Hand of the month - a double negative and double positive

It's not often that a spade game is available on less than half the points when the opposition also have a game, but this occurred twice when partner and I attended the Bedfordshire Swiss Teams recently. To begin with, we had to pay to join the Bedfordshire Bridge Association. We started out against the favourites, which included a member of the England squad just returned from a successful foreign expedition.
We defeated them 12-8, and could see people asking who these strangers were, coming in just to take their prizes. We fluked the same score in our second match (our first two victims were on tables one and two in the final round), and seemed on our way. Then came this board which lost us the third:

Both Vul. Dealer N

	J 8 7 6 2
	A 10 6
	K 6 5
	10 3

	9 3
	J 5 2
	A 9 8 2
	K J 9 6

	N
W		E
	S

	K 5
	K Q 9 7 4
	-
	A Q 8 7 5 2

North.

East.

South.

West.

	A Q 10 4
	8 3
	Q J 10 7 4 3
	4

-
3

-
-

With both sides vulnerable and North the dealer, at our table North passed, East opened one club and sitting South I jumped to two diamonds. Holding a four-card major, this was wrong. West supported clubs and North supported diamonds. East then tried bidding three hearts and was raised to game, making 11 tricks by discarding a spade on the

Q lead.
At the other table, South made a simple overcall of one diamond and was then able to call two spades over two hearts. North then jumped to four spades. This contract could go off by leading the

A, then leading the

2 (low card to suggest a club entry) for a ruff, back in with

K, and another diamond ruff; but not surprisingly this defence was not found. A double negative score knocked not only us, but our confidence, as we also lost the next two rounds.
Too late, we dealt the following board to give us a double positive score and win our last match:

Both Vul. Dealer S

	Q 8 3
	K 4 2
	J 6 2
	K 9 4 3

	4
	J
	A K 9 7 5 4 3
	8 6 5 2

	N
W		E
	S

	A 9 6 5
	A 6 5
	Q 10
	Q J 10

South.

West.

North.

East.

	K J 10 7 2
	Q 10 9 7 3
	8
	A 7

-
-

3NT
X

I was dealer at South, again, both vulnerable. Only 10 points, but a nice shapely hand, so I opened one spade. West, with a nice suit, declared three diamonds and partner stretched to three spades. East bid three no-trumps, and I sacrificed in four spades, doubled by East. West led the

A, then switched to the

J. This was allowed to run to my queen, so I crossed to dummy's

K and led a small trump. East rose with his ace and led ace and another heart. Too late! West was unable to ruff as dummy won and I drew trumps to claim my doubled contract.

Partner and I play a convention which East-West could have used to their advantage. Like West, we usually lead ace from ace-King. However if instead we lead the King, when it holds this tells partner our next card will be a singleton. If West had done this, East would have gone straight up with his

A and given his partner a ruff. Then, his

A would be the setting trick.
At the other table South passed and West opened three diamonds. East tried three notrumps for the final contract and collected the first nine tricks.