District Teams of Four 2016-17 Round 3

Previously on this blog...

A653
1072
10954
K3

KJ107
AKQ
KJ8
AJ6

Contract: 4 Spades
Opening Lead: 3 Diamonds
No opposition bidding

After RHO wins the Ace of diamonds and returns a small one, I am faced with the decision between playing the Jack, to guard against the singleton lead, or play the King with the hope of winning the trick.

Despite the fact that this looks very like a singleton lead, I reason I should play the King. If LHO led from Qxxx (quite possible), then playing the Jack risks coming down after it loses to the Queen, followed by a diamond ruff and a failed guess in the trump suit. Unfortunately, the King is ruffed, but I now take advantage of the extra chance. I win the club return with the Jack (a heart return would have been no more successful), and then unblock clubs. I now cash my 4 winners in the rounded suits, pitching a diamond in dummy. A small spade to the Ace is next. When both defenders follow, I can now confidently play a small spade off table with intent to finesse if RHO follows small. Losing the finesse is of no consequence since that will have exhausted all the opposing trumps. LHO will be forced to give me a ruff and discard. As it happens, the Queen appears, so although I have to give up the diamond I still have ten tricks.

That was "previously", when I was entertaining thoughts on updating this blog regularly. Since then, there have been a number of things I could've blogged about and didn't, but in my defence, November and December is a busy time.

So Happy New Year, and on to my first major event of 2017: The District Teams of Four, Round 3. Things have changed since the last time I blogged about this competition. For one thing, I'm not the Convener any more. Those rains have been handed over to Abigail Wilson, and she has put her own stamp on it, while I get to take a back seat and concentrate on playing. Well, that was the plan. On Round 1 I had to pull a movement out of my sleeve at short notice, and I'm not sure the use of the continuous VP scale has been popular (I'll get over it).

For another thing, none of my original team remain. Abi has moved on because there was no way she wanted another season partnering me she needs to play in a team of Juniors to realise her International ambitions - good for the event as for the first time since I was a Junior, the event has an all-Junior team again. Even better, it is an all-Junior team that are title challengers. Lessurl moved to Englandshire and the others became unavailable. Before that, however, my team did win the title a couple of years in succession.

We are not defending Champions however, and my team consist of 3 players that have not been on my team (in this event) before. We're not the strongest incarnation of a team Captained by me and we don't pretend to be, but we hoped to be "dark horses" for the title.

The premise was interesting enough. Nine teams, one Round Robin, 14 board matches. I like long matches (have I mentioned that enough?). and against the best players in the District it is a stern test. It is competitive - of the nine teams, at the start of the season I'd have said 6 have a genuine chance of being Champions, if I count my own team. After two rounds (four matches), the results seem to bear that out, although it's not the original 6. The standings were:

Bill Ross: 56.04
Maureen Mowat: 48.38
Alisdair McLeod: 48.25
Norman McLeod: 48.00
Sandy Duncan: 47.18
Abigail Wilson: 36.45
Maggie Payne: 27.45
Donald Campbell: 26.10
Loraine Findlay: 22.15

Of course, that does not tell the full story so a little context. Donald Campbell is one of the 6 teams I expected to be "Contenders". However, his first match was against my team and it was one of those where my team could do no wrong; we collected 19.47VPs from that match. They won their other match that night, but not by much, and that was against my Dad, who, with all due respect, is not going to be District Teams of Four Champion (although his whole team are definitely good enough to have a major say in who is). After a shock defeat by Findlay, and another thrashing at the hands of Duncan, it seems his team's chances are all but over. I do predict, however, that his team will rise up the table and one or more of the "Contenders" will have their title hopes scuppered as a result.

Conversely, my Dad's team are doing well and are still within half a match of the summit at the half way stage. Unfortunately, it could be argued that his team are in a false position with pre-season favourites Duncan, Champions Mowat, Challengers Wilson and Champions Elect Ross to play. On the other hand, it is an opportunity for them to pull of a "Leicester City".

Bill Ross has consistently put together a very strong team year upon year and yet has somehow never won it as far as I can remember. This, however, I am pretty sure, will be his year. Not only does he have an 8VP lead at the half way stage, but he has played all 4 of the other Contenders that are still in the hunt. The title is theirs to throw away. That's my Half Time prediction and I don't care who knows it.

As for my team? I'm just glad if we can still call ourselves "Contenders". 3 wins and 1 heavy defeat in the first half leaves us with no margin of error, and we have to hope for at least 1 shock result in other matches.

So, for Round 3.
First up for partner and I was a "must-win" match against bottom-of-the-table Findlay. Loraine and I know each other very well as we work together on a lot of District issues. She was fielding a couple of substitutes for this match and it was hard to predict what the net result would be. One was Sandra Schwitz, who most would argue strengthens the line-up somewhat. The other was a 15 year old, who I will here refer to as "my young padouin", as he shows great promise and I have taken him under my wing in club games where the chance has arisen. For that reason I know that when he sets his mind to it, he is a formidable opponent and very unpredictable. I was expecting a tough match - and that's exactly what I got.

The very first board, I held:

K109
AKJ8743
---
A106
(All Vul)

LHO is Dealer and it goes Pass-Pass-1S to me. I double, with the intention of rebidding hearts. LHO bids 2 Spades, and sure enough this is passed round to me, so I say 3 Hearts. LHO competes to 3 Spades which prompts RHO to bid 4, and I double. Partner pulls this to 5 Hearts. This was an excellent call as he held:

52
Q1062
106543
32

A spade is led, and for good measure I wait until trick 3 to claim 11 tricks. What makes my partner's 5 Hearts bid even better is that 4 Spades Doubled will make (unless I find a small heart lead from AKJ8743, which I won't). At the other table, Loraine and my young padouin allowed our team-mates to play in 4 Spades, for +16IMPs.

When I say "tough match", I suspect our opponents found it somewhat tougher. Partner and I had few decisions to make, but when we did, we got them right  (with one exception), allowing Sandra and her partner for the evening no leeway. Our team-mates, it transpired, had a string of good results, finding any Game going and a Slam as well. In the end we earned 20VPs with plenty IMPs to spare. The only "miss" was this:

AQ1084
8
K103
10985

3
KJ9652
AQ84
AJ

All Vul
Contract: 3NT

West was Dealer and passed. With the North hand, I opened 2 Spades, showing 5-10 points, at least 5 spades, and at least 4 in any other suit. Partner enquired about my second suit with 2NT, followed by 3 Hearts, which is an interesting call. When asked about it, my jovial reply was: "I hope it's hearts!". I then further explained that logically, it looked to me like he was giving me a long suit to see if 3NT was viable. These explanations were after I had bid 3NT, which ended the auction. It makes sense for partner to bid 3 Hearts here, as I could be 5=3=4=1, but since I was 5=1=4=3, with promising filling in the minors, I bid 3NT.

