The Season has started

It actually started over a month ago, but whatever. I foresee a very different time ahead for me in the bridge world... working shifts makes it difficult to plan ahead, and I have to prioritise certain events in order to get to play them. I shall play at Phoenix and Ellon as-and-when, as unfortunately I cannot justify asking for club nights off any more. Consequently, I have played in Round 1 of the Phoenix Cup but not Round 2, with serious doubt over whether I shall be able to play in enough rounds with lessurl to mount a challenge. I have played 2 out of 4 nights at Ellon with my regular partner there, plus one with McLeod Senior. Perhaps it is slightly more annoying to actually do well on the nights I play.
  One of the prioritised events that I hope to be available for every round of is the District Teams of Four. Same format as last year: two twelve board matches per night, but only five nights this time round with a total of eleven teams competing. After a good campaign last season, where we beat all the title contenders but lost two other matches along the way, we found ourselves second seed this time around. I expect this makes life harder for us as it means we play Seeds 1 and 4 on the final night. It also meant we started with seeds 3 and 6. And what does seeding mean anyway? Right now Seed 4 (ROSS) is top, and since they beat Seed 1 (HAY) along the way, it suggests a few teams may be after the win.
  Lessurl and I began our campaign by sitting East-West against the North-South pair of team MOWAT. The Seeding put us as slight favourites for this one, but really it was anyone's guess who was to come out on top. Out of twelve boards, we made five games, two of which were converted into game swings with the help of our team mates. Our opposition had 3 plus Board 21. I overcalled RHO's 1 Heart opening bid with 2 Diamonds (holding just less than opening points and Jack-high in diamonds). After LHO bids onwards, it is judgement time for Lessurl. We were at favourable vulnerability and he had 4 Diamonds, so I played in 5 Diamonds Doubled. This was an excellent call by Lessurl despite the fact we picked up -800. Were it not for a 4-0 trump break, I might have got out for as little as -300 - we hit the only distribution of the cards that could make the sacrifice not worth it, and our team mates accepted -5 IMPs on that board with good grace. It is always good to be part of a team that endorses doing the right thing on a board rather than doing what scores right on a board. The game swings took it, as we only scored on 4 boards (compared to 6 that we lost IMPs on), but we edged the match 26-20 on IMPs; 13-7. The scores also reflected Teams strategy: on three of the six boards we lost out on, it was a "1" in the minus IMPs column. Shrug and move on - none of those were stupid errors.
  Next up for us was against Gibby REID and his team. With a -1 on the first board, our opponents did well to play in 3NT+1 when our team mates played in 5 Clubs. We won a part score battle on the next board, but then a mental lapse from me resulted in going -4 vulnerable in 2NT - effectively a Vulnerable Game swing. After those four boards, we were trailing 5-24. The next six boards consisted of five part score battles and one flat Game. The last of the part score battles was flat, but we picked up a 5, two 6es and a 4 in the others to get our noses in front for the last two boards (not that we knew that was how it stood at the time of playing).
  On the penultimate Board, 23, the opposition bid to a tight 4 Hearts. I wish I had written down the board, as Lessurl found a killer lead: small from Kxxx of Trumps, which was a major factor in our eventually taking the contract 3 off for 300. On 24, I made a 3NT which could have been beaten, so the two effective Game Swings at the end helped us emerge winners by 17-3 VPs.
  It promises to be a very close-run thing this year. Any team is capable of beating any other, and I reckon half the teams are capable of mounting a genuine challenge for the Sybil Hay trophy. Right now ROSS sits top with 31, with CAMPBELL as well as ourselves on 30. N. MCLEOD is fourth place after Round 1, which from a personal point of view is good to see (as long as he doesn't get in our way). Two VPs separate 5th and 8th, while MOWAT is still very much in the hunt - the current second-bottom placing not fooling anyone.
  From my team's POV, we just hope that we are still in the hunt at the end of play on Friday. It includes a match against CAMPBELL (a team that deservedly beat us last season) and WATSON (currently bottom but we know what they're capable of - just ask Mr. Hay), so I think it is a big ask to emerge from that with a title challenge intact.

Of course, working on a rota does mean I can sometimes play in one-off events like the SBU simultaneous pairs. Things did not start well when I doubled a cold Game (although I was within my rights to do so), but on the next board my partner, McLeod Senior, made a Game that Deep Finesse doesn't when playing against itself. Two boards later I had this board:

K75
985
K2
K10974

A109
AK642
A84
86

I had the bottom hand. RHO is Dealer and passes; I open 1 Heart. LHO overcalls 2 Diamonds, but I get to 4 Hearts. The Queen of Diamonds is led.

