December Commentary by Steve Green and George Cuthbertson
MATCH 1
Hand 1
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Board 1 None Vul - Dealer North |
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Now with added vulnerabilities! As usual Rob and I are NS throughout and third in hand Rob opened a very light 1§, which should be 12-15 balanced. W overcalled 1NT and I had a choice of bids. Earlier in the day we added a new part to the system which meant I could jump to 3¨ to show 5-5 in © and ¨ with 6-9pts. But to play safe I bid a simple 2© to show 6-9 with 5+©. E competed with 2ª, which came back round to me so I continued with 3¨, after which W concluded the auction with 3ª. Rob led a © and we managed to get a © ruff for one down and +50. We were delighted to find that every other EW had made game, so we pick up 30imps.
George I am W and Ian E. I opened 1NT (15-17) and bid 3S over Ian’s 2H to show a max and 4 spades. This encouraged Ian to go to game. I got a trump lead and drew trumps ending in dummy to run the JH to N’s KH. Now N switched to a diamond and S won the KD when I played small (note that N could have led the 10D which will stop me getting 2 diamond tricks). AC and a small club and I won KC to ruff my small club in dummy. Now I had to decide whether to finesse in hearts or in diamonds! I chose diamonds (because N had switched to the 4D) and this proved to be the winning line. So a thin game made by guessing right is a good score surely? In fact it was totally flat! This was going to be a tough match!
Hand 2
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Board 2 N/S Vul - Dealer East |
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W opened an even lighter hand on this board, but it didn’t fare so well. The chosen opening bid was 2§ to show a weak hand with at least 4-4 in ª and a red suit. You need a strong constitution to play this system! I doubled, initially 13-16 balanced, but could be stronger and E must have been delighted, bidding 2¨ to play in partner’s red suit. This came back round to me and I doubled again, this time for penalty. Rob did very well to pass and then lead his trump. During the play I was forever endplayed but 3 down and +500 was worth +36imps when other NS pairs found it difficult to get a plus score. This hand highlights the risk you run if you choose to play these aggressive type opening bids.
George N opened 1D and then 2NT over 1S. S bid 3S (intended as sign off) but N took it to be game going and bid 3NT. I think S should now bid 4S but he passed. I was hopeful after hearing the differing explanations of the 3S bid. Ian got off to the 5H lead to K and A. Now a spade to Ian’s K and my 6 (showing an even number which here had to be 4). Seeing that dummy had no entry Ian felt safe to cash AS too. I played the 3 to suggest clubs and Ian played a club to K and A. Now QD came round to my K and the 9H flashed onto the table. After all Ian should have 5 of these (N could have reversed into 2H if he was 5-4). The 10H was taken by Ian’s J and that was the end of the defence! -600 was a disaster and cost us 35 imps. If Ian ducks the 10H then we beat it but he expected me to have 3 hearts just as I thought he had 5! Horrible.
Hand 3
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Board 3 E/W Vul - Dealer South |
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P-1§(could be a weak NT)-1©-1ª, 3©-3ª-P-4ª. The aggressive opening bid pushed EW into a thin 4ª which on this occasion went 2 down for +200 a 3imps when others did the same.
George S passed and so did I with this dreadful 12 count vul. N opened 1H, Ian overcalled 1S, S 2H, I bid 3H and passed Ian’s 3S. Ian played it well to make 9 tricks losing a trick in each suit - he ruffed out the red suits and played a club to the 10 and J, endplaying N. For this we gained a measly 5 imps.
Hand 4
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Board 4 Both Vul - Dealer West |
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I doubled W’s 1¨ opening and E raised preemptively to 3¨. Rob cuebid 4¨ to show a 2-suiter, W tried to muddy the water with 4ª, E converted back to 5¨ and Rob bid 5NT to pick a slam. I chose 6©, which Rob changed to 6ª and W then found the good save in 7¨. I failed to give Rob a © ruff so we gained just +800, losing 21imps when no other EW pair found the sacrifice.
