I was made very welcome last night as I played at the Berwick Bridge Club for the first time. Many people remembered me from the Berwick Congress earlier in the year, where Hels and I won the Pairs, and were interested in where we actually lived and whether they'd see Hels at the club any time soon (unlikely!).
I am playing with Reg (who sometimes masquerades on BBO as bordergirl) in the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Championship Club Pairs competition. This is played over the season with your best six performances counting from the ten evenings.
A good start to such an event is always welcome and we got one with a 66% session based on solid defence and sound bidding. We only had a couple of top boards but very few poor ones. One top came when we were the only pair to bid slam on the following hand:
North
♠ K x x
♥ x
♦ A J 9 x x x x
♣ x x
South
♠ A x
♥ A K J 9 x
♦ K 10
♣ K Q x x
After Reg's 2NT opener with the South hand, rather than take a complicated auction in a new partnership I just plumped immediately for 6♦. The 2-2 trump break made this an easy contract to play although it has additional chances on a non-club lead.
We did miss one game that was bid by most:
North
♠ K Q x x
♥ Q x x
♦ Q 10 x x
♣ K x
South
♠ J 10 9 8 x
♥ K x
♦ A K 9 x
♣ x x
North South
1NT 2♥
2♠ 2NT
3♠ Pass
I decided not to break the transfer with an aceless minimum and, it seems to me, that Reg was right to pass too. Game is almost a straight 50% on the position of the club ace, so I'm surprised that so many bid it at matchpoints. I actually received the lead of the Curse of Scotland - if a singleton then game should fail whereever the ace of clubs is located.
We only had one misunderstanding. Reg admitted to being a little confused over my signalling and it transpired that our understanding of reverse signals was different. I had been playing udca (upside down count and attitude) while Reg had been playing the current favourite of the England Juniors, upside attitude and regular count. So we both switched to the same method (udca) and life improved!
Our second outing is next week where we will try to increase our lead in the competition. Early days yet but a promising start.
Footnote: Reg tells me that he has never masqueraded in his life and can be found as reg2 on BBO. Perhaps borderguy was taken?
Wednesday, 27 September 2006
Saturday, 23 September 2006
East vs Borders
I was invited to play for the East team in the annual season opener between the Borders and the East. I played with Liz (cuttysark on BBO) and, as she wished to practise it, we decided to play 2/1 with Polish leads.
Unlike the previous night there were no disasters and we played reasonably well. We were at table 2 with Iain and Patrick at table 1, and ten other tables in play. Like the league the scoring was aggregate across all twelve tables and so the aim is to bid games, something I am very good at. I was also fairly skilled in getting Liz to play any difficult hands and we had a good final score that contributed to the East's win by about 2,000 points (this is actually a very close result at this scoring). Comparing with Iain showed that the East scored (an aggregate) +3300 on the top two tables so were actually outscored at the rest of the tables, a tremendous effort from the Borders team.
The hand that caused most chaos was ♠ AKJ97432 ♥ A ♦ - ♣ AK96. I held this hand and heard Liz open a weak 2♦. Taking the pragmatic approach I bid a simple 6♠ and made 12 tricks on a trump lead when Liz held ♠ Q5 ♥ J10 ♦ KQJ963 ♣ J43.
Many others bid and failed to make 7♠.
A better night!
By the way, how should you play the club suit for 1 loser?
Unlike the previous night there were no disasters and we played reasonably well. We were at table 2 with Iain and Patrick at table 1, and ten other tables in play. Like the league the scoring was aggregate across all twelve tables and so the aim is to bid games, something I am very good at. I was also fairly skilled in getting Liz to play any difficult hands and we had a good final score that contributed to the East's win by about 2,000 points (this is actually a very close result at this scoring). Comparing with Iain showed that the East scored (an aggregate) +3300 on the top two tables so were actually outscored at the rest of the tables, a tremendous effort from the Borders team.
The hand that caused most chaos was ♠ AKJ97432 ♥ A ♦ - ♣ AK96. I held this hand and heard Liz open a weak 2♦. Taking the pragmatic approach I bid a simple 6♠ and made 12 tricks on a trump lead when Liz held ♠ Q5 ♥ J10 ♦ KQJ963 ♣ J43.
