So, results from the Augusta regional were not favorable for me at all. My partner and I did not play badly at all. After every match we thought we had a good chance at winning. In the first KO, we were knocked out of a 3 way when we were all 1-1 but we were -8 imps and that was the lowest, average in the BAM, then in the Saturday Compact KO, we barely survived the first round three way by losing by 23 and tying, and then lost in the 2nd round. Apparently the tiebreaker when you tie in a compact KO is BAM against the team you tied with. Then we won 3 matches and were dead average in the Sunday Swiss.
Anyway, here is my favorite hand from the tournament:
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A754
QJxx
Jx
KxxAgainst one of the top pairs from Atlanta, I opened 1H, after 2 passes, south balances with a double and I redouble, showing extra values. North bids 1S, passed back to me, and I bid 2D. North, quite reasonably decided his hand is worth a nother call so he bid 2S, which partner doubled. Partner started with a trump and when I won the first heart, I led a club, and declarer eventually finessed diamonds and came up to 4 tricks for -800. Disappointingly, at the other table EW somehow made 4H so it was only 5 imps our way.
A couple of rounds later, against Sontag, my partner had a defensive lapse, I guess is what you'd call it. They were in 3NT and our side hadn't bid. I led the 4 of spades and dummy had the singleton J. You hold A972 and an outside A. Declarer drops the 8 under your ace (from the auction declarer could have had 4 spades). Which spade you lead back at trick 2? Clearly since I am writing this, not the 2. I had led from K6543 so the suit blocked when he returned 4th best and the contract made.
To call your partner's play against Sontag (his partner was actually the declarer) a defensive lapse was kind, to say the least. It was a boneheaded play. In my defense (yes, I was the bonehead) I was playing for the seventh day in a row, and the declarer was someone who gets under my skin. These two things contributed to my playing too fast, but it was an inexcusable play on my part. I did make a worse play when playing with you once. We were defending 3NT against a team of experts in the March Atlanta Supersectional. I had bid hearts and you led the Queen, followed by the Jack. I held AK10xx. When you led the Jack I overtook, because with one heart in dummy I would take five heart tricks if you started with three anyway. After cashing my other high heart I was pleased to see that you did have a third one, but not pleased at all when I then rembembered that there had been NO hearts in the dummy when you made your opening lead.
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