Archive of Previous Poor Bridge

At Stretford Bridge Club, Midland Railway (for whom Dave Collier and myself strut our stuff in a strong club system) were taking on the might of the Scienceagas in a Manchester County League division 3A match. We were doing quite nicely, despite passing out exclusion key card Blackwood, when this board came up:

Question: What do you do holding the following hand at red when the auction goes like this:

A x x x
x x x
K x x x x
x

Pass - (1) - Pass - (1)  ?

(1 is Precision, and could be on two cards. However, it could also be on 7 or 8 cards).

Do you:
a) Pass, since it clearly isn't your hand and your suits are rubbish; or
b) Make a crap 2 overcall which will get doubled since opener has diamonds and go for 1700?

Guess which one RHO did?

The full deal:

The play went as follows. 10 from me, and my partner cashed three rounds. He then switched to the 9, which was ducked, then the Jack, which was also ducked, so he continued hearts, declarer initially pitching a spade, then ruffing, so I overruffed. I now played A and another club, declarer ruffing. In an attempt to get to table he played Ace and another spade, so I won the King, drew declarer's last trump and returned a club. Partner claimed the rest.

5 tick. Our way.

Not poor enough...?

OK, here's an even worse one from last night.

Having for some reason fallen asleep at 6pm and woken up at midnight, I wandered into the world of internet bridge, where I found some guys from Warwick having a game. One of them was just about to leave and so the remainders asked me if I wanted to join, so I did. Playing the wonderful (!) system of Benji Acol, this hand came up at love all:

K Q 9 x
K Q T x x
Q x
x x

RHO opens 1 so you decide to overcall 2, mainly because it's your turn to bid. LHO ventures 2 and RHO jumps to 4, saying, "What the hell." as he does it. Thinking that you have at least two trump tricks, and partner despite having a spade shortage deciding not to raise hearts making you expect a trick from there as well, you decide to double. This is met by a redouble by RHO, which surprises you somewhat. Partner goes into the tank but passes, and you lead the K. Dummy comes down with:

A J T x x
x
J x x
J x x x

What? Dummy came down with AJTxx of trumps? This means the 4 bid and the redouble was made on 8xxx. The full deal was:

Note my partner's inability to find some kind of heart raise with five trumps to the Jack and a spade void. And to cap it all, after declarer cashed the A and another was led from table, my partner jumped in with the K, crashing my Queen for an overtrick. I was not impressed.