So I haven't played much bridge lately but blogs have a way of demanding new material so I sat down a little after midnight to play in a 9-board IMP pairs tournament with a random (screened) partner.  He had one of those minimalist profiles, 2/1 sayc, and he hailed from China.  There are tons of great players from China, but many many more who claim to be and aren't (though not as many in that respect as Turkey.)  I figured he'd either be great or awful.  Turns out he was neither.

1st board out of the rack and I have a bidding problem:

All white, 2nd seat:

AK543 / KQ83 / J65 / A

Righty opens 1 Diamond and you bid 1 Spade.  It goes pass and pard bids 1NT.  Now Righty bids 2 Clubs.

Some people bid the same way no matter who they play with.  When I'm playing with a random partner who may or may not know what he's doing, I tend to forego the precision bidding tools in my arsenal and use the blunt instruments.  Unfortunately, if partner happens to know what he's doing, he jumps to the conclusion that I can't bid, but oh well.  I've had too many disasters in these situations to risk otherwise.

Playing with someone I know is half-decent, I'd bid 2 Diamonds here.  It's cheap, it's forcing, it's the right bid.  But I didn't want to play 2 Diamonds.  So I bid 3 Hearts. 

Luckily, I didn't talk my partner into a bad Moyse when 3NT is a brick (that's the main risk of 3 Hearts.)  He had 5 card support and happily raised to 4.  One bullet dodged.

J / AJT72 / K97 / T953

AK543 / KQ83 / J65 / A

I ended up ruffing out the Spades (they were 4-3) and playing for Righty to have AQ of diamonds and made 5.  Win (just shy of) 3 (Actually, the scoring wasn't revealed until the end.  At first I enjoyed the novelty of seeing my score in real-time, but now I prefer waiting until all the boards are done.)

The 2nd hand I got REALLY worried.  At the end of the hand I wanted to say 'You play as well as you bid, partner.'

I picked up in 1st at favorable.:

2 / AK6 / Q97 / AK8765

I opened 1 Club, 1 Spade by Lefty, 1NT by partner, and I put him in 3.

His idea of what 1NT shows and mine differ somewhat.  His LHO led the Jack of Spades (his partner's suit.)

2 / AK6 / Q97 / AK8765

K843 / JT53 / T4 / J94

Seems straightforward.  Win the Spade and pray that Clubs behave.  If they do, you have 9 top tricks.

My partner thought ducking the Spade was right.  Luckily, they continued Spades (a Diamond switch leads to a quick down 3) and even though he pitched a Heart to hold himself to 9 tricks (Hearts were Qx offside) he did manage to make the game.  2nd bullet dodged.  Win another 2.94.

The 3rd hand I picked up at unfavorable in 4th:

A632 / 5 / QT8742 / 95

Lefty opened 1 Heart, Righty bid 1 Spade, Lefty tanked and bid 2 Spades, Righty bid 3 Clubs, Lefty bid 3NT and Righty bid 4 Spades.

I was torn between going for the tap and scoring some cheap Heart ruffs.  You have a hard time in the post-mortem if the ruff is right, especially if the Diamond lead goes through Kx around to Jx, so I led my stiff Heart.

KT8 / KQT74 / K5 / K82 appeared

Declarer played the King from dummy, partner played the Ace (sweet) and Declarer ruffed!  (Doh!)

Luckily, Declarer ruffed with his 4th trump, and his 3 remaining trumps weren't of much use in maintaining control of the hand (He was 4-0-4-5.)  It's ironic that I chose to score ruffs instead of tapping and ended up tapping declarer out on opening lead!  He ended down 3.  3rd bullet dodged.  Win another 4.

4th hand pard had all red in first:

Q85 / AQJT943 / 9 / K7

He opened 1 Heart, I passed, Righty doubled, he bid 2 Hearts, Lefty bid 3 Diamonds, I passed and ... he passed!

I led my singleton Heart and with a lot of help from Declarer we were soon +100.  3 Hearts had no play whatsoever (AK, K offside, A, A).  4th bullet dodged.  Win 7 and change.  'Nice pass partner.'

The 5th hand I had a difficult bidding problem.  I picked up at favorable in 2nd:

98752 / KQ / T42 / 532

Righty opened 2 Clubs, I passed, Lefty bid 2 Spades!, Pard was in for 3 Hearts, Righty bid 4 Spades (oh crap, pard is bidding again, I just know it,) I passed, and sure enough, Pard's in for 5 Clubs, doubled to you.

Are you supposed to take a semi-false preference to your KQ tight or do you sit?

I really wanted to bid 5 Hearts (the double was pretty quick) but pard is taking tap after tap in Spades, if he doesn't have 6 Hearts, it's a bloodbath.  It looks to me like keeping control in Clubs is likely to be easier.  I passed.

Pard pulled to 5 Hearts and this time it got passed around to my LHO, who whipped it.

Righty led the AK of Clubs, and decided not to give his pard a Club ruff.  Down 1.  6 Spades is a lucky make, even with the 5-0 split.  5th bullet dodged, over halfway home.  Win another 8 and a half.

Our hands:

98752 / KQ / T42 / 532

- / JT98632 / A / QJ764

Their hands:

AQ4 / A / QJ8765 / AK8

KJT63 / 754 / K93 / T9

To be continued ...