Today's Bridge: We won the first rubber best of three, and then I had to play two 1NTs. First up was S A-K-x H K-x D Q-J-x-x C Q-J-x-x facing S J-10-x-x-x H x-x-x-x-x D 10 C x-x. I think Ken should make a Jacoby transfer to either major, spades for preference, but it's tough to say that would definitely be a better contract. The opening lead was a diamond, which the ten won, so I went right for the spades. Jerry put up his doubleton queen right away, but while I could barely afford a club on the fourth spade, I rather squeezed myself with the fifth. (I couldn't really afford NOT to cash out, though.) I elected to sluff a diamond, since the first trick had given me a funny feeling. I led a club, and Jerry pounced on it with the king to lead the king of diamonds. Dan covered, establishing my queen, and all he could do was cash his ace of clubs, giving me two tricks before I surrendered the last two to his hearts. The other hand looked a bit better, S A-J-x-x H A-K-9-x D Q-J-x C A-x. It's a point too strong, but I decided to fudge it downward. Ken couldn't respond with S 9-x H Q-x-x D 10-x-x C 8-x-x-x-x. The lead was a low spade, and I decided to put in the nine, king, ace. I realized I was leaving myself wide open in spades, but didn't have much choice. I tried the hearts, but Jerry had the ten left, so I had little choice but to lead a diamond to the ten and his king. He led the eight of spades, and I could only duck, but Dan covered with the ten, cashed the queen, and led a fourth spade to my jack. He then took the ace of diamonds and cashed his last spade, but I had the top club and the top diamond left for seven exactly. The opponents made 2C with a couple of overtricks, and our final hand was a goulash again. This time, the distributions were fairly normal, but Dan C. decided to try to game the system by bidding his shortest suit, diamonds. Jerry had five little ones and raised while Ken and I were still searching for a fit that we knew wasn't there, and with S 4-2 H 9 D A-J-10-x C A-K-10-x-x-x, I couldn't double. Surprisingly, the opening lead was the king of diamonds. I let it go, so Ken switched to a club (my bid). I led back the heart to his ace and king, and he led a third heart, which I ruffed while Dan followed. I cashed the top club, pulling Jerry's last one (he'd started with Q-J doubleton), then led a low club for lack of anything better to do. Ken ruffed with the queen, our seventh trick, and nothing could stop me getting two more diamond tricks to make their contract for them. A poor bit of judgment there.

Today's Work: Just finishing up what I could as we approach the end of the sprint.

I forgot until just before bed last night that I have therapy tomorrow. This should be a very interesting session.