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.
Saturday, 16 February 2013
Monday, 11 February 2013
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.
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.
Friday, 11 January 2013
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.
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.
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
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.
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.
Saturday, 3 November 2012
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...
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...
Monday, 29 October 2012
The Season has started
It actually started over a month ago, but whatever. I foresee a very different time ahead for me in the bridge world... working shifts makes it difficult to plan ahead, and I have to prioritise certain events in order to get to play them. I shall play at Phoenix and Ellon as-and-when, as unfortunately I cannot justify asking for club nights off any more. Consequently, I have played in Round 1 of the Phoenix Cup but not Round 2, with serious doubt over whether I shall be able to play in enough rounds with lessurl to mount a challenge. I have played 2 out of 4 nights at Ellon with my regular partner there, plus one with McLeod Senior. Perhaps it is slightly more annoying to actually do well on the nights I play.
One of the prioritised events that I hope to be available for every round of is the District Teams of Four. Same format as last year: two twelve board matches per night, but only five nights this time round with a total of eleven teams competing. After a good campaign last season, where we beat all the title contenders but lost two other matches along the way, we found ourselves second seed this time around. I expect this makes life harder for us as it means we play Seeds 1 and 4 on the final night. It also meant we started with seeds 3 and 6. And what does seeding mean anyway? Right now Seed 4 (ROSS) is top, and since they beat Seed 1 (HAY) along the way, it suggests a few teams may be after the win.
Lessurl and I began our campaign by sitting East-West against the North-South pair of team MOWAT. The Seeding put us as slight favourites for this one, but really it was anyone's guess who was to come out on top. Out of twelve boards, we made five games, two of which were converted into game swings with the help of our team mates. Our opposition had 3 plus Board 21. I overcalled RHO's 1 Heart opening bid with 2 Diamonds (holding just less than opening points and Jack-high in diamonds). After LHO bids onwards, it is judgement time for Lessurl. We were at favourable vulnerability and he had 4 Diamonds, so I played in 5 Diamonds Doubled. This was an excellent call by Lessurl despite the fact we picked up -800. Were it not for a 4-0 trump break, I might have got out for as little as -300 - we hit the only distribution of the cards that could make the sacrifice not worth it, and our team mates accepted -5 IMPs on that board with good grace. It is always good to be part of a team that endorses doing the right thing on a board rather than doing what scores right on a board. The game swings took it, as we only scored on 4 boards (compared to 6 that we lost IMPs on), but we edged the match 26-20 on IMPs; 13-7. The scores also reflected Teams strategy: on three of the six boards we lost out on, it was a "1" in the minus IMPs column. Shrug and move on - none of those were stupid errors.
Next up for us was against Gibby REID and his team. With a -1 on the first board, our opponents did well to play in 3NT+1 when our team mates played in 5 Clubs. We won a part score battle on the next board, but then a mental lapse from me resulted in going -4 vulnerable in 2NT - effectively a Vulnerable Game swing. After those four boards, we were trailing 5-24. The next six boards consisted of five part score battles and one flat Game. The last of the part score battles was flat, but we picked up a 5, two 6es and a 4 in the others to get our noses in front for the last two boards (not that we knew that was how it stood at the time of playing).
On the penultimate Board, 23, the opposition bid to a tight 4 Hearts. I wish I had written down the board, as Lessurl found a killer lead: small from Kxxx of Trumps, which was a major factor in our eventually taking the contract 3 off for 300. On 24, I made a 3NT which could have been beaten, so the two effective Game Swings at the end helped us emerge winners by 17-3 VPs.
It promises to be a very close-run thing this year. Any team is capable of beating any other, and I reckon half the teams are capable of mounting a genuine challenge for the Sybil Hay trophy. Right now ROSS sits top with 31, with CAMPBELL as well as ourselves on 30. N. MCLEOD is fourth place after Round 1, which from a personal point of view is good to see (as long as he doesn't get in our way). Two VPs separate 5th and 8th, while MOWAT is still very much in the hunt - the current second-bottom placing not fooling anyone.
From my team's POV, we just hope that we are still in the hunt at the end of play on Friday. It includes a match against CAMPBELL (a team that deservedly beat us last season) and WATSON (currently bottom but we know what they're capable of - just ask Mr. Hay), so I think it is a big ask to emerge from that with a title challenge intact.
Of course, working on a rota does mean I can sometimes play in one-off events like the SBU simultaneous pairs. Things did not start well when I doubled a cold Game (although I was within my rights to do so), but on the next board my partner, McLeod Senior, made a Game that Deep Finesse doesn't when playing against itself. Two boards later I had this board:
K75
985
K2
K10974
A109
AK642
A84
86
I had the bottom hand. RHO is Dealer and passes; I open 1 Heart. LHO overcalls 2 Diamonds, but I get to 4 Hearts. The Queen of Diamonds is led.
In his notes for this board, Ian Crorie notes that you can pick up QJ103 of hearts onside for one loser by playing the 9 from dummy and intending to run it. It is the only 4-1 trump break you can make a plan for. This is an important play in 3NT for sure. However, my plan to get to 10 tricks was different (but not better, just for avoidance of doubt). I won in dummy, played a small diamond to the Ace (just in case RHO started singleton, the Ace won't be wasted), followed by the King of Hearts and a diamond ruff. RHO over-ruffs, which I am not bothered about if he started with 3. When he has 4, I need the defence to not play Hearts. A spade was ideal from my POV, but he played a club to my LHO's Ace. Instead of continuing clubs, which on the layout would finish me (I can cope with LHO having started qith AQ or AJ doubleton, or a 3-3 break, but not the actual layout), she falls for my trap and plays a diamond. I pitch a spade from dummy and over-ruff RHO's queen of hearts. Now all that I need to do is cash two spades ending in hand and ruff a spade, conceding 1 more trump trick.
The next board was a lead problem:
A92
A984
AQ1083
5
As Dealer, I open 1 Diamond (promising 5). LHO doubles. Partner bids 2 Diamonds, and after a Double from my RHO, my LHO bids 2 Spades. RHO punts 3NT and I've seen his 3NT bids before - his "stop" in diamonds may not be rock solid. I resist the temptation to double as partner's 2 Diamonds bid means I can't expect much (or any) help from him, apart from 3 diamonds approx. What should I lead?
