7th Greek Islands Bridge Festival

Early on the morning of the 25th August, I woke to the sound of my alarm to be on time for a long journey - starting with a lift to Union Square Bus Station, followed by a bus journey to Buchanan Bus Station Glasgow and further bus journey to Glasgow Airport. And then the small matter of a flight to Rhodes. It was the middle of the night local time by the time we arrived, and a good thing too - I didn't want to step out into the Greek sun immediately. There were 10 of us in all, the Scottish contingent - heading to Rhodes to play in the 7th Greek Islands Bridge Festival.
  The first thing I shall say about this particular event was the quality of the hospitality from our hosts. They did everything they could to make our stay as enjoyable as possible - and I mean everything. From airport transfers to accommodation to taxis from our residence to the venue, they were on top of everything. There was even a half-day cruise thrown in as part of the event. Wow. Not least in the things I am thankful is the reason we were able to go in the first place - entry and accommodation costs covered by the Greeks. The SBU would have been mad to pass it up.
  The first day was taken up mainly with acclimatisation and (if you're not me) swimming. I do not intend to complain about the Scottish weather again after the heat of Rhodes. Seriously. What does it need to be 39 Degrees Celsius for? That's way too hot to actually do anything, so I was glad that most of the bridge was played in the late afternoon and evening. Did I meantion Rhodes is a very beautiful island? No? Well, it is. Not that I was up for too much exploring by day. We found it much more sensible to socialise at night - after the bridge - when we could walk around in the heat without being burned and sleep through the morning.

Still, we'd come to Rhodes for bridge, and we had to take good news back to the SBU in the hope that they might fund more events. This meant playing really well. There were three events - Open Pairs, Mixed Pairs and Teams. We had 5 partnerships for the Open Pairs, 3 for the mixed, and two teams for the Teams. "Scot A" was our Under 20 team, and "Scot B" was the other three juniors plus Mr. Duguid.

The Open Pairs were played over three sessions. Falco and I were teaming up again after our (sort-of) success in Amsterdam, for both the Pairs and the Teams. Both of us have a disliking for pairs, so our attitude was "do-what-we-can". We did just that, but it wasn't helped by boards like these:

K 8
A 6 3 2
Q 4 2
Q 6 3 2

7
Q J 9 8 7 4
K 9 6
K J 9

I had the bottom hand. After a competitive auction which I would do best to forget (since clearly Falco and I did not set a good example of how to bid), I ended up in 5 Hearts Doubled when we should have Doubled 4 Spades for +500.
I get a small diamond led to the Ace, and then RHO cashes Ace of Clubs. A diamond is returned, and this doomed contract has some hope when my King wins the trick. What I have to do is play hearts for no losers, unblock clubs and get back to dummy to pitch the last spade. Everything is set up, but I must not lose a heart. How do you play hearts?

Running the Queen is less than 50%, because it will not pick up K105 onside, although no play can pick that holding up. Playing for the drop is 26% a priori, but the odds change as the cards are played. Of course, I didn't know these percentages at the time, and my decision was to play the queen and rise with the Ace when LHO follows smoothly. This works, as RHO has singleton King. The only problem is that LHO goes into the tank for long enough to create a clear break in tempo, so I finesse. A diamond is returned for a ruff, and -800 later I am cursing myself for being too polite. I should of course have asked RHO if she agreed there had been a hesitation, and risen with the Ace if she disagreed. As many good things as I have to say about the Greeks, the behaviour of a minority of players visiting from other countries was less than admirable. But at the end of the day this was a Congress event, not a full International, so we decided to roll with the punches. We could land a few ourselves, after all.

A 10 7 3
A 10 9 7
7 4
J 7 3

Falco had this hand. As Dealer at Game All, he passes. His LHO passes and I open 1 Club (Better Minor). His RHO says 1 Heart; Falco now bids 1 Spade. Bidding continues with a Pass and 2 Diamonds from me. With what looks like a double stop in hearts, Falco bids 3NT. 8 of hearts is led, imagine his disappointment with this dummy:

Q 5
3
A K 6 2
K 10 9 8 6 2

The Jack is played from his RHO, so now Falco wins and plays the Jack of Clubs, covered by the Queen, King and Ace. Nine tricks are rolling in now. Of course, Falco expected a much stronger dummy, (I confirmed that this particular +600 (our best % score of the round) was my fault, as 2 Diamonds is an overbid), but a well-judged overbid, if I do say so myself.

