Results After Round 7 of the Quarterfinals.

October 24th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

I was going to write a match report about the fifth segment (of six) of the quarterfinals but the deals were well, “dull”.  At most tables the match was a low scoring imp battle.  Coming into the last board of the Venice Cup match between Sweden and England Sweden has taken 26 of those hard to find imps against Englands’s 11 to take the lead 157 to 151.  The last board is a spade score and England will likely pick up an imp or two.  This looks like one to watch in the last round.  Going into Board 15 in the Italy-China Bermuda Bowl match Italy leads China 164 to 162.  Interesting that the two leaders in the round robin, England and Italy having picked form the bottom four qualifiers are now in a battle in the quarterfinal.

Looking at the Bermuda Bowl quarterfinal after 5 of 6 segments:

USA 1 has a huge lead over Israel  221 to  98,  This is the time where you talk about playing the last segment or having a long evening and drowning your sorrows.   I think most watcher expected this to be a closer contest.  I am sure that Israel was hoping for more “swingy” hands in segment 5.

The Netherlands has a good lead over Iceland 175-102.  A win by Netherlands will be very popular amongst the hosts.

USA 2 has increased their lead over Sweden 167 to 127.3.  Can I express a small bias and say that I have been cheering for the young Americans.

Italy has a small lead over China after 16 boards 171 tp 165.3.  I love watching the Italians play but who can’t root (if only a little) for the underdogs.

Venice Cup

Speaking of close matches Sweden and England are tied after five segments of the Venice Cup quarterfinals.  All the matches in the Venice Cup are close

Indonesia leads USA2 in a possible upset 185 to 163.

Netherlands trails USA 1 by 144 to 165

France leads China 185.7 to 170.  France struggled to make the final 8 but they were the last team chosen by the top 4 as a quartefinalist opponent.

In the Senior Bowl Poland has a big lead over Australia 243 to 122.  In all other matches the leader has a decent lead.

North American Ladies Battle It Out

October 20th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  2 Comments 

I didn’t get to see this entire match live but I was happy to see the final results.  Canada had a very narrow win against USA 1 (33-30)

Both teams played solid bridge.  On this deal Diana Gordon and Sharyn Reus had a fine result when they got to a club slam missed at the other table.

Gordon ♠ K1095   ♥ AK5 ♦ Q6 ♣ AQ93

Reus ♠ A97 ♥ 8  ♦ A10842  ♣ K952

Diana was in first chair not vulnerable against vulnerable.  She opened 1♣ .  Sharyn bid 2♣  showing a limit raise or better.  Diana’s 2♥  bid was an artificial game force.  Sharyn’s 3♥ showed shortness.  This was followed by four cuebids.  FInally Diana bid the club slam.

The opening lead was the spade which went to the ♠ J and the ♠ K.  Diana drew two rounds of trump ending in dummy and then led a diamond to the ♦ Q which held.  She continued with diamonds ruffing the third round.  When diamonds split 3-3 she was able to make 7.  Had South, Deas risen on the DK she could have held the slam to six but with both minor suits splitting that was the best the defense could do.  In the Open Room USA 1 played in 3NT.

The USA 1 team is playing in good form and will almost certainly make the finals.  Canada can join them if they keep up the good work.

Results After 15 Rounds from Holland

October 20th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

Open Event

Update from WBF Championships – Go to the Dutch Website!

October 20th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  1 Comment 

Sadly the WBF website has been down for quite a while now.   We do have the results as of Round 16.