It looked to me like RHO has hearts, so I don't want to lead that. Why not lead spades? I'll get to that in a minute. So, diamonds or my singleton club? I think there is a chance RHO has Kxx in diamonds, and if partner has any entries at all, it is probably just the one. So, I lead a small diamond to clear the suit.
Dummy is:
Q1085
QJ5
J7
AQ76
After much thought, Declarer plays small from dummy and wins with the King, and I can breathe. Unless Declarer has all 8 of the unseen clubs, I am beating this in my hand. In fact he has KJ10843, so he can cash out a total of 7 tricks before allowing me in two take the remainder for two off.
However, we could have beaten this by 5 had I found a lead of a small spade (or cashed one or both major aces and followed with a small spade). Partner had 4 diamonds, and KJ74 of spades. A lead-directing double of 3NT would have told me what to do, but I guess it was hard to imagine I was so control-heavy.
On Board 15 we missed a thin slam:
Q85
K1074
K
A10974
A976
AQJ63
QJ85
---
4 Hearts by the bottom hand.
It has to be my hand that plays 6 Hearts. It will not make from the other side of the table. In 4 Hearts, I got the lead of the 3 of clubs, which simplified matters. I won with the Ace, pitching a diamond, and played the King of diamonds. The Ace was with LHO, who continued with another club for me to ruff. I can now play Queen and Jack of diamonds pitching two spades (opps follow), followed by the Ace of Spades and a small ruff, followed by a small club ruff, and ruffing a spade high, ruffing a club with the Jack, ruffing a spade high and being left with the AQ of trumps in hand. The most difficult lead is a heart, which requires the same tactics, and as LHO has a singleton trump, the line will work. Rather risky however.
Finally, I had best post the answers to the Declarer play problems I posted at the end of my last post.
762
876
J98
AQ42
AJ53
AJ9
AK54
KJ
3NT by South, 3 of diamonds led. You play the 8 from dummy and RHO the 6.
... And automatically my hand pulled out a low diamond. I already knew I didn't want to do that. I only have 8 tricks now. I have to win with the King, cash King and Jack of clubs and play a low diamond, playing LHO for the queen. If LHO cashes the queen, I have an entry to dummy in diamonds to take the AQ of clubs.
J7
54
QJ10
KQJ954
K965
AKJ
A65
1032
3NT by South, 3 of Diamonds led. Playing the 10 from Dummy, RHO plays the 8.
This one was obvious already, but after the last one, it's in neon flashing lights. Overtake the ten with the ace and play the ten of clubs. Guess what, the Ace doesn't appear, so continue clubs until RHO is forced to win on Trick 4. RHO's best shot now is a spade, which you can duck to (at worst) the queen. Then back to RHO's Ace and a spade through your K9 - up with the King. Knock out the King of Diamonds and if lady luck smiles (which on these hands you know it will), they can't cash a spade. The last diamond is an entry to the clubs in dummy.
A3
105
K8542
AK83
KJ9
K976
AQ6
654
3NT by South, 5 of spades led.
The best line here is to win the opening trick in hand as cheaply as possible and then play a low diamond from both hands. As long as neither defender has shown out, the contract is secure. Depending on which defender won the diamond trick and what the heart situation is, they can cash a maximum of two heart tricks before letting you back in - say with a club. Cash the Ace of Spades, then the Ace and Queen of Diamonds, then the King of Spades and get back to dummy with the other club winner to take 9 tricks minimum.
The last one is a suit combination puzzle; let's isolate that heart suit:
K 7 6 opposite A J 5 3
The central point of this hand is playing this suit combination for one loser, as you must assume that when you let the opponents in they get exactly 3 club tricks (maximum). Every other suit is double-stopped.
The way to play this suit for one loser is play small from hand (the 6) to the ACE. Then the 3 back to the King, followed by the last heart towards the J5 in dummy. This way, you only lose more than 1 trick in hearts if RHO has Queen and at least three other hearts, in which case there was never anything you could do. Also, if RHO had Qxxxx, you would discover this on playing the King of Hearts and look for an endplay.
One of the prioritised events that I hope to be available for every round of is the District Teams of Four. Same format as last year: two twelve board matches per night, but only five nights this time round with a total of eleven teams competing. After a good campaign last season, where we beat all the title contenders but lost two other matches along the way, we found ourselves second seed this time around. I expect this makes life harder for us as it means we play Seeds 1 and 4 on the final night. It also meant we started with seeds 3 and 6. And what does seeding mean anyway? Right now Seed 4 (ROSS) is top, and since they beat Seed 1 (HAY) along the way, it suggests a few teams may be after the win.
Lessurl and I began our campaign by sitting East-West against the North-South pair of team MOWAT. The Seeding put us as slight favourites for this one, but really it was anyone's guess who was to come out on top. Out of twelve boards, we made five games, two of which were converted into game swings with the help of our team mates. Our opposition had 3 plus Board 21. I overcalled RHO's 1 Heart opening bid with 2 Diamonds (holding just less than opening points and Jack-high in diamonds). After LHO bids onwards, it is judgement time for Lessurl. We were at favourable vulnerability and he had 4 Diamonds, so I played in 5 Diamonds Doubled. This was an excellent call by Lessurl despite the fact we picked up -800. Were it not for a 4-0 trump break, I might have got out for as little as -300 - we hit the only distribution of the cards that could make the sacrifice not worth it, and our team mates accepted -5 IMPs on that board with good grace. It is always good to be part of a team that endorses doing the right thing on a board rather than doing what scores right on a board. The game swings took it, as we only scored on 4 boards (compared to 6 that we lost IMPs on), but we edged the match 26-20 on IMPs; 13-7. The scores also reflected Teams strategy: on three of the six boards we lost out on, it was a "1" in the minus IMPs column. Shrug and move on - none of those were stupid errors.
