Thwarted in Sicily

Me and Anna just had a one week holiday in Sicily. I'd found Bridge Clubs in both Catania (here) and Palermo (here) but sadly we didn't make it to either club. They both appeared to meet every day, with sessions at 1730 and 2130, but on the day we wanted there was only attività sociale which we didn't fancy.

Mount Etna

By way of compensation, we played on Bridge Base on the first day back. Here's a hand I bodged horribly, in both the bidding and the play. The Italians would not have been impressed. IMP scoring, everyone vulnerable:

Anna sitting South opened 1♦, and West overcalled 1♥. I now have a bit of a dilemma sitting North. I have Diamond support, but after the overcall if I bid either 2♦ or 3♦ that's weak. Since I had weak Diamonds, and a balanced hand with a Heart stop, I instead bit 2NT (11 points is too good for 1NT). What I maybe should have done is make a cuebid of 2♥, which we play as good support for opener, after which Anna would have possibly signed off in 3♦, or bid 2♠ after which I bid 2NT then she signs off in 3♦.

Against 2NT East inevitably lead a Heart, the ♥T. I could have taken this but felt confident of getting my ♥Q in the end, so ducked the first three rounds of Hearts and won the fourth. I can now make the contract fairly easily as Diamonds are 2-2, by just giving up one Diamond, which along with the four Hearts means the defence only have five tricks. If it turns out that Diamonds don't split I can switch to finessing in Spades and Clubs, which will also get me up to eight tricks if both finesses work.

Instead, I went for the finesses straight away. After winning my Heart I wanted to keep East off lead so lead up to the ♣A then the ♣J, losing to East's Queen. Although the Club avoidance play makes sense, keeping West off lead, it's much better to take the Spade finesse first, keeping your Clubs to help you unblock the Spades. Even if my Club finesse had worked I still wouldn't have been able to get all my tricks as the Spades are tangled. After the Club lost I switched to playing on Diamonds, and when they came in went one off, in total losing four Hearts, one Club (un-neccesarily) and one Diamond. 2NT-1 lost about 8 IMPs, as a few North-South pairs were actually making 5♦. A lucky contract but at least they had the right trump suit.

Next week the Melville Congress in Edinburgh with Jake, John and Martin.

Sole Bay Bridge Club

Me and Anna are regular visitors to Southwold in Suffolk, but last Wednesday was the first time we'd been to the Bridge Club. There was a very warm welcome, and we had a fun time. I can tell you that no other club I've played at is as vigilant for dropped pens. Three times I left mine behind, and every time someone quickly sprung up to return it. When I attempted to steal another pair's pen they were just as quick.

Although the company was lively, the boards were flat that night. We defended a lot of 1NT contracts. I played quite well, until the last board of the night when I bodged it. I threw away the ♣T, forgetting that the ♣J had already been played. This cost the contract, but more importantly cost me my moral authority, so I was no longer able to criticise Anna for her (alleged) blunders. Anna was delighted at my mistake, and kept mentioning it when we were at The Sole Bay Inn afterwards.

Here's one hand which we defended well (after drinking too much Broadside this is how I remember it):

Board Dealer North No one Vul ♠ Q T x ♥ A x x x ♦ x ♣ A x x x x ♠ A K J x x x x x ♥ K J x ♦ x ♣ J 10 13 5 12 ♠ x x ♥ x x ♦ A J T x x x ♣ x x x ♠ - ♥ Q T x x ♦ K Q x x x ♣ K Q x x

Anna Danny W N E S - - 1♦ 4♠ x - - -

Anna sitting North passed and so did East. I was sitting South and opened 1♦, planning to rebid 2♣. But I didn't get the chance, as West came straight in with a massive 4♠ bid. Most people at the club play strong jump overcalls, but I don't suppose that matters when it's 4♠. Anna doubled the 4♠, and it was back round to me as South. I've got a Spade void but I trust that Anna has a decent hand, so I passed. With her two Aces and three Spades she reckoned she had three defensive tricks.

