Today's Bridge: We didn't always find the right contract - I ended an auction in 4S with S A-x-x-x-x H A-K-Q-10-9-x D x C x - I thought my partner had denied a club control and didn't know whether we were in slam range or not. I opened 1S, which may seem strange, but when my partner responded 2NT (opening strength and a suit fit), I still bid the hearts twice - 3H, 4D, 4H, and he corrected to 4S even so. What he had was S Q-10-9? H x D A-K-x-x-x C Q-x-x-x - possibly with more power on the side for his jump, but I can't remember it because it wasn't important. Paul led his singleton heart, pulling Kevin's jack, and I cashed the two diamonds, sluffing the club. I led the ten of spades, pulling the jack, and lost only the king in the end. Granted, a club lead defeats the slam - or really, any non-heart lead, since I'd probably play for the jack of hearts to drop rather than taking the finesse, and by the time I discover the bad split, the board has no hearts left to finesse, and I can't afford to hold off pulling trump or ruff two hearts on the board. That was probably the right contract. Less right was when I opened 2C with S K-x H A-Q-x D K-Q-J C A-K-x-x-x. Dan H. naturally responded 2D (after Paul considered for quite a while before passing), and I bid 3C just because I wanted to find a suit fit and 2NT wasn't a good idea with the short spades - my partner probably has no power at all. Dan passed that with S x-x-x H 9-x-x-x-x-x D x-x C J-x - I think I'm obliged to pass 3H if he bids it, and I think we get away with losing two hearts, the ace of diamonds, and the ace of spades - Paul has the ace, and if we can endplay him, he's forced to lead away from it and give us the king. As it was, I think I held it to off one by using the jack of clubs as a board entry, running the losing heart finesse. Dan played a pretty great hand where I thought he was going to set up my long clubs, and he did, but cashed my entries and gave up a final ruff to make the contract exactly instead.

The rest of the work day went pretty well, aside from there being a limited amount I could do to transfer some of the information I have to the person who needs it, and I can only hope things will continue to trend in that direction. I've got a few things I need to do around the house, particularly completing the questionnaire for the sleep study, so I suppose I'll get started with some of that. I have a bit more free time than usual since the Folklore LP is in a voting period at the moment, and I don't imagine that I'll be getting many more votes before the weekend. Fortunately, next Monday is Columbus Day, and I don't think I have any obligations that day, so I can probably record some footage and edit a video that day, and maybe even do something for Fable. I previewed the next video last night, so I should probably try to record commentary tonight before bed.