Blewbury beat Wantage by 93 to 31 in IMPs, scoring 17.56 VPs.

That's our third win in four matches, with only one more to play (in February, against Bicester).  We'll be aiming to finish at the top of Division 2, although this would mean returning to Division 1 next year.  I imagine we'll probably spend a few years bobbing up and down like a yo-yo.  Up to Division 1, down to Division 2, up to Division 1, down to Division 2, etc.

Click here for the current league table

...and here for all the hands from tonight's match

The cross-IMPs are:

BLEWBURY: Finn Clark & Stuart Forsyth = +2.39
BLEWBURY: Malcolm Cochrane & Shirley Moore = +1.19
BLEWBURY: Ian Van Maanen & Matt Wright = +0.72
WANTAGE: Malcolm Green & Mike Lewis = +0.64
WANTAGE: Liz Woodhouse & Lyn Morton = -0.14
BLEWBURY: David Long & Martin Keogh = -0.47
WANTAGE: Roger Williams & Dorothy Rivers = -1.78
WANTAGE: Sandra Millikin & John Gunn = -2.56

Many thanks to everyone.  Also, congratulations to David & Martin on their first Blewbury match!  A very respectable first outing.

(In fairness to Wantage, they were playing a last-minute substitute after Alan and Peter became unavailable.  Alan later sent me a nice email, asking me to convey his Christmas best wishes to all our team.)

BOARD 1 = +4 IMPs

The usual contract was 4♥-2 by East, even though theoretically North-South can make eleven tricks in the other three trump suits.  It can be hard to compete against opponents who have an eleven-card fit and get in their suit first.

Stuart and I scored a half-victory.  We didn't reach game, but at least we played the hand as North-South (for 3♠+2).  We weren't dismayed on seeing dummy.  Game looks ticklish and correct play requires care, although as it happens you're lucky and everything breaks kindly.

BOARD 2 = +1 IMP

South played game in spades everywhere, making 12 or 13 tricks.  Slam's dodgy because the defence can cash two clubs.

BOARD 3 = +12 IMPs

No one found the only unbeatable game, i.e. 4♥ on a 6-1 fit when trumps break nicely.  4♠ is a ropy 7-1 fit missing the AQJ105 and 3NT is a mismatching 1651 vs. 7123 distribution.

Blewbury did well with 4♠ and 3NT, while Wantage played 3♠ and 4♠-1.

BOARD 4 = +12 IMPs

Stuart and I bid up to 3NT and our opponent sitting East had to decide whether or not to sacrifice.  He probably thought he was taking out insurance against our game, but: (a) dummy could hardly have been more useless, as admittedly you'd expect on the auction, (b) the 800 penalty from 4♥x-3 vulnerable was more expensive than conceding a game, and (c) we'd have needed amazing luck to make 3NT anyway.  East held ♠95 ♥A65432 ♦AK9 ♣AJ and would have been on lead, so he has a straightforward game plan (lead hearts at every opportunity) and lots of entries to help him do so.  Perhaps our East was worried about everyone else having as much distribution as him, but as it happens we didn't.

The other tables played 2♥-1 or 2♠-1 (both sides declaring, no one successfully).

BOARD 5 = -2 IMPs

The normal contract was 4♠+1 by West.  One Wantage pair went off in 5♠-1, while the other stole the board in 4♦ by North (and made it!).  Looking at the auction on that last hand, I think East has enough to raise West's 3♠ bid to game.

BOARD 6 = flat

Twelve tricks in hearts by East on all tables, but always in game rather than slam.  Bidding six is tricky because North-South will probably make a nuisance of themselves in spades, but can it be reached?

East opens 1♥, South overcalls 1♠ and West bids 2♦.  North has zero points but four-card support for partner's overcall at favourable vulnerability, so I jumped to 3♠.  The rule of thumb is of course "bid to the level of the fit".  Nine trumps = nine tricks, i.e. the three level.  That's not always true, but it's a useful guideline in competitive auctions.

