Resulting

The school bridge club that I look after has come on leaps and bounds, as we've been meeting twice a week this term. The focus has been on play and defence and I've left the bidding to be natural, only emphasising the value of the game bonus.

We've had a couple of three-board Team's Matches, which is the first time I've been able to get anyone interested in scoring. More importantly, I was able to introduce the notion of resulting, which is when you decide what people should have done based on unknowable factors. For example, saying "I should have bid 4♥" just because 4♥ happens to make on a lucky layout.

In our match I was impressed that on all three boards reasonable contracts were reached on both tables, despite the lack of bidding sophistication. This was the one that decided the match:

Board 3 Dealer: S	North ♠ 7 ♥ J974 ♦ T ♣ AK96432
West ♠ 4 ♥ Q32 ♦ K9862 ♣ QJT5	8 8 11 13	East ♠ KQT965 ♥ T85 ♦ AQ74 ♣
	South ♠ AJ832 ♥ AK6 ♦ J53 ♣ 87

On one table South opened 1♠, West made a 2♦ overcall, North bid Clubs and after a good competitive auction ended up in 5♣. When this came round to West she doubled. The kids love doubling, and tend to do it far too often, but I think this time she had her bid.

In 5♣x declarer ended up losing two trump tricks, along with a Diamond and a Heart. It is possible to avoid losing two Clubs with an early finesse, and you might avoid a Heart loser with some fancy footwork, but that's beyond us at the moment and the result was 5♣x-2. On the other table North played a sedate 3♣= for a big gain on the hand.

Afterwards North was roundly blamed for overbidding in getting to 5♣. However, if the trumps had split 2-2 he would have made it. So that was my lesson for the day - just because a contract fails it doesn't mean it's a bad contract.

One hand from the Bermuda Bowl

The Bermuda Bowl is the bridge equivalent of a World Championship, and just took place in India. Put yourself in one defender's shoes for this deal.The opponents have just reached 3NT, after bidding some minors then checking for stops. You and your partner have been quiet throughout. What do you lead from this?

♠ T843 ♥ KQJ43 ♦ J8 ♣Q5

I expect you chose the obvious ♥K. When the hand was played live in the quarterfinal match between England and USA1 one of the commentators suggested instead leading a deceptive ♥J. But at the table the English defender, Andrew Robson, went one better and lead the ♥4! This was the full deal:

The American declarer sitting East assumed from the lead that Hearts were splitting 4-3, and was worried that if he ducked the Heart he'd get a Spade switch. So he immediately won the ♥A, reasoning this way he would lose only three Hearts and a Club. However, once the defence got in Robson surprised everyone at the table by cashing four Heart tricks to set the contract. On the other table game made easily ("Difficult to see how 3NT can go down" said the commentator).

I like this deal as it shows the subtelty the expert game. Any intermediate player would have lead the ♥K, but an expert leads like a beginner and plays fourth highest.

Glasgow League Division Two - Buchanan vs Team Rowan

Team Rowan scored a fantastic 15-1 win in the first match of the season. Could they maintain that form with Anna and I in the team?

Things started badly. Our opponents seemed to be bidding and playing very slowly, and in response we got a bit tired and the bidding suffered. As an example of how it all seemed to go wrong after Anna had passed I opened a light 1♥ and she responded 2♣, natural and showing 10+. I had ♣AKx so passed. On another day Anna would have five or six Clubs and 2♣ would have been a good contract, but today it was a 4-3 fit and went two off.

At one point the opponents had a mix-up and ended in a 6-1 Spade fit. If we'd have been sharper we could have beaten it, but instead let declarer make it. Anna made a couple of good 3NTs, but then we went off doubled in a bad sacrifice, twice. This was the low point:

No one vul N deal ♠ 9 x x ♥ x x ♦ J x x ♣ A Q J T x ♠ K J x x x ♥ K x ♦ Q x ♣ x x x x 8 9 13 10 ♠ T x ♥ Q J x ♦ A K x x x ♣ K x x ♠ A Q x ♥ A T 9 x x x ♦ x x x ♣ x

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

East opened 1♦. With Anna having already passed I felt like I was right for a weak 2♥ overcall, but decided to spice things up a bit and bid 3♥. No particular reason, but I was a bit bored perhaps. The pre-empt worked as West was forced to make a stretch to bid 3♠. However, Anna wasn't in on this and thought I had a genuine 3♥ bid with something like ♥KQJxxxx and so raised me to 4♥. East doubled and I had to take the medicine.

