I've spent most of my 'bridge time' this weekend watching the USBC, so I haven't gotten to play many hands.  The Nickell-Ekeblad final was very exciting, Ekeblad falling way behind in the first half, mounting a strong comeback effort in the 6th quarter (getting out to a 60-0 lead, before settling for a 60-10 result in the quarter,) to get within shooting distance, and then falling back at the end.  The Nickell squad was so excited to win that Jeff Meckstroth peed his pants (compare to the cropped image here.)  The match was another reassuring reminder that even the best in the world fall from grace on occasion, as first Bob Hamman, and then Fred Gitelman, stumbled in games that were virtually cold single-dummy (at least at the time of the stumble they were.)  There might be hope for me yet.

Anyway, here's a hand from yesterday with Jeff in a brief set we played against virtually flawless opps.  This was the first board and a sign of things to come.

You pick up in 2nd, all white:

K92 / AK6 / K42 / Q986

You open 1NT, have a stayman auction, and pard bids 3NT.  Lefty tracks a club and dummy tracks:

AJ3 / Q982 / J9753 / K

K92 / AK6 / K42 / Q986

The King loses to the Ace and the Ten of Clubs comes back.  What do you pitch from dummy?  What's your plan?

Declarer pitched a Diamond from dummy, cashed the Ace of Hearts, noting the fall of the Ten on his left, played a spade to the Jack, winning, and ran the 8 of Hearts.  What do you think of that line?

I've never been sure what the deal with restricted choice is once you get into 5 cards outstanding and 6 cards outstanding.  Obviously with 4 cards outstanding it's a big favorite to work, absent other inferences to the contrary, but that's presumably because 2-2 breaks and 3-1 breaks are about equally common, whereas 3-2 breaks and 4-1 breaks or 4-2 breaks and 5-1 breaks most certainly are not.  If someone's seen the odds in those situations broken down somewhere, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know where I can see them.

Back to the hand.  The 8 of hearts held.  9 tricks were soon wrapped up (3 Spades, 4 Hearts, 2 Clubs.)  If you pitched a Heart or a Spade from dummy, you're toast, as Lefty had AQ of diamonds and 6 Clubs originally.  Our guy was the only declarer to make 3NT legitimately without help from the defense.  One declarer made it legitimately, but got the Ten of Hearts lead.  2 other declarers made it after the defense slipped. 

My hand (Lefty)

Q65 / T / AQT / J75432

Jeff's hand

T874 / J7543 / 86 / AT

-400 was just over 7 IMPs away.

And yes, I'm kidding about Meckstroth peeing his pants.  For one thing, they usually take the photos for these things ahead of time, which partially explains why the Ekeblad squad is so cheerful and the Nickell squad is so glum.