BULLETIN No. 5 THE ALT Saturday, April 11th, 2020 editor: Jan van Cleeff INVITATIONAL [email protected] co-editors: Bob Drake Elisabeth van Ettinger online bridge events organized by Rosalind Hengeveld
bid72, bridge24 & netbridge.online Big data: Joyce Tito De Botton, All The Way!
Left to righ: Alexander Hydes, Thor Erik Hoftaniska, Artur Malinowski, Janet De Botton, Jason Hackett, Thomas Charlsen (Elisabeth van Ettinger & WBF)
Looking back at another Alt I dare RESULTS to say that the concept has turned out a huge success already. This is SemiFinal c/o Result Total* partly due to a sad reason, the Blass 10.1 27 37.1 virus. De Botton 70 70 Apparently we created an attractive formula to offer online Street 6.1 52 58.1 bridge events with the Meltzer 37 37 participation of the world's best players. This is of course partly due to our innovative and hardworking staff. *corrected One group of people I explicitly want to mention is our wonderful group of BBO Vugraph commentators. It is Final imperative that brilliant bridge needs brilliant narrative. De Botton 77.1 And these guys do it, day in and day out. A big hand for Street 39 Paul Barden, David Bird, Martin Cantor, Al Hollander, Mark Horton, Greg Lawler, Peter Lund, Claire Robinson, and Roland Wald.
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- 1 - Hamman's Law by Mark Horton
I spent most of the morning working on an article for the him for three hearts. If he opts for the former course of next edition of BeBRIDGE action - there is just enough room for South to hold an (https://kiosque.lebridgeur.com/en/publications/ ace - then it looks logical to switch to a diamond, bebridge-01-march-2020/). hoping that if partner holds a black ace declarer will not It combines the views of the man who tops the World be able to run off ten tricks. Bridge Federation's All Time Open Ranking List, Bob Amusingly enough, as long as you switch at trick two, it Hamman, and the reigning Women's World Chess does not matter which suit you select, as declarer can Champion, Ju Wenjun on a variety of topics. only muster eight tricks on this layout.
Hamman's Law is one of Bob's popular contributions to Bridge. The adage says: 'If you have a bidding decision to make, bid 3NT if it's a plausible choice.' Low and behold, when I logged in to BBO this deal from Double Asks for Spades the Final was under way: by Jan van Cleeff W/All 10 2 A K J 3 2 W/EW J 9 5 3 10 9 4 3 2 K J 9 2 9 9 A K 8 4 3 Q J 7 Q 9 7 2 Q 7 5 9 6 4 6 K 10 7 2 K Q J 6 A Q 5 3 10 4 A K 6 Q 10 4 3 2 K Q 5 4 3 8 7 9 6 5 K J 6 A 10 8 4 3 10 8 A Q 8 4 A 8 7 5 8 7 6 J 8 7 5 A J 10 6 2 5 Open room West North East South West North East South Zatorski Hoftaniska Pachtman Charlsen De Botton Street Malinowski l"Ecuyer 2NT Pass 3 1 Pass Pollack Hoftaniska Fergani Charlsen 3 Pass 4 All Pass 1 Pass 1 Pass 2 Pass 3 Pass 1. Puppet Stayman 3NT Pass Pass Dbl Pass Pass Pass North led the A and continued with the king and jack, South ruffing and cashing the A, +100. Obviously the double asked for a spade lead, so Paul Street duly led 3: 2, Q and 6. Heart back to the jack. Closed room Spade nine to ten and ace. Another heart to the king. West North East South And another spade to the king. Next came a club to the Hackett Street Hydes L'Ecuyer jack. North won the queen and erroneously played a 2NT Pass 3NT All Pass heart back. NS +500 'only'.
Rather than looking for a possible 5-3 major suit fit, East With the same auction at the other table North kicked - if I may misquote from Monopoly - 'Went directly to off with the J: king, ace and 6. Heart to queen and king. Go'. Spade nine to ten and queen. Heart to the ace. K. J North led the A and when South followed with the 8 to queen and ace. Diamond, and south hopped up with and declarer the 7 he cashed the K which saw the ace. Heart to the nine. Heart jack. Two spades. EW declarer score ten tricks and 12 IMPs. minus eleven hundred. To solve this sort of problem you need good defensive agreements. Suppose North leads the K, asking South Little did Janet de Botton expect to win eleven IMPs on to unblock a high honor. When South drops the ten, the board. North knows that West has the queen. (Without a high honor, South gives count). Then North must choose between trying to find South with an entry or playing
- 2 - reached dummy with the trump queen and got rid of this losing diamonds on the high clubs. NS +420.
At the other table the bidding was exactly the same, the play was not. Again, East (Jason Hackett) led his singleton. Declarer won the queen, cashed a top club and played a spade himself. West won and returned the K: ace and ruffed by East. In this situation Jason found the only card to beat the contract:
- A J 10 8 4 3 5 3 A 8 4 3 A Q 10 9 9 7 K 6 J 9 - 8 7 10 9 3 5 2 Q 5 10 8 The King's Gambit Q J 6
W/- 7 He continued with 6! This 'King's gambit' left declarer A J 10 8 4 3 without a chance. At the table declarer won in hand, A Q 5 3 cashed the trump ace (the king dropped), but still went A K down; 10 IMPs to De Botton. K 8 4 3 A Q 10 9 6 9 7 K 6 2 K J 9 7 6 8 7 5 10 9 4 3 J 5 2 Q 5 10 8 4 2 Q J 6 2
West North East South Pollack Hoftaniska Fergani Charlsen Pass 1 1 Pass 3 1 Dbl 3 Pass Pass Dbl Pass 4 Pass Pass Pass
1. Mixed raise
East led his stiff diamond. Low from dummy, seven and queen. Declarer unblocked his clubs and tried a sneaky 10. Kamel Fergani, however, hopped up with the king and returned a low spade. The fact that his partner contributed the 9, meant as suit preference, was of course helpful. West won the king and returned the K: ace and ruffed by East, who continued with a top spade. Nice defense, but not good enough. Declarer ruffed,
- 3 - www.bid72.com
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