The normal lead against a doubled contract is a trump, but Anna couldn't afford to lead a Spade so went for her singleton Diamond, even though she doesn't really want a ruff. If declarer guesses Hearts right there's only three tricks to lose, a Spade, Club and Heart. But, if you are unlucky and guess Hearts wrong, it magically ends up costing you a further trick.

Here's how it happened: declarer won the opening Diamond lead with an Ace, and lead a Heart up. She guessed to play the ♥K, which is probably right as South did open the bidding. North won with the ♥A, and played ♣A and another Club. Declarer ruffed in hand, and played another Heart, getting ready for the ruff. I won this Heart in South, and lead a Diamond, ruffed by declarer and over-ruffed by North. North then lead another Club, which declarer ruffed. She then finally got her Heart ruff. However, the catch was that declarer was now stuck in dummy, and only had Diamonds left. She had to lead a Diamond back to her hand, and so North ended up getting another trump trick by over-ruffing. So in the end the defence came to two Hearts, two Spades and a Club, for 4♠x-2 and +300.

I'm not sure if this was a good score, but I reckon it probably was, as not everyone will double 4♠, and a few declarer's might make it. If North-South play they can make 3NT I think, but it's not a great contract.

Thanks again to the Southwold Bridge Club for a good evening, I hope we'll be back soon.

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%.

Notes on a Scandal

This is my first report about the German Coughing Scandal - replaced by a longer piece for the SBU news available here.

I was very surprised when someone told me that they'd seen a story about Bridge in a newspaper. Of course, it was the cheating scandal, where the German Senior Pair of Michael Elinescu and Entscho Wladow have had their gold medals from last year's world championship removed, for coughing to each other to give special signals. They have also been banned from World Bridge Federation (WBF) events for life as a pair, and for ten years individually.

The German team. Wladow then Elinescu are on the far left.

I've been looking into this. It was an impressive investigation by the WBF, and I am satisfied the German pair are guilty.

Here's a summary of their coughing code. There's two opportunities to cough. Firstly, you can cough once you've got your cards and before the auction starts to show a void or singleton, using this code:

1 cough	Club shortage
2 coughs	Diamond shortage
3 coughs	Heart shortage
4 coughs	Spade shortage

Secondly, just before your partner makes the opening lead you can cough to indicate which suit you want lead, with the same code as before.

Apparently, there's long been a suspicion of this German pair. They are known to be not especially ethical, and have in the past for example just said they "can't remember" to defend themselves in tricky situations. They were investigated in 2008 and 2009 with no conclusion. The USA team wanted them monitored for this final, but the WBF refused. So one of the USA team, Eddie Wold, took it upon himself to discreetly note down on his scorecard when the coughs occurred, so he could later match this up with the hands they had. After showing this evidence to the WBF, they agreed to install video cameras (which happens often anyway, so isn't too suspicious) for the next two segments of the final. Based on this, they've been convicted, in a hearing which just happened in the USA.

Here's all the relevant links I've found, if you want to find out more:

• Summary from The Telegraph Newspaper here.
• Initial Request from USA for this pair to be investigated, including Spreadsheet matching coughs to hands here.
• Full technical report of the WBF hearing here.
• Video feed of the final here.
• Rebuttal from German Bridge Union here.
• Article from a few years ago subtly implying the pair is up to something here.

The initial request from the USA also has several further allegations, suggesting a more complicated cheating code involving how they pick up their cards. The rebuttal from the Germans is interesting, and points out that sometimes the coughs don't match the alleged code. I watched a bit of the video myself. It makes for very dull viewing, and as you can't actually see the cards you can't work out if the coughs are matching or not. I did notice one bit though where Elinescu is on lead and Wladow doesn't cough at all.

One things for sure - there'll be plenty of gags next time someone accidentally coughs at the bridge club!

Read my full report here.

