Sometimes you have a bad day and you know it. But how
come sometimes things seem to be pretty much going your way and you still wind up down
around the bottom of the field?
That's what I was wondering last Wednesday, Sept. 30,
at the Bridge Centre of Niagara in St. Catharines, Ont. Partner Rod Sumner and
I were congratulating one another on our good play. And I wound up putting only
a few question marks on my scorecard. Yet we finished 10th out of 12
North-Souths with a mere 45.43%.
So it's time for a double take on Wednesday's Live
for Clubs results in the order we played the hands. I'll compare how we fared
next to the hand analysis and then look at Sandy Smee and Kathy Morrison, who had
a 67.79% game and finished first North-South.
Board 13. I bid 3 Hearts, make an overtrick. Plus 170.
Hand analysis: South makes 5 Diamonds, 4 Hearts, 5 NT. S&K: 3 NT, two
overtricks. Match points: 8.5 for us, 10 for S&K. Shoulda bid game. NT succeeds only because two
finesses work.
Board 14. Rod bids 2 Spades, down two. Minus 100. Hand
analysis: Makes 4 Spades. S&K: 2 Spades, two overtricks. Match points: 0
for us, 8.5 for S&K. Rod apologized.
Board 15. Opps bid 3 Hearts, make an overtrick. Minus
170. Hand analysis: E/W makes 3 Hearts, N/S makes 2 Spades. S&K: Opps bid 4
Hearts, down two. Match points: 4.5 for us and five other N/S, 10 for S&K.
For the round: 13 of 30, 43.33%.
Board 10. Opps bid 3 Spades, make 2 overtricks. Minus
200. Hand analysis: E/W makes 4 Spades and 3 NT. S&K: Opps bid 3 NT, make
an overtrick. Match points: 9 for us, 5.5 for S&K.
Board 11. I bid 3 NT on a gamble, down one. Minus 50.
Hand analysis: Makes 2 NT and 4 Clubs. S&K: Bid 3 Clubs, make 2 overtricks.
Match points: 3 for us, 9 for S&K.
Board 12. Opps bid 4 Hearts, down one. Plus 50. Hand
analysis: West makes 3 Hearts. S&K: Opps bid 4 H, make it. Match points: 10
for us, 4 for S&K. For the round: 22 of 30, 73.33%. Game to here: 35 of 60,
58.33%.
Board 7. I bid 2 Hearts, make two overtricks. Plus
170. Hand analysis: Good for 4 Hearts. Only one N/S bids game. S&K: 2 No
Trump, one overtrick. Match points: 8 of 10 for us, 5 for S&K.
Board 8. Disaster. I bid 4 Diamonds, make one
overtrick. Plus 150. Hand analysis: Good for 4 Diamonds, but also 5 Spades.
S&K: 4 Spades, one overtrick, just like eight other N/S. Match points: 0
for us, 6 for S&K. Rod opened 1 Spade. I had five Spades, but bid my
six-card suit first, Diamonds, and he raised them. Had he bid his four-card suit,
Clubs, I'd go back to Spades.
Board 9. Opps bid 4 Spades, down three. Plus 300. Hand
analysis: E/W makes 2 Spades, N/S makes 3 Clubs or 2 NT. S&K: 2 Hearts by
opps, down two. Match points: 9 for us. 5.5 for S&K. For the round: 17 of
30, 56.67%. Game so far: 52 of 90, 57.78%.
Board 4. Opps bid 6 Heart slam, make an overtrick.
Minus 1460. Hand analysis: Makes 7 Hearts and 7 Diamonds, but just 5 NT.
S&K: Opps bid 4 Hearts, make two overtricks. Match points: 0.50 for us, 4
for S&K. Couldn't be helped.
Board 5. Opps bid 4 Hearts, make it. Minus 420. Hand
analysis: E/W make 5 Hearts, 3 NT. S&K: Same as us. Match points: 2.50 both
of us.
Board 6. John Stevens and Rocky Laiqing took so long
bidding and playing the slam that the director took this one away from us. Hand
analysis: N/S makes 3 Hearts. S&K: Bid 4 Hearts and made it. Match points:
NP for us. 7.20 for S&K. For the round: 3 of 20, 15%. Game so far: 55 of
110, exactly 50%.
