First 2 Hands, Erin Berry Rookie-Master Game

Board 7: Partner and I come to 4 hearts, opponents silent.

	♠ A97 ♥ Q87 ♦ Q7 ♣ AQJ42
♠ JT862 ♥ KT54 ♦ T82 ♣ 8		♠ Q53 ♥ J ♦ KJ9653 ♣ K73
	♠ K4 ♥ A9632 ♦ A4 ♣ T965

I rose with the Ace of clubs. I used a spade to get to my hand, then led low towards the board. LHO rose with the king, and RHO played the jack. I think I got a diamond return, Q, K and A. Now, a low heart to the 8 held my losers to 1 club, 1 diamond and 1 heart for +620, and tie for top board in the section.

Board 8: I opened 1 spade, and partner answered 4 spades.

♠ AQT85 ♥ 4 ♦ 7532 ♣ Q97

♠ K9742 ♥ K6 ♦ 94 ♣ AK62

A small heart was led. I had visions of trying to squeeze an overtrick out of clubs, but RHO won the Ace, then played the AK of diamonds. Then RHO exited with a small diamond.

My brain went a bit fuzzy, but I recognized that the only danger was if LHO had no more diamonds, and the jack of spades. I put up the King, and sure enough LHO discarded a red card. When both followed to the ace of spades, the only thing left was to see who had the jack. When RHO discarded on the queen of spades, I shook my head a bit, and one of the masters chuckled.

+420 was predicted to be an average by the hand record (N/S have a good save in 5H), and so it was for us.

Mistakes

I was able to make the 299er game at the club today. Lucked out with a very good partner, but was dogged, by some stupid mistakes. Often, an extra half-second thought would have improved my result.

Of course, there were the requisite bidding and judgement errors that come with my level of experience and skill, especially with a new partner. This kind of thing I can live with at this point.

Two hands stood out.

On the first, I ended up leading a diamond from Kxxx against a 3NT contract (only unbid suit). Dummy came down with long clubs, and AKxxx spades. I held QJxx in spades. When the clubs were running, I was given the lead. Partner had signaled disinterest in diamonds, but my heart holding did not seem right to lead from, so I returned a diamond anyways. Declarer had the AQ, so I essentially gave up a trick.

The killing lead was spades, and it's maybe not too hard to see. Declarer was single, and if I burn his entry, he has to run clubs and spades, and give me 2 spades, or partner some red tricks.

I'm not angry that I didn't see this, but it certainly wasn't impossible to guess. Hopefully I've learned a lesson on this hand.

The other hand that stood out was inexcusable. Dummy held AQJxxx, with me having T9 in hand. I needed to play this suit for 3 winners, needing a discard, and having no extra entries to dummy. When the ten held, I continued the 9, and for some reason felt I HAD to play the ace. For some reason I had it in my head that I had to overtake (correct), but that only the ace would do.

Clearly, I'm capable of making the right play here. Not rushing would have helped a lot.

In the end, we were 52%, and in the points. Decent, but I'd like to think that with a quality partner I should do better.

Erin Berry Rookie-Master

So for the first time in over 6 years, I ventured out to a local bridge club. What finally dragged me out was the Erin Berry Rookie-Master game. I competed in a rookie-master game maybe 7 years ago, and remembered it being a lot of fun. Rookie-Master games are a great opportunity, they're not overly competetive, everyone is extremely friendly, and it's a great opportunity to play with a very good player.

All of which meant that, unlike a lot of my earlier club experiences, I wasn't very nervous at all.

My expectations for the game were pretty meagre. I really just wanted to get out and have fun. I was far more concerned about how it would FEEL to play in a club, especially given my long absence, than with how I would perform. Naturally, I wanted to play well. Actually, playing well was far more important to me than actually scoring well.

I'll try to post on some of the hands later (I'm hoping they'll release the hand analysis online - I forgot to grab one). The very first two hands that I played were barnstormers, and they set the stage for a very good evening. We defended a lot, and I was pleased to be told "good defense" on more than one occasion.

One thing that I did find is that even 21 hands was a lot for me. Playing online like I do, I will often only play 4 or 5 hands before logging off. I was definitely tiring towards the end of the session.

