Two Lessons

At yesterday's game I opened a hand with an extremely weak 2 spades bid.  We weren't vulnerable and I had K J 10 x x x along with 2 doubletons; six points if I counted length, I reasoned.  Still, part of me was hoping that the opponents would come in at the 3 level, putting themselves at jeopardy and taking me off the hook.  Instead, imagine my surprise when my partner bid 4 spades.

Dummy came down with 18 HCP, which was great, and a singleton 6 of spades, which was not so great.  Julie thought we should be in game but didn't want to bid no trump, thinking that she would have trouble getting to dummy (not that it would have helped her much anyway).   It's all a blur now, but I do remember the adrenaline rush as I somehow made 4 spades for a top board.  

What I re-learned from this hand is to never forget what message I am sending my partner when I bid.  

In another hand, I was declarer in a 3NT contract.  (Yes, my streak of bad cards seems to have run its course and I actually got to play a few hands in Wednesday's game.)  When dummy came down I saw that I had 8 tricks off the top and just needed to get the ace of diamonds out for my 9th trick.  Not a problem, since I had the king and queen.  I finessed the king, so I didn't even need to bother with the ace.  I proceeded to take my tricks and then found that I had made a rookie mistake--I was stranded in dummy with no way to get back to my hand for the ace of hearts.

I thought about what to do.  Not long ago I would have given up--just taken my 8 tricks with a vow to think harder about transportation in a no trump contract.  Instead, I came up with a plan.  I still had the queen of diamonds in my hand and I knew where the ace was.  I led a diamond and lost a couple of tricks, but then got back in and made 4 NT.  My snafu had resulted in an extra trick.

What I learned from this hand is that it is time for me to start thinking beyond just making the contract.  I should have figured out when dummy first came down if it was possible to take more than 9 tricks, and then worked toward that.  

I have nothing to say about getting stranded in dummy.