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.
Showing posts with label Phoenix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Phoenix. Show all posts
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Friday, 23 December 2011
Happy new Blog(?)
Perhaps I know what my New year resolution can be - update this properly. This is going to be yet another whistle-stop tour of everything I've done in the bridge world since November 4th, over two months ago. Oops. I had intended writing in late December, but never got there, and sank into bridge hibernation as Christmas and New Year passed. Eventually, last Tuesday, I raised my head out of the burrow to indulge in bridge once more, and won the session, playing with McLeod senior, with a score of 65%, which I was pleased with given some gross mistakes along the way.
But enough of that. Let's go back to the start.
We are still hangers on in the Phoenix Cup, having finished 5th = in Round 3 whilst the leaders took 3rd place. I haven't done the mathematical workings, but I am fairly sure we are still 2nd in the running. However, there is no margin of error, and we are moving towards the outside lane. It is difficult to get this particular pair of favourites to surrender the lead once they have it.
DISTRICT TEAMS OF FOUR
Rounds 2, 3 and 4 have been played. For Round 2, we drafted in a substitute to replace one of our players who unfortunately had to cancel out at the last minute. This made an already quite difficult task much harder. Our Round 2 opponents were HAY and WATSON - last year's winners and this year's only Ellon entry respectively.
As East-West, Lessurl and I played against the HAY team first. Last year, Jim Hay, who I credit as a coach and important influence on my bridge career, had a team that went through the entire competition unbeaten. Most of this team has still had some participation in this season, so his team were installed as favourites by the Conveners (half of whom is me). This year, however, there are chinks in the armour. They scored 26 out of a possible 40 in Round 1, losing their unbeaten run. Lessurl and I had a reasonable match against the North-South pair (Jim and Jun being out counterparts), although it might have been better had I taken the right view in a slam contract. In the end, we scraped 11 VPs.
We were firm favourites for our second set of twelve boards, against WATSON. This team finished 15th of 16 last season, and were seedings to be used throughout, would've been seeded 12 of 13 this time round. Obviously I have a soft spot for them as I know them from Ellon. Of course, there is a difference between being favourites and getting an "easy" match. The problem, as any "top dog" will tell you, is when the underdogs play a solid game. Certainly, they did not seem to be giving away anything spectacular. What was important was that we matched their solidity, and eventually wore them down. Things went right for us and we eventually did squeeze every IMP we could, taking a 20-0 win.
Round 3 was a mixed/mediocre affair. We won the match in which we were underdogs 17-3, but lost the other match (in which we were still underdogs, but not by as much) 16-4. I don't think we played well or badly; not much to write home about. After this we were 6th.
Round 4 was last night. Lessurl was given the night off, for happy reasons that I won't go into here. Thus I played with our second substitute of the season, and we had a lot of fun, trying to work out what each other's bids meant. This was especially evident in the first match we played, against USHER. Quite a few times we couldn't explain what partner intended, but we did at least manage to find the optimal spots, save for one Game that was just a stretch too far. We managed a thin Semi Slam and also picked up an 800 and 200 courtesy of tempting our opponents to go too high and bringing out the red card. Our team mates went rather overboard, bidding three slams, but at least they made one of them, and when the dust cleared we collected 18 VPs.
Our second match was against this season's leaders. Here, our bidding frailties were shown up and when we missed a slam, and then a Game, on consecutive boards, we were 13 IMPs behind with half the boards played. Cue the comeback.
After RHO opened 1 Diamond (third in), I made a takeout double based on my 4-4-1-4 shape as it was NOT based on my points. I felt this was safe as both LHO and partner were passed hands; my plan was to pass whatever partner bid. In fact he chose 2 Clubs, which suited me holding KQxx. RHO then got across his hand with a 4 Diamond bid. Pass-pass-? Partner thought a little bid, and eventually produced a double. I will remember to ask my regular partner how we play this, as I am not 100% sure and certainly wasn't sure with a first time partner. I was leaning towards penalties, simply because now is a strange time to look for another suit, when I have taken no action after my initial takeout double, and if he wants to play 5 Clubs, he has the option of bidding it. But I never had a dilemma. RHO now bids 5 Diamonds, worried that we are about to find our heart fit. It is a phantom sacrifice, as LHO has 6 hearts. When the bidding comes round to West, my somewhat surprised partner makes another double. Everyone knows this is business. Three off for 500 does nicely.
We then bid to a Game that wasn't there, so shipped out 7. After I opened 1 Spade on the next board, and responded to 1NT with a forcing 3 Spades which was passed, that really did look like the killer. I made 12 tricks for +230. Imagine my surprise when we scored that one up and gathered 7 IMPs. Thank you, team-mates, you've bailed us out again. A flat Game was next, followed by an unexpected +3. My partner was not happy with how he played a 1NT contract on that board, and the upshot was, completely unknown to us, going into the last board the match was tied at 24 IMPs each.
Partner opens 1 Heart (5cM). I hold:
x
x
Q 10 x
A K Q 10 9 7 x x
2 Clubs is my bid. (That was easy).
Partner makes a reverse bid of two spades. Hmm, I think I'll bid 3 Diamonds 4sf.
Partner bids 3 Spades. What now?
Have you worked out what your bid would be? This is not a test; I'm just interested how many people would've done what I did here. (I realise a fair number may not have agreed with my first two bids). My bid was... Six Clubs. Ace of diamonds lead; here is dummy:
A Q x x x
A K x x x x
x
J
I could not have really asked for better. If this was a play problem, the question would be: how do you play once LHO switches to a club at trick 2?
Instead, LHO continued a low diamond. I ruffed with the Jack in dummy, cashed the ace of spades and ruffed a spade with the 9. I claimed: draw trumps in as many rounds as necessary, cross to the ace of hearts and pitch the diamond on the king. 10 IMPs here got us 14 VPs.
When the results are all accounted, we see there is something of a gap in VP totals between 8th and 9th - in other words, the top 8 and the bottom 5. Some will argue that any of the top 8 are still in with a chance of winning. Since we were playing the best team in the bottom five, who are more or less guaranteed a 9th place finish the way things are going, and the team that has led from the outset (although they were 1st= after round 1), we consider 32 a great night's work. We currently lie 5th; not high enough to trouble the leaders I feel, but what else is there to play for?
