And So It Starts…

We are off!  The first three matches of the 21 match round robin has been played.  I was lucky enough to do commentary on the third round match between israel and Canada.  More later on that.  In the Bermuda Bowl the leader at this early stage is Italy.  And they are off to a very hot start.  It is true that they had two easier opponents Chile and Japan but Bulgaria is a decent team and they had a third round blitz against them too.  Hot, hot, hot (which is the temperature in Sarasota at this moment too).  Second but 9 VP behind is the Netherlands.  They figure to play above form.  They had a blitz and an almost blize against two lesser teams but tied USA 2 in the second round.  Still a decent result.  Further down the pack is Israel with a blitz against Chile and two ties against Australia and Chile.  They still have to prove themselves.  The other teams currently in qualifying position are:

Brazil/Bulgaria tied 4th/5th, USA 2 sixth, Iceland seventh and Poland/Sweden tied eighth/ninth.  Canada had a weak start losing to Pakistan and tying Guadelope before a tie to Israel.  USA 1 lost to USA 2 in the first round and then defeated China.  But what put them in a lower position (tied with Canada) was a loss to Egypt.  One hopes the North American teams will quickly get over their jetlag.

The Senior event is vary close with USA 2 8 VP behind the leade France but sitting in 7th place.  Usa 1 is tied with Denmark in 12th/13th and Canada is in 14th just behind.  The big match for USA 1/2 was the first one where they played each other in USA2 had the best of it.  USA 2 had a big second round win against Germany and then lost to Denmark.  Canada has not lost big they seem to be playing close matches with two small losses and one small win.

If you are interested you can see the results match by match including contracts and opening leads on the WBF website.  You are supposed to be able to see the auctions but they do not appear to be available yet.  The results are not available until some time after the match (at least so far).

I was in the Closed Room.  David Lindop was East and Doug Baxter was West.  The Herbst brothers were North-South for Israel with Ophir North and Ilan South.  The Canadians are playing a straightforward North American 2/1 with weak 2’s and strong notrump.  The Herbst are playing a familiar system too.  Described as like Acol it seems to me to be a lot like SAYC with 5 card majors and strong notrump (the Acol I used to play had four card majors and weak notrump)/  2♦  is multi and 2 of a major is Muidenberg 5 in the major and 5 in a minor.  So generally things were going to be pretty easy to follow.  The first board was a 2 imp swing but it was an interesting board.  What do you open on board 1 with nobody vulnerable in first chair.

 

North ♠ KQ96432  ♥ 5 ♦ J832  ♣ Q

Hargreaves for Cnada took the low road (but that I mean safety) and opened 3♠ .  And East overcalled 3NT.  On the lie of the cards 3NT was not a make.  At a few tables in the Bermuda bowl 3NT was passed out and normally down one.  South held

 

South ♠  J5 ♥ AQ743  ♦  J54 ♣  A94

 

and raised to 4♠ ,  East passed and West decided to double 4♠  anyway with what amounted to 3 top tricks.  Not to worry partner had just enough to beat it.

 

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ KQ96432  ♥ 5 ♦ J832  ♣ Q
West ♠ 87   ♥  K10982 ♦ Q5  ♣ 10976		East ♠ A10  ♥ J6  ♦ K1076  ♣ AK832
	South ♠ J5 ♥ AQ743  ♦  J54 ♣  A94

At my table Ophir Herbst North opened 4S and that ended the auction.  4♠  doubled or undoubled down 1 was the normal result at most tables in the room.  On Board 2 Canada stole the partscore in 2D when Doug Baxter chose to respond to Lindop’s 1D with a convenience bid of 1♥  on

 

West ♠ 107   ♥  Q73 ♦  K543 ♣ 10874

Effectively keeping the heart suit out.  This board generated a number of small swings around the field with a pair who could buy the hand in a low-level contract winning imps.  Board 4 was a big swing for Israel and a deserved one.  Would your partnership get to 6♣  on the Norht-South cards?  A surprising number in this strong field were able to get there including the Herbst brothers.

