ALT IV BULLETIN 3 Thursday, May 14, 2020

editor: Christina Lund Madsen [email protected]

logistics: Rosalind Hengeveld big data: Joyce Tito

Who will be the 2? Today we will say goodby to six teams. After round 7, four teams will play semifinals in the se- cond session of today, and tomorrow two teams will fight for the title as winners of the Alt IV. PRE-BULLETIN THE ALT Monday, MayTo 11,the 2020 teams we must take our leave with: It has editor: Christinabeen Lund Madsen a pleasure following you. Thank you for the [email protected] entertainment. INVITATIONAL logistics: Rosalind Hengeveld MAY 11-15, 2020 big data:To Joyce the Tito left you see how online bridge (and play- online bridge events organized by bid72, bridge24 & netbridge.onlineers) looked like 28 years ago. Here Forrester - Robson. Picture: Peter Hasenson.

THE ALT INVITATIONAL Today’sPRE-BULLETIN Schedule R7 & semifinal Important NoticeTHE ALT Monday, May 11, 2020 Thursdayeditor: May Christina 14 Lund Madsen Thursday May 14 MAY 11-15, 2020 [email protected] All players shouldINVITATIONAL enter BBO 15 10.00 EDT/16.00logistics: Rosalind Hengeveld CET 14.00 EDT/20.00 CET minutes before their matchMAY starts 11-15, 2020 at big data: Joyce Tito online bridge events organizedonline by bid72, bridge eventsbridge24 organized & netbridge.online by bid72, bridge24Ventin & netbridge.online - De Botton Semifinals the latest. BBO coordinator Don Donner - Zhao Freeland is waiting for you and will Street - Israel Open instruct you where to sit. Smart Shots - Blass THE ALT INVITATIONAL

MAY 11-15, 2020

online bridge events organized by bid72, bridge24 & netbridge.online

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sign up for the newsletter - 1 - Nightmares By Christina Lund Madsen

We all have boards that hunt us in our East supposed to bid 5♦ vulnerable with a sleep. 20 from round 4 was one of bad suit, not knowing if there is a fit or his those boards. partner has hearts on South's neck? W / All To twist the knife, 4♥ makes, so it was a rare +18 IMPs for Zhao. ♠ KT9874 ♥ 97 Obviusly this was not the only table with ♦ J97 interesting auctions. ♣ 73 ♠ J2 N ♠ A3 In Donner vs. De Botton, Hackett and Hydes ♥ 52 W E ♥ 3 had the same auction to 6♦. ♦ AQ5 S ♦ KT86432 In the other room Cullin-Michielsen ♣ AKJ862 ♣ T94 lost the board on a system swing after a ♠ Q65 precision 2♣-opening: ♥ AKQJT864

♦ - WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH ♣ Q5 Michielsen De Botton Cullin Malinowski

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH 2♣ Pass 3♣ 4♥ Verhees Lorenzini van Prooijen Allard All Pass 1NT Pass 3♣ 4♥ 5♦ Pass 6♦ All Pass West had a maximum for her bid, and 3♣ was just a simple raise. But after the 4♥-bid, Verhees made it easy for his side first by who had anything to add? opening 1NT (showing 14-16), then by bid- ding 5♦ over 4♥ thus enabling East to bid Brink - Drijver also sold out to 4♥ after an the slam on little values. alternative auction:

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH In the other room: Brink Bareket Drijver Lengy

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH 1♣ 2♠ Pass 4♥ Meckstroth Muller Bessis Zhao All Pass 1♣ Pass 1♦ 4♥ All Pass But only lost 11 imps as the Israeli stranded in 5♣ making at the other table after Zack Hard to blame neither East nor West. I courageously competed where others have full sympathy for West not opening passed. 1NT with nothing in the major suits, and is