Next up for us was against Gibby REID and his team. With a -1 on the first board, our opponents did well to play in 3NT+1 when our team mates played in 5 Clubs. We won a part score battle on the next board, but then a mental lapse from me resulted in going -4 vulnerable in 2NT - effectively a Vulnerable Game swing. After those four boards, we were trailing 5-24. The next six boards consisted of five part score battles and one flat Game. The last of the part score battles was flat, but we picked up a 5, two 6es and a 4 in the others to get our noses in front for the last two boards (not that we knew that was how it stood at the time of playing).
On the penultimate Board, 23, the opposition bid to a tight 4 Hearts. I wish I had written down the board, as Lessurl found a killer lead: small from Kxxx of Trumps, which was a major factor in our eventually taking the contract 3 off for 300. On 24, I made a 3NT which could have been beaten, so the two effective Game Swings at the end helped us emerge winners by 17-3 VPs.
It promises to be a very close-run thing this year. Any team is capable of beating any other, and I reckon half the teams are capable of mounting a genuine challenge for the Sybil Hay trophy. Right now ROSS sits top with 31, with CAMPBELL as well as ourselves on 30. N. MCLEOD is fourth place after Round 1, which from a personal point of view is good to see (as long as he doesn't get in our way). Two VPs separate 5th and 8th, while MOWAT is still very much in the hunt - the current second-bottom placing not fooling anyone.
From my team's POV, we just hope that we are still in the hunt at the end of play on Friday. It includes a match against CAMPBELL (a team that deservedly beat us last season) and WATSON (currently bottom but we know what they're capable of - just ask Mr. Hay), so I think it is a big ask to emerge from that with a title challenge intact.
Of course, working on a rota does mean I can sometimes play in one-off events like the SBU simultaneous pairs. Things did not start well when I doubled a cold Game (although I was within my rights to do so), but on the next board my partner, McLeod Senior, made a Game that Deep Finesse doesn't when playing against itself. Two boards later I had this board:
K75
985
K2
K10974
A109
AK642
A84
86
I had the bottom hand. RHO is Dealer and passes; I open 1 Heart. LHO overcalls 2 Diamonds, but I get to 4 Hearts. The Queen of Diamonds is led.
In his notes for this board, Ian Crorie notes that you can pick up QJ103 of hearts onside for one loser by playing the 9 from dummy and intending to run it. It is the only 4-1 trump break you can make a plan for. This is an important play in 3NT for sure. However, my plan to get to 10 tricks was different (but not better, just for avoidance of doubt). I won in dummy, played a small diamond to the Ace (just in case RHO started singleton, the Ace won't be wasted), followed by the King of Hearts and a diamond ruff. RHO over-ruffs, which I am not bothered about if he started with 3. When he has 4, I need the defence to not play Hearts. A spade was ideal from my POV, but he played a club to my LHO's Ace. Instead of continuing clubs, which on the layout would finish me (I can cope with LHO having started qith AQ or AJ doubleton, or a 3-3 break, but not the actual layout), she falls for my trap and plays a diamond. I pitch a spade from dummy and over-ruff RHO's queen of hearts. Now all that I need to do is cash two spades ending in hand and ruff a spade, conceding 1 more trump trick.
The next board was a lead problem:
A92
A984
AQ1083
5
As Dealer, I open 1 Diamond (promising 5). LHO doubles. Partner bids 2 Diamonds, and after a Double from my RHO, my LHO bids 2 Spades. RHO punts 3NT and I've seen his 3NT bids before - his "stop" in diamonds may not be rock solid. I resist the temptation to double as partner's 2 Diamonds bid means I can't expect much (or any) help from him, apart from 3 diamonds approx. What should I lead?
It looked to me like RHO has hearts, so I don't want to lead that. Why not lead spades? I'll get to that in a minute. So, diamonds or my singleton club? I think there is a chance RHO has Kxx in diamonds, and if partner has any entries at all, it is probably just the one. So, I lead a small diamond to clear the suit.
Dummy is:
Q1085
QJ5
J7
AQ76
After much thought, Declarer plays small from dummy and wins with the King, and I can breathe. Unless Declarer has all 8 of the unseen clubs, I am beating this in my hand. In fact he has KJ10843, so he can cash out a total of 7 tricks before allowing me in two take the remainder for two off.
However, we could have beaten this by 5 had I found a lead of a small spade (or cashed one or both major aces and followed with a small spade). Partner had 4 diamonds, and KJ74 of spades. A lead-directing double of 3NT would have told me what to do, but I guess it was hard to imagine I was so control-heavy.
On Board 15 we missed a thin slam:
Q85
K1074
K
A10974
A976
AQJ63
QJ85
---
4 Hearts by the bottom hand.
It has to be my hand that plays 6 Hearts. It will not make from the other side of the table. In 4 Hearts, I got the lead of the 3 of clubs, which simplified matters. I won with the Ace, pitching a diamond, and played the King of diamonds. The Ace was with LHO, who continued with another club for me to ruff. I can now play Queen and Jack of diamonds pitching two spades (opps follow), followed by the Ace of Spades and a small ruff, followed by a small club ruff, and ruffing a spade high, ruffing a club with the Jack, ruffing a spade high and being left with the AQ of trumps in hand. The most difficult lead is a heart, which requires the same tactics, and as LHO has a singleton trump, the line will work. Rather risky however.
Finally, I had best post the answers to the Declarer play problems I posted at the end of my last post.
762
876
J98
AQ42
AJ53
AJ9
AK54
KJ
3NT by South, 3 of diamonds led. You play the 8 from dummy and RHO the 6.
... And automatically my hand pulled out a low diamond. I already knew I didn't want to do that. I only have 8 tricks now. I have to win with the King, cash King and Jack of clubs and play a low diamond, playing LHO for the queen. If LHO cashes the queen, I have an entry to dummy in diamonds to take the AQ of clubs.
J7
54
QJ10
KQJ954
K965
AKJ
A65
1032
3NT by South, 3 of Diamonds led. Playing the 10 from Dummy, RHO plays the 8.
