It's not the system you play...

... It's the way that you play.
Such a comment refers to the match I played in on Friday night; Banchory v Ellon. Ellon's Captain, my Dad, has a continuous struggle to get the club's best players (from a small club in the first place) to play in the Teams of 8. In my last entry I spoke of the joys(?) of being Captain of a junior team. My Dad has the joys of getting players to agree to play, and since some of the better ones didn't, I was drafted in as a substitute from a lower division. Playing with someone who I will just call "West", as this was his position all night, I had a new system to learn. In previous times playing with West, we had played the Asking Club, given it is so simple. But West has recently made clear his hatred of said system, so I decided that, as a better, more experienced player (West will back me up on that; it is not my ego talking), I'd play his.
  The system in question was Schenken. This had a lot of gadgets such as a 17+ 1 Club Opener, 12-16 1 Diamond Opener and artificial responses to both. Not that I have anything in particular against the Schenken system, but it is quite complicated. I had five days to learn it and I was also pretty sure that the complexities of such a system could not be covered by one sheet of A4 Paper, which was all I had.
  Cue a number of questions sent to West via email on Thursday night and a response on Friday morning. Luckily we were travelling to the match in the same car and had more discussion then. Did the things we discussed come up? By and large, no - of course not.
  We spent most of the first round passing, which was all right except for the -930 on our scorecard. We felt the boards were uncontroversial, and certainly the team in the lead after the first six boards were not too far ahead - I actually forget who led at this point.
  It doesn't matter what system you play, you have to play the contract the system lands you in and on the second set we allowed a woeful swing out when, despite bidding quite calmly to a solid 4 Heart contract, West lost his head completely and went one down. Such disasters happen, but you have to roll with it and carry on regardless. Unfortunately, West did not take his head up until the half time tea where I made it clear I wanted it out of his mind. We were a couple of hundred points behind at this point.
  The third set was where some real points about bidding came up. First up (of note) was this:


Our opponent's bidding was natural, so the 1NT showed at least one heart stop. My 2 Hearts bid was (as agreed) a very weak raise. In other words, I was willing to compete as far as the 2 level so that they couldn't play there. But I reckoned without my partner - who raised to 4 with a hand not unlike the hand you see above (I can't vouch for the exact layout but I guarantee the heart holding was no better. I also don't remember my partner having that many points and quick tricks but he must've had something). Partner's excuse? He thought I had 3 hearts (as opposed to 2). Exactly how much of a difference that would've made to the eventual -800 missing the three top honours in trumps with a 5-1 split is an open question, but I would suggest the answer is zero. Or, to put it another way, I, a notorious over-bidder, would never raise to 4 Hearts there.
  Now, we were never going to recoup that in the remaining boards of the set, but we gave it a go:


Again, my exact holding and the exact bidding are maybe not as represented above, but it was not far off this. I know for sure that North had bid clubs, and South diamonds (whether there was a jump or not is another matter) and that I doubled 2 Diamonds for takeout, as we must have a 7 card major fit. Agreement failed us again as my partner passed this, but North was suitably scared enough to pull to her clubs, and this time I did double for penalty holding a long club suit. +500 when the dust settled.
  At the end of Round 3 we had chipped away at but not overhauled the half-time defecit, and went into the last round -140. In Round 4, it was all to play for - and thankfully, it was more play problems than bidding problems that I had to deal with, although overtricks were all I could collect for my efforts. In particular, two 3NT contracts, one of which went +2 on a pseudo squeeze, and one of which went +4 when I held AQ in their suit and every queen fell whenever I clicked my fingers. (In bridge terms: Catching it out even before I had to finesse it out).
  One has to be careful when taking scores. Our pair at Table 1 were -400, which seemed passable as we had +510 sitting the other direction. I went to Table 4, where our pair were sitting the same way as us, and when they told me their score was 1120 I promptly congratulated them on a great score - and then they told me it was a minus. Somehow, the other pair on our team amassed +1130, but we still lost the match by the narrowest possile margin: 20 aggregate points. Any closer would've been a draw.

