The end of last week saw two back-to-back important events. The first took on somewhat less significance when Lessurl took ill, prompting my Dad to step in as my partner for Round 4 of the Phoenix Cup. Jim was also without regular partner Jun, so the competition between us was "off" as we wanted each other to occupy 1st and 2nd spots and knock the regular partnerships down. Unfortunately, we only managed two finish above two other regular partnerships, coming 3rd bottom. Jim kept his end of the bargain by coming top.
However, the important event was Phoenix Rising v Torphins on the Friday. It was not an ideal date for the match; I tried to plead with Jun to play but apparently the Open European Trials were more important. He and Jim did well, winning 5 out of 7 matches and qualifying for the Final Four. They couldn't really have done better than that for the first weekend. 009domino was also unavailable, and in total she was one of three players that were in the 17-3 loss to Banchory that dropped out of the team (owing to unavailability, not selection I might add) for this one. In came three juniors, one pair of which were extremely inexperienced having only started bridge in September. So Torphins were on a hiding to nothing. Anything less than 20 VPs for them would be an achievement for us.
Lessurl had recovered from illness, thankfully, but we weren't playing together as one (very) inexperienced partnership was enough and we felt that the two other juniors should be partnered with experience, in the hope of creating three "reliable" partnerships. This was a particularly high challenge for my partner, who had herself been one of the least experienced players against Banchory, and we were now looking to her to help anchor the team. But with some of our best players missing, others have to step up to the plate, and she did just that.
On Board 1, I held:
A J 10 9
7
A 4 2
K J 10 9 7
I was sitting West. North opened 3 Spades, and after some deliberation, South raised to 4 on a void, which I doubled. Partner knew this could be nothing other than penalty, and we managed to scrounge six tricks between us, taking 500. A nice, good score to settle the nerves early on.
On Board 2, I held:
A K 3
A
K J 9 6
K 10 7 4 2
Partner is Dealer and passes. South passes, and I open 1 Club. North passes, and partner raises to 3 Clubs. South says 3 Hearts. What now?
I suspect slam might be a possibility, but with a new partner I was unsure how to go about it. We ended up settling for 5 clubs, and missed the 25 point slam. Partner held:
8
10 4 3
Q 7 3 2
A J 6 5 3
Both minor suits break nicely. Partner's 3 Clubs was a good one; she did all she could. In other words, I carry the can for not getting us to the right spot. Incidentally, if we're not going to find the slam, then cracking 3 Hearts is better. Another 500 is slightly better than 420, but at teams you are never going to double into Game.
On Board 3 (I'm not doing all the boards, honest!) I held:
K Q 10 9 8 5 2
A
7 3
Q 8 6
I bid spades three times, and in between, the opponents bid to a making 3NT. My third and final spade bid (reckless, over a silent partner) was 4 Spades, which was of course doubled. I expected that 3NT would make because for his bidding, North would probably hold AJx of spades. In fact my dummy was:
J 7 4
7 5 4 3
Q J 9 5 2
9
So, even though 3NT makes 4 Spades Doubled is too expensive as a sacrifice. If North-South can see all the cards before defending, they would take me for 800. Fortunately, they can't. North dutifully led a heart in response to partner bidding them, and I exited a club. I ruffed the heart return, and ruffed a club with the 4 of spades, before ruffing a heart with the 8. I then ruffed another club with the 7 and played the Jack, which got me to a total of nine tricks and -200, halving the deficit of 3NT.
Sometimes experience counts, and sometimes it is luck. Our new pair, who sat the same way as us, were in the same doomed contract, but lost 800 for their troubles. One lesson they will have to be taught is to do as I say, and not as I do.
When all six of the first set of boards had been played, partner and I had gathered +1330, which was good going having missed the slam. (The par score if you find the slam is 1370). Unfortunately, the Torphins East-West pairs were merciless, and partner and I were the only pair on the team to achieve a plus.
Being the hosts, it was our pairs that rotated round the room, which meant we changed polarity for Round 2. This was unfortunate as East-West got all six of the hands; one of them a cold slam, four cold games and one part score. So -3000 would've been an achievement for us if you do the maths. However, partner and I didn't settle for that. We managed to find a good sacrifice against a making game (below the level of Game, but the opponents didn't bid it), and they didn't bid the slam either. We scored -2010, more than one thousand better than the double dummy "par" score, and the new pair also came in with a creditable -2470.
Unfortunately, our other 2 pairs didn't contribute such large plusses, so we were well on our way to 0 VPs at Half Time.
We were there by the end of Round 3. Board 14 was seriously unlucky. After some confused bidding where my partner felt obliged to continue after a 4 Heart sign-off, which was partly my fault for only partially explaining an ethical rule, I had this situation:
K 6
A Q 10 7
K 6
A K 5 3 2
9 5
J 9 8 5 4 3 2
8 5
J 8
Contract: 5 Hearts by the bottom hand; Queen of Spades led.
Both missing aces are offside, LHO has QJ of spades, and RHO has both the missing hearts. The result is that if my hand plays the contract, 4 Hearts can never make. Partner on the other hand can make, as partner's LHO is endplayed on the opening lead. The best lead would be a club; the Jack would be covered by the Queen and King, then Declarer can cash the Ace of Hearts, Ace of clubs and ruff a club, with the suit splitting 3-3. Declarer can then exit in hearts, to end play South again. The best South can do is cash the two aces and give up. A really unlucky situation where the hand that is most likely to bid hearts first wrong-sides the Game in doing so.
There was more bad luck to come. We didn't touch a minor slam that was anti-percentage, but did make, opting instead for a major Game. Board 18 did at least yield a 100% slam that just required to be bid, and our overall score for the round was +1700, which is either 200-400 points better or 200 points worse than a debatable par, depending on what you take par to be. Still, we didn't expect what our team-mates provided (we were the only plus again), and we passed the 5000 point aggregate minus threshold.
Unless we won Round 4, we were going to lose this match 20-0. It was Twenty Past Ten by the time we finished Round 3, so we felt it was in the best and fairest interests of all sixteen players to call time on the match then. A match in the afternoon I would have happily played another six boards against the odds, but we were getting very late, especially for youngsters.
The Division 2 table does not make good reading. We are bottom with 3 VPs; Ellon are second bottom with 24. Some would say the situation is already hopeless. Indeed, I admit it is getting critical. However, I have faith in my team and there are a lot of positives we can take from this.
I am aware that with a statement like that, when on the face of it we were completely swept aside and outclassed, I look like a football manager trying to appease his team's fans after an embarrassing defeat. But there are some very promising signs and we still have three matches to get ourselves out of our admittedly sticky situation.
The first positive is the "team of four within the team of eight" scenario. Comparing Pair 1 and Pair 2's scores from the match against Banchory, they made a net gain which was good enough for a 15-5 win if pairs 3 and 4 had levelled out. Well, so we should, given the strength of Pairs 1 and 2 in that match. However, when doing so again for the Torphins match, Pairs 1 and 2 (who'd had two good players removed, and replaced with two lesser-experienced players), still came out ahead. This is very encouraging, because it is a sign that the experience of playing these matches is paying off and that our inexperienced players are getting better; learning to hold their own. The reason that it went so wrong against Torphins is that they can hold their own when they have some strong players to back them up and compliment their scores; they are not yet at a stage where they can help anchor a team.
The second positive is our new pair. On the face of it, they were completely thrashed, but there's more to this than meets the eye. The game plan was that it would not be disappointing if they did slightly worse than they should have done; it was up to me and my partner to cancel that out with a good score. But in Round 2, between all the doubled contracts that spoiled their score card in Rounds 1 and 3, they actually did better than par, which is a real sign of progress and more than I could've asked them for. There's a lot of potential there, and when I look at their score card, what I find is that they were completely fearless, (as reckless as me in places but less inclined to get away with it), so they are standing in good stead for a positive future.