George I opened 1D (I decided I was good enough to reverse into hearts because of the distribution and suit quality), N doubled (only 11 points but nice shape), Ian passed (we are vul and his only bid is 3D which overstates his hand), S decided that slam was where he wanted to be but checked on aces first with 4NT. So we defended 6S and managed to stop the overtrick. 2 tables didn’t get to slam and we lost 26 imps. If I decide to open 1H then N/S will find it hard to get to slam (N will pass) so it is better if I value my hand as weaker!
Hand 5
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Board 5 N/S Vul - Dealer North |
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I failed miserably in the declarer play of this hand. Rob raised my strong NT to game and E led ¨4. Without thinking I put in the J and now there is no way back once §s break 4-0. I should put in the 9 to try and encourage W to cover, but then win with the K, whatever W plays. I can then cash §A, get the bad news and play a § to the J. If W now cashes a top ª instead of playing the 8, which he did, I can get the ªs right, then finesse the ¨, cash the ¨A and finesse the § for 9 tricks. We lost 19imps for -200.
George N/S got to 3NT by N. Ian led a heart to the Q. Now a club to the K and then a club back to J and Q. A small diamond now to the J and a club to the 9. AC and another club and Ian was feeling squeezed. Counting declarer’s tricks will let him come to the right conclusion – if he has 4 clubs plus 3 diamonds and 2 hearts then the game is over. So he has to play declarer for a 3325 shape with Kx in diamonds. Sadly Ian pitched all of his spades on the clubs, so declarer was able to cash KD and exit with a heart to come to 9 tricks. This was another disaster and cost 36 imps.
Hand 6
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Board 6 E/W Vul - Dealer East |
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P-1ª-3©(Weak & Risky!)-Dbl, P-4ª. Another thin 4ª failed, but still a small gain of +4.
George S opened 1S, I bid 2H, N 3C (why not a negative double?), S 3S and N passed. With a club lead and continuation we held this to 9 tricks which was bad for us again and it was -13 imps this time.
Hand 7
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Board 7 Both Vul - Dealer South |
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We were a little fortunate on this hand. Rob opened 1© and by the time we reached 3© I knew he had a 1525 shape and 11-15pts. I made a mild slam try by raising to 4© and Rob, with his good trumps (though not much else!) bid 4ª to show a singleton honour. I tried 4NT to see what else he had, but he had nothing, so we ended in 5©. On hearing our explanation W led ªK to pin the ªQ, but with the J in dummy there was no longer a guess between ª and ¨. So +650 for a flat board.
George N/S bid 1H-1S-2C-3D-3H-4H. It wasn’t entirely clear what N’s 3D bid meant and I chose a trump lead. This was -650 and we lost 15 imps (-1, -1, -13).
Hand 8
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Board 8 None Vul - Dealer West |
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EW bid 1NT(15-17)-2¨(transfer)-2©-2ª-4§(cuebid)-4ª for 11 tricks and another flat board.
George We got to the normal 4S (1NT-2D-2H-2S-4S) and made 11 tricks on normal defence. This somehow lost us 11 imps (did someone bid 6H?!). Nothing was going our way in this match!
Hand 9
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Board 9 E/W Vul - Dealer North |
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Rob overcalled E’s 1§ with 1¨ for the lead, then 1©-2NT-3©-4© for -620 and another flat board.
Hand 10
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Board 10 Both Vul - Dealer East |
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W opened a 15-17 1NT and with what looked like 7 tricks in my own hand I doubled for penalty. E passed thinking it showed two non-touching suits and so did W, forgetting the system. It probably does not come up very often that someone doubles a strong NT for penalty! I led ©A, declarer cashed ¨AK when in with ©K and we took it 3 down for +800 and +36imps.
Boards 1,2, & 10 were good, boards 4&5 were bad, but good enough for a large 50-10 win.
Hand 11
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Board 11 None Vul - Dealer South |
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W opened 3¨, over which Rob protected with a Dbl, which I passed. I led §A, then switched to a © and there was no way for declarer to make it. +100 was worth 3imps.