The two of clubs is led to the 5, King and Ace. Partner's next play is Jack of Clubs, which West ducks. Partner then finesses the Queen of Spades, which holds, and plays a heart off table to the King, which also holds. That's an excellent guess which in the fullness of time earned 9 tricks. Dealmaster says 6 Diamonds is on, but I reckon if we bid Slam on hands like that, we'll be coming down an awful lot. As it was, +600 converted to +10IMPs.

The other match was against Abigail Wilson's team. This is something that both teams would have seen as a "Knockout" match, in as much as the losing side could virtually give up on the title. Unfortunately for our opponents, they had to field a weakened side. My RHO has only been learning the game for 4 weeks, so was really up against it. Put yourself in his shoes.

You hold:

KQ8
984
AJ864
A6

Starting with RHO, the uncontested auction is: 1H-1NT-2S-3NT
Partner leads the 4 of clubs, and dummy is:

A542
AKQJ32
10
105

Declarer plays the 5 from Dummy and you rise with your Ace, drawing the 3 from Declarer. How do you defend and what card do you play next?

It's tempting to return a club and that probably will work, but will likely result in Declarer only coming 1 off instead of 2. Instead, he switches to the King of Spades, which sets up two spade tricks in addition to partner's KQ of clubs and the Ace of diamonds. How many experienced players would find this defence?

I was feeling pretty cheesed off with myself at that point in the match, having missed a chance to defeat a cold Game on the previous board, but as the net result from the two was -1 IMP, I'll chalk it up to "could have been worse".

My LHO had a job to do here:

872
KJ7
9876
K63

He's on lead against 3NT after his RHO opens 1NT (12-14), and the bidding proceeds, without interference: 2C (NP Stayman) - 2 Hearts - 3NT.
What should he lead?

My sympathies are entirely with my opponent here. We bid a thin Game and got away with it. I agree with his choice of lead and would most likely have done the same, but on this occasion it allowed the contract to make.

Our team-mates came back with what they were sure was a losing card, and we had to settle for a 19-IMP win.

If we were in contention beforehand, we're still in contention now. 35.06VPs from 40 is not a bad evening's work. I write this before the scores at the doors are published, but my hope is that we have at least closed the gap on Bill Ross. The Norman McLeod, Maureen Mowat and Sandy Duncan teams all played each other, all winning one and losing one, so a quick glance at the Half-Way scores tells me we can be doing no worse than 2nd place at the moment. If the leaders had a bad night (which I doubt), we might even be leading. Hopefully I will remember find the time to blog about the final night, just in case any readers are interested in how we do.

The Scottish National League: Putting My Cards on the Table

Well, this is awkward...
So, a number of years ago, when I was still a (kind-of) young whippersnapper on the Scottish Bridge scene, I wrote this blog. For a while. Like all my social media forays, it tended to be intermittent in the updates, as blog posts took an inordinately long time to write, and it didn't seem worth it anyway. What, I asked myself, was the point of blogging about bridge, when my blog would have a rather small following and I am not a sufficiently competent enough player to give an in-depth analysis of interesting boards? Over three years have passed since my last post, but my blog is still here, lying dormant, as if waiting for the chance to rise again. And come up in conversation it does. From bridge players all over the country, expert and beginner alike. Just the other night, at the Graham Ewen Individual in Aberdeen a new(ish) player, who didn't even know me three years ago, mentioned that he'd been reading my blog. So perhaps I have something to offer after all.

How does this go again? Oh yeah, I'm supposed to have offered some hand to look at by now. OK, try this one:

K1098643
4
AQ86
J

Opps Vul.
LHO is Dealer and passes. Partner opens 1 Club. RHO competes with 1 Heart, and you bid 1 Spade, which is forcing for 1 round. 2 Hearts is bid on your left. Partner jumps to 3 Spades, which is passed to you.
Partner's bid is interesting. It certainly agrees spades and shows a good hand, but he had 3H available as an Unassuming Cue Bid showing a good raise to 3 Spades.
Your call? I'll give you some time to think about it.

In the mean time, I'd like to go further into the rationale behind my sudden return. Would it suffice to say "I felt like it"? Probably. But to address the point made above: maybe it's not all about sharing bidding and card play decisions I've had. That's going to be far less interesting than, say, The Beer Card, by Paul Gipson, which if you're into reading Bridge Blogs you should definitely check out. But perhaps I can offer something different; not just the technicalities of bridge but my experience as a whole - a window into the perspective of another player on the circuit. Whilst I will certainly not be ditching the previous style and format, I will hereto speak more broadly about my opinions on anything about the game in general.

Hence the reason for part of the title of this post: Putting My Cards on the Table. Where I talk about, not just some of the hands that came up in the National league, but the overall experience of competing as a whole. The fact that I am about to take a stance and publicly state an opinion may ruffle a few feathers - either with fellow players or with the SBU - but my aim is to offer somewhat constructive criticism, not to offend. I would offer a token apology in advance of what is about to follow, but I don't really mean it; for I am only going to be honest (perhaps bluntly so, but honest nonetheless), and it is not my job to appease anyone who takes offence where none is intended. With any luck, expressing my opinion in a publicly visible format may trigger some constructive dialogue; you never know.

The Scottish National League has been created with a view to becoming, if it is not already, Scotland's Premier Competition. Played over the course of two weekends, it offers long matches against quality opposition. The field is tough regardless of the Division, but if you rise as far as Division 1 you will come up against some of the best players Scotland has to offer. My partner and I both enjoy playing in fields where we will be punished (severely) for making mistakes, so earlier this year we began soul searching (here meaning "searching for souls brave enough to be our team-mates") so that we could enter a team. The League was only introduced a few years ago so it still has teething troubles, but it has reached a stage now where it is beginning to settle down. On principle, it is a great event. I thoroughly enjoy playing in it.

If only it were so simple, and just about the bridge. Take this hand from the first match:

QJ96532
A64
4
AQ

I held this hand as South, Game All, Dealer North.
Partner opens 1 Heart, and with the opposition passing throughout, I bid 1 Spade and get a 3D response from partner. What is your call in this position?
There are two schools of thought here, and a dilemma is created because most bridge players would agree with both schools. The first school of thought proclaims a 7 card suit is called Trump. I should rebid spades therefore. The second school says don't fight your partner in the auction.
Whichever one wins out, you are going to end up in Slam here. As it turns out, it is a big decision, because a lot of teams got +/- 17 IMPs on this board.
I supported hearts, reasoning I was better off supporting partner given that as 7 card suits go, my suit quality wasn't brilliant. +1430 later it transpires that I got it right (or got lucky).
The full hand:

A8
KJ1095
AKQ63
10

QJ96532
A64
4
AQ

My counterpart was in 6 Spades, and unfortunately for him, West holds K1074. There is no way for him to avoid two Trump losers, and we win 17 IMPs. On another day, he might be collecting them - a 34 IMP swing.

