But because we missed that pyschologically important 70% mark by a whisker, all four of our bad boards really rankle.
Two bad boards came against Joel Wooldridge. Yeah, this guy. Multiple-national champion, and Bermuda Bowl silver medalist Joel Wooldridge. Both boards were opening lead problems. See if you would do better.
First board, I hold:
South
South
♠
43
♥
7
♦
AJ95
♣
Q108763
The bidding goes:
W
West
N
Pard
E
Joel
S
Me
—
—
—
Pass
Pass
Pass
1♠
2♣
3♣
5♣
5♦
Pass
5♠
All Pass
What do you lead?
I led the 7 of hearts. Which, in hindsight, is terrible. Joel had made a slam try and subsided in 5S. It is obvious that partner is totally broke except for clubs. The slam try being in Diamonds, I can not plop down the Ace of diamonds - -AJ9 might well be worth two tricks. I need to cash our club trick in case it is going away and the lead a club for declarer to ruff and do what he will after that. Leading the 7 of clubs stands out by a mile. What was I thinking about the 7 of hearts? Actually, I will tell you what I was thinking. I thought that if Joel had a club control for his 5C bid, it would the Ace of clubs, so partner might have the Ace of hearts. And with the slam try in diamonds and partner's preemptive jump, perhaps partner was short in diamonds ... i.e., I put partner with a hand like xxx Axxxx x Kxxx ... in which case the 7 of hearts would lead to Ace of hearts, heart ruff and Ace of diamonds. Maybe even diamond ruff to beat it two ... Very, very unlikely of course. Much more likely that we have the two minor suit aces coming and maybe a slow diamond trick to beat the contract. Leading a club would have given us a 56% board. Defending against Joel Wooldridge, a 56% board is victory. Leading the 7 of hearts, on the other hand, gave us a 20% one. The full hand is here. Incidentally, a 6C sacrifice would have been a good choice.
The second bad board, I held (everyone non vulnerable):
S
South
♠
1083
♥
K43
♦
843
♣
K743
The bidding goes:
W
West
N
Pard
E
Joel
S
Me
—
Pass
2♥
Pass
Pass
Pass
—
—
West has passed after a very long hesitation. What do you lead?
I led the 3 of clubs and Joel had no problems making 10 tricks. This turned out to be a bad board, because the pass was well judged. 4H was going down one at most tables after a spade lead. I don't know if I should have gotten this one right. Here's the full hand.
The third of the bad boards came against a Norman Bridge Club nemesis (long story) who bid 7NT against us and made it on a cold layout. Got to take that bottom, but it's who the opponent was that doesn't sit well.
The final bad board was totally my fault in not being blood-thirsty enough. Vulnerable against not, and holding:
S
South
♠
QJ74
♥
J5
♦
AK5
♣
J986
The bidding goes:
W
West
N
North
E
East
S
South
Pass
1♥
Dbl
RDbl
Pass
Pass
1♠
?
The redouble was great. I needed to double 1S and let them play there. They would have gone down 4 for a cool top, but the fact that we were vulnerable and they were not convinced me to remove to NT. Bad choice. Once, I had redoubled, it was a penalty that I needed to be shooting for -- colors be damned.
So how can I have made three blunders in one evening and still ended up with a 69.6% game? Not for nothing does Michael Rosenberg call bridge a game of mistakes.
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