This was super neat today:

            xx
            Qxxx
            K65
            Q9xx

T9876               AQJ
KT9x                Jx
Q2                  A973
xx                  Axxx
            Kxx
            Axx
            JT84
            KJT

As you might have guessed from the title, the key card in this hand is that not-quite-smallest of diamonds, the four, lying in my hand. My RHO opened 1NT which lefty elected to pass, and so we were defending 1NT (I was sitting South.) I made the normal lead of the diamond jack, which went to the queen, king, and ace. RHO now played the spade ace followed by the spade queen, which I won with the king. Trying to cut off declarer from the board, I played a small heart, and partner (bless her) worked out to play the queen. She returned the diamond six; declarer tried the seven and I won the eight.

I had a pretty good count on the hand at this point. Declarer was marked with AQJ of spades and the heart jack (he had played small from dummy when I played a small heart) , ace of diamonds. That's twelve points, so he must have exactly the club ace to open a 15-17 notrump. This places partner with the club queen, so I shifted to the jack of clubs (in case righty had opened 1NT on 14 and had only the queen. Declarer won the ace and cashed the spade jack, then tried exiting with a club. I went up with the king (I wasn't born yesterday) and played the CT, which partner overtook to cash the nine.

At this point in the three-card ending, I held HA and T4 of diamonds. Declarer had the heart jack, the nine of diamonds, and another diamond, while partner held two hearts and a diamond. As partner reached for her diamond, I prayed that it was the five and not the three, and I was overjoyed when this proved to be the case. Declarer played the three and I smugly inserted my four, taking the last two tricks with the heart ace and diamond ten.

So many relevant spots! Diamond five, diamond four, club nine, all playing a role in this very satisfying 1NT down three.

Last Sunday, I played in a Swiss. The results were fairly indifferent, but we bid two not-cold slams. As fate would have it, I managed to become declarer on both of them. It really pleased me that I got both of these right at the table; they're both not terribly difficult problem hands, but recognizing which hands are the problem hands at the table can be more difficult than actually solving those problems.

On one hand, I found myself in a dicey 6H contract, auction presented without comment:

1H-2C; 2D-2H; 3D-3H; 3S-4C; 4H-5D; 6H. Dummy held:

Qxx A97 Ax AQxxx opposite my
Kx KJT6x KQTxx x.

The opening lead was a medium club (the 7 perhaps.) I tried to figure out how to combine chances as well as possible, and finally came up with the following line: I won the ace and at trick two ran the nine of hearts, aiming at picking up both Qxx onside with diamonds no worse than 4-2, or Qxxx onside with diamonds 3-3 or doubleton jack. This held. I then played the H7 to my ten as lefty showed out. Now I couldn't afford to ruff a diamond, so I cashed the heart ace and played a spade up. Righty won the SA and returned a club, which I ruffed. I drew the last trump, cashed the SK, and, timing nonexistent for a squeeze, played a diamond to the ace, cashed the spade queen (adding a squeeze chance if the person who held the CK had long diamonds), and ran the diamonds, which were 3-3.

Not rocket science, but I'm not sure I would have found this at the table a couple years ago. Curiously, given the positions in the other suits, I could have made this regardless of the diamond position. Lefty had the CK, so if I made the absurd play of sticking in the CQ at trick 1, I could have played a spade, forking righty: if she ducked, I could pitch my other spade on the CA, while if she hopped, I had two pitches for my potential diamond losers. But I didn't want to be accused of cheating, so I didn't use my psychic powers.

The other slam was much nicer. Auction again presented without comment:

1S-2H; 2S-3D; 4D-4N; 5H(2 without)-6D. Dummy hit with:

AT98xx x A987 KQ opposite my
Kx AKJxx QTxx Ax.

Thank goodness for spots, eh? (On the other hand, sadness on club wastage.) I won the club lead and cashed another club to preserve endplay possibilities, ending in hand. I now advanced the DQ. I was surprised when lefty tanked before covering, but sure enough the DJ appeared on my right! Well, this was the best of all possible worlds. I led a small spade off the board to my king, and then a small spade form hand, the order proving quite important when lefty ruffed the second spade. Now with no danger of losing control, I could simply ruff a spade high, draw the rest of the trumps and claim.

Even less rocket science involved than the first hand, but honestly, it's things like this that make me think I'm actually getting better at this crazy hard game.

I'm heading to Vegas tomorrow for the long weekend of the regional. It seems as though tons of my favorite people are going to be there, which is exciting; we had a great time at this regional last year (when it was in June; it's been moved because, awesomely, summer nationals are there this year), and I'm looking forward to it even if it's only the three days.

I've been playing twice a week pretty regularly, plus assorted random bridge thrown in. After not playing a ton in the fall, I feel like I'm starting to get into a rhythm again, building up stamina, most hands not really stressful, even when I don't feel in great mental shape going in. It's really fun.

