Overtime

In our first round Crockfords match against a Devonian team we were 31 imp down at half time. This slam hand did not help

It was a perfect hand for a weak 2 Diamond opening. 2NT was an enquiry and I showed a weak hand with a six card suit to two top honours. Unfortunately West led the ace of hearts and, after an agonising pause, continued the suit for his partner to ruff. They stopped in 4 spades in the other room so we lost 13 imp.

At the time I was moaning about our bad luck, but maybe West's 3 Hearts gave us a warning. If North bids 4 Clubs over 3 Hearts and this is taken to be a cue bid with diamonds agreed, South would surely bid 4 Hearts with a singleton or void. On the actual hand this might help us to avoid the doomed slam.

When the opponents then proceeded to make a grand slam on a finesse it seemed as if it was not our night. But the fates were smiling on us for this board in the last set.

In 3NT I won the second heart and had nine top tricks when the jack and nine of diamonds fell. If the diamonds had not come in, I would have needed West to hold the ace of clubs.

In the other room North bid 3 Spades over the double and South ended in 6 Clubs. On a heart lead declarer played three rounds of spades but East was able to ruff and prevent declarer getting rid of the heart loser. Declarer should now settle for one off but he played three rounds of diamonds so East was able to ruff and take the contract two down.

The extra undertrick was crucial; we gained 13 imp instead of 12 and the match ended in an exact tie. Our good luck continued in the extra four boards when our opponents kept Ann and me out of the auction with an emaciated weak two bid which was too much even for Keith. In the other room the opponents reached their cold vulnerable game but misplayed it to lose the match by 4 imp.