Many others bid and failed to make 7♠.
A better night!
By the way, how should you play the club suit for 1 loser?
East District League
Although I played very little league bridge down south, I've decided to give it another go and am playing for the 49ers in the East District League, despite the efforts of the local Berwick club to recruit me.
My first match was on Thursday and I hope it was not my last! I was playing with Kenny (kidstone on BBO) and we struggled to find any consistency in our play and bidding. This was not helped when I made a stupid bid early on and went for -500 against a non-making game.
The scoring of the league is aggregate point, not a method that I am familiar and a rarity in England. Later in the first half we went for another -500, against a part-score, when we had another misunderstanding. And then, in the second half, I made an anti-percentage play (playing for 3-0 trumps instead of 2-1) after a complex competitive auction and went down in a non-vulnerable game.
With a few other errors thrown in, and few good boards, we were about -1700 for the match whereas most others were fairly flat - hence we were responsible for most of the loss.
We'll be playing about a match a month and so, if there is no further postings on the subject you'll know the captain is not speaking to me!
My first match was on Thursday and I hope it was not my last! I was playing with Kenny (kidstone on BBO) and we struggled to find any consistency in our play and bidding. This was not helped when I made a stupid bid early on and went for -500 against a non-making game.
The scoring of the league is aggregate point, not a method that I am familiar and a rarity in England. Later in the first half we went for another -500, against a part-score, when we had another misunderstanding. And then, in the second half, I made an anti-percentage play (playing for 3-0 trumps instead of 2-1) after a complex competitive auction and went down in a non-vulnerable game.
With a few other errors thrown in, and few good boards, we were about -1700 for the match whereas most others were fairly flat - hence we were responsible for most of the loss.
We'll be playing about a match a month and so, if there is no further postings on the subject you'll know the captain is not speaking to me!
Tuesday, 19 September 2006
Mentoring or teaching?
Most monday evenings I run a two hour session on BBO in the Beginners & Intermediates Lounge (BIL). I started these about three years ago when Wayne (sceptic) asked me to be his mentor (through the club and Fifth Chair Foundation) and we have been doing them ever since.
I dislike being called a teacher. I believe a teacher is someone who has a plan of action, prepares properly and seeks to deliver continuous improvement. All I really do is share some thoughts about how I think people should play the game and deliver some 'expert' perspectives.
Has Wayne improved? He is certainly more confident in both playing and asking questions, he is happy to play with more advanced players and seems to be enjoying the sessions. He probably needs a proper teacher to help with play and defence but we muddle through.
I have the utmost admiration for all the professional teachers on BBO, both those that provide their services for free and those who charge. Occasionally I do prepare for a specific subject and it is extremely time consuming, but normally I will either use hands that I have previously played or just use random hands - it is surprising how good random hands are!
Our sessions are public affairs and we generally get an audience of 30-50 people, from all corners of the world. The kibitzers are encouraged to play and contribute to the discussions, which does lead to a more fruitful session. In particular it is interesting to contrast the different teaching styles around the world: for example, in the USA weak 2 openers tend to be very sound with a good quality suit and values; in Europe, weak 2 openers tend not to worry about suit quality and they can be a lot weaker - important to know what you play with a pickup partner.
I dislike being called a teacher. I believe a teacher is someone who has a plan of action, prepares properly and seeks to deliver continuous improvement. All I really do is share some thoughts about how I think people should play the game and deliver some 'expert' perspectives.
Has Wayne improved? He is certainly more confident in both playing and asking questions, he is happy to play with more advanced players and seems to be enjoying the sessions. He probably needs a proper teacher to help with play and defence but we muddle through.
I have the utmost admiration for all the professional teachers on BBO, both those that provide their services for free and those who charge. Occasionally I do prepare for a specific subject and it is extremely time consuming, but normally I will either use hands that I have previously played or just use random hands - it is surprising how good random hands are!
