Winning and Losing

It must have been heart breaking for the Mancuso team to lose the competition for USA1 by such a narrow margin but they knew they had another chance and they took it becoming USA 2. This time it wasn’t that close but still there is a fine line between winning and losing and a few small things could have made a lot of difference.  Let’s look at one deal that lead to their victory and is quite often the case this is all about bidding.

I have shown the auction in the Open Room where Glasson and Berkowitz held the East-West cards. They are playing Precision which actually didn’t affect the auction much except that the opening diamond bid didn’ show diamond length. Once Glasson had shown a balanced minimum hand (presumably 11-13 since their opening notrump range is 14-16). Berkowitz must have been thinking slam but as you can see the auction timed out badly for her. But look at Glasson’s hand. She doesn’t have a minimum for this auction. She has 12 HCP, three decent trump, a ruffing value. Her points are good and well placed. I think she should cuebid over 3♠. This will get them to the slam that was reached in the other room.

Congratulations to all the winners but especially my commiserations to the losers.  I have been in both places.  It is hard to lose.