings

Anna had the mighty South hand. You could argue for opening 1♠, 4♠ (she was fourth in hand), 2♣, or a Benji 2♦. With four losers and eight tricks Anna went for 2♣. I think this is right, as you can make game opposite almost nothing in partner's hand. I was sitting North, and have a decent hand opposite a 2♣ opener. I was tempted to reply 3♣, showing my good suit, but me and Anna play that a positive reply needs a good suit and a bit more overall strength. So I just bid 2♦, which allowed Anna to show her single suited hand with a jump to 3♠. There's just a chance we still belong in Hearts, but the advantage of bidding 3♠ is that it clearly sets trumps. I cuebid 4♣, Anna cuebid her Diamond control with 4♦, and now I had a dilemma.

If I bid 4♠, as I ought to do, denying a Heart control, I'm worried that Anna might then pass, not realising how good my Clubs are. But if I bid on past 4♠, maybe we'll be in a slam missing ♥AK. I decide to gamble on the high road, guessing that for her 2♣ opening Anna has something in Hearts, and bid 4NT. Anna shows 3 keycards. These are presumably ♠AK and one other Ace. If Anna's Spades are ♠AKxxxxx I don't want to end up in a 7-2 fit missing the Queen, so I ask for the Queen and we end in 6♠.

As you can see, it's an excellent contract. There are seven top Spades, ♥A, and four Club tricks, though they are blocked. My ♠T could provide a possible entry though, and there's also the Heart finesse to fall back on. West leads the ♦A, and the ♦K, ruffed. What do you do now?

Scroll down for the full deal.

No vul W deal ♠ T 6 ♥ J T 6 5 ♦ T 7 ♣ A K 8 6 3 ♠ 7 ♥ K 9 3 2 ♦ A K 6 4 ♣ T 9 7 2 8 10 3 19 ♠ 8 5 3 ♥ 8 4 ♦ Q J 9 8 5 3 ♣ 5 4 ♠ A K Q J 9 4 2 ♥ A Q 7 ♦ 2 ♣ Q J

W N E S - - - 2♣ - 2♦ - 3♠ - 4♣ - 4♦ - 4NT - 5♦ - 5♥ - 6♠ - - -

Unfortunately, everything is wrong. The Clubs are not 3-3, the Spades are not 2-2, and the Heart finesse is offside.

Here's what happened at the table. Anna cashed one round of trumps, unblocked the ♣QJ, then played a Spade over to the ♠T. If trumps were 2-2 she'd be home now, as all of dummy's Clubs would be good. But when West showed out on the second trump she had a problem. She was in dummy, but couldn't cash the Clubs as there was still a trump outstanding. She played for the defender with the long trumps (East) having four Clubs, and lead the ♣A. This is risky, as if it doesn't work East can ruff one of the Clubs leaving you trapped in hand. East failed to ruff the ♣A, but certainly would have ruffed the ♣K, so Anna switched tacks and tried the Heart finesse. This lost, leading to one down.

Anna's line basically works if trumps are 2-2 or the Heart finesse works, making it about 75%.

The alternative line is to draw trumps, then play on Clubs. This makes if Clubs are 3-3 (overtaking in dummy), or the Heart finesse works. This sounds like it's a bit worse, but actually, if you play all seven rounds of trumps, you get an extra chance. After the first Diamond trick is lost and seven Spades follow, there are only five cards left. Which five cards can West keep? He either has to throw away a Club, which is fatal, or go down to bare ♥K, which is fatal if declarer spots what's going on. This squeeze works any time the defender with the ♥K also has the long Clubs (be it four, five, or even all six Clubs). West's best chance is to keep his Clubs and go down to just ♥K, after which declarer may still finesse Hearts as they can't know it's now a singleton King. But in reality West may well throw away a Club. This means that running all the trumps will often work better, and indeed on this deal it's the only way to make the slam.

All the other tables played in 4♠ or 5♠, usually making 11 tricks and once 12. 6♠-1 was a bottom. See the travellers for Board 8 here (but ignore the associated deal, which is displayed wrong on the website).

