Scottish Cup Final

I was part of the team at the Glasgow Bridge Centre that hosted the Scottish Cup Final this Sunday. The format was two teams of four competing over four segments each of 16 boards. The match was played behind screens, which I've not experienced before.

The favourites and eventual winners were team SHORT consisting of Brian Short, Dave Walker Les Steel and John Matheson. The runners up were team KANE with Danny Kane, Helen Kane, Cliff Gillis and Alistair MacDonald.

The first section was very low scoring, then after the break SHORT started amassing IMPs and never looked back.They seemed to profit from better defence on a lot of part score boards plus a few game swings due to superior play. Their losses were mostly limited to when team KANE hit the jackpot with an ambitious bid.

This was an interesting board from the 3rd segment:

Closed Room Kane D Steel MacDonald Matheson W N E S - 1♠ - 1NT - 3NT - 4♥ - - -

Open Room Walker Gillis Short Kane H W N E S - 1♠ - 2♣* - 2♦* - 2♥ - 4♥ - - -

In the Closed Room East opened 1♠ and West made the disciplined reply of 1NT. East has the points for game so bid 3NT. I thought that might end the auction, as it wouldn't be the first or second time that Kane-MacDonald had played 3NT with a big major fit, but West pulled to 4♥. Les Steel as North lead the ♣4, which in their system is either his 3rd or 5th highest Club (or shortage). Declarer thought for a while, couldn't face going down on trick one, and played the ♣A. When both Spade honours were offside he had to lose three more tricks and go down one.

In the Open Room after the same opening bid West replied 2♣, which for them I think shows one of three things, one of which is weak Hearts, and when East found out it was Hearts he raised to game. This time, playing 4th highest leads, North lead the ♣3. At this point the Closed Room had all finished their match, and along with me, were gathered around a monitor waiting to see what declarer Dave Walker would do. "He ought to get it right" said his team-mate Les Steel "He really ought to get this right.". After a long pause he did get it right, and finessed the ♣Q. He then took a slightly risky line playing for an overtrick which drew disapproving comments from Matheson and Steel, but it worked out fine and making 4♥ was worth 13 IMPs. This gave Team SHORT a 50 IMP lead going into the last segment and virtually sealed the match.

1. Would you finesse the Clubs at trick one?

In the final section there was one soaring highlight for Team KANE, a doubled grand slam!

Closed Room Kane H Steel Gillis Matheson W N E S - 1♥ - 2♦ - 2♥ - 3♥ - 4♣* - 4♦* - 5♣* - 6♥ - - -

Open Room Walker MacDonald Short Kane D W N E S - 1♥ - 1♠ - 2♣ - 2♦ - 3♣ - 6♥ - 7♥ - - x - - -

In the Closed Room when the hands were dealt commentator Liz McGowan said on Vugraph "Back with the slams. Kane needs these to produce some action." Iain Sime described the bidding: "3♥ forcing, 4♣ mild slam try". As the cuebidding continued Liz said: "One great Scottish Bridge tradition is to ensure in a slam auction that partner has to make the last guess. That way it's never your fault.". Finally Matheson took the plunge and bid 6♥. East lead the obvious ♦Q and declarer wrapped up 13 tricks. Afterwards, John Matheson said that he had that Board marked as a likely gain for his team, as they'd bid and made a slam which if off two tricks if East finds a Spade lead.

2. Against 6♥, if East leads a low Spade is it clear for West to play the ♠J?

On the other table the auction was shorter. Commentator Paul Gipson immediately picked up on the significance of the 1♠ bid: "Nice try by Danny Kane, more difficult for Short to lead a Spade now." Danny Kane then took a gamble at 6♥, and I was delighted to see MacDonald top him up to seven. I think that whenever partner makes a surprise jump to slam you should always top him up if possible, and although I'd never met Alistair MacDonald before he'd clearly heard of Hamilton's Rule, as I'd like it to be known, and bid an excellent 7♥. At least, excellent as far as the neutral is concerned. It's a precarious contract.