Individual development is also a key area. My partner from the match in particular is coming on leaps and bounds and is not as far away from becoming a fully-fledged player as she thinks she is. Another player was back after a bit of a hiatus, and Lessurl informs me that not a lot went wrong in the bidding, which means he has retained quite a bit of the bidding theory that he has learned very well. Against Torphins, we fielded four partnerships that have never played in any competitive bridge event together, which means the team is learning to play with others.
As a Captain, I am learning a lot about my team and my players, what they can and can't do and what they are capable of. Some of it I know beforehand, but there are some things you can only find out by experience, trial, error and observation.
The team spirit is another factor which pleases me. After a start like this, it is easy for the heads to go down and players to blame themselves and ask whether they are good enough. But they are all up for it and ready to play their part in the recovery - and they will.
We also have to remember that this was far from our best possible side. Two of last season's ever-presents and one international junior were not involved in this match. I chose players from my team pool. I could have tried drafting in substitutes instead - if I had been so desperate to win this match that I was willing to sacrifice team development. But this is a work-in-progress; a transitional phase as we look towards building a bigger and better junior team in the future. These players need games. They learn by doing.
It is a shame that it is two of my clubs that occupy the bottom two positions of Division 2. But, sorry Ellon, there are no divided loyalties. The next match is a forty-pointer (the bridge equivalent of a football six-pointer) between Phoenix Rising and Ellon, and I certainly hope that we will be getting our first win of the season under our belts. I have of course been supporting Ellon in all of their matches so far this season, but they have my permission to lose the next match. It would be good if both teams could avoid relegation however.
While it is still possible that we will escape relegation, we'll continue to play to do so. I don't mind if anybody writes us off; some people wrote off Division 2 as ours to win before the season started, and we proved them wrong. There is still a lot of bridge to be played, and I have faith that my team will come good. It is just a question of how quickly they do so.
I write this on Monday. This week sees a marathon of five (possibly six) days of bridge in a row, starting tonight. Still, if that happens, it won't be the first time - nor will it be the first time I have several events to blog about at once. Bring it on.
Monday 30 January 2012
Sunday 22 January 2012
Third Time Lucky
This week saw three major events, not including a session at Ellon. I say major - I only really gave a brass monkey about two of them; the first was just A-N-Other tournament to compete in. Were these events not played out on consecutive nights, they may have merited a blog post of their own. But having played Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, I was not going to find time to blog in between.
Here, they come, in order.
Norvite Simultaneous Pairs
This event I had no aspirations for. It is a simultaneous pairs event played throughout the North District. All the hands are pre-dealt, that is to say, fixed. The Convener spends all year finding/composing hands to use, so I'm reliably informed. This is a major departure from Simultaneous competitions run by the SBU, where the computer dealt boards may seem fixed, but they are not. The second difference is that scoring is by aggregate, with a limitation on penalties in place. This requires more of a Teams mentality. Played on a Wednesday night, I was playing with McLeod Senior again. The partnership harmony didn't last long, although in fairness it never does.
A K J 3
10 8 5
5 3 2
9 8 5
Playing the Asking Club (if you know it), Partner opens a Strong 2 Diamonds - 20+ points or a hand as good as, with at least 5 Diamonds. What is your bid here?
My bid (and my subsequent claim that I will do the same again) caused my partner to state that we are going to stop playing together. Which is why I'd like to know if I'm the only person in the world who'd bid what I did here? (Do not guess at what I bid; give me YOURS).
The response structure (for those that want to advise what I should've done in this situation) is as follows:
Bid a 5 card suit or
Bid 2NT to show cover in the other three and some values, and wrong-side 3NT.
Bid 3 Diamonds to show support with no extra values.
4 Clubs is Gerber
Partner had:
5 4 2
---
A K Q J 10 7 4
A Q 2
What do you think partner's rebid should be?
Next up; your hand is:
K
J 7 6 3
A Q 8 6 4 3
7 5
RHO opens 1 Spade, and you intervene with 3 Diamonds. LHO says 4 Clubs, and after RHO agrees clubs, RHO ends up in 6 Spades. What do you lead?
I reckoned our score was a paltry +1000 at the end of the night, but I can't count.
Phoenix Teams of Four Finals
The Phoenix Teams of Four is the club's most prestigious event. Going into the Semi-Finals, we were third, which meant we played 1st place in a knock-out sixteen board match - the unbeaten ROSS team. I think Lessurl and I can be pleased with our efforts.
Things didn't start well; our opponents stopped well in a 3 Heart contract for 140. We traded "misplayed" (or Mis-defended at the other table) game contracts for a +12 and -12 on consecutive boards. 12-17. The next board was flat; my Counterpart and I both made 13 tricks in 4 Spades when the defence didn't cash two top tricks. Then we took over.
Do you want to be in 7 Hearts when you have nine solid tricks from trumps and the minors (trumps drawing easily and no chance of a ruff against you), and your spade holding is J x x x opposite A K 10 x? Thought not. We were, but the queen was singleton (offside), so we got away with +1510 and 11 IMPs.
On the next board, RHO intervened with 4 Diamonds while Lessurl and I were bidding to solid vulnerable Game. We were red, they were White. Bidding 4 Diamonds for a lead might've seemed like a good idea to RHO at the time, but unfortunately for him, his partner sacrificed in 5 Diamonds and we collected 1100.
Next, I made one more trick than I was entitled to in 3NT, giving us a 34-17 lead after seven, eight and nine boards. A mutual disaster for our team saw that lead cut to 34-30 on board ten, and then another -5 and a missed Game cost us dearly, leaving the score at 34-45.
Board 14, in my view, was the crucial board. I held:
A J x x x
A K Q x x
---
x x x
Do I open this 1 Heart or 1 Spade? I opted for 1 Spade. LHO overcalled 2 Diamonds, and partner raised to 4 Spades. RHO bid 5 Diamonds. I considered 5 Hearts, but opted for 5 Spades, which was crucial. It went one down, for -10 IMPs. Had I opted for 5 Hearts, I would have found partner with J 10 x x x x of Hearts, and I'd have made 5. However, our team-mates should have bid and made 6 Diamonds, so our -100 should've been enough to win the match. We lost 40-63.
The other Semi-Final (which played the same sixteen boards) was between the 2nd placed HAY team, and the only twice-beaten team in the Semis, the revamped POMEROY team, sporting a substitute pair. On paper, the Pomeroy team had been weakened, but on paper only. After what I'm sure was a fascinating match, they drew 40-40. It was decided the fairest thing to do, in the spirit of the tournament, was play a two board play-off, which the Pomeroy team won.
Only 73 IMPs were shed in the Third Place Play-Off, as opposed to 103 in our Semi. After taking a 500 and 100 for two beaten Game contracts (the first Doubled), on boards 22 and 23, I would've thought, with reasonably tight play, that would've been enough. Unfortunately, our team-mates had a disaster on Board 24, and in the end we lost by 9 IMPs.
In the end, I'm happy with 4th place. (Disappointed in that it was the worst we could've done going into the last night, but we weren't among the top 4 seeds.) We exceeded expectations, and hope to be regular semi-finalists/ finalists/ winners; one day.
The final was keenly contested. ROSS took the title by the margin of ONE IMP. What a great advert for the Phoenix Club; it is going from strength to strength.
Bridge Club Nova v Phoenix II
The playing of this match went into some doubt as both teams struggled to field teams, and in the end neither side could play eight players from their own pool. (Long live the new substitution rules!) Lessurl and I, having played once for Phoenix II already, were eligible for one more match, and the Captain required it to be this match. I sincerely hope the team does not need subs for their remaining two fixtures.
Bridge Club Nova needed a substitute too, and called in - my Dad. It so happens that one of his pick-up partners is in Nova. My Dad was, of course, happy enough to help, when the phone call came, so both McLeods were subbing for opposite sides.
