Board 21 at Alford on 23/02/05

N/S Vul.  Dealer: N

	J 6 10 2 A 9 8 7 6 J 10 3 2
10 7 5 2 Q J 3 - A K Q 9 6 4	N W E S	9 4 3 K 8 6 K Q 10 5 4 3 2 -
	A K Q 8 A 9 7 5 4 J 8 7 5

North	East	South	West
Pass	3	3	Pass
Pass	Pass

Pre-empt comes from the Latin prae, emptio, which literally means a buying.  In Bridge, it is an unusually high bid to stop others bidding, and you should always have, with a 3 level pre-empt, 6 tricks non-vul and 7 vul, just in case you are doubled and might lose more than the opposition stand to make...

South has only 4 or 5 tricks in his hand (or more if you land with a good Dummy).  We can't bid and hope, however.  Inverurie Guru and one other suggest pass with South's hand.  At Match Pointing, we are nearly always competing, and many players even Vul. will think that E/W are stealing the Contract and perhaps over-react.

The AKQ of Clubs are led, and I (East) discarded my 3 Spades.  I then ruff the Spade switch and play the KD.  Partner should ruff this, and then another Spade and another Diamond etc. should hold South to 4 or 5 tricks.  3 Diamonds is horrible to play and 5 Clubs worse and should be doubled, only making 6 tricks on the JS lead (minus 1100).  The MP sheet is interesting and such a pity it wasn't played about 20 times.

Oh well...