	Team		VPs
1		Italy	233.0
2		Netherlands	220.0
3		United States 2	218.0
4		Israel	210.3
5		Iceland	204.5
6		United States 1	201.5
7		China	188.5
8		Sweden	187.0
9		Bulgaria	186.5
10		Brazil	186.0
11		New Zealand	183.0
12		Egypt	182.7
13		Japan	179.0
13		Poland	179.0
15		Australia	175.0
16		South Africa	157.0
17		Canada	156.0
18		India	155.0
19		Pakistan	145.0
20		Guadeloupe	129.0
21		Chile	126.0
22		Singapore	108

Womenss

Team		VPs
1		England	224.0
2		Sweden	222.0
3		United States 1	221.0
4		United States 2	220.0
5		Indonesia	210.0
6		Italy	209.5
7		France	209.0
8		Poland	202.0
9		Netherlands	200.0
10		Germany	199.0
11		China	190.0
12		Canada	188.0
13		New Zealand	177.0
14		Brazil	176.0
15		Japan	168.0
16		India	159.0
17		Venezuela	128.5
18		Australia	127.0
18		Jordan	127.0
20		Egypt	122.0
20		Morocco	122.0
22		Trinidad and Tobago	101.

Seniors

		United States 2	277.0
2		Denmark	274.5
3		France	268.0
4		Australia	255.0
4		United States 1	255.0
6		Poland	254.0
7		Germany	253.0
7		India	253.0
9		Indonesia	252.0
10		China Hong Kong	241.5
11		Argentina	222.0
12		Netherlands	220.0
13		Italy	213.0
14		Japan	210.0
15		Egypt	208.0
16		Canada	207.0
17		Bulgaria	200.0
18		Guadeloupe	197.0
19		Pakistan	177.0
20		New Zealand	166.0
21		Reunion	155.0
22		Brazil	152.5

For fun have a look at the live webcams from the WBF playing site in Eindhoven,  There is lots more on the Dutch site including some 13th round results for the Dutch teams.  And best of all LIVE vugraph with commentary in English.  And live action from many tables, this goes beyond coverage on BBO.

Triumphs and Disasters: Day 4

October 19th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

I was doing commentary on the 12th round match between Poland and Brazil.  Brazil played very well but it just wasn’t Poland’s day.  In events like this although the caliber of play in the Bermuda Bowl is very high players walk the edge trying to push for the best result possible.  They are under pressure all the time and as a result things go wrong.  So let’s look at a couple of disasters I witnessed in today’s play.  Please understand that I understand how these things happen.  They happen to everyone, even the best.

Here is a complete disaster from the Polish Brazil match to start.  

Buras opened a 13+ to 16 1NT in third chair and Campos doubled (good hand).  While I am not certain of their methods I believe that the pass over the double forced redouble.  Buras redoubled and Markiewicz bid 2♣  which I think showed clubs and another suit.  Villas-Boa doubled.  What do you do with this hand?

Do you sit or do you bid?  The problem with bidding is of course that partner is quite likely to have spades.  This was passed out and this was the entire deal.

Dealer: North Vul: E-W	Narkiewicz♠ 84 ♥  J732 ♦ 752 ♣ 8432
Campos♠ QJ103  ♥ AQ ♦  AJ1084 ♣ QJ		Villas-Boa♠ A9652 ♥ 965  ♦ 6  ♣ A1095
	Buras♠ K7  ♥ K1084  ♦ KQ93  ♣ K76

The defense was perfect.  The ♣ Q was allowed to hold and Buras won the ♣ J with the ♣ K.  He tried a heart. Campos winning the ♥ Q.    The ♠ Q went to the ♠A and Villas-Boa drew the remaining trump.  Spades were continued and Campos unblocked the ♠ 10.  Declarer could eventually take a diamond trick and that was it.  Down 5 was 1100.  This was “only” a loss of 10 imps as +650 in the spade game was made by East-West at the other table.

I also was fortunate enough to do commentary in a well played Israel-USA 1 match in the eleventh round.  Although Israel won the match Levin and Weinstein had a triumph on Board 16 when they bid a great diamond slam.  Try it yourself.

West started with a pass and after that E-W passed throughout.  Levin opened 1D and Weinstein bid 2♠  showing 5+spades 4 hearts and limit raise strength.  Convenient.  Levin continued with a forcing 3♦ .  Weinstein cuebid 4♣  and Levin bid 4♥ Blackwood.  4♠  showed an ace and Levin was able to bid 6♦ .  Nice.  This was worth 10 imps when the other table failed to find the diamond slam.