Boards 1, 2 and 3 (the first three boards we played, although not in sequence) all saw the same contract - 1NT. Lessurl thought he was in 2 and made 8; I ran for 7 in mine, and RHO came down in his. Lessurl and I were not in charitable mood. So, we were edging ahead, and then I had this 3NT:
Q x x
K 7 x x
10 9 x
A x x
A K x x
A 9
A Q x x
x x x
I got a small diamond led, and I tried the 9 from dummy. LHO had indeed led from KJxx, so it held. I next tried three rounds of spades, finishing with the queen, so I could lead away from the ace of clubs, but the spades broke 2-4. LHO pitched a heart on the queen of spades and won my club, returning a heart. I won with the ace and cleared the suit, RHO getting in with a heart. For reasons best known to himself, RHO decided not to cash his two hearts and a spade, and played the Queen of clubs. This I won in dummy after seeing the card LHO played, and ran the ten of diamonds. LHO won with the Jack, but now holds this:
---
---
K x
K
All he can do is cash the club before giving me the AQ of diamonds. 9 tricks.
By all accounts, the boards were against us in the first set, so our team-mates were delighted when we offered +760, leaving us a little over 1700 ahead after six boards.
The second set was not as productive. The boards were against us here too, and our opponents were apt to cash in. They bid two good games. One was solid and the other needed a trump lead to beat it, which I don't blame Lessurl for not finding. We also had the dreaded +170 on a vulnerable board, although I'm not saying Game was cold there. The team was 1190 up at half time.
Playing at Table 3 all night, the third round was against the Nova Captain and his partner, one of Lessurl's regular partners. They started well, bidding a thin but cold vulnerable Game. I then failed to make a 4 Spades which wasn't there. This was the turning point:
K x x x
J
K
K Q 10 9 7 x x
A x x x
K Q x x
x x x x
2
Contract: 4 Spades Doubled by the bottom hand; AC lead.
This was the situation Lessurl faced. Immediately he knows he is hoping for a mis-defence. He gets it. His LHO, looking for the big penalty, leads a small heart to trick 2, underleading the ace. After overcoming his surprise when the Jack holds, Lessurl cashes the Ace and King of spades, with both opponents following both times. He now ruffs a small club - a necessary precaution as LHO led from a singleton. He plays the King of hearts, covered by the ace, and ruffs. He can now run clubs until the final spade appears, collecting +590, and +260 on the set overall.
It is always satisfying to get a plus score for a set where the boards are against you. However, this always requires luck. This was especially true on the last set, where the boards were so skewed against us that "par" would probably have been around the -2000 mark. But Lessurl managed to tempt a mistake from his RHO when playing a 4 Spades contract, and I played the following collection in 3NT:
K x
A 9 x x
x x x
J 9 7 4
A J 6 x
K 10 x
x x
A 6 5 2
You might well ask what on earth we are doing in 3NT. My RHO (McLeod Senior) opened 1 Spade (5 card suit), and Lessurl made a protective double. I failed to deduct 3 points from my hand, and blasted 3NT.
LHO dutifully led a spade, and I beat my Dad's queen with the ace. I have to take the view that if they find a diamond switch at any stage, I'm dead, so I better play as if they're not going to. I play the ten of hearts to set them up, as a minimum of three tricks are required from this suit. LHO plays small, and to my surprise, the ten holds the trick. So that's three spade tricks and three hearts now. I need three from clubs. I cash ace and another heart, and then play the 9 of clubs. Queen appears on my right. I cover with the ace and collect the three from LHO. I now play the 2, and the 8 appears from LHO. I play the 7, and the King comes down. RHO now plays a spade, and I have nine tricks.
My Dad felt that we'd been very "lucky" all night. Yes and no. Yes, there were some clear errors from his side. But then, we had to get ourselves in position to take advantage. That's what people mean when they say good players make their own luck. Mind you, I suppose the addage it is better to be lucky than smart also applies.
Not that we got it all our own way. Going into the last board of the night with a double game swing in the bag, we had +930. We were hoping to offer another "plus that should've been a minus". Unfortunately, our opponents bid the solidest of solid slams, so no such luck. We were -440, our Table 1 team-mates somehow were -190, which meant we were destined for a massive swing. It was enough to win 18-2.
That's it for Lessurl and me playing for Phoenix II this season. Next week, it's back to Phoenix Rising. But, as Lessurl joked, "we should have kept Phoenix II away from relegation". Phoenix I and II sit happily at 1st and 2nd place in Division 1 respectively. Certainly it was our most successful (and luckiest) night of the three.
Here, they come, in order.
Norvite Simultaneous Pairs
This event I had no aspirations for. It is a simultaneous pairs event played throughout the North District. All the hands are pre-dealt, that is to say, fixed. The Convener spends all year finding/composing hands to use, so I'm reliably informed. This is a major departure from Simultaneous competitions run by the SBU, where the computer dealt boards may seem fixed, but they are not. The second difference is that scoring is by aggregate, with a limitation on penalties in place. This requires more of a Teams mentality. Played on a Wednesday night, I was playing with McLeod Senior again. The partnership harmony didn't last long, although in fairness it never does.
A K J 3
10 8 5
5 3 2
9 8 5
Playing the Asking Club (if you know it), Partner opens a Strong 2 Diamonds - 20+ points or a hand as good as, with at least 5 Diamonds. What is your bid here?
My bid (and my subsequent claim that I will do the same again) caused my partner to state that we are going to stop playing together. Which is why I'd like to know if I'm the only person in the world who'd bid what I did here? (Do not guess at what I bid; give me YOURS).
The response structure (for those that want to advise what I should've done in this situation) is as follows:
Bid a 5 card suit or
Bid 2NT to show cover in the other three and some values, and wrong-side 3NT.
Bid 3 Diamonds to show support with no extra values.
4 Clubs is Gerber
Partner had:
5 4 2
---
A K Q J 10 7 4
A Q 2
What do you think partner's rebid should be?
Next up; your hand is:
K
J 7 6 3
A Q 8 6 4 3
7 5
RHO opens 1 Spade, and you intervene with 3 Diamonds. LHO says 4 Clubs, and after RHO agrees clubs, RHO ends up in 6 Spades. What do you lead?
I reckoned our score was a paltry +1000 at the end of the night, but I can't count.
Phoenix Teams of Four Finals
The Phoenix Teams of Four is the club's most prestigious event. Going into the Semi-Finals, we were third, which meant we played 1st place in a knock-out sixteen board match - the unbeaten ROSS team. I think Lessurl and I can be pleased with our efforts.
Things didn't start well; our opponents stopped well in a 3 Heart contract for 140. We traded "misplayed" (or Mis-defended at the other table) game contracts for a +12 and -12 on consecutive boards. 12-17. The next board was flat; my Counterpart and I both made 13 tricks in 4 Spades when the defence didn't cash two top tricks. Then we took over.
Do you want to be in 7 Hearts when you have nine solid tricks from trumps and the minors (trumps drawing easily and no chance of a ruff against you), and your spade holding is J x x x opposite A K 10 x? Thought not. We were, but the queen was singleton (offside), so we got away with +1510 and 11 IMPs.
On the next board, RHO intervened with 4 Diamonds while Lessurl and I were bidding to solid vulnerable Game. We were red, they were White. Bidding 4 Diamonds for a lead might've seemed like a good idea to RHO at the time, but unfortunately for him, his partner sacrificed in 5 Diamonds and we collected 1100.
Next, I made one more trick than I was entitled to in 3NT, giving us a 34-17 lead after seven, eight and nine boards. A mutual disaster for our team saw that lead cut to 34-30 on board ten, and then another -5 and a missed Game cost us dearly, leaving the score at 34-45.
Board 14, in my view, was the crucial board. I held:
A J x x x
A K Q x x
---
x x x
Do I open this 1 Heart or 1 Spade? I opted for 1 Spade. LHO overcalled 2 Diamonds, and partner raised to 4 Spades. RHO bid 5 Diamonds. I considered 5 Hearts, but opted for 5 Spades, which was crucial. It went one down, for -10 IMPs. Had I opted for 5 Hearts, I would have found partner with J 10 x x x x of Hearts, and I'd have made 5. However, our team-mates should have bid and made 6 Diamonds, so our -100 should've been enough to win the match. We lost 40-63.
