More matches from Santa Rosa sectional team game

Match 4: I overbid to game with this hand and was rewarded with 7 IMPs. After RHO opened 1♦, I overcalled 1♥ and when Sara inquired about my hand with a 2♦ bid, I showed a full opener by bidding 2♠. We ended up in game and it made! 

  

♠A10xx 

♥KJxxx 

♦ xx 

♣ Qx

RHO won the first 2 diamonds and I ruffed the third diamond with the J♥ which was overruffed.
  
♠x
♥Axxxx
♦xxx
♣AKxx

♠A10xx

♥KJxxx

♦ xx

♣ Qx

A spade was returned. I won the ace and ruffed a spade. The ace and king of hearts drew the remaining trumps and I threw the remaining spades on the clubs.  

Match 5: Next is a hand where we stayed out of trouble. LHO opened 1♣ and pard overcalled 1NT. I knew immediately that we were in trouble. RHO doubled without hesitation and I had to scramble. What to do?

♠Jxxx

♥ xx

 ♦87xx

 ♣Jxx

If I were to pass, pard would be obliged to redouble which wouldn't be helpful. Without pondering too long and letting my anxiety show, I bid 2♣, Stayman. Whatever transpired would probably not be worse than playing 1NT doubled.

Pard responded 2♦ and RHO passed! I breathed a sigh of relief. It looked like the bid had worked and we could buy the hand undoubled. Sure enough--Sara played 2♦ and went down one for minus 50. This was a big 10 IMP win as our partners collected 500 against 1NTX.

We were in a fairly good position but needed a strong finish.

Match 6: What do you open with this hand?

♠KQx

♥10s

♦AKQJxx

♣xx

The winning call is 1NT! Pard raised to 3NT and a spade was led! We won 12 IMPs when our counterparts got to 5♦.

♠Axx

♥QJ

♦J10xx

♣Jxxx

♠KQx

♥10s

♦AKQJxx

♣xx

We lost the final match when our opponents preempted with a 5♦ call after my 2♦ response to pard's 2♣ opener, forcing a nasty guess as to whether to bid a slam or not, and we guessed wrong. At the end of the day we came in second and everyone seemed satisfied.

See you at the table!

Santa Rosa Sectional Team Game

Reading Chris Barrere's description of his national win of the Senior Swiss, and his obvious enthusiasm for the hands, reminded me that I had some fun hands last weekend at the Santa Rosa sectional team game! :-)

I played with Sara Rothmuller and our teammates were Kathy Venton and Dave Pankratz.

Match 1: We lost when the opponents bid to a bad slam off two cashing aces and our teammates were put in the unenviable position of guessing which suit to lead after winning the first ace.

Match 2: We had a good auction when partner opened 1♠ and I held this hand:

♠	Kx
♥	Void
♦	AQJ109xxx
♣	xxx

I bid 2♦, she rebid 2♥, I rebid 3♦ and she rebid 3♠. She was probably 6-4. I jumped to 5♦. (What do you call an 8-card suit?.......TRUMP!)

She thought for a minute and raised me to 6♦.

♠AQJ10xx
♥AKxx
♦ x
♣Ax

♠Kx
♥Void
♦AQJ109xxx
♣ xxx

I won the K♣ lead and pitched my remaining clubs on the ace and king of hearts. I then gave up a diamond and claimed. We won an improbable 17 IMPs as the opponents were in 6NT.

We also bid and made a vulnerable game for 11 IMPs which the opponents failed to bid. Then came this hand:

♠Axx
♥Q
♦ Ax
♣KQ10xxxx

I opened 1♣, LHO overcalled 1♠ and pard made a negative double.  Looking at my 5-loser hand I decided to jump to 3♣. Partner bid 3♠ (as I was hoping) and I bid 3NT.

I received the K♠ lead and saw the following:

♠xxx
♥Axxxx
♦ KJxx
♣ x

♠Axx
♥Q
♦ Ax
♣KQ10xxxx

I would have been happier if partner had a couple of clubs, but I had to make the best of what I had.   I ducked the first spade and won the second. Clearly I needed to bring in the clubs to come close to enough tricks. Also my RHO (who was presumably out of spades) needed to have the A♣! The red suits were mostly important as entries and I needed to retain the A♦ in my hand to run the clubs if I were lucky enough to set them up.

So I started by leading a diamond to the king and returning a club from the board. I played the K♣ and it held! Now could I smother the J♣ to set up the suit?! I decided that since LHO had more spades than RHO, perhaps she had fewer clubs. After a few minutes of pondering I laid down the Q♣ and was delighted to see the J♣ played by LHO! Now I was in control.

RHO returned a heart after winning the A♣, which I won on the board. I returned to my hand with the A♦ and ran the clubs. Plus 630 was worth another 11 IMPs. We blitzed the match.

Stay tuned...

See you at the table!