The defence took three Diamond tricks then East switched to the ♠T. I covered and West won the ♠Q. He couldn't continue Spades so lead a Club. I thought about finessing but thankfully didn't, and was able to hold my losses to 4♥x-4, which still cost 800. On a part score hand this is expensive, especially on aggregate scoring.

After all the other tables finished we were still playing. At one point someone actually turned out the lights, then realised we were still playing. It was just our table left and the two team captains waiting for a result. The very final board epitomised the disaster. After I had opened 1♥ partner was silent and the opponents reached 3NT. I had:

♠x ♥ JTxxx ♦ AQxx ♣Qxx

Obviously I lead a Heart, and then found partner's only points were five Diamonds to the King. In the end we lost the match 12-4. As the team captain said, it could have been worse!

Saturday Night at the Club

Saturday night at the Buchanan is a new event at a convenient time, so last night Anna and I made our return to the club. It's been six months since we've played any Matchpoints.

While the standard did not quite rival the Bermuda Bowl (happening right now in Chennai) there were a few highlights. Three times I doubled aggressively when Anna and I had a misfit, and every time we took them down two or more. Once we made 12 tricks after an opponent revoked, and afterwards I could hear someone at another table trying to figure out how on Earth someone had made 4♥+2.

The hand I remember best though is of course one where I didn't get things right.

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

Although we play a weak NT, Anna opened her 15 point hand 1NT. Neither of us noticed this until the next day. My plan was to transfer to Spades then bid Hearts, which for us shows at least 5-4 and is game forcing. But after I transferred into Spades South weighed in with 3♦. Anna passed and when it came back to me I wasn't sure if 3♥ was still forcing (I think it is) so bid a potentially ambiguous 4♥. That might have looked like a splinter, but Anna correctly took it as natural and was delighted to pass with her excellent Heart suit.

South passed this too (I would have bid 5♣), and lead the ♦A. "You've hit the jackpot there" said a defender as dummy came down.

I could see loads of Heart winners, loads of Spade winners and just one Club to lose. An easy 12 tricks. I ruffed the Diamond lead and started drawing trumps. After two rounds of trumps though I suddenly realised I had a problem. As trumps had split 3-1 to draw them all was about to take my last trump in hand, after which I would be wide open in Diamonds after losing the Club Ace. It's good I realised this, but a shame I realised it so late. I therefore started on Clubs before drawing the last trump, thinking this was fairly safe. The defence was accurate though and South took her ♣A and gave her partner a ruff. My easy 12 tricks had turned into 4♥+1.

Of course what I should have done right at the start is ruffed a second Diamond in the South hand then drawn trumps, which gets me to 12 tricks with 5 Hearts, 5 Spades and 2 Diamonds. I can even play for all 13 tricks by ruffing all three Diamonds. Every other table made +2, except for those that got an immediate Club lead.

The next time I was sure I had 12 tricks I played much more carefully:

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

I have the 20 point East hand with a void. I decided to only open 1♠, then when Anna showed support I splintered with 4♥. Anna passed this quickly, as she has already stretched to bid 2♠. I got a nice Diamond lead, and so was able to get two tricks out of the Diamond suit and this really was an easy 12 tricks. Every other table was also in 4♠, making 11 or 12 tricks depending on the lead.

Overall we finished in 1st place, and David & Heather were 2nd. Bring on the next league match on Tuesday!

Scottish Cup (Plate) - Round One

We were knocked out of the Scottish Cup in the first round by just two IMPs (report here). As consolation we entered the plate.

Anna and I met met with John & Adam at the Glasgow Bridge Centre. Our team-mates had a veritable sheaf of paper with them - their new system. It looked pretty intimidating. Could they remember it all? Could we play a bit better than last time?

Anna had just finished four night shifts in a row and I was also worried she might be a bit slow. But quite the opposite, she got stuck in straight away. At favourable vulnerability Anna overcalled 1NT with:

♠ A T 9 5 3 2 ♥ A 9 7 6 ♦ 7 6 ♣ 8

This ended up going for 300 in 2♠x-2. This was unlucky, as 3NT didn't quite make their way.

Then it was my turn to go a bit overboard.