The aforementioned WATSON and HAY played each other last night, with a 13-7 win for WATSON. Congratulations to them; that is the biggest shock that I can remember in this competition. I will say I know nothing about the match or how the result came about. Others will say I could've stopped after the first six words of that last sentence.
Things are certainly interesting. It still remains in MOWAT's hands. Their grip may have slipped a little with a defeat last night, but we are the only team that has managed to beat them so far, and every other team has lost more than one match so far. We are one of only three teams that have only lost two matches. The resurgent ROSS team has come back from a disastrous 6/40 in Round 1 to climb into second place with scores of 37, 38 and 35. HAY sits 3rd and will play MOWAT and ROSS on the final night. McGUIRE, who hammered us 17-3 on the first night, still have title aspirations, and we sit 5 behind them. Don't get me wrong - I intend to win the Sybil Hay District Teams of Four one day. But I'm not putting money on it being this year.
HIGHLAND BRIDGE CONGRESS; COYLUMBRIDGE
This Congress is already a favourite of mine - perhaps because of everything that comes with it. (The company, etc, etc). It really deserved a blog post of its own, but unfortunately I never got round to it, and giving hands from it now seems just a wee bit off - although there are plenty good ones.
Having missed out on the Pairs Final by one place last year, we made sure of it this time, qualifying as First in our section. Our bridge was solid for the first two thirds of the evening, and it seemed that was enough. By the time McLeod Senior broke free of the reins and took some actions that I'd rather he didn't, we must've been in the Final.
We even started the Final pretty well, but before we reached the half way stage, partner suddenly decided he wanted to play in a Slam missing an ace and three kings and came crashing down. Now we all know that playing Match Points, all you do is get back up and carry on. But a combination of bad luck and bad bridge ensured we never really did that, or by the time we did, we finished just shy of the top 3rd. Apparently this was just high enough to get 2 reds, which I gratefully accept. Phoenix pair Bill Ross and Emily Garden were Runners-Up for the 2nd year running.
The teams went well too. I thought we had a predominantly good card, and whether right or wrong about that, we qualified for the final. We raised our game for the final, and were rewarded with a 3rd place finish.
LEAGUE TEAMS OF EIGHT
So far, not so good for Phoenix Rising this year. It has been a hard battle just getting the matches organised, not to mention actually playing them. We agreed 18th December to play Banchory, and despite snow finally hitting Aberdeen on that day, we played the match. We fielded our youngest ever team and, in fairness, it showed. Division 2 is a step up in class from Division 3, one that some of our players were not quite ready for. We lost 17-3, and are rooted to the bottom of the table. For avoidance of doubt, our season's objective is to stay up.
On the plus side, we have a match in hand over most teams. Our match with Fraserburgh has been postponed until the spring. There is still a lot to play for. Our next match is against Torphins, and I will field as young a team as I can for that one too.
PHOENIX TEAMS OF FOUR
This is the Phoenix Club's premier event, and two rounds of three have been played since I last checked in. It is run as a Double Elimination event, with sixteen board matches. The first round was a random draw, and as we were drawn against one of the possible favourites, one win and one draw was the best we could hope for. It was close - the one win was by 2 IMPs; we scraped into Section B for Round 2.
This was slightly different. One potential winning team was in our section, but the other team we were up against was an outright underdog. Lessurl and I did not cover ourselves in glory, but somehow (I think with a lot of thanks to our team mates), we won the match comfortably. While Lessurl and I played the underdogs, there was a change to the team line-up of the other team, which suited us as it turned out. We won both matches on the night and therefore qualified for the Semi-Finals in Round 3.
CAMROSE
I write this with three of five matches completed in the first weekend of the Camrose. Scotland emerged on top in the battle between themselves and the SBU, although I understand it went right to the wire. Both Scottish teams got a crack at England today. SBU led by more than thirty IMPs half way through, but eventually lost convincingly. Scotland were down at Half time, but could (and should) have grabbed a draw in the second half.
This morning, Scotland found themselves 41 IMPs behind Wales before all of us were wide awake and ready to watch. The deficit was shortened by the end of 32 boards, but Wales still took the spoils. They followed that up with the aforementioned narrow defeat to England, so I'm crossing my fingers that they fire on all cylinders against both Irish teams from the outset tomorrow.
As for the SBU, they finished the day by grabbing their first win, against ROI, so hopefully the improvement continues into Sunday.
Bottom line: Neither Scottish side are doing well right now, but there is still time for that to change completely. Fingers crossed.
So, Happy New Year.
I hope 2012 is very prosperous.
As for the Bridge, I live in hope. We (my Dad & I) followed up our Tuesday win with a win at Phoenix on Thursday, with significant help from our team-mates. Coupled with last night, it seems I'm unbeaten in 2012, so long may that continue. After all, it's the final of the Rayne next week.
But enough of that. Let's go back to the start.
We are still hangers on in the Phoenix Cup, having finished 5th = in Round 3 whilst the leaders took 3rd place. I haven't done the mathematical workings, but I am fairly sure we are still 2nd in the running. However, there is no margin of error, and we are moving towards the outside lane. It is difficult to get this particular pair of favourites to surrender the lead once they have it.
DISTRICT TEAMS OF FOUR
Rounds 2, 3 and 4 have been played. For Round 2, we drafted in a substitute to replace one of our players who unfortunately had to cancel out at the last minute. This made an already quite difficult task much harder. Our Round 2 opponents were HAY and WATSON - last year's winners and this year's only Ellon entry respectively.
As East-West, Lessurl and I played against the HAY team first. Last year, Jim Hay, who I credit as a coach and important influence on my bridge career, had a team that went through the entire competition unbeaten. Most of this team has still had some participation in this season, so his team were installed as favourites by the Conveners (half of whom is me). This year, however, there are chinks in the armour. They scored 26 out of a possible 40 in Round 1, losing their unbeaten run. Lessurl and I had a reasonable match against the North-South pair (Jim and Jun being out counterparts), although it might have been better had I taken the right view in a slam contract. In the end, we scraped 11 VPs.
