Congratulations to JZ's dad, Ed, who clinched the Cohen trophy (awarded to whomever wins the most points at Unit 192 Sectionals in a calendar year) yesterday.  It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since I won my one and only Cohen ... time flies. 

Had a pretty gruesome set with Buddy tonight.  The IMP result wasn't so bad, but playing random BBO opps anything less than an IMP a board and you're either off, or they're luckier/better than most.  It's like we were speaking totally different languages on most auctions.  Reminds me of playing with Elwin Brown, another former partner of mine and fine Ottawa player whose play and defense were excellent (certainly more consistent than mine at the time) but who never seemed to manage to see eye-to-eye with me when it came to the bidding.

If I could take anything back, it would be this bid (I was masterminding a little and got burned.)

4th, unfavorable

QJT4 / Q / 54 / AQ7542

 

2 passes to RHO who bid 1 Heart.  2 Clubs seems normal aggressive. 

LHO bid 2 Hearts.  Passed back to me. 

I'd bid aggressively on the first board with excellent results.  I felt like passing this out would be awfully timid.  Still, if pard couldn't move after he heard me overcall, maybe it's right.

I thought Buddy probably had 4 Spades.  True, he didn't make a responsive double, but maybe he had some 4-4-3-2 or 4-4-4-1 hand with 7 high.  Are you necessarily going to responsive double with that?

I worried that if I bid 2 Spades that Buddy would raise me to 3, just in case I had a hand.  I figured if I doubled back in that Buddy would probably either bid 2 Spades or go back to 3 Clubs.  True, he might bid 3 Diamonds with 3-4-5-1 shape and then I'd feel pretty stupid.  What the hell ...  I doubled.

Buddy had

A65 / T854 / K932 / T9

and floated it.

Alright, I take full blame.  I made the first mistake and it was an egregious one.  And he did have a problem.  But pass?  That's a pretty deep position. -670 was lose 9 and change.

On the next board I had an almost-pure guess for a Q and got it wrong. 

A good board was then followed by getting to 4 Spades on:

J65 / Q532 / T / Q8765

 

Q743 / A / AQJ5 / AKJ9

 

Sigh.  It didn't help that Spades were 5-1.  -200 was lose 8 and change.

 

After 5 boards, I'd had as many really poor results as I'd had in 72 boards in San Antonio on Saturday.  Hopefully things would settle down ...

 

They did for a little while and then

Q952 / A876 / AJ3 / Q8

 

Pard opens 1 Club. You bid 1 Heart.  He bids 1 Spade.  Your bid?

To me, this is the most straightforward 4 Spade bid there is.  It shows a minimum opener, suggests no shortness and probably 4-4-3-2 or 4-4-2-3 shape.

Running through 4th suit forcing just confuses the issue, imo.  That's what Buddy did and 1 Heart fragment and 4 cuebids later we decided to play in 4 Spades.  No sense in giving the defense a roadmap or creating confusion about whether you're showing extras and asking for a cuebid sequence, or just have this crappy little hand. 

This isn't an opening hand in 1st:

Q9754 / T32 / Q3 / AK9

...

 

4th seat favorable

 

T75 / K874 / K8 / AJ43

Pard opens 1 Club.  You bid 1 Heart.  He bids 1 Spade.

Playing Walsh style (in which case partner has shown a distributional hand and hence at least 4 Clubs) this is a 3 Club bid.  But otherwise, this is an automatic 2NT bid.  Protect the King of Diamonds.  Show a balanced 11 count.

Buddy bid 2 Clubs.  I had

AK83 / 953 / A94 / QT6

I should have floated it.  I bid 2 Hearts.  Buddy now bid 2 Spades!  I passed.  It's actually not such an awful spot, but the bridge gods punished us for our atrocious auction and another 5-1 break meant down 1.

If you're going to play Bergen, don't you Bergen with this when pard opens 1 Heart (even at unfavorable?)

752 / J652 / Q854 / J9

That one wasn't as clear cut for me since I fell out of love with Bergen raises a long time ago, and it is unfavorable, but when our suit is Hearts and I'm not 3-4-3-3, I make the systemic bid and hope the LAW protects me.

Finally:

 

652 / QJ / AJ963 / 832

 

Pard opens 1NT all red.  Playing 4 suit transfers.

 

I floated it.  I hate running through Stayman with no major, only to have partner pass 2NT or to give the defenders a roadmap.  If I was white, I'd pass in a heartbeat.  Red, it's awfully close to a coin toss.

 

Pard had A974 / AK7 / Q8 / QJ94

The opps led Spades (which they wouldn't have done otherwise) and Diamonds were KT opposite 7542.

Luckily, KT was offside, though.  8 tricks was the limit.

That's it.  Hope this didn't get lost in translation.  Comments/disagreement welcome.