- 2 - ♦ WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Fergani must have been very convinced 6 was making and going for the potential Barel Nowosadski Zack Kalita -1100 save. He was rewarded with -500 1♣ Pass 1♦ 4♥ when his partner had the right spade Pass Pass 4NT Dble values and no defensive tricks. 5♣ All Pass We go back to the match from the beginning of this article. Kalita's double to show a good 4♥-bid Meckstroth-Bessis had just lost 18 IMPs, but limited Blass' loss to 11 IMPs on the board on the next board they got 11 of them back. after Lengy misguessed spades for down N / NS one in 4♥. ♠ KT9874 In our last match EW got all the way to 5♦ ♥ 97 before yielding. ♦ J97 WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH ♣ 73 Zatorski Ventin Pachtmann Wrang ♠ J2 N ♠ A3 ♥ 52 W E ♥ 3 1♣ 1♠ 1♦* 4♥ ♦ AQ5 S ♦ KT86432 5♦ Pass Pass 5♥ ♣ AKJ862 ♣ T94 All Pass ♠ Q65 ♥ AKQJT864 5♥ Wrang bid as comfortably as he looks at ♦ - the table and went down one for +9 IMPs ♣ Q5 as the par result was reached at the last table: WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Meckstroth Muller Bessis Zhao Nyström L'Ecuyer Upmark Fergani Pass 1♥ 2♦ 2♠ 4♦ 4NT Pass 2♣* Pass 2NT* 4♥ 5♠ Pass 5NT Pass 4NT Pass 5♦ 5♥ 6♠ All Pass Pass Pass 6♦ 6♥ Pass Pass Dble All Pass North lead the ♦Q to the ace, Meckstroth pulled two rounds of trumps, played a 2♣ was precision (10-15 and 6 clubs) and heart to the ace and led a club from the ace 2NT showed diamonds, forcing one round. towards his hand. South ducked, North won the king and tried his best by returning a Upmark did his best to compete all the way club. West rose the ace and claimed +980. to the cold 6♦, but Fergani did as well, and in the end Upmark could do nothing The result was only copied by Hackett- but double. Hydes against the Rimstedt sisters, same play, same defense.

- 3 - Wednesday the Rabbi By Mark Horton played Bridge

If Harry Kemelman had ever met the Rabbi to dispose of a losing heart, and turned his Leonard Helman I'm sure the result would attention to the suit. have been another book in his series of best When North followed with the ♣9 declarer sellers about the Rabbi David Small. Any- put up dummy's ace, a perfect one partnering Rabbi Helman was always which gives you a 73.47% chance of avoi- happy if he had to locate the ♣K - for when ding the loss of two tricks in the suit. Leonard was at the table it was invariably If the diamond had lost, declarer singleton offside, conforming to what was would have had to rely on North holding fondly known as The Rabbi's Rule. the doubleton king of clubs. The Rabbi would have approved. Leonard would have enjoyed the first deal from the match between Ventin and Smart WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Shots: Nystrom Lorenzini Upmark Allard Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul. — Pass 1♣* Pass ♠ K Q 7 2 1♦* Pass 1♥* Pass ♥ Q 4 2♣* Pass 2♦* Pass ♦ T 7 3 2♥* Pass 2♠* Pass ♣ T 9 8 7 ♠ T 6 4 3 ♠ A 3NT* All Pass ♥ K T 8 7 ♥ A 6 5 ♦ K J 9 2 ♦ A 4 1♣ 16+ ♣ 2 ♣ A Q J 6 5 4 3 1♦ 0-4 zz points (A=3, K=2, Q=1) ♠ J 9 8 4 1♥ 16 -19, 5+♥or 20+ ♥ J 9 3 2 2♣ 3-4 zz points, no five-card suit ♦ Q 8 6 5 2♦ Relay ♣ K 2♥ 4333 or 4441 2♠ Relay WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH 3NT 4441, 4 zz points, no ace Meckstroth Charlsen Bessis Hoftaniska (zz is an alternative way of counting pts., — Pass 1♣ Pass used by EW after strong ♣ and GF-relays.) 1♥ Pass 2♦ Pass North led the ♣10 and declarer gave the 3♦ Pass 3♥ Pass Rabbi more cause for enjoyment by rising 4♦ Pass 6♣ All Pass with dummy's ace. Declarer continued clubs, and when North came in he switched South led the ♠8 and declarer took North's to a spade, but declarer won and was not queen with the ace and played a diamond hard pressed to squeeze South in the red to the jack. When it held he now had a way suits for +490, albeit at a loss of 10 IMPs.

- 4 - Results / Ranking

RR5 IMPs VPs Blasst on Wednesday Blass - Donner 52-29 14.76-5.24 Before our last match, Street is leading the Street - Zhao 62-48 13.15-6.85 field narrowly over Blass, who came back strongly yesterdaywith two big victories. Ventin - Smart Shots 50-39 12.54-7.46 De Botton - Israel Open 70-37 16.25-3.75 Zhao is only 2 VPs after, Ventin squeezing in on the 4th spot. De Botton got blassted out of the top 4 in the last match, but face Ventin in the last match, so they can finish RR6 IMPs VPs the job by themselves. Blass - De Botton 82-25 18.82-1.18 Find all bulletins and links to results at Israel - Donner 61-30 15.97-4.03 netbridge.online. Here you can also find info and bulletins about previous editions Zhao - Ventin 55-48 11.68-8.32 of the Alt Invitational. Smart Shots - Street 35-33 10.50-9.50 We are happy to say we got a new soft- ware that will be used for the upcoming Alts, making it easier to see compare After Round 6 VPs results and see scores from all tables. 1. Street 72.94 Click the link below. 2. Blass 72.67 3. Zhao 70.76 Alt results 4. Ventin 67.52 5. De Botton 64.11 6. Israel Open 50.34 7. Smart Shots 48.51 8. Donner 33.15

