Last night I went to the Regent Bridge Club Dublin for the 4th night of the Presidents Prize. I made the mistake of venturing upstairs where all the leaders were sitting North South. I was playing(not sure if I should call it that) with the Great Mulall(mulall on BBO)
Our first boards were Board 7 and 8 and we played Thomas McCormac and Tomas Roche.
Board 7 I was dealt a fine hand S A. H void. D AJ9653 .C AKQJT3. South passed and I opened a quiet 1D and mccormac made a quiet overcall of 1H
P 1D 1H 1N
P 3C 3H X
P 3S 4H X
P 5H P 6D
That was hard work getting partner to finally surender and concede that he had some support
for my powerful minor hand. Trying to smack Tommy McCormac in 4H.. good plan except +200 or +500 is not much good against the slam. Anyway we made 6D+1 as I was afraid my club might get ruffed after the 9 card heart suit became visible as my Heart Ace got ruffed.
Board 8 was quieter with opps in 3H and I did not double as Tomas Roche always has his bid and one heart honor in dummy and the tip off might let it home. 3H-1
No major harm done so far but 6NT scores far better then a minor suit slam in MPs
Boards 11 12 versus Ranald Milne and Des Scannell
Opps opened a weak NT and a 4 count transfered to spades with me thumping the 2H as it went past anbd ranald completed the transfer to 2S normally showing 3 cards. My man gurgled away happily failing to notice that he was being robbed blind . He did have a 13 count and not sure why my double of 2H did not incline him to take interest in the hand. Anyway it drifted 3 off for 150 for the lads and a decent score but -100 or -50 would not have fared so well. Board 12 saw me venture in over another weak NT with a 2H anti bid .. my partners system but when quizzed about it he seemed doubtful of my 2H bid meaning. Anti means Hearts and a longer minor. When he placed down dummy it was clear he had other things on his mind as dummy held 5233 and surely moving to the safety of the longer minor looked normal and cool. However my man knowing I am an excellent card player figured the 4-2 heart fit was the Matchpoint place to play and after some generous defending +140 brought the large smile to the mulalls face ..
Next we moved on to Boards 15 and 16 versus Ruth Giddings and John Comyn
Board 15 Ruth opens 2S P P .. and I hold J8 .. K864 ..Q53..AQT3 in SHDC order.
The little Ruth bell goes off in my mind ...strong 2 bid but hey letting ruth play in 2S when she has 8 playing tricks is hardly a winning or manly action and Comyn is looking disinterested so he has TAT. So place the double on the table and partner starts to bubble. Eventually 3H is placed on the table ..he is 4333 with AQ7 cards in hearts and 10 small cards..
This was passed happily all round and the Great Mullal outdid the double dummy analyzer by 2 as he was allowed suck in 9 tricks.
Board 16
saw Eamon dealt ...S 98 H AT5 D K9762 C QJ5 and bouyed by mullals success on the last board after John Comyn opened 1S I ventured in with a low calorie take out double. Ruth barely stopped to glance at my bid and rolled out the cannon as we call it on Bridgebase.... Blackwood.
Mullal pondered his jack but passed quickly and JC admitted to possession of 2 aces and Ruth
suitably saddened slowed down to 5 spades.. I led a spade and with John Comyn at the helm
John says ...this will be childplay if Eamon is to be trusted.. Presuming he meant he had most of the tricks bar the Heart Ace ..he led a heart towards dummy and I grabbed my ace and that was 12 tricks but no slam bonus.
Next we met Grace Finnegan and Jim McAndrew on boards 21 -22
I pick up S.K7 H.AJ95 D.AQ96 C.942 and open a weak NT which gets doubled and pard passes normally forcing a redouble. However Jim intervenes with 2S and when passed around to partner he ventured 3C and opps go 3S with their 10 card fit and we are robbed blind as we have more then half the deck and pard has AK to 6 clubs.
Board 22 they play 3S and go quietly off one.
Next we go around the corner and we played Anne Johnson and Heidi Lillis
Board 1 I played quietly in 2Hs gathering in the standard 9 tricks. 1H P 2H all out
Board 2 was the board that caused some annoyance but I missed most of it. Being favourable my board stealing antennae are up so 55 in the blacks and a 10 count is an easy spade opener.
My horse bids a semi forcing NT alerted and I bid 2C and my horse places a quiet 2D on the table and after the mandatory question of 1N alert ...I say he got diamonds and weak and long and up to about 10 hcp , its passed out. I excuse myself quickly as mulall is at the helm.
I stay away a long time as I know there is war coming as opps have to be near game if mulall is near minimum. About 7 minutes later I emerge at the table and there is some loud discussion going on. One opponent has never heard of semi forcing NT but I not being sure the relevance of this comment decide to say nothing. I would have came into the auction if I knew he could be that weak... 1NT is always 6-9 hcp points ... Christ my mulall had a 6 count and 6 card diamonds and this is the premier bridge club in Dublin or Ireland and they are complaining about a lad bidding 1NT alerted with a 6 count and 6 diamonds.. Standard basic mamma paapa thievery is what it is and its found in any basic matchpoint manual. Steal the opponents boards if you can.
Opps had 2H 3H 4H 2S 2N contracts available but if you don't bid you cannot declare as far as I know.
Anyway after this it went downhill rapidly ...
I opened 3S with the thought that I might venture 4S if opps bid a game that my pard did not deal with. 3S 4H and PAUSE .... and PASS ... Well I went ahead with my plan and bid 4S ......I don't see anything wrong with this as it was my original plan although there is no way to prove it. Anyway 4H is going off so it was a bad plan... although several were making it. I hate it when partners pause and pass..
Next hand I let out 4S
Next table I made above average tricks in 3NT for below average score
Then I balanced in over 1C p 1NT P P with 5431 hand and partner picked diamonds as the suit
and got doubled ...of course he might have removed to a major when he got 2nd chance.
2H is definitely doubled as one opp has AKQ but no and we play in 3-3 fit for -200
Next table we miss game when pard holding 11 count and 6 card clubs KJTxxx calls this invitational when the barman asks what game are we playing in ..
Next we played Terry Walsh and Ester Stewert and in a 2NT with 8 tricks forcably and easy 5 tricks for defence 80% of the room is making 3NT+ while we are in 2NT making 10 tricks.
I still don't see the tricks but hey just another bottom.
Next table I ventured 4H opening bid with AQJxxxx and an outside Ace. This ran into a double normally a very strong Nt and I went off 5 when they were finished gutting me.
I finished off against Don Seligman and when I ventured 3C over Joe Walshes 2H weak bid I got doubled by Don and picked up an 11 count in dummy with 9x of clubs but unfortunately Don had the missing 5 trumps and life was destined to be another -200.
When all that was added up we had 39% much to mulalls surprise and horror.
If you read this ..thanks for listening .. www.regentbc.com has the gory details.
I must get them to publish the boards file as well as I think this is possible.
Thanks
Eamonn Galligan .. eamongall on BBO.
