Grand National Teams

We finally got around to playing the final of the GNT Flight B for our district today. Twenty six boards at IMPs for about 7 gold points and to decide who would qualify to go to New Orleans to represent NYC.

We weren't too intimidated by the opposition, but on the other hand, we didn't expect an easy ride either. Elwood and I sat down against a pair that we felt fairly confident against, while the Feuers tackled what I would consider the opposition's best pair. Having said that, it's fair to add that we got lucky in the first quarter. The very first hand we picked up was a brute.

I showed 5+5+ in the minors, and Elwood chose 5C, making 6. We were not happy with this as a start. When I put the dummy down, I commented that I had no idea whether we should be in 5, 6 or 7, and that was basically true. A few boards later, I picked up something like

Elwood again was shaking his head when he saw the dummy, but on this hand, a 4-1 spade break limited him to 11 tricks. He commented that if I made any sort of encouraging noise (I should really cue-bid 4H, for one thing) he would land in 6S. That said, we could expect a swing in our favor because of the bad break.
We did indeed gain 13 on that hand, and in fact we gained 10 on the first one, also. While agonizing over missing 6C, we had failed to notice that a 4-1 diamond break allowed 6C to be beaten by AD and a ruff. The Feuers didn't miss their chance, and our opponents should feel aggrieved that two good slams cost them 23 IMPs. I was pleased that Elwood and I stayed focussed after these shenanigans, and we earned a couple of game swings in the second quarter. When we scored up at half time, we were ahead 48-12.
The opponents switched partnerships around for the 2nd half (they were a team of 6 anyway, but also broke up the pair who stayed in when they brought in players 5 and 6). That didn't worry us, and Elwood and I stayed buckled down and didn't give anything away. Meanwhile, their other pair decided to press against the Feuers, which turned out to be a losing strategy. We won the second half 49-8, for a 97-20 total. Very satisfying.