In the end we finished the night on just above 50%, which because of a few very high scoring pairs was enough for 5th place.

Three Big Hands

For the third week in a row, me and Anna are chancing our arm at the St. Andrew's Bridge Club Friday night Matchpoint. The first time we went we came 5th, then 4th, so looking for a podium finish tonight. Full results available here.

It was a memorable night in that, after much discussion, one of the opponents bid a Multi Two Diamonds against us. I'd say our defence to it went well, in that me and Anna were on the same wavelength, but badly, in that I ended up playing the contract in the suit that the opponent had six cards of. 2♠ with a 6-0 Spade break didn't go well (Board 11).

But, as with so many of the hands, it was hard to tell what was going to be a good result. In general, the opponents underbid against us. Sometimes this was good. One pair were playing a bizarre system. I was so keen to interfere I doubled one of their artificial 1♥ bids as I had five Hearts, and Anna found a 2♥ bid. This seemed to throw their system (which is what we were hoping for), and they ended up underbidding into 4♠+2 (Board 6). In fact their elaborate system didn't seem to help them. On another auction they had six bids each (Anna ran out of pass cards), before one of them simply punted 6♥, which went one off (Board 5).

On one hand I opened with 10 points, Anna replied with 5 points and I ended up (mis)-playing a very odd 2♣ on a combined 15 count. Surprisingly though, this turned out to be a bad board for us as the opponent's, with a combined 25 count, can't make any game (Board 10).

On the hand below we were guilty of underbidding, through a misunderstanding (deal is rotated to make declarer South):

Board 12 EW vul N deal ♠ K 7 6 4 ♥ A T 9 6 4 ♦ T 3 ♣ A 7 ♠ J 9 3 2 ♥ Q J 2 ♦ 9 8 7 ♣ J T 2 11 5 11 13 ♠ A Q 8 5 ♥ K 8 5 ♦ Q 5 4 2 ♣ 8 4 ♠ T ♥ 7 3 ♦ A K J 6 ♣ K Q 9 6 5 3

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

Anna, sitting North, decided to make another one of her dodgy openings. Rule of 20 no doubt. Of course it's a classic Flannery opening. After opening she was then desperate to put the breaks on, but I was having none of it. Over her 3NT I refused to give up. I've got a five loser hand, and we still might have an eight card Heart fit. On the other hand, I suppose, partner's shown a minimum and I've only got 13 points. I bid 4♣, natural. This was sadly passed out.

It should be forcing though. The general rule is:

Bidding on after 3NT (undoubled) shows interest in slam.

Because any time we're happy to have a go in 3NT, we're certainly not going to stop below game. Further bidding is all natural, including 4NT.

After 3NT is bid naturally, 4NT is also natural.

So Anna's options after my 4♣ bid are: 4NT (to play); 4♥ (to play); 5♣ (to play); anything else shows interest in slam.

Anyway, the actual contract was 4♣ by South (me). I got a Spade lead, and played low. Later, I led a low Spade from dummy towards my hand, intending to ruff, and East was duped into playing the Ace. That meant 12 tricks. Not sure how, but 4♣+1 for +170 gave us 57% of the matchpoints.

On this next hand, there was certainly no underbidding. Anna bid boldly, more boldly than anyone else and we were the only ones in 4♥. Unfortunately, it went two off vulnerable for a bad board, but I liked the bidding (deal rotated).

Board 26 All vul N deal ♠ T 5 ♥ A 7 3 ♦ K 6 ♣ A T 7 5 3 2 ♠ J 9 6 ♥ T 6 5 2 ♦ Q T 9 4 3 ♣ 8 11 3 19 7 ♠ A K ♥ J ♦ A J 7 2 ♣ K Q J 9 6 4 ♠ Q 8 7 4 3 2 ♥ K Q 9 8 4 ♦ 8 5 ♣ -

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

This time I opened light, with the North cards. If I don't open then East opens 1♣, Anna bids Michaels 2♣ and if we're lucky we end up defending 3♣. However, after I opened 1♣ East has a bit of a problem. He's got what I would call a bad 19 points. The normal option I think is double then rebid 1NT, but he found the wacky alternative of 1♦. Anna overcalled 1♠, which for us shows at least five Spades. Although East had made a simple overcall with 19 points, West only needed 3 points to raise, and he bid 2♦. I passed and East made a natural raise to 4♦ (3NT is another option, with our suits, Clubs and Spades, well covered). Anna had a good think over 4♦ and then came in with 4♥, based on her very distributional hand. Six-Five, come alive..