Most of the other boards involved better bridge but worse luck, and we finished Round 1 somewhere below 50%. (Quite a bit below, I reckon). The second session focused a lot on bidding: When to bid Slam and when not to bid Game being two common themes. We came off worst in the first of those axioms, as our opponents invariably found their slams and our opportunity was this:

Q 6 4 3
A K Q J 9
A K J 8
---

I opted for 1 Heart and hope that partner finds a reply. This was a good decision. When partner responds to a 2 Clubs bid with anything other than 2 Diamonds we lose bidding space too fast. His reply was 1 Spade, and somehow I miss the Splinter bid of 4 Clubs and bid 3 Spades (probably because it is a cheaper bid, but that's no excuse). Partner looked at his hand unimaginitively and bid 4 Spades, which at least takes some of the blame away from me as he should find a cue bid holding a singleton heart and A K J 5 of spades. The auction should go: 1H-1S-4C-4H-4NT-5H-6S, assuming no diamond losers (throw dummy's diamonds on hearts to set up a ruff) and hope for no more than one spade loser. It still requires a punt as you could be playing in 6 Spades with Q 6 4 3 opposite K 7 5 2 in the trump suit.

The rest of the time we judged well, as we found our Games and allowed our opponents once or twice to go to Games that came more than 1 trick down, vulnerable. There was a nice bonus when our opponents decided to Double a cold 5 Diamonds contract of mine. A good session saw us riding just below 50% overall and no more.

Falco and I had agreed anything over 50% was fine, but we soon put our ambitions higher after the way we started Round 3 (the final round). On the very first board my RHO had this Declarer problem:

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

9 8
A K 10 8 7 6
A K 6
7 4

6 Hearts, Jack of Spades led.

Obviously, this is a bad contract. Even if the Ace of Clubs is onside, hearts still have to be played for no losers. There are two ways to do this: play for RHO to have QJx, or play for either defender to have QJ doubleton. Those of you who know your bridge odds will know that the former line is almost 2% more likely to work a priori, and the former line gains further once you've actually played a small heart from dummy at trick 2 and RHO follows small. When the 10 holds, Declarer has to draw trumps, piching a small club on the third round, and then hope the club finesse works.
  It so happens that Declarer rose with the King on the first round, dropping my Jack. Having started this line he should stick to it, dropping my queen as well and taking the club finesse. There is no point in playing me for a singleton as he can't pick up an original holding of Q 9 5 3 with my partner anyway. As it happens, this would not have saved him, as his LHO (me) held Q J 3 of Clubs. But he would come only one off, instead of the -2 that actually resulted.

Boards 21 and 22 presented some nice Declarer hands:

10 9 3
J 4
A Q 10 5 4
Q J 2

A Q 6 4
A Q 6
9 6 2
K 8 4

3NT, 8 of Hearts led.
I have two heart tricks and can establish two clubs. There is an obvious plan here: Establish 4 diamond tricks and take your tricks before the defence can hurt you with a long suit. That saves having to play spades for more than 1 trick.
I play small from dummy, and the queen wins the trick. I run the 9 of diamonds which loses to the Jack. If the King of Hearts is returned, I have to duck a round to block the suit. Instead, a club is returned to my King, which wins. I now play a small diamond to the ten, which loses to the King, and another club comes back. Dummy wins this one, and now I cannot afford to lose a trick. With only three diamonds in total, I need the second spade trick so I finesse the queen, which holds, and claim 9.
To defeat the contract, LHO needs to lead a club from his original doubleton holding. RHO can then establish three club tricks before I can establish 9 anywhere.

J 6 2
9
A 10 8 2
A Q J 10 6

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

4 Diamonds Doubled, LHO cashes AK of spades then plays a small one.
The Jack of Spades wins the trick, so I play a small heart. This contract is not without danger. I play a small heart to the ace and a small diamond. The 9 appears. By finessing the ten, I guarantee no more than 1 diamond loser as losing to either honour means the trumps are divided 2-1 or 1-2 and the Ace will beat the next one. The only possible way I'd lose another is if RHO held singleton Jack and LHO has a void in clubs. That is rather less likely than the chances of LHO having started with KJ9. Hence, I finesse, and although RHO does have singleton Jack, he doesn't have a return that can hurt me and I can draw the least diamond, 1 club trick, and cross-ruff the remainder. +510 was better than 5 Diamonds making, which is important, as it can make. Declarer has to play the Queen from hand, and whether LHO covers or not, the Jack has been pinned.

Here is an actual 5 Diamond Contract I played:

A Q J 10 9 6 2
J
7
K Q 7 2

---
9 5
A Q J 10 9 8 3 2
A 10 6

Lead: Ace of Hearts.
This was played against the rudest pair in the competition. We were already behind time as one of our opponents had taken long enough to play an absoloutely frigid 5 Diamonds. I'm not sure what they were unhappy about (the fact that 3NT was a superior contract maybe?), but I don't think it warranted speaking French throughout the bidding of this board. I tried to make up the time on this one, but I was hindered in a most unusual way. LHO switched to a club, which I won with the ten, ruffed a heart and played the 2 of spades, ruffing with the 8. Of course I have the worry that LHO holds the King of diamonds plus an original 5 clubs, but I avoided the worry that RHO was void in clubs or LHO was void in spades that I'd have had by playing the Queen of Clubs and pitching a heart on the Ace of Spades, all for sake of being able to take a diamond finesse that is odds-against finding King doubleton onside. Anyway, I needn't have worried; LHO followed suit and showed out when I played the Ace of Diamonds on the next trick. It was about this time that, instead of playing a card, RHO decided to go into the tank. After a while, she decided the best thing to do was grab one of my quitted tricks and look at it. She eventually followed suit, and I played the Queen of Diamonds, and RHO goes into the tank again. Therefore, I begin to claim: "It doesn't matter when you take it; I'll get back in -" I am cut short by RHO preventing me from claiming (literally pushing back up my hand that I've tried to face) and saying "Wait!" After yet another long think, she takes the King, and thinks about what card to play back for another minute or so. I win, and put my Jack of diamonds on the table, followed immediately by the ten, nine and the rest of my hand - I wasn't going to be prevented from claiming a second time.
Incidentally, this pair came up against one of our supervisors in the next event; the Mixed(!) Pairs. I was glad that our supervisor did not show the same restraint as I did and promptly put the lady who was my RHO in her place when she did her "let's just grab one of my opponent's quitted tricks and look at it" thing again.

All in all, we did very well in this session, and I still maintain that had a difference of opinion not resulted in us being in 6 Spades Doubled -2 towards the end, we would have got 60% or more in the session. Our score was still good enough to propel us so far up the rankings that we actually earned some Greek Master Points.

I can't really say much about the Mixed Pairs. I wasn't playing in it; Falco and I decided to watch a Scottish brother-and-sister partnership in Session 1. They did very well, coming 6th overall, which netted a tidy sum of Euros. Yet more success for Scotland following on from two pairs doing well in the Open Pairs.

That just left the teams.
Unusually for this type of event, the boards for the teams were hand-dealt, which meant no hand records. If I had been playing with R, I might have had a chance of going through some of the hands, as he notes down each and every bid in the auction and that might jog my memory. As it is, I'll just give a brief report on how we did.
Scotland B did okay I felt. There were 7 rounds of eight board matches. We won four, drew two and lost only one. We were never really in the running for anything, but had never expected to be. We kept clear of the wooden spoon though.
Our Under 20 team were the top junior team in the competition - quite remarkable, since all the other junior teams were Under 25.
Oh, and I can't help but mention the fact that Versace (you know, one of the best players in the world - THAT Versace) turned up to play in the Teams. That's not the interesting thing. What was most interesting was the fact that our friends in this Irish junior squad took on Team Versace and beat them. The match basically swung on a Grand Slam board which, if told right, will work it's way into the stuff of legend. I'll leave that to Wayne.

So we had quite a few players going up to collect prizes at the Gala dinner. The gala dinner was actually held outside at night; unthinkable in Scotland - but Greece is a country where you can tell whether or not there is any chance of rain based on what month it is, leaving a relaxed and pleasant al fresco atmosphere.

I haven't yet mentioned yet another aspect of this week that made the experience so positive - lessons from Krystof Martens. The SBU had said that this was one of the reasons we were going: attendance was compulsory. The compulsion was un-necessary; none of us were going to miss this. There were two lessons; the first being a session of play 8 boards normally and then analyse them. Much of it was about bidding to the right contract and this was one that we got wrong:

---
K 7 3
Q J 9 5 4
A 10 9 8 3

9 7 5 3
A Q 4
A K 10 2
K 6

I had the top hand; Falco the bottom hand. Falco is Dealer.

This was a pity as we had the methods to cope with this. Falco opens 1NT; pretty straight forward. The auction continues (with the opps passing) 2C-2S-3C. I have now shown a GF hand with at least 5-5 in the minors (Non-Prom Stayman followed by 3 Clubs). Unfortunately, Falco does not remember this, so the auction does not continue 3D-3H-4C-4D-4H-4NT-5D-7D as it would if the convention was remembered.

The second lesson was all about Declarer contracts at Teams. I'll end this post with four of them: one I got wrong (I noticed immediately after it was too late), one I got right, and two that were given as problems to take away and study (although the answers are not hard to work out).

7 6 2
8 7 6
J 9 8
A Q 4 2

A J 5 3
A J 9
A K 5 4
K J

3NT by South, 3 of Diamonds led. You play the 8 and RHO plays the 6.


J 7
5 4
Q J 10
K Q J 9 5 4

K 9 6 5
A K J
A 6 5
10 3 2

3NT by South, 3 of Diamonds led. Whatever you play from dummy, RHO plays the 8.


A 3
10 5
K 8 5 4 2
A K 8 3

K J 9
K 9 7 6
A Q 6
6 5 4

3NT by South, 5 of Spades led.


A Q 3
A J 5 3
K 4 2
A 8 3

K J 9
K 7 6
A 7 6
6 5 4 2

3NT by South, King of Clubs led.

Scottish and Irish Juniors @ Napoli Pizza, Rhodes after a hard night's work