The other Semi-Final (which played the same sixteen boards) was between the 2nd placed HAY team, and the only twice-beaten team in the Semis, the revamped POMEROY team, sporting a substitute pair. On paper, the Pomeroy team had been weakened, but on paper only. After what I'm sure was a fascinating match, they drew 40-40. It was decided the fairest thing to do, in the spirit of the tournament, was play a two board play-off, which the Pomeroy team won.
Only 73 IMPs were shed in the Third Place Play-Off, as opposed to 103 in our Semi. After taking a 500 and 100 for two beaten Game contracts (the first Doubled), on boards 22 and 23, I would've thought, with reasonably tight play, that would've been enough. Unfortunately, our team-mates had a disaster on Board 24, and in the end we lost by 9 IMPs.
In the end, I'm happy with 4th place. (Disappointed in that it was the worst we could've done going into the last night, but we weren't among the top 4 seeds.) We exceeded expectations, and hope to be regular semi-finalists/ finalists/ winners; one day.
The final was keenly contested. ROSS took the title by the margin of ONE IMP. What a great advert for the Phoenix Club; it is going from strength to strength.
Bridge Club Nova v Phoenix II
The playing of this match went into some doubt as both teams struggled to field teams, and in the end neither side could play eight players from their own pool. (Long live the new substitution rules!) Lessurl and I, having played once for Phoenix II already, were eligible for one more match, and the Captain required it to be this match. I sincerely hope the team does not need subs for their remaining two fixtures.
Bridge Club Nova needed a substitute too, and called in - my Dad. It so happens that one of his pick-up partners is in Nova. My Dad was, of course, happy enough to help, when the phone call came, so both McLeods were subbing for opposite sides.
Boards 1, 2 and 3 (the first three boards we played, although not in sequence) all saw the same contract - 1NT. Lessurl thought he was in 2 and made 8; I ran for 7 in mine, and RHO came down in his. Lessurl and I were not in charitable mood. So, we were edging ahead, and then I had this 3NT:
Q x x
K 7 x x
10 9 x
A x x
A K x x
A 9
A Q x x
x x x
I got a small diamond led, and I tried the 9 from dummy. LHO had indeed led from KJxx, so it held. I next tried three rounds of spades, finishing with the queen, so I could lead away from the ace of clubs, but the spades broke 2-4. LHO pitched a heart on the queen of spades and won my club, returning a heart. I won with the ace and cleared the suit, RHO getting in with a heart. For reasons best known to himself, RHO decided not to cash his two hearts and a spade, and played the Queen of clubs. This I won in dummy after seeing the card LHO played, and ran the ten of diamonds. LHO won with the Jack, but now holds this:
---
---
K x
K
All he can do is cash the club before giving me the AQ of diamonds. 9 tricks.
By all accounts, the boards were against us in the first set, so our team-mates were delighted when we offered +760, leaving us a little over 1700 ahead after six boards.
The second set was not as productive. The boards were against us here too, and our opponents were apt to cash in. They bid two good games. One was solid and the other needed a trump lead to beat it, which I don't blame Lessurl for not finding. We also had the dreaded +170 on a vulnerable board, although I'm not saying Game was cold there. The team was 1190 up at half time.
Playing at Table 3 all night, the third round was against the Nova Captain and his partner, one of Lessurl's regular partners. They started well, bidding a thin but cold vulnerable Game. I then failed to make a 4 Spades which wasn't there. This was the turning point:
K x x x
J
K
K Q 10 9 7 x x
A x x x
K Q x x
x x x x
2
Contract: 4 Spades Doubled by the bottom hand; AC lead.
This was the situation Lessurl faced. Immediately he knows he is hoping for a mis-defence. He gets it. His LHO, looking for the big penalty, leads a small heart to trick 2, underleading the ace. After overcoming his surprise when the Jack holds, Lessurl cashes the Ace and King of spades, with both opponents following both times. He now ruffs a small club - a necessary precaution as LHO led from a singleton. He plays the King of hearts, covered by the ace, and ruffs. He can now run clubs until the final spade appears, collecting +590, and +260 on the set overall.
It is always satisfying to get a plus score for a set where the boards are against you. However, this always requires luck. This was especially true on the last set, where the boards were so skewed against us that "par" would probably have been around the -2000 mark. But Lessurl managed to tempt a mistake from his RHO when playing a 4 Spades contract, and I played the following collection in 3NT:
K x
A 9 x x
x x x
J 9 7 4
A J 6 x
K 10 x
x x
A 6 5 2
You might well ask what on earth we are doing in 3NT. My RHO (McLeod Senior) opened 1 Spade (5 card suit), and Lessurl made a protective double. I failed to deduct 3 points from my hand, and blasted 3NT.
LHO dutifully led a spade, and I beat my Dad's queen with the ace. I have to take the view that if they find a diamond switch at any stage, I'm dead, so I better play as if they're not going to. I play the ten of hearts to set them up, as a minimum of three tricks are required from this suit. LHO plays small, and to my surprise, the ten holds the trick. So that's three spade tricks and three hearts now. I need three from clubs. I cash ace and another heart, and then play the 9 of clubs. Queen appears on my right. I cover with the ace and collect the three from LHO. I now play the 2, and the 8 appears from LHO. I play the 7, and the King comes down. RHO now plays a spade, and I have nine tricks.
My Dad felt that we'd been very "lucky" all night. Yes and no. Yes, there were some clear errors from his side. But then, we had to get ourselves in position to take advantage. That's what people mean when they say good players make their own luck. Mind you, I suppose the addage it is better to be lucky than smart also applies.
Not that we got it all our own way. Going into the last board of the night with a double game swing in the bag, we had +930. We were hoping to offer another "plus that should've been a minus". Unfortunately, our opponents bid the solidest of solid slams, so no such luck. We were -440, our Table 1 team-mates somehow were -190, which meant we were destined for a massive swing. It was enough to win 18-2.
That's it for Lessurl and me playing for Phoenix II this season. Next week, it's back to Phoenix Rising. But, as Lessurl joked, "we should have kept Phoenix II away from relegation". Phoenix I and II sit happily at 1st and 2nd place in Division 1 respectively. Certainly it was our most successful (and luckiest) night of the three.
Sunday 15 January 2012
Singing in the Rayne
Well, as of my last blog, I'd had a good start to 2012. It began with a 1st place on a Tuesday night at The Bridge Club, followed by a win in the teams on the Thursday, and two wins in the District Teams of Four. However I look at it, that's a 100% winning start. Like I said, I had hoped this run would continue on until the final of the Rayne was done and dusted, but unfortunately my Bridge Guardian Angels have had other ideas and seem to think it's fair to deal me with slices of rotten luck as well as the good stuff.
This started on Monday night when my partner decided that my discarding a high diamond followed by a low one when we play Reverse Attitude meant I wanted diamonds on the first hand, but on the second hand the Guardian Angels apologised for turning up late by giving me this Declarer problem:
Q x x x
J 10 x
9 7 x
K x x
A K x x
Q x x
A K Q x
Q x
Contract: 3NT (by the bottom hand). Lead: A small diamond.
There is certainly play for 9 tricks here. Spades and diamonds provide three top tricks, with chances of a 4th in each. If that works, either one of the rounded suits might provide the 9th trick. But obviously, the first task is to bore into LHO's mind and work out what he led from. Do I play the 9 or 7? If this is a 4th highest lead, I might as well play the 7 - which holds. LHO had led low from J 10 8 x x (!), so I was never going to guess wrong.
Four tricks in diamonds are coming in, what about the spades? If they break well, then nine tricks are in the bag with a club exit. But the Angels have taught me pragmatic pessimism, if I haven't learned it from life in general. Sure, that works if spades break, but what if they don't? I'm going to need clubs stopped; there's always a chance hearts break 4-3/3-4 and they can't run against me. So I play the Jack of Hearts.
RHO wins with the King and returns a diamond; exactly what I was hoping for. I can now knock out the heart Ace without concern about clubs. RHO wins and plays another heart, and I'm happy to see LHO follow too. RHO has a heart winner once he gets in, but not yet.