Like I said, if only it was just about the bridge. If only. Unfortunately, politics had to get involved with the running of the event, and that changed things for the worse.

There are some political problems which I am not going to elaborate on here; I will either go through "the proper channels" or blog about it separately. For example, the fact that 3 of our 4 players had to make a 300 mile round trip to play. If you're expecting a typical Aberdonian to whinge about the fact that all the major competitions are held at least 60 miles away, then you'll be disappointed. Whilst there is a legitimate grievance there, it is a more complex argument than might be assumed and it deserves a "PMCOT" post to itself.

The real problem with travelling over 150 miles just to get to the event is where we ended up at the end of that trip: The St. Andrew Bridge Club in Glasgow. I've got nothing against the club or its wonderful and hard-working staff; I do have an issue with having an event such as the National League there. Let's be honest: It's not big enough. Last year, when there were less entries than this year, they held it there, there was barely enough space and they definitely couldn't fit the catering, for which they had to open another Bridge Club 10 minutes' walk along the road to host. This year, with three divisions instead of two, the organisers in their infinite wisdom decided to hold the First Weekend there again, and scrap the catering, which in fairness was in response to the quality of the catering getting lambasted in the feedback last year.

I know the defence: Of course it's big enough; there were enough tables, weren't there? I don't give it any credence. The club cannot comfortably fit over a hundred players playing a major competition. I can easily fit 10 people into my house, but it would be uncomfortable and impractical for 10 people to try and live there. You'd never have 10 people all living in my house because the house is not fit for that purpose and the quality of life of the occupants would suffer as a result. Similarly, yes there were enough tables, but the club was not fit for purpose. Division 2 had to play in the bar area/entrance foyer. Players from all divisions had to walk through their playing area in order to come and go from the club, or for some players to access the lounge area between rounds.

Now I'm sure some people disagree with my assessment of the club. But that's neither here nor there in terms of relevance to why it was chosen as a venue. It wasn't because the organisers thought it was the best place to play bridge. It was because they were under political pressure to host one of the weekends in the West District. The SBU is divided into 7 Districts and of these, there has been for many years a ding-dong of a power struggle between the East and West Districts. That means that when an event like the National League is held, those two Districts get one weekend each, despite what clubs they have available.

I have had occasion to set foot in a number of Bridge clubs across Scotland, and two stand out: the New Melville and the New Carlton. Emphasis on the word new. Both clubs have been around for a long time, but both have moved in the last few years to new premises. Both clubs are all on one floor, have very large card rooms and playing capacity, have separate lounge areas, and kitchens large enough for caterers to work out of. They are by a long distance the best bridge venues in Scotland. So it would make sense that each would host one weekend of the National League. The problem? Both of these venues are in Edinburgh. You can't hold both weekends of the National League in Edinburgh without the Westerners throwing their toys out of the pram.

One could lay the blame at the door of the organisers for this, but I am disinclined to do so. They are a hard working bunch doing the best they can, and it is not their fault when they face external pressure. You try keeping over a hundred bridge players with a variety of ideas, motives, backgrounds and temperaments happy - I'm telling you, it can't be done. On the whole, they do a great job.

I'm more tempted to blame the West District. I'm sure the Committee is just trying to look after the interests of its members; I don't fault them for that. But there's a right way and a wrong way to go about it. I don't think the West District should be hosting the National League for the same reason I don't think Qatar should be hosting the World Cup: If you want to host an event, make sure you have a suitable venue and the proper facilities to do so. If St. Andrew Bridge Club was as good a club as the New Melville, then I would have no problem playing the National League there, and neither would anyone else. If we really have to have one of the weekends in the West District, then do all 3 Divisions really need to be played at the same venue? Couldn't you have two Divisions in one club, one Division in another, and make everyone more comfortable?

But enough about the organisation; I'm sure you want to know about the bridge side of things. Well... they collided - quite spectacularly. At the end of the weekend I personally thanked our Director for the work he put in. I don't know what the SBU pay him for his services for the weekend, but he - like all the staff - earned every penny. The pressure was on him from the get-go, not least because yours truly had a couple of bones to pick.

You remember that hand I gave you earlier? This one:

K1098643
4
AQ86
J

Have you had enough time to make your decision? If not, please feel free to take it now.
I did not have that luxury, as I was told - at the exact moment of having to make the decision - that we only had a few minutes left, and we had another board to play.
Under that time pressure, I cracked and took a guess. I'm not happy about that, as I should be experienced enough to know that I should take the penalty and go into the tank for as long as I need. But, with this and other factors coming to a head, I didn't want more stress and just bid. I went with 4 Spades.
What I should have done was bid 4 Clubs, showing a 1st or 2nd round control. Partner would have cue bid 4 Diamonds, and now I'm interested in his controls. After I say 4NT and he gives me 2 Key Cards, I know 6 Spades is the contract.
12 tricks and +480 later, the Director suddenly announces he's looked at the Conditions of Contest and they specify more time than what he'd announced, so we actually had plenty time left. Are you kidding me?? Just to be clear: they didn't have enough laptops to provide us with a clock, so Division 3 was totally reliant on the Director's word for how much time we had left. And yes, of course I should've had the mental discipline to take the time to find a 4 Clubs bid which is not that hard to find. But that wouldn't have been an issue had I been properly informed. How many Directors have been asked to give a ruling on Misinformation, when they themselves are the ones that misinformed in the first place? A unique situation, and not one the Directors were in a mood to entertain. And that was bone of contention number 2. Bone number 1 was the fact that Divisions 2 and 3 had to do their team line-ups blind, when the Conditions of Contest had stated that Seating Rights applied to all divisions. To be fair, the Director admitted his mistake on that one, but the damage was done.

How did we do? There are 7 teams in Division 3 and after weekend 1 we are lying 6th. I'll be honest: my aspirations were somewhat higher. Despite the fact that I have played in the National League since its inception and have finished 2nd bottom of the lowest Division every single year, the target this year was to win promotion to Division 2. We're still in with a shout of doing that, but it will require a storming comeback on the 2nd weekend.

I'll end with a Declarer problem from the last hand of the last match.

A653
1072
10954
K3

KJ107
AKQ
KJ8
AJ6

Contract: 4 Spades
Opening Lead: 3 Diamonds
No opposition bidding

I play a small diamond from dummy to East's Ace. East returns a small diamond.
My counterpart guessed well on this hand and made 11 tricks at the risk of coming off.
I took (I think) a safer line that only made 10.
What's your line?
My answer to this will be in my next post - that'll give me an incentive to write one.

Junior Camrose and Peggy Bayer 2013 - Day 1

I am pretty disgusted with my own bridge at the moment. How fortunate I have something else to talk about - the Junior Camrose and Peggy Bayer 2013. One of my favourite events to follow on BBO, not that I'll be doing much of that this year (not through choice).