Rules and regulations The numbers 1 through 4 from the round-robin will go to the semifi- nals. In case of a tie in victory points: 1. the mutual result will decide 2. still equal: the most ’wins’ (BAM-ish) will decide. 3. after that: the team with the highest IMP score on a board will go through

Team number 1 may choose its opponent between 3 and 4. The captain will mail to [email protected] their choice within an hour after the round-robin is finished. If late, then matches will be: 1 versus 4 and 2 versus 3.

- 5 - Let the good boards flow By Martin Cantor

Ventin vs. Smart Shots in Round 5 was a “if I’m wrong”. As 3NT was making with 6 commentator’s dream, with lots of action. I diamonds and one in each other suit (or 2 had planned to write about just one board, clubs and 1 major), Thomas was right. but, having picked one, another goodie North lead the ♦A. Meckwell ruffed came along just two boards later, then diamonds in dummy and played the majors another, then another. So straight on with to his hand, losing one of each of those and the show. two trumps for -200. Meanwhile: Board 4. W / All WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Nystrom Lorenzini Upmark Allard ♠ K65 ♥ K52 1♦ Dble Pass 1NT ♦ AKT743 Pass 3NT All Pass ♣ A ♠ A84 N ♠ A3 West’s ♥J lead ran to the queen, declarer ♥ AJ7 W E ♥ T983 tested the diamonds and played a spade to ♦ J865 S ♦ - the queen for 9 tricks and 9 IMPs to Smart ♣ Q43 ♣ K8652 Shots. A quick breather and then: ♠ Q32 ♥ Q64 Board 6. E / EW ♦ Q92 ♣ JT97 ♠ KT6 ♥ QT4 WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH ♦ AQ8 Meckstroth Palma Bessis Wrang ♣ 9754 ♠ Q ♠ AJ98542 1♣ Dble 3♣ Pass N ♥ AKJ72 W E ♥ 853 Pass 3♦ Pass 3NT ♦ 9432 S ♦ J Pass Pass 4♣ Dble ♣ Q83 ♣ K2 All Pass ♠ 73 ♥ 96 Thomas Bessis self-alerted 3♣ as “pre- ♦ KT765 emptive for me but no agreement”. ♣ AJT6 Frederick Wrang took a very long time to choose his call over his partner’s 3♦, which Bessis opened 3♠ as East and Meckstroth obviously showed a strong hand, but were raised him to game. his quacks enough? Wrang led a diamond to the ace, and double In the end he decided yes, Bessis believed dummy only a club shift now guarantees him and promptly apologised to his partner defeat. When North continued the ♦Q,

- 6 - declarer ruffed and got the first two steps right, playing a club to the queen, then the other black queen covered all round.

The winning line now was to cross to dummy twice in hearts to diamonds in hand, engineering a trump . A very double dummy line when either the ♠T coming down or the heart finesse working delivers success. Down one. Jeff Meckstroth. Photo: Peg Kaplan Upmark’s 3♠ opening in the other room was passed out, and he came to an overtrick. 7 IMPs to Ventin. 4♥ is the winning spot, but hard to find Breathe again, briefly, and: after North showing both majors. When EW stopped in 3NT, South went for Board 8. W / None the "save" in 4♦.

Question is whether the 3♠ bid shows ♠ AKT54 a stopper and asks for a heart stopper, ♥ T742 since North showed two suits, or whether ♦ 4 it simply asks for a spadestopper; either ♣ 432 Meckstroth thought Bessis showed a ♠ Q6 N ♠ J9 spadestopper, or he gambled that his ♠Q ♥ AQ98 W E ♥ KJ63 was worth 3NT, fx if Thomas held Ax. ♦ 87 S ♦ AQ5 Regardless it looked like the only making ♣ AQJ87 ♣ KT96 contract with 4♥ out of the picture. ♠ 8732 4♦X went down one for +100 for EW. ♥ 5 ♦ KJT9632 Meanwhile the result from the other room had appeared on : 4♥-1. ♣ 5 WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Nystrom Lorenzini Upmark Allard Meckstroth Palma Bessis Wrang 1NT Pass 3♣* Pass 1NT 2♣* Dble* 2♠ 3♦ Pass 3♠* Pass Pass Pass 3♠ Pass 4♥ All Pass 3NT Pass Pass 4♦ Pass Pass Dble All Pass After the Puppet Stayman auction, Upmark's 3♠ bid showing 4♥, Lorenzini led 2♣ majors two top spades, then played his singleton Dble values diamond.

