The Pairs

Martin and I achieved 6th in the pairs which is at least 50 places better that ever before. Previously out of the four qualifying sessions there's always been one where instead of playing bridge I have played snap; poorly. I have a myriad of hands to write up but here's a hand from the second to last round of the pairs final.

	♠ 8 ♥ A 4 ♦ J 7 6 2 ♣ K Q J 8 7 6
♠ A J 9 7 6 ♥ J 6 2 ♦ T 9 8 ♣ 5 4		♠ K Q 4 2 ♥ K Q 9 8 5 ♦ 4 3 ♣ T 9
	♠ T 5 3 ♥ T 7 3 ♦ A K Q 5 ♣ A 3 2

Sitting North I opened 1♣. Initially my ♥A was sorted in with the diamonds but just as my pen was heading for the paper it changed suit. Opponent overcalled a heart and my partner had something of a problem.

He decided that 2♦ was the best description of his hand which West doubled. I splintered to 3♠ and hearing my partner announce a club control I showed the ♥A which is not the ♦A and there we were. In an unbreakable 24 hcp slam.

A nice touch to add to the board is that my brother also played in the final and his partnership was the only other to bid this slam so we shared 25/26 matchpoints.