JUNIOR CAMROSE AND PEGGY BAYER

As a junior player with International interests, I really have to mention these competitions. This year, England did the double, winning both events, although Scotland were outright second in both events and took it to the last match in the Junior Camrose. The English Under 20s were in devastating form and looked like they would take the maximum 225 points until the Scottish team stepped up in the last match and scored 8VPs against them. It maybe doesn't sound like much, but coming second to England is no disgrace, and being the only team not to be whitewashed 25-x VPs in three matches takes some doing. Neither Irish team got a look in at second place and that is a measure of achievement for Scotland.
  Things were closer in the Junior Camrose, where going into the last match Scotland could've finished anywhere between 1st and 3rd, with Northern Ireland snapping at their heels. Scotland needed to beat ROI by 3 more VPs than England beat Northern Ireland, but England achieved 23, so how well the Scots did against ROI became irrelevant.
  The event was well covered on BBO and by the ABU, and I only missed a couple of matches in the time it took to go to Pittodrie to see Aberdeen win 5-0 (well come on; you don't see that every day!) and get home again.
  Congratulations England.

Still, it's not like the Scottish juniors are winning nothing. Two weeks ago I won the Forbes Trophy at Ellon, and on Monday the 13th I was part of the almost-junior team (lessurl is not a junior, even if we put trainers on his knees) that won the Reid Trophy (pictured below). The fact that we were probably favourites, and the fact that there were only 6 teams competing, does not take away anything from the achievement. 009domino, Jun and I have been competing in the Reid Trophy since its inception (apart from last year for Jun and I; since it clashed with the Men's Teams), and it was great to finally lift it.
  I feel somewhat defensive of the Reid Trophy and the prestige of it. Granted, it's not the Scottish Cup, and there is always some detraction from glory when only 5 Star Masters and below can enter. But entries have somewhat declined in recent years and people need to be encouraged to play in it. Apparently, the reason for the lack of uptake boils down to the fact that two and three years ago, some inexperienced juniors were playing, with some highly experienced players sitting beside them to "help with their bidding". Of course, despite the experienced players denying they had any involvement in the play, this was untrue and effectively there were experts playing with the juniors as puppets. Thus, nobody was surprised (or very happy) when the "junior" team won. The juniors in question were the most annoyed, and quit bridge altogether not long after. No self-respecting junior will allow or receive such help in such a competition nowadays, so I think it is time to say it's in the past and will not be happening again.
  It is often said that it is harder to beat "weaker" players because they are so unpredictable. Being favourites certainly did not give us automatic claim to the trophy. In the end, our opponent's unpredictability was well received, with swings coming from nowhere in the form of a couple of games and one slam that shouldn't make; lessurl delivering a finely executed (although somewhat fortunate) pseudo squeeze in the case of the latter.

Left to right: 009domino, lessurl, Jun, me, Sally Reid

Phoenix Rising go top

Who'd be Captain of a "junior" Club Team of 8? Well, me, as it turns out. After a couple of week's worth of phone calls, texts, negotiations and tribulations, I managed to get together a team for Phoenix Rising's latest match - a home match against Torphins. One wonders if the team is cursed. Players were either away, ill, or otherwise engaged, with the result that we required two substitutes. One came from Phoenix I in the first Division; one from Ellon from the 2nd Division. Whilst this is perfectly workable (and, despite suggestions to the contrary from our opponents, legal), one always wishes that 8 players from the pool are always available. This is especially critical should we gain promotion from Division 3 as the current "alliance" between Phoenix Rising and Ellon will cease to exist.

For the uninitiated, there are clear rules on substitutions in the North District leagues. A substitute from another team must be a member of the club they are substituting for, not have played a match for a team in the same Division and not have played more than 2 matches for a team in a higher division. I have been meticulous in ensuring that any substitute for Phoenix Rising has met this criteria. If Phoenix Rising earn promotion to Division 2, and Ellon stay in Division 2 (both of which look likely at the moment), Ellon and Phoenix Rising will not be able to share players as they have done this season. (I have played once for Ellon already and will do so at least once more by the end of the season)

Then there was the issue of catering. As it turned out, I was not the only one that decided to bring in some home-made sandwiches and we probably had enough food to feed all three matches that were being played at Aberdeen Bridge Club that night. The sixteen players from our match did TRY to eat it all, but unsurprisingly failed.

Once all that was organised, there were 24 boards of bridge to be played. With my Dad and I playing at Table 1 in the last round, we limped to a (bad) score of +240 on the first 6 boards. However, this turned out to be the worst offering from any pair on the team. Our new player, partnering our Phoenix I substitute, contributed +1060. (They were sitting the same direction as us, so this was an indictment of our form). Our least experienced player, partnering someone who is regularly referred to as our "random club member", sitting the other way, somehow scored +1460. Overall, we were +3050 on the first set, which was phenomenal.