Before the bid Gipson said: "if MacDonald bids 7♥, will Walker double?". When Walker did double, he queried: "Does double ask for a Spade, or show a void?". Short presumably wasn't sure either, so lead a Diamond (same as closed room), and MacDonald nocholantly wrapped up all 13 tricks, for 7♥x= and 13 IMPs. Afterwards, Short and Walker stayed relatively calm.

3. What would you lead after the double?

In the end Team SHORT ran out comfortable winners by 163 IMPs to 93. Congratulations to them, and thanks to the Glasgow Bridge Center for hosting the event.

Team Rowan vs Team Buchanan

There are two teams from the Buchanan Club who both play in the Glasgow League Division One, and last week we met in a grudge match. Hopes were high for our first match of 2015, but hopes were dashed and we lost 11-5.

Me and Anna played against Fergus and Lina Kerr, who have been doing well in the Buchanan Competitions this year. It was a very enjoyable table and they were charming throughout, even maintaining good grace as me and Anna bumbled into a very poor 6♠:

Game all S deal ♠ T x x x x ♥ K x x ♦ A K x ♣ x x ♠ A K x ♥ A x ♦ Q x x ♣ A K Q x x

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

I had the 22 point South hand, and decided to upgrade to open 2♣. I did this because I thought with my good clubs I could have eight tricks in my hand, so it doesn't need much from Anna to let me make 3NT. Plus this was aggregate scoring which is an excuse for overbidding. Anna replied 2♦ and now I had to lie a bit with 2NT showing 23-24 balanced. Anna transferred into Spades and then things went a bit haywire. She bid 4♦ as a cuebid thinking Spades were agreed. I didn't know this and stalled for time with a general 4♥ cuebid, then when she bid Blackwood I guessed that she intended Spades as trumps and showed four keycards.

Since we had never agreed Spades but Anna bid 6♠ anyway I was expecting a long Spade suit, and was a bit disappointed with the dummy! Luckily trumps split 3-2 so it was OK and we were the only pair to make a slam.

We've since agreed that in this sort of situation over 2NT if the strong hand completes the transfer (i.e. here bids the normal 3♠) it shows three card support, else they'd just bid 3NT.

We needed that good slam score to compensate for the disaster below:

All vul E deal ♠ Q x x x ♥ x x x ♦ T x x x ♣ x x ♠ K x x ♥ T x x x ♦ x ♣ A Q x x x x 2 9 14 15 ♠ J x x x ♥ A J ♦ K J x x ♣ K J x ♠ A x x ♥ K Q x x ♦ A Q x x ♣ x x

Anna Danny W N E S 1♦ 1NT x - - -

All vulnerable, still aggregate scoring. East dealt and opened 1♦ ahead of me.

1. What would you bid with the South hand?

I went for a simple 1NT. I did wonder about the Club shortage, but thought they'd probably lead Diamonds. Looking at the hand now since I've got 4-4 in majors I could have made and off-shape double and saved myself the following embarrassment.

After my 1NT West doubled, which was passed out. Anna and I play a Helvic escape to 1NTx, but neither of us was sure if it applied here. I did think about redoubling with the South hand, but was scared of playing 1NTxx. Our best suit is actually Diamonds, which we're never going to get to, but actually any suit contract will stop the run of the Clubs.

West was doubling on the strength of her Club suit, and lead a low one. She hit the jackpot as East was able to win the &clubs:K and continue Clubs. After the first six tricks I was in a spot of bother with discards from my hand. I've already lost six tricks and was certain to still lose the ♥A and the ♠K. In fact to get out for only two down I think I need to dramatically throw away my ♠A, so I can then get to dummy to take the Diamond finesse for my fifth trick. I obviously didn't do this though so never got to dummy and only got four tricks - one Spade, two Hearts and one Diamond. A crushing -800 for 1NTx-3.

As for the other tables I know that on one of them East-West played 1NT+2.

At the half way point we were miraculously only ten points behind. However, things fell away in the second half and the original Buchanan team scored a deserved win.