Our sessions are public affairs and we generally get an audience of 30-50 people, from all corners of the world. The kibitzers are encouraged to play and contribute to the discussions, which does lead to a more fruitful session. In particular it is interesting to contrast the different teaching styles around the world: for example, in the USA weak 2 openers tend to be very sound with a good quality suit and values; in Europe, weak 2 openers tend not to worry about suit quality and they can be a lot weaker - important to know what you play with a pickup partner.
Monday, 18 September 2006
The Ryder Cup ... bridge style
The Warren Buffett Cup, hoping to become the Ryder Cup of bridge, started today in Ireland.
The stars of American and European bridge are fighting it out over the next four days, finishing just in time for them to pop into the K Club and watch professionals who earn at least 100 times more than they do!
Actually that's probably an exaggeration. Most of these players are full time professionals (except perhaps the Irish?) who travel the world playing with sponsors and clients. Certainly in the USA there are some excessively rich sponsors who will happily send one of their planes to pick up their star bridge partner. However bridge does not support many professionals (perhaps ~100 in the USA, ~10 in the UK) unless they can supplement their income with books and newspaper columns.
The format of the Buffett Cup attempts to parallel the golf. There are pairs, teams and individual sessions that are broadly analogous to foursomes, fourballs and singles. Recent results suggest that the Europeans are on good form and will be tough to beat. However the Americans probably have an advantage on the system side given the lack of variety in systems on the other side of the pond, whereas the Europeans feature a diverse mix.
You can follow the play live on Bridge Base Online and get the daily bulletins and up-to-date scores on the Buffet site.
The stars of American and European bridge are fighting it out over the next four days, finishing just in time for them to pop into the K Club and watch professionals who earn at least 100 times more than they do!
Actually that's probably an exaggeration. Most of these players are full time professionals (except perhaps the Irish?) who travel the world playing with sponsors and clients. Certainly in the USA there are some excessively rich sponsors who will happily send one of their planes to pick up their star bridge partner. However bridge does not support many professionals (perhaps ~100 in the USA, ~10 in the UK) unless they can supplement their income with books and newspaper columns.
The format of the Buffett Cup attempts to parallel the golf. There are pairs, teams and individual sessions that are broadly analogous to foursomes, fourballs and singles. Recent results suggest that the Europeans are on good form and will be tough to beat. However the Americans probably have an advantage on the system side given the lack of variety in systems on the other side of the pond, whereas the Europeans feature a diverse mix.
You can follow the play live on Bridge Base Online and get the daily bulletins and up-to-date scores on the Buffet site.
The Acol Club
Another thriving club at Bridge Base Online is the Acol Club. Lawrence (aacol) and his team run a number of free teaching sessions and organise a pairs league and teams ladder.
Its Sunday morning session is run by Steve (badderzboy) but I was asked to step in for a couple of weeks whilst he is off on vacation. Clearly the club had not noticed that my Acol skills were not normally demonstrated on-line but the first session yesterday seemed to be well received.
Perhaps this is not surprising as my sessions tend to be system-independent. I attempt to focus on judgement rather than system, getting players to consider their actions and plan how the auction/play will develop. Hopefully I'll see more of the Acol crowd at my BIL sessions.
Like the BIL, the Acol Club is primarily focused on beginners and intermediates and there are many who belong to both clubs. Together the two clubs are running a 13-week teams competition that is providing entertainment for all on Sunday afternoons. I take all the results and produce a Butler scorecard that enables the individual pairs to see how they performed overall. Oliver (OliverC) publishes this data on his website.
Its Sunday morning session is run by Steve (badderzboy) but I was asked to step in for a couple of weeks whilst he is off on vacation. Clearly the club had not noticed that my Acol skills were not normally demonstrated on-line but the first session yesterday seemed to be well received.
Perhaps this is not surprising as my sessions tend to be system-independent. I attempt to focus on judgement rather than system, getting players to consider their actions and plan how the auction/play will develop. Hopefully I'll see more of the Acol crowd at my BIL sessions.
Like the BIL, the Acol Club is primarily focused on beginners and intermediates and there are many who belong to both clubs. Together the two clubs are running a 13-week teams competition that is providing entertainment for all on Sunday afternoons. I take all the results and produce a Butler scorecard that enables the individual pairs to see how they performed overall. Oliver (OliverC) publishes this data on his website.