I cash three diamonds, and note that spades are never thrown. Wouldn't you know it; they are 1-4. Good thing I decided to set up hearts. I can still set up clubs and make a total of nine tricks. It was one of those hands where everyone in my seat played in 3NT. The others went one or two down - this included the other Declarer fortunate enough to get a low diamond lead.
Unfortunately that did NOT set the tone for the evening. There is still a lot of work to do - that's undeniable when partner decides to play in 4 Hearts on a 5-0 trump fit. By sheer graft we managed to take second place; I doubt we can say there was much finesse on out part.
But if that was bad, Wednesday night was worse. Somehow we scraped as many outright tops as outright bottoms, and partner was lucky that bridge crimes do not earn time in prison. Whether it was showing strong hands with plates of mince, or passing when he actually had one, there were some decisions made to which utterly no logic or rational thought made sense at all. All of which I can tolerate if partner was gracious enough to accept it, but when it all is somehow MY fault, I think I'm entitled to vent about it.
In fairness (?) to partner, it was the BGB, which meant computer-dealt hands. That winds him up for a start. He doesn't know the difference between "computer dealt" and "fixed" - to him it's all a fix. So we can seldom expect a good night in a BGB event, but we still play them, because once every blue moon I might get some Green points for it.
{To the uninitiated: Green Points = Red Points = National Master Points. 100 Black points = 100 local points = numerical value of 1 Green/Red/National Point. Easy. EXCEPT, I heard the other night that the EBU are now considering inventing Blue Points which, apparently, will be equivalent to a part award in Greens and Blacks. If anyone out there capable of logical and deductive reasoning can explain to me what in the name of sanity the EBU are doing, I'd be very interested in understanding, or at least attempting thereof.}
At least the afternoon school's session was good. They still need a lot drummed into them before being unleashed on the bridge general public, and developing the teams we want is going to be an epic challenge, but I am hopeful we will rise to the occasion. The highlight was when one of Phoenix Rising's newest players made 12 tricks in 4 Spades, testament to the fact that she should have been in 6.
Thursday night, and things improved, just a little bit. It was not evident to start with when I had this hand early on:
Q J
A J x x
A K Q x x x
x
Partner opens a (Weak) 2 Spades. RHO bids 5 Clubs.
My feeling was that I can construct possible hands for partner where 6 Spades will make, and on most of the occasions that it doesn't, 5 Spades won't make either, so, in keeping with our style, I blasted it. (I should probably explain that this was not my regular partner, but a Life Master notorious for bidding everything. The philosophy is that it is okay to come down in contracts on a regular basis as long as no Games or Slams are missed). Unfortunately, this did not work. To make matters worse, 5 Clubs turned out not to make either.
Other things went wrong too; the pick of these was when partner opened a Weak 2 Spades (again), and with RHO making a strong bid, I decided, holding two points, that I would pre-empt them out of a making slam. This was initially working when LHO picked a sub-optimal Game contract, but partner decided to double, which caused RHO to rescue to a slam in her suit. The subsequent second double from partner resulted in -1190 on the score card and -6 IMPs.
But, the Guardian Angels were not quite idle. Observe this hand:
Q J
A Q 10 x x
-
9 7 x x x x
Partner opens 1 Diamond, playing 5 Card Majors with a short club. I reply 1 Heart, as 2-over-1 shows 11+, so 2 Clubs is out. Partner bids 1NT (12-13). Here, I think the reasonable option is to Pass. Sure, it'll be wrong sometimes, and is unlikely to be the optimum contract. But anything else will risk a bigger mess, as I shall now demonstrate.
Deciding that I just would not pass a contract when I knew it was unlikely to be the best spot (if not the least ridiculous), I set out in search of the perfect score. I bid a Checkback 2 Clubs, which by agreement could show a GF hand or an invitational hand. I am hoping partner will bid 2 Hearts now. But of course I ought to know what was coming; partner will inevitably in these situations make the bid you don't want - 2 Diamonds. Okay, so that's things gone belly-up; let's now compound the error; utterly screwing myself over by bidding 2 Hearts. This really was going out on a limb; of course if partner has 5 Diamonds and 3 Hearts, he'll show the 5 diamonds first. He could still have three hearts. He doesn't. He bids 3 Diamonds. Now what? Sigh. 3NT. I should've just passed the b****y 1NT.
Not if the Angels had their say. 3NT romped home with an overtrick, swinging +8 in the IMPs column when our counterparts made 2 Diamonds on the nose.
The last hand from the session I will note:
10 5 4
x x
A Q x x
A 10 x x
A K 8 7 6 3
A K J x x
-
Q x
Yes, of course we got to 6 Spades on this. The question is, how do you go about making it on the Jack of Clubs lead? Obviously you start by winning with the Ace in dummy and pitching the queen of clubs on the Ace of diamonds. Trick 3 requires an important choice. I considered two different lines here. I took the one that looked best at the time; on the actual layout, both worked. Thoughts?
Anyway, when all said and done, we won 5 matches and lost one - enough for second place. It was all quite formal, with the top team winning every match, us only losing to them, and 3rd place only losing to 1st and 2nd place. So, on the way back up again. After Thursday it became a case of hoping to go one better in the....
RAYNE TROPHY FINAL
Hence, the inspiration for the title. Above? That was just the preamble(!). I didn't mention the Rayne qualifier in my previous post, because I can catch up with it here.
It has been difficult of late to secure a steady team for the Rayne. This year, in terms of organisation, we went one better, when the Convener knew I wanted to play, and put my name on the sign-up sheet without checking if I actually had a team, which I didn't. However, lessurl and I managed to find two others that were willing to play 42 boards on a Sunday afternoon, and we went into the qualifier with no aspirations and no pressure on our shoulders.
I find it sad that out of the entire District, we can only amass a grand total of eight teams that were interested in playing in one of the biggest teams events on the calendar. Montrose Bridge Club (won't mind me mentioning here that they) got TWELVE tables! How is it that a CLUB manages to get 50% more entries than a DISTRICT?
Some of you might read that last part and say "don't act as if you don't know", while others would challenge me to do something about it. I guess it is a subject that I have touched on before, and yes, I do have theories. But really, I guess I should vent my spleen about that in a separate blog post.
So, anyway, we had eight teams, and played a Thurner movement with 6 board matches, with a mandatory break, because of the SBU's directive that players that qualify for the final must have played in two sessions prior to it. I do see the logic here, but really, all this is doing is dissuading players from actually entering, and this is counter-productive for all concerned.
Of course, there was only one qualification spot available, and we could hardly be considered favourites to get it. With a lack of entries, the event was chalk full of players actually intent on qualifying. On paper we might have been as low as the sixth strongest team.
However, the team showed from the outset they were not here to make up numbers. Our team-mates (who had never played together before, ever) had one disaster in 42 boards, which is a terrific return. Lessurl and I were working our socks off meanwhile, and didn't take many prisoners. There was even one match where we had a Grand Slam against us on the first board and we still won 20-0. We won five matches, and a score of 87 VPs was just enough to take First place. None of us had expected that, but it became official very quickly.
And so on to the Final in Dundee.
Our drive down worked like clockwork, and we arrived in plenty time to stretch our legs and double-confirm that our team was in the Silver bracket. This was not the first Final in Dundee where my team was in the Silver bracket by virtue of one Scottish Master plus three Bronze bracket players. So, we knew what our target for the day was: The Silver Award. More on that later. First, some hands.
Anatomy of a Match
The format was a 12 team Thurner; 11 matches of four board; 44 boards in total. Lessurl and I gave ourselves the easy job of sitting all day. Out of 44 boards in a National final, there are bound to be some interesting ones, but the task I have set myself here is to find some interesting boards from the same match, in the hope of giving an insight into how a Silver team might go about attempting a good score. I have selected two; the matches against McCreadie and Campbell's team. I would also include the match against Wickens, but that means I'd accidentally have picked the three matches where we scored best, which I don't think it's the done thing to do.