2 rounds were played before I could log on and my hopes were not high for Scotland. I had plenty faith in the players, but I accept that the teams are in transition just now and I wasn't placing any expectations on them. Given that, I was rather pleased to hear that the Peggy Bayer team had won their first match and that Jake and Ian had achieved a winning draw in their debut match. I entered viewing with the scores as:

JUNIOR CAMROSE

Scotland 15-15 Northern Ireland
England 25-5 Republic of Ireland

Scotland 8-22 England
Republic of Ireland 4-25 Northern Ireland

PEGGY BAYER

Scotland 25-2 Northern Ireland
England 25-1 Republic of Ireland

Scotland 6-24 England
Republic of Ireland 25-4 Northern Ireland

The feature match for Round 3 was the Junior Camrose match Northern Ireland v England - the two early front runners for the trophy. England had to be favourites, so I was rooting for Northern Ireland. It might also be something to do with knowing some of their team. I watched Corry/Clegg v Macintosh/O'Connor.

Northern Ireland made a solid start to the match with a 4 Hearts and 2 Hearts making on the nose. They over-stretched on the next board, the result of which would not be known for some time as they started with the last three boards to bring in comparisons.
On the first comparison, Corry/Clegg didn't find a sacrifice worth 3 IMPs, and when the next two boards saw the Irish pairs take it in turns to bid games that didn't make, the IMP score was 0-14. Not good.

Board 28 was an interesting one.

Q109
J5
KJ973
AQ6

2
AK8743
Q4
K1054

These were the Irish hands (NS) with NS Vul, West Dealer.
At the other table, Atchison went 3 down in 4 Spades (undoubled). Here, West opened 2 Diamonds as a bad weak 2 in a major. Clegg doubled, and East jumped to 3 Hearts. Corry now bid 4 Hearts, intended as natural but treated as a cue. North therefore bid 5 Diamonds, East now said 5 Spades and Corry doubled. Things were looking up for Northern Ireland. Unfortunately, North pulled to 6 Diamonds (which is reasonable given what he thinks partner has), and the no-play Slam went 2 down for an 8 IMP swing out.
After Nothern Ireland got their first IMP in a part score, I watched Dan McIntosh play this 3NT hand:

AJ3
K8652
AK6
A4

Q95
109
QJ105
K1052

3NT by the bottom hand, small spade led.

Dan let the spade run to his nine (RHO had the King but ducked), and ran the 9 of hearts. RHO won with the Jack and returned a spade, the queen winning. Dan then ran the 10 of hearts to the queen, and RHO cleared the spades. The King of hearts cleared the suit, and since the ace was with North, Dan claimed 10 tricks for 10 IMPs as the same contract wasn't made at the other table.

The IMPs continued to go one way as the same doomed contract was not Doubled when the English pair played it, and the score was 1-37. As I watched the next baord, an IMP came to England on Board 35 and England were now in maximum territory. More so when the other table wrapped up with another 3 IMPs to England.

There was finally some joy for Northern Ireland as they scored a part score swing on the last board. Somerville made 2 Spades at one table while Clegg was allowed to play in 1NT making an overtrick. That scored 6 IMPs for 7-41 and stopped England from getting the maximum 25, although leaving them comfortably out ahead in first place nonetheless.

When the results were updated, I found myself editing the above scores as both English teams seemed to gain VPs from an earlier match. In fact, as I write this, everything seems to be constantly changing, so if you don't want to know the score, you're all right. Even the above match turned into a 25 for England. But there was good news too: Scotland got another 25 in the Peggy Bayer, this time against Northern Ireland. Meanwhile, Scotland got a 23 in the Junior Camrose.

This meant that having been round the lap once, Scotland were establishing themselves as strong contenders for 2nd place in the Peggy Bayer, and seemed to be fighting it out for 3rd place in the Junior Camrose.

Thoughts at this point: Scotland doing well. Jake and Iain seem to have taken to the International scene very well. (They've never even been in a Peggy Bayer before - they are straight in at the deep end), with one win and one draw so far. Just because Scotland are the holders of the Junior Camrose trophy doesn't make them favourites to win it this year (far from it), and if they manage to pip Northern Ireland to 2nd place, it will be a job very well done.

I am just as impressed with the Peggy Bayer team. This team has four debutants and is well ahead of third place, losing only to red hot favourites England so far. I hope they are enjoying themselves because they are doing their country proud.

I'm working tomorrow so probably won't get to see any matches, which is a shame because it seems I'm missing out.

Take a picture, quick!

So last Friday was the penultimate round of the District Teams of Four. You may recall that in the last round I more or less wrote off our chances of winning the trophy. After the events of Round 4 I am obliged not to do so. Why? Because we have suddenly found ourselves in first place - just when we weren't expecting it.

Lessurl and I started the night with a match against USHER. The Captain himself was not playing; he rotates a team of six for this event. We had the other two pairs to contend with. 009domino had never conceded defeat in this event, and was adamant we still had a title shot. But to keep that hope alive we knew what was needed against a team that was currently sitting 8th. As ever, there was a difference between knowing what is needed, and being able to do it.
The first three boards were snore bores - a 3NT+2 against us, a 2NT+1 against us and then a 1H+2 by Lessurl, during which I dashed away to collect the table money. As if trying to win at bridge wasn't a big enough ask, I was also running this event.
Next up was a 2 Spades by me, in which both I and Lessurl had 4-3-3-3 distributions, so there was nowhere to get rid of my six losers and I went one down. This was followed by another cold 11 tricks against us in No-Trump for -660.
So, we get to board 6 and the auction qualifies for the most interesting thing to happen thus far. I hold:

Kx
AKQJxx
Axx
Hxx

I open this 2 Clubs. LHO overcalls 2 Spades. Lessurl passes, showing no aces, so I bid 3 Hearts. This was a bad bid - I should have bid 4, and play there. Because I don't, we end up in 5 Hearts as I try to investigate a remote slam. The Ace of Spades lead helps greatly, and I canter to eleven tricks. Even though this was a non-vulnerable Game, I really don't think we could've penalised 2 Spades for a better score, though it is always a tempting thought.
  +690 on the next board was more likely to yield 3 IMPs than a Slam Swing out, and -170 on the next board looked like a small chance of a swing if our team-mates had a route to the thin Game. I played a 4 Heart contract that rolled in, watched as a 5 Diamond contract rolled to 12 tricks against us on the penultimate board, and then this board to finish:

xx
K10x
xxx
QJ7xx

AKxx
AJxxx
Qx
Kx

Contract: 4 Hearts by the bottom hand, King of Diamonds led.
I am Dealer at Game All, with the bottom hand. I open 1 Heart. LHO doubles.
Lessurl now bids 2 Clubs, which I alert as it shows 6-9 points with 3 card heart support and probably something in clubs (almost certainly in this case). With a reversing strength hand I bid 2 Spades, even though I know there is no fit there - it is just the best way to show my strength. Lessurl bids 3 Hearts, which suggests he is bottom of the range, but I take a view and bid 4, mainly on basis of feeling we need a swing to stay in the competition and also that I know where a lot of the points are.