Saturday, 16 September 2006
BBO UK meeting in January
The second meeting of BBO players in the UK is happening in January. I attended the last one and it was fun to meet many of the folks that you've only met in cyberspace. Unfortunately I can't make this one but they have a great schedule including English internationals Michelle Brunner and John Holland playing and providing some instruction.
The event is being run as a non-profit affair and full details are available on their website.
The event is being run as a non-profit affair and full details are available on their website.
Beginners and Intermediates on-line
If you are a novice, beginner or intermediate bridge player looking to play bridge on-line, then almost certainly the best place is the Beginner/Intermediate Lounge (aka BIL) on Bridge Base Online.
Having just celebrated its third birthday, the BIL's founder, Maureen, runs the club to "provide the online bridge beginner and intermediate fraternity with a supportive, learning environment for developing and improving their bridge skills. A place to come together to learn, compete, make friends and form partnerships."
I don't know how many BIL members there are, but Maureen has a team of 180 (!!) experienced players who provide free group teaching sessions and mentoring. I run my sessions on Monday evenings for a couple of hours. The BIL calendar shows just how much is provided.
All you need to do is download the BBO software, become a member and then apply to join the BIL. Only advanced and better players are refused!
And did I mention that this is all free?
Having just celebrated its third birthday, the BIL's founder, Maureen, runs the club to "provide the online bridge beginner and intermediate fraternity with a supportive, learning environment for developing and improving their bridge skills. A place to come together to learn, compete, make friends and form partnerships."
I don't know how many BIL members there are, but Maureen has a team of 180 (!!) experienced players who provide free group teaching sessions and mentoring. I run my sessions on Monday evenings for a couple of hours. The BIL calendar shows just how much is provided.
All you need to do is download the BBO software, become a member and then apply to join the BIL. Only advanced and better players are refused!
And did I mention that this is all free?
Friday, 15 September 2006
Evening teams
Watching some juniors play, and with the vugraph not particular exciting, so we decided to play a couple of team matches on BBO. Due to my work with the Beginners/Intermediates Lounge (BIL) on BBO I have some additional privileges that permit me to run concurrent tournaments and team games, so I used this to run two matches using the same boards.
Alex and I 'played' against Justin and Jim. Or rather, forgot to play: we lost -800 when Justin doubled our 14-16 1NT opener and I had a bust, another -800 when I made a very stupid bid, and we failed to bid a good slam (probably Alex's fault this time). Unsurprisingly this did not help our butler score!
Justin's team from the Colonies beat us by 31 IMPs over 10 boards. In the other match Team Sheepman prevailed over the Sheep Shearers by 7 IMPs in a lower scoring affair. When the boards were played originally in the Wagar final, Baker beat Griffey by 29 IMPs.
The full (cross-imped) butler was:
Next time we shall do better!
Alex and I 'played' against Justin and Jim. Or rather, forgot to play: we lost -800 when Justin doubled our 14-16 1NT opener and I had a bust, another -800 when I made a very stupid bid, and we failed to bid a good slam (probably Alex's fault this time). Unsurprisingly this did not help our butler score!
Justin's team from the Colonies beat us by 31 IMPs over 10 boards. In the other match Team Sheepman prevailed over the Sheep Shearers by 7 IMPs in a lower scoring affair. When the boards were played originally in the Wagar final, Baker beat Griffey by 29 IMPs.
The full (cross-imped) butler was:
| justin/jim | 28 |
| Auken + Von Arnim | 23 |
| Palmer + Deas | 13 |
| ant590/tickles | 9 |
| Jjbrr+minimeck | 7 |
| the saint/dave161uk | 1 |
| danmac123/col3435 | -1 |
| mickyb/blofeld | -7 |
| realdeal/ewj | -9 |
| Covallciuc + Kennedy | -13 |
| Waller + Baum | -23 |
| paulg/gipsona | -28 |
Next time we shall do better!
Dayton Apes (Match 2)
Having won the first match narrowly, we were disappointed to lose the second one by 29 IMPs (7-23 VPs).
