This was an interesting hand from the club last night. Would you like to play or defend 3NT by North? (No cheating!)

               A82
               KQ54
               AK5
               KT5
QJ7                         KT53
A632                        JT8
2                           J9843
AJ832                       6
               964
               97
               QT76
               Q974

Tonight at the club was one of the most fun sessions I've had in a while. The boards just seemed set up to do interesting things, most of which I got right (this doesn't hurt the fun level), and I saw one of the most amazing things I have ever seen: out of 24 boards, partner declared... none. According to his count (I haven't checked), I declared 9 boards and the opponents declared 15. The weird thing is that it's not like he had no cards -- he had 9.9 hcp per board, and I had 10.5 (well, those deals are for a 30-set, so the actual 24-set are a bit different, but he certainly had points.) Yet somehow the fates always made me declarer. I did a pretty good job for the most part. Here are some fun hands:

On the second hand of the night, I held x A AK7xxx QJ98x white/red. I opened 1D in third seat, and lefty doubled. It went pass, 1S on my right, and I chose to make an aggressive 3C call. When it went 4S on my left I planned to keep bidding, but partner made an aggressive double on J9xx Q9xxx J9 Tx, which was fantastic. 4S went down one while of course I wasn't coming close to making 5D. Great double by partner there, really.

On the last board of that four-round set, I bid 2D red-red holding Jxx void QT97xx KQxx in first chair. Lefty doubled and partner bid 3C, lead-directional raise. Righty passed and my hand couldn't really be any more offensive, so I tried 5C in case partner had a real club suit. I sort of regretted this when lefty bid 5D (I guess 5D would have taken up more room, but I wanted to inform partner of save possibilities), but when righty bid 5H and lefty raised to 6, and then tabled... AKQT9x AKQT8x void x ... I was pretty sure I wasn't keeping them out of that one.

The next set brought a phenomenal hand. I held void AKxx JT86xx AJx red/white, and my RHO opened 1H. I was sort of awkwardly placed, but it's not hard to envision us cold for even 6D and not getting in the auction, so I bid 2D. Partner now bid 3C, good diamod raise, and righty bid 3S. This was exciting to me, and I bid 4C, trying for slam. Lefty raised to 4S and partner bid 5D, and obviously partner had little wastage in spades, so I raised to 6. This was promptly doubled, and I was a little worried, but on the spade lead dummy tabled Qxx Txx AQ9x KQx. Perfect! The diamond was expectedly onside and I wrapped up a +1540. The 6D bid was a feel bid; I admit I didn't know who was making what, but it felt so right, and it worked out well.

The next set, I held 9 JT AQJxxx AKxx red-white. Partner opened 2S in second seat, righty doubled, and I passed. Lefty bid 3H which was passed back to me, and I figured, hey, matchpoints, partner should have something for his red/white second seat bid, so I hit it. When the smoke cleared, we were +800; +200 would probably have been fine, but +800 was pretty fun. Emboldened by the good work on my table feel, I deropped a doubleton queen offside (with clues), wrapping up another good round.

The next set brought plenty of fireworks. On the first board I held xxxx KJTx KTx A9 white-red, and overcalled 1H over 1C. I've had good experiences with this, and it worked out okay (although on the layout, not much mattered.) Partner got me back on the next hand by opening a four-card major; holding xx 98xxx QTx 9xx I passed his 1H after a double, and lefty, eventual declarer, couldn't work it all out and went down a couple in a 3S contract (which to be fair I had given to them by not playing partner for his actual hand.) On the third hand of the set, I picked up AKQT8x void xx Jxxxx with everyone vulnerable. Lefty opened 2H and partner overcalled 2NT. Righty raised to 3H, and I really didn't know what to do. I figured partner probably had some wastage in hearts, and I couldn't figure out how to bid scientifically, so I just bid 6S. Partner had crossed me up again: my dummy was J9 Jxx AKJ AKQ9x. Nice stopper, huh? I took thirteen tricks, laughing at partner all the while. The fourth board -- I suppose we were tired by the hijinks -- was passed out.

Two sets left. On the second to last set, I held Kxx ATxx Kx J98x. I passed in first chair and partner bid 1C in third seat. Over my 1H bid, partner returned to 2C. Aha, I thought: he failed to open 2C weak! A system win -- he must have a pretty good hand. It was easy to envision nine tricks opposite a minimum (say xx xx Axx AKxxxx), so I contracted four them. They led a diamond and partner somewhat sheepishly tabled JT9 x xxxx AKTxx. It... rolled.

Things were going well. Last set, more goodies. This was a fun play problem: I held void AQ97xx KQxx J9x white-red. Lefty opened 1H and partner bid 2H michaels. After some thought, righty passed, and I bid 3C pass or correct and played it there. Lefty led the ten of spades and partner tabled Axxxx x Jx A8xxx. Plan the play...

On the next board, I held KTxx x KQx A9xxx. Righty opened 1H and I made the obvious double. Partner bid 1NT, and righty persisted with 2D, which lefty corrected to 2H. Your lead.