Saturday Aggregate at Buchanan

Team Rowan are having a poor run in the Glasgow League, and after the last loss our captain made a little hint that maybe we'd benefit from a bit of practice at the club. Consequently me and Anna took advantage of the once monthly Saturday bridge at the Buchanan to try the aggregate tournament.

When we drove up there was a crowd outside. Smokers? No, they were locked out. After a few minutes someone produced both a set of keys and the code to the alarm and we got inside. The Club President was very apologetic, and decided not to collect any table money and give everyone a free drink.

Although it's been a month or so Anna and I had no preparatory discussion and were soon in the thick of it. With no one vulnerable (and aggregate scoring), your right hand opponent deals and opens 3♠.

♠J3 ♥AQ732 ♦J ♣AQT93

1. What do you bid with this hand?

Before you suggest it, we do not play Non-leaping Michaels, and Anna won't even let me finish explaining what it is. I went for a double. To my surprise, the pre-emptor's partner then pulled out the Stop Card and produced 5♦! This was the full auction and deal:

No one vul N deal ♠ A K T 9 8 6 5 ♥ 9 ♦ 6 5 ♣ 7 6 2 ♠ Q 7 2 ♥ K T 8 5 4 ♦ T 4 ♣ J 5 4 7 6 14 13 ♠ J 3 ♥ A Q 7 3 2 ♦ J ♣ A Q T 9 3 ♠ 4 ♥ J 6 ♦ A K Q 9 8 7 3 2 ♣ K 8

Anna Danny W N E S 3♠ x 5♦ - - -

Anna lead the ♣4 against 5♦. I won the ♣A and went into a think. I could think of good reasons to lead a Club (maybe we have two winners to cash), a Diamond (cut down on ruffs in dummy) and a Spade (cut off the long suit). I agonised for a bit then returned a Club. Turned out it didn't matter, declarer always has 11 tricks. 4♠ also makes exactly. In the seven tables in the event North-South bid and made game on four, and on the other three East-West found a Heart sacrifice.

After this me and Anna had a run of good results, including doubling the opponents in 5♣. We took this off five, with declarer only making her six Club tricks, for a useful 1100 points. Our other doubles weren't so good. Anna doubled 1NT which made, then on the very last round came the tragedy below, against Mandy and Ronnie:

EW vul N deal ♠ T 8 7 ♥ Q J 9 7 ♦ Q T 8 6 ♣ J 6 ♠ A 6 4 ♥ 8 5 ♦ A K 9 7 5 ♣ Q 9 4 6 13 7 14 ♠ K Q J 9 ♥ 6 2 ♦ J 4 3 ♣ 8 7 3 2 ♠ 5 3 2 ♥ A K T 4 3 ♦ 2 ♣ A K T 5

Danny Mandy Anna Ronnie W N E S 1♥ x 3♥ 3♠ 4♥ 4♠ - - 5♥ x - - -

South opened 1♥ and I had the West hand.

2. Do you agree with my first bid of double?

After I did double North made a pre-emptive raise of 3♥, and Anna weighed in with 3♠. North bid 4♥ and I thought Anna had more Spades and more distribution so went for 4♠, which could have been expensive (three off). South saved me by bidding 5♥, which I eagerly doubled, then bodged the defence horribly.

First I cashed the ♦A, then the ♠A on which Anna played the ♠9, which for us is discouraging. Then I then continued with the ♦K, which declarer gratefully ruffed. He can now draw trumps and throw away his remaining two Spade losers on the two Diamonds. A disaster, conceding 5♥x= for -650. Every other table played the hand in a partscore. I wish Anna had played the ♠K on my ♠A to show me she had the ♠KQJ, but even so my defence is mad and if I just keep it cool and don't set up the Diamonds we take it two off.

After this I was a little on the tilt. The next hand was passed out and then I picked up the ideal hand for someone on the tilt. Anna dealt and opened 1♥, and I had:

♠5 ♥Q76432 ♦AQ53 ♣84

If you apply the losing trick count, it's a monster hand, and I soon got us to 6♥:

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

Ronnie Danny Mandy Anna W N E S 1♥ - 3♠* x 4♣ - 4NT* - 5♦* - 6♥ - - -

Anna received a Spade lead, messed around for a while ruffing in both hands [Edit - ruffing in the North hand a lot], then finally took the Diamond finesse. It won, so we made the slam. Everyone else was in 4♥.