On the second set, we played at Table 2 and the boards did not get any easier. Here was the worst auction:
Dad    RHO   Me   LHO
 1D       P       4H     4S
 5H      5S       P       P
  P
(Board 11; Love All)
In our system 4 Hearts is not strictly pre-emptive, although it does mean a long heart suit expecting to make Game. Contrary to a pre-empt, it can have values. What I had was rubbish spades, 7 hearts to the Ace-Jack and quick tricks in the minors. (I can't remember the exact hand). Unfortunately, in our system, I cannot bid 1, 2 or 3 hearts as they are all limit bids (3 Hearts is 12+ so partner shouldn't pass, but he has been known to) Partner decided 5 Hearts was as far as we were going. Fair enough, but why is 5 Spades going undoubled? Partner's reasoning was that he had a void in spades. Plenty people would've taken out the 6H or the X card without needing to look at their hand in that situation. 6 Hearts, as it happens, makes, so +100 for 5S-2 was not good.
We did claw something back on Board 7 when partner, already with 8 tricks in the bag in 3NT, played the losing ten of spades off table and my RHO, holding queen and jack, ducked. -10 was not as bad as it could've been but not good either. Our team-mates sitting our way had -870 (Slam was found but misplayed), and at Half time we were up 2100.

I do not recall a set like the third set. Six games bid and made - only one of them by the opposition. I felt our score was therefore bang-on par, with the only worry in my mind when I was presented this play situation in 4 Hearts:

A x x
J x x
A K J 10 x x
A

K x x
K Q 9 8 x x
---
Q x x x
(My Hand)

I had opened this 1 Heart, my partner had gone to 4 Clubs (Gerber); I said 4 Diamonds and he signed off in 4 Hearts. (We don't count void as an ace) The queen of spades was led. My worry was that the ace of trumps was my only loser. Since I was in 4 I took the safest line and made 11 but would I make 12 in 6 Hearts? Missing the ace of trumps it is difficult for anyone to bid and we're probably best out of it. Trumps broke 3-1. The question is open. Who wants to be in 6 Hearts here? +2070 was what we scored on the set, the next score I marked down was -2260 from Table 2. This was looking bad until 009domino and lessurl turned in -750 from Table 4. The score at Table 1 was +2440 - bring on Round 4.

Round 4 was a bit of a struggle. Partner raised my weak (to be passed) raise in spades and went for 300. Then this hand cropped up:

8 7
K
K Q 8 7 x x x
K x x

RHO opened 1 Spade. I discounted my KH and pre-empted 3 Daimonds. LHO said 3 Spades, and after some thought partner said 4 Diamonds. RHO said 4 Spades, passed out. (If I can find a double with my hand, is it ethical to do so?) I led the King of Diamonds, and dummy was:

A Q x x
x x x
x x
Q J x x

RHO won with the ace and took a round of spades, ending in dummy. She played a small heart from the table, which I won with the King, and then I found what I thought was the killer defence of a low diamond to partner's Jack. Partner laid down the ace of hearts, ruffed by RHO and over-ruffed by me. As it happened, partner had the Ace of clubs as well, so my neat defence was not so killer as a club would've done as well; the contract is always -2. What a shame we had not found a double. The line I took was right if partner does not have AC. So, that was an opportunity missed.
  This was what saved it:

A x
K J x
x x
A K Q J 10 4

RHO opens 1 Heart. As my partner is somewhat wobbly on the meaning of doubles, and 1NT shows 16-18, I overcalled 1NT. LHO overcalls 2 Spades, and partner bids 3 Diamonds. I bid 3NT, which RHO doubles. I resist the temptation to Redouble and play in 3NTX. A heart is led, and dummy is:

x
A x
K 10 9 x x x
8 7 x x

Brilliant. The contract is solid anyway and I've just been gifted overtricks. The Jack wins and I play a small diamond. The Jack appears on my left so I cover and the ace wins. RHO returns... a heart! I win in dummy and play the ten of diamonds. Nobody covers, so I cash out my clubs, then my heart, then the ace of spades (hoping for a pseudo squeeze). 750 made for +500 overall.
  We didn't have it all our own way, however. There was a -870 and a -300 to come. However, 009domino and lessurl came in with another fantastic score; +1610, sitting the opposite way from us. The big board? On the hand where I made 3NTx+2 above, 009domino opened 4 Hearts, got doubled, and made it. Try as I might, I cannot see how that is possible, with 1 spade loser and 3 heart losers. But I'm not complaining.