Board 1. Rod bids 3 Diamonds, makes two overtricks.
Plus 150. Hand analysis: Makes 4 Diamonds. S&K: Opps bid 4 Hearts, down
one. Match points: 6 for us, 1 for S&K.
Board 2. I bid 4 Hearts, make an overtrick. Plus 650.
Hand analysis: Makes 5 Hearts, 4 Spades, 4 NT. S&K: Bid 4 Hearts, make it.
Match points: 7 for us, 2.50 for S&K.
Board 3. Opps bid 3 Clubs, make it. Minus 110. Hand
analysis: E/W makes 3 Clubs, 2 NT; N/S makes 2 Spades. S&K: Bid 2 Spades,
down one. Match points: 3 for us, 5.50 for S&K. For the round: 16 of 30,
53.33%; Game so far: 71 of 140, 50.71%.
Board 25. Opps bid 4 Hearts, make it. Minus 620. Hand
analysis: E/W makes 3 Hearts and 3 NT. S&K: Bid 3 Spades, down one. Match
points: 0.50 for us, 8 for S&K.
Board 26. I bid 2 Spades, make an overtrick. Plus 140.
Hand analysis: Makes just 2 Spades. S&K: Same as us. Match points: 8.50 for
both of us.
Board 27. Opps bid 2 Hearts, make it. Minus 110. Hand
analysis: Makes 1 Spade, 2 Diamonds. S&K: Opps bid 2 Hearts, down two.
Match points: 0 for us, 9.50 for S&K. For the round: 9 of 30, 33.33%. Game
so far: 80 of 170, 47.06%.
Board 22. Opps bid 3 Diamonds, make an overtrick.
Minus 130. Hand analysis: E/W makes 4 Diamonds, N/S makes 4 Clubs, 3 Spades.
S&K: Sit-out. Match points: 3.50 for us.
Board 23. Opps bid 2 Hearts, make it. Minus 110. Hand
analysis: E/W make 1 Heart. N/S makes 4 Diamonds, 4 Spades. S&K: Sit-out.
Match points: 0 for us. Rod has A-K-Q-10-2 in Spades and 14 high card points. I
have six Diamonds, A-9, and six high card points. I answered Diamonds, but
although Rod had 4 Diamonds, he let them have it at 2 Hearts.
Board 24. I bid 2 Spades, make it. Plus 110. Hand
analysis: N/S makes 3 Spades, 2 NT. S&K: Sit-out. Match points: 2 for us.
For the round: 5.50 of 30, 18.33%. Game so far: 85.5 out of 200, 42.75%.
Board 19. Opps bid 3 Spades, down two. Plus 200. Hand
analysis: E/W takes only six tricks in Spades. N/S makes 3 Clubs, 2 Diamonds, 1
Spade, 1 NT. S&K: Opps bid 3 Hearts, down two. Match points: 6 for both of
us.
Board 20. Opps bid 2 Hearts, down one. Plus 100. Hand
analysis: E/W makes 1 Heart. S&K: Same as us. Match points: 7 for both of
us.
Board 21. Rod bids 3 NT, makes it. Plus 600. Hand
analysis: N/S makes 3 NT, 4 Hearts, 5 Spades and 6 Diamonds. S&K: Bid 3 NT,
make an overtrick. Match points: 5 for us and seven other N/S, 10 for S&K.
For the round: 18 of 30, 60%. Final for the game: 103.5 out of 230, an even 45%.
Director must have given us something for the hand not played.
I marked Boards 1, 8, 10, 23 and 24 on my scorecard. Board 1 was good, Rod made an overtrick. Board 8 was a bottom, bad bidding, missed game in best suit. Board 10 was good, opponents didn't bid game. Board 23 was another bottom. Rod should have kept bidding. Board 24 I blew the overtrick. Five N/S pairs took even one more trick.
If we fix our mistakes on the three bad boards I
marked, we're 12 more match points to the good. That gets us almost up to 50%. Cut out some of our two most grievous
bidding errors and we’re better yet.