In the end we finished as the 2nd East-West pair behind Pauline and Ian Foulds. Mandy and Ronnie were the top North-South pair. Full results here.

Jackie Josephson Cup: Maccabi vs Team Rowan

Being a 1st Division Team we got a bye straight into the third round. I was hoping we would be playing a lower division team to boost morale, but unfortunately we got drawn against another 1st Division team - Bonnington from Maccabi. This was the same team we played last year, and narrowly beat with the benefit of our 1500 point handicap from being in Division Two (report here). This time we're both in Division 1 so it was a straight shoot out, and we got shot out the cup with a trouncing.

Me and Anna rushed there straight after work only to wait half an hour for the hosts to turn up, and never really recovered from that psychological blow, combined with the fact that they were much better at bridge than us. In the first half I had a couple of makeable 3NTs, which I tried my hardest for but fell one trick short each time. Although I don't think I could have done much more there was so much potential for error in defence the +100s the opponents were collecting were surely good scores for them. In fact me and Anna seemed to be getting all the cards, but not many points.

Then I launched Anna into a very tricky 6♥ which she didn't like much and guessing everything wrong went three down. Amazingly it made for Bonnington at another table for a combined 1730 point swing, expensive at aggregate scoring.

The deficit at half time was about 2000 points. "That's nothing." I told captain Jill, "we'll make that up easily." Instead we went backwards. I made three individual blunders that each cost a game swing, and the opponents couldn't believe their luck. They robbed us blind on this hand:

No one vul W deal ♠ x x x ♥ A x x ♦ A T x x x x ♣ J ♠ J 9 ♥ K J T x x x x ♦ x ♣ Q J x 9 8 9 15 ♠ A K 8 x ♥ Q x x ♦ x x ♣ x x x x ♠ Q T x x ♥ - ♦ K Q J x ♣ A K x x x

Anna Raymond Danny Alec W N E S 3♥ - 4♥ 4♠ - - -

This was really the auction. Anna opened a standard Weak Three and I topped her up to Four. South bid a mad 4♠. At the end of the hand he explained that "I couldn't let them play in 4♥". "Why not double?" said his partner.

Anna lead a Diamond, and after inept defence 4♠ made. What a tragedy.

After this I was on the tilt, and made a very light raise then opened a five card weak Two which fooled the opponents into going down in a cold 3NT. "I'm on a roll." I thought, and sacrificed in 5♥x, going five off for -1100.

At one point I doubled the opponents three times in a row, with varying success. This last one was a terrible double, which reaped an ill-gotten reward:

All Vul E deal ♠ K J x x ♥ A ♦ A J x x x ♣ x x x ♠ Q ♥ Q T x x x x ♦ Q x ♣ A x x x 13 10 6 11 ♠ A T x x x x x ♥ J x x x ♦ - ♣ J x ♠ x ♥ K x ♦ K T x x x x ♣ K Q T x

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

I decided to pass the East hand rather than opening 3♠, in case we had a Heart fit (which we did). South opened 1♦ and Anna made a simple overcall. My plan as East was now to bid Spades then support Hearts later, but when North bid 1♠ I leaped to 4♥ straight away. North now bid 5♦, and reasoning that the Spades were splitting badly I doubled. North said later he thought about redoubling, and maybe he should have.

Against 5♦x Anna lead her ♠Q., and North covered with the ♠K and I won the ♠A. I now know that both declarer and partner are out of Spades, but thought it was worth a shot and returned a Spade. Declarer rashly discarded a Club, so Anna ruffed the Spade and cashed the ♣A for one off. Hooray! South then said that was the worst play he'd ever made. Then he realised that actually after my Spade return he'll still go down unless he ruffs with the ♦K and finesses trumps. After that he felt a lot better.