On the next board, I held T98xx A9xx xx xx. Righty bid 1C and I passed; lefty bid 1D and partner bid 1NT. I knew he would think this was natural and thought we had the agreement, so, confident I was on the same wavelength, I informed righty of this when she asked, and then tanked about whether to garbage Stayman (and if it was on), or bid 2H transfer. I eventually settled on the latter. Of course, I was wrong: partner held Jxxxx QJTxx Q 9x. The opponents, bless their hearts, landed in 5D making 6 and didn't call the director (not that I think we did anything wrong.)

Quite an eventful set, wouldn't you say?

Last night I played with Elena (who I've played with maybe once or twice before) in a STaC game at the Cardinal Club. Everything went right -- we ended up with a 66 percent, probably in the overalls. Along the way there were some fireworks. This hand I was utterly baffled by, and still don't know... you are white/red 3rd seat. Partner opens 1C and RHO overcalls 1S. You hold:

A86xx AQJ AJT Kx.

I sat in shock for some time -- if I didn't want to go for penalties (and I decided I didn't), I searched for a bid that remotely described my hand.

Eventually I emerged with a sketchy double (I figured this only mis-stated my hand by 1 card and a 4-3 heart fit could play okay) whereupon partner surprised me by jumping to 3S. I interpreted this as a splinter in hearts, but I figured she had to have good clubs for this bid and... I don't know, I bid 7NT. To recap, the auction proceeded: 1C (1S) x 3S 7NT.

Partner tabled void Kx KQx AJTxxxxx and clubs were 2-1 so I had 15 tricks. Making nine... I still don't know what I was supposed to bid.

Late in the evening, I held KT9xxx void KJTx Jxx red/white. Partner opened 1D and I responded 1S, whereupon lefty interjected 2H. Righty raised to 4H after partner did not make a support double, and, hell, everything I was touching was turning to gold, so I tried 4S. This was doubled by righty and I bought A8 Qxx Q9xxx Axx. After the defense failed to switch to clubs in time, I lost only a trump and a diamond and a trick in the wash: +790.

Some nights, everything works out. I still don't know what to do with that 19-count...

Our slaughter in the Spingold match put us in a position I've only been in twice: a position where we needed to produce some action to win the match, being behind by a lot. Swinging is interesting; the most obvious thing to do is outright psych, but this tends to be pretty antipercentage. Indeed, this is what we tried to do a bit of the first time, and got pounded (in the first round of the Vanderbilt last year.)

In The Bridge World (a fine bridge magazine), they detailed the Nickell team's comeback in the Bermuda Bowl from down 80 (?) in 16 boards, and when I was in Thailand, the Italians almost pulled an even more impressive comeback (100?) on USA1 before falling short. In both cases, there was no psyching, just good bridge with a couple calculated risks involved. Here are a few good deals to sanely swing on:

-- You hold QTxx Qxx T97x xx, and the opponents bid 1NT on your right, 3NT on your left. The normal lead here is a spade or a diamond, depending on your philosophy, but a good swingy lead is the heart queen. This is not very antipercentage (opening leads are reasonably random), and certainly could be the only lead to beat the contract. I pick the queen because it has a greater variance/deceptive value, in that it is slightly more likely (not as much as you might think) to blow a trick, but also (in a very rare case) may cause declarer to misplay the hand and go down in an otherwise cold game (e.g. he may think you have the jack, or may take a safe hook into you assuming you have Qx), which is the sort of thing you'd love to have happen.

Underleading aces is another small-loss thing which can hit the jackpot.

-- You hold KJTx void AKQJxx xxx. Partner opens 2S in first seat.

Try 7S. Assuming partner's suit is better than Q9xxxx, you should make 7S on a non club lead. Partner probably doesn't have the club ace (or a void), but think about what lead you're likely to get: there's no real reason to believe you are more likely to get a club lead than a heart lead. If lefty has neither ace, he may even randomly guess to lead a diamond, so the odds of a club lead should be less than 50 percent. At IMPs, not a percentage bid, but a nice chance to pick up a swing. This looks like a 4-or-5-or-7 hand, so you might as well bid seven, not six.

-- You hold AKQJxxx Ax xx xx. Try opening 2NT or 3NT. You may get to 3NT where 4S fails. Of course, partner might propel you to a no-play slam, but if partner is a passed hand this is less likely.

-- You hold AKx x xxxxx xxxx red/white and hear the bidding go (1H) p (2H). Try throwing in 2S. Partner is unlikely to hang you, and the spade lead against 4H may be just what the doctor ordered (if, for instance, you can cash two spades and then lead through declarer's honor in a minor.)

-- Try not preempting on some normal hands. This will work especially well if the opponents think you're swinging and will be preempting everything at the other table to try to match you. If you hold KJTxxx xx xxx Kx, try passing instead of bidding 2S. Especially against high level opponents (remember, you're behind a lot), they may never play you for such a hand since you didn't preempt.

-- Conversely, throw science to the wind sometimes. Make random leaps to slam instead of cuebidding. Open 4 of a major when it seems appropriate, even if you have a better hand than you should. Bid 1N-3N instead of using Stayman or transferring; you may get a more favorable lead.

What happened in the Spingold? Well, we lost the second and third quarters by less than the first, but we weren't really swinging in the second quarter and sat out the third. So I can't give you any empirical evidence. But these are some not very antipercentage, high-variance tactics to try to come from behind.