This one was obvious already, but after the last one, it's in neon flashing lights. Overtake the ten with the ace and play the ten of clubs. Guess what, the Ace doesn't appear, so continue clubs until RHO is forced to win on Trick 4. RHO's best shot now is a spade, which you can duck to (at worst) the queen. Then back to RHO's Ace and a spade through your K9 - up with the King. Knock out the King of Diamonds and if lady luck smiles (which on these hands you know it will), they can't cash a spade. The last diamond is an entry to the clubs in dummy.
A3
105
K8542
AK83
KJ9
K976
AQ6
654
3NT by South, 5 of spades led.
The best line here is to win the opening trick in hand as cheaply as possible and then play a low diamond from both hands. As long as neither defender has shown out, the contract is secure. Depending on which defender won the diamond trick and what the heart situation is, they can cash a maximum of two heart tricks before letting you back in - say with a club. Cash the Ace of Spades, then the Ace and Queen of Diamonds, then the King of Spades and get back to dummy with the other club winner to take 9 tricks minimum.
The last one is a suit combination puzzle; let's isolate that heart suit:
K 7 6 opposite A J 5 3
The central point of this hand is playing this suit combination for one loser, as you must assume that when you let the opponents in they get exactly 3 club tricks (maximum). Every other suit is double-stopped.
The way to play this suit for one loser is play small from hand (the 6) to the ACE. Then the 3 back to the King, followed by the last heart towards the J5 in dummy. This way, you only lose more than 1 trick in hearts if RHO has Queen and at least three other hearts, in which case there was never anything you could do. Also, if RHO had Qxxxx, you would discover this on playing the King of Hearts and look for an endplay.
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
7th Greek Islands Bridge Festival
Early on the morning of the 25th August, I woke to the sound of my alarm to be on time for a long journey - starting with a lift to Union Square Bus Station, followed by a bus journey to Buchanan Bus Station Glasgow and further bus journey to Glasgow Airport. And then the small matter of a flight to Rhodes. It was the middle of the night local time by the time we arrived, and a good thing too - I didn't want to step out into the Greek sun immediately. There were 10 of us in all, the Scottish contingent - heading to Rhodes to play in the 7th Greek Islands Bridge Festival.
The first thing I shall say about this particular event was the quality of the hospitality from our hosts. They did everything they could to make our stay as enjoyable as possible - and I mean everything. From airport transfers to accommodation to taxis from our residence to the venue, they were on top of everything. There was even a half-day cruise thrown in as part of the event. Wow. Not least in the things I am thankful is the reason we were able to go in the first place - entry and accommodation costs covered by the Greeks. The SBU would have been mad to pass it up.
The first day was taken up mainly with acclimatisation and (if you're not me) swimming. I do not intend to complain about the Scottish weather again after the heat of Rhodes. Seriously. What does it need to be 39 Degrees Celsius for? That's way too hot to actually do anything, so I was glad that most of the bridge was played in the late afternoon and evening. Did I meantion Rhodes is a very beautiful island? No? Well, it is. Not that I was up for too much exploring by day. We found it much more sensible to socialise at night - after the bridge - when we could walk around in the heat without being burned and sleep through the morning.
Still, we'd come to Rhodes for bridge, and we had to take good news back to the SBU in the hope that they might fund more events. This meant playing really well. There were three events - Open Pairs, Mixed Pairs and Teams. We had 5 partnerships for the Open Pairs, 3 for the mixed, and two teams for the Teams. "Scot A" was our Under 20 team, and "Scot B" was the other three juniors plus Mr. Duguid.
The Open Pairs were played over three sessions. Falco and I were teaming up again after our (sort-of) success in Amsterdam, for both the Pairs and the Teams. Both of us have a disliking for pairs, so our attitude was "do-what-we-can". We did just that, but it wasn't helped by boards like these:
K 8
A 6 3 2
Q 4 2
Q 6 3 2
7
Q J 9 8 7 4
K 9 6
K J 9
I had the bottom hand. After a competitive auction which I would do best to forget (since clearly Falco and I did not set a good example of how to bid), I ended up in 5 Hearts Doubled when we should have Doubled 4 Spades for +500.
I get a small diamond led to the Ace, and then RHO cashes Ace of Clubs. A diamond is returned, and this doomed contract has some hope when my King wins the trick. What I have to do is play hearts for no losers, unblock clubs and get back to dummy to pitch the last spade. Everything is set up, but I must not lose a heart. How do you play hearts?
Running the Queen is less than 50%, because it will not pick up K105 onside, although no play can pick that holding up. Playing for the drop is 26% a priori, but the odds change as the cards are played. Of course, I didn't know these percentages at the time, and my decision was to play the queen and rise with the Ace when LHO follows smoothly. This works, as RHO has singleton King. The only problem is that LHO goes into the tank for long enough to create a clear break in tempo, so I finesse. A diamond is returned for a ruff, and -800 later I am cursing myself for being too polite. I should of course have asked RHO if she agreed there had been a hesitation, and risen with the Ace if she disagreed. As many good things as I have to say about the Greeks, the behaviour of a minority of players visiting from other countries was less than admirable. But at the end of the day this was a Congress event, not a full International, so we decided to roll with the punches. We could land a few ourselves, after all.
A 10 7 3
A 10 9 7
7 4
J 7 3
Falco had this hand. As Dealer at Game All, he passes. His LHO passes and I open 1 Club (Better Minor). His RHO says 1 Heart; Falco now bids 1 Spade. Bidding continues with a Pass and 2 Diamonds from me. With what looks like a double stop in hearts, Falco bids 3NT. 8 of hearts is led, imagine his disappointment with this dummy:
Q 5
3
A K 6 2
K 10 9 8 6 2
The Jack is played from his RHO, so now Falco wins and plays the Jack of Clubs, covered by the Queen, King and Ace. Nine tricks are rolling in now. Of course, Falco expected a much stronger dummy, (I confirmed that this particular +600 (our best % score of the round) was my fault, as 2 Diamonds is an overbid), but a well-judged overbid, if I do say so myself.