 

Board 4. Dealer West. All Vulnerable.
	♠ A62 ♥ A7 ♦ 6 ♣ AKJ10975
♠ Q108543 ♥ J84 ♦ AJ ♣ 32		♠ K97 ♥ Q1032 ♦ 107543 ♣ 8
	♠ J ♥ K965 ♦ KQ982 ♣ Q64

West Baxter passed. I mentioned that many might open a weak 2 bid in spades (or multi) and in fact that is what happened in the Open Room.  I know you should have a stronger spade suit and three hearts to the jack is a deterrent as well but still it can work a lot of the time.  North opened his seven card club suit and South bid 1♦  which apparently showed hearts.  I am starting to wonder if anybody is allowed to have diamonds any more.  Now Baxter made a cautious 1♠  bid.  I would probably have tried 2♠  myself but I understand there is risk.  If you think I am wrong I won’t argue.  North, Ophir bid 3NT.  I would like this to show the type of hand he had, a running club suit a spades stopper and some cards outside.  I don’t mind the stiff diamond.  When South supported clubs rather than sit for 3NT they were only a cuebid and keycard away from the club slam and 12 imps.  Well done.  In the Open Room where West opened multi nobody ever bid clubs and North-South ended in 3NT.  There were two more slams bid in the next few boards and Canada had a bit of luck with both of them.  On the first board they played the hand from South and if the spade king and club queen were both wrong they could have gone down while played from North nothing would beat 6NT.  Anyway both missing honours were in a good place and it didn’t matter.  2 imps to Canada.  Board 8 was more interesting.  Here the Canadians got to the inferior slam of 6S which needed only one spade loser (Still a good proposition missing 5 to the QJ8 and a bit more.  6♥  needs almost nothing.  The important thing was that Canada got to slam and Israel didn’t.  This was a swing hand in almost every match in the Bermuda Bowl.

Board 8. Dealer West. None Vulnerable.
	♠ AK9732 ♥ 103 ♦ A86 ♣ K10
♠ Q8 ♥ Q54 ♦ QJ3 ♣ J9864		♠ J65 ♥ 72 ♦ 97542 ♣ Q53
	♠ 104 ♥ AKJ986 ♦ K10 ♣ A72

Generally North-South will find one of the major fits around the 3 level (or both of them) and then somebody has to take a push.  In the Open Room Hargreaves bid spades 3 times after South bid 2♥ and 2NT and then South took a cuebid and started the ball rolling.  In the Closed Room they found the heart fit but South didn’t make that important cuebid.  So going into Board 9 Canada had a small lead 19imps to 14 imps.  But this was about to evaporate.  Hargreaves-McAvoy reached a contract that no other pair in the field bid.  They ended in 1♠ .

Board 9. Dealer North. E-W Vulnerable.
	♠ QJ62 ♥ AQ52 ♦ 72 ♣ 852
♠ 1074 ♥ J109743 ♦ 6 ♣ J74		♠ 93 ♥ K6 ♦ AK8543 ♣ K106
	♠ AK85 ♥ 8 ♦ QJ109 ♣ AQ93

East opened 1♦ in second chair at both tables.  South in the Closed Room (Ilan Herbst) made the bid I would have made, he overcalled 1♠.  It was a quick road from there to the spade game.  In the Open Room McAvoy passed and when Hargreaves (North) reopend with a double he decided to sit for it.  West for Israel Pachtman pulled to hearts and now what?  Can you get from here to game in spades?  After North passed South bid 1♠.  It seems to me that North can afford a little raise.  South should have cards for his trap pass of diamonds.  Can it be that bad to bid 2♠ ?  Maybe he thinks that by reopening he showed these values?  Should South cuebid 2♥ ?  After all he does have a good hand and might expect to have a shot at game after partner reopened.  This is the type of hand that leads to long discussions, hopefully over a beer.  Canada came back with two pickups to take the lead and coming into board 16, the last one, Canada led 30 to 21.  But then

Board 16. Dealer West. E-W Vulnerable.
	♠ KJ10 ♥ J1096 ♦ Q62 ♣ 982
♠ A7543 ♥ K42 ♦ 1084 ♣ J4		♠ Q862 ♥ 8 ♦ A9 ♣ AKQ1063
	♠ 9 ♥ AQ753 ♦ KJ753 ♣ 75

1C was opened in third chair at both tables.  At favorable vulnerability Herbst took the high road (the aggressive one) and pushed out 2NT unusual.  In the Open Room McAvoy made a more “normal” overcall of 1♥ .  After 1♥  the Israeli’s found spades immediately and bid on to 4S.  Canada did well to take the save in 5♥  which doubled and went for 500.  But 2NT was a horse of a different colous.  Baxter East might have bid something but what?  3♠  seems very dangerous even if it was weakish in their system.  When clubs are your suit how well does unusual over unusual work?    Anyway Baxter passed and when Ophir Herbst jumped to 4♥  Lindop had no bid.  This swing of 9 imps led to a tied match.