Game All E deal ♠ 7 6 5 ♥ 5 3 ♦ Q J T ♣ J 9 8 5 3 ♠ Q J 3 ♥ Q J T ♦ K 6 5 ♣ Q T 6 2 4 11 11 14 ♠ T ♥ K 9 8 7 4 2 ♦ A 9 3 2 ♣ A 7 ♠ A K 9 8 4 2 ♥ A 6 ♦ 8 7 4 ♣ K 4

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

I overcalled 1♠, and when Anna gave minimal support I bid 4♠. The opponents were not slow in doubling, and I was rather anxious when dummy came down and I could see this was going to be bad. The play of the hand was strange, as I was hoping that the trumps didn't split, as although that would mean I went down an extra trick it would mean that they had one less loser in their hypothetical Heart contract.

I finished on 4♠x-2 for -500. It could have been worse, as if East had of underlead the Club Ace I'm not sure what I would have done. I could maybe work out she has the ♣A for her opening bid but my instinct is always to play low and it probably would have been -800.

John & Adam rescued us on the deal, by making 4♥ for +620. 4♥ looks like it can be beaten with a loser in each suit, but in fact it needs perfect defence to do that. "I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have done that" said Anna.

There were two more big swings in the first half, both caused by our opponents (Lucy & Lorna) having a strong preference for playing in 3NT. In the first they eschewed their 6-2 Heart fit and 5-3 Spade fit and played in 3NT. It had nine tricks on top and declarer played very carefully for a tenth. On the other table Adam played in Spades and when Hearts broke 5-0 he suffered a defensive cross ruff and down two. But in very similar circumstances the 3NT preference backfired here:

Game NS N deal ♠ K 4 3 ♥ K Q T 7 5 3 ♦ K 7 6 5 ♣ ♠ 8 5 ♥ 9 8 4 ♦ T 9 3 2 ♣ A K 9 2 11 7 9 13 ♠ Q 6 2 ♥ A 2 ♦ Q 8 4 ♣ J T 8 7 6 ♠ A J T 9 7 ♥ J 6 ♦ A J ♣ Q 5 4 3

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

South found herself in 3NT. Me and Anna play standard leads, though I'm not totally sure she knows what they are. But she found the textbook ♣A here. We play reverse attitude so I encouraged with the ♣6, while wishing we played standard attitude. I could see that if Anna continued Clubs there would be four Clubs tricks for the defence plus the ♥A. Instead she quite reasonably switched, to a Diamond. Declarer won the ♦J, played a Spade to the King and finessed Spades. At this point she led a Heart. I was East and took my ♥A. A brilliant play, which might not seem significant but was for me, given that I duck almost constantly, often well beyond there's any value in it. It was quite an achievement to take my Ace on the first round. There was logic to it. I figured that if I let declarer win the trick she might have nine tricks already - one Heart, five Spades and three Diamonds (I didn't know the Diamonds were blocked). That non-duck was the highlight of the day. We did then take three more Club tricks for one off.

At the other table Adam and John made a comfortable 4♠+2. At the half-time break we were up 13 IMPs. Sandwiches were provided, but I was full so just had some chocolate from a M & S mini-bucket.

In the second half we played opponents with a strong NT, five card majors and Ekrens 2♦. The one time they opened it we handled it well when Anna doubled and we got to 6♣-2 (duplicated at the other table). My defence got a bit sloppy, and at one point I managed to duck my Ace when declarer clearly had a singleton, then somehow help her to establish that suit anyway, to give a farcical 2♠+2 when we could have beaten the contract.

Another time I had a feeling that 3NT was going to be bad, but felt we had the points so bid it anyway. It went four off, two off on the other table on another lead. But this was the low point, as both me and Anna stretched to bid a thin game and the cards were merciless:

Game NS E deal ♠ K T ♥ 7 5 2 ♦ K Q 4 ♣ Q J T 6 2 ♠ 4 ♥ T 4 ♦ J 8 7 6 5 3 2 ♣ A 9 5 11 5 13 11 ♠ A Q 9 8 7 2 ♥ A 8 6 ♦ T 9 ♣ K 8 ♠ J 6 5 3 ♥ K Q J 9 3 ♦ A ♣ 7 4 3

Anna Danny W N E S 1♠ 2♥ - 4♥ - - -

After a 1♠ opening I decided to get in the auction with 2♥. Anna counted seven losers and raised me to 4♥. I think with her Spade doubleton she can almost see how the first three tricks are going to go: a Spade lead to the ♠Q, ♠A then a ruff, so should be wary of bidding 4♥. But then I suppose I started it with an awful overcall so take the blame.