Most of the other boards involved better bridge but worse luck, and we finished Round 1 somewhere below 50%. (Quite a bit below, I reckon). The second session focused a lot on bidding: When to bid Slam and when not to bid Game being two common themes. We came off worst in the first of those axioms, as our opponents invariably found their slams and our opportunity was this:
Q 6 4 3
A K Q J 9
A K J 8
---
I opted for 1 Heart and hope that partner finds a reply. This was a good decision. When partner responds to a 2 Clubs bid with anything other than 2 Diamonds we lose bidding space too fast. His reply was 1 Spade, and somehow I miss the Splinter bid of 4 Clubs and bid 3 Spades (probably because it is a cheaper bid, but that's no excuse). Partner looked at his hand unimaginitively and bid 4 Spades, which at least takes some of the blame away from me as he should find a cue bid holding a singleton heart and A K J 5 of spades. The auction should go: 1H-1S-4C-4H-4NT-5H-6S, assuming no diamond losers (throw dummy's diamonds on hearts to set up a ruff) and hope for no more than one spade loser. It still requires a punt as you could be playing in 6 Spades with Q 6 4 3 opposite K 7 5 2 in the trump suit.
The rest of the time we judged well, as we found our Games and allowed our opponents once or twice to go to Games that came more than 1 trick down, vulnerable. There was a nice bonus when our opponents decided to Double a cold 5 Diamonds contract of mine. A good session saw us riding just below 50% overall and no more.
Falco and I had agreed anything over 50% was fine, but we soon put our ambitions higher after the way we started Round 3 (the final round). On the very first board my RHO had this Declarer problem:
A K Q
4 2
10 9 7 3
K 8 5 2
9 8
A K 10 8 7 6
A K 6
7 4
6 Hearts, Jack of Spades led.
Obviously, this is a bad contract. Even if the Ace of Clubs is onside, hearts still have to be played for no losers. There are two ways to do this: play for RHO to have QJx, or play for either defender to have QJ doubleton. Those of you who know your bridge odds will know that the former line is almost 2% more likely to work a priori, and the former line gains further once you've actually played a small heart from dummy at trick 2 and RHO follows small. When the 10 holds, Declarer has to draw trumps, piching a small club on the third round, and then hope the club finesse works.
It so happens that Declarer rose with the King on the first round, dropping my Jack. Having started this line he should stick to it, dropping my queen as well and taking the club finesse. There is no point in playing me for a singleton as he can't pick up an original holding of Q 9 5 3 with my partner anyway. As it happens, this would not have saved him, as his LHO (me) held Q J 3 of Clubs. But he would come only one off, instead of the -2 that actually resulted.
Boards 21 and 22 presented some nice Declarer hands:
10 9 3
J 4
A Q 10 5 4
Q J 2
A Q 6 4
A Q 6
9 6 2
K 8 4
3NT, 8 of Hearts led.
I have two heart tricks and can establish two clubs. There is an obvious plan here: Establish 4 diamond tricks and take your tricks before the defence can hurt you with a long suit. That saves having to play spades for more than 1 trick.
I play small from dummy, and the queen wins the trick. I run the 9 of diamonds which loses to the Jack. If the King of Hearts is returned, I have to duck a round to block the suit. Instead, a club is returned to my King, which wins. I now play a small diamond to the ten, which loses to the King, and another club comes back. Dummy wins this one, and now I cannot afford to lose a trick. With only three diamonds in total, I need the second spade trick so I finesse the queen, which holds, and claim 9.
To defeat the contract, LHO needs to lead a club from his original doubleton holding. RHO can then establish three club tricks before I can establish 9 anywhere.
J 6 2
9
A 10 8 2
A Q J 10 6
Q 7
A Q 10 8
Q 7 6 5 4 3
4
4 Diamonds Doubled, LHO cashes AK of spades then plays a small one.
The Jack of Spades wins the trick, so I play a small heart. This contract is not without danger. I play a small heart to the ace and a small diamond. The 9 appears. By finessing the ten, I guarantee no more than 1 diamond loser as losing to either honour means the trumps are divided 2-1 or 1-2 and the Ace will beat the next one. The only possible way I'd lose another is if RHO held singleton Jack and LHO has a void in clubs. That is rather less likely than the chances of LHO having started with KJ9. Hence, I finesse, and although RHO does have singleton Jack, he doesn't have a return that can hurt me and I can draw the least diamond, 1 club trick, and cross-ruff the remainder. +510 was better than 5 Diamonds making, which is important, as it can make. Declarer has to play the Queen from hand, and whether LHO covers or not, the Jack has been pinned.
Here is an actual 5 Diamond Contract I played:
A Q J 10 9 6 2
J
7
K Q 7 2
---
9 5
A Q J 10 9 8 3 2
A 10 6
Lead: Ace of Hearts.
This was played against the rudest pair in the competition. We were already behind time as one of our opponents had taken long enough to play an absoloutely frigid 5 Diamonds. I'm not sure what they were unhappy about (the fact that 3NT was a superior contract maybe?), but I don't think it warranted speaking French throughout the bidding of this board. I tried to make up the time on this one, but I was hindered in a most unusual way. LHO switched to a club, which I won with the ten, ruffed a heart and played the 2 of spades, ruffing with the 8. Of course I have the worry that LHO holds the King of diamonds plus an original 5 clubs, but I avoided the worry that RHO was void in clubs or LHO was void in spades that I'd have had by playing the Queen of Clubs and pitching a heart on the Ace of Spades, all for sake of being able to take a diamond finesse that is odds-against finding King doubleton onside. Anyway, I needn't have worried; LHO followed suit and showed out when I played the Ace of Diamonds on the next trick. It was about this time that, instead of playing a card, RHO decided to go into the tank. After a while, she decided the best thing to do was grab one of my quitted tricks and look at it. She eventually followed suit, and I played the Queen of Diamonds, and RHO goes into the tank again. Therefore, I begin to claim: "It doesn't matter when you take it; I'll get back in -" I am cut short by RHO preventing me from claiming (literally pushing back up my hand that I've tried to face) and saying "Wait!" After yet another long think, she takes the King, and thinks about what card to play back for another minute or so. I win, and put my Jack of diamonds on the table, followed immediately by the ten, nine and the rest of my hand - I wasn't going to be prevented from claiming a second time.
