I got to play with Hervé Chatagnier from Jeff's CNTC squad tonight in a practice match.  We
muddled through pretty well on most boards but had a couple of disasters that should have been avoided.  Those will come later but first, a crazy hand.  You pick up in 2nd at favorable:

QT987 / J9632 / - / 764

Scooter (playing with Jeff) opened 2 Clubs on my Right.  I really wanted to bid something because of the colors and because the boys play Kokish so defining their strength later will be difficult, but when I'm playing with a new partner I'm pretty conservative.  I'd rather he go away saying 'that guy's game sure is boring' than 'that guy is a nut.'  I passed.  Jeff bid 2 Diamonds waiting.  Hervé bid 4 Spades!  Pass to you...

Last I checked, 4 Spades is game.  5 Spades, 6 Spades, 7 Spades, or some number of Diamonds all might be right on any given hand, but I had to decide quickly (tanking and then passing gives the show away) and I passed.

Now Jeff bid 5 Hearts!  I was in a dilemma.  Am I supposed to defend now with J9 fifth of trumps when partner has bid 4 Spades all by himself and I have QT fifth and a void in support?  I think I'd still be trying to guess what to do if 5 Hearts had been passed around to me, but Herve wasn't done, he bid 6 Diamonds, Scooter smashed it, and I'm up again.

At these colors, partner could have almost anything.  Probably 6-5 is a safe bet.  Maybe 6-6.  The grand could be there, but you made your bed when you passed 4 Spades.  I clicked 6 Spades, and Jeff doubled it.

I chickened out again.  I still don't know what the percentage call is here.  Usually my rule is that if I'm 95% sure that we're at worst down 1, and we're white, I send it back (unless I'm REALLY worried that the opponents have a happy place to land.)  This one's close to meeting that criterion.  But my total unfamiliarity with Hervé's style made me settle for 6 Spades doubled.  How bad can +1210 be?

Actually, we didn't score +1210, it was +1310.  Another boring push.

QT987 / J9632 / - / 764

AKJ432 / - / JT76532 / -

Diamonds were 3-3 so there wasn't much to the play.