Whilst taking one of our regular photo calls around the playing rooms yesterday we chanced upon one of the more spirited auctions of the day:

Board 16. Dealer West. None Vul
	ª 7 2 © 9 7 6 ¨ 8 6 4 § A J 9 7 6
ª Q 3 © 10 8 4 3 ¨ K J 10 § 10 8 5 3		ª A 9 6 5 © K Q J 5 2 ¨ - § K Q 4 2
	ª K J 10 8 4 © A ¨ A Q 9 7 5 3 2 § -

West	North	East	South
	McIntosh		Bowdery
Pass	Pass	1©	2©*
3©	Pass	4©	5¨
Pass	Pass	5©	Pass
Pass	Dbl	All Pass

West really ought to double Five Diamonds, and that was a popular contract at many tables. With no entry to dummy -300 was the standard result.

With an awkward lead - as the cards lie Four Hearts cannot be defeated - South tried the ace of diamonds. Declarer ruffed and could have endplayed South at once with a heart. However he tried a spade and South went in with the king and exited with a spade to dummy's queen. To escape for one down, declarer has to play South for a singleton ace of hearts, cashing the king of diamonds to pitch a club, playing a club to the king and then exiting with a heart. When he played a heart at once, South won and played another spade. Declarer ruffed with the ten of hearts and played a club, but when North withheld the ace the contract had to go two down. That gave all the points to North-South.

Moments later we caught sight of more blood being spilt:

Board 25. Dealer North. East/West Vul
	ª 9 6 3 2 © K ¨ J 7 2 § Q J 8 6 3
ª A K J 10 © Q 10 9 ¨ 9 8 5 3 § 10 5		ª 8 7 5 4 © 8 5 4 2 ¨ A K 4 § A 4
	ª Q © A J 7 6 3 ¨ Q 10 6 § K 9 7 2

West	North	East	South
	Rand		Romik
	Pass	Pass	1©
1ª	2§	4ª	5§
Pass	Pass	Dbl	5©
Pass	Pass	Dbl	All Pass

Nissan Rand

An auction that featured several dubious bids saw North/South first take a phantom sacrifice and then do something inexplicable. Five Hearts cost -800 and was one of several good results for the new leaders of the Senior Championship.

Pinhas Romik

The Breakfast room is always a good source of material. Marc Smith, one of the e-bridge team, presented it to us as a problem.

Board 3. Dealer South. East/West Vul

You have the North cards: ª -, © 8 4 2, ¨ A Q J 10 9, § A J 6 4 3

Marc's question, which we now put to you, is what do you expect the final contract to be - without of course having a sight of your partner's hand?

With the pessimism born of long and painful experience we opted for Four Spades by South, at which point the Honourary President of the EBL, Bill Pencharz, clearly an optimist at heart, suggested Six Diamonds - preferably by the opponents.
Having assured us that we would never guess in a million years, Marc strted to reveal the auction:

West	North	East	South
			1©
1ª	?

Your partner's bid could be the start of a Canapé sequence and at the table North doubled. With this clue, what do you predict the final contract will be now?
Time to reveal the full deal:

	ª - © 8 4 2 ¨ A Q J 10 9 § A J 6 4 3
ª A 10 7 3 2 © 9 7 ¨ K 7 6 2 § 5 2		ª J 4 © A 6 5 3 ¨ 5 § K Q 10 9 8 7
	ª K Q 9 8 6 5 © K Q J 10 ¨ 8 4 3 § -

With all four hands on view what is your answer?

This is how things went:

West	North	East	South
			1©
1ª	Dbl	2§	Pass
Pass	Dbl	Pass	2¨
Pass	2ª	All Pass

When South bid Two Diamonds, North decided to take things slowly, as a slam was definitely in the picture. You can imagine her surprise when South passed. However, careful play resulted in eight tricks and a very good score - although not as good as the one that was available from defending Two Clubs doubled.