Incidentally, this pair came up against one of our supervisors in the next event; the Mixed(!) Pairs. I was glad that our supervisor did not show the same restraint as I did and promptly put the lady who was my RHO in her place when she did her "let's just grab one of my opponent's quitted tricks and look at it" thing again.
All in all, we did very well in this session, and I still maintain that had a difference of opinion not resulted in us being in 6 Spades Doubled -2 towards the end, we would have got 60% or more in the session. Our score was still good enough to propel us so far up the rankings that we actually earned some Greek Master Points.
I can't really say much about the Mixed Pairs. I wasn't playing in it; Falco and I decided to watch a Scottish brother-and-sister partnership in Session 1. They did very well, coming 6th overall, which netted a tidy sum of Euros. Yet more success for Scotland following on from two pairs doing well in the Open Pairs.
That just left the teams.
Unusually for this type of event, the boards for the teams were hand-dealt, which meant no hand records. If I had been playing with R, I might have had a chance of going through some of the hands, as he notes down each and every bid in the auction and that might jog my memory. As it is, I'll just give a brief report on how we did.
Scotland B did okay I felt. There were 7 rounds of eight board matches. We won four, drew two and lost only one. We were never really in the running for anything, but had never expected to be. We kept clear of the wooden spoon though.
Our Under 20 team were the top junior team in the competition - quite remarkable, since all the other junior teams were Under 25.
Oh, and I can't help but mention the fact that Versace (you know, one of the best players in the world - THAT Versace) turned up to play in the Teams. That's not the interesting thing. What was most interesting was the fact that our friends in this Irish junior squad took on Team Versace and beat them. The match basically swung on a Grand Slam board which, if told right, will work it's way into the stuff of legend. I'll leave that to Wayne.
So we had quite a few players going up to collect prizes at the Gala dinner. The gala dinner was actually held outside at night; unthinkable in Scotland - but Greece is a country where you can tell whether or not there is any chance of rain based on what month it is, leaving a relaxed and pleasant al fresco atmosphere.
I haven't yet mentioned yet another aspect of this week that made the experience so positive - lessons from Krystof Martens. The SBU had said that this was one of the reasons we were going: attendance was compulsory. The compulsion was un-necessary; none of us were going to miss this. There were two lessons; the first being a session of play 8 boards normally and then analyse them. Much of it was about bidding to the right contract and this was one that we got wrong:
---
K 7 3
Q J 9 5 4
A 10 9 8 3
9 7 5 3
A Q 4
A K 10 2
K 6
I had the top hand; Falco the bottom hand. Falco is Dealer.
This was a pity as we had the methods to cope with this. Falco opens 1NT; pretty straight forward. The auction continues (with the opps passing) 2C-2S-3C. I have now shown a GF hand with at least 5-5 in the minors (Non-Prom Stayman followed by 3 Clubs). Unfortunately, Falco does not remember this, so the auction does not continue 3D-3H-4C-4D-4H-4NT-5D-7D as it would if the convention was remembered.
The second lesson was all about Declarer contracts at Teams. I'll end this post with four of them: one I got wrong (I noticed immediately after it was too late), one I got right, and two that were given as problems to take away and study (although the answers are not hard to work out).
7 6 2
8 7 6
J 9 8
A Q 4 2
A J 5 3
A J 9
A K 5 4
K J
3NT by South, 3 of Diamonds led. You play the 8 and RHO plays the 6.
J 7
5 4
Q J 10
K Q J 9 5 4
K 9 6 5
A K J
A 6 5
10 3 2
3NT by South, 3 of Diamonds led. Whatever you play from dummy, RHO plays the 8.
A 3
10 5
K 8 5 4 2
A K 8 3
K J 9
K 9 7 6
A Q 6
6 5 4
3NT by South, 5 of Spades led.
A Q 3
A J 5 3
K 4 2
A 8 3
K J 9
K 7 6
A 7 6
6 5 4 2
3NT by South, King of Clubs led.
Scottish and Irish Juniors @ Napoli Pizza, Rhodes after a hard night's work
The first thing I shall say about this particular event was the quality of the hospitality from our hosts. They did everything they could to make our stay as enjoyable as possible - and I mean everything. From airport transfers to accommodation to taxis from our residence to the venue, they were on top of everything. There was even a half-day cruise thrown in as part of the event. Wow. Not least in the things I am thankful is the reason we were able to go in the first place - entry and accommodation costs covered by the Greeks. The SBU would have been mad to pass it up.
The first day was taken up mainly with acclimatisation and (if you're not me) swimming. I do not intend to complain about the Scottish weather again after the heat of Rhodes. Seriously. What does it need to be 39 Degrees Celsius for? That's way too hot to actually do anything, so I was glad that most of the bridge was played in the late afternoon and evening. Did I meantion Rhodes is a very beautiful island? No? Well, it is. Not that I was up for too much exploring by day. We found it much more sensible to socialise at night - after the bridge - when we could walk around in the heat without being burned and sleep through the morning.
Still, we'd come to Rhodes for bridge, and we had to take good news back to the SBU in the hope that they might fund more events. This meant playing really well. There were three events - Open Pairs, Mixed Pairs and Teams. We had 5 partnerships for the Open Pairs, 3 for the mixed, and two teams for the Teams. "Scot A" was our Under 20 team, and "Scot B" was the other three juniors plus Mr. Duguid.
The Open Pairs were played over three sessions. Falco and I were teaming up again after our (sort-of) success in Amsterdam, for both the Pairs and the Teams. Both of us have a disliking for pairs, so our attitude was "do-what-we-can". We did just that, but it wasn't helped by boards like these:
K 8
A 6 3 2
Q 4 2
Q 6 3 2
7
Q J 9 8 7 4
K 9 6
K J 9
I had the bottom hand. After a competitive auction which I would do best to forget (since clearly Falco and I did not set a good example of how to bid), I ended up in 5 Hearts Doubled when we should have Doubled 4 Spades for +500.
