Let me start with the weather last night. It was stiflingly hot, so we had to open the doors at the end of the hall and switch on all the fans, which made it tolerable, indeed rather pleasant. There were six and a half tables, which made it another good week for our club and we had two visitors from Johannesburg, Greg Hingle and Di Roslee, who ended up winning by a mere two points from Judy and Heather, followed by Barbara and Bernie in third place.

That was the story of the evening, in summary.

No, no, there was much more than that going on! Much more!

Where do I start? There were three slams to be bid, which could actually be made. Only one slam was bid and made, which was by Cathy and Bridie. Then there was that monster, which was devilish, board number 7. Five spades to the KJ976 by North,15 points, with a partner who has a Yarborough. Lurking, just behind North’s hand, is East, with 15 points, with AQ1083 in Spades! And, to compound it, the Yarborough sitting South, with no possible entry! As they would say in the USA, “Go figure” One unfortunate declarer was really found wanting, doubled in 3S! East can, in fact, make 4 Spades.

Then there was board 16, with 6 Spades in West hand, 6 Hearts North, 8 Diamonds South hand, and a possible 3NT by N/S!

Finally, there was board 14, which was ridiculously difficult to bid. Devilish has to be the most appropriate word to describe it. Just look at the attached hand records, and break out into a sweat! One can only imagine how much trouble you could get into here. And trouble it certainly was for us, say no more! When you look at it in the cold light of day, and you’re not actually playing it, just sitting on the sofa with your morning coffee in hand, it’s rather simple, isn’t it? But, in the heat of battle, with Timekeeper Ian hovering, with his little bell ready to be rung,the beads of sweat break out on your forehead and you make an injudicious bid. Easy game this, isn’t it.

Now we have to gird our loins for tomorrow and expect some difficult hands again, but who knows, maybe they’ll all be simple to bid and everyone will get averages.

Dream on!

See you all,

Roy

Results

Hand Records