East now continued with 4♥ (almost certainly with 6+ of them), South said 4♠ and I think West's correct bid is now 4NT to ask for key cards.  You've got three of partner's trumps, a big source of tricks (diamonds) and a singleton in the opponents' suit.  Fortunately, though, West at our table only bid 5♥, thus ending the auction.

BOARD 7 = +3 IMPs

North conceded a penalty everywhere.  I was playing in a 4-2 diamond fit (whoops) and was glad to escape for only one off.  (Stuart and I play a strong no-trump, so I couldn't open the 12-14 1NT that was bid at all other tables.)  Congratulations to Malcolm and Shirley for stealing a second vulnerable undertrick.

BOARD 8 = +14 IMPs

Blewbury went plus at all four tables.  We bid and made two games (4♥+1 and 5♠), while Wantage went two off in 4♥-2 and then let Ian and Matt steal the hand the other way in 4♦ by East.

The defence can take the first four tricks against 4♥ thanks to club ruffs, achieved by Malcolm and Shirley.  It should theoretically be impossible to find a fifth defensive trick thereafter, but that's what they did.

BOARD 9 = -4 IMPs

I opened that two-way 2♦ in my system with Stuart (18-20 balanced or a Trash Multi) and so stole the hand in 2♠-1.  Alas, this victory was pyrrhic since all other tables were playing in 4♥-1.

BOARD 10 = +5 IMPs

+110 or +130 to North-South everywhere (either a nice safe 3♦ or a lucky 2♠ on a 4-3 fit from me and Stuart)...  but Malcolm and Shirley stole the hand as East-West in 1♣ and made it for +70.

BOARD 11 = flat

A miscellaneous bag of part-scores from North-South.  Stuart played well to scrape home in 2NT, since Malcolm and Shirley even defeated 1NT.

BOARD 12 = +4 IMPs

This one was wild.  West has a delicious-looking 2407 hand with seven clubs to the AK, but only ten points.  Clubs was the only making spot and it was only found by Ian and Matt, making 3♣+2.  Other contracts were 2♦-2 on a 6-0 trump fit, 3NT-2 and 3NT-4.  East and West have lovely hands, but they don't fit and their raw point count is nothing special (10+13=23).

BOARD 13 = -11 IMPs

Blewbury's first seriously bad board.  There's lots of distribution and chances for both sides, but most game contracts will fail.  The only declarer to go plus was Liz and Lyn for Wantage in 3♥+1, with the other tables being 5♠-1, 4♥x-1 and 5♦-1.

The best spot is spades.  At our table, Stuart opened 1♥ as South, West overcalled a very heavy 2♦ and I made a negative double on a five-count with 5-5 in the black suits.  This could have gone wrong, but we were lucky and it was a success...  until the opponents competed to 5♦ and Stuart was having to guess at the five level.  After that auction, I'd have made the same bid on his hand.

BOARD 14 = -9 IMPs

North-South can make 6♥, although I don't know if we should bid it.  It's only a combined 22-count.  The hands fit well and the club ace is onside.  I made mild gestures in that direction as North by splintering in the opponents' suit, but no one bid slam.

We lost IMPs on the board because a Wantage East-West stole the hand in 4♠-1, thanks to an artificial 2♠ opening that showed a weak hand with 5-4 in spades and a minor.  Most people aren't playing that.  Looking back again at that auction, though, I think North has enough to raise partner in competition to 5♥.

BOARD 15 = -1 IMP

4♥ by West everywhere, with one Wantage declarer dropping a doubleton queen offside.  Nothing Martin and David could do about that one.  They're blameless.  Fortunately, random overtricks don't matter much in IMP scoring, whereas that would have been a duplicate bottom.

BOARD 16 = +2 IMPs

2NT or 2♥+1 by West everywhere...  except when Malcolm and Shirley took 150 from an odd-looking 4♣-3 from North-South on a grotty 4-3 fit.  Shirley opened a 12-14 1NT and North bid 2NT to show the minors on a 2254 pudding.  No one had quite enough to double the final contract.