How Many Total Tricks? – Round 8

October 18th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  3 Comments 

 Early in Round 8 Board 19 produced a lot of swings. 

Dealer: South Vul: E-W	North ♠ J109872  ♥ –  ♦ Q64  ♣ J975
West ♠ A6  ♥ 1076  ♦ 85  ♣ KQ10843		East ♠  K3 ♥ AKQJ843  ♦ 10   ♣ A62
	South ♠ Q54  ♥ 952  ♦ AKJ9732  ♣ –

Let’s imagine how the bidding might goes.  South might open 1♦ .  West is a bit light for a vulnerable overcall so suppose he passes.  North would bid 1♠ .  Now what does East do?  East might believe that he is just too good to overcall and bid double or alternatively  4♥  , my pick.  After all you are vulnerable against not and entering a live auction you should have something good.  South would probably pass with only modest spade support but some might bid 4♠  at favorable vulnerability.  West has a lot concealed and could bid 5♥  which might buy the hand if North decides it is better to defend 5♥  than save against 6♥   If North bids 5♠  East could double or bid 6♥ .  And one or another of these choices was made at most tables, leading to a lot of swings.

In USA2 versus Italy in the Bermuda Bowl, the auction started as follows

I belive that Lall’s 2NT suggested a weak spade raise.  Duboin forced with 3S and Grue preempted with 4.  I believe that 4NT was meant as ace asking but I am not certain.  I would like to think the Italians were though.  Back to my preference for 4♥ instead of double.  While 5S only has two top losers you cannot make it since the defence can tap dummy in clubs either at trick one or when in on the first spade winner.  In fact you can work out that 5♠  is  two down.  For example, declarer ruffs an opening heart lead and leads a spade won by East who return a club ruffed by dummy.  Declarer obviously can’t play a spade or face the wrath of the club suit and so must play diamonds.  East ruffs in on the third round of diamonds with a small trump and plays another club ruffed in dummy.  Declarer plays a diamond throwing away the penultamite club as West ruff in and cashes the defenses second and final club trick.

 In the Closed Room Wooldridge overcalled Madala’s 1♦  with 2♣ . Bocchi passed and East cuebid diamonds.  South preempted 4♦  and North raised to 5♦ .  However Hurd having heard his partner make a vulnerable overcall was not going to be kept out of the auction and bid 5♥  (he must have been a little tempted to bid 6♥ ) which bought the hand and USA 2 had won 9 imps.  Buras and Narkiewicz fared better for Poland in their match against Sweden

Fredin’s 2♠  bid was weak showing 4-6 points.  Over this Narkiewicz just bid 4♥ .  Fallenius supported spades and Buras raised to 5♥ .  Fredin saved in 5♠ .  I wonder if he passed if 5♥  would have ended the auction.  Perhaps not since Narkiewicz had an awfully good hand for 4♥ .  I am not sure why Fredin doubled but in any case passing wouldn’t have saved many imps.  Fredin has to take the same action as in the other room and take the save in 6♠  for -500.  After the smoke cleared Poland had scored +1660 and gained 15 imps.   It is true that the heart slam can be defeated.  South must underlead a diamond to North for a club ruff (perhaps more likely if North had supported diamonds).  Ignoring this possibility there are 12 tricks in hearts and 9 tricks in spades (although if allowed to play it there you can make 10 tricks in diamonds north-south so to answer the question in the title there are something like 21 or 22 total tricks available, a goodly number.

Canada Yumps Over Sweden

October 18th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

Watching the world championships always seems like a bridge feast.  It is true that there is a wide range in the quality of the teams at the World Team Championships.  This may not always have been the case but as more teams have been added some of them just don’t measure up to what you might hope for in a world class field.  Still there is lots to watch and enjoy even in the round robin.  With Round 9 out of 21 finished the field is starting to spread out mostly as one would expect.