There were four major swings. Anne and I found a better game on one to win 13 IMPs on board 5, and Mike and Nigel played in the wrong minor game on board 2 to hand 10 IMPs back.
The other two swings were largely the result of my new partnership. On the first hand I held ♠ J7 ♥ A5 ♦ QJ10753 ♣ Q98 and heard Anne open 1♥; I responded 2♦ and LHO overcalled 2♠ that Anne passed. RHO raised to 3♠ which I passed and eventually Anne bid 4♣. I thought this would show a weak 5-5 shape so passed, when in fact she held a weak 6-4 and 4♥ was making. In the other room there was no competition and it was a lot easier to find the right contract.
On the second hand I held ♠ AQ109xx ♥ Kxx ♦ AJ9x ♣ - and heard Anne open 1♥ playing 4-card majors.
I responded 1♠ and heard a 2♣ rebid. I used fourth suit forcing and Anne responded with 3NT. At this point I can probably bid 4♦ although this may lead to a confusing auction with no apparent trump suit agreed. With the concern that Anne may have a 1444 shape and 3NT may be showing a minimum, I decided to pass.
They had the same auction in the other room, albeit playing 5-card majors, and my hand bid 6♥ at this point. Although potentially a difficult contract all lines lead to 12 tricks so we lost 13 IMPs. It is hard to work out how good the slam is as the hand opposite is ♠ x ♥ AQ109x ♦ Q8x ♣ AQJ9 but a quick simulation suggests that 12 tricks are always likely to be available. Mea culpa.
The Apes just had the better of the minor skirmishes and ran out winners by 52:22 IMPs.
This marks the end of the round robin stage. There are a large number of outstanding matches so it will be some time before we discover if we have qualified to the A or B playoffs.
There were four major swings. Anne and I found a better game on one to win 13 IMPs on board 5, and Mike and Nigel played in the wrong minor game on board 2 to hand 10 IMPs back.
The other two swings were largely the result of my new partnership. On the first hand I held ♠ J7 ♥ A5 ♦ QJ10753 ♣ Q98 and heard Anne open 1♥; I responded 2♦ and LHO overcalled 2♠ that Anne passed. RHO raised to 3♠ which I passed and eventually Anne bid 4♣. I thought this would show a weak 5-5 shape so passed, when in fact she held a weak 6-4 and 4♥ was making. In the other room there was no competition and it was a lot easier to find the right contract.
On the second hand I held ♠ AQ109xx ♥ Kxx ♦ AJ9x ♣ - and heard Anne open 1♥ playing 4-card majors.
I responded 1♠ and heard a 2♣ rebid. I used fourth suit forcing and Anne responded with 3NT. At this point I can probably bid 4♦ although this may lead to a confusing auction with no apparent trump suit agreed. With the concern that Anne may have a 1444 shape and 3NT may be showing a minimum, I decided to pass.
They had the same auction in the other room, albeit playing 5-card majors, and my hand bid 6♥ at this point. Although potentially a difficult contract all lines lead to 12 tricks so we lost 13 IMPs. It is hard to work out how good the slam is as the hand opposite is ♠ x ♥ AQ109x ♦ Q8x ♣ AQJ9 but a quick simulation suggests that 12 tricks are always likely to be available. Mea culpa.
The Apes just had the better of the minor skirmishes and ran out winners by 52:22 IMPs.
This marks the end of the round robin stage. There are a large number of outstanding matches so it will be some time before we discover if we have qualified to the A or B playoffs.
Dayton Apes (Match 1)
Last night Blue Lightning played its final match of the BBO League Round Robin against the Dayton Apes from Finland. The Apes feature a number of 'stars' (recognised world-class players) and had three playing in this match, clearly reflecting the importance of the encounter.
Our team was the established partnership of Mike and Nigel with Anne playing with me. It's been some years since I played with Anne and, even then, it was just 10 boards in a county pivot competition. But we did practise beforehand and had a full convention card, so we'd be OK in the first round of the auction!
We started the first 12-board match poorly when Anne and I misdefended a doubled 3♣ contract resulting in a 13 IMPs swing. Mike and Nigel got most of this back on board 6 when they bid to an excellent 6♦ contract that was missed in our room.
