A Fun Game on BBO

I play with lots of partners on BBO.  Some are students and I learn from them, when I try to explain things, when I comment on what happened when we play and when I too make mistakes.  Some are random partners who I play some hands with.  I learn from them too.  Here I don’t explain things but I think differently: rubber bridge judgment is more important.  You have to figure out what the *@&!* is going on and how to manage things to get to where you want to go in bidding and in defense.

I have also played games with many good players as we say; “for fun”.  No pressure.  No long-term plans.  No system.  Just enjoy the bridge.  Some games are planned and some just happen.  Last night I played with a good partner “for fun”.  And you know what it was fun.  It reminded me about how much I like to play bridge with people who do play well and where you can have a real partnership.  I was tired.  I had an exhausting day dealing with family matters I rather not think about; aged parent, sibling in trouble and so on.  I wasn’t sure I was up to playing but once it started I forgot all about it.  Sometimes that’s why you play bridge isn’t it?

I have to admit that my daughter called during the game and I did split my concentration.  A couple of times she must have wondered why I was making repetitive comments.  But then she is used to me.  I wonder if she suspects I am playing.  Some times during these calls she does accuse me of being distracted.  My children are much better parents than I ever was and pretty darn good people too.

The only negative about the game was that opponents came and went at the drop of a card.  The very first board was fun on defense.  Declarer is best known as EAST for reasons which will be obvious

Dealer: N Vul: None	Linda ♠ 9732 ♥ A72 ♦ A1054 ♣ QJ
WEST ♠ AJ43 ♥ K6 ♦ 98732 ♣ A7		EAST ♠ Q ♥ Q10843 ♦ KJ ♣ K8654
	Fun Partner ♠ K1086 ♥ J95 ♦ Q6 ♣ 10932

Would you open EAST’s hand?  I know it’s 5-5 but its aceless and the ♠Q is not the best card.   Still the heart spots are nice.  If I had the West hand I would not have been willing to settle for partscore.  EAST passed 2NT out of fright with the 5-5 hand.  FP led the ♣10 and came close but failed to find the only lead that would have guaranteed a set (a small club).  Declarer hoped with the ♣A.  Declarer led the HK and I had to decide whether to duck or win.  I still thought I might have to clear clubs while partner had an entry so I decided to rise and unblock clubs.  EAST could have won the ♣K and all his spots were high with the exception of the ♣10.  Now declarer was in trouble.  I switched to a diamond and EAST played the ♦ J.  I won the diamond return with the ♦A felling EAST’s ♦K.  I returned a small heart not wanting to set up the diamonds in dummy at this point.  East reasonably played a small heart and FP won the ♥ J.  Now this is where it is really nice to have a good partner.

Students pay attention.  Here is the ending:

Dealer: Vul:	LINDA ♠ 9752 ♥ 2 ♦ 105 ♣ –
WEST ♠ AJ43 ♥ – ♦ 987 ♣ –		EAST ♠ Q ♥ Q84 ♦ – ♣ K84
	FP ♠ K1086 ♥ 9 ♦ – ♣ 93

FP had a count on East’s hand.  From the bidding and the plays in the club suit FP knew that EAST was 5-5 in clubs and hearts.  East had played two diamonds and so could have at most one spade.  Just in case the spade was the queen, FP carefully laid down the ♠K.  Now all we had to do was keep EAST out of his hand and we had 3 down.  East won the spade and played a diamond.  I won and returned a diamond and it was all over.  By the way, the defender left the table before the last trick.

Thanks FP.  Let’s do it again.