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ALT V BULLETIN 4 THE ALT Friday, May 29, 2020 editor: Christina Lund Madsen INVITATIONAL V [email protected] logistics: Rosalind Hengeveld big data: Joyce Tito MAY 25 - 29 2020 Previous Winners Face in Final After two close semifinals, two previous winners face each other in the final of the Alt Invitational V. De Botton needed their carry over to beat Street in an e♥austing semifinal last night, and Gupta PRE-BULLETIN wouldTHE have lost toALT Blass had it not been for one boardMonday, May worth 11, 2020 20 IMPs. editor: Christina Lund Madsen During today's final the BBO-commentators are [email protected] to show up in full power to honour Roland INVITATIONALWald, who passed away suddenly. Let us hope theylogistics: Rosalindwill have Hengeveld much to talk about. MAY 11-15, 2020 big data: Joyce Tito We are looking forward to an actionpacked final. online bridge events organized by bid72, bridge24 & netbridge.online THE ALT INVITATIONAL PRE-BULLETIN Final Important NoticeTHE ALT Monday, May 11, 2020 editor: Christina Lund Madsen Friday [email protected] 29 at 10.00 EDT/16.00 CET All players MAYshould 11-15, enter 2020 BBO 10 INVITATIONAL logistics: Rosalind Hengeveld minutes before their matchMAY starts 11-15, 2020 at big data: Joyce3 Tito x 12 boards online bridge events organized by bid72, bridge24 & netbridge.online the latest. Tournamentonline bridgedirector events organized Denis by bid72, bridge24 & netbridge.online Dobrin is waiting for you and will De Botton vs. Gupta instruct you where to sit. THE ALT INVITATIONAL MAY 11-15, 2020 online bridge events organized by bid72, bridge24 & netbridge.online sign up for the newsletter sign up for the newsletter - 1 - The lightning that by Christina Lund Madsen backfired There are many stories of lightner doubles It is hard to blame East for doubling for a backfiring, and this was one of the more heart lead. Muller reverted to 7NT, which costly ones. has 12 top tricks and the 13th after the marked heart finesse. Board 5. Dealer N. NS Vul. At the other table the auction was not ♠ JT42 surprisingly completely different: ♥ AQT93 ♦ K3 WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH ♣ 97 Bertens Nowosadzki Gupta Kalita ♠ 9 N ♠ 853 ♥ J8742 W E ♥ - Pass 2♦ Dble ♦ T875 S ♦ QJ9642 5♦ Dble Pass 5NT ♣ QT4 ♣ 8653 Pass 6♦ Pass 7♠ ♠ AKQ76 All Pass ♥ K65 ♦ A North reasonably passed his 10-count ♣ AKJ2 vulnerable (de Wijs-Muller play a variant of precision that allows 10-point openings) WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH which made room for Gupta to preempt Pepsi de Wijs Blass Muller in diamonds. Now NS did very well to reach 7♠, but in bridge you are not always 1♥ Pass 1♠* rewarded for excellence. Pass 1NT Pass 2♣ Gupta refrained from doubling for a heart Pass 3♣ Pass 3♦ lead, but Bertens had enough confidence Pass 3♠ Pass 4♣ in his opponents not to lead a diamond and saw the only hope of beating the con- Pass 4♥ Pass 4♠ tract to find his partner with a void. Pass 5♣ Pass 5♦ Alas, he lead a low heart, ruffed by Gupta Pass 5♠ Pass 7♠ and a loss of 20 IMPs for Blass, losing the Pass Pass Dble 7NT semifinal by 14 IMPs in total. All Pass Blass can find comfort that in our other semifinal, Piotr Zatorski made the same All South's bids were asking. North's bids double after a 2♣-opening in South and after 1♥ showed in order: 4+♠, 4522- no bidding from the EW-side. Hoftaniska shape, 3 controls, 1 or 2 AKQ in hearts/0 as Muller reverted to 7NT. It was a push, or 3 in spades, 1 or 2 ♦AKQ and 0 in clubs, L'Ecuyer-Marcinski landing in 7♥ making and finally 5♠ showed 2 of the 3 top when L'Ecuyer began with ♥K (East had ♥-honours, no ♥J. also here opened a weak 2♦). - 2 - Results / Ranking RR7 IMPs VPs Link to results BLASS BRIDGESCANNER 63 11 18.38 1.62 DE BOTTON STREET 50 23 15.39 4.61 Alt Invitational V GILLIS DONNER 33 37 9.01 10.99 Link to previous Alts & bulletins GUPTA BUSSINK 64 20 17.58 2.42 Bulletins Semifinals C/O seg 1 seg 2 Total DE BOTTON 10.1 18 22 50.1 STREET 0 20 25 45.0 GUPTA 6.1 23 23 52.1 BLASS 0 20 18 38.0 After VPs Round 7 1 DE BOTTON 98.50 2 GUPTA 88.75 3 BLASS 86.47 4 STREET 74.38 5 DONNER 63.49 Follow us on Facebook 6 BRIDGESCANNER 60.06 Click the link 7 BUSSINK 44.46 8 GILLIS 43.89 Rules and regulations The numbers 1 through 4 from the round robin will go to the semifinals. 