Today's Bridge: Ian partnered me against Dan H. and Ken. The only contract for our side was a 3D at the end, which I made. I think my hand was S K H A-10-x-x D A-Q-x-x C Q-x-x-x and Ian had S Q-x-x-x H x D K-J-x-x-x C x-x-x. I won the opening heart lead cheaply and led the king of spades to Dan's ace. He led back a spade, which I ruffed, and I pulled three rounds of trump, ending in my hand so I could cash the ace of hearts, then ruff over to dummy for the queen of spades, letting me throw off a club. Ken had a pretty interesting slam, though - I think he had S A-K-J-10-x-x-x H x D x-x-x C K-x, and Dan had S Q-9 H A-K-J-10 D K C A-x-x-x-x-x. I led a club from S x-x H Q-x-x-x D A-Q-J-2 C Q-J-10, and Ken won in his hand, pulled trump, crossed to the hearts, then rather inexplicably led the king of diamonds, giving me three diamond tricks. On any lead but a trump, he should be able to give up the ace of diamonds immediately, then ruff a diamond for his twelfth trick. The king of clubs is a pretty safe entry back to his hand, although if I lead a club, he might be better off cashing a heart and ruffing a low heart with a high spade to pull trump. On a trump lead, he can't give up the diamond because the lead back is likely to be a trump, removing dummy's last trump before he can ruff. I think either the heart finesse or a 3-2 split in clubs will give him the trick he needs - he doesn't have enough board entries to pull trump and then deal with a 4-1 club split. So he can either finesse a heart and hope, or he can cash the king and ace of clubs, ruff a club (high, if need be), pull trump, and use the hearts to cross to the established clubs.

Today's Work: I spent most of the day investigating a weird problem, only to discover that it's weirder than I thought it was going to be. I'm completely clueless. Hopefully, there will be new revelations tomorrow.

I had crab cakes and teriyaki broccoli for dinner tonight. Not bad.