On board 9 both declarers took slightly strange lines in a 3NT contract. Nigel survived thanks to a friendlier opening lead whereas we defeated the game to take a 12 IMPs lead into the last three boards.
However on board 10 aggressive bidding from Nigel lead to a poor game handing 8 IMPs back and this was followed by a flat game on 11. So the match went down to the final hand and would depend on how everyone bid the following hand:
North
♠ K 10 3 2
♥ A
♦ A K Q 9 5
♣ A 9 6
South
♠ A 5 4
♥ K 10
♦ 10 6
♣ K 10 7 5 4 2
N S
1♦ 2♣
2♦ 2NT
3♣ 3NT
4♦ 4♠
5N 7♣
Our auction started well but I feel that it would have been better if Anne had raised 3♣ to 4♣. In the end my 5NT bid was 'pick a slam' so I was surprised when Anne picked at the seven level!
Mike and Nigel created a few problems for the opposition in the auction, but they brushed these aside to reach the same contract.
1♦ (3♥) 4♣ (4♥)
6♣ (NB) 7♣ All pass
I'm not sure how South found the grand slam bid here either! This is a poor grand slam as it is only a 46% chance of playing the club suit for six tricks. 7NT is a slightly better contract as it will always make when the clubs break and, in rare circumstances, when they do not.
So a flat grand slam meant that we won the first match by 4 IMPs, which converted to a 16-14 VP win.
Our team was the established partnership of Mike and Nigel with Anne playing with me. It's been some years since I played with Anne and, even then, it was just 10 boards in a county pivot competition. But we did practise beforehand and had a full convention card, so we'd be OK in the first round of the auction!
We started the first 12-board match poorly when Anne and I misdefended a doubled 3♣ contract resulting in a 13 IMPs swing. Mike and Nigel got most of this back on board 6 when they bid to an excellent 6♦ contract that was missed in our room.
On board 9 both declarers took slightly strange lines in a 3NT contract. Nigel survived thanks to a friendlier opening lead whereas we defeated the game to take a 12 IMPs lead into the last three boards.
However on board 10 aggressive bidding from Nigel lead to a poor game handing 8 IMPs back and this was followed by a flat game on 11. So the match went down to the final hand and would depend on how everyone bid the following hand:
North
♠ K 10 3 2
♥ A
♦ A K Q 9 5
♣ A 9 6
South
♠ A 5 4
♥ K 10
♦ 10 6
♣ K 10 7 5 4 2
N S
1♦ 2♣
2♦ 2NT
3♣ 3NT
4♦ 4♠
5N 7♣
Our auction started well but I feel that it would have been better if Anne had raised 3♣ to 4♣. In the end my 5NT bid was 'pick a slam' so I was surprised when Anne picked at the seven level!
Mike and Nigel created a few problems for the opposition in the auction, but they brushed these aside to reach the same contract.
1♦ (3♥) 4♣ (4♥)
6♣ (NB) 7♣ All pass
I'm not sure how South found the grand slam bid here either! This is a poor grand slam as it is only a 46% chance of playing the club suit for six tricks. 7NT is a slightly better contract as it will always make when the clubs break and, in rare circumstances, when they do not.
So a flat grand slam meant that we won the first match by 4 IMPs, which converted to a 16-14 VP win.
Tuesday, 5 September 2006
Playing bridge on-line
I play bridge on-line at Bridge Base Online (BBO) under the userid paulg. This site is free and provides a suitable environment for playing bridge with people from all over the world.
When there are major events being played, BBO provides free vugraph coverage with (mostly) excellent commentators. Watching these events is one of the best ways to improve your game.
If you are interested in playing on-line, download the software and give it a whirl. You can easily chat to me (paulg) when you are logged into the site for more information.
I wrote a brief guide to on-line bridge, published in Bridge Plus, that describes the differences between on-line and f2f (face-to-face) play and includes a list of the various sites where you can play.
Happy cards!
When there are major events being played, BBO provides free vugraph coverage with (mostly) excellent commentators. Watching these events is one of the best ways to improve your game.
If you are interested in playing on-line, download the software and give it a whirl. You can easily chat to me (paulg) when you are logged into the site for more information.