First up is Board 21 against Stuart McCreadie's team. This is a very competent team. They knocked us out in Round 1 of the Scottish Cup Plate last year, although I felt that on the top of our game there might have been a different outcome. So I was keen to see what we could do here in the space of four boards.
I opened a weak 2 Spades; lessurl raised this to 4. This could either be with the intention to make, or the intention to stop East-West finding the right spot. Stuart now bid 5 Diamonds, which my partner doubled at his turn, and 5 Diamonds doubled was the contract. This is the cue for some nervous card-play, for if there are two things Stuart can do really well, it's judge an optimum contract, and play the cards. (Or to put it another way, the two best aspects of his game are bidding and card play. Hmm) As it was, there were no voids, and lessurl held three aces. We took the contract 1 down. We'd hoped for more than +100 when we had bid to a making Game, but as my partner pointed out, 4 Spades makes ten exactly, so that was the best we could do. He was proved right when our team-mates brought back +100 for beating 5 Spades. 5-0.
Board 22 was the big one.
John Lessurl Stuart Me
Pass 1S 2C 3D*
In 44 boards, our special defence to simple interference of our 1 of a Major opening was used twice. This was the second occasion, on the sixth board of the day. The 3 Diamonds bid shows a raise to 3 Spades with 4+ card support. I actually had a 5-5-3-0 shape, so when Lessurl bid 3 Spades, I calmly raised to 4. Let's look at it from Declarer's point of view:
Q 10 6 3 2
A K 10 8 2
10 8 2
---
A K 9 5 4
J 6
J 9 7 4
K 5
There is only one thing for it. Spades have to come down in two rounds, so that he can get ten tricks with two rounds of spades, five cross-ruffs, two hearts and a left over spade. That is exactly what happened; 4 Spades made.
The key thing about the 3 Diamonds bid is that it set us on our way to our optimum Contract, whilst cutting East-West out completely. Our team-mates found their way to 5 Clubs, got doubled, and made for a better-than-Double-Game-Swing. After two boards we were 20 IMPs to nothing ahead, and our opponents hadn't really done anything wrong.
Onto Board 23.
I hold:
A Q J 10
K 10 6
J 6 4
Q 5 3
I open 1 Club (Better Minor), and John overcalls 1 Heart. Lessurl bids 2 Diamonds, and I am happy to raise this twice in a competitive auction, so Lessurl plays in 4 Diamonds. What I did not know was that he had 5 Diamonds and 4 Spades, which meant that although he got ten tricks in diamonds, he had the same ten tricks in spades. A vulnerable game swing against us made the score 20-10.
On Board 24, I overcalled Stuart's opening with an Unusual 2NT. Although they found their 4 Heart spot, Lessurl had 5 Clubs and that was also the contract he raised to. 4 Hearts makes, but 5 Hearts doesn't, and when our team-mates semi-proved that by making 11 in 4 Hearts, we'd regained the ten IMPs, which for a 4 board match gave us a 20-0 VP victory. I think that shows how cut-throat a four board match can be. Our opponents certainly have cause to feel unlucky.
The second match I'm choosing to share is the match against Beryl Campbell's team. Again, this is purely because of the boards of interest and nothing to do with the score. Seriously, I've looked at the two matches we lost 20-0 and don't think they're worth writing up.
So, Board Five.
This board was interesting for what didn't happen as much as what did. The boards are on the Central District website, and board 5 is worth a look. For convenience I'll post East and West's hands:
Q J
Q J 9 7 4
A K 6 5
8 5
A 9 7 5 2
---
7 4
A K J 7 6 4
(West at the bottom)
At our table, East opened 1 Heart, and Lessurl (South) overcalled with a strong 1NT. From his point of view, this is entirely reasonable, but unfortunately for him, if they double this for penalties they can easily take 1100, as did happen to one unfortunate South. That is almost a good save against a slam in clubs. Every finesse works, as the 1NT bid suggests, but East-West are hard-pressed to find the slam. How do you proceed after the 1H-1NT start? With us, West bid 2 Clubs, and ended up just playing 3. She made 13 tricks for 190, and we thought we were quids in. Unfortunately, our (by now rather tired) team-mates were in the same contract and only made 11, so we were 0-1 down after this board. Most East-West players found Game, but none found the slam.
On Board 6, our opponents did not make the best of things, playing in 2 Hearts on a 5-0 fit. I'd best gloss over this one I think; I'm eager to get to Board 7, which we did with a 3-1 lead, thanks to our team-mates pushing to 4 Clubs, down 1.
Here is Board 7:
Lessurl and I unanimously agreed this was our favourite defensive board of the day.
Off the cuff, does it look like West makes 4 Spades here?
Deep Finesse will tell you the answer is "no", but the defence is not simple.
The credit goes to Lessurl for implementing the plan; I simply followed it.
I led the ace of hearts and another. Partner won with the King and fired back a heart. Declarer, alert to the danger of losing a 3rd trick to a ruff when the ace was outstanding, ruffed with the queen and immediately pulled a round of trumps: small to the King, beaten by the ace.
Lessurl now played another heart, a trick some defenders would not find owing to the taboo of conceding a ruff and discard. But he has worked out the best hope for the defence is that I have the ten of spades, after which, by ruffing (whatever West plays) with the ten, forcing the Jack, we've had a successful trump promotion.
I don't know if our team-mates got the same defence, but they were in 3 Spades making, for 6 IMPs and a 9-1 lead.
On Board 8, I held:
10 4 2
10 6
K Q 6 5 2
K 6 5
RHO opened 1 Diamond; I passed and LHO bid 2 Diamonds. Lessurl Doubles, which I know is takeout, but when RHO passes, I can't resist a penalty pass. Remember, we don't have a barometer; I think we're well ahead in the match and that 2 Diamonds Doubled is not a double into Game, therefore relatively safe.
I lead the Ten of Hearts, and see this dummy:
Q
A 5 3
J 10 9 8
J 10 4 3 2
Gulp. Declarer wins with the ace and plays the spade; lessurl covering with the King. She wins with the ace and now plays the queen of clubs. I pause for thought, and ultimately take the wrong option, cashing my King, fearing the Chinese Finesse. I give partner his King of hearts. Now there is nothing else to do but bide our time as Declarer cross-ruffs in spades and clubs, but with two diamonds left in dummy, she ruffs a club with the 4. I can win with the six, exit with the King, and ruff back in, draw the last trump from Declarer and dummy, and cross to partner's hand to beat the contract by one. Our team mates beat 2 Spades, and we collected another 4 IMPs; 16 VPs.
We scored up our eleven matches, winning five. I was pretty sure that was enough to win the Silver bracket - mainly because we were the only Silver team in the Final. I think, given the field, we did at least earn it. Not only did we get 5 wins in the Final, we qualified in the first place. I was dreading losing every match; it would have been very embarrassing to collect "Silver" then.
Target achieved, I feel. I went home with a 40p profit for the day, another "Silver Team Award" to go with the Men's Team's Silver in 2010, and a happy team. It was especially good going given that the qualifier was our team-mates' first ever game together, and the Final was their second. The pressure was off in terms of gain; but it was on in terms of deserving. I think we all enjoyed testing ourselves against the best, and giving a good account of ourselves as the only team from the North. Hence, I make no apologies for the cheesy title! :-)
This started on Monday night when my partner decided that my discarding a high diamond followed by a low one when we play Reverse Attitude meant I wanted diamonds on the first hand, but on the second hand the Guardian Angels apologised for turning up late by giving me this Declarer problem:
Q x x x
J 10 x
9 7 x
K x x
A K x x
Q x x
A K Q x
Q x
Contract: 3NT (by the bottom hand). Lead: A small diamond.
There is certainly play for 9 tricks here. Spades and diamonds provide three top tricks, with chances of a 4th in each. If that works, either one of the rounded suits might provide the 9th trick. But obviously, the first task is to bore into LHO's mind and work out what he led from. Do I play the 9 or 7? If this is a 4th highest lead, I might as well play the 7 - which holds. LHO had led low from J 10 8 x x (!), so I was never going to guess wrong.