We were firm favourites for our second set of twelve boards, against WATSON. This team finished 15th of 16 last season, and were seedings to be used throughout, would've been seeded 12 of 13 this time round. Obviously I have a soft spot for them as I know them from Ellon. Of course, there is a difference between being favourites and getting an "easy" match. The problem, as any "top dog" will tell you, is when the underdogs play a solid game. Certainly, they did not seem to be giving away anything spectacular. What was important was that we matched their solidity, and eventually wore them down. Things went right for us and we eventually did squeeze every IMP we could, taking a 20-0 win.
Round 3 was a mixed/mediocre affair. We won the match in which we were underdogs 17-3, but lost the other match (in which we were still underdogs, but not by as much) 16-4. I don't think we played well or badly; not much to write home about. After this we were 6th.
Round 4 was last night. Lessurl was given the night off, for happy reasons that I won't go into here. Thus I played with our second substitute of the season, and we had a lot of fun, trying to work out what each other's bids meant. This was especially evident in the first match we played, against USHER. Quite a few times we couldn't explain what partner intended, but we did at least manage to find the optimal spots, save for one Game that was just a stretch too far. We managed a thin Semi Slam and also picked up an 800 and 200 courtesy of tempting our opponents to go too high and bringing out the red card. Our team mates went rather overboard, bidding three slams, but at least they made one of them, and when the dust cleared we collected 18 VPs.
Our second match was against this season's leaders. Here, our bidding frailties were shown up and when we missed a slam, and then a Game, on consecutive boards, we were 13 IMPs behind with half the boards played. Cue the comeback.
After RHO opened 1 Diamond (third in), I made a takeout double based on my 4-4-1-4 shape as it was NOT based on my points. I felt this was safe as both LHO and partner were passed hands; my plan was to pass whatever partner bid. In fact he chose 2 Clubs, which suited me holding KQxx. RHO then got across his hand with a 4 Diamond bid. Pass-pass-? Partner thought a little bid, and eventually produced a double. I will remember to ask my regular partner how we play this, as I am not 100% sure and certainly wasn't sure with a first time partner. I was leaning towards penalties, simply because now is a strange time to look for another suit, when I have taken no action after my initial takeout double, and if he wants to play 5 Clubs, he has the option of bidding it. But I never had a dilemma. RHO now bids 5 Diamonds, worried that we are about to find our heart fit. It is a phantom sacrifice, as LHO has 6 hearts. When the bidding comes round to West, my somewhat surprised partner makes another double. Everyone knows this is business. Three off for 500 does nicely.
We then bid to a Game that wasn't there, so shipped out 7. After I opened 1 Spade on the next board, and responded to 1NT with a forcing 3 Spades which was passed, that really did look like the killer. I made 12 tricks for +230. Imagine my surprise when we scored that one up and gathered 7 IMPs. Thank you, team-mates, you've bailed us out again. A flat Game was next, followed by an unexpected +3. My partner was not happy with how he played a 1NT contract on that board, and the upshot was, completely unknown to us, going into the last board the match was tied at 24 IMPs each.
Partner opens 1 Heart (5cM). I hold:
x
x
Q 10 x
A K Q 10 9 7 x x
2 Clubs is my bid. (That was easy).
Partner makes a reverse bid of two spades. Hmm, I think I'll bid 3 Diamonds 4sf.
Partner bids 3 Spades. What now?
Have you worked out what your bid would be? This is not a test; I'm just interested how many people would've done what I did here. (I realise a fair number may not have agreed with my first two bids). My bid was... Six Clubs. Ace of diamonds lead; here is dummy:
A Q x x x
A K x x x x
x
J
I could not have really asked for better. If this was a play problem, the question would be: how do you play once LHO switches to a club at trick 2?
Instead, LHO continued a low diamond. I ruffed with the Jack in dummy, cashed the ace of spades and ruffed a spade with the 9. I claimed: draw trumps in as many rounds as necessary, cross to the ace of hearts and pitch the diamond on the king. 10 IMPs here got us 14 VPs.
When the results are all accounted, we see there is something of a gap in VP totals between 8th and 9th - in other words, the top 8 and the bottom 5. Some will argue that any of the top 8 are still in with a chance of winning. Since we were playing the best team in the bottom five, who are more or less guaranteed a 9th place finish the way things are going, and the team that has led from the outset (although they were 1st= after round 1), we consider 32 a great night's work. We currently lie 5th; not high enough to trouble the leaders I feel, but what else is there to play for?
The aforementioned WATSON and HAY played each other last night, with a 13-7 win for WATSON. Congratulations to them; that is the biggest shock that I can remember in this competition. I will say I know nothing about the match or how the result came about. Others will say I could've stopped after the first six words of that last sentence.
Things are certainly interesting. It still remains in MOWAT's hands. Their grip may have slipped a little with a defeat last night, but we are the only team that has managed to beat them so far, and every other team has lost more than one match so far. We are one of only three teams that have only lost two matches. The resurgent ROSS team has come back from a disastrous 6/40 in Round 1 to climb into second place with scores of 37, 38 and 35. HAY sits 3rd and will play MOWAT and ROSS on the final night. McGUIRE, who hammered us 17-3 on the first night, still have title aspirations, and we sit 5 behind them. Don't get me wrong - I intend to win the Sybil Hay District Teams of Four one day. But I'm not putting money on it being this year.
HIGHLAND BRIDGE CONGRESS; COYLUMBRIDGE
This Congress is already a favourite of mine - perhaps because of everything that comes with it. (The company, etc, etc). It really deserved a blog post of its own, but unfortunately I never got round to it, and giving hands from it now seems just a wee bit off - although there are plenty good ones.
Having missed out on the Pairs Final by one place last year, we made sure of it this time, qualifying as First in our section. Our bridge was solid for the first two thirds of the evening, and it seemed that was enough. By the time McLeod Senior broke free of the reins and took some actions that I'd rather he didn't, we must've been in the Final.
