In the 2021-2022 season we had two teams in the Wessex League, a teams-of-eight competition for Oxfordshire clubs, played online. Our "A" team playedin Division 1 and our "B" Team in Division 3.
Fixtures and results for 2020/21 season are from the links below.
For match reports, please scroll further down.
A-Team Fixtures and Results 2021-2022
B-Team Fixtures and Results 2021-2022
A Team
The Summertown A team finds itself somewhat unwillingly in the first division this year, where we are very much the underdogs. Our first match on 15th October was away against Oxford C on RealBridge on and got off to a chaotic start when the match was delayed by 25 minutes due to problems with the set up. This was later compounded by one of their team losing connection resulting in another delay of 15-20 minutes. We ended up playing 23 out of the 24 boards, the final VP result being a very narrow loss of 9.55 - 10.45.
I (Krys) was acting Captain as Howard was away, which is why this report is coming from me.
The game of Bridge is a mixture of skill and luck. There were only two slams bid and made during the evening. Robert and Alison were the only ones to bid and make 6S on board 24, but this handsome plus was negated the very next board when their opponents were the only ones to bid and make 6NT. Such is Bridge.
Some hands, as usual, were all over the place. Let's look at Board 23:
West has a normal weak NT opening. With the North hand, most partnerships play 2C as showing both majors. Over this bid, what should East bid with those nice long clubs. One of the Oxford players decided to just punt 5C, not unreasonable at teams scoring where it is generally accepted that one needs to bid 'thin' games, partly because these often make because the opponents don't know what the best opening lead is. 5C in the event is doomed to go one off with Declarer unable to avoid losing two diamonds and a spade. Note that the contract would have made if the diamond ace had been in the North hand.
At another table the Oxford West opened 1C (presumably because they play a strong NT). EW finally bought the contract in 4C. Well stopped, as this was the highest making club contract.
On the next table, after Robert opened 1NT with the West hand, North somewhat surprisingly passed. This made things easier for EW. Alison jumped to 3NT hoping that her long clubs would bring in enough tricks. Indeed they did, as North was unaware that she needed to lead the DQ to ensure the first five tricks for her side.
At our table things took a rather different course. I opened the usual weak 1NT but wasn't lucky enough to have North pass. He duly made a bid to show both majors. We play the Lebensohl Convention, so Sandra bid 2NT which was asking me to bid 3C (which she might leave in or convert to 3D). However, South with a fit in one of his partner's suits, decided to bid 3H. With my good hearts and not knowing whether Sandra held clubs or diamonds, I passed, as did North. Sandra reasoned that if she re-opened the bidding the opponents might bid 4H which could be making, so decided to pass rather than bidding her clubs.
As you can see from the analysis, 3H can make. However, what actually happened was that Sandra took the first trick with the Ace of clubs. No point in continuing clubs since North was now void, so she decided to play the DK, hoping I had the A and could give her a ruff. Disaster, she thought, when South won with the A. Not so fast! South now played a low heart from hand winning with the ten in dummy, but is out of luck when he continues with a low heart from dummy. The hearts don't break, and I win his Q with my A. I can now play a heart which he wins in dummy, but he is now marooned in dummy with no way back to his hand (Sandra cleverly having knocked his diamond ace out earlier) and can only take his two diamond tricks before letting me back in with the Ace of spades. I clear the remaining two trumps with my high heart, and we can now win all the remaining tricks with our high clubs, or could have but for the fact that partner, not realising my cunning plan and not thinking it made much difference whether she threw spades or clubs away, had discarded her clubs. Still, we got 3H off for plus 200, so not too bad. :-)
--------------------------------------------
The A team played its second match against Oxford A on 4th November and was well beaten 19.2 - .08.
They are a very good team with an England international but we nearly managed to hold our own in the first half before being badly beaten in the second half. This was mainly due to my (Howard's) reaction to the booster the day before and worrying about the complicated logistics of our first home game on Realbridge.
Special thanks to Krys, who changed plans at the last minute, to play with our reserve Sandra, after Steph had a fall walking her dog (she is now much improved).
Our next match is an away match against Abingdon so hopefully I can concentrate on the bridge and we can improve our performance.