- 7 - For reasons I can’t begin to fathom, Antonio Palma Nystrom, seeing 10 top tricks, finessed and Photo: Francesca Canali deservedly suffered a ruff. 4 IMPs to Smart Shots.

Board 10. E / All

♠ J72 ♥ K7 ♦ T5 ♣ J87654 ♠ AKT5 N ♠ Q4 ♥ 863 W E ♥ QT94 ♦ AQ82 S ♦ KJ97 ♣ A9 ♣ Q32 ♠ 9863 ♥ AJ52 ♦ 643 ♣ KT

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

Nystrom Lorenzini Upmark Allard WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH 1♣* Pass 2♣* Pass Meckstroth Palma Bessis Wrang 2♥ Pass 2♠ Pass 1NT Pass 2♣ Pass 3♣* Pass 3♥* Pass 2♠ Pass 3NT All Pass 3NT All Pass Meckstroth played low from dummy on A strong club opening and a relay auction the club lead, winning the ten with the ace, led to the normal contract. A fourth cashed four diamonds ending in hand, then highest club was covered by the queen played a heart towards dummy. and king, ducked by declarer, and the club Palma did well to rise with the king and continuation taken perforce by the ace. play a spade back, giving Meckstroth a lot to think about. Then came four rounds of diamonds on which North pitched first a spade, then a From the gallery it looked like he couldn’t club. Not unreasonably declarer played a go wrong. If he let the spade run to his ten, spade to the queen and another to the ten, he could go to the spade queen and exit a allowing the defence to take the rest of the heart (or a club) and Wrang would have to tricks for minus 300. give him his two top spades at the end.

- 8 - Or he could win the ♠Q and throw South in spades for a heart at the end. Or with x-ray vision he could a club.

He did neither. He let the spade run to his ten and played a club to the queen and South’s king, who returned a spade to dummy’s queen.

♠ J ♥ 7 ♦ - ♣ J8 Alexandre Allard ♠ AK N ♠ - ♥ 83 W E ♥ QT9 ♦ - S ♦ - just 3 IMPs to Smart Shots when it could have been 14. ♣ - ♣ 3 ♠ 93 Smart Shots had a decent lead at the half- time mark, but Ventin came back strongly ♥ AJ to take the match 12.54 - 7.46. ♦ - ♣ - Finally, yesterday’s bulletin included a note of how Meckstroth - Bessis had continually In the end position above declarer could self-blamed and apologised. That habit still make by exiting a heart but, perhaps continued repeatedly throughout this reading North for the HA and fewer clubs, match too. I only wish I had as little to he exited instead with a club, and the apologise for at the bridge table as these defence cashed the rest for down two and two combined.

Give me a hand

This week and next week so far, the Alt Bulletins have a new editor. Since I cannot watch you all at once, I hope you will tell me about brilliancies and disasters.

You can also tell me about highlights from your week in quarantine (like going grocery shopping) or a story about your partner that not many know.

Write me at [email protected]. Christina Lund Madsen

- 9 - Victim of the Day by Christina Lund Madsen Cédric Lorenzini

Tell us the real story behind your BBO-alias, Who do you want to partner, kiss, kill bet- pierced. ween Helgemo, Meckstroth, Thomas? - I created pierced at a time I had no idea of - You are hard on me. Kiss Thomas, cause what that means in English. It was a fusion everybody says he is cute. between Mary Pierce (french woman ten- Partner Helgemo, cause he play so fast that nis player) and Ced, which is my surname. I can have my beer much earlier in the day. I was a fan of Mary Pierce, and after she Kill Meckstroth, cause he is too strong and I won Roland Garros in 2000 I gave up ba- want to take his place on the podiums. sketball for tennis. What is the most memorable moment so far Do you have any piercings? in your life with bridge? - Not yet. ☺ would be more into tatooes - For sure, when we lost the than piercings. I am easily scared. ☺ by 2 IMPs in Lyon in 2017. It was 2 months after the passing of my dad, and all my fa- Do you have any projects during corona? mily was there. It was a big disappointment. - I am playing a lot of events in bbo. Also On the good side our victories in NABC- we worked with my team to start a bridge events that made me Player of the Year 2015 website in a style that nobody has. and winning the Europeans with my french It is streaming videos that are realeased by friends in 2016. I will always remember us, some are very funny, some are serious. Jean Christophe crying at the end. There are also live shows where I explain what I think about during the play, so you If you were to get a piercing, where would it be? can enter my brain (good luck with that...). - I am too shy to reply... For now it's free, and the website is www. clicbridge.com. Come visit us! Who do you think should be the next victim in the Alt bulletin? Tell us something you Is there something you have done during would like to know about this person. corona you have never done before? - Alex Hydes because he made a lot of good - A lot of new things. Take the sun in my results recently, and I don't know anything mini terrace while playing bridge.. waiting about him. I would like to know his favorite 40 minutes before entering a supermarket... English recipe. (Enjoy)