Four tricks in diamonds are coming in, what about the spades? If they break well, then nine tricks are in the bag with a club exit. But the Angels have taught me pragmatic pessimism, if I haven't learned it from life in general. Sure, that works if spades break, but what if they don't? I'm going to need clubs stopped; there's always a chance hearts break 4-3/3-4 and they can't run against me. So I play the Jack of Hearts.
RHO wins with the King and returns a diamond; exactly what I was hoping for. I can now knock out the heart Ace without concern about clubs. RHO wins and plays another heart, and I'm happy to see LHO follow too. RHO has a heart winner once he gets in, but not yet.
I cash three diamonds, and note that spades are never thrown. Wouldn't you know it; they are 1-4. Good thing I decided to set up hearts. I can still set up clubs and make a total of nine tricks. It was one of those hands where everyone in my seat played in 3NT. The others went one or two down - this included the other Declarer fortunate enough to get a low diamond lead.
Unfortunately that did NOT set the tone for the evening. There is still a lot of work to do - that's undeniable when partner decides to play in 4 Hearts on a 5-0 trump fit. By sheer graft we managed to take second place; I doubt we can say there was much finesse on out part.
But if that was bad, Wednesday night was worse. Somehow we scraped as many outright tops as outright bottoms, and partner was lucky that bridge crimes do not earn time in prison. Whether it was showing strong hands with plates of mince, or passing when he actually had one, there were some decisions made to which utterly no logic or rational thought made sense at all. All of which I can tolerate if partner was gracious enough to accept it, but when it all is somehow MY fault, I think I'm entitled to vent about it.
In fairness (?) to partner, it was the BGB, which meant computer-dealt hands. That winds him up for a start. He doesn't know the difference between "computer dealt" and "fixed" - to him it's all a fix. So we can seldom expect a good night in a BGB event, but we still play them, because once every blue moon I might get some Green points for it.
{To the uninitiated: Green Points = Red Points = National Master Points. 100 Black points = 100 local points = numerical value of 1 Green/Red/National Point. Easy. EXCEPT, I heard the other night that the EBU are now considering inventing Blue Points which, apparently, will be equivalent to a part award in Greens and Blacks. If anyone out there capable of logical and deductive reasoning can explain to me what in the name of sanity the EBU are doing, I'd be very interested in understanding, or at least attempting thereof.}
At least the afternoon school's session was good. They still need a lot drummed into them before being unleashed on the bridge general public, and developing the teams we want is going to be an epic challenge, but I am hopeful we will rise to the occasion. The highlight was when one of Phoenix Rising's newest players made 12 tricks in 4 Spades, testament to the fact that she should have been in 6.
Thursday night, and things improved, just a little bit. It was not evident to start with when I had this hand early on:
Q J
A J x x
A K Q x x x
x
Partner opens a (Weak) 2 Spades. RHO bids 5 Clubs.
My feeling was that I can construct possible hands for partner where 6 Spades will make, and on most of the occasions that it doesn't, 5 Spades won't make either, so, in keeping with our style, I blasted it. (I should probably explain that this was not my regular partner, but a Life Master notorious for bidding everything. The philosophy is that it is okay to come down in contracts on a regular basis as long as no Games or Slams are missed). Unfortunately, this did not work. To make matters worse, 5 Clubs turned out not to make either.
Other things went wrong too; the pick of these was when partner opened a Weak 2 Spades (again), and with RHO making a strong bid, I decided, holding two points, that I would pre-empt them out of a making slam. This was initially working when LHO picked a sub-optimal Game contract, but partner decided to double, which caused RHO to rescue to a slam in her suit. The subsequent second double from partner resulted in -1190 on the score card and -6 IMPs.
But, the Guardian Angels were not quite idle. Observe this hand:
Q J
A Q 10 x x
-
9 7 x x x x
Partner opens 1 Diamond, playing 5 Card Majors with a short club. I reply 1 Heart, as 2-over-1 shows 11+, so 2 Clubs is out. Partner bids 1NT (12-13). Here, I think the reasonable option is to Pass. Sure, it'll be wrong sometimes, and is unlikely to be the optimum contract. But anything else will risk a bigger mess, as I shall now demonstrate.
Deciding that I just would not pass a contract when I knew it was unlikely to be the best spot (if not the least ridiculous), I set out in search of the perfect score. I bid a Checkback 2 Clubs, which by agreement could show a GF hand or an invitational hand. I am hoping partner will bid 2 Hearts now. But of course I ought to know what was coming; partner will inevitably in these situations make the bid you don't want - 2 Diamonds. Okay, so that's things gone belly-up; let's now compound the error; utterly screwing myself over by bidding 2 Hearts. This really was going out on a limb; of course if partner has 5 Diamonds and 3 Hearts, he'll show the 5 diamonds first. He could still have three hearts. He doesn't. He bids 3 Diamonds. Now what? Sigh. 3NT. I should've just passed the b****y 1NT.
Not if the Angels had their say. 3NT romped home with an overtrick, swinging +8 in the IMPs column when our counterparts made 2 Diamonds on the nose.
The last hand from the session I will note:
10 5 4
x x
A Q x x
A 10 x x
A K 8 7 6 3
A K J x x
-
Q x
Yes, of course we got to 6 Spades on this. The question is, how do you go about making it on the Jack of Clubs lead? Obviously you start by winning with the Ace in dummy and pitching the queen of clubs on the Ace of diamonds. Trick 3 requires an important choice. I considered two different lines here. I took the one that looked best at the time; on the actual layout, both worked. Thoughts?
Anyway, when all said and done, we won 5 matches and lost one - enough for second place. It was all quite formal, with the top team winning every match, us only losing to them, and 3rd place only losing to 1st and 2nd place. So, on the way back up again. After Thursday it became a case of hoping to go one better in the....
RAYNE TROPHY FINAL
Hence, the inspiration for the title. Above? That was just the preamble(!). I didn't mention the Rayne qualifier in my previous post, because I can catch up with it here.
It has been difficult of late to secure a steady team for the Rayne. This year, in terms of organisation, we went one better, when the Convener knew I wanted to play, and put my name on the sign-up sheet without checking if I actually had a team, which I didn't. However, lessurl and I managed to find two others that were willing to play 42 boards on a Sunday afternoon, and we went into the qualifier with no aspirations and no pressure on our shoulders.
I find it sad that out of the entire District, we can only amass a grand total of eight teams that were interested in playing in one of the biggest teams events on the calendar. Montrose Bridge Club (won't mind me mentioning here that they) got TWELVE tables! How is it that a CLUB manages to get 50% more entries than a DISTRICT?
Some of you might read that last part and say "don't act as if you don't know", while others would challenge me to do something about it. I guess it is a subject that I have touched on before, and yes, I do have theories. But really, I guess I should vent my spleen about that in a separate blog post.
So, anyway, we had eight teams, and played a Thurner movement with 6 board matches, with a mandatory break, because of the SBU's directive that players that qualify for the final must have played in two sessions prior to it. I do see the logic here, but really, all this is doing is dissuading players from actually entering, and this is counter-productive for all concerned.
Of course, there was only one qualification spot available, and we could hardly be considered favourites to get it. With a lack of entries, the event was chalk full of players actually intent on qualifying. On paper we might have been as low as the sixth strongest team.
However, the team showed from the outset they were not here to make up numbers. Our team-mates (who had never played together before, ever) had one disaster in 42 boards, which is a terrific return. Lessurl and I were working our socks off meanwhile, and didn't take many prisoners. There was even one match where we had a Grand Slam against us on the first board and we still won 20-0. We won five matches, and a score of 87 VPs was just enough to take First place. None of us had expected that, but it became official very quickly.
And so on to the Final in Dundee.
