As usual quite a strong field in the Merseyside & Cheshire county trials. Its an interesting event because people enter as pairs but as its a trial for the team the scoring is in imps rather than match points. 

On this one we were the only pair to play in 1 ♥ scoring us +2 on the imp scale. Contracts that failed were 1NT (twice) 2♦  and 2♥ .Leave it to your imagination to guess how they got there.

I played this one at the county trials in February. After I have opened on 9pts its an easy auction to the spade game which was found on only two other tables. Defence can hold it to ten tricks but perhaps not after East chose to lead a trump. Would you make a one opening with 9pts? The EBU regulations are that its legal to open at the one level with any hand holding 11pts or more but as few as 8pts if the hand is distributional satisfying the Rule of eighteen. Of course you can open pre emptively at the two level or higher with less points and a long suit.

This is Bd5 from the Northern League. I'm happy to open with 11pts here because the H are strong enough to rebid 2H if partner bids a minor. If you PASS this hand you are likely to be wondering whether to bid over ops 5D! 

Partner's 4D is a splinter showing a singleton and often do you see a singleton in your own hand? Amazingly the same thing happened again in this session. As a singleton in the same suit is not a good sign [no ruffs] I bid the discouraging 4H but partner was not put off.

The slam was bid 3 times out of 4 in our match against Manchester scoring +26 imps for us because it was one of their pairs which settled for 4H.

Perhaps slam hands are like busses because this one is Bd6 in Rd3 of the Northern League and we had just had one on Bd5.

In the bidding I chose not to make a strong opening with a distributional 20pts and so had to make a game forcing jump rebid. Partner's 3H is fourth suit forcing which doesn's say anything about H but asks for more information so I show my shape. Truthfully its not a great hand for Blackwood as my 2 Ace response would take us past 5D and we would have to play in 5S.

Obviously 6D is a safe contract but I was looking for the best play for overtrick. Not sure at all whether it was best but after taking the first trick with HA I played to the DA and seeing the J fall finessed against the T on the way back remembering that its twice as likely the J is singleton than a choice from JT doubleton. When that worked I was able to make all 13 tricks.

The hand was played 12 times and 6D was only found by two pairs sadly we scored -2 imps on this deal because our other pair playing this way landed in 6NT which seems to have no chance while the opposing pairs both settled for game contracts.

i am West in this hand from Rd 1 of the Northern Bridge League. Some players are a bit cautious when vulnerable but in teams games you should be a little braver and in match points it makes no difference. Talking here about trying for game not sacrificing obviously. 

So partner opens 1NT 12-14 and I have a flat 11 so the chances of game are pretty remote but in teams specially vulnerable you have to make some effort. Do you fancy bidding Stayman in the hope of finding a 4-4 fit in ♠ ? I thought while there is a slight chance 3NT might be on I didn't see 4♠ as at all likely with no ruffing value. The point about Stayman is that when it fails to produce a fit it can, as here, give opponents a map even before they lead. Say 1NT 2♣  - 2♥ 2♠ - NT they are probably not going to lead a major but after the unrevealing 1-2-3 NT sequence who can blame South for leading a ♠ ? After which 3NT is cold.