Tollemache 2013

After a mid-table finish last time, this year's Tollemache reverted to the usual form, with Dorset struggling to avoid the wooden spoon, although the opposion was much tougher than last year.

The second hand of the event showed which way the wind was blowing. Against these opponents, I was looking forward to a chance to claim the beer card but it was not to be. Instead, I had a nasty bidding problem.

3♥ was an easy make, and much the same thing happened at the other table where Dorset were North-South, but at the other two tables both London pairs punted 3NT. To defeat this the defenders must avoid leading hearts, but this was a tough defence to find and 3NT made at both tables.

Should I have bid more strongly? A take-out double of 3♥ was one option, but that may have led to an even worse score as North would probably leave it in. As I see it, the only winning action would be to bid 3♥ over 2♠ - a definite overbid and likely to lead to a silly contract when partner only has a single heart stop.

This was an interesting hand to play

Ann's 4♥ was a slam try with 6 spades and heart shortage.

West leads ♣4, you play low from dummy and are pleased to see East follow with the 3. When you play on spades, West discards a heart on the first round and you duck the trick to the king. East returns a club and West follows with the 6.

If you are going to finesse in diamonds you should play West for the queen, as he started with nine red cards to East's seven, but a better option is to play for a double squeeze. Run the spades, discarding a heart and two diamonds from hand. Now come back to hand with a club and cash ♥A. The squeeze works if West holds ♦Q, or if East holds ♦Q and ♥K, or if East's ♦Q is singleton or doubleton.

Was I up to all this? We will never know as West started with four small diamonds and discarded three of them on the spades, so it was no problem to pick up East's doubleton ♦Q.

This hand was the subject of a post in the BBO Forums www.bridgebase.com/forums/topic/63696-play-6s/, discussing how you should play 6♠ by South after a heart lead where the queen wins the first trick. You can still play for the double squeeze but it is much less obvious when you do not know the club position.  An alternative line is to discard two clubs on the hearts, then ruff a club and two hearts to try and get a count on the hand. This would suggest that East had four diamonds and you should play him for the queen - unlucky!

What about my decision to play in 6NT rather than 6♠? At the time, I could see no benefit in playing in spades and on another layout 6NT might avoid a diamond ruff. That was wrong, as on this hand you are better placed in 6♠. Say West makes the best lead of a heart and you decide to play West for the ♦Q. Instead of taking a simple finesse you can throw a diamond on a heart and then take a ruffing finesse, gaining when East holds a doubleton queen.

After the first day we were propping up the table, but a much better performance on Sunday allowed us to win a couple of matches and avoid the wooden spoon.

Three Beers

To show my juvenile side, I often play the game of trying to win the last trick with the beer card - the ♦ 7 - when partner is supposed to buy you a beer. There are two other conditions, diamonds must not be trumps (then it is too easy) and you must make the contract (as declarer) or defeat it (as defender).

In our BBO practice match last night I set a personal best with three beer cards in one session. One of these is worth recording, as a holding of  ♦ A 7 2 would not seem to have much potential for a beer, but you never know...

Click next to follow the play. When I played the ♥9 at trick 9, declarer has no easy discard, but he would have succeeded if he had thrown his club winner instead of a diamond.

From a lowly 1NT to something more exciting.

What do you think North should open on that 3 loser hand? Ann's Acol-style 2♣ made life very easy, but I suspect that I would have started with 1♠. The problem with 2♣ is that partner will expect much more in high cards, and the bidding may escalate to a high level before you have had a chance to show either of your suits.

In last week's Times, Andrew Robson describes a hand where a player held

♠ A Q 10 7 6 4
♥ A K Q 7 5 4
♦
♣ 4

and says that 'the hand easily has the playing strength for 2♣, but it is far better for South to start showing his suits right away'.

At the other table, North had obviously read Robson's article and opened 1♠. East made a frisky 2♥ overcall and South passed, scenting blood. North jumped to 4♦, South tried RKCB and bid 6♦ when North showed two key cards. That was unduly pessimistic; South should bid 5NT, asking for kings and confirming that the partnership holds four aces and the king and queen of diamonds, and North has an easy bid of 7NT or 7♠.

This hand had some interesting bidding decisions that I managed to get wrong.

The first choice was whether to double or overcall - I think it's close. The next few bids were fine, but I should have bid 3NT instead of 4♥ to offer partner a choice of contracts. 4♥ was a reasonable contract - and better than letting opponents play in 3♣ undoubled, as happened at the other table - but 3NT would have been easy.

Western League

Ann and I had a rare outing in the Western League match against Wiltshire, and although we had a good card this was more due to the generosity of our opponents than any great competence on our part. This is the sort of thing that happens when you are having a lucky day, a hand where most of the green cards seemed to have gone missing from the bidding box.

We were East-West. My 4♥ was certainly not a good idea, shifting the opponents from a non-making contract to a cold game, but my partner was there to save the day. You may think that she had mis-sorted her hand when she bid 5♠ but I couldn't possible comment, and you cannot argue with success.

The bridge was a bit less random on this hand

West found the most challenging lead of ♠9, and now declarer will go down if he tries to draw two rounds of trumps, as the defence can engineer a spade ruff and then switch to a club. I think the best line is to win in dummy and immediately play ♦A (discarding a club) and run the ♦Q, setting up a second diamond winner if East has the king.  I took a slightly inferior line by playing one round of trumps, won by West won who continued spades. I won this in dummy and now played on diamonds, which was good enough on the actual lie of the cards, and worth a 12 imp swing when one of the opposing declarers went down.