Bridge Over the River Clyde

The title for this post is my new favourite bridge-relate-pun-that-should-have-been-the-title-of-this-blog. I could have saved it for a match where we actually played on the other side of the River Clyde, but  I couldn't wait. 

This week we had a home match against a team from St Andrew bridge club in Glasgow. It was not St Andrew first team, (we have them next week), and I can't actually remember the name of the team, but they have several good players, and we played at table 1 against Bill and Suresh.

♠♥♦♣

♠ K 6 ♥ Q 9 7 6 ♦ Q J 9 2 ♣ Q T 3 ♠ A 8 7 2 ♥ A J 5 4 2 ♦ 7 6 ♣ 8 3 * * * * ♠ Q J T 9 5 4 3 ♥ K T ♦  A 5 3 ♣ K ♠ - ♥ 8 3 ♦ K T 8 4 ♣ A J 9 7 6 5 4

Suresh Norman Bill Me W N E S 4♣   -  - 4♠ -       - 5♣ -    -    5♠ - -  -

With just 2 cards in the majors at favourable vulnerability, I nearly opened 5♣, since I figured I'd probably regret letting the opponents play in 4 of either major, but Norman likes to keep the pre-empts relatively sound, so I eventually settled for 4♣. East had no trouble bidding over this, but my pre-empt allowed Norman to push the opponents to the 5 level, where they had no chance of making after the ♣A and a ♦ switch. As it turns out, the ♦ switch isn't particularly necessary, as the hearts can only be set up for one diamond discard in any case.

The auction makes for a pretty pattern, but that isn't the reason I chose to mention this hand. We knew we'd done pretty well to make a plus score, but at the other three tables, the scores were -620, -550 and -620 for our team. At one table, there was this auction:

W	N	E	S
			-
-	-	1♠	3♣
3♠	-	4♠	5♣
-	-	-

Our other South decided to pass the South cards (too strong for a pre-empt, too weak to open, apparently), but apparently it was time to bid after the opponents opened 1♠, and then came back in again after the opponents bid game (if you're going to do this, why not just open 5♣?). Unfortunately, North hesitated over 4♠, so there was no question of letting the result stand, and the score was corrected to 4♠ making. At the time, there was some debate about this, but I don't really see why - I don't think you can make any other decision, which is why North's hesitation is terrible.

At another table, the opponents ended up in 5♣X, and this was an easy make when our West decided to lead the ♠A. I think taking a look at dummy is a good idea, but leading the ♥A seems like it's probably less likely to give anything away. The opponents made 4♠ with less controversy at the other table, for a total of about 1500 points out on this one board... 

♠♥♦♣

We were about 3000 points down at half time, so probably both gambling a bit when we bid this one:

♠ Q 9 6 ♥ T 8 5 4 ♦ A Q J  ♣ A J 4 ♠ J ♥ J 7 6 3 ♦ K 8 6  ♣ K 9 5 3 2 * * * * ♠ A T 4  ♥ 9 2 ♦  T 9 7 5 4 3  ♣ 8 7 ♠ K 8 7 5 3 2 ♥ A K Q ♦ 2 ♣ Q T 6

Suresh Norman Bill Me W N E S 1♠      -  2♣  - 3♠ - 6♠ -    -      -

On the ♥3 lead, and with the club finesse right, it only remains to pick up the spade suit. When a spade to the Queen lost to the Ace, and East played back another ♥, I had two reasons to get it right - even if this wasn't a restricted choice position, the K♣ has to be with West if I'm to have any chance in this contract, so I should place spade length with East. I played a club to the Jack, and ran the ♠9 on the way back, for 1430 points in. No-one else bid the slam, so they weren't put to the test in the spade suit, although at the other tables, everyone only made 11 tricks.

♠♥♦♣

Finally, here's a less exciting hand, but one that I think I definitely misplayed: 

♠ K Q 8 ♥ 8 5 ♦ K 9 5 3 2 ♣ J 5 4 3 ♠ J T 6 4 ♥ A K 6 ♦ A J T 8 7  ♣ 9 * * * * ♠  5  ♥ 9 7 4 3 2 ♦  Q 6 4 ♣ K 8 7 6 ♠ A 9 7 3 2 ♥ Q J T ♦ 5  ♣ A Q T 2

Suresh Norman Bill Me W N E S -  -  1♠      - 2♠ - - 3♦ - -   3♠      - - -

The lead was the 9♣. This is pretty obviously a singleton, I think. I drew two rounds of trumps, ending in hand, and now I was in trouble - I couldn't manage to draw trumps and then make two more club tricks, as I didn't have the entries to dummy. I crossed to dummy anyway, and played a club to the Q, but it was ruffed, and I had no way to take another club finesse.  I'm still not entirely sure how I should have managed this hand, but I think I can do it even after E shows out in trumps, Things probably go better if I decide to duck a trump trick right now, or I can play a ♦ to the K at pretty much any point while I still have an entry to dummy. This is one of those hands where lots of things seem to work, but I managed to pick a route that didn't.

I think the reason I went wrong is that I was thinking about the play in 4♠, where I have no chance unless the trumps are 3-2, which is pretty much a textbook psychological error. When things look (relatively) straightforward, you should think about the way they can go wrong. I very rarely take the trouble to envisage what will happen if trumps break 4-1 before I start playing a hand (probably at least in part because of how many hand-shuffled boards I've been playing lately....). It's a habit I should get into.

We lost the match 11-5 in the end, although I think we acquitted ourselves quite well. 11-5 next week against St Andrew would be an excellent result. Hopefully will play a bit more bridge this week, as I'm trying to get some practice in with Martin before next week's East District Pairs, and Jess is away in Amsterdam, so I have nothing else to do in the evenings...