Our drive down worked like clockwork, and we arrived in plenty time to stretch our legs and double-confirm that our team was in the Silver bracket. This was not the first Final in Dundee where my team was in the Silver bracket by virtue of one Scottish Master plus three Bronze bracket players. So, we knew what our target for the day was: The Silver Award. More on that later. First, some hands.
Anatomy of a Match
The format was a 12 team Thurner; 11 matches of four board; 44 boards in total. Lessurl and I gave ourselves the easy job of sitting all day. Out of 44 boards in a National final, there are bound to be some interesting ones, but the task I have set myself here is to find some interesting boards from the same match, in the hope of giving an insight into how a Silver team might go about attempting a good score. I have selected two; the matches against McCreadie and Campbell's team. I would also include the match against Wickens, but that means I'd accidentally have picked the three matches where we scored best, which I don't think it's the done thing to do.
First up is Board 21 against Stuart McCreadie's team. This is a very competent team. They knocked us out in Round 1 of the Scottish Cup Plate last year, although I felt that on the top of our game there might have been a different outcome. So I was keen to see what we could do here in the space of four boards.
I opened a weak 2 Spades; lessurl raised this to 4. This could either be with the intention to make, or the intention to stop East-West finding the right spot. Stuart now bid 5 Diamonds, which my partner doubled at his turn, and 5 Diamonds doubled was the contract. This is the cue for some nervous card-play, for if there are two things Stuart can do really well, it's judge an optimum contract, and play the cards. (Or to put it another way, the two best aspects of his game are bidding and card play. Hmm) As it was, there were no voids, and lessurl held three aces. We took the contract 1 down. We'd hoped for more than +100 when we had bid to a making Game, but as my partner pointed out, 4 Spades makes ten exactly, so that was the best we could do. He was proved right when our team-mates brought back +100 for beating 5 Spades. 5-0.
Board 22 was the big one.
John Lessurl Stuart Me
Pass 1S 2C 3D*
In 44 boards, our special defence to simple interference of our 1 of a Major opening was used twice. This was the second occasion, on the sixth board of the day. The 3 Diamonds bid shows a raise to 3 Spades with 4+ card support. I actually had a 5-5-3-0 shape, so when Lessurl bid 3 Spades, I calmly raised to 4. Let's look at it from Declarer's point of view:
Q 10 6 3 2
A K 10 8 2
10 8 2
---
A K 9 5 4
J 6
J 9 7 4
K 5
There is only one thing for it. Spades have to come down in two rounds, so that he can get ten tricks with two rounds of spades, five cross-ruffs, two hearts and a left over spade. That is exactly what happened; 4 Spades made.
The key thing about the 3 Diamonds bid is that it set us on our way to our optimum Contract, whilst cutting East-West out completely. Our team-mates found their way to 5 Clubs, got doubled, and made for a better-than-Double-Game-Swing. After two boards we were 20 IMPs to nothing ahead, and our opponents hadn't really done anything wrong.
Onto Board 23.
I hold:
A Q J 10
K 10 6
J 6 4
Q 5 3
I open 1 Club (Better Minor), and John overcalls 1 Heart. Lessurl bids 2 Diamonds, and I am happy to raise this twice in a competitive auction, so Lessurl plays in 4 Diamonds. What I did not know was that he had 5 Diamonds and 4 Spades, which meant that although he got ten tricks in diamonds, he had the same ten tricks in spades. A vulnerable game swing against us made the score 20-10.
On Board 24, I overcalled Stuart's opening with an Unusual 2NT. Although they found their 4 Heart spot, Lessurl had 5 Clubs and that was also the contract he raised to. 4 Hearts makes, but 5 Hearts doesn't, and when our team-mates semi-proved that by making 11 in 4 Hearts, we'd regained the ten IMPs, which for a 4 board match gave us a 20-0 VP victory. I think that shows how cut-throat a four board match can be. Our opponents certainly have cause to feel unlucky.
The second match I'm choosing to share is the match against Beryl Campbell's team. Again, this is purely because of the boards of interest and nothing to do with the score. Seriously, I've looked at the two matches we lost 20-0 and don't think they're worth writing up.
So, Board Five.
This board was interesting for what didn't happen as much as what did. The boards are on the Central District website, and board 5 is worth a look. For convenience I'll post East and West's hands:
Q J
Q J 9 7 4
A K 6 5
8 5
A 9 7 5 2
---
7 4
A K J 7 6 4
(West at the bottom)
At our table, East opened 1 Heart, and Lessurl (South) overcalled with a strong 1NT. From his point of view, this is entirely reasonable, but unfortunately for him, if they double this for penalties they can easily take 1100, as did happen to one unfortunate South. That is almost a good save against a slam in clubs. Every finesse works, as the 1NT bid suggests, but East-West are hard-pressed to find the slam. How do you proceed after the 1H-1NT start? With us, West bid 2 Clubs, and ended up just playing 3. She made 13 tricks for 190, and we thought we were quids in. Unfortunately, our (by now rather tired) team-mates were in the same contract and only made 11, so we were 0-1 down after this board. Most East-West players found Game, but none found the slam.
On Board 6, our opponents did not make the best of things, playing in 2 Hearts on a 5-0 fit. I'd best gloss over this one I think; I'm eager to get to Board 7, which we did with a 3-1 lead, thanks to our team-mates pushing to 4 Clubs, down 1.
Here is Board 7:
Lessurl and I unanimously agreed this was our favourite defensive board of the day.
Off the cuff, does it look like West makes 4 Spades here?
Deep Finesse will tell you the answer is "no", but the defence is not simple.
The credit goes to Lessurl for implementing the plan; I simply followed it.
I led the ace of hearts and another. Partner won with the King and fired back a heart. Declarer, alert to the danger of losing a 3rd trick to a ruff when the ace was outstanding, ruffed with the queen and immediately pulled a round of trumps: small to the King, beaten by the ace.
Lessurl now played another heart, a trick some defenders would not find owing to the taboo of conceding a ruff and discard. But he has worked out the best hope for the defence is that I have the ten of spades, after which, by ruffing (whatever West plays) with the ten, forcing the Jack, we've had a successful trump promotion.
I don't know if our team-mates got the same defence, but they were in 3 Spades making, for 6 IMPs and a 9-1 lead.
On Board 8, I held:
10 4 2
10 6
K Q 6 5 2
K 6 5
RHO opened 1 Diamond; I passed and LHO bid 2 Diamonds. Lessurl Doubles, which I know is takeout, but when RHO passes, I can't resist a penalty pass. Remember, we don't have a barometer; I think we're well ahead in the match and that 2 Diamonds Doubled is not a double into Game, therefore relatively safe.
I lead the Ten of Hearts, and see this dummy:
Q
A 5 3
J 10 9 8
J 10 4 3 2
Gulp. Declarer wins with the ace and plays the spade; lessurl covering with the King. She wins with the ace and now plays the queen of clubs. I pause for thought, and ultimately take the wrong option, cashing my King, fearing the Chinese Finesse. I give partner his King of hearts. Now there is nothing else to do but bide our time as Declarer cross-ruffs in spades and clubs, but with two diamonds left in dummy, she ruffs a club with the 4. I can win with the six, exit with the King, and ruff back in, draw the last trump from Declarer and dummy, and cross to partner's hand to beat the contract by one. Our team mates beat 2 Spades, and we collected another 4 IMPs; 16 VPs.
We scored up our eleven matches, winning five. I was pretty sure that was enough to win the Silver bracket - mainly because we were the only Silver team in the Final. I think, given the field, we did at least earn it. Not only did we get 5 wins in the Final, we qualified in the first place. I was dreading losing every match; it would have been very embarrassing to collect "Silver" then.
Target achieved, I feel. I went home with a 40p profit for the day, another "Silver Team Award" to go with the Men's Team's Silver in 2010, and a happy team. It was especially good going given that the qualifier was our team-mates' first ever game together, and the Final was their second. The pressure was off in terms of gain; but it was on in terms of deserving. I think we all enjoyed testing ourselves against the best, and giving a good account of ourselves as the only team from the North. Hence, I make no apologies for the cheesy title! :-)
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