LHO	Bill	RHO	Me
1N!	3	P	P
X!	P	3	All pass

This was the full layout:

AK64 AK42 6 QJT5
JT85 53 Q5 AK863	2 QJ6 AK87432 72
Q973 T987 JT9 94

Yes, he opened 1N with a singleton diamond. And I don't consider that the worst reason to open 1N. More importantly, the hand is too good. He was then forced to guess to reopen (X was takeout) and was right to do so. I was very close to bidding 3N over 3. With no major controls at all, I thought it was too big of a position. I wasn't happy with how the auction came out, I hoped that they had misjudged rather than competing further. Enough with the auction, as Shakespeare says, "The play's the thing."

Bill/I teamed for a nice defense to defeat the contract. The opening lead is pretty routine. I put the A (A from AK) on the table:
A, 5, 7, 4
The sight of dummy was a little jarring. I saw one chance for the defense, though it was slim.
K, T, 2, 9
3, J, J, 3
Reading the lowest club as a suit preference for diamonds Bill kept up our good work to this point.
2, J, Q, 6
Desperate to get to me, he underled his diamond honors.
6, Q, Q, 7
Declarer was helpless to stop it, we were able to take the first 5 tricks. It was only +50, but it accomplished two things. It allowed us to salvage a plus on the board, and got us started on a positive vibe for the match.

The next board was almost a reprise of the first. Our opponents bid aggressively again (this time to game so the stakes were higher). I had an AK lead combination and was able to give Bill a ruff. I had an entry and a 2nd ruff followed. That led to this hand which huge for our side.

RHO	Me	LHO	Bill
P	1	X	2
3	4	P	P
5	X	All pass

My 4 was based on an expectation of making, and the fact that we were vulnerable and the opponents were not. I hoped to induce an injudicious save. Not likely but sometimes an opponent does not feel that he has got his hand fully off his chest. That was the case here. When my screenmate bid 5 I knew what to do. This was the full layout:

4 A85 AK863 KT62
AK982 KQT9 J9 A3	QJT --- QT752 Q9854
7653 J76432 4 J7

It's easy to see what my opponent was thinking. His partner was short in spades and he figured he could ruff his losers there, expecting a cheap save. His partner's hand was not what he hoped for. The auction screamed for a trump lead and I had a easy holding to lead from and started with the K. The defense was interesting as declarer had no entries to his hand to take spade ruffs. We were able to lock him on the board. When he tried ruffing a minor suit in hand, I could overruff. I let dummy ruff one spade, then he tried to ruff in hand again. This time I could overruff, pull dummy's last trump (without losing a heart trick) and we scored up 800.

Another swing hand followed. The opponents were reeling a bit, and I made a tactical decision based on that, which paid off even more so than I'd hoped. This was my hand:
876 Q98 QT85 T84
The auction began surprisingly tamely:

Bill	RHO	Me	LHO
1(1)	P	1(2)	P
2(3)	P	?

Here is an explanation of the bidding
(1) Multiple hand types, minors, extras w/ long suit, or strong balanced
(2) Negative 0-6
(3) 6+ diamonds and limited (15-17 roughly)
I had a decision to make. We had a good fit but it was doubtful we had game. The opponents had remained silent til now. If I raised it would give my RHO another chance to bid and would tell them we had a fit (and thus they did too). I gambled a pass. LHO thought for a long time, and perhaps influenced by the results of the first three boards, passed it out. I made the contract easily, and due to the lie of the cards, the opponents could make 4S, though it would be hard to get there. The rest of the set went our way as well. The opponents missed a slam, and I got a favorable lead on a blind auction to make a vulnerable game. I thought we had a big win though we'd have to wait one more match to compare.

Our 2nd match was against another "surprise" qualifier. They did everything right at our table. We didn't play badly, but didn't have any hands where we figured to gain much. I had one hand where I needed to guess a jack to make a game. I was able to infer the distribution and took the percentage play but I was wrong, it was in the short hand. I figured we had suffered a moderate loss. We compared with teammates. They had an up and down first set, we won comfortably just not by quite as much as I'd expected. We suffered a few small swings in the 2nd match and a 12 IMP loss. Still, we had gone over average over the 2 matches, slightly improving our position. We still had to face the top 6 teams (by seed anyway) in the other group.