So that was a 19-1 win against the team that were top. It was Torphins' first defeat of the season, having won their first two matches 19-1 and 20-0. Phoenix Rising now sit proudly at the top, 14 points clear of Torphins. Despite what some would have us believe, we are not automatically entitled to first place. There are two big matches to come; 48 boards of bridge to be played. Well done to my team (who I have carefully avoided naming outright in case they don't want to take any credit).

Life-Long ambition fulfilled

Well, more precisely, a 5 year ambition "kind of" fulfilled. When I played on the Scotland Peggy Bayer team 5 years ago, Wales did not enter a team. Curiously, the event will (as 5 years ago) be held in Scotland, and again, Wales are unable to field an Under 20 team. Consequently, I have never played a Junior International against Wales and I thought it might be a running thing that they would be a home nation that I wouldn't play against. That was until last night, when that was "sort of" put to bed.
  The Welsh U25 team have been training hard (as I'm sure, all the home nations have been), and yesterday their regieme included a training match against 4 of the Scotland Under 20s - except one of them had connection problems so proximo and I alternated as partners for 009domino. Cue a chance to play against Wales.
  The match consisted of three eight board matches. I was kibitzing the first stanza. You wouldn't have known all 8 players were juniors given 6 flat boards. Scotland found themselves 7-2 ahead at "One third time" thanks to a single board:

Proximo and 009domino competed well (but naturally) in spades. Since neither of their opponents held any of the top honours in diamonds, they were allowed to play in 2 Spades. Proximo went on to make 9 for +140, whilst at the other table the Scottish pair competed to 3 Diamonds, bought the contract, and made 10 tricks for +270 on the board overall.
  So, Scotland had a slight lead - probably a safe enough time to deploy me. How many IMPs could bad judgement decisions cost? Answer: 3 (I cannot legitimately claim responsibility for the other 19 IMPs we lost in that set, although my team mates might beg to differ)
  Here was an interesting call. We gained an IMP on this board but could so easily have lost 12:

There were a couple of key decisions here. Firstly, there was the issue of whether I should rebid 2 Spades or 2NT. The 2 Diamond bid has balanced my hand, but without heart cover I fell that 2NT tells a lie and 2 Spades doesn't. With 1 stop in the unmentioned suits and ace of mine, partner raised to 4 Spades.
  As you can see with the Double dummy view, 4 Spades should not make, and 3NT is 100%. But 3NT is only solid owing to a 3-3 heart break, which is only a 33% chance. The rest of the time, 4 Spades is just as bad (or good). It is unlikely I hold up to 3 hearts so 4 Spades seems reasonable from partner's hand. Jonny lead the 5 of clubs and I won with the 10 in hand. I played up to the Ace of spades and back to my KQ, drawing the trumps, pitching a club in attempt to give Jonny the wrong idea of the hand. Sure enough (and luckily), when I lay down the queen of diamonds, he does not cover - and all roads lead to ten tricks now. 3NT at the other table made 9, but I did not know this at the time - for all I knew we'd just had a Game swing. Unbeknownst to me, this hand had just put us 14-0 up in the set.
  I'll skip past the next two boards, where a 14-0 lead in the set became a 14-15 defecit. (Oh, all right then; I missed a diamond discard to not take an overtrick and I doubled a cold Game when our counterparts made an undoubled sacrifice). However, I was happy with the following board:

My Hand                              jonny-r   009domino   jack army   Alisdair
K Q J 4 3                                                                     1D             1S
K J 10 3                                 Pass            2C              Pass            2H
10 9                                       Pass            3C              Pass             ?
A 4

3 Clubs or 5 Clubs - stick or twist?
Partner is a good bet for KQxxx of clubs. She probably holds an outside ace - or a diamond stop. If she has the maximum amount of major cards that she could have (five), then that leaves two diamonds - or an extra club. For me I felt 2 Diamond losers were likely and she only needs one more for Pass from me to be correct. In the end, it is an easy choice. Partner will make 5 Clubs only when she has the best hand she could have. I passed. In fact, partner held:

A 6
Q 9 4
8 5
K Q 10 9 7 3

Pass is right as partner has 3 losers in top tricks. In 5, she should surely go down. In 3, she makes 12, as LHO has to look for 2 more tricks and begins the campaign by leading the singleton 2 of spades. Partner lets this run to the ace, draws trumps (which break 3-2) and takes K, Q and J of spades, pitching her two diamonds. The defence must come to the Ace of hearts but that's all they get. I must confess that, again our gain was as much by luck as it was design. Our Welsh counterparts bid to 4 Spades but were defeated by the 5-1 break (North holding 10 9 8 7 5)
  With all this bad luck the Welsh players had, I'll compliment them for the 7 IMPs they won on the last board to take the second stanza by a point. With the same contract being bid in both rooms, it came down to this play problem:

