No. 9: Sabine Auken Gleaned by Bob Denby Sabine Auken (1965 - ) Whilst growing up in a small town in Bavaria, her quiet life blossomed, when aged twelve, on reading Agatha Christie’s “Cards on the Table”, wherein Hercule Poirot solved a murder mystery by using cards from a bridge game, she developed an interest in bridge. Since then the bubbly Sabine has won, nigh on, everything there is to win internationally, including women’s pairs, mixed pairs and teams, open pairs, open teams, and team championships. An example of her brilliance In the 2007 World Bridge Olympiad in Istanbul playing for her native Germany, against Greece, Sabine, South, played the following hand in 6 after five rounds of bidding. West began with a low spade, won by dummy. Sabine unblocked the hearts, cleared the spades, discarding a club from hand, then crossed to the ♣A and drew the remaining trumps. Clearly there is no problem if the ♦A or ♣Q is onside, but Sabine felt there was a fair chance West might have led the ♦A, plus it appeared that West was 5-4 in the majors, suggesting any club length would be with East. Sabine therefore looked for another solution. She cashed her remaining heart winners, to reach the following position. It was still possible to rely on the club finesse, and East had done well to blank the ♣Q, but Sabine was not to be denied, and she crowned a brilliant performance by playing a club to the king to record plus 1430. Note that if East blanks the A, she will be thrown in with it to lead into the club tenace at trick 12. 2015 Vanderbilt Knockout Teams Round 16 Sabine found a bid that generated lots of IMPs for her side, the Marty Fleisher team. With NS vulnerable and East the dealer Sabine opened and the bidding continued as below: Without the 4♦ bid by Sabine, Roy Welland might have got the opening lead wrong. After her intelligent lead-directing action, the diamond lead was a formality. Down one for plus 200 to East-West. In the other room, North-South were allowed to play in the spade game, so the clever bid by Auken created a double-digit swing instead of a huge loss. On any lead but a diamond, declarer was going to make the doubled slam for +1660. In a match that their team won by 18 IMPs, this board turned out to be critical. 2nd IOC Grand Prix 1999 This event featured a women's team match between North America and Europe who won comfortably over 128 boards. The European team comprised of Sabine and Daniela von Arnim (Germany), Véronique Bessis-Catherine D'Ovidio (France), Pat Davies-Nicola Smith (Great Britain), and Bep Vriend-Marijke van der Pas (The Netherlands). From that event, Sabine's careful technique and accurate card-reading enabled her to make a 3NT contract in which most of the field went down. The deal has been rotated to make South declarer. West led the ♦5 (4th best) to East's ♦Q and Sabine's ♦A. Sabine went after spades, finessing into East. East might have done better with a club shift, but she returned the ♦10, ducked by Sabine in the dummy. East then played clubs Sabine winning the second round with the ace, and then took a successful spade finesse. Sabine correctly inferred that since West was known to have 4 spades, 5 diamonds, and at least 2 clubs, the heart suit was unlikely to run. Furthermore, there was a good chance that West was out of clubs. Sabine therefore developed another spade trick by driving out West's ♠K. West could do no better than to return a diamond and Sabine won with dummy's ♦K. On the play of North's last spade, East had to keep a club guard and thus just two hearts. So Sabine knew to cash the A and K and thus make her contract. Her careful play earned the European team a swing. A reverse - the Rule of Nine that worked against Sabine When do you pass and when do you bid over partner’s double of a weak two opening is a dilemma often faced when holding a hand of medium strength with game or a decent penalty a possibility. Why not use the simple Rule of Nine. (See the article on the Rule of Nine also on this site). The rule is that, if you are musing whether to pass partner’s takeout double, by turning it into a penalty double, add together the number of cards and the number of honour cards you have in the opponents’ bid suit, plus the level of the auction. If the total is 9+, pass; otherwise, bid. Mel Colchamiro partnering with his