Tolly 2016

What a difference a year makes. In last year's Tollemache qualifier Dorset just avoided the wooden spoon and scored MINUS 503 imps (on the cross-imp scoring with four results on each board). This year we were PLUS 348 imps and qualified for the final in second place.

Why the change in fortune? Mainly because, after some high-powered transfer negotiations by the captain, we were able to field some of the county's strongest players. But also because the rest of us played rather better than in previous years. And we had more than our share of good fortune, such as opponents revoking to concede a cold game, or not bidding a grand slam with 17 top tricks.

Even with a stronger team, our realistic hopes were for mid-table respectability, as our group included three very powerful teams in Middlesex, Surrey and Cambridge, as well as a Hampshire squad that included the EBU chairman, a Dorset resident playing under a flag of convenience.

Dorset last qualified for the Tollemache final about 20 years ago (with a team that included four of this year's selection) and on that occasion our group also included a Hampshire team with a Dorset resident who had unwisely chosen to play for the opposition. That proved to be a good omen, as we were always near the top of the table, in first place overnight and still leading with one round to go. Ann and I were sitting out and watching anxiously on the rolling scoreboard as Middlesex overtook us and Cambridge closed to within 1 VP, but we held on to second spot and a place in the final.

This freak was a key hand in our match against Cambridge, for we gained 31 imps.

This was the auction at our table where we faced Paul Barden and Jon Cooke.  The bids up to 4♥ seem fairly automatic. West might now punt 6♣ and hope partner has two aces, but 5♣ was the right action on the actual hand. North's double was not alerted but was intended as some sort of action double, asking partner to bid 5♥ unless he has enough in his own hand to want to defend. My 5♦ was a bit dubious, but worked well when it encouraged South to double rather than bid on. With the ace of spades onside, 5♦ was cold and we scored up 550.

At the other tables Daphne and Mike played in a sensible 5♣, while Janet and Alan sacrificed in 5♥ for -300. At the fourth table the Cambridge East chose to bid 5♦ at his first turn. West bid 6♣ which went one down.

This  hand from our match against Hereford had challenges in both bidding and play, but I failed on both counts.

That was the bidding at our table, playing 2-over-1 game forcing. I think that I should have bid 4♠ at the end of the auction, as my hearts are not good enough for 3NT opposite a singleton, and maybe Ann should also have bid 4♠.  Looking at the North-South hands, all game contracts are dubious but 4♠ is the best of a bad bunch.

Against my 3NT West kicked off with a heart and East showed an odd number, so I ducked the first two rounds and won the third, discarding diamonds from dummy.  3NT can be made by crossing to dummy in a minor suit and leading the 10 of spades. If East covers you set up spades and make four spades and  two clubs to go with your three top tricks in the red suits.  If East ducks you give up on spades and play a club to the 10, instead making three spades and three clubs.

I'm not beating myself up about missing this line - and nor should I as West is more likely to have a doubleton honour than a small doubleton in spades. I just played spades from the top and went down. I might have done better by ducking the second round of spades to try and endplay East, but dummy has been squeezed on the third round of hearts and forced to come down to two cards in one of the minors. East can defeat the contract by exiting in that minor.

4♠ would have been an interesting contract to play. It seems as if you have four losers - two spades, a club and a diamond but you also have ten winners - two spades, ace of hearts and two heart ruffs, two diamonds and three clubs. There are several winning lines, but say you win the heart lead, ruff a heart, cash the king of spades and duck a spade. East will return a red suit which you win in hand and play a club to the 10. Eventually, one of declarer's losing diamonds goes on a club winner and the other falls on the same trick as East's trump winner - a trump elopement. That would have been a great play to find, and maybe not impossible as West's take-out double had given a clue to the distribution.

At the other tables both Hereford pairs went down in 3NT. Mike played in 4♠ and made it, though only after a mis-defence.

Crockfords Plate Final

What is the best hand that you have held and passed throughout? This deal from the Crockfords Plate final set a personal record. At favourable vulnerability I held

♠ 4    ♥ A 10     ♦ A K 8 4 2   ♣ A K 7 3 2

Right hand opponent opened 4NT, asking for specific aces. There didn't seem to much point in bidding so I passed and the bidding continued 5♣ (no aces) - pass - 6♠. My vulnerable opponent must have some sort of giant major two-suiter, so 6♠ is unlikely to be more than one off and may well be cold, so I passed again. The full deal was

and 6♠ had to go one down. At the other table South opened 1♠, West bid 2NT to show the minors and South rebid 6♥ on the next round. West doubled and North now made the costly decision to convert to 6♠. West doubled this and we lost 3 imp on the board.

Looking back at our auction, I think that I should trust my opponent and assume that his choice of contract is likely to be making. So I should have bid 5♦ over 4NT and 7♣ on the next round. It's not often that you sacrifice against a slam holding three aces and two kings.

