Blue's Anatomy Part VI

Our last chance to make some noise. We'd dropped well down in the pack. Realistically we were playing for a high finish, needing a miracle to win. Neither of us had much experience in a 6 session event; stamina could be a factor as well. . It would be important to get off to a good start. Here's a round-by-round recap of the last session.

The first board was a partscore battle. We lost the auction battle but salvaged the board with careful defense to defeat their contract. The 2nd board we had a subtle systemic disagreement which proved costly missing a good slam. This was the layout:

1.	Q 5 J 4 2 J 10 6 5 3 7 6 2
10 8 2 A 5 9 8 2 Q J 9 8 4		A K J 9 6 4 3 9 6 3 A A K
Both Vul	7 K Q 10 8 7 K Q 7 4 10 5 3

West Pass 2 4

North Pass Pass All Pass

East 1 3

South 1 Pass

4 by East

With only 1 likely trick; I did not envision slam opposite a limited opening and felt a cuebid would show more. Ran into a magic fit. A slightly below average round. Session meter: Below Average

The 2nd round was against another renowned Scandanavian pair. I made an aggressive preempt on the first board, as is my style, and ran into a brutal layout. This was my hand:

2.	Both Vul
K Q 10 8 7 6 5 J 9 7 K Q 8

West 3

North Dbl

East All Pass

South 1

3 x by West
When RHO passed I knew I was in trouble. They had no game and I misguessed trump to go for 800.

The 2nd board we bid a game essentially on a finesse; it was offside. Not the start we needed. A terrible round. Session meter: Well Below Average

Storm clouds had begun to form on our chances. We did not go away just yet however. Round 3 saw the sun return with a monster round. We continue to apply pressure and this time it paid off as good defense and misguesses (reasonable) by declarer saw us go plus against 2 makeable contracts. A great round. Session Meter: Below Average

Round 4 was a turning point. We had another great result on the 1st board, stopping on a dime and guessing well to make on the nose. The 2nd board was a missed opportunity. The opponents had a murky auction to slam which could be defeated. It wasn't; a critical top to bottom swing. We settled for an average round. Session meter: Below average.

Round 5 started well when we pushed the opponents too high and judged to double on a distributional layout. Everyone was too high as it turned out and +300 paid very well. The 2nd board our lack of practice against 1N interference was costly. We played the wrong partscore. It made but was the lowest scoring one available. A below average round. Session meter: below average

Round 6 was not very interesting with 2 partscores. We came out slightly ahead but not enough to make a move. We needed something good to happen soon. Session meter: Below average

Round 7 was against the top seed: Fred Gitelman - Brad Moss. They were in the mix at the start of the session. We certainly improved their chances. Bad defense on the 1st board allowed them to make 1N. On the 2nd board, I tried to win it by myself with a ridiculous defensive play. This got the result I deserved; unfortunately Bill was stuck with it as well. This realistically ended our chances of a good finish. We could still scrape the overalls if we finished well. Session meter: well below average

Round 8 looked like a good start. The first board they played in 3N, taking 11 tricks when 12 were available pretty routinely. Slam was makeable in 3 strains for them. The next board they also underbid, with some interference from us, missing an easy game. Shockingly, the first board was a near 0. I remember being flabbergasted upon seeing the recap sheet but I don't remember what happened. The 2nd board was a good as expected so it was an average round. Session meter: well below average

If we had any hopes, round 9 quickly ended them. Bill faced a difficult decision in the auction and guessed wrong. The 2nd board they played a normal part score but we slipped a trick on defense which proved costly. Session meter: well below average

Round 10 started with another incredibly unlucky layout our way. We bid a normal game and ran into a 5-0 trump split. We had some company but this was not the result we were looking for. The 2nd was a flat partscore. Still well below average.

Round 11 was against another top Scandanavian pair (there are a lot of them!). We were clearly pressing. This time, it finally paid off. I made a questionable overcall which led to a touch and go game, which we scored up on a friendly layout. Here was the full hand:

3.	7 4 J A Q J 9 8 3 Q 9 5 2
Q 10 9 6 3 A 8 7 6 5 4 — 8 4		K J 5 2 — K 5 4 2 K J 10 6 3
Both Vul	A 8 K Q 10 9 3 2 10 7 6 A 7

West 1 4

North 2 All Pass

East 4

South 1 Dbl

With the CQ onside and trumps 2-2 I managed 4 trumps in hand, 1 heart, 2 ruffs in dummy, 2 clubs, and a long club for 10 tricks. Then good defense defeated their aggressive game on the companion. A solid round but still below average for the session.

Round 12 started off with a defensive problem.

4.	J 9 4 2 K 8 9 2 A K 7 6 3
K Q 8 J 3 2 K 8 4 Q J 10 8		A 5 A 10 6 5 A Q J 9 5 4 2
None Vul	10 7 6 3 Q 9 7 4 T 7 6 5 3 —

West 1 Dbl Pass

North 1 NT Pass 2

East Dbl Pass Dbl

South Pass 2 Rdbl All Pass

Trick 1. E 2. E 3. W 4. W 5. W

Lead A 5 K Q 2

2nd 3 6 9 3 8

3rd 8 Q 2 4 A

4th 2 4 7 4 4

Bill got us off to a great start with the trump lead, the first 3 tricks were routine. Not wanting to break a red suit, I led a club. It held, but Bill did not encourage me so I gave declarer his actual club holding. I cannot afford to lead diamonds lest declarer set up diamonds while still holding a trump entry. On the actual heart layout, I needed to lead them from my side. I found the necessary heart shift but Bill was not able to work out the position and won the A, playing me for KJx. A costly trick as down 3 is a top, while down 2 was a bottom.

On the companion we won the board in the bidding and play for a good score. Still a below average round. Session meter: Well Below Average

Round 13 signaled the end of the event. We were both pretty tired. I had a bidding decision to make on the first board and not surprisingly got it "wrong". The last board saw the opponents reach their optimal spot; a fitting cap to a frustrating day.

2 costly top to bottom swings plus some sloppy play contributed to a poor session. However, we certainly did not get our share of luck. The opponents played pretty well against us. Had we played perfectly we would still not have been much better than average. Making the final was an achievement in itself, and it was a great experience to play against a high caliber of opposition.