Beyond that, what really stood out for me was my awareness. My partner was unbelievable - she always seemed to know what I held (or needed to hold) on the last few tricks, and could analyze what contracts should and should not make after the hand, based on her recollection of the play. While I wasn't up to that impressive level, I found myself to be far more aware, especially on defense, than I can ever remember being in that environment. There were definitely hands where I knew what cards I needed to keep at the end, and what suits were too dangerous to lead away from, based on discards and play. It wasn't perfect, but it probably kept me from making a few rookie mistakes along the way. All in all, this made me very happy.

Afterwards, my partner complimented me on my card sense. This really made me happy, because I've often heard the concept of "card sense" be praised in developing players, and I had never really visualized the label being applied to me before. That compliment alone made the evening completely worthwhile.

When the scores were posted, the 73% game didn't hurt either!

For me, though, the legacy of this event will likely be about a great deal more than one good score. By returning to an environment that I hadn't visited in years, I was able to perceive just how much my game has evolved since then. While the evidence across the table tells me that I have a long way to go before I arrive, even at the club level, I am so happy about the confidence and sense of progress that I felt last night.

While I've always dreamed of being a really good player, last night was maybe the first time that I've really seen the path to get myself there.

Counting Progress

I played a dozen hands on BBO last night. I'm happy to report that there is some progress in my quest to improve my counting. Unfortunately, I still have a ways to go.

The urgency of counting seems to present itself more on defense. On one hand last night, I was able to determine declarer started with a 5521 distribution before the last card fell. I was also able to determine that I had no defense to the contract. On another hand, I was able to place partner with a 4441, only to be surprised on the last trick when it turned out declarer had overcalled on a 4 card major. On yet another hand, I was trying to determine what HCP partner held to bid a new suit over an overcall by LHO. Turns out he only had the king of clubs.

This kind of awareness is fantastic, and I hope that it continues to improve the more I play.

Unfortunately, I still go to sleep sometimes as declarer, including this rather hideous example from last night.

♠ Q8743 ♥ KT76 ♦ 7 ♣ K52

♠ K5 ♥ A854 ♦ K64 ♣ AJ96

The 2 of spades was led, ducked to east's ace.

Two things were on my mind, the finesses that jumped out, and the hockey game on TV. The key point on this hand is that I played the King of spades, then crossed to the board in clubs to cash the queen BEFORE DRAWING TRUMPS. With trumps being 3-2, I was actually home, but hadn't been counting spades.

The 8 and 7 of spades were good. They were in fact, far better than the losing finesse I took.

Getting Away With It

I was playing rubber bridge with my wife last night, and made a mistake. Unfortunately, with this kind of mistake, I often get away with it. Last night, I realized my mistake as soon as I'd made it, and it likely cost us a trick.

Opening lead on defense, I underlead my king (Kxx or Kxxx I think). Partner put in the Jack, and declarer won the ace. From this, I deduce the position of the queen.

Later, when I got in, I thoughtlessly slammed down my king, then immediately winced. Sure enough, partner had the queen, but had to play it under my king (having started with the QJ doubleton), promoting declarer's ten.

Playing low to partner's queen really shouldn't cost.

Hard is Easy

Often, when I play on Bridgebase Online, I play with the bridge robots, GiB. GiB isn't necessarily the most rational of partners, but he plays at my speed (and sometimes, since I'm learning, I like to slow it down.)

Ini] 4th position after 3 passes, playing with GiB, I held:

S AJT5
H 6432
D K4
C AK2

I bid a very normal 15-17 1NT. The bidding continued
1NT 2C
2H 3NT
4S

A nice normal bidding sequence, right? On the lead of the 4 of clubs, dummy came down:

S K87
H Q9
D A62
C J9873

A nice 10 point hand. I'm happy to be in game. However, I'm desperately searching for the 4-card major partner promised with 2 clubs.

Now, I won't say that I entered super-genius mode. In fact, there may be a better line than the one I took. Still, when you're THIS much up against it, the play actually becomes a bit easier. Since I need a lot of things to fall JUST SO, might as well play as though it's going to happen.

