On time. Hooked up with my most familiar partner. Celine Murray. What could go wrong? Plenty. By the time we finish our first round against the amiable Ken Wagner and Rich McGowan, we’re at 37.55% (of course we didn’t know it then – this is after seeing the final score sheet. We think we’re off to a good start.)
Our opinion begins drooping after we bid a 6 No Trump contract and make an overtrick. Who knew it was a grand slam? I open I NT, she transfers me into Hearts, then goes to 4 NT. I show my one Ace and she jumps to 6. She has all the other Aces. “I only had one King,” she says afterward. “I didn’t want to ask for Kings and find out you only had one.” I remind her that math would tell her. If I bid I NT and have only one Ace, there’s a good chance I have Kings. Indeed, I have three. Out of 17 match points, it’s good for 7.97.
There are others. I still marvel at how Jim Mathis and Saleh Fetouh engineered a sure undertrick at 4 Spades into an overtrick, especially when Celine opened the bidding and I had five of their Spades, headed by Ace-King. Note to self says, “Drive out trump.”
Then there’s Vince Pesce and Harry Cheung beating our double of their 4 Spade contract with an overtrick. Shoulda bid 5 Hearts and gone down two, not vulnerable. Or better yet, just passed.
Our only top is against Bev and Betty, the ladies from Wellsville. We hold them to 4 Spades while every other North-South apparently makes the preordained overtrick. Final outcome – 43.27%. Tenth out of 12.
No comments:
Post a Comment