A 10 9 6
K 6
8 5
A K 9 8 4

Q 8 7 2
A J 10 7 2
7 6
Q 10

Contract: 3 Spades
Lead: Diamond honour

I lead QD followed by the 10, which partner overtook with the Jack, before leading a small club. Declarer rose with the queen, and played a small spade to the ten, beaten by the King. My partner tried the Queen of Hearts next, but Declarer won with the King and played a small spade, noting a discard of the curse of Scotland, and finessing through my Jack. After cashing the ace of spades, he claimed 10 tricks without further ado. It was played by North at the other table but he suffered no better a defence - I shall not post on the Internet how he played the hand.

The score after 16 boards: Scotland 28-24 Wales

I sat out the last eight boards which was a shame, with everything to play for. (I'll leave it to others to suggest which side it was a shame for). Wales battled into an 8-0 lead but after one pair overbid to 4 Spades when only 8 tricks were there, the score in the stanza was suddenly 8-8. It really could've gone either way, but in the end the Welsh side were struck yet another horrible lie of the cards after getting to the right (but not correct, as it turned out) contract on the penultimate board:

South(D)          North                   South                               North
    1S                  2H                     A K 9 5 4 3 2                  Q 6
    3S                  4NT                  ---                                    A Q 9 6 4 2
    5C                  6S                     K 7 6 4                            10
                                                    A J                                   K Q 10 3

009domino was sitting West and lead Ace and another diamond. South ruffed this, but found out on trick 3 that the contract was doomed - on cashing the QS it transpired East had all four missing trumps and was bound to get one. Wales lost 13 IMPs instead of gaining 12 for bidding a 90.44% slam. Incidentally, if West did not want to lead her ace and instead chose a heart lead, 6 Spades can make on a trump coup.

Final score: Scotland 49-45 Wales

In WBF terms Scotland were 1 IMP better than a draw. I think it is a moral victory for both teams. The Scotland Under 20s will be encouraged by a win (however narrow) against an Under 25 side. The Welsh team will know that if only the cards had been a little nicer to them they could've had a convincing win themselves. I certainly hope they have better luck in the Junior Camrose in eleven days' time. (Except against Scotland; patriotic loyalty and all that).

You will notice I have not mastered the art of embedding bridge movies into blog posts. Hence the hand-typed scrawl to describe hands. Any help in this department much appreciated.

Hand Number One

I can sum up this blog in three or four simple sentences, if we count this one. Are you looking for a dedicated bridge blog written by an expert, contributed to by experts, with loads of fascinating hands and nuances to discuss, with regular updates? Then this is NOT the bridge blog for you. This is the blog and ramblings of a good (but not great), young Scottish bridge player, that will discuss anything to do with bridge at leisure, as I see fit. The reason? Well, I could just write a blog about my life. But as most dedicated bridge players will confirm, bridge takes over your life.

I will write about experiences at the table, interesting hands, competitiions - anything of note. A likely point of inspiration will be Phoenix Bridge Club in Aberdeen (the best club anyone could hope to play in, particularly if you are a junior and/or improving player), or any competition that you might find me in. I may also refer to hands or experiences drawn from Aberdeen Bridge Club or the "other" club, Ellon, which is where I learned to play and still do every week in the winter.

To get away from the preamble, it is with the latter club, Ellon, that I take my first hand - the cheapest of cheap shots. I'm not proud of it; I am so not-proud of my actions in this hand that I am posting it on the Internet for anyone to see. Hmm.