GiB leads 3rd/5th best. So I'm playing west for 3 clubs. I put up the Jack of clubs, but the queen covers, so I play the ace. Low to the king of trump, then I play the 9 of clubs (I really think I need clubs to be 3-2 here). The ten falls on my 9, so I win.

Now, back to the board in diamonds for the spade finesse. It holds. Realizing I can't repeat the finesse, I plop down the ace - 6, 7, Queen!!

I collect 4 spades, 2 diamonds, and 5 clubs, for an improbable 4 spades +1 - a completely boring average plus, as (almost) everyone else was in 3NT+1.

Addendum: I guess I can't really complain too much about GiB, though. The other day, I bid a reasonable (?) 5 clubs bid. LHO led the AKQ of clubs in order to defeat me. Fine, but why didn't it double me????

Cautionary Tale

S QJ83
H A8542
D T5
C A7

Passing earned me -4.6 IMPs.

Pay Attention!

My morning set of hands featured me repeatedly missing some very easy plays.

Playing 4 spades, I was presented with a choice of finesses after the opening lead:

♠ Q6 ♥ T42 ♦ KQ96 ♣ AQ92

♠ KR97532 ♥ 6 ♦ 5432 ♣ 8

The opening lead of the ten of diamonds was covered by the queen from dummy, and the ace from RHO.

Later on I had a choice as to whether to finesse the king of clubs or the jack of diamonds from LHO. Of course, if I'd thought of the opening lead (ten of diamonds), I would have realized that the diamond finesse was hopeless. The club finesse, of course, was making. Down 1.

Several hands later, I was defending 6 spades. Dummy and I each had 5 diamonds, and I carelessly discarded one of my diamonds early, allowing declarer to establish the 13th diamond. As it turned out, declarer had a cross ruff working for the trick anyways, but a little forethought might have worked better on another hand.

Rolling the Dice

If there's one thing that I learned from running, it's that no matter how much willpower I have, plans can go awry. When my plans find themselves at odds with the bigger picture, I can either try to fit it all in, or I can be flexible. In general, I've found that adapting to the situation has made for a less stressful existence.

Life got very, very busy in September, and my play time suffered. C'est la vie.

The storm seems to be passing now. He's a hand from this weekend.

♠ K5 ♥ AQ8 ♦ KQT64 ♣ K52

After 3 passes, I chose to open 1NT. LHO overcalled 2C (Capp). Partner intervened with 2S, and I had a decision to make. This was the second hand I'd played with a pickup partner, and I wasn't operating with a lot of confidence as to what he might have. In the end, possibly erroneously, I opted for 2NT, which was passed out.

The club 6 was lead, and I dummy came down.

♠ AT743 ♥ 6 ♦ J5 ♣ JT987

♠ K5 ♥ AQ8 ♦ KQT64 ♣ K52

RHO won the club ace, and returned a heart, which I ducked to LHO's 9. A diamond switch found RHO's ace, and a low heart pulled my queen, and LHO's king. The heart jack drew my ace.

At this point, my trick count was: 2 spades, 1 heart, 3 diamonds and a club. All I needed was for diamonds to be 4-2 or better to collect an 8th trick in diamonds, but when I played the king, LHO discarded a heart.

♠ AT7 ♥ ♦ ♣ JT98

♠ K5 ♥ ♦ QT6 ♣ K5

The clubs look so good, but my problem now, as always* is that I only have one entry to the board, so I can't run the club finesse. I guess there really is only one play.

Of course, this is notwithstanding any mistakes I've made up to this point, or any mistakes I'm making in my analysis of this crossroads. Maybe in 2 years I'll roll my eyes at this post.

The reason I'm sharing this hand is that, 3 or 4 hands later, I couldn't remember how I'd played it. I knew I'd gone down grasping at straws, but all I could thing was "I should have played for the drop in clubs."

As it turned out, I did exactly that. There are 3 clubs outstanding, and it's not impossible that the Queen is single.

It wasn't.

I cashed out my diamonds and spades, and exited a club, but there was always either a diamond (RHO) or a heart (LHO) coming back for the setting trick.

I'm glad, at least, that I took a shot at making the contract.


*Against weak defense, I suppose I could have ducked the first diamond on the board, hoping to drop the ace for free and promote the jack to an entry. I considered and rejected this approach.