BOARD 17 = flat

4♠ by North everywhere.  The defence can kill the second overtrick if they guess to lead diamonds at trick one.

BOARD 18 = +8 IMPs

East-West can make 6♦, but it's dodgy and needs the club king onside.

The crucial decision in the bidding is East's.  You're dealer at favourable vulnerability, with only 9 points but a massive 0472 shape and good suits.  The weakest action is to open 3♦, which happened at our table and stopped East-West from finding game.  (I played the hand in 4♠-3 by North, vulnerable, so it wasn't all good news.)  Other Easts opened 1♦, or else passed to await developments.

The best result was by Malcolm and Shirley, who made a doubled overtrick in 5♦x+1.

There's an interesting defensive point.  Say you're on lead against 3NT with the North hand, which happened at one table.  Obviously, you start with the ace from ♠ AKQ984 and the heart ace outside.  The best defence is for South to signal with the 7 from J73 (perhaps not obvious but still the winning play, especially since North will have bid them strongly in the auction).  That lets North play a low spade at trick 2, giving the defence the first seven tricks.  However, against Ian and Matt, the defence crashed South's jack by playing spades from the top, giving declarer a stop in the suit.

Or, alternatively, you might lead the king for count from ♠ AKQ984, learn that declarer has four and thus be driven willy-nilly to gamble with the same play and hope it's partner who has the missing jack.

BOARD 19 = -4 IMPs

All sorts of part-scores by North-South, usually going off.  The only successful contract was 1♠ from a Wantage pair.  Looking back at that auction, I'd have protected with 2♥ on the East hand.  One adds a king in the pass-out seat, especially here since partner's marked with a few values when the opponents let the bidding die like that at the one-level.

BOARD 20 = +12 IMPs

I took 3NT+1 as North, which seemed like the normal result and I thought no more about it...  but North at all other tables went off.  3NT-1 twice, 4♠-1 once.  David and Martin were the unlucky victims of a brilliant lead (ace and another from ♦A4, finding partner with an unannounced six-card suit).

BOARD 21 = +5 IMPs

3NT by West was the usual contract, often with an overtrick, but we gained IMPs when a Wantage pair stopped in 3♥+1 against David and Martin.

BOARD 22 = +11 IMPs

Ian and Matt made 3NT+1 as East-West and must have thought that would be the universal result.  Nope.  Two tables played in 4♥-2 or 4♥-3, showing how dangerous it can be to raise on three-card support in a four-card major system.  The trumps break 5-1, with KJ1073 sitting over declarer.  Had I held that hand after that auction, I might have doubled.  Yes, the opponents might possibly have a less bad spot, but they're unlikely to enjoy that either with you poised to murder their heart suit.  Besides, it's not one of those wild competitive auctions with long suits being mentioned.  Against experts, though, I'd most certainly stay silent and take the money.  The real danger is that the opponents run into 4NT and make it.  Declarer has lots of goodies.  The side suits are sitting well for him.  Computer analysis says that declarer can make 3♥ despite the nightmare break, so congratulations to Malcolm & Shirley for taking 200 and to David & Martin for taking 300.

The fourth table was 3♠-4 by North-South (undoubled) after I bought the contract with a dodgy jump overcall.  Well, we weren't vulnerable.

BOARD 23 = flat

Eight tricks in no-trumps by North-South everywhere.

BOARD 24 = flat

This was always 4♥ by West, but half the time it went off.  Ian and Matt showed how to play it.  Best defence is to start with AK and a third diamond.  If you ruff and get overruffed, the hand falls apart.  You've burned a trump trick and lack the entries to draw trumps and cash all four spades separately.  Instead, best play is to discard a club loser.  Give the defence that diamond ruff.  You're happy, you're in control and you'll discard another club later on the spades.

And that's that!  Congratulations again to everyone!  Our last match will be on 4 February and I won't choose the team yet.  There's no hurry.  I'll check on people's availabilities at the end of January, then let everyone know.

When Christmas comes, have a merry one!