I wrote a brief guide to on-line bridge, published in Bridge Plus, that describes the differences between on-line and f2f (face-to-face) play and includes a list of the various sites where you can play.
Happy cards!
Sharpcats
I captain the Blue Lightning on-line bridge team, playing in Group G of the BBO League on the Bridge Base Online site.
I have seven regular players in our team, with three established partnerships, but still we often have to play with irregular partnerships as arranging matches is often fraught. The main job of the captain is to cajole his players into a time/date that the opposition captain is trying to cajole his troop into - often a lots of emails, frustration and worrying times until the match finally kicks off.
Last night we played Sharpcats, a team from Poland. Our team consisted of Alan (Bedfordshire), Graham (Hampshire), Mike (Berkshire) and myself (Scottish Borders): Alan and I have played on-line a few times but this was to be the first outing for Graham and Mike.
The match started badly when the opposition failed to show. So we decided to play a few hands together and wait a little while to see if they turned up. About 30 minutes later the Sharpcats captain appeared, expecting to play an hour later than agreed. Different timezones can often cause a problem but, in this case, they had just made a mistake that they apologised for.
The format of each encounter is two, independent, 12-board matches.
Alan and I started the first match solidly. On the second board a marginal opening bid allowed the opposition to find an excellent sacrifice over our game: it looked unlikely that our pair would find this so a probable 11 IMPs swing out there.
The next two boards were undistinguished except for the last card. On board three the opposition missed the chance to make the Beer Card when holding two winning diamonds and playing the seven first instead of second! This error would have cost us a beer, but they did say that they had plenty of beer anyhow :)
On board 4 I made no mistake, winning the ten of clubs on the last trick (in a spade contract) so Alan now owes me a Coke.
The next few boards seemed quiet boring until we got to the tenth. Alan and I bid to 6♠ holding the following cards:
North
♠ J 10 6
♥ Q J
♦ 9 3
♣ A K Q 7 6 2
South
♠ A 8 5 4 3
♥ A K 9 5 2
♦ A K J
♣ -
North South
-- 1♠
2♣ 2♥
2♠ 3♥
4♠ 5NT
6♠ Pass
Not a good contract, especially when only 10 tricks could be made with the 4-1 spade break. Although we were hopeful that the opposition would reach the 5-level, they played safely in 4♠ and we lost another 13 IMPs.
A couple of poor decisions (well, decisions that turned out poorly) at the other table left us with a loss by 32 IMPs, meaning a 7-23 VP loss.
After a short coffee break, the same lineups returned for the second match (switching opponents).
The match started well for us when the defence missed a couple of opportunities and I made a 22-point 3NT contract. Things seemed to be running our way this time: they missed a game (thanks to Alan's preempt), went four down vulnerable on a partscore hand, doubled our making game conceding a vulnerable overtrick and so it was hard to see where we could lose points.
Indeed that proved the case and we ran out winners by 37 IMPs, revenge with a 25-5 VP score.
As we finished first we hurried over to the other table to see them finish the last couple of hands. Neither pair shone on board 11:
North
♠ 10
♥ Q 8 4 2
♦ A Q J 8 5 4
♣ A 5
South
♠ K 8
♥ J 10 6 5 3
♦ K
♣ K J 6 4 2
Our opposition bid to 3NT by North (after an undistinguised Wilkosz auction) and were lucky to find the ace of spades well positioned, otherwise they would have lost the first 7 tricks! Mike and Graham were even luckier with South playing in 5♥ on a spade lead. With no legitimate play to avoid losing two hearts tricks, Mike crossed to dummy and led the queen of hearts. East mistakingly covered with the ♥K when holding three hearts and his partner's ace crashed on the same trick - bridge is an easy game!
Blue Lightning leads the group table but has played more matches than the other teams. Our aim is to finish in the top four places and qualify for the knockout stages, so we will have to do well in our final two games.
I have seven regular players in our team, with three established partnerships, but still we often have to play with irregular partnerships as arranging matches is often fraught. The main job of the captain is to cajole his players into a time/date that the opposition captain is trying to cajole his troop into - often a lots of emails, frustration and worrying times until the match finally kicks off.