In the end Team Rowan lost the match by about 5000 points, so we're out of the cup. Gives us more time to focus on the league.

Glasgow League Division One: Civic vs Rowan

Last night we were at St. Andrews to play a team called Civic. Me and Anna sat down against Bill and Ileen.

Things started badly, when on all of the first three boards we had chances at game, but unfortunately played the partscore hand in game and the two game hands in partscore. Our next chance at game came when we had 25 points but no Heart stop, so wisely stopped in 3♣. However, this was the layout of the Heart suit, with West on lead:

	♥ J x x
♥ K Q T x x		♥ A x
	♥ x x x

To beat 3NT West needs to lead a low Heart, which never happened, so where it was bid 3NT made.

That turned out to be all the good cards we had in the first half, and our opponents went on to rack up a series of games against us. At the half way point Team Rowan was about 2000 points down. The damage was softened by some nice gingerbread cake.

In the second half the contracts were low, until we got to the 'slam hand' (rotated so Anna is South and I'm North).

♠ A K Q ♥ A Q J 8 5 4 ♦ 9 ♣ T 9 3

♠ J 9 4 ♥ 7 ♦ K 8 6 ♣ A Q 8 6 5 4

1. Looking at just North and South, what contract would you like to be in?

Me and Anna ended up in 6♣. It was not a success. This was the full deal and our terrible auction:

No one vul W deal ♠ A K Q ♥ A Q J 8 5 4 ♦ 9 ♣ T 9 3 ♠ 6 2 ♥ 9 6 3 ♦ Q 7 5 4 3 ♣ K 7 2 16 5 9 10 ♠ T 8 7 5 3 ♥ K T 2 ♦ A J T 2 ♣ J ♠ J 9 4 ♥ 7 ♦ K 8 6 ♣ A Q 8 6 5 4

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

Surprisingly, all of these were natural bids. I opened 1♥ and Anna replied 2♣. Fine so far. I then went for a three card reverse of 2♠, despite having a perfectly good 3♥ rebid available. My addled thinking was that my hand would be a good dummy for Clubs, and if I rebid 3♥ we can't get to Clubs. Anna bid 3NT. I didn't fancy that with my singleton Diamond and six Hearts so bid 4♥ to play, and now the wheels came off. Anna quite reasonably corrected to 4♠, and since I knew that was a 3-3 fit I escaped to 5♣. Unfortunately it didn't end there; Anna corrected me back to 5♥, and I went for 6♣. This was passed out.

Before the opening lead the opposition asked a flurry of questions about the auction. We couldn't tell them much, as we'd just got into a muddle and don't have agreements for bidding on after 3NT like this. West kept asking me what I guessed my partner's bids meant. I was a bit uncomfortable guessing but said that I thought Anna's bids could be cuebids or could be natural. East asked me at what point we'd agreed Clubs. I said not until the 6♣ bid!

West lead a Spade, then on seeing dummy reserved her rights, presumably because she thought she'd been misinformed. The only thing I can think of that could be misinformation is that during the explanation I was asked about my shape and said that my bidding had shown six Hearts and four Spades

2. Was I wrong to say this?

Perhaps she reasoned that since I also supported Clubs I must have a Diamond void, so she'd been deceived out of leading a Diamond. Anna won the Spade lead and immediately finessed Clubs, losing to the ♣K. West still didn't lead a Diamonds, instead playing another Spade. Anna drew the remaining trumps. She now has a chance to make the contract if she can set up the Hearts, which needs them 3-3 and a good guess as to who has the King. She went for the straight finesse, which lead to two down.

Note that the other way to play 6♣ is to try and ruff Diamonds, which makes whenever you have no Club losers.

The other two tables I talked to afterwards managed to play in 4♥, which is good going as 3NT goes down on a Diamond lead. 5♣ also makes.

Anna and I obviously lost a game swing for our team on this hand, but pulled back some points with good defence later on, then on the very last board Anna bid and made our only game.

In the end Team Rowan lost by about 1600 points, for a 5-11 defeat.

East Swiss Pairs 2014

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

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

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

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

♠ A K Q J 8

♥ K J T

♦ 8 6

♣ A Q T

1: What do you open?