LHO takes the first two tricks with the King then Ace of Diamonds. A third round of diamonds is ruffed in hand with RHO showing the Jack.
This is a tricky situation. There is a threat of losing trump control - especially if they break 4-1. I probably won't get the time to ruff 2 spades in dummy, so clubs need to be set up. And the key question is where is the Queen of Hearts? I don't know the answer to that one, but in the mean time, I may as well play LHO for the Ace of Clubs and get a count of the hand - he surely doesn't have Axxxx. As it happens, the King holds a round, and when I play a small up to dummy, the Ace appears, followed by another club. A good attempt from LHO - he knows not to give me a ruff and discard and can't risk giving me the distribution by playing on spades. He has held up a round in the hope of getting partner a ruff, but at the expense of beating an honour with the Ace. This means I have no dilemma on the third round, and as it happens, the Jack holds, and I can pitch 1 Spade. That brings me to this position:

xx
K10x
---
Q7

AKx
AJxx
---
---

The location of the Queen of Hearts is a genuine guess. I don't have everything I need to be sure, but I must get it right as I need to play trumps for no losers and rid myself of a spade loser along the way. There are two options. Option A is play for Qxx on my left: small heart to the ace, small heart towards the K10, stuffing LHO, and drawing trumps in 3 rounds before pitching a spade on a club. Option B is to play for Qx(x) on my right: King of hearts and a small heart from dummy to trap RHO, before cashing two rounds of spades and ruffing a third and requiring the remaining heart to be on my right.
Option A seems to be the intuitive line: it picks up more heart distributions and places the Queen with the hand that doubled. I didn't pick this. LHO has shown 11 points already and is unlikely to have both major queens. He has played three diamonds and had an original holding of three clubs. Since his double implies length in spades, I am placing him with 4 of these, leaving room for three more red cards. Given his partner played the Jack of Diamonds, I think it more likely that he has another diamond, meaning that his partner rates to have longer hearts than him. It is the Theory of Available Spaces in action. In other words, if I correctly place Queen of Hearts on my right, I will be given the "luck" of RHO having three. So all that remains is to place that sodding queen. I place it on my right. Of the two major queens, I think LHO more likely to hold the Spade, since that is likely his suit and I held Ace-King. So I take Option B. This works, and the contract makes.
  I could cross my fingers this would grant us a swing, but overall, the match looked too mundane for a score. Wrong. Only three flat boards as our team-mates did not have a boring set at all. On the first, 009domino also played in 3NT but took the lot. Unfortunately, they passed out the next board and we were losing 2-4. Lessurl's 9th trick gained us an IMP on the third, and my -50 gained another 2 as our counterparts had played in 3 Spades. Then came the first board that was actually flat. Still only 5-4 at this stage.
  My 5 Hearts making was the first swing - our counterparts were also in 5 Hearts and coming 2 off. -2 and +3 followed before 2 flat boards saw us edging the match 19-6 with two to score up. Our team-mates were the heroes on the next board, finding the thin but making 6 Hearts to gain us 11 more IMPs. The above 4 Hearts gained us a further 10, and that was enough to see us fall 1 IMP short of the maximum win, settling for 19-1.

Before we scored that match we had a match to play against McGUIRE. This was a team that beat us heavily last year, or at least part thereof, as it is actually a merger of two teams. Having lost one match already, we couldn't afford a repeat result. Fortunately, it seemed to us the only potential big swings were going to be in our favour.
  After a "flat" first board in which we lost an IMP, Lessurl and I had these hands:

J10xx
AQJx
KQx
xx

AKxxx
xxx
A
AQJ10

As Dealer with the bottom hand, I open 1 Spade. Lessurl responds a Jacoby 2NT. I bid a positive 3 Spades, explained at the end of the auction as such and denying a singleton or void. I am denying my diamond singleton - I don't show a singleton Ace as such. Lessurl bids 4 Spades, which tells me he was only interested in Game when he bid 2NT. I put on my rose tinted specs and bid 4NT. However, I cannot justify a slam when the auction continues 5C (one Key Card) - 5D (QS?) - 5H (No) - 5S (I give up) So Five Spades is the contract.

How to play this on a heart lead? There are two options. Finesse and hope that either this makes, or that I only have 1 loser in the black suits if it fails. Or, I could rise with the Ace and play the spades for no losers (before or after unblocking diamonds depending on how I want to play spades) and get back to dummy with a spade to discard hearts. Hmm.
Lucky I don't have this dilemma - I get a diamond lead. I win, cash AK of spades, failing to drop the queen, then cash the Ace of hearts and pitch two hearts on the KQ of diamonds. The club finesse fails, so 11 tricks is spot on.
I would not want to be in 6 Spades here, which is exactly what our counterparts were in (also with a diamond lead). The line for attempting to make 6 is the same as for 5, so we gained 13 IMPs here. It is a fine line though - Declarer can make 13 tricks if he can see where all the cards are at Trick 1.

On the next board, my RHO passed a reverse bid. It was a judgement call that backfired when her partner was maximum. So, three boards in we had built up a comfortable 19-1 IMPs lead. By 10 boards, we had increased this to 31-1. This consisted of a gift of an extra trick, a part score battle that we won, and our opponents bidding a Game that didn't make. Unfortunately, we shipped 8 IMPs on the penultimate board to win the match 17-3. Still, 36 was a very good nights' work; the best score we've ever had in one two-match round of the District Teams of Four.

We didn't think it would be enough to put us on top, however. But MOWAT beat ROSS, so the current top 4 looks like this:

1. A. McLeod 122
2. Ross 120
3. Hay 115
4. Mowat 95

This is where the seeding system does its stuff. These were the top 4 seeds (though not in that order). We, as well as HAY (the top 2 seeds) have to play two of the top four seeds on the final night. We have the worst of it I think as we face HAY and ROSS. At least it could be argued that destiny is in our own hands, but I can't place us as favourites given our run-in. In my opinion, ROSS is in the better situation, only 2 VPs off the lead, with the leaders to play plus another match against a lower seed (6th). HAY is still very much in the mix and has a good chance of retaining the title. They also have the advantage of having "got the T-shirt" in terms of having won the event, being winners since - well, longer than I know. MOWAT complete the top 4 and the list of teams that still has a mathematical chance of winning. But they will need to win big (including in a match against HAY) and get other results in their favour. I'm not saying it can't or won't be done; only that a bookmaker should offer reasonable odds on a team outside of the current top 3 winning the event this season.

All in all, everything is in place for a great final night. I don't remember the contest ever being this close at this stage - usually it is a two horse race or less. I know which horse I want to win, but I'll be happy as long as we don't fall at the final hurdle.

What's in a name?