Our next match was against the Gordon team, the 3rd seed. The first five boards were relatively quiet. We had overreached on one board where both Bill and I took aggressive positions. It was not a success, but only figured to be a small loss.
Then came a potential swing hand, I held: K7 K6 AQJ762 AJ6. The bidding quickly escalated:

Me	LHO	Bill	RHO
1(1)	3	P	P
?

(1) My hand fits two of our 1 opening criteria. It could be considered 18-20 balanced or 15+ with a 6 card suit.
We were vul, and the opponents not, and I had to guess what to do. Bill could have some values for his pass. When making a decision of this nature, the idea is to take the action that has the biggest payoff if it is right. Thus, I can eliminate a 4 call. If I'm going to risk my neck, I'm going to do it in game. I closed my eyes and bid 3N. When I opened them, everyone had passed and LHO led the 5. This was the full hand, though of course, I don't get to see the N/S cards just yet.

Q9852 QJT7542 T ----
K7 K6 AQJ762 AJ6	AT4 93 K T987543
J63 A8 98543 KQ2

A most suitable dummy, we looked to be in a good spot. I took some good-natured ribbing from the opponents at my good fortune in getting such a good dummy. I try to imagine what can go wrong. If diamonds break, I will have 9 easy tricks. Thus I assume they will not and see what I can do. I wish to keep RHO off lead to prevent a heart lead through my king (I'm convinced my LHO has the ace, particularly given the lead). I see that if I can lose a club to LHO, I will be safe. I can hope the T holds at trick 1 but that would only be 8 tricks (assuming diamonds aren't splitting). I decide to win in dummy preserving a late entry to hand. This proved to be a key decision in the endgame. The play began:
5, A, 6, 7
3, 2, J, 2
When RHO played low on the club, I thought I was home. The outshow was disappointing. I can't set up clubs now without letting RHO in, time to attack diamonds.
2, T, K, 3
4, Q, A, 4
A, 5, 5, 4
Wow. LHO had 12 cards in the majors. I have only 8 winners and no choice but to give up a diamond. I need a blockage in hearts or some other piece of good fortune. As it turns out with the A onside, I could not be stopped from scoring my long diamond with my K as a sure entry. I took 2 spades, 2 clubs, and 5 diamonds. A breathless 600.

The last hand allowed us to get another of our 2 bids in play. They were very effective for us during the trials, and created many swings our way. They can create problems for us as well, at times, but they are a useful tool most of the time. I held: A852 T9632 Q75 9
We had another busy auction.

Bill	RHO	Me	LHO
2(1)	3	3	3N
4	4	All pass

I was very pleased to defend with 5 trumps. I figured the opponents were on a 4-3 fit. There is a good lead lesson here. This is not the time to lead low. We would like to tap declarer and dummy is marked with the diamond strength. The correct lead is the Q. If dummy has the Kxx and we hold the trick. We can tap declarer immediately. If we lead low, partner will win the trick and the K will prevent partner from tapping declarer without setting up a trick. This proved to be a very effective defense and declarer, trying to make his game, went down 5 vulnerable tricks. Cause for optimism but we had another match to play. As fate would have it, we drew the top seeded O'Rourke team next. Most of the top teams had sponsors (i.e. clients) who paid for the rest of the team. It's considered advantageous to face a team when the client is in; not that they are poor players but just because of who winds up sitting out. We caught a slight break here, as Greco-Hampson, one of the top pairs in the country, sat out our match.

We started off shakily. Our opponents defended well (as expected) to set our partscore (I'd actually underbid!) 2 tricks. I then made a foolish play in an easy contract, losing concentration, but salvaged the contract in the endgame. The only cost was overtricks and some pride. Then an opponent made a tactical bid against our 1C opener and it worked very well. We settled down and finished strong, bidding and making a close game towards the end of the set.

Our teammates were waiting for us and we anxiously compared. The 3rd match turned out to be a nice win. Our teammates had done very well and we had rallied from our slow start to squeak by in the final match as well. We had moved into qualifying position with 4 tough matches remaining. Though we didn't know it then, further adventure awaited our team on Sunday. For now, it was time for dinner and some rest.

RR2 diary concludes in part V.