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

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

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

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

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

♠ 7 2

♥ K 6 4

♦ A

♣ A K J 6 4 3 2

2. What do you overcall with this hand?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

♠ 2

♥ 8 7 4 3

♦ A 7 6 4 3 2

♣ 4 3

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

3. What do you respond?

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

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

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

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

For lunch I had a scone:

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

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

Glasgow League Division One: Rowan vs Phoenix

Last week Team Rowan suffered a 15-1 loss to Team Phoenix from Hamilton.

On our table we played against Alan and Martin. It was an exciting set of boards, and I think we gave as good as we got.

Board 2 NS vul East deal ♠ A Q J x x x x ♥ x ♦ Q J x ♣ A x ♠ x ♥ A Q T x x x x ♦ A x ♣ J x x 14 11 6 9 ♠ x ♥ J x x ♦ x x x x ♣ K Q T x x ♠ K x x ♥ K x ♦ K T x x ♣ 9 x x x

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

After two passes it came round to me sitting West. I would normally open this hand 1♥, but being third-in-hand I decided to mix things up with an immediate 4♥ bid. North bid a prompt 4♠, which I thought would probably end the auction. However, Anna chipped in with a 5♥ sacrifice, South weighed in with 5♠ and it was back round to me. I remember reading somewhere that if you choose to pre-empt with a good hand you should be prepared to double later on. I didn't really want to double 5♠ but with my two Aces felt I ought to give it a go.

Against 5♠x Anna led a Heart, and I was surprised when my ♥Q held the trick - Anna must have supported with only three Hearts. I was slightly worried about dummy's Diamonds so switched to a Club. Declarer took the ♣A, drew trumps in just one round then played on Diamonds. I snapped up the ♦A and we got our Club trick, for one down. "Great defence partner!" Anna said, with her eyes, while actually writing the score down silently.

That ought to have been a good board for us as 5♥ goes down as long as the defence find a Diamond switch. However, when Christine was declarer in 5♥ it went down when she gambled on North having a singleton ♥K so lost a trump trick, and when Heather & David were sitting North-South declarer managed to squeeze home in 5♥. Overall a bad one for Team Rowan then.

On to the next, where I rolled the dice again.

Board 7 All vul South deal ♠ x x ♥ x x ♦ J T x x x ♣ A K Q x ♠ Q J T x x x x ♥ J x ♦ x x ♣ x x 10 4 11 15 ♠ 9 ♥ K Q x x ♦ A Q x x ♣ x x x ♠ A K x ♥ A x x x x ♦ K x ♣ J x x

Danny Anny W N E S 1NT 2♦* x 2♥ x 2♠ - - -

South opened a weak 1NT (even though it's got 15 points if I've remembered the hand correctly). I had the seven card Spade suit and was planning on opening a weak 2♠, reasoning that the seventh trump made up for the weak hand. Over the 1NT I thought I should still bid, so overcalled 2♦ showing a six card major. North doubled and Anna bid 2♥. This would normally be pass or correct, but after the double I don't know it means. South doubled this and I now got to bid my 2♠, passed out.

There's a certain five losers of the top, so to make it I've just got to get rid of the Diamond loser. I tried to do this by setting up the Hearts but once I realised they were 5-2 it became tricky, so I banked on the certain Diamond finesse. This was a 'marked finesse', as by the time I came to finesse South had already shown 12 points, and in the auction North had doubled 2♦ to show Diamonds. I was shocked when the finesse lost. Maybe I miscounted South's points.

I hoped it would still be a good score for us, as the opponents have 25 points between them. North-South can make 3NT if they manage to force a couple of Diamond winners, to go with the other six top tricks, before the defence get into Hearts. 3NT made on Trish & Christine's table (where Team Rowan were defending) and went down on Heather & David's table (where Team Rowan were declaring). So another bad one for the team.

At the half way mark I expect we were quite far down. Tom & Raymond went to chat with their pals from Hamilton, while Anna lingered by the tea and coffee, waiting for me to make here a cup of tea.