This deal showed why we punters were messing around in the Plate final, as only one table out of eight found the cold 6♥. Meanwhile, in the real final four tables out of six played in 6♥ doubled and the other two found the par contract - two off in 7♣ doubled to gain 16 imps.

Cautious Bidding

In the Swiss Teams at Newport we were playing for the first time in a team with Sue Ingham and Gwynn Davis. Gwynn writes a blog entitled 'Cautious Bidder', which you can find on the East Wales web site. In the first match we took this caution to extremes, playing two potential grand slams in game and missing another small slam. The grands are too embarrassing to report, but the small slam was more interesting.

I think the bidding up to 3NT was fairly automatic, but my 4♠  was over cautious. I ran a quick simulation with the North hand opposite a hand with 15 to 17 points and at least six good clubs, and slam was making most of the time. On reflection a jump to 5♠  over 3NT would have been a better description of the power of my hand. The board was flat, and only seven pairs out of 36 bid and made slam, so maybe it was not that easy.

After an inauspicious start - not necessarily a bad thing at Swiss teams - we played rather better and finished a respectable fourth. Gwynn describes one of the later hands, where my partner's bidding is described as 'feisty' rather than cautious, in Cautious Bidder article 108.

Show Up Squeeze

In the last 16 of the Crockfords Plate we didn't make too many errors and had a comfortable win, though this grand was maybe a bit fortunate.

I must admit to a senior moment when I bid 7NT - for some reason I thought that we had 12 top tricks, so that the grand would be laydown at best or on a finesse at worst. Luckily Ann was kind enough to provide the queen of diamonds so that I did indeed have 12 top tricks and two chances for a thirteenth

West led a spade and I could see two lines of play - the heart finesse or a squeeze in the red suits. I ran all the clubs, discarding two hearts and two spades from dummy, while West threw two spades and a diamond. The diamond discard looks harmless but actually led to a position where I could not go wrong. On the last club East was forced to come down to two hearts and four diamonds. I cashed the ace of hearts and three top diamonds which revealed that it was East who still held the jack. Now when I led a heart towards my K J at trick 12 and East followed with a low card, I knew his last card was the jack of diamonds so it was clear to go up with the king and drop West's queen - a Show-Up Squeeze.

All this didn't really matter as I was always intending to play for the squeeze rather than the finesse. The  squeeze (which works when the same hand has both long diamonds and long hearts, or when the queen of hearts is singleton or doubleton) works about 60% of the time, compared with about 53% for cashing the ace of hearts and taking a finesse. When you include the chance of the diamonds playing for four tricks - about 10% - the grand has a 64% chance of making, well within the required odds at IMP scoring. So perhaps that 7NT bid was not so crazy after all.

Avoiding a Striped-Tailed Ape

The draw for the first round of the Hubert put us in a familiar position as cannon fodder for the Hughes-Huggett-Preston combo. After many losing matches to this group, we managed to scrape a very narrow win, helped by the opponents being below par and this outrageous slice of good fortune.

I was South, and failed to notice East's double on the second round, so thought that I had enough to raise to slam. West's double was intended as Lightner for a club lead, but as his partner had already doubled 5♥, a more likely explanation was just that the idiot sitting South had no idea what he was doing. Anyway, East led a diamond which Barrie ruffed and led a heart to the jack. With the fortunate positions in both black suits the slam rolled in for +1210.

In the other room North chose to open 1♠. and bid 5♥ over 5♦ on the next round. South converted to 5♠ but this went one down.

We won the match by around 100 points (aggregate scoring in the Hubert). Making an overtrick in 5♥ doubled - the most likely outcome if I had noticed East's double - would not have been enough to win the match.

National Pairs Final

In the National Pairs final we had our ups and downs but finished a bit below average. Rather disappointing, but at least it was an improvement on the last time we played in the final. Here are three typical hands - two bad, one good.

This was our most costly error, a chance for an outright top converted into a near bottom. If I had started with ace and another heart it would have been almost impossible to mess things up, but I chose to lead a spade. Declarer won in hand and tried the ten of clubs, covered by the queen and ace. Now declarer led a low club off dummy; this was our last chance for two down but Ann ducked and declarer escaped for one off and a top as the room was scoring 450 in hearts. Perhaps Ann should have got this right as I should have the king of diamonds and ace of hearts for my double, but I could have made things easier by not covering with the queen of clubs.

I thought that I had misplayed the next hand, but subsequent analysis showed that I was given no chance by a devilish opening lead.

Ann's 2♦ showed a good three card heart raise. 3♥ was unlawful but survived unscathed when East surprisingly failed to double. West led the jack of diamonds to East's king, and a club was returned. I ducked this and East now got two club ruffs for three down and an equal bottom. East-West can make 11 tricks in diamonds, but only one declarer had managed that, and most North-South pairs playing in hearts had made seven tricks.