George I am now N and Ian S. Ian passed and W bid 3D back to Ian. Ian decided not to be timid and doubled. I decided that defence looked a good chance and passed. Fortunately declarer could muster no more than 8 tricks after AC and a heart switch. We got 7 imps in for this.
Hand 12
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Board 12 N/S Vul - Dealer West |
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Rob raised my 1ª to 2ª and E protected with a Dbl, though 2NT would have been more descriptive holding both minors. W bid 3¨, and now Rob may have ventured 3©, but was probably put off by E’s Dbl suggesting ©s. W played it well and endplayed me to lead away from §Q for the 9th trick. We lost 6imps for -110.
George I opened 1S (5 card majors), Ian 2S. E protected with 2NT, Ian bid 3H (a nice bid showing 5+ hearts and only 3 spades) and W’s 4D ended the bidding. We would make 3H but not 3S. I led the 8D and this was 2 off losing 2 spades plus a trick in each other suit. Another 6 imps in.
Hand 13
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Board 13 Both Vul - Dealer North |
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I passed my horrible looking 12 count and over Rob’s 1¨ W bid 1ª. I jumped to 2NT which Rob raised to game. E dutifully led a ª, which I ducked, then another to the Ace and a third one on which E discarded a ¨. This didn’t look good and after cashing ¨AK, I resorted to a 3rd § trick for one off and a small 2imp loss.
George I opened 1C, Ian 1D, W 1S passed back to Ian who doubled. I bid 1NT (which will now be minimum since I didn’t bid it direct over 1S) and then 3D over Ian’s 2H. Ian now bid 3NT. On a spade lead ducked then another spade to A and one to my K I was hopeful. W has 7 spades and if he has fewer than 3 diamonds I am making this. Sadly it was not to be and -300 appeared in our out column. Fortunately it was the same at all the tables so completely flat.
Hand 14
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Board 14 None Vul - Dealer East |
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I raised Rob’s 16-18 1NT to game and W led ©10. If Rob wins this in hand and leads a ª up, he may well make 3NT with the favourable ª lie. But it didn’t look unreasonable to play on ¨s and that was 3 off and -9imps.
George Again we got to 3NT by S after W showed a heart suit. W found the killer lead of JC and 3NT drifted 3 off again! This time we lost 8 imps. Enough of these 3NT contracts!
Hand 15
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Board 15 N/S Vul - Dealer South |
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We play Bergen style major raises, so I bid 3¨ over Rob’s 1ª to show invitational values with 3ª. E now did well to double for the lead and W then found the good sacrifice in 5¨ for +300 to us. However, 4ª will in fact go down on the singleton § lead, so we were fortunate to pick up 28imps.
George Ian opened 1S, I bid 2C and E doubled. Ian now bid 3H which is certainly an unusual bid and one we hadn’t discussed (I think Ian is right that it should be a splinter with a club fit) but fortunately I had an easy 4S bid. The 3C was led to the A and a spade finesse to the K. Now a small heart to E and a club ruff will beat 4S but W switched to a diamond and 10 tricks were there. That was 12 imps in when 1 table went off.
Hand 16
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Board 16 E/W Vul - Dealer West |
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W opened a weak NT and I competed with 2¨ to show ª plus a minor. E forced to game with 3© (to invite seems more suitable) and W raised to game. We cashed our four top tricks for one down and a flat board.
George E/W bid 1NT-2D-2H-2S-4H. We managed to take our 4 tricks and gained 6 imps when one table stayed in a partscore.
Hand 17
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Board 17 None Vul - Dealer North |
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Rob opened our 2-way 1§ and rebid 2ª over W’s 2¨. W led a © and E needs to duck this to hold the contract to 9 tricks. But he took it and I was pleased to see other EWs had beaten 4ª, so we pick up 13imps.
Hand 18
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Board 18 N/S Vul - Dealer East |
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1©-1ª-Dbl-P, 2ª-P-3NT. I led ª9, declarer played 4 rounds of ©s to my Q, then I tried a ¨ to Rob’s K and we cashed a few §s for two down and +100, picking up 10imps.