Here's one I bodged:

Board 15 NS vul South deal ♠ Q 6 x ♥ J x ♦ K x ♣ J T x x x x ♠ A K T 9 8 4 ♥ x x ♦ x ♣ A Q x x 7 13 6 14 ♠ J 7 x ♥ x x x ♦ A J T x x x ♣ x ♠ x ♥ A K Q x x x ♦ Q x x x ♣ K x

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

After South opened 1♥ I overcalled 1♠, and North made a very light 2♣ bid. This makes my hand slightly worse with the Club finesse likely to fail, but I felt was strong enough that when Anna supported me with 2♠ I could bid 3♠. When South bid 4♥ I bid 4♠ without really thinking - it was one of those nights where both sides just seemed to keep bidding.

When dummy came down I was glad Anna was full value for her 2♠, and game looked decent. I planned to get five trump tricks, four Clubs (with three ruffs in dummy) and the ♦A. The only danger was that when the defence got their ♠Q they could play another trump to cut down my ruffs, in which case I'd have to rely on setting up Diamonds. I didn't consider the lucky Club position making the ♣Q a winner.

North lead a Heart and South took the first two tricks and played a third Heart. I ruffed with the ♠T, and North shrewdly threw a Diamond. I started my cross-ruff, and got two Club ruffs in dummy before North took his ♠Q. He played a Club through and I had to ruff high in dummy to stop South over-ruffing. All this ruffing high had weakened my trumps and I ended up with my ♠4 in hand losing to North's ♠6. In fact on this layout once the ♣Q becomes high I don't need so many ruffs so can draw one round of trumps and make it.

I should say I played this hand painfully slowly, and apologised to everyone afterwards. And on the other tables? Christine managed to make 4♠ for Team Rowan in the West seat, and it was also made by the opposition East-West pairs. So due to my bodge another bad one for Team Rowan.

My final board is a big one, where me and Anna got very carried away:

Board 18 NS vul East deal ♠ Q J T x x ♥ x ♦ Q x x ♣ A x x x ♠ K x ♥ Q x x x x ♦ A K x x x ♣ x 9 12 9 10 ♠ x ♥ A K J x x x ♦ J T x x x ♣ x ♠ A x x x x ♥ x ♦ - ♣ K Q J x x x x

Danny Anna W N E S - 1♣ 1♥ 1♠ 4♥ 4♠ 5♦ 5♠ 6♥ 6♠ - - 7♥ - - x - - -

Anna dealt and chose to pass the East cards. I think this was perhaps a mistake, as it caused her to bid like mad later on to 'catch up'. South opened his freak hand 1♣ and I overcalled 1♥. Although I could have bid 2NT to show a two-suiter we only do this for weak or strong hands, so with my middling hand I have to bid twice (if possible). North bid 1♠, Anna came in with 4♥, and South bid 4♠. I could have passed this, but was determined to show my second suit and maybe direct the lead so bid a natural 5♦.

Things took off now, and we bid the double fit all the way up to 7♥. No one knew who was sacrificing and who was bidding to make. I wanted to double 6♠ to stop Anna bidding on as I thought we could beat it, but was worried if I doubled my ♠K would get finessed. Anna did go on and pull out 7♥, and it was up to North to end the madness by doubling.

Once the defence took their two tricks against 7♥x my main concern was whether or not they could have made 6♠. Unfortunately, when I drew trumps the Hearts were 1-1, meaning in defence of 6♠ we would have got one Spade and one Heart (but no Diamonds).

7♥x-3 cost us 500 points, which was bad considering they were going down in 6♠, but a good sacrifice against their 4♠ game.

On the other tables Trish & Christine sitting East-West defended 6♠x-1 for +100 and David & Heather sitting North-South judged very well to defend 6♥-2 and also collect +100, so overall I think the other pairs saved us. There was of course also a fourth table for Team Rowan featuring Tom & Raymond, but they remain tight lipped about their adventures.

Overall it was regrettably a big loss for Team Rowan, and I fear we are still without a win in Division One.