Smokin’

Hi all,

In August we went up North, to Helsinki and Porvoo. Of course I stuffed my belly with amazing food, smoked salmon myself, visited the Coolhead brewery, and acquired an Aarikka wooden duck for my bathtub shenanigans. Later in November we will head south for a couple of days, to Barcelona. I will stuff my belly with amazing food, visit Garage Brewery, collect some November sun, and probably acquire something for my kitchen shenanigans. Work wise I’m busy with automation through ansible at the Rabobank. Fun stuff.

Here’s a cute deal from Dombo (Pairs). Wondering whether I should change my middle name to “Zia”. After Kees opens a cloudy 1 I get to declare 3NT:

North
A84
AQT5
QJ2
742
South
KQ63
K97
A54
J85

West leads the Ten of and some work needs to be done, I see. I win in dummy and successfully run the Queen. Seeing the potential for an endplay I ask for a , smirking inside. My Jack loses to the King and West reverts to . East shows up with Jack-doubletons in both Majors, so I take my 7 tricks there. Leading to this position:

North
J2
74
South
6
A5
8

Giddy with excitement I exit in and the magic is there. East has kept both big and eventually has to lead away from the King: 10 tricks and pretty much all match points. I feel like Jim Carrey in The Mask .. “Smokin’!”

North Dealer
– Vul
North
A84
AQT5
QJ2
742
West
T975
8642
73
K93
East
J2
J3
KT986
AQT6
South
KQ63
K97
A54
J85

Something to look forward to, May 19th 2022 Tool plays at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam again. What’s the right word here? Am I .. yearning for that moment of peace, that moment of unadulterated sense in a mad world they so effortlessly seem to invoke?