I get a small diamond led to the Ace, and then RHO cashes Ace of Clubs. A diamond is returned, and this doomed contract has some hope when my King wins the trick. What I have to do is play hearts for no losers, unblock clubs and get back to dummy to pitch the last spade. Everything is set up, but I must not lose a heart. How do you play hearts?
Running the Queen is less than 50%, because it will not pick up K105 onside, although no play can pick that holding up. Playing for the drop is 26% a priori, but the odds change as the cards are played. Of course, I didn't know these percentages at the time, and my decision was to play the queen and rise with the Ace when LHO follows smoothly. This works, as RHO has singleton King. The only problem is that LHO goes into the tank for long enough to create a clear break in tempo, so I finesse. A diamond is returned for a ruff, and -800 later I am cursing myself for being too polite. I should of course have asked RHO if she agreed there had been a hesitation, and risen with the Ace if she disagreed. As many good things as I have to say about the Greeks, the behaviour of a minority of players visiting from other countries was less than admirable. But at the end of the day this was a Congress event, not a full International, so we decided to roll with the punches. We could land a few ourselves, after all.
A 10 7 3
A 10 9 7
7 4
J 7 3
Falco had this hand. As Dealer at Game All, he passes. His LHO passes and I open 1 Club (Better Minor). His RHO says 1 Heart; Falco now bids 1 Spade. Bidding continues with a Pass and 2 Diamonds from me. With what looks like a double stop in hearts, Falco bids 3NT. 8 of hearts is led, imagine his disappointment with this dummy:
Q 5
3
A K 6 2
K 10 9 8 6 2
The Jack is played from his RHO, so now Falco wins and plays the Jack of Clubs, covered by the Queen, King and Ace. Nine tricks are rolling in now. Of course, Falco expected a much stronger dummy, (I confirmed that this particular +600 (our best % score of the round) was my fault, as 2 Diamonds is an overbid), but a well-judged overbid, if I do say so myself.
Most of the other boards involved better bridge but worse luck, and we finished Round 1 somewhere below 50%. (Quite a bit below, I reckon). The second session focused a lot on bidding: When to bid Slam and when not to bid Game being two common themes. We came off worst in the first of those axioms, as our opponents invariably found their slams and our opportunity was this:
Q 6 4 3
A K Q J 9
A K J 8
---
I opted for 1 Heart and hope that partner finds a reply. This was a good decision. When partner responds to a 2 Clubs bid with anything other than 2 Diamonds we lose bidding space too fast. His reply was 1 Spade, and somehow I miss the Splinter bid of 4 Clubs and bid 3 Spades (probably because it is a cheaper bid, but that's no excuse). Partner looked at his hand unimaginitively and bid 4 Spades, which at least takes some of the blame away from me as he should find a cue bid holding a singleton heart and A K J 5 of spades. The auction should go: 1H-1S-4C-4H-4NT-5H-6S, assuming no diamond losers (throw dummy's diamonds on hearts to set up a ruff) and hope for no more than one spade loser. It still requires a punt as you could be playing in 6 Spades with Q 6 4 3 opposite K 7 5 2 in the trump suit.
The rest of the time we judged well, as we found our Games and allowed our opponents once or twice to go to Games that came more than 1 trick down, vulnerable. There was a nice bonus when our opponents decided to Double a cold 5 Diamonds contract of mine. A good session saw us riding just below 50% overall and no more.
Falco and I had agreed anything over 50% was fine, but we soon put our ambitions higher after the way we started Round 3 (the final round). On the very first board my RHO had this Declarer problem:
A K Q
4 2
10 9 7 3
K 8 5 2
9 8
A K 10 8 7 6
A K 6
7 4
6 Hearts, Jack of Spades led.
Obviously, this is a bad contract. Even if the Ace of Clubs is onside, hearts still have to be played for no losers. There are two ways to do this: play for RHO to have QJx, or play for either defender to have QJ doubleton. Those of you who know your bridge odds will know that the former line is almost 2% more likely to work a priori, and the former line gains further once you've actually played a small heart from dummy at trick 2 and RHO follows small. When the 10 holds, Declarer has to draw trumps, piching a small club on the third round, and then hope the club finesse works.
It so happens that Declarer rose with the King on the first round, dropping my Jack. Having started this line he should stick to it, dropping my queen as well and taking the club finesse. There is no point in playing me for a singleton as he can't pick up an original holding of Q 9 5 3 with my partner anyway. As it happens, this would not have saved him, as his LHO (me) held Q J 3 of Clubs. But he would come only one off, instead of the -2 that actually resulted.
Boards 21 and 22 presented some nice Declarer hands:
10 9 3
J 4
A Q 10 5 4
Q J 2
A Q 6 4
A Q 6
9 6 2
K 8 4
3NT, 8 of Hearts led.
I have two heart tricks and can establish two clubs. There is an obvious plan here: Establish 4 diamond tricks and take your tricks before the defence can hurt you with a long suit. That saves having to play spades for more than 1 trick.
I play small from dummy, and the queen wins the trick. I run the 9 of diamonds which loses to the Jack. If the King of Hearts is returned, I have to duck a round to block the suit. Instead, a club is returned to my King, which wins. I now play a small diamond to the ten, which loses to the King, and another club comes back. Dummy wins this one, and now I cannot afford to lose a trick. With only three diamonds in total, I need the second spade trick so I finesse the queen, which holds, and claim 9.
To defeat the contract, LHO needs to lead a club from his original doubleton holding. RHO can then establish three club tricks before I can establish 9 anywhere.
J 6 2
9
A 10 8 2
A Q J 10 6
Q 7
A Q 10 8
Q 7 6 5 4 3
4
4 Diamonds Doubled, LHO cashes AK of spades then plays a small one.
The Jack of Spades wins the trick, so I play a small heart. This contract is not without danger. I play a small heart to the ace and a small diamond. The 9 appears. By finessing the ten, I guarantee no more than 1 diamond loser as losing to either honour means the trumps are divided 2-1 or 1-2 and the Ace will beat the next one. The only possible way I'd lose another is if RHO held singleton Jack and LHO has a void in clubs. That is rather less likely than the chances of LHO having started with KJ9. Hence, I finesse, and although RHO does have singleton Jack, he doesn't have a return that can hurt me and I can draw the least diamond, 1 club trick, and cross-ruff the remainder. +510 was better than 5 Diamonds making, which is important, as it can make. Declarer has to play the Queen from hand, and whether LHO covers or not, the Jack has been pinned.
