BBF Indy

I played in the BBF Indy today. I hoped to finish above dead last, but fell just short in my quest.

As usual, it's not the scores that bother me, it's my dumb mistakes. Here are my notes:

1. I wans't sure if this was a good sac or not. Turns out that the result was an average hand. (50%)
2. Once the opponents reach 3NT, they're always going to make 430 I think. (20%), but only because more people weren't in 3NT.
3. I *think* the key reason I went down where others made is the opening lead. Most souths led low from QJ53 of hearts, but at my table kenberg (who won the whole thing) led the Q, which held me to 2 heart tricks instead of 3 when I held AK8 opposite dummy's T94. (33%)
4. One table held N/S to only 8 spade tricks. Defenses who break hearts for declarer, not unsensible, will allow 9. Unfortunately, our opponents were one of the 3 pairs to stop below game, rather than one of the two who bid game. (17%)
5. I was just an observer on this one. E/W make 13 tricks in either black suit. (50%)
6. Opponents bid an unmakeable game. An extra 10% was available if I played carefully and discarded properly. Chalk this one up to lack of counting. (80%).
7. This hand was cold for a top at one point, but partner misread the heart spots. Sometimes it's an easy game when you're dummy. Then again, nobody else was making game, so maybe we shouldn't have even been there.
Is this auction forcing? I thought it might be, but in retrospect, 3C is available as a forcing bid.

West	North	East	South
			p
p	1♠	p	1NT
2♣	3♥	p	?

(0%)
8. Another "what was I thinking?" moment. That said, I think I can pass 2 hearts here, which would still be losing:

West	North	East	South
p	1♠	2♦	p
p	2♥	p	?

(25%)
9. Not sure why we didn't come in here, but we let opps steal one (0%)
10. Supporting with AQx of spades seems to be a winner on this hand. A support double might have helped over the overcall, if I played them.
That said, my opening lead/followup was absolutely horrible. I led A, then Q from AQx, when declarer falsecarded holding the King. /sigh (17%)
11. We got gifted an overtrick here. Still, spades play better, and I think I need to play partner for 5 and bid 4 spades rather than 5 clubs. I did have a question, though.

West	North	East	South
			p
p	1♣	p	1♦
p	1♠	p	1NT
p	2♠	p	3♣

I wonder whether I've shown anything more than a minimum yet. I guess maybe by not passing 1 spades I showed something more than minimum? (50%)
12. We miss a 9 card heart fit here. Partner was the only north who didn't bid, but maybe I need to be balancing here?

West	North	East	South
1♣	p	1♠	p
1NT	p	p	?

I held T542 A8654 A9 Q5.
13.

West	North	East	South
	1♦	p	5♦
?

T63
AQJ532
v
KJT8
Double, right or wrong, netted me a passout, and +800 for 83%.
14. I blew 50% on one trick, not taking my good king. I think I thought I was playing notrump or something. I can blame it on stamina, maybe, but I seriously need to slow down and think before each play. This was not hard, and I could have had 83% instead of 33%.
15. By now I was playing way too fast. We wound up in a hopeless 26 point 3NT, but rather than just flip cards as the losers went by, I should have watched discards closely. I turned down 1 into down 2, and ~50% into 8%.
16. A defensive disaster. We took fully 3 less tricks against 1NT than anyone else. I think partner leading low from AJTxx in clubs may be partially to blame, though I may have missed an upside down signal in spades, holding AQJ98. (0%)