Evening league
Thanks to everyone who played in our first match against Oxford D on 14th November, and well done for winning! The final score was 88 to 84 (10.71 to 9.29 in VPs). It was an unusual match to have had two grand slam hands. Congratulations to Trevor & John for bidding and making theirs. On a different hand Oxford also bid a grand slam, which failed, although arguably they should have made it.
The team was: Ann & Paul, John & Trevor, Holly & Zahir, Tunde & Kati, with Steph & Steven as reserves.
Thanks in particular to Ann for running things on the night.
Roger 15.11.24
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On 23rd January we played Wallingford D, and I'm pleased to say we won, by 82 IMPs to 65 (=12.76 VPs to 7.24). We are still 4th out of 6 in the table though. It was a close match with Summertown all square after the first quarter, and having a small lead at half time. We were back to all square after the third stanza, and ended up 17 ahead. Well done everyone!
Thanks to the team:
Sandra & Krys,
Bridget & John,
Steph & Steven,
Paul & myself,
and to our reserves, Tunde & Kati.
Roger 24.1.25
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We had our final match of the season on 12th March, which we won in a nail-biting finish. We are currently in Division 3 (out of 4), and with one match to be played elsewhere, we are 3rd out of 6 - just below the promotion positions. We won 4 of our 5 matches, so congratulations are due to those who played:-
Ann, Bridget, Erica, Holly, John, Kati, Krys, Paul, Sandra, Steph, Steven, Trevor, Tunde, Zahir - and myself.
Thanks are due in particular to Ann, who took over as captain for 3 of our matches while I was away.
Roger 14.3.25
Daytime league
Summertown A v Summertown B
Well - as I predicted Summertown won the match (!) - so it's very well done to Summertown B (Bridget, John, Moira and Cliff), who came out ahead by 54 IMPs to 25, or just about 16-4 in VPs. The A team (me, Robert, Steph and Steven) had a couple of good swings at the beginning of the second half, but not enough to make up for a couple of slams bid only by the B team, plus one other board where we took an unlucky view to bid on after a sacrifice, and several smaller losses.
As usual there were a few interesting hands. Here's one where the analysis says North can make only 11 tricks in either spades, diamonds or NT, yet on both tables 12 tricks came in. It's easy to see how 6NT can go down with the defence holding two Aces, but less easy to see how to defeat 6S.
The answer is that East must lead a club. Declarer has to ruff that in dummy, but if they try to draw trumps West has to hold up the trump Ace until the third round - by which time dummy has no more clubs - and then can cash the AC. Of course declarer could try to ruff all three clubs, but the bad trump break will defeat that line.
Thank you to Robert, Steph and Steven for playing for the A team - particularly to the Blisses, neither of whom was feeling at their best - and to Sara and Betty for standing by as reserves for both teams.
Onwards and upwards, A team!
Sandra 29.10.24
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Very well done and many thanks to Steph, Steven, Betty and Sara who played for Summertown A on 15th November against Abingdon C. Although they were down at half time, they didn't despair, and staged a terrific comeback in the second half to win the match by 58 to 37 IMPs (14.76 - 5.24 in VPs).
Particular thanks go to Steven for running the match (his first experience of this!), and to Erica for standing by as reserve.
Sandra 15.11.24
Just to let you know that the Summertown team had a most enjoyable time on 10th December and won the match against Kings Sutton A by 92 IMPs to 27, which works out at just a whisker short of 20 - 0 in VPs.
Many thanks to the team, who on this occasion were Steph and Steven, playing with Robert and myself: and to Erica and Ann for standing by as reserves.
This board produced our best score of the day:
Against the Blisses, after a normal 1S opening from East, South jumped straight to 5D and duly went down two. However, when Robert and I played it, Robert chose to double first with the South hand. West passed and I jumped to 4H - well, wouldn't you, with an 8-card suit? East tried 4S and Robert bravely bid 6D, reasoning that either I had good values and some diamond support, or if not, I must have a very long heart suit and he could stand 6H. And that was what I bid, on the basis that my hand would be worthless in 6D, and if 6H went down it would be my fault! But as you can see, it was a very lucky make, with the hearts breaking 2-1 and the diamond void in the hand that had only a singleton trump: so I was able to ruff the club lead, draw just one round of trumps with the Ace, and then play three rounds of diamonds (with the Ace of spades as an entry), discarding my other two clubs.
For the moment, that leaves Summertown A lying second in Division 2, despite our initial loss to Summertown B.
Sandra 10.12.24
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The Wessex League Daytime B team played our last match of the season on 18th February against Kings Sutton and, sadly, lost 29 : 58 which equates to 3.92 : 16.08.
Many thanks to Betty, Sara and John Cecil (playing with me) for playing. Congratulations to Betty and Sara for bidding and making a slam which the opponents didn't bid. Unfortunately, John and I bid a different slam but it didn't make (and the opponents didn't bid it). Other than that, it boiled down to some ambitious contracts not made, etc.
Many thanks too to Moira and Cliff who were standing by as reserves today.
So, overall, the Daytime League won 2 matches, lost 3 matches and 1 was a tie. Many thanks to everyone who played in this season's matches.
Bridget 18.2.25
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