Tollemache 2015

The draw for the Tolly put us in a tough group with no weak teams, suggesting that we would have a struggle to avoid the wooden spoon. So it proved, although we did manage two wins and a draw, and an honourable narrow defeat to the strong London team, and finished above East Wales to keep off the bottom of the table.

Here are a couple of lively deals from the match against Leicestershire.

When South bid 5♥ we were in a forcing pass position, so I doubled as my hand seemed more use for defence than offence. I was a bit worried when dummy went down, but fortunately declarer played for the drop in trumps and we were +100.

Not that it did us much good. At Table 2, with Dorset North-South, the auction started in the same way but they let the opponents play 4♠. After a heart lead, declarer played trumps and North took the first round.  Now declarer can keep control by discarding a club on the next heart, and ruffing in dummy if the defence continue hearts.  North can thwart this plan by ducking the first two rounds of trumps and forcing declarer in hearts - now declarer will lose control and go several down.

At the other table where Dorset sat North-South, East chose to bid 5♦ on the first round, which North doubled. On a good day South might have bid 5♥, as the double is likely to be based on top cards rather than trump tricks, but he chose to pass and that was -550 when the defence failed to find the spade ruff.

At the fourth table the Dorset East-West chose to bid 5♠ over 5♥, going one down. That all added up to a 41 imp loss on the cross-imp scoring (4 comparisons) used in the Tolly.

Then I held this collection at love all

                   ♠ Q5   ♥ Q8    ♦ AKJ543    ♣ J65

A Multi 2♦ was opened on my right and I chose to pass. I thought that a direct 3♦ would show a stronger hand and I could show this hand by passing and bidding 3♦ on the next round. On reflection, I think that's a rather pessimistic view of the hand. Anyway, this was followed by 2♠ on my left, 3♣ from partner and a pass on my right. Now what?

The pass on my right should show that the Multi was based on a weak two in spades, so maybe 3♠ is best, as long as partner is on the same wavelength. But I recall reading somebody's tip that Qx is a good holding for declarer in no-trumps, and it didn't look as if the opponents had a big fit in either major. So I gambled 3NT, a little concerned that I might be about to look foolish as they cashed the first six or seven tricks. I didn't get to find out, as leftie was still there and bid 4♥ which I doubled. 

It looks as if declarer can restrict his trump losers to one by crossing to dummy in clubs and leading a trump, getting out for two down.  But the defence can set up a trump promotion for three down. Ann led a diamond and I won the first two tricks. Now I should play a spade, then when declarer plays a trump to Ann's king, she can play a third round of spades which I ruff with the queen and promote a trick for the 9.

Unfortunately I messed this up and we only got +300, although this was enough to win the board as the opponents with our hands made 3♦ for +110 and defended 3♠ for +50.

Meanwhile, 3NT from my hand was cold on any lead and making an overtrick on the likely major suit lead. And the man who said that Qx is a good holding for declarer in no-trumps was certainly right on this hand, for at several tables 3NT by East went four down on a heart lead.

Almost a suicide squeeze

In the first round Gold Cup match we were behind for the first 24 boards, but just managed to turn the match around in the last set. Two consecutive boards in the last set provided interesting declarer play problems with a common theme.

West dealt and opened 2♥ which showed 5-9 HCP with at least 5-4 in the majors. A reasonable auction now would be double (take-out), 3♣ (about 8+ playing Lebensohl), 3♠ (showing a stopper in spades but not in hearts), 3NT. Or North might bid 2NT at her first turn. It didn't quite go like that, but I still ended as declarer in 3NT.

West led the ♥Q, which I won and tried a diamond to the queen. That lost to the king and a heart came back. When I played a diamond to the ace, West completed a peter to show an even number, so it didn't look as if the diamonds were breaking and the club finesse was not a good prospect after the bidding. So I exited with a heart to West.

At the table West cashed all her heart winners. I threw spades from dummy and a club and two spades from my hand. East could spare a spade and a club, but now two top spades squeezed East in the minors. It was almost a suicide or cannibal squeeze http://www.bridgeguys.com/squeeze/suicide_squeeze.html, but not quite as East is only squeezed later when I play the spades. If West hadn't taken her heart winners, I could have cashed the top spades and played two more rounds of diamonds to force East to lead away from the ♣Q.

I was hopeful of a swing but it turned out to be a flat board. At the other table West passed and North-South bid 1♠ - 2♣ - 3NT. A diamond lead didn't trouble declarer...

This was the next board

2♠ was weak with 5 spades and a minor. The defence started with two rounds of diamonds. I drew trumps and led a low club off dummy, hoping to find East with a singleton or doubleton ace. My king lost to the ace and a spade was returned, but with clubs breaking 3-2 I had a choice of endplays. I could either lead a club from hand and cover West's 4 with the 7, forcing East to lead a spade from the queen or cash a second spade and play the queen and another club, forcing West to give a ruff and discard. That was worth 10 imps when the opponents stopped in 3♥.

The link between these hands was a weak 2-suited opening providing a road map of the defenders' distribution. Without that information, I would almost certainly have gone down on both hands. On the first hand I would have tested for 3-3 diamonds and tried a club finesse, and on the second hand I would have played three rounds of clubs and hoped that the hand with three clubs also held the ♠Q.

Tollemache 2014

A better Dorset performance this year, finishing 5th out of 9 teams in our group - mid-table respectability rather than our usual position near the bottom of the pile.

Ann and I had our ups and downs, especially a set of 7 boards against Berks and Bucks where we managed to let through four game contracts, with two gratuitous errors and two unlucky (meaning ill-judged) opening leads. Here are two more hands where we could have done better.

West led a spade and declarer ruffed and made what looked like the normal play of a top trump. West showed out and although the heart finesse worked, the contract could no longer be made when hearts broke 4-1.

It is better to play the ace of clubs and ruff a club before playing a trump. Even then, the winning line is not obvious - click on Next to follow the play.

This was a simple bidding problem. Should I protect when a weak 2 spades is passed round to me?

At the table I passed and conceded 110 after a misdefence. Even against best defence, we were only getting +50, poor compensation for the +600 that was available in 3NT and made at both the opposing tables, when the full hand was

At the table I thought that I was a bit too weak to bid 2NT, and that partner would expect a stronger hand and often raise me to a no-play 3NT. Was that too wimpish or was I just unlucky? To find out I ran a computer simulation of the hand. Out of 20 deals, you could make 3NT on nine. When partner was weak you were often in a hopeless 2NT or 3NT, sometimes doubled for -500 or -800, but on balance it was probably right to bid.