Bridge Blog 1102-B: Yes, Really

The following Friday, Sept. 13, in St. Catharines, it was jamais vu all over again. None of the blondes sitting South were her. Yes, she’s here, Diane said again. Table 1. Right behind me. Sure enough, there she was, sitting North, but not bright blonde. Ash blonde. That son-in-law again.

Not as much fun this time, but I blame myself. I overreached three times in the final two rounds of the day.

Had I not pushed to a 6 No Trump slam on Board 23, going down one, we would have been 4 match points to the better.

Had I not bid at all on Board 24, we would have settled at 1 NT instead of 3 NT, we would not have had a bottom board and we would have collected at least 3 more match points.

And on Board 26, the last hand of the day, had I returned to Spades, Selina’s opening bid, we would have played at 4 Spades, making at least one overtrick, instead of 3 NT, making just nine tricks, which happened at four other tables where a Heart was the opening lead and they took four quick Heart tricks. We would have been 3 match points to the good.

North (Selina)

Spades: A K 10 9 4; Hearts: 10 9 4; Diamonds: 5 4 2; Clubs: A K.

East

Spades: 8 7 2; Hearts: K Q 6 3; Diamonds: 10 9; Clubs: Q 9 8 4.

South (moi)

Spades: J 6 5; Hearts: 5 2; Diamonds: A K Q J 7; Clubs: J 5 3.

West
Spades: Q 3; Hearts: A J 8 7; Diamonds: 8 6 3; Clubs: 10 7 6 2. 

Let’s face it, I fell in love with that solid Diamond suit and figured we could make an extra 10 points in No Trump. And in the less-than-likely event that the opponents don’t lead a Heart, we're golden. It’s a top board – 12 tricks. That happened twice elsewhere. If we're that lucky, 7 more match points.

So we're sixth out of 13 North-South pairs with 49.65%, half a match point out of fifth, which would have given us a small reward.

I vowed to Selina that we’d improve Saturday at the Airport Bridge Club, but then a virus intervened.

Bronchitis. That little cough I had Friday morning became a scratchy throat, a runny nose and a lot of fatigue by the time we got home that evening from “The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid” at the Road Less Traveled Theatre in downtown Buffalo and a late snack afterward at one of our favorite stops – Coco’s. I texted Selina just before midnight to cancel.

Our next get-together – Sept. 27 in St. Catharines. More jamais vu?