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 The winner of the round robin may choose its opponent between the teams placed 3 and 4. T he captain will mail their choice to [email protected] within an hour after the round robin is finis- hed. If late, then matches will be: 1 versus 4 and 2 versus 3. - 3 - To Err is Human By Mark Horton Take it from me, bridge is all about mis- bidding is concerned and I quite like the takes. Going wrong in the bidding phase idea of checking - sorry, passing, hoping is easy - even an immaculate well intenti- to get a chance to show my suits later. oned bid can turn out badly. Otherwise 1♥ gets my vote. Defending is tough - even if you survive the opening lead. Declarer play is perhaps Three East's elected to pass, three opened easier, although as you may be aware I 1♥. have been misplaying hands for years! Two of my fondest memories are to go Let's see what happened in Blass v down in awkward slams I had played Bridgescanner: correctly when, near the end I 'ruffed' with a non-trump. Open Room Take a look at this deal from the last quali- WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH fying round: Matushko Drijver Krasnoselskiy Brink — — 1♠ 2♦* Board 6. Dealer East. EW Vul. 2♠ 3♦ 4♥ Pass ♠ Q J 9 5 4♠ Pass Pass 5♦ ♥ 9 8 Dble All Pass ♦ A 5 4 2 ♣ 8 5 2 ♠ K 10 8 2 ♠ A 7 6 4 3 2♦ Tends to deny 4♥ ♥ Q 10 ♥ A J 7 4 3 2 ♦ Q 9 7 ♦ — Having opened 1♠ East was happy to show ♣ K 10 7 6 ♣ 4 3 his other suit. Maybe South could have ♠ — doubled 4♠, but bidding on looks reaso- ♥ K 6 5 nable - after all, 5♦ might be making and ♦ K J 10 8 6 3 there must be some chance that EW will ♣ A Q J 9 push on to 5♠. West led the ♠8 and declarer put up dum- The East hand is sure to appear in a bid- my's jack, ruffed East's ace, cashed the♦ K ding panel competition at some point, and drew trumps ending in dummy as asking what should East do? There will be West withheld the queen until the third votes for 1♠ and 1♥ and Pass and maybe round. A hert to the king was followed by someone will mention opening 4♥. another heart and East overtook West's queen. That was a good idea as East could Someone mentioned to me that bridge now play a third heart, killing dummy's is the new Poker - at least as far as the entry, but switching to a club was not. - 4 - Wojciech Olanski Declarer played the queen and when West won with the king he was endplayed. A spade would set up dummy's queen and West's actual choice of a club gave declarer three tricks in the suit and +550. West's only chance after the club switch is to duck smoothly (is that easy on the Internet?) when declarer must find the play of exiting with the ♣J or ♣9. Closed Room WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Pszczola Vainikonis Blass Olanski — — 1♠ 2♦ 3♦* 4♦ 4♠ 5♦ Dble All Pass Alt Calendar 3♦ Invitational in spades May 25-29 ALT V Here too East preferred to open 1♠. He might have bid 4♥ on the next round, but June 1-5 ALT Mixed II it's a moot point as to who that might help most. June 8-12 ALT VI West led the ♠2 and the first four tricks June 22-26 Major ALT - were virtually identical. Then declarer tried a club to the queen and king and End of season West exited with the ♥Q, East taking the ace and playing a second club. Declarer 8 top teams will particpate in the could not avoid the loss of a second club, normal ALTs and up to 32 teams in the so 12 IMPs changed hands. Major ALT. For more info, write to [email protected] - 5 - Unlocking the Combination By Mark Horton I always try to find an early deal to write Blass vs. Gillis about - that way there will be no delay Brink-Drijver had stopped in 4♣. East had before the pre-prandial drinks are served advertised a major two suiter and ducked at 18.00. Having read that lockdown can the first round of clubs. Guess which card lead to increased alcohol consumption we declarer played next? have decided to imitate the suggestion made in the BBC-HBO production, The WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Gathering Storm, that a cash-strapped Kalita Saelensminde Nowosadzki Gillis Winston Churchill agreed to cut down to — — 1♠ 2♣ two bottles of champagne before dinner.
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