Canadian Open Team Championships – Light Openings in the Final

I had fun watching the Canadian Open Team Championships on BBO and doing some commentary.   I thought the bridge was good and exciting by and large. What is very hopeful for Canada is that the team that won, McMullin had some good young players. The second place team Gartgaganis are an excellent team of relative veterans. I hope both teams head to the World Championships which are an open event this year.

Here are some deals from the final which I could call The Power of the Opening BId

You are in first chair with everyone vulnerable. Here is your hand.

 

Do you pass? If you open what is your bid?

In the Open Room Samantha Nystrom chose to open with 1♦  and in the Closed Room Gord Campbell passed. Here is the whole deal and you can see that 6♦  is a very good contract and one that makes as the cards lie.

 

 

 

Once Samantha opened and Tom found out that she had real diamonds he did not let her out below slam. Paul’s 2♥  bid didn’t really effect things much I don’t think and even if he had bid 3♥  I doubt that the auction would have been all that much different.

In the Closed Room Gord Campbell passed and Bryan Maksymetz sitting East open 3♥ which seems like a perfectly reasonable aggressive preempt to me. Can you see any sensible way to get to 6♦  from here? Ilya Kuzkin took a reasonable stabe with 5♣, his seven card suit and they played there.

Maybe I am resulting a bit but I like Samantha‘s opening bid. She has a decent six card suit, a singleton, a useful spade holding with KJ10 and her J103 of hearts may be useful. You can see why players are opening lighter hands. So 13 imps for opening light.

Now here is one that I wouldn’t have opened… sort of how light can you go.

 

 

Walsh was white on red and decided to open his rubbish flat ten count 1♦ . Smith overcalled 1♠  and Nystrom made a negative double. Thurston might have found some bid but then again he has length in his opponents suit and only a doubleton in the suit his partner overcalled. Walsh had to perforce bid 2♥ .  Smith bid 2♠  which seems reasonable to me. I think Thurston just might have given this a little push with a ruffing value and two aces, especially vulnerable. What do you think? Anyway the auction ended at 2♠ .

In the other room the auction was much easier for East-West

After Ilya Kuzkin passed, as I would have, East-West were able to use their normal methods to get to the spade game without much of a problem.