Many thanks also to Alison and Robert, Valerie and James, and Ruth.
--------------------------------------------
The A-Team played its third match away to Abingdon A on 1th November and lost 16.5 to 3.5.
We were well beaten. Most of the hands tended to be one way. As far as Ruth and I were concerned we were defending most of the time obviously not very well, the opposition bidding and making several slams.
Our next match is a home match on 2nd of December when Sandra will be captain as Ruth and I are away in Cornwall.
--------------------------------------------
In the absence of Howard (our usual captain), I (Sandra) ended up running our A team's match against Menagerie B on 2nd December. Although we did relatively well in some respects (the Blisses in particular had a strong card), overall we lost by 8.14 - 11.86. This was actually one of our better results so far this year and has hoisted us off the bottom of the table, although we still have to play two very good teams (Menagerie A, and University), so it may only be a temporary improvement!
Here's a board that we all managed to get wrong, in one way or another:
The par result is 4S - 1 by N/S but, as you can see, N/S can actually make 3NT if allowed to play there, whilst E/W can make 4H.
On our table, where Krys and I held the N/S hands, E/W found their way to 5C. Although this would probably have gone down, looking at South's hand it seems likely to make, so we pushed on to 5S and that got doubled for -300. Our other pair playing N/S left the opponents in 4H: North probably expected to get it down, but East's spade void put paid to that. And unfortunately, on both the other tables the Menagerie pairs playing N/S bid and made game, once in 4S and once in a rather unlikely 3NT. No doubt E/W thought they had enough values between them to get 3NT down, but it was not to be!
--------------------------------------------
Summertown A are currently almost at the bottom of Division 1 of the Wessex League, and I don't think any of us will be too unhappy at the thought of returning to Division 2 next season!
On 25th February the A team (well, actually, half A and half B, owing to various absences and other commitments from three of the usual A team pairs) lined up to play against Menagerie A, who are winning the Division by quite a long way. We fought like terriers and ended up with a match score of 1.7 out of 20 which, in the circumstances, was not nearly as bad as it might have been! Our team captain Howard, and I (Sandra) as deputy in Howard's absence, are particularly grateful to the two B team pairs - Sara and Mike, and Paul and Roger - who acquitted themselves very well. A thankyou is also due to Steph and Steven, who were reserves, and nearly got to play when Robert's internet went down for a while.
Although clearly, most of the time Menagerie were doing a lot better than we were, there was just one board where all our pairs came out on top:
East was dealer and opened 1S. South passed and West replied 2D. Now it clearly looks as if North should do something, but what?
At each table, the answer was something different. One of the Menagerie players simply doubled, which ended up allowing Sara and Mike to play quietly in 4S, making 12 tricks on the normal-looking lead of the King of hearts. The other Menagerie member sitting North bid 2NT, showing length in both the unbid suits. N/S tried to sacrifice in 5H but Robert went on to 5S, making 11 tricks on the same lead.
When I was North, I bid 2S which, by agreement between myself and Krys, shows at least 6 hearts and at least 5 clubs. Krys also bid 5H over 4S and after West doubled this, East pushed on to 5S. Now, though, Krys knew that one of the opponents was likely to be void in hearts (since we had at least 11 between us) and so he was able to find a club lead, getting the contract one down.
And what about the fourth table? Here, Paul just bid 2H, with no mention of clubs! This worked very well when East decided that West must have some useful cards in clubs, and zoomed off to 6D without checking on Aces or key cards. Paul led a harmless spade and was later able to take two club tricks after declarer inevitably lost the lead to the King of diamonds.
The A team now has just one more match to play, against the University team, and can then retire gracefully until next season...
B Team
Summertown B had our first match of the season on 21st October, against Abingdon B, playing on Real Bridge. I'm afraid we lost, by 66 imps to 97 (= 5.42 to 14.58 in VPs). There were 8 hands with a swing of 10 imps or more, half of which went our way and half to Abingdon. But overall we made more mistakes than they did.
Thanks to the team:-
Moira & Trevor
Kati & Tunde
John & Sean
Paul & myself (Roger)
and a special mention for Moira & Trevor for helping out when we were short of players.