Last night we played Sharpcats, a team from Poland. Our team consisted of Alan (Bedfordshire), Graham (Hampshire), Mike (Berkshire) and myself (Scottish Borders): Alan and I have played on-line a few times but this was to be the first outing for Graham and Mike.
The match started badly when the opposition failed to show. So we decided to play a few hands together and wait a little while to see if they turned up. About 30 minutes later the Sharpcats captain appeared, expecting to play an hour later than agreed. Different timezones can often cause a problem but, in this case, they had just made a mistake that they apologised for.
The format of each encounter is two, independent, 12-board matches.
Alan and I started the first match solidly. On the second board a marginal opening bid allowed the opposition to find an excellent sacrifice over our game: it looked unlikely that our pair would find this so a probable 11 IMPs swing out there.
The next two boards were undistinguished except for the last card. On board three the opposition missed the chance to make the Beer Card when holding two winning diamonds and playing the seven first instead of second! This error would have cost us a beer, but they did say that they had plenty of beer anyhow :)
On board 4 I made no mistake, winning the ten of clubs on the last trick (in a spade contract) so Alan now owes me a Coke.
The next few boards seemed quiet boring until we got to the tenth. Alan and I bid to 6♠ holding the following cards:
North
♠ J 10 6
♥ Q J
♦ 9 3
♣ A K Q 7 6 2
South
♠ A 8 5 4 3
♥ A K 9 5 2
♦ A K J
♣ -
North South
-- 1♠
2♣ 2♥
2♠ 3♥
4♠ 5NT
6♠ Pass
Not a good contract, especially when only 10 tricks could be made with the 4-1 spade break. Although we were hopeful that the opposition would reach the 5-level, they played safely in 4♠ and we lost another 13 IMPs.
A couple of poor decisions (well, decisions that turned out poorly) at the other table left us with a loss by 32 IMPs, meaning a 7-23 VP loss.
After a short coffee break, the same lineups returned for the second match (switching opponents).
The match started well for us when the defence missed a couple of opportunities and I made a 22-point 3NT contract. Things seemed to be running our way this time: they missed a game (thanks to Alan's preempt), went four down vulnerable on a partscore hand, doubled our making game conceding a vulnerable overtrick and so it was hard to see where we could lose points.
Indeed that proved the case and we ran out winners by 37 IMPs, revenge with a 25-5 VP score.
As we finished first we hurried over to the other table to see them finish the last couple of hands. Neither pair shone on board 11:
North
♠ 10
♥ Q 8 4 2
♦ A Q J 8 5 4
♣ A 5
South
♠ K 8
♥ J 10 6 5 3
♦ K
♣ K J 6 4 2
Our opposition bid to 3NT by North (after an undistinguised Wilkosz auction) and were lucky to find the ace of spades well positioned, otherwise they would have lost the first 7 tricks! Mike and Graham were even luckier with South playing in 5♥ on a spade lead. With no legitimate play to avoid losing two hearts tricks, Mike crossed to dummy and led the queen of hearts. East mistakingly covered with the ♥K when holding three hearts and his partner's ace crashed on the same trick - bridge is an easy game!
Blue Lightning leads the group table but has played more matches than the other teams. Our aim is to finish in the top four places and qualify for the knockout stages, so we will have to do well in our final two games.
The Curse of Scotland ... and cokes
The curse of Scotland is a term used in bridge for the nine of diamonds (♦9). The exact origins of the term are unknown but several theories exists.
Along the same lines as the beer card, I was told yesterday that the ten of clubs (♣10) is the Coke card. I can find no basis for this (but will be searching for it) and would not be surprised if it is an invention of the vugraph commentators on Bridge Base Online who often make bets, in drinks of Coca Cola, on whether a declarer will make the contract, or not.
Along the same lines as the beer card, I was told yesterday that the ten of clubs (♣10) is the Coke card. I can find no basis for this (but will be searching for it) and would not be surprised if it is an invention of the vugraph commentators on Bridge Base Online who often make bets, in drinks of Coca Cola, on whether a declarer will make the contract, or not.
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