It was Round 1 of the Phoenix Teams of Four last night. Anyway, you're probably wondering what leads me to quote Juliet. It was this hand:

J9
A10xx
KJ98x
Ax

KQxxx
Q9x
A
KQxx

4 Spades by the bottom hand, Jack of Hearts led.
I opened 1 Spade, Lessurl bid 2 Diamonds, I bid 3 Clubs, and Lessurl said 3 Hearts. I think most people would have said 3NT at this point, but that's by-the-by. My RHO doubled for a heart lead, which I passed round to Lessurl, who bid 3 Spades. Since I'd forced Game, I played in 4.

This was not my finest hour I know, but I got away with it so I have a question. I play the Ace of Hearts (I am worried about RHO winning with the King and giving LHO a ruff), and now play up to the Ace of Diamonds, back to the Ace of Clubs and now the King of Diamonds, pitching the Queen. I now play a small heart from table, and RHO does not play the King, as he expects me to ruff, and playing the King sets up the ten. My 9 wins the trick. Although it seems that if I was willing to play for a second heart trick, I might as well have let trick 1 run, thus gaining three, my view was that LHO might have 2 but won't have three hearts - if RHO has the Ace of spades he could still give his partner a ruff. I could afford that when RHO isn't making his King.

The rest of the play is immaterial to my question; I went on to make 11 tricks. My question is: What is the name for this type of play? Regular readers (if such a thing exists) will recall that I made a similar play in the Central District Congress. There, it gained us a top; last night it got us +2 IMPs instead of +1 if I'd made it, or minus a lot if I'd failed to make. There is surely a proper name for it, but I can't find it.

Just to wrap up (that's right, I am only doing a short post), the play continued a small spade to Ace from LHO, a club switch with a ruff from RHO (LHO had 6), and a heart return. I ruffed with the Queen, played a small spade to the Jack (both following) and ruffed a diamond with a small trump. The King of spades drew the last trump, and hand was good.

The Phoenix Teams of Four is the prestigious event of the club. The format is double-elimination Knock-Out, with 16 board matches. We won our first match (which gave us the above board) by 32 IMPs, and disappointingly lost the second by 9 after mistakes all round. We still have one life, however, the same amount of lives as the favourites, so we shall have to aim for the Semi-Finals and take it from there.

A busy first weekend

Happy New Year.
I signed off my last entry looking forward to Round 3 of the Sybil Hay District Teams of 4. As scheduled, this clashed with the SBU Winter Congress in Peebles, so we postponed it and Round 3 was played on the 4th January 2013. This clashed with the first weekend of the Camrose, of course, but nobody from the North is involved in that, save for the interest of watching it. Pity we can't record it on Sky+. Nor would there be (for me) any time to watch on Saturday, as I was a chapperone-slash-player at the Junior Trials in Stirling - just one of the things new SBU Junior Co-ordinator Jenny Cooper is doing to get a look at the current crop of Juniors coming through and take the setup forward, which I have every confidence she will. I also had bridge to play on Sunday, but I'm not going to blog about that.

District Teams of Four Round 3

This was a big night for us and in many ways the toughest challenge yet. Having finished both Rounds 1 and 2 sitting 1VP behind First Place, we were determined to finish Round 3 on top. The feeling was that if we didn't, we could forget about the trophy. It would not be easy - PETERS and N. MCLEOD are both scoring better than last year, although, I doubt they will be at all offended if I suggest they are not title contenders. We were under no illusions about how difficult it would be to win, and of course, anything can happen in McLeod v McLeod. No other team has the uniqueness of a "family derby" to contend with in this competition. Although this lacks the ill-feeling of Hearts v Hibs (thankfully), McLeod Senior and I know each other's games very well and a tangled web may be weaved as we try to out-think, as well as out-play, the other. Entering this match, I had the edge against teams involving my Dad in this competition, but I couldn't tell you the score as I don't keep score and anyway, this was the first time (in the Sybil Hay, anyway) that we had faced each other as Captains. His new look team started the night flying higher than ever, and I had a feeling that this was going to be one heck of a match.

Before that, Lessurl and I had twelve boards to play against Edith PETERS and partner. This team had already demonstrated the fallacy of their bottom seeding, which was based entirely on last season's finish (it could hardly have been based on anything else). They started Round 3 in ninth place on merit. If you offered me before the match a repeat of last season's result - a 19-1 win - I would have bitten your hand off. But since Bridge doesn't work like that, we had to hope that we could play well and get the wind in our sails.

In fact, we got the complete opposite. Things started well enough - I made a ludicrous 1NT bid and managed to make it. But things went against us from there on in. First of all, I was deceived by the underlead of an Ace against a suit contract - that can happen and has been duly noted. A reasonable 4 Spades contract met with bad breaks, although on Board 29 (the fifth), both of our partnerships scored + 170 for 8 IMPs. With the match poised on a knife edge, I picked up:

KJxx
Ax
Jx
AQxxx

I opened 1 Club (Better Minor). Lessurl responded 1 Heart. Now I have a tough decision - reverse or not? I opted for 1 Spade, and when Lessurl said 2 Clubs, there seemed to be no more to say. The diamond suit looked odds-on to be wide open, so No-Trumps was out and 5 Clubs was surely a stretch too far. 2 Clubs +2 was as good as we could do. Unfortunately, the same 10 tricks are available in Hearts. Our counterparts at the other table apparently misbid their way to it, and picked up 11 IMPs for their trouble. There was nowhere left that we could generate a swing, and when our team-mates had a board to forget to round off with, we slipped to a 6-14VP defeat.
  This is a result that epitomises what I have said previously. Anyone can beat anyone in this event and the tag of favourites is not coveted. I maintain that no matter who you play, skill and hard work can only get you so far. There will always be an element of luck in bridge and, as far as I am concerned, it is the worst area of my game.

Of course, as we headed into the McLeod derby, we did not know (although we did suspect) that the first match was a loss. So there were no title aspirations riding on this match, especially as it was clear from our opponents' demeanour they had just suffered a heavy loss at the hands of ROSS. That was not to say there was nothing riding on the match - pride, if nothing else, was at stake.
  The first board was a bog standard push. On the second I have this hand:

xxx
AKxx
109xx
85

LHO (McLeod Senior) opens 1 Club, and the bidding proceeds, with Lessurl and I passing: 2NT-3H-3S-3NT-4S

As stated above, my father and I know each other's game well, and I understood this auction. The 1 Club is an Asking Club, denying 5 cards in diamonds, hearts or spades and showing opening points. The 2NT is 11+, forcing, and asking for Opener's 4 card suit. 3 Hearts is the answer. 3 Spades was a little unexpected at this point, but must be spades. 4 Spades must really be spades.