--------------------------------------------
Summertown B had its second match on 24th November, against the Aylesbury Aces, and I'm pleased to report that we won, by 85 IMPs to 64 (13.32 VPs to 6.68). We started well, but with 6 boards left were 6 IMPs down (though we didn't know it at the time). Fortunately the final round went well for us, helped in particular by the following hand, where we gained 18 IMPs:
With EW vulnerable South opens 1H, after which NS remain silent. West holds
S:A,J,10,7, H:8,3, D:K,J,10,4, C:K,Q,4
and East has S:Q,9,8, H:K,Q,7,4, D:-, C:A,J,9,8,7,2.
Both our EW pairs (Sara & Mike, and Holly & Sean) bid and made 6C, while the Aylesbury pairs played in 5C and 3C. The slam needs the spade king to be onside, but that is highly likely, given South's opening bid.
Many thanks to the team,
Sara & Mike
Holly & Sean
Kati & Tunde
Paul & myself (Roger)
and to our reserves, Erica & John.
--------------------------------------------
Summertown B's 3rd match was on 9th December, against Wallingford B. I'm pleased to say that we won, by 103 IMPs to 73 (14.46 VPs to 5.54). Our success came from making fewer mistakes than they did. We didn't bid any slams, while they tried two, which both failed.
There was however one slam possible with the following hands:
North - S:- , H: A 10 8 6 3, D: K J, C: A Q J 7 5 2
South - S: 10 9 5 4, H: Q 2, D: A 9 8, C: K 9 6 3
Wallingford played in 5C+1 and 4H=, while we played 3N+1 and 4C+2. Clubs broke 2-1 and Hearts were 4-2, so 6C was cold. Can it be bid?
--------------------------------------------
Summertown B had its fourth match of the season on 5th January, against Wallingford D, and I'm pleased to report that we won, by 118 IMPs to 59 (17.32 VPs to 2.68).
It was quite an exciting match, with slams (6S in each case) made on 3 of the hands: one was only found by Sara & Mike, and another was made only by Erica & Ann. On a third hand one Summertown pair and one Wallingford pair bid and made 6S with AK of clubs cashable against them (the other two pairs settled for 4S). On a fourth hand Paul & I tried to get in on the act, again bidding 6S missing AK of clubs - but this time the opposition had wisened up, and took their two tricks!
Potentially the largest swing came on board 22, where EW (vulnerable) held
West S:x , H:QJxxxx, D: Kxxx, C: Kx
East S:xx, H:AKxx , D: AQx, C: Jxxx
while NS (not vulnerable) had
North S:AQJxx, H: x, D:Jxxxx, C:Qx
South S:Kxxxx, H: xx, D:x, C:Axxxx
EW can make 5H, while NS can make 4S. As it turned out we made one heart game and one spade game, and conceded one heart game and one spade game, and the hand ended up with only 1 IMP gained - where there could have been 19 either way.
Many thanks to the team:
Ann & Erica
Mike & Sara
Betty & John
Paul & myself (Roger),
and also to our reserves: Sean, Tunde & Kati.
--------------------------------------------
Summertown B had its penultimate match of the season on 3rd March, against Wallingford C. We were 6 IMPs up at halftime, but the second half went badly for us, and we ended up 53 to 83 down, giving us just 4.17 VPs out of 20. That leaves us currently 3rd in the division, out of 7 teams.
No hand stood out, for me. There were no slams, and no hands with a double game swing; but overall we made more mistakes than they did.
Thanks to those who played:
Sara & Betty
Holly & Sean
Kati & Tunde
Paul & myself
and thanks also to our reserves, Bridget, and John.
--------------------------------------------
Summertown B had its final match of the season on 29th March, against the Abbey Smith team. I'm afraid we lost points on each of the four quarters, and ended up 35 to 75 IMPs down (4.49 VPs to 15.51). It was the last match in the division (Division 3), and we ended up 4th out of 7 - right in the middle.
Thanks to those who played:
Sara & Mike
Bridget & Holly
Ann & Erica
Paul (& me)
and to our reserve Tunde & Kati.
And may I take this opportunity to thank everyone else in the squad.
|