A personal best

Yesterday at the local club game, partner and I racked up what was our personal best -- a 74% game. There are (of course) a few caveats.  First of all, this was a 3.5 table game, which is typical of the club game in Norman, Oklahoma. Secondly, all but two of the strong players (i.e. 3/4 of the room) were playing with non-regular partners for one reason or the other. So, it was essentially a high-variability game and we swung high.

Only two boards (of the 24 we played) were below average.  Both of those were good bidding by the opponents -- in one, they bid on to 4C, down 1 when we had 3H our way. In the other, they bid and made a diamond slam that was not bid at the other tables.

So, since there was no mishap to showcase, here are a couple of boards we did well on:

(1) On this hand, the other pairs were in 4H, making 4 or 5. I was in 3NT making 5, for a top. The 1C was precision, showing 16+ and the rest of the auction is pretty natural. The key thing was my 3D bid which was notionally 4th suit forcing.  I wanted to hear what partner would bid: if he made a delayed raise of hearts, he'd be showing a doubleton and I'd raise to four. However, if he rebid spades, I'd take a chance on 3NT.  If he bid 3NT? I'd have a problem there -- maybe I can bid 4D to explore a diamond slam?

Dealer: S Vul: NS	Partner ♠ KJxxx ♥ x ♦ xxx ♣ KQxx
West ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣		East ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣
	Me ♠ 10 ♥ AKJ1087 ♦ AQxx ♣ Ax
Bidding:	South North 1C* 1S 2H 3C 3D 3S 3NT	HTML Bridge Hand Layout Creator

(2) This was another good board where the other tables either did not preempt or did not find the defense to 4H (encourage under Ace of clubs, overtake second club from partner, return a spade and score your tiny heart):

Dealer: S Vul: EW	Partner ♠ AJxxxx ♥ xxx ♦ Jx ♣ AJ
West (Declarer) ♠ Kx ♥ KQxxx ♦ Qxxx ♣ xx		East ♠ Q10xx ♥ AJxx ♦ AKx ♣ xx
	Me ♠ x ♥ x ♦ xxxx ♣ KQxxxxx
Bidding:	3C P P X P 4H P P P	HTML Bridge Hand Layout Creator

After the hand, partner remarked that he'd probably have found the spade switch even if I hadn't overtaken the club, but why not make it easier on partner?