Today was kind of funny. We played seven fairly uneventful rounds (one really uneventful, a sitout.) In the last round, unbeknownst to us, we were playing a pair who had a 67 percent game up to that point. Then the following sequence happened:

-- On the first board, my partner bid 4S after the opponents had bid 3H-pass-4H all white. 4H bidder held AK542 K Txxx Kxx and doubled. He wrapped it up for +590.

-- On the second board, I held QJTx x AQx AKJTx favorable. I opened 1C and the bidding quickly escalated: 1C (2C) 5C (5S). I hit this with relish. The hand completly fell apart for declarer: plus TWO THOUSAND for us.

-- On the third board, I held A AKxxx AQTxx Kx. I opened 1H in fourth chair red-white. Lefty overcalled 1S and partner jumped to 3H. Righty passed and I thought, hey, red-white, he probably has something. 4D is the "right bid" here (these bids should show side suits, not be cuebids), but I decided I could handle anything and started with a safe 3S. Partner bid 4D and that was all I needed to hear. My dummy in 6H was: J JT9x KJx JT9xx. I guessed trumps and clubs and wrapped up the big fix, +1430.

I felt really bad about this when I found out they had been doing so well -- they are really nice people, and the last one in particular was a huge fix. I'm not sure if I have ever had a 3-board round this good in my life. Needless to say in the smallish field, this was three cold tops. Funny game, this bridge.

... that if you beat them every time you're doubling them, you're not doubling enough (especially at matchpoints.)

I don't think that was true last night, when we doubled the opponents SIX TIMES, and beat them all six -- clearly a personal record. Let's go through the doubles in chronological order: boards have been renumbered to match the order we played them in.

2) I held KJT8 AQ8x 7x ATx nobody vul. I opened 1C in third seat, partner bid a heart. RHO overcalled a spade and I contemplated for a split-second making a penalty pass of 1S, but I did the normal thing and bid 2H. Lefty bid 2S and I salivated, but partner was in there with 3H before I had a chance to wield the axe. However, when this was passed around to lefty, he pulled 3S out of the box. This was passed back to me and I made no mistake. Down five, 1100.

3) I held Q87xx xx Jxx AK9. Partner opened 1D in second chair and righty overcalled 1H. I doubled showing 4+ spades and lefty now bid 1NT. When this came back to me, it sounded to me like we had 22+ points and no one had a fit, so I doubled. Partner had a nice hand and despite leading out of turn during the hand, we still beat it two tricks for a nice +300.

6) I held 98xxx A98 A8x Jx only us vul. Partner opened a 14+-17 notrump in first chair. I tried Stayman and he showed no major, but now RHO surprisingly bid 2S, Well, this was music to my ears. I doubled even at these colors. Amazingly, after some iffy defense, we managed to beat it only one, 100.

8) I held Q Q9x Q7xxx AJxx at favorable. Partner opened 1D in first chair and righty overcalled 1S. I bid 2S, limit or better in diamonds, and lefty bid 3S. Partner competed with 4D, passed back to lefty, who tried 4S. Did I mention the opponents were unfavorable? Well, I always hit them on this auction, for sure, especially unfavorable. We only had four tricks, +200.

12) I held AJ Tx AQ8 AK9xxx all red. I opened 1C in first seat, and it went 1S on my left, pass from pard, 2S on my right. I bid 3C and it went 3H on my left; partner bid 4C. When righty bid 4S, I figured that all my cards looked well-placed (except for AJ of spades), and partner should have something to compete to the 4-level red. Well, he had the queen of clubs and out, and the diamond king was behind me, but luckily clubs were 2-2 and we beat it a trick. +200 again.

15) My partner held 87x xx 987xxx Ax. With no one vul, he heard LHO open 1C, partner overcall 1H, 2S from righty, later revealed to be undiscussed. His LHO bid 2NT at which point partner unexpectedly doubled. His RHO pulled this to 3D, he passed, and LHO corrected to 3S, and now when this came around to him he doubled. He led a heart, and this was actually cold (I held a very dubious hand, AT AKT9xxx void QTxx), but they slipped up during the play and went down one. +100.;

Six doubles in the first 15 hands! There were no more in the remaining 9 hands, but it was still quite an evening.

          976
          Q98
          Q8532
          K3

AK43                   82
KT                     J2
A                      KJT9764
AQT965                 72

          QJT5
          A76543
          --
          J84


NS 2H; E 1N; EW 2S; EW 4D; EW 3C; W 3N

The notes at the bottom are what people can make.

This layout was really funny.Looking at the hands, it seems inconceivable that EW could make 3NT, but due to some hilarious blockage in hearts, it seems to be cold, pending the club guess: after heart heart, ace of clubs and a club, and claim.