Many still recall the moving pictures of the mourning French players after they lost the Bermuda Bowl-final to USA in 2017. Teams / Players / Nicknames

Team Blass Team De Botton Jacek Pszczola pikolo Jason Hackett mutton Josef Blass bljosef Alexander Hydes itsgrim Jacek Kalita bridge24jk Janet de Botton capt Lulu Michal Nowosadzki bridge24mn Arthur Malinowski malisuper Sjoert Brink sjoertBr Thor Erik Hoftaniska kasper20 Bas Drijver BasDr Thomas Charlsen tcharlsen

Team Israel Open Team Street Michael Barel mich-b Nicolas L’Ecuyer caucase Yaniv Zack Yanivz Paul Street Boulevard1 Ilan Herbst ilanh Ron Pachtman ronpa Ophir Herbst herbst Piotr Zatorski dzeronimo Ilan Bareket bareket Fred Pollack Fredp Asaf Lengy lengy Kamel Fergani fergani Amir Levin amiri Yossi Roll sroch Team Ventin Johan Upmark mostovoi Team Smart Shots Fredrik Nystrom nystrom Jeff Meckstroth jjmeck Frederic Wrang fly21 Geir Helgemo Micelle45 António Palma Apalma Cédric Lorenzini pierced Joaquin Pacareu paca1987 Thomas Bessis malpaluche Carlos Fernandez carlitosf Alexandre Allard smartalexx Jose Creuheras pepeti Juan-Carlos Ventin phave Team Donner Gary Donner Gdonnersc1 Team Zhao Cecilia Rimstedt cillar Zhao Chen zhaochen Sandra Rimstedt Sandria Liu Jing LiuJing Marion Michielsen Lady007 Bauke Muller beukertje Per-Ola Cullin pocken Simon de Wijs sm1 Adam Grossack Nevereast Louk Verhees loukie Anam Tebha AnamTebha Ricco van Prooijen riccovp

How to kibitz the Alt Invitational on BBO As in the previous editions of the Alt Invitational, we expect thousands of spectators on BBO. Even though the Alt is not broadcasted via the BBO , you can still watch any of your favourites. You simply search for your favorite player’s nickname and join his or her table. If you wish to watch the players whenever they are online, you search for your chosen one (fx Bas Dri- jver ’BasDr’, click on the name and choose ’follow’ instead of neutral. Any time you see him online, you can click on him and take a seat at his table (assuming the tournament allows it). See you on BBO!

- 11 - Love or Hate Playing Bridge Online? We want to hear your views

How has your life as a bridge player changed and what challenges do you face?

Please share your lockdown experiences of bridge by emailing [email protected]

One off accounts or weekly/monthly diary entries are welcomed by players of all ages from all countri- es - pros, teachers, club owners or service providers.

It doesn’t have to take long and will be of use for understanding the short-term and longer term impacts of the current situation for the bridge community.

For more info see: https://keepbridgealive.bridgecloud.com/about/ bridge-in-the-time-of-covid-19 ”I’m busier now than I’ve ever been in the real world.” - Alex Hydes How to kibitz the Alt Invitational on BBO As in the previous editions of the Alt Invitational, we expect thousands of spectators on BBO. Even though the Alt is not broadcasted via the BBO Vugraph, you can still watch any of your favourites. You simply search for your favorite player’s nickname and join his or her table. If you wish to watch the players whenever they are online, you search for your chosen one (fx Bas Dri- jver ’BasDr’, click on the name and choose ’follow’ instead of neutral. Any time you see ham online, you can click on him and take a seat at his table (assuming the tournament allows it). See you on BBO! www.bid72.com / [email protected] big 5

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