I wasn't sure whether to pass, or correct to 4♠, but reasoned that Anna might be 5-5 so left her in 4♥. Then I started to get worried that actually she's got a monster hand, East's 4♦ was pre-emptive, and we've missed a slam. So I was quite relieved when West lead the ♦Q, and the defence took the first two tricks. I certainly wasn't worried we'd missed a slam when East then cashed his two top Spades, so the contract was already one off.

East exited with a Club, and declarer was now in control. The defence have actually been quite kind in setting up the Spades, so it's just a case of drawing trumps. Anna played the ♥A first, so later had to lose a trump trick to West. I think the right way to play trumps is to play the King first, then you still have the option of finessing either opponent. In this case, East drops the ♥J. The question now is, what's more likely, East started with ♥J, or ♥JT? The Principle of Restricted Choice says that even when East has ♥JT, the ♥J will only appear half the time (as East has an equal choice whether to play Jack or Ten), so actually the ♥J is much more suggestive of a singleton.

If missing two honours and an opponent drops an honour on first round, finesse the other opponent.

This works best if you are missing the Queen and Jack, so the situation is something like:

	KT98
Q65		J
	AJ743

After you play the Ace, East drops the Jack. Now you finesse West for the Queen. Of course, it could be that East started with QJ, in which case you'll lose out, but the odds favour a second round finesse.

In the situation of the actual deal, you are missing the Jack and Ten, and the layout of the Heart suit is:

	A73
T652		J
	KQ984

After you play the King, East drops the Jack. So now you can finesse West for the Ten. But there is an extra wrinkle here. If East is a good player, he might play the Jack from something like JT5. The layout could be:

	A73
62		JT5
	KQ984

Now suppose when you play the King East drops the Jack. You then finesse for the Ten on the second round and feel foolish when it loses. The Jack from East is called a falsecard, in fact in this case it's an obligatory falsecard, because if East has those trumps he should always drop the Jack (or Ten) on the first round. If he simply plays the ♥5 on the first round, declarer will certainly play trumps from the top, for no loser, as it's his only option. But if East plays the ♥J on the first round declarer now has two possible options, and might make the wrong choice.

Anyway, on this occasion declarer chose to play for the drop, and lost a Heart trick. 4♥-2 was -200 and a bad score, as most of the other tables East-West were only getting 130 for 3♦+1.

Now here's one hand where we got it just right.

Board 2 EW vul S deal ♠ A 7 5 ♥ 8 6 3 ♦ 6 ♣ K Q 5 4 3 2 ♠ Q J 8 ♥ K J T 9 4 ♦ T ♣ J T 9 6 9 8 1 22 ♠ 6 3 ♥ 5 2 ♦ J 9 8 5 4 3 2 ♣ 8 7 ♠ K T 9 4 2 ♥ A Q 7 ♦ A K Q 7 ♣ A

Anna Danny W N E S 2♣ - 3♣ - 3♠ - 4♦ - 4♥ - 4NT - 5♣ - 5♦ - 6♠ - - -

I had the bumper South hand. I could have opened 2NT, but since we don't play Puppet Stayman I was worried we'd never find the Spade fit. So I decided to upgrade and open 2♣. Whenever you've got a massive hand you can always find reasons to upgrade.

