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K J 9 8 6 5 
A 6 
A K 
A 9 3 1S by west all passed was our unusually unadventurous auction. Let's just say, I didn't really consider bidding with the West cards. Declarer didn't quite get the tempo right here and allowed us to hold him to 7 tricks for an unusual 80. On the other table, things weren’t nearly so quiet. North opened a strong club and South bid 1S which showed 0-4 systemically (I think!). West thought he was worth a double and Michael Clark as North couldn't see much to do except pass in tempo to show no interest in the auction. East now curiously came in with 1N (who knows what that means!) and Luke bid an aggressive 2H figuring that his good shape merited another bid. West now rode to the rescue with 2S which was axed mercilessly by North and netted a handsome 800 and another big swing to us.
I think Smith and Wilson were a bit unlucky here as, following a strong club opening and 1D response, the Worcestershire pair declined to interfere. Obviously a great decision as the cards lie but they can feel a little unfortunate that they didn’t get a chance for a big penalty. 3S was their final resting spot which drifted one off for a part-score swing out in that mini-match.
Jeremy Bygott tells me that their opponent opening this hand a strong 2S. No thanks!
Looks like only one Oxford pair got caught here – bad luck to Clacey and Angus. Still, the colours aren’t exactly favourable to bid when the opponents have found a strong opening at the 2 level….
Board 10
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After this hand, I went out to the front and was chatting to Nathan Piper and Simon Cope.
"What happened to you here?" I enquired innocently
"Passed out - didn't fancy opening in 4th. You?"
"Erm - not quite passed out"
Bryony opened 1D as East, first in (we play a strong no-trump). South was in with a spade overcall and I bid a light but sound 2H (forcing), I did have 4 card support after all. North joined in the action with 3C and Bryony raised to 3H. This is aggressive, but reasonable I think. Anyway, South passed and I bid the inevitable game. North wasn't yet done and decided to save in 4S which is "interesting" Partner found an axe and South passed. I thought 4 trumps and a void seemed plenty and passed and North now decided to stand it. An odd decision - it doesn't really look like South has 6 spades, does it?
Anyway - I kicked off with the DQ which held the trick. I now tried a small diamond to get off lead and partner won and cashed another top diamond. Declarer won and obviously had no idea what to do and who can blame him? He next tried a spade up and partner beat the king with her ace. She now tried the HT which declarer won. He now played the CK and the roof caved in. I could ruff this and then play a top heart. He was forced to ruff on table but now only had clubs left. I could ruff the next club, cash a top heart and give partner a heart ruff with her last trump. She then completed declarer's misery with another round of clubs allowing me a trump promotion and the full value 1400.
Probably the most ill-timed comment could be heard afterwards, I'm afraid to say
"I don't think you should have overcalled 1S"
I don't think I should comment on that…..
There was an unusual result here when Keep and Brown pulled out 400 here. Very odd to score up game with a pass-out at the other table!
Board 11
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At our table, there was no real excitement. I found a weak jump overcall of 2H after South's 1D opener and North made a mild-sniff towards slam. When South showed no strong interest they simply baled out in 5D. I led the HA and it was clear that the only way to beat this was for declarer to have a club guess. When there wasn't one, Declarer simply drew trumps and conceded a spade at the end. The real problem on the hand was those defending 6D. I've heard that HA followed by a spade lead to the queen and king was curtains for some. Ouch!
Still well done to Wilkes and Webley for finding the correct defence to slam.
Board 12
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Not wildly exciting at our table here, either. We simply defeated an optimistic 4H by one trick. We've all been in worse but on this occasion, there is no play. Flat board at any rate
After the first set of unending highs, Clacey and Angus weren’t enjoying their second set here when things went awry defending 4H. 620 out wasn’t what the doctor ordered, especially when Cope and Piper had managed to score a plus on the board
Board 13
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I thought we had a nice controlled auction here for a change. Bryony opened 1C and South made a good decision not to overall in my opinion. I bid a quiet 1D and North overcalled 1S. Partner now doubled showing a sound opening hand and South raised to 2S. I could now bid 3C which shows extra values (but is non-forcing). This proved to be a good place to play. With the spade weakness exposed, 3N had no play so we partner simply made the routine 9 tricks in clubs. I've heard about 3N slipping through on a heart lead and heart return… well done to Wilkes and Webley for that one.
Alastair Gidman’s story on this hand was quite instructive I think. Chris Whitehouse found an aggressive 2C overcall over 1N (showing the majors). Expecting a better hand, Alastair simply bid game which slid 2 off. I have no real concerns about overcalling light here if that is your style but what is most important is knowing and expecting that partner might do such a thing. Obviously if you are aware that partner will overcall quite light here, you should simply invite. If partner’s overcalls are sound, bid game.
Board 14
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Our opponents had a decent auction here to the cold club slam. North was perhaps a bit pushy following South's weak no-trump opening, but an auction of :
1N 2H
2S 3C
3N 4C
4D 4N
5D 6C
P
seemed decent. Bryony kicked off with a diamond which declarer won in hand. This is a little fiddly for declarer as he really wants to have an entry to table to discard his losers on the diamonds. If the king of clubs is with west, it could remove the entry prematurely, so a small club to the king gives declarer the most flexibility. When East is forced to rise on the first round, then the hand is over. The Worcs auction only promised a four card suit with North and Bryony figured that the only way to defeat the slam is for declarer to be 5134 as there would then be a diamond ruff. Not this time…..
Personally, I would have found the same action as Simon Cope here and upgraded the South hand to a strong nt. A nice 5 card suit and a 14 count looks like an upgrade to me. There was no stopping Nathan Piper from bidding slam after that start! Only some frantic back-tracking from Simon kept them out of grand here!
A typical auction for those missing slam (as reported by Wilkes/Webley and GIdman/Whitehouse) was
1N 2H
2S 3C
3N 4C
4D 4H
5C P
I think maybe that responder should raise 5C to 6C but think that the real problem is that opener is better placed if they upgrade this to a strong nt.
Still, slam only missed twice here by Oxford, so that was a better effort than our counterparts.
Board 15
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I'm sure Bryony was more than a little surprised here for me to overcall South's wafer-thin 1D with 1H!! She raised to game and I decided not to have another go although it's close… If I'd known North would lead the Jack of diamonds, maybe I would! 12 tricks on that lead, but 11 is normal.
Board 16
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Another boring hand here, North made an odd weak jump overcall in diamonds and got to play in 2D. We slopped a trick here by playing on spades as it didn't seem obvious that North would have AAK for his weak jump overcall!!
This hand was notable for Keep and Brown enjoying 380 when 1NX played rather well. Landy and Hayes also picked a good time to defend and racked up 300 against nothing.
If the first half wasn’t that exciting… the second half was as dull as dishwater!
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