Since I know where 4 of the missing hearts are, I lead the King for a Count signal - it is really important to me which of the other players has a doubleton. Lessurl plays the 2 on Trick 1, so it isn't him. In fact he must have exactly 3. I am seeing this dummy:

A
QJxx
Hxxxx
AJx

Now I switch to the 8 of clubs, which is allowed to run to Lessurl's King. This is when he has to find the killer continuation. It must be tempting to play a heart, and he did think for a bit before producing another club. Declarer wins with the Queen and plays a small spade to the Ace. He now plays the Ace of Clubs and pitches a heart, with me ruffing. I switch to a diamond and Lessurl produces the Ace. The contract eventually goes 2 off as Lessurl also has a trump to get. Our team-mates matched our +200 on this to score 9 IMPs. On to Board 31 and this Declarer situation:

---
K932
KQJ84
A1053

AJ875
J6
A1062
K7

After finding out about the diamond fit, I rejected it in favour of 3NT, which I hoped would be the easier contract. A small diamond was led.
I let this run to the 10, and there are 8 top tricks. The best chance of establishing one more without losing too many seems to be the heart suit. So, I play a small one from hand, cover the 8 with the 9, and hallelujah, it holds. RHO has the ace, but it will do him no good to take it, as the King will be established. End of story. Not for RHO who pointed out to McLeod Senior that, holding Q108, he should have contributed the 10. RHO is right, but it won't stop me making the contract on the lie. I will duck the play of the 10, and the only hope for the defence is for LHO to lead away from K9432 of spades. I can duck two rounds of spades, and after winning the third, I will play the Jack of Hearts. This can run to the Ace, or LHO can cover with the Queen and after the King and Ace cover, the 9 is promoted. RHO will then not have a spade to return, and I will have my ninth trick.
That board completed a run of 38 IMPs without reply. Unfortunately, on boards 33, 34 and 35 there was a reply to the tune of 19 IMPs. That was enough to take the edge off a big win - but there was still Board 36.

K10x
AQ10
109xx
Q9x

My RHO opened 1 Spade. I pass, and LHO says 2 Spades. There are two passes back to me. I don't like defending two level contracts if I can help it, so I pull out a protective Double. This gets Lessurl into a 3 Club Contract which he - just - manages to make. Combined with our team-mates' spade part score, we gathered 7 IMPs to make the final score 18-2.

Junior Trials

So, with getting home from the above-mentioned bridge on the Friday night, it was an early start in the morning again for the Junior Trials. 2013 will be absoloutely-most-definitely my last year as a - sniff - as a junior - excuse me while I go and cry - although I thought 2012 would be so if I get to do anything "as a junior" from here on in, I will jump through hoops to do so.

I have met Jenny Cooper on a couple of occasions since she took over as Junior Co-ordinator. She has the nigh-on impossible mantle of taking over the reins from the excellence of Joan Mercer, but if anyone can do it, it's Jenny. She has brought a fresh approach to the role and is turning her previous inexperience with the set-up to an advantage as she looks with new eyes at everything and I am sure will improve root, branch and twig if she possibly can. The juniors (including myself) are 100% behind her and will doubtless play their part whenever and wherever they can.

The idea of the Junior "Trials" was not to pick teams based on result, but for Jenny to get as good a look as possible at as many of the current crop of juniors as she could. Some of us are getting too old for this, and a big part of Jenny's remit is to find and then nourish the new blood coming through.

I was officially an adult for this event, being that I was a chapperone for the Aberdeen contingent, but once all ten of us were safely at the Stirling and Union Bridge Club, I wanted to play as much as anyone else. Jenny alternated with Laura Middleton as my partner (who would want to sit opposite me for 39 boards?), so we were certainly ineligible to "win", but as there was no prize on offer anyway, I was not in the least bit bothered about that. I just wanted to play.

For some inexplicable reason, I decided that I would sit South and West, as opposed to my usual North and East. This was a bad decision for my ambition to play, as I was dummy more often than not, so there is no abundance of interesting deals to write up. One bidding problem that I would like opinions on is this hand:

KQ92
AK974
Q9
AK

Playing Standard American style 5 Card Majors (Better Minor), 15-17NT, I open this 1 Heart. Partner says 1 Spade. Now what? This hand is that unique thing - too strong for a reverse. If I bid 3 Spades, there is a danger that partner holds a 6 count and passes. If a reverse in this position is GF, then it is an option, but failing that agreement, what to do? Naturally, the devil on my shoulder fervently whispers: "Invent a bid!", but that could go horribly wrong and I would suggest usually does. So I reason that 4 Spades is the sensible choice. I can't have a bog-standard opening count for this bid as partner may only have six points. I can't have a bog-standard reverse either. I haven't splintered, so then, can partner pin me with the exact shape 4-5-2-2? With a regular partner it should depend on agreement, and failing that, yes. Jenny got the gist anyway, because she bid 4NT and we sailed into the solid cold 6 Spades.

A Declarer hand next.

A82
A3
J7
QJ9874

K975
KQJ10
Q932
3

3NT by South, Queen of Spades led.
There is no reason not to win this with the King of Spades and play a club. I can't afford to let them have a spade trick when they have four immediate minor tricks to cash. The success percentage of this contract is low enough already. On playing the club, LHO follows with the 2. What card to call for from dummy?
At first the answer is obvious: the 7. A finesse against the 10 is a 50% chance compared to a finesse against AK2, AK62, AK52 or AK652. But this intuitive thought is flawed, because it will only really gain against the possible holdings of 1062 and 1052. If LHO started with 102 doubleton, then playing the Jack will also work, and if he started with H10xx, playing the 7 will force out an honour as planned but I will still have a total of three losers in the suit. In any case, something someone taught me sometime must have paid off, because I instinctively called for the Jack without pause for thought. This brought out the King.
A spade is returned to the ten from LHO and Ace from dummy. Again I can't duck, so am playing for an exact distribution: one defender has to have all the missing minor honours, and the other the bare ten of clubs and remaining spades. The Queen is not covered by RHO, but does drop the ten from LHO, so now I call for the 9 - this time the Ace appears. I pitch a heart from hand - I cannot pitch a diamond and at this point do not know about the spade break.
I am still coming down unless RHO has no spades and both Ace and King of Diamonds - which she does. However, she correctly surmises that all she will succeed in doing by cashing them is to set up the Queen, and that may be my 9th trick. Having seen my heart pitch, it is unlikely I have 4 tricks there, so an exit in the rounded suits makes sense. Of course, it does not work - I cash three clubs, pitching diamonds, and then cash out hearts ending in hand. That leaves me with 97 of spades. Fortunately for me, LHO had held onto two spades, so my 7 was promoted for an overtrick.

That's a bidding and Declarer scenario in, how about a lead problem?

984
AJ104
A
A9653

This was played against one of Scotland's new partnerships for the Under 25 team. As Dealer, I opened 1 Club (Better Minor). This is passed to RHO, who bids 1NT (Strong). I pass, LHO says 2 Clubs (Stayman), partner passes, RHO says 2 Diamonds (denies a 4+ card major), and ends up in 3NT. What should I lead?