Anna was able to give a positive reply, which is quite strict in our system. You need to have a very good suit - six cards with two of the top three honours or a solid five cards, and an outside Ace or King-Queen. I rebid 3♠ and Anna bid 4♦, which is a cue bid agreeing Spades (because it's beyond 3NT). I was a bit embarrassed about the quality of my Spades, and wasn't quite sure what was going on. I cuebid 4♥ just to buy some time, hoping Anna would then take over. She did, bidding 4NT as RKCB 1430. Unfortunately I now had to decide what the trump suit was. I decided it had to be Spades so bid 5♣ showing 4 keycards. I took my time here, as the last two times I've replied to Blackwood I've somehow got it wrong. After that Anna pulled out a 5♦ bid to ask for the trump queen, I denied it, and so she bid 6♠. That part of the auction was quite slick.

6♠ is a great contract, and looks even better when West leads the ♥J. In principle, if I only lose 1 trump, I now have 12 top tricks (4 Spades, 2 Hearts, 3 Diamonds and 3 Clubs), so don't need to ruff anything. But with only the Ace of Spades entry to dummy I can't draw trumps nicely and then cash my clubs, so I decided instead to ruff a Diamond. I cashed the Ace of Diamonds, then lead the ♦7. To my surprise, West ruffed! My first thought was that West had revoked, then I admitted to myself that possibly he had only one Diamond, and East had seven.

West had ruffed with the Eight of Spades, which caused me a problem. I can only afford to lose one trump trick in total. My first thought was to overruff with the Ace, then try and work out how to play trumps. I decided not to do this, as it took away an entry to dummy, so instead just threw away a Heart from dummy, letting West win this trick. He returned a Club, which I won in dummy. It was now just a case of getting the Spades right. I cashed the Ace in dummy, and West dropped the Jack. Was this another case of Restricted Choice, meaning I should now finesse?

The Principle of Restricted Choice says that West playing the ♠J on the second round is much more suggestive of him having started with exactly ♠J8, where he must play the Jack on the second round, than ♠QJ8,where he could play the Jack or the Queen on the second round.

But I had another clue. Before ruffing my Diamond with the ♠8, West thought for a long time. If he started with just ♠J8 there would be nothing to think about, it would be clear to ruff with the ♠8 to force dummy's ♠A. But because he'd started with ♠QJ8 it was much harder. So, based on West's thinking time, I decided to play offthe ♠AK, which worked gloriously.

Another tiny hint, telling me that West had the Jack and Queen, was that he dropped the Jack on the second round, and not the Queen. I think most defenders when they have consecutive cards prefer to play the lower one. So dropping the Queen would strongly suggest not having the Jack, but dropping the Jack isn't as informative.

	A73
QJ8		63
	KT942

Note that the best way to play trumps in isolation, is low to the Ace then finesse the Ten. That would have failed here, as after I finessed the ♠T West would win his ♠J and could exit in Hearts. Then I'd be stuffed, with not enough tricks and no way to dummy without West being able to ruff with his ♠Q.

6♠= was a great result. Unfortunately it was a slow one and since we'd started the round late we had a very rushed last hand, rapidly conceding 3NT+2 (Board 3) to give back the points we'd just gained, such is the nature of Matchpoints.

In the end though, we finished on 55% so did indeed finish 3rd overall.

Better late than never

Friday night at St. Andrews! No time to finish dinner, we had to get to the Bridge Club. Made it at 1905, but they'd already started! Apparently, on a Friday the start time is 1900 and not 1915.bLuckily, they had 8 1/2 tables so were happy for us to join and make up 9 full tables.

We got off to a good start. "I wish you hadn't come" joked an opponent on the first table. On the first board, defending 3NT, Anna lead the ♠4 and dummy came down. I sat East.

	♠ T 9 5 ♥ A 3 ♦ 5 3 ♣ K J T 6 4 3
		♠ A Q 6 ♥ 8 7 6 5 2 ♦ A 8 7 6 ♣ 8

I took the A♠, and played the Q♠. Declarer was forced to play the ♠J from hand and Anna followed with the ♠2. I now knew for certain that we had three more Spades to cash, and the contract was going down. So what did I do? I cashed the Ace of Diamonds, then gave Anna her Spades. That was my highlight, on the very first board.