Let’s start with the Bermuda Bowl.  My picks for the top 8 were:

Italy, Poland, Israel, Netherlands, USA 1, USA 2, China, Icleand

After 9 rounds I have seven of eight right.  China is currently in 10th place with Brazil (which I considered as possible) in eighth.  I also liked ninth place Bulgaria.  The trailing teams Singapore, Chile, Guadeloupe, Pakistan and South Africa would be expected to be near the bottom as they are.  Perhaps the most surprising team is Japan in eleventh.

In the Venice Cup it seems even harder to find 22 teams that can compete.    Are there any surprises at the top?  Yes, there are.  New Zealand is doing surprisingly well and is in sixth place.  But China is in 13th and this is after China had a near blitz against Canada in the last round.  China started badly with  a loss to Japan and in fact didn’t do better than a tie until the eight round when they finally won a match blitzing Australia.  I wonder if the travel and time difference is a problem for them.  There are a lot of teams bunched for 6th through 12th so although France and the Netherlands are not in a qualifying spot they are very close and I would still expect them to move up.  Sweden is leading the pack and has been in first place for a while now.

I was not sure what to expect in the seniors although I did expect both USA teams to make the final eight and so far they are both placed to qualify.  I am not surprised to see France and Poland up there as well.

I think that all Canadian watcher would have hoped that the three Canadian teams would do better than they have so far but it was great to watch the Canadian Bermuda Bowl team have a big match against Sweden in the ninth round winning 66-40 and taking 21 VP.  So let’s have a look at the highlights.  With the score 66 to 45 there were only four pushes and significant swings on the rest of the board, many in double digits.  Things started quietly with three of those four pushes.  On board 5 Canada lost a game and then came Board 6.    After 1♥ -2♥ -4♥  what do you lead from

If you picked a trump or a club you are a winner.  Upmark led a club and defeated the Canadian game.  At the other table the Swedes were in partscore and got a more favorable lead to make 4.  19 imps for Sweden. 

On Board 6 Canada failed to get to a decent heart slam in the  Open Room and made 12 tricks, as did most of the field.  They must have expected this result to be a big loss.  But, Sweden erred and went down in the slam and Canada had started on the comeback trail.  

Do you want to be in 6♣  missing four clubs to the AQ?

Dealer: North Vul: N-S	North ♠ A85  ♥ AQ1094  ♦ J84  ♣ AQ
West ♠ Q64 ♥ J7  ♦ K107  ♣ K10972		East ♠ K1072 ♥  2 ♦  A9653 ♣  543
	South ♠ J93  ♥ K8653  ♦ Q2  ♣  J86

There are really no other problems on the hand but missing the trump ace there is always some risk of a ruff.  These days players who use Keycard Blackwood tend to avoid these slams although you can have trouble with clubs.  Here the Swedes did use 4♣ as a form of Blackwood although it isn’t clear to me if they had discerned they were off the trump queen.  Unlucky for Sweden the trump AQ were over the king and there was no chance.  Coming into Board 10 things were more or less tied.  Canada got to a decent slam that Sweden missed. 

Dealer: Vul:	Hargreaves♠  K2 ♥ AJ10985 ♦ K65  ♣ A5
West ♠ 9854  ♥ K4  ♦ J932  ♣ 842		East ♠ J7  ♥ Q32  ♦ 10874  ♣ KJ73
	McAvoy♠  AQ1063 ♥  76 ♦ AQ  ♣  Q1097

 Would you rather be in hearts or notrump?  Which side should you play from if you have a choice?  If hearts work than either contract seems fine as long as the opponents can’t set up a quick club trick.  You have slightly more chance in hearts because you might be able to shake a club from the north hand after an opening club lead gone wrong.  On some lie of the cards (hard to think of many) notrump might have a play when hearts don’t work.  Playing from South you would need some kind of club/heart squeeze on West along with a spade break.  Anyway you can figure it out. 

