Scrambled 2NT  leads to egg on face

 

Donkey expected quite a bit of resistance when he asked the Lamb to partner him for the Pesta Sukan open pairs, especially as somebody had written up his bidding and play misdemeanours from a few weeks before in the national press.  He had decided that he would work on bidding theory, spurred on by something he read: “How long will you simple ones love your simple ways?”*   In any event, he could not stay away from the game any more than he could resist a parfait or coconut soufflé.   They sat down the obligatory 3 minutes before play began and after two and a half minutes of pleasantries, they started the system discussion.  “What system do you bray?” asked Donkey.   Lamb replied that she preferred a simple version of 2/1.  Donkey thought this sounded more like a simple fraction equating to 2 but rather than display ignorance, gathered a small cup cake between his fore hooves and soon the first boards, 7 and 8, arrived.  7 was a lucky-to-make 4♥ when the opponents did not find their ruff.   Board 8 was a different matter.

 

8 Dealer West, love all (good advice)

                        ♠ 32

                        ♥ AKJ

                        ♦ 754

                        ♣ AJ865

K876                                       A95

7                                              Q943

KJ93                                        AQ82

7432                                        Q9

                  ♠ QJ104

                  ♥ 108652

                  ♦ 106

                  ♣ K10

 

DonkeyW        Lamb   E

P          1NT1    Dbl2     2♥3

3♣       All pass

 

1 12-14

2 15+

3 ♥ + ♠ escape

Feeling that partner is likely to have 7 or more cards in the minors, Donkey decided to guess the best minor.  How to decide?  The resulting guess was in line with his usual ability in that department.  Somehow a trick went in the defence (no ♦ ruff) and

-100 was not terrible as 2♥ makes.   3♦ would have been better though.   So Lamb started a discussion started about a scrambling 2NT as they headed for the next table.   The discussion was still more like an egg-nog than scrambled egg by the time that board 11 arrived.

 

11 Dealer South, love all 

                        ♠ 962

                        ♥ A9653

                        ♦ 9

                        ♣ 8763

T7                                            QJ5

KJ8                                          Q7

J842                                         K10765

Q1092                                     A54

♠ AK843

                  ♥ 1042

                  ♦ AQ3

                  ♣ KJ

 

Lamb               S          Donkey            N

                        1♠        P                      P

1NT                 X         P                      2♠

P                      P          3♣                   All pass

 

Nightmare… “what was all that talk of omelettes or was it scrambled eggs?” …  “Could 2NT be natural or scrambling?” This time donkey decided to choose his better minor and 3♣ became the final contract by West.   The diamond lead led to a swift 3 down and virtually no match points.  Lamb pointed out that 2NT ought to be scrambling here too and 3♦, by East, has a fair chance of escaping for down 1 and a good score.   Donkey slipped on the nosebag to hide his embarrassment – at this rate none of the farm animals would come to his stall for a game.

* Proverbs 1 v22