We even started the Final pretty well, but before we reached the half way stage, partner suddenly decided he wanted to play in a Slam missing an ace and three kings and came crashing down. Now we all know that playing Match Points, all you do is get back up and carry on. But a combination of bad luck and bad bridge ensured we never really did that, or by the time we did, we finished just shy of the top 3rd. Apparently this was just high enough to get 2 reds, which I gratefully accept. Phoenix pair Bill Ross and Emily Garden were Runners-Up for the 2nd year running.
The teams went well too. I thought we had a predominantly good card, and whether right or wrong about that, we qualified for the final. We raised our game for the final, and were rewarded with a 3rd place finish.
LEAGUE TEAMS OF EIGHT
So far, not so good for Phoenix Rising this year. It has been a hard battle just getting the matches organised, not to mention actually playing them. We agreed 18th December to play Banchory, and despite snow finally hitting Aberdeen on that day, we played the match. We fielded our youngest ever team and, in fairness, it showed. Division 2 is a step up in class from Division 3, one that some of our players were not quite ready for. We lost 17-3, and are rooted to the bottom of the table. For avoidance of doubt, our season's objective is to stay up.
On the plus side, we have a match in hand over most teams. Our match with Fraserburgh has been postponed until the spring. There is still a lot to play for. Our next match is against Torphins, and I will field as young a team as I can for that one too.
PHOENIX TEAMS OF FOUR
This is the Phoenix Club's premier event, and two rounds of three have been played since I last checked in. It is run as a Double Elimination event, with sixteen board matches. The first round was a random draw, and as we were drawn against one of the possible favourites, one win and one draw was the best we could hope for. It was close - the one win was by 2 IMPs; we scraped into Section B for Round 2.
This was slightly different. One potential winning team was in our section, but the other team we were up against was an outright underdog. Lessurl and I did not cover ourselves in glory, but somehow (I think with a lot of thanks to our team mates), we won the match comfortably. While Lessurl and I played the underdogs, there was a change to the team line-up of the other team, which suited us as it turned out. We won both matches on the night and therefore qualified for the Semi-Finals in Round 3.
CAMROSE
I write this with three of five matches completed in the first weekend of the Camrose. Scotland emerged on top in the battle between themselves and the SBU, although I understand it went right to the wire. Both Scottish teams got a crack at England today. SBU led by more than thirty IMPs half way through, but eventually lost convincingly. Scotland were down at Half time, but could (and should) have grabbed a draw in the second half.
This morning, Scotland found themselves 41 IMPs behind Wales before all of us were wide awake and ready to watch. The deficit was shortened by the end of 32 boards, but Wales still took the spoils. They followed that up with the aforementioned narrow defeat to England, so I'm crossing my fingers that they fire on all cylinders against both Irish teams from the outset tomorrow.
As for the SBU, they finished the day by grabbing their first win, against ROI, so hopefully the improvement continues into Sunday.
Bottom line: Neither Scottish side are doing well right now, but there is still time for that to change completely. Fingers crossed.
So, Happy New Year.
I hope 2012 is very prosperous.
As for the Bridge, I live in hope. We (my Dad & I) followed up our Tuesday win with a win at Phoenix on Thursday, with significant help from our team-mates. Coupled with last night, it seems I'm unbeaten in 2012, so long may that continue. After all, it's the final of the Rayne next week.
Friday, 28 October 2011
Another catch-up
So, two and a half weeks since my last post makes another hiatus - so many things have happened since then, all of them worthy of their own post. But no; I haven't got round to writing, so a lot of subjects have to be covered. I'll start with the
Phoenix Cup
At the end of my last post, we'd just finished the first round. Last night was the second round. Lessurl and I are still hanging onto the coat-tails of the leaders, Jim and Jun. The gap has not widened any, as we tied for first place last night. But we will have extended the lead on those behind us - if only slightly in some cases. Whereas in the last round there was no point in looking back, this time I can't help it, since one more Match Point would've sufficed.
Qxx
Q8xxx
xx
Axx
Here is a decision I lived to regret. It was in the last round - the very round after a good round against Jim and Jun (or a round that seemed good but was in fact a draw, so I guess a fair result). Partner opened 1 Club (Better Minor) and bid 1NT over my 1 Heart reply. Initially I reckon 2 Hearts is my bid - gets across my five hearts and that I don't have a Game-going hand as I didn't Check Back. Then I remember it is Match Points, and NT should score better, given lessurl may not have any real support for hearts and should have a diamond stop. So I pass, and am thoroughly disappointed to see 5 diamond tricks cashed by RHO off the top. The eventual one down was a bottom.
Never mind, there was still plenty good stuff. Not that I'll talk (boast?) about it here, but let's look at the first two hands we played, as they were quite interesting.
J x x x
A K Q x x
? ? ?
K
A Q x x x
J x x
? ? ? ?
A x
Yeah, first hand - long time ago, I can't remember the diamond position other than the fact that when the hand went down I had no losers there. This board was played 6 times. Half of the pairs our way played (justifiably) in 6 Spades. We were in 4 Spades (my hand, Declarer, bottom), and the spades broke 0-4. I couldn't avoid two losers although I do remember I deliberately ruffed the Ace of Clubs. It's one of those occasions when you're relieved to see a bad break against you.
The second hand was a point of Match Point bidding. After two passes to me, I opened 1 Heart with 5 hearts and nine HCPs. This met with a 1 Spade overcall, thus initiating our special defence. Lessurl bid 3 Diamonds (alerted), and it is passed to me. I say 3 Hearts (minimum sign-off). LHO asks about the 3 Diamonds; I explain it is normally strong with 4 card support, but in this sequence must be a maximum pass with 4 card support. RHO throws in 3 Spades which is passed twice and gets a "pairs double" from Lessurl. The contract went down by 1 trick. The double was the difference between top and second top, as the only other plus score for our direction was a 50 for beating 3 Spades (undoubled) by one. In pairs we often talk about a narrow margin of error. There is a narrow margin of success equally.
Although not favourites to be the "best pair" in the Phoenix Cup, we did win the Phoenix Summer Pairs trophy - I think largely thanks to turning up over the summer. Still, a trophy is a trophy and deserved too I feel. So we're going to keep up the chase in the Phoenix Cup. That will be possible if we don't have a night like the....