Hand 19
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Board 19 E/W Vul - Dealer South |
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I opened 1ª and Rob ended the auction with 1NT, going two down on a § lead. Looks fairly routine, but nothing compared to how the current leaders of Div1 did on this board. They overcalled 1ª with 2§ (yuk!), S doubled and W raised to 3§. N passed and E now jumped to 5§???!!! Absolutely laydown…..it must be so easy when you can play like this!
George I opened 1S and passed Ian’s 1NT. W got off to a great lead with the 3C to K and A. Now the 6C back to W’s J and he had to decide who had the clubs – did E have 3 or 5? He decided it was more likely it was only 3 and switched to AS then QS! That gave us 9 tricks instead of 5 and this ended up as 23 imps in for us (one E/W actually made game their way).
Hand 20
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Board 20 Both Vul - Dealer West |
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After 1¨-2©-4ª W found a pushy double. Then on ©J lead Rob chalked up 11 tricks for +990 and 24imps. Our good run continues and we win 47-13.
George I opened 1D and Ian just blasted into 4S. My 3 aces were very useful and he made 11 tricks. With a 2-1 trump split we would have had slam on so this looked flat but with a possible upside if anyone bid slam. We didn’t reckon on 4S being doubled! That was 8 imps away!
This felt like a better match for us and we ended up on the right side with a 38-22 win.
Hand 21
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Board 21 N/S Vul - Dealer North |
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It seems to me the imps were flying about all over the place on these final 5 boards, with net imps of 100 imps in some cases. On this board I opened a 16-18 1NT, Rob found out I had all the missing aces and kings so bid 7NT for +2220 and 26imps when two pairs failed to bid the grand. A very good hand for Blackwood or Gerber!
George Now back to E/W with me sitting E this time. S slightly devalued his hand and this led to them getting only to 6NT. The grand slam is huge odds on and all 3 other tables bid it (2 in NT, one in hearts). This was 38 imps in for us.
Hand 22
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Board 22 E/W Vul - Dealer East |
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We played in 1NT after 1¨-1©-1NT and W found the excellent lead of ©Q. But with ¨s 3-3 and a slight defensive slip later on Rob made +120 for +3imps.
George S played in 1NT (1D-1H-1NT) and Ian led the 3C. With the diamonds 3-3 this was 8 tricks for declarer and 2 imps away for us.
Hand 23
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Board 23 Both Vul - Dealer South |
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P-1©-Dbl-1ª, 2¨-2©-3¨. The rather friendly § layout means lots of tricks are available in ¨s or NT and we lost 4imps when one pair bid and made game.
George Ian opened 1H (very thin especially vul), N doubled, S bid 2D and N raised to 3D (pretty minimum to do this but game could still be on). S’s 3NT ended matters. The JS went to S’s Q. After a long think S emerged with a small club to Ian’s Q. Another long think and S decided to duck this (Ian’s decision to open 1H placed him with AS!). This let Ian play 10S to K and A, then JH switch let us put it 2 off. Since declarer had 9 tricks with 4 tricks in each minor plus a spade, this was good for us and brought in another 25 imps. A bit unlucky for S who credited Ian with playing QC from Qxx to try to get me in with the JC to lead a heart.
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Board 24 None Vul - Dealer West |
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George I played 3NT (2NT-3C-3S-3NT) and S led a diamond. I ended with 10 tricks for -2 imps.
Hand 25
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Board 25 E/W Vul - Dealer North |
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E made an off-centre double of my 1© opener and W jumped to 3§. I continued with 3© and was surprised when it was passed out. One down was another 13imps in the out column.
So at the end of this 5 board segment we are -27, +26 and -6 = -8imps overall.
George N opened 4H (not convinced about this one – make JS the JD then I would be persuaded!). I led the 7S to Ian’s K and I could count 4 tricks for the defence (N played the 10S). Perhaps too keen to put it off we tried cashing tricks and only got 4 of the 5 available, but it was still worth 13 imps.
We have been lucky to find opponents guessing badly and are 72 imps ahead in this match after the first half. It leaves us sitting in 3rd place in the division but the top 2 pairs are negative in this match so it looks like being very close in January and an exciting finale to this season in the CPL.