A diamond was led (luckily) and 6NT came home from the South side on a diamond lead after this auction:

Suffice it to say that things continued in this vein and Sweden would like to forget this match!  Was this great bridge?  No.  Was there some luck involved?  Yes.  But Canada had something to cheer about and there is still time for the Canadians to make it up the ranks and into the playoffs.

Day 2 Match 2 … WBF Championships

October 17th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

I am up and ready to watch the second match which starts in a few moments at 7:45 AM local time.  I can look out the huge window on my right to see the sun about to rise.  You may wish to take the time to read today’s Bulletin which has some interesting stories including one by John Carruthers on the betting line on the bridge championships … yes people are betting real money on the results.

Looking at the results in the Bermuda Bowl after Round 4 Italy has taken a big lead.  They have blitzed or near blitz all their matches so far.  They haven’t met many of the top teams yet but still a remarkable start.  In the Venice Cup  things are quite different with the top nine teams ranging from 68 to 78 VP.  In the Seniors  France has a good lead over second place USA 2.

I decided watch the Bermuda Bowl match Israel vs USA 2.  It will give me a chance to comment on you, Justin Lall among others.  Both teams have young players.  This turned out to be a well played and entertaining match.  The first swing was board 7.

In the Open Room Grue  West opened in second chair after South passed.  He was playing 14-16 notrump chose to open the West hand 1NT which seems perfectly reasonable.  Now Lall tried Stayman.  Considering that his hand was pretty flat and partner had a maximum of 16 HCP this was fairly aggressive but then again who wants to miss a vulnerable game.   Grue bid 2H and Lall bid 2NT.  Now it was Grue’s turn to take a push.  Despite the fact that he held only 154 HCP he had decent spots and a five card suit so he bid the notrump game.  I thought he might try 3H on his way to game and that might have worked better as it turned out.  Still 3NT has it changes.  Had the cards been a little different he might not have got a club lead and then if all went well 3NT could have made.  But this was not a game you really want to be in.  So how about 4H?

At the other table where 1NT was 15-17 Barel opened 1H as West.  Now Zack, East has a very heavy 2H raise and Barel couldn’t see more.  So 2H it was.  Does Zack have enough for a limit raise?  I have done it on this type of hand but most would not agree with me.  Against 3NT Pachtman led the CQ and SOuth encourgaed since he held the CJ.   Grue won the third round of clubs.  Now his only chance was that SOuth held the KQ of hearts and the SA but that lucky combinaton wasn’t there, one down.   Barel got a club lead too against his four heart contract but he could ruff the third round.  Two heart finesses and a spade guess and he made four. 7 imps for Israel.  Israel gained 5 more when they played the right partscore on board 10.  Coming into board 11 it was 13 to nothing.  But then Israel had an accident (and many other pairs in the field had a similar plight).

In third chair North Pachtman chose to open a strong 2C bid.   Do you agree?  Do you prefer 1♠ .  North does have a lot of playing strength but only 19 HCP.  Not just that but you have more chance to find the right place to play if you open at the one level. 

2♦ apparently showed four plus diamonds and the next three bids were natural.  It seemed to all of us that 4NT had to be natural and invitational and that 5♣  showed a suit.  Perhaps Ginossar wasn’t sure what 5♣  meant.  If he believed it was club support I think he would have wanted to play in clubs.  If it is clubs North is quite likely to have a diamond void.  Anyway he jumped to 6NT and Lall found a sporting double.  Lall just cashed his two aces for plus 100.  5♣  will probably make although I suspect that against this East-West 6♣ was not making (although some pairs in the field did bring it home).  In the open room Hurd-Wooldridge stopped in 4♠ .  The first three bids were the sane but over 2♠  Wooldridge chose to rebid 2NT and Hurd then transferred to 4S the slow way to make a mild slam invitation.  But Wooldridge had no problem passing the spade game.  Israel now clung to a 2 imp lead 13-11.  On Board 13 Lall-Grue did a great job to bid and make a spade slam while Zack-Barel played in game.