I suspected that my clubs were not going to amount to much, so I looked for the 2 other tricks elsewhere. RHO has at maximum 3 hearts, he could also have KQ. What if I can get three heart tricks by leading the Jack? I decide to find out. That presents my RHO with this play problem:

K1075
K632
1053
Q10

AJ
Q98
KQ87
KJ84

I think Declarer can be allowed to assume that I have all three missing Aces. He starts by winning with the Queen. Looking at this double dummy, Declarer can score by playing the 9 of hearts, which will pin the 7 whatever I do. But is this likely enough to try? Declarer played a small club to the ten, and when he followed with the queen, I won with the ace and returned a club. Declarer plays the King of Diamonds, bringing out my Ace, but I force out his last club. Now he cannot take enough tricks to make the contract before giving me my Ace of clubs.
  There seems to be a large communication problem on this hand. Three club tricks need to be set up, but not before my red aces are driven out. Since Declarer cannot afford to break diamonds so early, I think the idea of running the 9 of hearts shades it. But that only gets us as far as what to do on Trick 2. It is still going to be difficult to establish and cash 9 tricks. Deep Finesse makes this contract (obviously!), but in the real world you don't get to know where all the cards are and even then, this is a tricky double dummy problem.

At the end of the day this pair were top of the juniors, with me and Laura/Jenny finishing 1st. As previously stated, that doesn't really mean anything; it was of far more interest for Jenny et al to see the juniors coming through and establish a plan for the future. I enjoyed meeting and playing against the next generation - for that's what they were; no less than 6 players at the "trial" were selected for the Junior Camrose and Peggy Bayer in February. One can only hope that the other hopefuls will break into the teams in time. Events like these are crucial to building and maintaining strength in depth. The day was proof, if proof were needed, that Scottish junior bridge is going in the right direction and, looking at where we are now, we can focus not on immediate, but long term success.

As previously mentioned, I was otherwise engaged on Sunday as well, which means that I did not get to see any of the first weekend of the 2013 Camrose. My understanding, gathered pretty much exclusively from Paul Gipson's blog post, is that Scotland were rather unlucky to find themselves in 5th at this, the half-way stage.

District Teams of Four Round 2

Being just 1VP behind the leaders after Round 1, and playing against the team we were tied 2nd with, this was always going to be a crucial round for us. We needed to keep up the pace if we were to have any hope of lifting the Sybil Hay trophy at the end of the season. CAMPBELL is a sound and steady team that beat us quite comfortably last year, so a change in the winds was needed. Lessurl and I took them on over our first 12 boards of the night.

Last year, Lessurl and I had taken back a score card that we were pretty sure was a losing one. Things started reasonably this time round as I made a very pushy invite to 4 Hearts, which was (for once) not accepted, gaining 140 points. We then beat 4 Hearts when I cashed 1 trick in partner's suit before switching to a short suit for a ruff on Trick 4. Continuing partner's suit would have let the contract make; hence the importance of Count signals. This board made for a 6-0 lead, but when our opponents bid and made a Cold Game on the next board, that was enough for 6-10. We then missed a thin Game (which we'd have found had our opponents interfered), so we were happy enough to lose just 1 more IMP. A part score swing made it 10-11. Lessurl and I then had the following sequence:

1C-(X)-1D-(P)-2S-(P)-3D-(P)-3H-(P)-3NT

After a Better Minor followed by a Reverse, I asked for a Heart stop which Lessurl confirmed with 3NT. This raised the question of "When is a Stop not a Stop?" Lessurl held Ax doubleton in hearts, which was not enough when RHO had an outside entry. He consequently came 4 off, and when our counterparts played in 3 Clubs, we were losing 10-20.

We were not to be denied however, and from having half of the IMPs of our opponents with 6 boards out of 12 played, we turned it around with two Game swings and a couple of other good boards to finish 42-21 on IMPs when the music stopped, a much needed 17-3 win.

The second of our matches was against WATSON. This is the only 100% Ellon team in the competition, and their current bottom place belies a formidable resilience. They showed their capability last year when they beat the number 1 seed (and eventual winners). Although we would start as favourites for this one, the win would not be handed on a silver platter and I have to admit I couldn't see where it was coming from. This was mainly because I was picking up some really terrible hands - I was not getting my share of the HCPs. Three of the first five were cold Games against, and the other two were cold part scores for -110 and -120. This did not make for good reading.
  On board 6, we managed to take my LHO two off in 4 Hearts, which was a conversion to an 11 IMP gain, not that we knew it yet. Another part score battle in our favour made the score 19-10 with 8 of 12 played. On board 9, both EW pairs missed a 21-25% Game. Board 10 was flat. This board secured a 15-5 win:

QJxxx
xx
Jxxx
xx

A10
AQxx
Q10x
AQxx

Sitting with the bottom hand, after my LHO opens and RHO responds, I bid 1NT. I hold more than 17 HCPs, but I think this is the best description of my hand. I'm surprised Lessurl didn't transfer to 2 Spades, but never mind.
  The Ace of Diamonds is led, and I sense an opportunity. I play low from both hands. If LHO continues with the King, I play low from dummy and the queen from hand. The best thing LHO can do at that point is play a small diamond. I can then win with the ten (no point winning with the Jack when spades are not set up) and set up spades by playing Ace and another. When LHO has the King of Spades (which is likely given she opened), she is endplayed. Playing a pointed suit allows me to cash three spades and a diamond in dummy; whereas playing a rounded suit gives me a trick. By winning as cheaply as possible and cashing the other honour before exiting that suit, I can hope to endplay LHO again.
  As it happens, LHO switches to a club, so I win with the queen and play Ace of spades and another. If LHO ducks, I'll overtake with the queen and play a small spade from dummy, playing for a 3-3 break. LHO does not duck; she wins with the King and now plays a heart. When I win, I play the queen of diamonds and LHO obliges by playing the King. 9 tricks for 6 IMPs.
  There is something to be said for playing the queen of diamonds under the ace at trick 1. With the King onside, this guarantees a diamond entry to dummy. However, LHO would continue diamonds at Trick 2, so the dummy entry would not come when I wanted it.

The team were rather happy with 32 from Night 2. We have now established a gap of some 13 VPs over 3rd place, but have not climbed to first with ROSS still exactly 1VP ahead of us. It is far from a two-horse race however; 13VPs is hardly anything at this stage. CAMPBELL is the third placed team and holders HAY are up to 4th. MCLEOD (Senior) holds 5th despite only one win. I'm happy to see him there but something has to give with the McLeod derby match on Night 3. His narrow losses against some of the bigger teams thus far show how difficult it will be for us to emulate our result of last season. McGUIRE and MOWAT sit 6th and 7th respectively, and they are still title contenders. From our point of view, out of all the title contenders, we are the only ones that are capable of dropping out on Night 3. All the others are capable of winning after a bad night, but the way see it, a bad night for us is too much ground to recover. At least so far we are earning our Seeding of 2. A month to recover then, and then we will enter the fray a third time...