After the hand I thought that I should have gone up with the ace of clubs and drawn three rounds of trumps, but a closer look showed that would have been no better. If I do that and play a club up, West wins and plays a diamond. I ruff and play a club to the 10, but East can ruff that and force me with another diamond. Now I have no more trumps and never make a spade trick.

Winning the ace of clubs at trick 2 and playing a spade is no better - East throws a spade on the king of clubs and gets a club ruff and a spade ruff, but only because of the crafty underlead of the ace of diamonds at trick 1.  

This was a better board for us, though I'm not sure whether it was down to good luck or good bidding.

I was reluctant to play 3NT opposite a likely small doubleton diamond, so we ended in a dubious 4♠. I won the heart lead and ran the ten of spades to South's queen. Another heart came back and both opponents showed an even number. I now needed North to have a singleton or doubleton honour in clubs - the jack of clubs was covered by the king and ace, then I drew trumps and led the 10 of clubs. South took this and cashed the ace of diamonds but I had 10 tricks for a 90% board.

Despite the diamond weakness 3NT is quite a reasonable contract - I make it about 52%, probably better odds than 4♠ - but looks to have no chance on the actual layout after a diamond lead. A normal line of play - test the hearts and run the ten of spades when the hearts do not break - should lead to two down. 3NT by East was the contract at 13 other tables and a diamond was always, but somehow it was made eleven times and only defeated twice.

Garden Cities

In the Garden Cities qualifier we were leading at half time but a poor second session saw us overtaken by the Allendale team. I held two very similar hands - 9 high card points and 5-5 in spades and diamonds, and both hands led to some interesting play.

Ann and I played this hand against Miles and Daphne. I led the king of diamonds and declarer won, drew trumps ending in hand and led a club up to get the bad news. Now came a diamond to my 10. I have to admit to being asleep at trick 1 and missing Ann's count signal, so I didn't want to risk underleading the queen of diamonds. When I played the queen declarer discarded a club. You can follow the play by clicking 'Next' on the diagram. The opponents were playing Lebensohl responses so South's 3♥ showed about 8-10 HCP. As partner seemed to have the queen of clubs it was very likely that declarer had the queen of spades, so I tried the effect of conceding a ruff and discard by playing another diamond.

Declarer can still succeed by discarding a spade in dummy and ruffing in hand. East has to discard a spade and now declarer can play ace and another spade, ruffing in dummy, and exit with a low club to endplay East. But it was a tricky ending and declarer went wrong by ruffing my diamond exit in dummy, going one down when the spade finesse lost.

At another table Keith was declarer and took his opportunity to impress the EBU chairman who was sitting East. Keith eliminated spades and diamonds and endplayed East in clubs to give the tenth trick.

That was a good board for our team, but we got our comeuppance on this one.

Against me, West found the devilish lead of the 8 of clubs. Thinking that the king of clubs had to be offside, I won the ace and played ace and another heart, throwing my remaining club. West cashed the ace of diamonds, which seemed helpful, but not when the next diamond was ruffed by East and a heart was ruffed by West. Two down when I was cold for two overtricks! It was little consolation that Chris had played the same way when West led the seven of clubs.

National Pairs

In the National Pairs Regional Final Ann and I had more than our fair share of good fortune and avoided too many unforced errors, coming first in the Exeter heat and 9th out of 244 in the national list. This is the sort of thing that happens if you are playing in luck - a tricky hand from the last round of the day against Roger Sweet and his partner.

I had the first close decision when I had to choose whether to protect or to sell out to 2♥. My hand was pretty awful but it's usually losing tactics at pairs to let the opponents play in an 8 card fit at the two level, so I risked a very thin double. The problem was that Ann expected a rather better hand and bid 3♠ over 3♥.  That was the wrong decision in theory, but the play's the thing...

South led the king of hearts which held the trick.  Ace and another trump is best now, but he continued with another heart and Ann had a chance. She ruffed, crossed to the king of clubs, ruffed another heart and cashed the two top clubs, throwing a heart and a diamond. Now Ann played a diamond to the king, but this lost to the ace and South played a diamond back to North's queen. North now erred by playing the ten of spades, restricting the defence to one trump trick so the contract made for a near top.

Declarer can always succeed by discarding two diamonds on the clubs. Now ruff a club to hand and ruff the last heart in dummy. This needs South to have the last club, surely a better chance than the ace of diamonds with North.

One off in 3♠ would still have been a 60% board for us. To get a good score North-South need to double. Or North could have overtaken the king of hearts at trick 1 and switched to a trump, which would have led to an easy two down.