Dummy is a very poor fit, with an annoying ♦KQ4 opposite my singleton Ace. I finished down three, but at one point did manage to get to dummy and had dreams of discarding some Clubs for two off, but the 7-2 Diamond break foiled that. On the other table Adam & John pushed to 4♠ with the South hand so it was vulnerable undertricks all round and a heavy loss on the board.

The good news from the second half was that Anna made 5♣x and John a very poor 6NT. I belatedly took some sandwiches and we went to score up. Had we done enough to hang on? Sadly not, and we lost 75-82. Just 7 IMPs, which could have been saved on any of a number of hands. Our Scottish Cup is over. As Anna said to me on the way home "I think you actually made more bodges than me tonight."

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.

<

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)!

<

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.

Scottish Schools Bridge Championship 2015

This is a report on the annual schools bridge championship in Scotland. I was there with two teams of four from The High School of Glasgow, making our debut in the event. Several strong teams from other schools have recently finished school, plus the event was not well publicised by the Scottish Bridge Union, so there were only six teams in total. On the upside this meant at least one of our teams was guaranteed a top 5 finish.

My school bridge club only started last November, and we're still very much novices. When we arrived at the Bridge Club in Stirling some of the friendly pupils from Hutcheson's Grammar school came over to say hello, and ask if we play Four Card Majors or Five Card Majors. Our captain instantly replied Four Card Majors, a nice bluff as he'd never heard of this before. The boy from Hutcheson's then demonstrated his roundhouse kick in the car park. You don't see that too often at the bridge club.

The format was everyone playing everyone else in a series of short team matches. My two teams coped brilliantly. A lot of it was new to them. For example, they had never before played with:

• Sitting in seats by Compass Points
• Cards arriving pre-dealt in boards
• Square Tables (not school desks)
• Bridgemates for scoring
• Quiet (ish) at the table
• No Jaffa cakes during play

Very soon after arrival Liz McGowan got everyone organised and playing straight away, and a hush fell on the room. I sat on the corner of one of the tables, kibitzing along with the other teachers and Stirling locals. "This is intense" one of my team said as she picked out her first set of cards, and counted and recounted her points.

In the few months we've been playing we've barely touched on bidding, which means most contracts are very low. This can occasionally lead to a good result, for example in this hand:

Our North-South played 1♦+1. After two passes South opened 1♦ and in our safety-first style North passed too. On the opposing table the hand was passed out altogether. However, there's a limit to how far you can get by only ever bidding at the one level, and we did pay the price for a few missed games:

On this board our East-West played a comfortable 1♥+2, whereas the Aberdeen East-West won the board comfortably by making 4♥= and securing the game bonus.

At the lunch break we went to sit out in the sun and enjoy the delicious Marks & Spencers sandwiches. The team resolved to be a bit bolder in the bidding, except for the one notorious overbidder who was strongly encouraged by his team-mates to be less bold. This was following something of a bumpy patch in the morning when the opposition made 4♦x followed by 4NTx. "He bid it so fast I thought he was bluffing" was the doubler's excuse.

In the second half the bidding improved and I was pleased to see people with good six card suits opening then rebidding their suit. More importantly than the bidding, the card-play improved too. It's no exaggeration to say that the 25 or so hands we played in the tournament were as many as we have played in the rest of the year combined. As a loyal kibitzer I felt the excitement when the kids did well, and of course also felt pain inside every time someone forgot to draw trumps.

Overall, the eight novices did really well to step up and play competitive bridge for the first time, and I was very proud. As one of the organisers wrote to me afterwards: "I thought they were great ambassadors for their school and the game as well.".

And as for the final result? We did indeed finish in 5th and 6th. Here's how I remember it:

1	Hutcheson's echidnas	? VPs
2	Aberdeen	? VPs
3	Hutcheson's dragons	? VPs
4	Hutcheson's ?	39 VPs
5	High School B	37 VPs
6	High School A	22 VPs

Each match was scored out of 20 Victory Points (VPs), meaning an average result would be to draw each of the five games 10-10 and finish on 50 VPs. So well done to both our teams, and particularly 'B' who were close to overtaking one of the Hutcheson's teams.

Thanks to the organisers and hopefully see you again next year!