The auctions started off in a similar fashion at both tables.  Neither North chose to preempt clubs vulnerable so both East’s opened 1♠ .  In both cases West made a game forcing 2♥  response.  Both Easts rebid 2♠ .  But in the Closed Room West, Barel bid 3♣  and in the Open Room West Grue rebid 2NT.  Over 2NT Lall bid 3♦  which showed at least a diamond fragment.  When Grue rebid 3♠  which is forward going Lall cuebid 4♣ and they were soon in slam.  Over 3♣  the East hand looks less promising.  Here Zack was still not sure where to play the hand and offered 3♥  with his doubleton heart.  When Barel finally showed spade support it was less clear that Zack should make a slam try and he went quietly in 4♠ .  Lall played the slam well.  He won the opening club lead and carefully played a small spade from dummy at trick 2.  Having picked up the spade suit for no losers he could simply draw trump and give up a diamond to make his slam.

Coming into the 16th and last board Israel was down by 10 28 to 18.  I have a history of messing up on the last board of a session.  Let’s see how these two teams fared.

Of the 22 pairs that played board 16 20 were in 4♥  which went down 7 times and maybe occasionally with an uptrick the rest of the time.  One North-South pair played in 4♠  doubled.  One of the other two pairs was Wooldridge and Hurd.  They got to 5♣  doubled very quickly.  West opened 1♦ , Eas bid 1♥ and Wooldridge bid 5♣.  The contract could have been set four for 800 which isn’t terrible into 4♥  making 620,  But in fact Wooldridge escaped for down 3.  After the opening heart lead Zack shifting to a spade and Barel just couldn’t visualize Wooldridge with four spades.  So the spade ruff vanished.

Now would USA 2 be one of the pairs to make 4♥  or one of those who went down.  In the Open Room there was no opposition bidding and it was up to Grue to make the heart game.  Pachtman led a club and Grue allowed the ♣ Q to win the trick.  Now what?  Dummy has a potential spade, a club losers (you plan to ruff the third one) and you have to deal with hearts. So what to do.  You could finesse the heart.    You  have to decide which heart to put in since neither is a sure thing.  Another option is to play the ♥ A and see what falls and Grue tried that.  As it turns out both follow low.  Back to the heart challenge.  You can play another heart and if they are two-two you are home, otherwise the future is not bright.  You could try four rounds of diamonds and if the long heart hand has four diamonds then that might work out.  Even if trumps are 2-2 that might work if diamonds are 3-3 you could still change your mind.  I am not going to go through all the permutations nor try to calculate the odds.  Grue played out a second heart and went down.  If anybody wants to calculate the odds let us all know.  In any case the result was a loss of 12 imps and a final score of 30-28 imps which counts as a tie in WBF victory point scoring.

By the way, Justin Lall made a comment about my pick of USA1 to beat USA2 in one of the playoff rounds.  He said that should be reversed.  I am starting to think he was right.  THe young men are really playing in form and without fear.  Can I change my entry?

And So It Starts…

October 16th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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♠ .

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

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.

My Contest Entry for the Bermuda Bowl Contest

October 12th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  3 Comments 

I am submitting my contest entry in this blog.  I can’t win of course but I can still see how I do.  You can copy me if you want but I wouldn’t since I am usually quite wrong. 

My top eight (see earlier blog)

Italy

Poland

Israel

Netherlands

USA 1

USA 2

China

Icleand

My final four are:

USA 1

Italy

Netherlands

Poland

The two finalists are:

USA 1 vs Italy with Italy winning

Netherlands will place third.

And if only for sentimental reasons I pick USA 1 to win the seniors.

And special best wishes to the German ladies team captained by fellow blogger Michael Yuen.