3♥ would have been an interesting contract. Deep Finesse says that it can only be beaten by an improbable low club lead followed by a trump switch, but what would have happened on a normal spade lead? Let's assume declarer wins the ace of spades, takes two rounds of trumps and plays back a spade to establish dummy's ten. East wins, cashes the king of clubs and switches to a trump. Now declarer can only get home by drawing trumps ending in dummy, to reach this position.

Declarer plays the winning spade, throwing a low diamond from hand, and West cannot afford a discard in either minor. If he throws a diamond declarer finesses the jack of diamonds and plays a club; if he throws a club declarer plays a club immediately.

Would declarer have managed all this?  It seems an unlikely line to find at the table, but more than half the declarers in heart contracts made nine tricks. Maybe East didn't find the unblock of the king of clubs, which allows declarer to get home without the squeeze.

Diamond disasters

In the third round of the Gold Cup match we faced tough opponents in Andy Hughes' team from Hampshire. To stand any chance, we would need to play well and have some good fortune, but neither of these occurred and we lost heavily. Our only problem was the diamond suit; where diamonds were not involved we held our own, but on the ten hands where a diamond contract was declared at one or both tables we lost 64 imp.

This hand from the first set showed the way the wind was blowing.

West's 2♥ opener showed a weak hand with five hearts and a minor of at least four cards. He led a heart. Ann won this and drew two rounds of trumps, with West shedding a low club. The opponents were playing count discards and this suggested an odd number of clubs. It looked as if West's shape was 2-5-1-5 so Ann cashed a top spade in hand, crossed to dummy in trumps and led a spade to the nine. Well played but down two on this occasion. In the other room, our pair were not playing two-suited openers so declarer had no clue to the defenders' distribution and played spades from the top.

That was an unlucky way to lose 11 imps, but this was more culpable.

I eventually decided to pass 4♥. This was the wrong move when partner had

                                                  ♠ Q 5 3    ♥ A 9 7 3   ♦ 10 5   ♣ K 9 7 3

When the trumps didn't break declarer lost control and finished three down. In the other room my hand just bid 5♦ directly over 3♠, which was an easy make. 4♥ might have been the right contract but a quick simulation on BBO showed that 5♦ was much more likely to be a better spot.

Yet another mishap around the diamond suit -

The defence started with three rounds of spades and then West switched to a heart, so that East was able to ruff a heart for 800 in the out column. In the other room East (reasonably enough) chose to pass over 1NT, South jumped to 3♦ and the opponents finished in 4♥. West might have doubled but, with no guarantee of any tricks in partner's hand, was scared of pushing the opponents into a making 5♦ contract. 4♥ drifted four down but we lost 9 imp.
.

Thirty years on

In the Knight Cup we started off on the wrong foot when we arrived late due to a flooded road and then started with a 20% first round. In spite of two zeros from doubling the opponents in cold contracts, we had recovered to about 55% at half time, but Krzysztof and Mark were leading on 66% so it seemed as if we had little chance of winning.

Not so - in the second half we managed over 67% while Krzysztof and Mark were only just over average, so we won by about a top. I won this competition three times in the mid-1980s but had not come close in almost thirty years since.

We certainly had more than our fair share of good fortune; the opponents allowed us to make four impossible game contracts and donated several other good boards, and we gained an undeserved top after a bidding mix-up. This was one of the lucky boards.

A couple of optimistic views in the bidding landed us in a hopeless contract. West led the king of hearts which I won in dummy. I could establish an extra spade for an eighth trick but there seemed no legitimate chance for a ninth so I tried the old Zia ploy of playing on the defenders' best suit.

A low club to the nine lost to West's ten, and he obliged by playing two rounds of hearts. The contract is now cold - if East plays a club I can arrange a strip-squeeze on West in the black suits, and on any other return I can set up dummy's nine of spades.

It wasn't all jam. Here are a couple of hands of half-decent bridge that we managed in between unwrapping the presents. First, a neat hand where a defender was endplayed twice.

West found the best lead of a club, which was covered by the jack, king and ace. I played the ace of hearts and ruffed a heart, crossed to the ace of trumps and ruffed my last heart. Now I cashed the queen of clubs and exited with a trump. This guaranteed the contract on any lie of the minor suits, but there was an added bonus when West had a doubleton club and the king of diamonds. After winning the king of trumps, West led a low diamond which ran to my queen. Now ace and another diamond endplayed West again to give a ruff and discard for the overtrick.

This was an excellent slam that only one other pair managed to bid.

The defence kicked off with the ace of hearts and a heart to the jack. The best line is to draw trumps, starting with the ace, as you can pick up J10xx with East. When trumps are 3-1 you draw three rounds, unblock the queen of clubs, cross to the ace of spades and cash the top clubs. You now know if you can ruff a club to establish a twelfth trick, but if the clubs are unkind you can try for a 3-3 spade break while you still have a trump in dummy as an entry. I didn't get the timing quite right, but fortunately it didn't matter as with clubs breaking the hand was idiot-proof.