National Pairs
From our point of view, the less said about this, the better. Entries were slim; some of the reasons I accept and some of the reasons I don't. In most cases the reasons I do not know. The field was random. Don't get me wrong - most - but not all - players were accomplished players that are always difficult to beat. But some were there to throw in strange results to skew the scores somewhat. A complete underdog won the event, which I am pleased about. What I am not pleased about is that lessurl and I came in dead last, although anyone who had kibitzed our evening might well have concluded we were trying to do just that.
District Teams of 4
The Sybil Hay as we call it, is in a new format thanks to yours truly. Well, not really. We had 13 entries so we cut our cloth to suit. We wanted to keep the all-play-all format, but we didn't want people sitting out. Thus we are running a scrambled American Whist movement, so that we can have each team playing 2 complete matches a night. (If I was as good at bridge as I was at fixtures and movements, I'd probably be somewhat better...) Still, the increased length of matches (12 boards) has been generally well received. We had one win and one disappointing loss, above average overall. However, the 20-0 win was against the outright underdog, so we didn't emerge with too much credit.
District League Teams of 8
I wear two hats in this competition - Phoenix Rising Captain and League Convener. Both roles have been tested so far. Phoenix Rising have not yet played a match, and I am in the process of trying to get a team out to Fraserburgh on the 25th November. That is by far the most difficult match organisationally. I also have a match against Banchory to arrange. Meanwhile, in our league, Fraserburgh beat Ellon 13-7, and Bridge Club Tartan play against Torphins tonight. Yes, that's right - Torphins were promoted as well as us to Division 2. One team from last season's First Division withdrew and re-start in Division 3.
The team may experience something of a "culture shock" (I don't think that's the term but I don't know what is). Last season the juniors could compete and our more experienced players could bring the team on and win matches comfortably. There is a gulf in class between Division 3 and Division 2, and this year we will do well if we avoid relegation. It doesn't help when certain individuals underestimate the strength of Division 2 teams and expect us to walk to promotion. We do not have strength in depth. Whilst it is true that our four best players would most likely beat the four best players from one of the other teams in a Scottish Cup match, our next four are nowhere near as experienced. Besides which, we are going to be fielding younger teams than we did last season (if possible). And how would we respond to defeat? Some of our players have never tasted defeat in the Teams of 8. (I have; I've played for Ellon).
Being Convener is not without its challenges. Already I have had decisions to make that I did not expect, but all in all, things are running smoothly. I am quite happy to advise players and Captains on matters of rules etc, and have done so on a couple of occasions. There has been a minor "breach" of the rules, but, unforeseen circumstances applied and common sense will prevail. The rules I wrote allow for that; no harm has been done. On a couple of occasions I have seen the result on the website before receiving the Match result sheet; again, no problem there as long as the Match result Sheet arrives. There may be an interesting season ahead.
That's the blog all caught up again. I'll try to write in a week's time or less as there is another couple of big events coming up - one which I'll definitely be involved in and one which I hope to be involved in. Also, at the weekend, Jim and Jun are competing in the final stage of the trials. I'm rooting for them and will be delighted if they make the top 6. So I'll be keeping a keen eye on that too.
Phoenix Cup
At the end of my last post, we'd just finished the first round. Last night was the second round. Lessurl and I are still hanging onto the coat-tails of the leaders, Jim and Jun. The gap has not widened any, as we tied for first place last night. But we will have extended the lead on those behind us - if only slightly in some cases. Whereas in the last round there was no point in looking back, this time I can't help it, since one more Match Point would've sufficed.
Qxx
Q8xxx
xx
Axx
Here is a decision I lived to regret. It was in the last round - the very round after a good round against Jim and Jun (or a round that seemed good but was in fact a draw, so I guess a fair result). Partner opened 1 Club (Better Minor) and bid 1NT over my 1 Heart reply. Initially I reckon 2 Hearts is my bid - gets across my five hearts and that I don't have a Game-going hand as I didn't Check Back. Then I remember it is Match Points, and NT should score better, given lessurl may not have any real support for hearts and should have a diamond stop. So I pass, and am thoroughly disappointed to see 5 diamond tricks cashed by RHO off the top. The eventual one down was a bottom.
Never mind, there was still plenty good stuff. Not that I'll talk (boast?) about it here, but let's look at the first two hands we played, as they were quite interesting.
J x x x
A K Q x x
? ? ?
K
A Q x x x
J x x
? ? ? ?
A x
Yeah, first hand - long time ago, I can't remember the diamond position other than the fact that when the hand went down I had no losers there. This board was played 6 times. Half of the pairs our way played (justifiably) in 6 Spades. We were in 4 Spades (my hand, Declarer, bottom), and the spades broke 0-4. I couldn't avoid two losers although I do remember I deliberately ruffed the Ace of Clubs. It's one of those occasions when you're relieved to see a bad break against you.
The second hand was a point of Match Point bidding. After two passes to me, I opened 1 Heart with 5 hearts and nine HCPs. This met with a 1 Spade overcall, thus initiating our special defence. Lessurl bid 3 Diamonds (alerted), and it is passed to me. I say 3 Hearts (minimum sign-off). LHO asks about the 3 Diamonds; I explain it is normally strong with 4 card support, but in this sequence must be a maximum pass with 4 card support. RHO throws in 3 Spades which is passed twice and gets a "pairs double" from Lessurl. The contract went down by 1 trick. The double was the difference between top and second top, as the only other plus score for our direction was a 50 for beating 3 Spades (undoubled) by one. In pairs we often talk about a narrow margin of error. There is a narrow margin of success equally.
Although not favourites to be the "best pair" in the Phoenix Cup, we did win the Phoenix Summer Pairs trophy - I think largely thanks to turning up over the summer. Still, a trophy is a trophy and deserved too I feel. So we're going to keep up the chase in the Phoenix Cup. That will be possible if we don't have a night like the....
National Pairs
From our point of view, the less said about this, the better. Entries were slim; some of the reasons I accept and some of the reasons I don't. In most cases the reasons I do not know. The field was random. Don't get me wrong - most - but not all - players were accomplished players that are always difficult to beat. But some were there to throw in strange results to skew the scores somewhat. A complete underdog won the event, which I am pleased about. What I am not pleased about is that lessurl and I came in dead last, although anyone who had kibitzed our evening might well have concluded we were trying to do just that.
