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.
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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.

Three 2 imp matches

In the last couple of months we have played three matches, all of which ended with 2 imp margins. We were on the right side of the results in the County KO and the NICKO, but our luck ran out in the Faulkner Salver against Warner Solomon's team. Here are three boards that could have changed the result.

This was a bad hand for the strong no trump, where we had a big loss without doing too much wrong.

West led a spade which I ran to the queen. Now what? I cashed a top club and tried a heart to the king but this lost to East's ace and the spades were cleared. A club finesse lost and the defence cashed out in the majors for -1100. The winning line is not very obvious except at double dummy - to duck a club at trick 2 . West is likely to return a spade, in which case I can end-play East in the red suits to get out for one down - and a flat board, as South's 1NT opening was passed out in the other room, going two down after a misdefence.

This was another expensive board where the swing might have gone the other way. The auction at our table was

East kicked off with a spade lead. Declarer ran the 10 of trumps successfully (West made a mistake by not covering), played another trump to the queen and ace, and led a diamond up. This was the key point of the hand - East can defeat the contract by ducking this trick but he went in with the ace. Declarer should now unblock dummy's king, but this play was also missed and declarer eventually lost control and went three down.

It's a difficult hand but the double is a clear warning of a bad trump break. In hands like this, when you have a side suit to develop and an awkward trump position, it is usually right to set up the side suit before tackling trumps. Declarer might played the king of diamonds at trick 2, and should certainly have played on diamonds after West had ducked the first round of trumps.

At the other table South declared 4♥ undoubled. West started with the strange lead of a small trump and the contract made. On a black suit lead, and with no indication of the bad trump split, declarer would probably have started with trumps and gone down.

This is another hand where we could have done better.

We were both a bit feeble in the bidding. Ann should have bid 4♥ at her second turn, after which we would bid 4NT - 5♥ - 5NT - 7♣. Simples. And I should have made a try with 5♥ instead of 6♣, then Ann will bid 5♠ and I can bid the grand.

On this layout the grand is defeated by a first round diamond ruff, which the defence would surely have found if East was able to make a Lightner double. But maybe his partner would have sacrificed before he had the chance.

Ann led a top diamond against 6♥ doubled. Declarer ruffed, played a trump to the queen to get the bad news and led the queen of spades. Ann won this and played a club to my queen and I continued with another club. Declarer ruffed this and played a spade to the ten, so that I could only make my three trump tricks for down four.

After I won the first club, I should have played a diamond to force dummy. Declarer does best to ruff a club in hand and take a spade finesse, but I can duck this and ruff the third round of spades. This kills the spade suit and declarer must go at least five down.

This hand is another example of the need to set up a side suit before drawing trumps. If declarer plays a spade to the queen at trick 2, he can always escape for four down against any defence.

We gained 4 imp as Roger and Warner somehow stopped in game at the other table, but it should have been a lot more.