In his notes for this board, Ian Crorie notes that you can pick up QJ103 of hearts onside for one loser by playing the 9 from dummy and intending to run it. It is the only 4-1 trump break you can make a plan for. This is an important play in 3NT for sure. However, my plan to get to 10 tricks was different (but not better, just for avoidance of doubt). I won in dummy, played a small diamond to the Ace (just in case RHO started singleton, the Ace won't be wasted), followed by the King of Hearts and a diamond ruff. RHO over-ruffs, which I am not bothered about if he started with 3. When he has 4, I need the defence to not play Hearts. A spade was ideal from my POV, but he played a club to my LHO's Ace. Instead of continuing clubs, which on the layout would finish me (I can cope with LHO having started qith AQ or AJ doubleton, or a 3-3 break, but not the actual layout), she falls for my trap and plays a diamond. I pitch a spade from dummy and over-ruff RHO's queen of hearts. Now all that I need to do is cash two spades ending in hand and ruff a spade, conceding 1 more trump trick.

The next board was a lead problem:

A92
A984
AQ1083
5

As Dealer, I open 1 Diamond (promising 5). LHO doubles. Partner bids 2 Diamonds, and after a Double from my RHO, my LHO bids 2 Spades. RHO punts 3NT and I've seen his 3NT bids before - his "stop" in diamonds may not be rock solid. I resist the temptation to double as partner's 2 Diamonds bid means I can't expect much (or any) help from him, apart from 3 diamonds approx. What should I lead?

It looked to me like RHO has hearts, so I don't want to lead that. Why not lead spades? I'll get to that in a minute. So, diamonds or my singleton club? I think there is a chance RHO has Kxx in diamonds, and if partner has any entries at all, it is probably just the one. So, I lead a small diamond to clear the suit.
Dummy is:

Q1085
QJ5
J7
AQ76

After much thought, Declarer plays small from dummy and wins with the King, and I can breathe. Unless Declarer has all 8 of the unseen clubs, I am beating this in my hand. In fact he has KJ10843, so he can cash out a total of 7 tricks before allowing me in two take the remainder for two off.
  However, we could have beaten this by 5 had I found a lead of a small spade (or cashed one or both major aces and followed with a small spade). Partner had 4 diamonds, and KJ74 of spades. A lead-directing double of 3NT would have told me what to do, but I guess it was hard to imagine I was so control-heavy.

On Board 15 we missed a thin slam:

Q85
K1074
K
A10974

A976
AQJ63
QJ85
---

4 Hearts by the bottom hand.

It has to be my hand that plays 6 Hearts. It will not make from the other side of the table. In 4 Hearts, I got the lead of the 3 of clubs, which simplified matters. I won with the Ace, pitching a diamond, and played the King of diamonds. The Ace was with LHO, who continued with another club for me to ruff. I can now play Queen and Jack of diamonds pitching two spades (opps follow), followed by the Ace of Spades and a small ruff, followed by a small club ruff, and ruffing a spade high, ruffing a club with the Jack, ruffing a spade high and being left with the AQ of trumps in hand. The most difficult lead is a heart, which requires the same tactics, and as LHO has a singleton trump, the line will work. Rather risky however.

Finally, I had best post the answers to the Declarer play problems I posted at the end of my last post.

762
876
J98
AQ42

AJ53
AJ9
AK54
KJ

3NT by South, 3 of diamonds led. You play the 8 from dummy and RHO the 6.

... And automatically my hand pulled out a low diamond. I already knew I didn't want to do that. I only have 8 tricks now. I have to win with the King, cash King and Jack of clubs and play a low diamond, playing LHO for the queen. If LHO cashes the queen, I have an entry to dummy in diamonds to take the AQ of clubs.

J7
54
QJ10
KQJ954

K965
AKJ
A65
1032

3NT by South, 3 of Diamonds led. Playing the 10 from Dummy, RHO plays the 8.

This one was obvious already, but after the last one, it's in neon flashing lights. Overtake the ten with the ace and play the ten of clubs. Guess what, the Ace doesn't appear, so continue clubs until RHO is forced to win on Trick 4. RHO's best shot now is a spade, which you can duck to (at worst) the queen. Then back to RHO's Ace and a spade through your K9 - up with the King. Knock out the King of Diamonds and if lady luck smiles (which on these hands you know it will), they can't cash a spade. The last diamond is an entry to the clubs in dummy.

A3
105
K8542
AK83

KJ9
K976
AQ6
654

3NT by South, 5 of spades led.

The best line here is to win the opening trick in hand as cheaply as possible and then play a low diamond from both hands. As long as neither defender has shown out, the contract is secure. Depending on which defender won the diamond trick and what the heart situation is, they can cash a maximum of two heart tricks before letting you back in - say with a club. Cash the Ace of Spades, then the Ace and Queen of Diamonds, then the King of Spades and get back to dummy with the other club winner to take 9 tricks minimum.

The last one is a suit combination puzzle; let's isolate that heart suit:

K 7 6 opposite A J 5 3

The central point of this hand is playing this suit combination for one loser, as you must assume that when you let the opponents in they get exactly 3 club tricks (maximum). Every other suit is double-stopped.
The way to play this suit for one loser is play small from hand (the 6) to the ACE. Then the 3 back to the King, followed by the last heart towards the J5 in dummy. This way, you only lose more than 1 trick in hearts if RHO has Queen and at least three other hearts, in which case there was never anything you could do. Also, if RHO had Qxxxx, you would discover this on playing the King of Hearts and look for an endplay.