District Teams of 4
The Sybil Hay as we call it, is in a new format thanks to yours truly. Well, not really. We had 13 entries so we cut our cloth to suit. We wanted to keep the all-play-all format, but we didn't want people sitting out. Thus we are running a scrambled American Whist movement, so that we can have each team playing 2 complete matches a night. (If I was as good at bridge as I was at fixtures and movements, I'd probably be somewhat better...) Still, the increased length of matches (12 boards) has been generally well received. We had one win and one disappointing loss, above average overall. However, the 20-0 win was against the outright underdog, so we didn't emerge with too much credit.
District League Teams of 8
I wear two hats in this competition - Phoenix Rising Captain and League Convener. Both roles have been tested so far. Phoenix Rising have not yet played a match, and I am in the process of trying to get a team out to Fraserburgh on the 25th November. That is by far the most difficult match organisationally. I also have a match against Banchory to arrange. Meanwhile, in our league, Fraserburgh beat Ellon 13-7, and Bridge Club Tartan play against Torphins tonight. Yes, that's right - Torphins were promoted as well as us to Division 2. One team from last season's First Division withdrew and re-start in Division 3.
The team may experience something of a "culture shock" (I don't think that's the term but I don't know what is). Last season the juniors could compete and our more experienced players could bring the team on and win matches comfortably. There is a gulf in class between Division 3 and Division 2, and this year we will do well if we avoid relegation. It doesn't help when certain individuals underestimate the strength of Division 2 teams and expect us to walk to promotion. We do not have strength in depth. Whilst it is true that our four best players would most likely beat the four best players from one of the other teams in a Scottish Cup match, our next four are nowhere near as experienced. Besides which, we are going to be fielding younger teams than we did last season (if possible). And how would we respond to defeat? Some of our players have never tasted defeat in the Teams of 8. (I have; I've played for Ellon).
Being Convener is not without its challenges. Already I have had decisions to make that I did not expect, but all in all, things are running smoothly. I am quite happy to advise players and Captains on matters of rules etc, and have done so on a couple of occasions. There has been a minor "breach" of the rules, but, unforeseen circumstances applied and common sense will prevail. The rules I wrote allow for that; no harm has been done. On a couple of occasions I have seen the result on the website before receiving the Match result sheet; again, no problem there as long as the Match result Sheet arrives. There may be an interesting season ahead.
That's the blog all caught up again. I'll try to write in a week's time or less as there is another couple of big events coming up - one which I'll definitely be involved in and one which I hope to be involved in. Also, at the weekend, Jim and Jun are competing in the final stage of the trials. I'm rooting for them and will be delighted if they make the top 6. So I'll be keeping a keen eye on that too.
Friday, 30 September 2011
Towie is a bridge term
Magazine editors, newspaper columnists and media in general please note: Towie is a quaint and picturesque countryshire hamlet in West Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is also, according to Dictionary.com, a bridge term (who knew?), referring to a version of three-handed bridge. So please find another acronym-slash-abbreviation for The Only Way is Essex. Guess which of the above three two definitions is relevant in this bridge blog post? Yes, that's right: the hamlet.
Towie happened to be the venue for the first District event of the season: West Aberdeenshire v City. For us Townies, that meant we had the issue of getting there. With me sitting in the navigator's seat, that was not a problem. Towie is just three quarters of a mile South East of Glenkindie, which is just down the road from Kildrummy, which is in turn on the South turn off from Mossat... that's a six mile drive from Alford if you take the Bridge of Alford turn-off... you get the idea.
Calling the event West Aberdeenshire v City might give the wrong impression. It is certainly NOT a case of farmers going hammer-and-tongs against bankers (which, come to think of it, is something we'd pay good money to see if you swapped the table for a boxing ring... I'm sure someone at Sky is working on it right now) - it is for building friendships, good feeling and overall happiness amongst various bridge players that otherwise might not get a chance to meet each other. It is very much a social event. Yes, we were on a team comprising of 12 pairs against a team of twelve shire pairs. Yes, we played bridge against them and naturally had to try and win. But there are various levels of competition and various levels of competitiveness. These events are diplomatic ventures as much as anything else - one does one's best to play good bridge but it's not life-or-death.
There is no artificial line drawn between city and shire. I was born and bred in Aberdeen, and all year round I play bridge at Aberdeen and Phoenix. But there was a time when, owing to family links, I played exclusively at Ellon Bridge Club - a fact that meant I was generally asked by the shire Captain if I would play for the shire. It's still considered "eligible" for both sides and have been known to play for the City when they play West Aberdeenshire and against them when they play North. I've played both sides many times and don't know which side I'm on one year to the next.
First thing's first. (He says five paragraphs in...) There were twelve pairs on each team. That meant twelve pairs had to be selected. As our Selector operates a rotation policy, nobody is guaranteed a game. More specifically, nobody should be. There are some players within the City that feel that, as the "top" players in the City, they should be automatic selections. And maybe they would have a case if it really mattered who won. But it doesn't. Winning doesn't even make it onto the list of priorities in these events. It goes without saying that the twelve pairs we do select aren't going to play badly on purpose, so if we win, we win and if we don't, who cares? I say this as someone who always plays to win. Sometimes one plays to win not out of desire, but because it would be disrespectful to do anything else. Yes, at some level I wanted to win. But if I was offered a deal of losing the next hundred City v Shire matches I play in in exchange for winning, say, the Gold Cup once, that's a deal I'd happily make. So when it comes to selection, my view (which is shared by plenty others) is that we should not pick the twelve best pairs but the twelve friendliest. That's something some of these "top" players really need to catch on to. Furthermore, I would venture as far as to say that some of these players that think they should be automatic selections should not get a game even if the aim was to field our strongest possible side - all bridge players think they are better than they are. Some more than others. As for the saying: those players I refer to know who they are - that would be untrue. The point is they don't. But for the avoidance of doubt I will state that I am thinking of nobody in particular.
