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Barrie's Poorbridge Stories II

Failing to Score a Bottom

I was East, dealer, vulnerable against not, for the last board on Thursday, 29 August 1991 at the Sheffield Bridge Club strongest-field-of-the-week evening duplicate.

E/W Vuln
Dealer E

	A 10 9 8 2
	A J 9 8 7
	10 5 4
	—

	—
	K Q 10 6 4
	K
	A K Q J 7 4 2

	K Q J 7 6 4 3
	5 3
	7 6
	5 3

	5
	2
	A Q J 9 8 3 2
	10 9 8 6

At some tables, East opened 3

. West was then generally left in peace to drift quietly two off in 5

for a good score. But if East failed to open, the board became a minefield, for South would open 3

and North, with his long majors, would double anything that West bid. Disaster was exacerbated if West made a take-out bid of South's 3

. Such calamity befell me!

West	North	East	South
		Pass	3
3¹	X	4	Pass
5	X	5	Pass
6	X	6	Pass
Pass²	X	XX³	Pass
Pass⁴	Pass

Notes
(1)	Artificial take-out. (Double would have been for penalties)
(2)	In despair!
(3)	A pathetic attempt to intimidate the opposition when a bottom appeared almost inevitable.
(4)	This is the last time I partner Barrie!

XX went five off for minus 2800. However, -1400 would have saved some Match Points. One pair reached the ceiling in 7NT doubled going nine off for -2600! But -2600 was still worth 4 Match Points! The Poor-Bridge-of-the-evening prize went to the pair that ended up in 7

X minus ten for -2900!

The 21 Point Slam Missing Three Aces

N/S Vuln
Dealer W

	J 10 8 6 2
	A Q 8 3
	K J 7 5
	—

	7 4 3
	9 4
	A Q 4 3
	K Q 7 2

	A 9 5
	6
	10 9 8 6
	A 9 8 5 3

	K Q
	K J 10 7 5 2
	2
	J 10 6 4

It was the BBL Summer Congress at Buxton in 1993. I was playing with Dave Robinson, whom I consider to be probably the top player in Yorkshire, in the Swiss Teams, when the above deal turned up. North-South were vulnerable and West, as dealer, passed. Dave opened 1

and I responded 2

. Spurred on by his void in clubs, Dave jumped to 4

. I considered that I had some shape and that my values seemed to be in the right places, so I bid 4NT, ordinary Blackwood, which does not appear to be the best thing to do on this hand! Dave responded 5

, which is just what I didn't want to hear! I retreated to 5

, but was raised to 6

by Dave, who judged that my presumed one missing ace was not

appears to be a hopeless contract requiring extremely poor defence. But this web site is all about poor defence (and bidding and play)!

A was led and I surveyed the scene. Slam with only 21 points and missing three aces! But West then made the mistake of continuing with a small diamond, presumably attempting to force me into some premature decision about that suit. I seized my only opportunity and played

J, which held, and I discarded

Q. I cashed

K and discarded

K and it was all over. The rest was now easy, even for me! The 11 IMPs gained swung the match in our favour!