Here is an actual 5 Diamond Contract I played:
A Q J 10 9 6 2
J
7
K Q 7 2
---
9 5
A Q J 10 9 8 3 2
A 10 6
Lead: Ace of Hearts.
This was played against the rudest pair in the competition. We were already behind time as one of our opponents had taken long enough to play an absoloutely frigid 5 Diamonds. I'm not sure what they were unhappy about (the fact that 3NT was a superior contract maybe?), but I don't think it warranted speaking French throughout the bidding of this board. I tried to make up the time on this one, but I was hindered in a most unusual way. LHO switched to a club, which I won with the ten, ruffed a heart and played the 2 of spades, ruffing with the 8. Of course I have the worry that LHO holds the King of diamonds plus an original 5 clubs, but I avoided the worry that RHO was void in clubs or LHO was void in spades that I'd have had by playing the Queen of Clubs and pitching a heart on the Ace of Spades, all for sake of being able to take a diamond finesse that is odds-against finding King doubleton onside. Anyway, I needn't have worried; LHO followed suit and showed out when I played the Ace of Diamonds on the next trick. It was about this time that, instead of playing a card, RHO decided to go into the tank. After a while, she decided the best thing to do was grab one of my quitted tricks and look at it. She eventually followed suit, and I played the Queen of Diamonds, and RHO goes into the tank again. Therefore, I begin to claim: "It doesn't matter when you take it; I'll get back in -" I am cut short by RHO preventing me from claiming (literally pushing back up my hand that I've tried to face) and saying "Wait!" After yet another long think, she takes the King, and thinks about what card to play back for another minute or so. I win, and put my Jack of diamonds on the table, followed immediately by the ten, nine and the rest of my hand - I wasn't going to be prevented from claiming a second time.
Incidentally, this pair came up against one of our supervisors in the next event; the Mixed(!) Pairs. I was glad that our supervisor did not show the same restraint as I did and promptly put the lady who was my RHO in her place when she did her "let's just grab one of my opponent's quitted tricks and look at it" thing again.
All in all, we did very well in this session, and I still maintain that had a difference of opinion not resulted in us being in 6 Spades Doubled -2 towards the end, we would have got 60% or more in the session. Our score was still good enough to propel us so far up the rankings that we actually earned some Greek Master Points.
I can't really say much about the Mixed Pairs. I wasn't playing in it; Falco and I decided to watch a Scottish brother-and-sister partnership in Session 1. They did very well, coming 6th overall, which netted a tidy sum of Euros. Yet more success for Scotland following on from two pairs doing well in the Open Pairs.
That just left the teams.
Unusually for this type of event, the boards for the teams were hand-dealt, which meant no hand records. If I had been playing with R, I might have had a chance of going through some of the hands, as he notes down each and every bid in the auction and that might jog my memory. As it is, I'll just give a brief report on how we did.
Scotland B did okay I felt. There were 7 rounds of eight board matches. We won four, drew two and lost only one. We were never really in the running for anything, but had never expected to be. We kept clear of the wooden spoon though.
Our Under 20 team were the top junior team in the competition - quite remarkable, since all the other junior teams were Under 25.
Oh, and I can't help but mention the fact that Versace (you know, one of the best players in the world - THAT Versace) turned up to play in the Teams. That's not the interesting thing. What was most interesting was the fact that our friends in this Irish junior squad took on Team Versace and beat them. The match basically swung on a Grand Slam board which, if told right, will work it's way into the stuff of legend. I'll leave that to Wayne.
So we had quite a few players going up to collect prizes at the Gala dinner. The gala dinner was actually held outside at night; unthinkable in Scotland - but Greece is a country where you can tell whether or not there is any chance of rain based on what month it is, leaving a relaxed and pleasant al fresco atmosphere.
I haven't yet mentioned yet another aspect of this week that made the experience so positive - lessons from Krystof Martens. The SBU had said that this was one of the reasons we were going: attendance was compulsory. The compulsion was un-necessary; none of us were going to miss this. There were two lessons; the first being a session of play 8 boards normally and then analyse them. Much of it was about bidding to the right contract and this was one that we got wrong:
---
K 7 3
Q J 9 5 4
A 10 9 8 3
9 7 5 3
A Q 4
A K 10 2
K 6
I had the top hand; Falco the bottom hand. Falco is Dealer.
This was a pity as we had the methods to cope with this. Falco opens 1NT; pretty straight forward. The auction continues (with the opps passing) 2C-2S-3C. I have now shown a GF hand with at least 5-5 in the minors (Non-Prom Stayman followed by 3 Clubs). Unfortunately, Falco does not remember this, so the auction does not continue 3D-3H-4C-4D-4H-4NT-5D-7D as it would if the convention was remembered.
The second lesson was all about Declarer contracts at Teams. I'll end this post with four of them: one I got wrong (I noticed immediately after it was too late), one I got right, and two that were given as problems to take away and study (although the answers are not hard to work out).
7 6 2
8 7 6
J 9 8
A Q 4 2
A J 5 3
A J 9
A K 5 4
K J
3NT by South, 3 of Diamonds led. You play the 8 and RHO plays the 6.
J 7
5 4
Q J 10
K Q J 9 5 4
K 9 6 5
A K J
A 6 5
10 3 2
3NT by South, 3 of Diamonds led. Whatever you play from dummy, RHO plays the 8.
A 3
10 5
K 8 5 4 2
A K 8 3
K J 9
K 9 7 6
A Q 6
6 5 4
3NT by South, 5 of Spades led.
A Q 3
A J 5 3
K 4 2
A 8 3
K J 9
K 7 6
A 7 6
6 5 4 2
3NT by South, King of Clubs led.
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