Glasgow Division Two: Team Rowan vs Bridge of Weir

This was the last league match of the season for Team Rowan. We had an away tie against a very pleasant Bridge of Weir team in a Post Office. If we could win the match, or even lose narrowly, we would finish second in Division Two and win promotion for next year. The instructions from the team Captain were to keep it steady, and hopefully have lots of flat boards. However, on just the third hand of the day me and Anna found a double fit, and just couldn't control ourselves:

Love all S deal ♠ Q J T x ♥ A x ♦ A x x ♣ A Q x x ♠ K 9 x x ♥ J x x ♦ x ♣ K J T x x

S N Danny Anna - 1♣ 1♠ 3♠ 4♦ 4NT 5♣ 6♠

I sat South and passed, and it came round to Anna. We play that with two four card suits you always open the lower suit, even if that means opening a minor instead of a major (as here). This can occasionally mean you lose a major fit in competition, but it's good for describing your shape fully, and of course good for finding minor games and slams. So Anna opened 1♣. I responded 1♠, which Anna raised to 3♠. I now know that we've got a double fit in Clubs and Spades. So although I've only got eight points I like my hand, and made a cuebid of 4♦, as I thought that might be what partner needed to hear. Anna boldly overlooked that I was a passed hand and launched into Blackwood. With one keycard missing we landed in 6♠.

West lead a Club. When dummy came down I was pretty pleased. I have seven top tricks outside trumps, three high card winners in Spades, so I need two ruffs to get me up to twelve. The only danger is the defence getting a Club ruff, or if trumps are 4-1. I was lucky though. I won the Club lead, and played ♦A and ruffed a Diamond. I then played a trump (ducked) and ruffed another Diamond. I've now got my two ruffs so drew trumps and claimed for 6♠=. It was only when I showed my hand that everyone else saw I had all those Clubs, until then it was only me that knew about the double fit. [Edit - of course the slam goes down on a Heart lead!].

Not sure if this slam was bid at other tables - I know that David and Heather finished in 5♣ after starting 1♣-2♣, where 2♣ was strong (they play inverted minors).

Apart from that hand, the first half was exceptionally low scoring, which was good news. On our table our opponents played six contracts, all of them at the two level, and we played six, mostly partscores too. It was thus fairly even at half time. In the break we had a tremendous cup of tea, and Anna had a Kit Kat too.

In the second half we swiftly bid another slam. This one I'm sure everyone would be in, as opener had a balanced 18 count opposite responder with a balanced 16 count. We finished in 6NT. It all hinges on the play of this Club suit for one loser:

	QT75
	A983

The instinctive way to play it is Ace then lead up to the Queen-Ten, but you then have a guess which one to play, and will go down whenever your 50/50 fails. At Buchanan Bridge Club Norman has taught us that when you have AQT9 between both hands you should finesse twice, for example leading the Queen then the Ten. This only fails if both finesses lose. This is exactly how Anna played it, but unfortunately she was not rewarded for her accurate play and went one down here. [Edit - there is a small advantage to leading the Ten or the Seven on the first round, see comments].

Put yourself in my shoes for the next board, with just our side vulnerable. These were my cards:

♠ Q J 9 x x x ♥ A x x ♦ x ♣ K Q x

Ian	Anna	Mike	Danny
W	N	E	S
	-	1♦	1♠
1NT	-	2♦	?

Anna passed and my right hand opponent opened 1♦. I overcalled 1♠, but considered bidding a pre-emptive 2♠ as partner has already passed. Left hand opponent then bid 1NT, Anna passed again, and opened rebid 2♦. Now's my moment to rebid 2♠. I nearly did it, but I figured there was very little benefit to doing so, at best it would be a modest part score swing, and with my left hand opponent showing a Spade stop to bid 1NT I might get doubled. I wisely passed - and this Pass was my best bid of the day. Anna had a Spade void and I would have had a terrible time in 2♠, probably doubled, and off at least two vulnerable. As it was, we defended 2♦ and slowly beat it by one one trick.

There were several more partscores in the second half, until we finished with this big hand.