But wait, what if NS lead spades? No problem -- drive out the club, and if a non-heart is returned, just run off all your winners and exit a spade. Either the diamond king or the heart king will take a ninth trick, by which time the opponents will only have come to two spades, a heart, and a club.

But wait, what if they lead hearts and North unblocks the CK under the CA? Then after CQ C, he dramatically jettisons his heart, and south runs hearts. But of course, declarer can counter by leading a small club on the second club trick.

3NT East? Simple -- South leads a small heart through the tenace into the Q. If West hops king the hearts are not blocked. If he plays small, the hearts are blocked! The defense can now cash three hearts but declarer can seemingly play ace of clubs and a club... except here comes the unblock again, and this time declarer is hosed.

But did our opponents play the ridiculous 3NT against us? No, they did not. They played that other improbably cold contract, 2S. Sadly, they failed to make it, but what a weird layout.

Some weird things have happened to me recently -- I've developed a lot of stamina (27 boards feels like nothing these days), and I'm having a lot more fun than I used to. Part of the second part is playing at the Cardinal Club, which has a very relaxed atmosphere; the first part, I think, is just that fewer things are taxing. As I've played more, I've internalized more, and no longer waste brainpower on things I used to waste brainpower on. Amazingly, someone actually mentioned to me that "you always seem to have so much fun when you play," which is a dramatic departure from at least appearances in the past (I used to have sort of a reputation for intense agonizing, especially as declarer.) It's neat to be able to be intellectually engaged and have outright fun (not just the deeper kind) at the same time.

I saw some amaznig things yesterday, of which I will share with you the two most ridiculous. On one hand, partner was declaring 3NT with a spade suit of A97xx in dummy and Qx in hand. At some point, he played small to the queen in hand, which held. Towards the end of the hand, he played a spade to the ace, on which righty (a beginner) followed with the jack. Confident that spades were 3-3, he played a third round of spades, on which righty showed out! Lefty had smoothly ducked when he played small to the queen. Lefty cashed his other good spade, a good diamond, and a good club to beat partner's cold 3NT. What a play!

On another hand, I held A96 void xxx QT87xxx, red-white third seat. I judged this to be worth a weak 2C opener. The auction proceeded (I am not making this up):

p p 2C* 4H; x 5D p p; x 6S(!) x 6NT; x all pass.

6NT doubled went down six for +1400 our way, but the amazing thing was that 6S was almost making, only failing because hearts were 0-6-6-1 around the table (and barely failing even at that.) I can say with confidence that if 6Sx had made it would have been the most ridiculous thing to ever happen to me at a bridge table.

Good times.

Today, for the first time in a long time, I played with someone I had never played with before! It was an interesting experience; I tried to be as practical as possible, because we didn't have very detailed agreements; mostly success, the hands not being all that interesting but the results interesting as always. (Come to this club! I can't stress it enough.) We played well and ended up winning somehow, and I at least had a great time (I can't speak for my poor partner, who seemed to be super stressed about her mistakes; I don't bite, really!) Some problems (matchpoints), not all of which I got wrong:

AQJ98 T QT987 Ax, white/red, partner opens 3H in first seat. Righty bids 4C, which I assume you pass. Lefty now bids 5C, passed back to you. Do you hit this?

QT9xx xx x Axxxx, everybody vul, 4th chair. Two passes, 1D from righty. I chose to overcall 1S (it was hard to see how this could go poorly). Lefty bid 2H, 2S from partner, 3H from righty. Many possibilities now. You could bid 3S, 4S, pass, or 4C now (remember that you've never played with this partner before and don't really know how they would field 4C), and regardless of what you did you could bid 4S over 4H later. What is your strategy?

Qx Axxx AT8 A8xx, opponents silent; you open 1C in first chair. Partner bids 1S, you rebid 1NT, and now partner bids 2C forcing 2D and then 2S showing an invite with five spades.

Doesn't 3NT seem relatively normal? Partner tables AJxxx Jx Kxx Qxx and you have almost no play (they even lead a heart.) Why is this contract so bad? I still can't figure it out. I made it somehow.

9x J876 K9xx Kxx. Partner opens 1C, you bid 1H, and partner rebids 2NT. I chose 3NT and partner tanked forever and bid 4H, then sheepishly tabled AJ K9xx Axx AQJx on a small spade lead. How would you play this seemingly hopeless contract? Your only way to lose 1 trick in the trump suit is to pin the stiff 10 on your right, unless I've missed something. Would you try for this or try a swindle or some kind of weird elimination? I'll leave the possibility of the latter to the technicians out there.

AJx J9x K87xxx x, nobody vul. Righty opens 1C, you try an extremely sketchy 1D overcall, lefty bids 1S, righty bids 1NT, everyone passes. Your lead.