... otherwise known as 'All good things come to an end.'

We got a very favorable draw for the semi-final against the weakest remaining team in the field.  That left Narasimhan and Gary King (playing with Donna Compton) to slug it out in the other semi-final.

Unfortunately, the bridge gods were unkind today.  I had 6 decisions that I considered agonizingly close and got all 6 wrong.  We lost the match by 14.  Here are the 6 decisions I got wrong, in order:

1. All white

AQTxxxx / A98 / xx / x

I opened 1 Spade, LHO bid 2 Spades, pard bid 3 Spades, I bid 4 Spades.  LHO bid 5 Hearts passed back to me.

To me, it's awfully close between bidding one more for the road and passing (since we aren't broke on defense.)  Your mileage may vary (yeah, I know, I need to come up with some new ways to express that.)

2. All red

AKQ9xx / Kx / Qxx / xx

Pard opened 1 Heart.  I bid 1 Spade.  He bid 2 Clubs.  I bid 2 Diamonds.  He bid 2NT.  Do you bid 3 Spades or bid 3NT?  If you bid 3 Spades and pard raises you to 4 Spades, are you done?  Do you want to be in slam opposite Jx / AQxxx / Kx / Axxx or is that too much of a perfecta?

3.  The very next board after getting #2 wrong:

AKJTxx / Ax / AKTxx / -

You open 2 Clubs.  Partner bids ... of course ... 3 Clubs.  Sigh.  You bid 3 Spades.  He bids 4 Clubs.  You bid 4 Diamonds.  He bids 5 Clubs.  What do you do now?

4.  2 boards after getting #3 wrong:

All red

x / Axxx / KQxx / AQxx

Pard opens 2 Spades in 2nd seat passed to you (you play Ogust, fwiw.)

5.  Righty opens 1 Heart and the uncontested auction proceeds:

1H - 2D
2N - 3H
4H - 4S
4N - 5D
6H - P

You hold

9xxx / x / 7xxxx / ATx

Your lead?

6.  All red

Axxx / AQxx / Axx / Ax

Righty opens 2 Diamonds.  Do you double or bid 2NT?

If you double, pard bids 4 Spades.

If you bid 2NT, pard bids 4 Spades (yes, transfers are hard.)

Are you done?