Second thing's second: Twelve pairs on each team requires a movement. We tried to employ the same movement as we always do for City v Shire (and North v Highland) events: Home team North-South at the odd-numbered tables, East-West pairs move two tables after each round with the boards (which there are two sets of to avoid sharing) moving one, and after six rounds we have Half Time. After Half Time, the home team are the same again while the away team move down one table from where they started and change orientation accordingly, and we have another six rounds with the same movement as the first half, at the end of which everyone has played every pair of the opposing team exactly once. How could that possibly go wrong?
Ah, well, us Bridge players are a simple folk. For one thing, the boards were hand dealt, which meant that we had to duplimate the boards manually - play our first board in the first round, make a copy of it on the corresponding board from the other set of boards, and go and trade that with the copy from our corresponding table (1 to 7, 2 to 8 etc) to get our second board; after which we have two sets of the same boards in play. Easy peasy for a young brain like me who had been through this rigmarole before, but unfortunately this was to push others to the threshold of confusion before we'd even finished Round 1. Things settle down as we continue on towards Half Time without a hitch. But then the changeover causes yet more confusion. Don't ask me exactly how it happened, because I don't know, but at one point we had one of our pairs sitting East-West at consecutive tables. We managed to fix this eventually, but not completely - we had one pair that sat North-South both times, and so did they - meaning there was one opposing pair that we played twice and one we didn't play at all. Whether it was what was printed on the table cards, or our ability to interpret them, that was at fault, I don't know. But the Captain of the opposing team (which was who we played twice) not being well-versed in the movement did create problems. By the time we had duplimated the boards for the second half, I don't know if everyone in the room still had it in them to play bridge. Conclusion: It doesn't matter how simple something should be; the more people you have to convey it to, the more complicated it gets. Just like the Liberal Democrats trying to explain their decision making to the general public - a good idea becomes a complete mess.
As in NOT the custom at such events, there was no catering. Most players brought their own or, if you were me, had a sandwich before leaving and hoped that would suffice until returning home. Luckily, someone had the idea to raid the kitchen for tea and coffee, resulting in possibly the best cup of tea I'd ever had - I have found which combination out of the milk and sugar options suits me quite by accident. To say the tea was so good is quite a compliment considering how long it had possibly been sitting there.
Bridge was played, but I can't tell you much about it, which is why the focus has very much been on the day in general. Hopefully we have gone a long way to convincing the Home Team that bridge in the city is not so different from bridge in the shire. All right, so we had to turn a blind eye to the breaches of law and regulation that comes with the territory in shire bridge. But all were things I have seen done in the city, by city players, and I don't say anything to them, either. After all, I am experienced at playing at Ellon where I have to grin and bear downright cheating on the odd occasion. As David Stevenson says in Bridge magazine: "Zero tolerance for rudeness; maxi tolerance for everything else". Folk who are used to playing in the country genuinely don't know any better when it comes to technical regularities and they might be more inclined to join us for a game if they can feel comfortable in the knowledge that they won't have the Director called over the moment they sit down. Most City folk are more easy going and friendly than we often get taken for and the minority, as I shall call them on this occasion, you come to recognise pretty quickly.
My partner for the day (I'm sure he won't mind being named here, particularly given how well he played), was Mike Hodder. It was our first ever game together so we played a nice and simple SA based system. One mini-misunderstanding occurred half way through the first half, when Mike opened 2 Clubs, and I responded 2 Hearts. Mike thought that showed the ace of hearts exactly whereas I was showing just one ace, but it led to the same thing - 6 Clubs making. The best play problem of the day was his so I can't remember the hand in enough detail to post here.
As I have said before, the score did not matter - to the point where I don't actually know what it was. I know that we were roughly 4500 ahead at Half Time, and I think the Shire clawed a little bit of it back in the second half - a few of our pairs bid a Grand Slam (Yay!), but then half of them came down (Oh...). Don't look at Me and Mike; the slam was East-West and we sat North-South defending 6NT.
That's the fun stuff out of the way; more serious competition to come...
Like the Phoenix Cup. This might have been a separate article had I actually finished writing on Sunday night/ Monday, but no. So, we started off with Round 1 of the Phoenix Cup last night. There was a good turn out: 16 pairs. As is the norm for the Phoenix Cup, we played a 3/4 Howell movement. The favourites, Jim and Jun (my favourites if not anybody else's) stormed into first place with a 64% score. Despite a gallant effort, Lessurl and I encountered too much bad luck to compete with that and had to settle for 59% in second place. We made mistakes, but not so much that we could've caught the leaders had we got them all right. We've won with less. If last night's results reflect the final standings then we won't have disgraced ourselves. Last year's joint winners finished 8th and 14th, which is probably a sign that there are twists and turns to come.
Towie happened to be the venue for the first District event of the season: West Aberdeenshire v City. For us Townies, that meant we had the issue of getting there. With me sitting in the navigator's seat, that was not a problem. Towie is just three quarters of a mile South East of Glenkindie, which is just down the road from Kildrummy, which is in turn on the South turn off from Mossat... that's a six mile drive from Alford if you take the Bridge of Alford turn-off... you get the idea.
Calling the event West Aberdeenshire v City might give the wrong impression. It is certainly NOT a case of farmers going hammer-and-tongs against bankers (which, come to think of it, is something we'd pay good money to see if you swapped the table for a boxing ring... I'm sure someone at Sky is working on it right now) - it is for building friendships, good feeling and overall happiness amongst various bridge players that otherwise might not get a chance to meet each other. It is very much a social event. Yes, we were on a team comprising of 12 pairs against a team of twelve shire pairs. Yes, we played bridge against them and naturally had to try and win. But there are various levels of competition and various levels of competitiveness. These events are diplomatic ventures as much as anything else - one does one's best to play good bridge but it's not life-or-death.
There is no artificial line drawn between city and shire. I was born and bred in Aberdeen, and all year round I play bridge at Aberdeen and Phoenix. But there was a time when, owing to family links, I played exclusively at Ellon Bridge Club - a fact that meant I was generally asked by the shire Captain if I would play for the shire. It's still considered "eligible" for both sides and have been known to play for the City when they play West Aberdeenshire and against them when they play North. I've played both sides many times and don't know which side I'm on one year to the next.