Later, concentration flagged a little. I was sitting North, and struggled with the extra responsibility of working the BridgeMate, and being in charge of all the boards. At least, when I accidentally brought out Board 13 for the second time, I was the first to notice I had the same cards.

Here's my lowlight:

NS vul E deal ♠ A ♥ T 7 5 ♦ K 9 8 4 2 ♣ A J 5 2 ♠ Q 8 2 ♥ K Q 8 2 ♦ T 6 5 ♣ T 9 8 12 7 12 9 ♠ - ♥ A J 9 6 4 3 ♦ Q 7 ♣ K Q 7 6 4 ♠ K J T 9 7 6 5 4 3 ♥ - ♦ A J 3 ♣ 3

Danny Anna W N E S 1♥ 4♠ - - 5♥ x xx 5♠ - - -

What an exciting auction! East opened 1♥. Anna weighed in with 4♠, at unfavourable vulnerability. But did she realise it was unfavourable vulnerability? I had a pretty nice hand in North, but didn't really know what to do. I shuffled around a bit, then passed. When it got back round to East, she also shuffled around a bit, then came up with 5♥. Looking at all four hands, bidding 5♥ looks a bit mad. If she was going to bid again, why not bid 5♣?

I decided I couldn't let 5♥ go, so doubled it. This was very foolish. As Anna pointed out to me later, it's likely everyone's got a very distributional hand and my two Aces and a King don't mean much. West could have let 5♥x go, but decided to redouble, with chunky Heart support.

I got a bit scared, and thought about escaping into 5♠. An extra reason for doing this is that now West has shown Heart support I can be pretty sure that partner is short in Hearts, so don't need to worry about my three Heart losers. But basically, I bid 5♠ because I got scared 5♥xx was going to make. West passed out 5♠, which seems a bit inconsistent - if you're not prepared to double 5♠ you shouldn't really redouble 5♥ (I've made that mistake many times, as Anna will tell you).

Anna made 12 tricks, losing one Spade only. 6♠ is an excellent contract, as it only fails if you are unlucky and have to lose a Spade and a Diamond. No way we're ever bidding it though.

Full results here (results are correct, but hand records are wrong).

Final note - we now have a new defence to the Multi Two Diamonds. It's this: double shows either a weak NT hand, or 20+ points. Let's see if Anna prefers this to the old defence, which was simply that double shows Diamonds.

Friday night fools

At the end of a long week me and Anna took on the Friday night game at St. Andrew. We were both very tired. On arrival I claimed I'd never been there before, but I have, several times.

For the second session in a row I bid a Grand Slam while missing a key card. Last time I played it and got away with it, this time I landed Anna in it. She didn't like it. This was her trump suit in 7♠:

AT9732

Q64

The only hope is to play for a singleton King (or singleton Jack). Anna played for a singleton King and cashed the Ace. The King didn't drop and my foolish bidding had doomed us again.

The good news was that we didn't lose all the Matchpoints as some people went down in 6♠, because the King-Jack were both offside. Anna wisely said that if she was in 6♠ she still would have cashed the Ace first, rather than finessing twice. I disupted this, thinking the finesse was better. Just now I looked up the correct way to play this combination on Suitplay. Anna was right of course, with nine trumps holding AQT9 between the hands you cash the Ace first, with only eight you finesse.

Here's a hand where we were both a little silly (Board 2 here).

NS vul E deal ♠ 9 4 2 ♥ Q 9 5 4 ♦ T 9 ♣ 8 7 5 2 ♠ A K 7 5 3 ♥ A T 6 3 ♦ 8 6 3 ♣ K 2 14 7 17 ♠ J T 6 ♥ J 8 7 2 ♦ Q 5 4 2 ♣ Q J ♠ Q 8 ♥ K ♦ A K J 7 ♣ A T 9 6 4 3

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

South opened 1♣. I was sitting West and overcalled 1♠. Anna was very courteous and gave me a courtesy raise of 2♠. South came back in with 3♣ and I had a decision to make. With a sixth Spade I'd bid 3♠ straight away. As it is I have 14 points but lots of losers. I didn't like my three small Diamonds, but in the end I liked the idea of making a descriptive 3♥ bid so much I went for it. Anna had a total minimum but liked the double fit so much she found a raise.