All Vul Love all E deal ♠ x x ♥ A Q J T x x x ♦ Q ♣ x x x ♠ ♥ K 8 x x ♦ A K J T 9 x x ♣ A K

Mike Anna Tom Danny W N E S 3♠ x 4♠ 5♥ - 6♥ - - -

I was sitting South with the monster hand trying to decide whether or not to open 2♣, when East opened ahead of me with 3♠. I'm certainly good enough for a 4♦ overcall, in fact even a 5♦ overcall. But I also have Heart support, so I chose to double, reasoning that if Anna bid Clubs, I could then bid Diamonds. This might get confusing and take the bidding pretty high as we tried to sort it out, but I thought I had a good enough hand that if I end up just punting 6♦ to end the auction that would be OK. West bid 4♠, and Anna bid over the top of him with 5♥. Since she could have easily passed, this is showing a good hand, and a good Heart suit. I have so few losers in my hand and a big source of tricks, so the only question is how high to go. All I really need from Anna for 7♥ is long and strong Hearts, and that's pretty much what's she promised with her 5♥ bid. I thought about some sort of 5♠ or 5NT bid, but that's pretty pointless and might just mess things up. I decided not to be a hero, and just bid 6♥, missing out on the Grand Slam.

On a Spade lead Anna drew trumps in one round and claimed, for 6♥+1. On reflection, I think I should have bid 7♥ instead of just 6♥. I don't think many tables will bid it, but this was aggregate scoring, so it doesn't matter what happens elsewhere in the room. If I can get an extra 750 points for my side by bidding the Grand Slam then I should take it. As for the other tables - I know that on one other table my hand directly overcalled 5♦ and played there.

Overall then we bid three slams, which is the same as the number of games we bid. The 25 point slam made, the 27 point slam made an overtrick and we went down in the 34 point slam.

And as for the all important final result? In the end it was a narrow win for Team Rowan, coming through 9-7. It was enough for promotion, and next year we'll be in Division One!

Bodged - Deal of the Week #18

Here's a hand from last week, where I should have done a lot better. It's a tail of woe.

Board 2 Dealer East Love All ♠ x x x ♥ A J T x x ♦ K T 9 x ♣ x ♠ K Q x x ♥ K x x ♦ x ♣ K Q J x x 8 14 4 14 ♠ T x x ♥ x x ♦ 8 x x x ♣ A x x ♠ A J x ♥ Q x x ♦ A Q J x ♣ x x x

NC AP JW DH W N E S 1♦ 2♣ 2♥ - 2NT - 5♦ - - -

I sat South as dealer. Playing a Strong NT I opened 1♦. West overcalled 2♣ and North bid 2♥. In the local system this only promises 4 Hearts, so I couldn't raise this straight away. I rebid 2NT, which seems the only sensible option. North maybe thought this showed more strength, or decided that we needed to bid a game, so went straight for 5♦.

West lead a trump. The contract actually looks pretty good. If the Heart finesse works I've got 10 top tricks, and can ruff a Club for my 11th. Or if the Heart finesse fails I need to ruff two Clubs. Having avoided a Spade lead, 5♦ is actually a better contract than 4♥, as 4♥ will only make if the Heart finesse works.

I won the first Diamond in Hand (big mistake, as we'll see), and lead a Club. West played the ♣J, and East skilfully overtook with the ♣A. This is almost certainly safe, as it's very unlikely I've got the ♣K - I wouldn't be playing the Clubs this way if I did. East then returned the ♠T, which is the switch I'd been dreading. I took the ♠A, and now I can't afford to lose the lead as I'll have two Spade losers on top of my Club loser. So I need the Heart finesse to work. I ruffed a Club first, then came back to hand with a trump. At this point the trump suit looked like this, with the lead in my hand.

	T
-		8x
	Ax

What I want to do know is draw the last two round of trumps, and pin everything on the Heart finesse - which given West's overcall and the cards played so far is almost certain to work. But I've bodged it. I can't draw trumps, despite being dealt all of the ♦AKQJT9. If I cross to the ♦T there's no way back to hand, and I need to be in hand to finesse the Hearts. What I should have done is one the very first trump trick in dummy, then I would have just high trumps left in hand.

I gloomily lead the ♥Q, and finessed again when West ducked. East ruffed the third Heart, and the defence cashed two more Spades.

Looking at the deal East has only three important cards, but he played them all with guile for an excellent defence. Of course I still should have made it, but he gave me a chance to fail and I grabbed it eagerly.

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.