First thing's first. (He says five paragraphs in...) There were twelve pairs on each team. That meant twelve pairs had to be selected. As our Selector operates a rotation policy, nobody is guaranteed a game. More specifically, nobody should be. There are some players within the City that feel that, as the "top" players in the City, they should be automatic selections. And maybe they would have a case if it really mattered who won. But it doesn't. Winning doesn't even make it onto the list of priorities in these events. It goes without saying that the twelve pairs we do select aren't going to play badly on purpose, so if we win, we win and if we don't, who cares? I say this as someone who always plays to win. Sometimes one plays to win not out of desire, but because it would be disrespectful to do anything else. Yes, at some level I wanted to win. But if I was offered a deal of losing the next hundred City v Shire matches I play in in exchange for winning, say, the Gold Cup once, that's a deal I'd happily make. So when it comes to selection, my view (which is shared by plenty others) is that we should not pick the twelve best pairs but the twelve friendliest. That's something some of these "top" players really need to catch on to. Furthermore, I would venture as far as to say that some of these players that think they should be automatic selections should not get a game even if the aim was to field our strongest possible side - all bridge players think they are better than they are. Some more than others. As for the saying: those players I refer to know who they are - that would be untrue. The point is they don't. But for the avoidance of doubt I will state that I am thinking of nobody in particular.
Second thing's second: Twelve pairs on each team requires a movement. We tried to employ the same movement as we always do for City v Shire (and North v Highland) events: Home team North-South at the odd-numbered tables, East-West pairs move two tables after each round with the boards (which there are two sets of to avoid sharing) moving one, and after six rounds we have Half Time. After Half Time, the home team are the same again while the away team move down one table from where they started and change orientation accordingly, and we have another six rounds with the same movement as the first half, at the end of which everyone has played every pair of the opposing team exactly once. How could that possibly go wrong?
Ah, well, us Bridge players are a simple folk. For one thing, the boards were hand dealt, which meant that we had to duplimate the boards manually - play our first board in the first round, make a copy of it on the corresponding board from the other set of boards, and go and trade that with the copy from our corresponding table (1 to 7, 2 to 8 etc) to get our second board; after which we have two sets of the same boards in play. Easy peasy for a young brain like me who had been through this rigmarole before, but unfortunately this was to push others to the threshold of confusion before we'd even finished Round 1. Things settle down as we continue on towards Half Time without a hitch. But then the changeover causes yet more confusion. Don't ask me exactly how it happened, because I don't know, but at one point we had one of our pairs sitting East-West at consecutive tables. We managed to fix this eventually, but not completely - we had one pair that sat North-South both times, and so did they - meaning there was one opposing pair that we played twice and one we didn't play at all. Whether it was what was printed on the table cards, or our ability to interpret them, that was at fault, I don't know. But the Captain of the opposing team (which was who we played twice) not being well-versed in the movement did create problems. By the time we had duplimated the boards for the second half, I don't know if everyone in the room still had it in them to play bridge. Conclusion: It doesn't matter how simple something should be; the more people you have to convey it to, the more complicated it gets. Just like the Liberal Democrats trying to explain their decision making to the general public - a good idea becomes a complete mess.
As in NOT the custom at such events, there was no catering. Most players brought their own or, if you were me, had a sandwich before leaving and hoped that would suffice until returning home. Luckily, someone had the idea to raid the kitchen for tea and coffee, resulting in possibly the best cup of tea I'd ever had - I have found which combination out of the milk and sugar options suits me quite by accident. To say the tea was so good is quite a compliment considering how long it had possibly been sitting there.
Bridge was played, but I can't tell you much about it, which is why the focus has very much been on the day in general. Hopefully we have gone a long way to convincing the Home Team that bridge in the city is not so different from bridge in the shire. All right, so we had to turn a blind eye to the breaches of law and regulation that comes with the territory in shire bridge. But all were things I have seen done in the city, by city players, and I don't say anything to them, either. After all, I am experienced at playing at Ellon where I have to grin and bear downright cheating on the odd occasion. As David Stevenson says in Bridge magazine: "Zero tolerance for rudeness; maxi tolerance for everything else". Folk who are used to playing in the country genuinely don't know any better when it comes to technical regularities and they might be more inclined to join us for a game if they can feel comfortable in the knowledge that they won't have the Director called over the moment they sit down. Most City folk are more easy going and friendly than we often get taken for and the minority, as I shall call them on this occasion, you come to recognise pretty quickly.
My partner for the day (I'm sure he won't mind being named here, particularly given how well he played), was Mike Hodder. It was our first ever game together so we played a nice and simple SA based system. One mini-misunderstanding occurred half way through the first half, when Mike opened 2 Clubs, and I responded 2 Hearts. Mike thought that showed the ace of hearts exactly whereas I was showing just one ace, but it led to the same thing - 6 Clubs making. The best play problem of the day was his so I can't remember the hand in enough detail to post here.
As I have said before, the score did not matter - to the point where I don't actually know what it was. I know that we were roughly 4500 ahead at Half Time, and I think the Shire clawed a little bit of it back in the second half - a few of our pairs bid a Grand Slam (Yay!), but then half of them came down (Oh...). Don't look at Me and Mike; the slam was East-West and we sat North-South defending 6NT.
That's the fun stuff out of the way; more serious competition to come...
Like the Phoenix Cup. This might have been a separate article had I actually finished writing on Sunday night/ Monday, but no. So, we started off with Round 1 of the Phoenix Cup last night. There was a good turn out: 16 pairs. As is the norm for the Phoenix Cup, we played a 3/4 Howell movement. The favourites, Jim and Jun (my favourites if not anybody else's) stormed into first place with a 64% score. Despite a gallant effort, Lessurl and I encountered too much bad luck to compete with that and had to settle for 59% in second place. We made mistakes, but not so much that we could've caught the leaders had we got them all right. We've won with less. If last night's results reflect the final standings then we won't have disgraced ourselves. Last year's joint winners finished 8th and 14th, which is probably a sign that there are twists and turns to come.
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