That was the final contract, 4♥ by West. North lead a Diamond, and when I saw dummy it was pretty clear I was going loads down.

The defence was good. They quickly took three Diamonds. Then South shrewdly cashed her Ace of Clubs. This was necessary to stop me throwing away a losing Club on a subsequent Diamond lead (Anna pulled a similar move later on in the evening). So the defence already had four tricks. Then South played the killer fourth Diamond through. I was on the ball (it was still early) and envisioned the Heart layout. I ruffed with the Ten and West over-ruffed with the Queen. I then won the Spade return, cashed the Ace of trumps, dropping Souths's King and finessed North. Bingo! Still two down though.

Such is the power of a double fit that even though we went two off, we didn't get too bad a score on the hand. -100 compared well with -110 for North-South making 11 tricks in Clubs. Overall me and Anna got 48%, for 5th place East-West pair.

St Andrews Slammer

Only five pairs at the Buchanan this Saturday, so we all went across to St. Andrews. Anna got upset we had to defend so much, and she never got an opening hand (except for the board we played upside down, when I got the good hand and opened 1NT). In the end she only played four hands, but (coincidentally?) we finished top.

Here's one big hand Anna played.

♠ A T 8 2 ♥ A T 6 ♦ A 6 5 ♣ A K 5 Danny Anna W N E S 1NT - 2♣ - 2♠ - 6♠ - - - ♠ K J 6 5 3 ♥ K 9 ♦ K T 4 ♣ Q 8 3 Anna sitting South has a routine 12-14 1NT opener. The rule (according to Norman) is that you don't open hands like this with one of a major unless the suit is strong enough to play opposite a doubleton, which means ♠AKxxx, ♠AQxxx or ♠AJTxx. This hand doesn't qualify. Sitting North I didn't know what to do. I've a 19 count with all the aces, but it's balanced and I actually have seven losers. Possible contracts are 3NT, 4♠, 6♠ or 6NT, depending on whether or not Anna has a minimum or maximum point count and a Spade fit. I tried Stayman, and Anna replied 2♠. It's matchpoints, and with my flat hand I couldn't see any ruffing potential, so why have I just bid Stayman? What would 4NT now be? Me and Anna have previously agreed Invitational, but Norman's notes say Blackwood. I've got four keycards myself anyway, so have a punt at 6♠. If we make it's less points than 6NT, but has more chance of an overtrick (or fewer undertricks). Anna gets the ♥Q lead, which she runs round to her ♥K, leaving a finesse position against West. She then cashes the two top Spades, and when the queen doesn't fall is faced with a trump loser, so has to avoid a Diamond loser. She takes advantage of the Heart lead and finesses the ♥J to discard a Diamond. 6♠ making, for 10/12 matchpoints. The full deal: EW vul E deal ♠ A T 8 2 ♥ A T 6 ♦ A 6 5 ♣ A K 5 ♠ Q 9 7 ♥ Q J 5 2 ♦ Q J 7 2 ♣ J 2 19 9 0 12 ♠ 4 ♥ 8 7 4 3 ♦ 9 8 3 ♣ T 9 7 6 4 ♠ K J 6 5 3 ♥ K 9 ♦ K T 4 ♣ Q 8 3 The Heart lead from West was unfortunate, and gave declarer a trick. In fact you can make all thirteen tricks on any lead, if you get trumps right (no reason you would though), then steal another trick with a squeeze. After you win all your Spades and Clubs West will have to unguard either Hearts or Diamonds - he can't keep QJx in both suits, and will have to come down to just QJ in one of the suits. You'll then be able to win three tricks in that suit with the Ace, King and Ten. Since playing this hand we've had a class on Slam Bidding with Norman. I told him about this hand and he wasn't impressed with my bidding. See the hand on St. Andrews Bridge Club here, Hand 21 (rotated). 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