7 5 2
K 9 8 5 4
K 10 3
Q 8

The bidding goes Pass-Pass-? Is 1 Heart simply an overbid or a psyche?
Let me explain. It is the first hand of the night in a small, match-point field. It has gone Pass-Pass to me. The beginner-intermediate on my left must have the points. I'm not going to make life easy for her. So I throw in 1 Heart to see what happens. The idea is that nobody else is going to do this and hopefully it will prove to be a major spanner in the works. Partner is hardly going to go haring into 4 and if he does then I'll have to accept the consequences. Sure enough, LHO doubles and my partner raises me to 2 Hearts (weak competitive). RHO comes in with 2 spades, but we all pass. LHO makes 12 tricks in spades to get told by partner that she "simply cannot pass" 2 spades. My gambit earned us 6 Match Points - an outright top. Every other EW bid 4 Spades and make 11 or 12 tricks.
A couple of points arise from this. In answer to my question above I believe I have to err on the side of an overbid. I had the 5 hearts I promised; I just didn't have the points. Green against Red I'm happy to play 2 Hearts when the opposition have something their way. If I'm going to psyche, 1 spade is surely the psyche bid. Furthermore, it was done with a specific strategy in mind which worked to the letter.
The next question is: What of the 2 Spades? I would not expect that this shows extra values, since partner implies spades with the double. My RHO was right, I felt, that LHO should've gone on - but only because her hand was stronger than a simple opening bid. Holding 12-14 2 Spades is surely passable.
Finally, there is the ethical side of things. Against an opponent in her first year back in bridge after a long hiatus, is it really appropriate to play her for an error? I do not feel the quality of the bid should be in question - obviously it is a bad bid; I made the bid knowing as much and prepared to accept the consequences of my actions if a bad score resulted. My gut feeling is "yes", it is entirely appropriate. We were playing in a random field where anything can happen. My partner and I were leading the Championship at the time so we're playing to win. If we want to take a risk here and there then that's our lookout. The opponents in question regard us as a strong pair and would feel rightly aggrieved if they found out we weren't giving our all against them. Imagine getting the odd top against a good pair, thinking you've done really well, only to find out later they let you get it. How cheated would you feel? As much as there is an ethical question over making gambles, there is a definite ethical responsibility to try to win on each hand. After all, the other three EW pairs had something to thank us for, and the pair we played against managed a 2nd overall - a new high for them, if memory serves.

Here is a better "bridge" question:

Partner    East     You     West
Pass        1S       Pass      2S
X            Pass       ?

What I'd like to know is how many people would play North's double in this position as penalty? At least two people I know, and unfortunately, one of them was my partner when this hand came up on Monday. Double of 2 Spades is Doubling into Game. Given that, what hand can North possibly have that North can guarantee the contract is going down? To minimise the points, he might have K Q J 10 9 of spades and an outside Ace - 5 tricks, not 6. That's about as good as it can get. I felt that this shows a maximum pass and a takeout double, as (some of my) stronger regular partners have since confirmed. Not only are they stronger, they are also the ones I have had more discusiion about methods with. Coincidence? I think not.

To finish an entry titled "Hand Number One", I shall include - well, the third hand of the post. It was also the first hand of a bridge night - in this case, it was Round 4 of the District Teams of 4. My team had done well the first two rounds, with scores of 42 VPs (out of 60) on both nights. The third night had seen a disastrous total of 16, so the target now is a top half finish. One of our regular team-mates dropped out for Round 4, so we drafted in our substitute; an inexperienced but fearless 15 year old. Playing against two Grandmaster-captained teams and another strong team, we did not expect to do well. But that wasn't the idea.

Have you ever seen this auction:
North     East     South     West
1NT(1)  X(2)     2NT      All Pass

(1) 12-14
(2) Penalties
I can only assume my young partner (South) didn't fear the double was for penalties and invited me to 3. Given that I had actually overbid my hand just to control the auction and make life easy for partner (the response structure to 1NT being so straightforward) with a 4-3-3-3 eleven count, Green against Red, I couldn't believe my luck. Clearly partner's bid had duped the opposition. A heart was led and I faced this position:

Dummy
10 x x
K Q 7 x
x x x
A K Q x

A Q x
J x x
K x x
J x x
Hand

One wonders, if my partner trusted the bid, why he didn't raise to 3 (or pass, for a telephone number). 3NT shouldn't make, but after the lead the nine tricks were there.
  I covered the small heart lead with the 7, which forced out the ten and I won with the Jack, before leading a small heart to the Queen, which held. I returned to hand via the Jack of Clubs and played my last heart. East rises with the ace and exits his last heart. Now I run my three club tricks and take the QS finesse - as expected, East turns up with the King, but as expected, East is now endplayed. If he plays a small spade dummy's ten will hold, so he cashes the Ace of Diamonds and exits with a diamond. 9 tricks was enough for 6 IMPs.

Incidentally, if your answer to the question in my 2nd sentence was "yes", I highly recommend Paul Gipson's blog; The Beer Card. Not only is it a thoroughly good read in of itself, it also has links to a number of other good bridge blogs.