wife Janet in the teams knockout event of the 2014 American Summer Nationals in no small measure proved the efficacy of the rule against Sabine and partner Jim Mahaffey. Sabine, South, opened a weak two in Hearts (5-10 HCP) and Janet, West, doubled with 15 HCP with four spades and balanced distribution. Mel with 10 HCP, three spades and four Hearts assessed the situation and applied his rule. His total came to nine with 4 hearts, the 3 honours, the KQ10, plus level two, and quickly passed. The result was +300 and a swing of 350 as at the other table the East/West pair played 3NT going one off on the lead of J. A Steal To end a 3NT steal on Bridge Base Online in December 2014, that appeared before, but is worth repeating. Whilst a steal can happen at one’s local club, it’s less likely amongst international players. This one is by Sabine (jcmax) against the “boys”, who got away with murder, in 3NT, with just seven tricks on top. Firstly, a bidding explanation , 1♣ - at least 2, balanced, and not denying any other 5+ suit, 1♥ - transfer to 1♠. 1NT - 17-19 hcps, 2♥ - repeat transfer, showing 5+♠. 2♠ - waiting. 2NT - transfer to 3♣. 3♣ - waiting, 3♦ shortage. 3NT to play. East led the ♦J, ducked by Sabine. East then led the ♣9, won after “some thought” by Sabine with the ace. Now the key play, the ♥5 was led with Sabine playing the queen on the six, and won by the king. Back came another club won by the king. The spade five was then played, followed by the four, the ten, and ducked by West. Sabine then played the clubs ending in hand and cashed three rounds of diamonds. Now East was on lead from ♠J ♥A8 and elected to play the jack to Sabine’s ace, and the ninth trick, the long diamond then hit the deck. And comments, and emoticons rained on BBO who show via live Vugraph most of the top bridge events https://www.bridgebase.com/, The moral, if you are in a decidedly thin contract, remain calm, confident, and if necessary aim to deflect your opponents, and you never know, you may have a very satisfactory ending. Sabine agrees with the very well known saying 'Winner in bridge is he/she who makes the least mistakes and not the one who plays best'. She says that there are no limits, you can always do better. The Macallan Invitational Pairs was at that time one of the truly great bridge events and in 1998 two female pairs finished 2nd and 3rd. Nicola Smith and Pat Davies from England, and Sabine with Daniela von Arnim from Germany. One memorable hand occurred when the two pairs met and Sabine as East opened a strong club, Daniela responded 1♠ showing three controls (ace 2 and king 1). Sabine then bid 2NT showing a 23/24 count and Daniela bid 3♠, a 5+club transfer. Sabine then signed off in 6NT. The spade lead was won by dummy’s queen, and then the queen, jack of clubs were cashed. On the jack, Sabine noticed North discarding the diamond three and surmised correctly that it was from a 5-card suit. On that assessment Sabine cashed just the diamond ace before continuing with the clubs. On the fifth club South was under pressure and discarded a spade. Sabine then crossed back to hand with a diamond and threw South in on the fourth spade, who in turn had to lead away from the heart king into Sabine’s tenace for the contract. Sabine was one of two pairs to make the contract, the other declarer gratefully accepting the heart lead by South. Sabine has said that maintaining focus is one of the most important aspects of playing bridge, and thus discussing hands at the table is a no-no, especially with your opponents. Whilst her bridge triumphs include two Venice Cup titles (with Daniela von Arnim) and one World Mixed Team title (partnering Zia Mahmood), Sabine has been seeking new challenges by participating only in open competition. Her results in the past few years with Roy Welland, her partner both in bridge and life, have proved beyond any doubt that she is the only woman currently in bridge who is regarded as a peer by her male competitors. Among their many victories, the highlights were winning the 2013 European Open Pairs, Sabine being the first woman ever to do so, then the Vanderbilt in 2013, and the Spingold in 2016. When Roy was asked, during the 2014 European Team Championships what is it like playing with Sabine? “Oh, it’s the best. We have the most fun system of any bridge players in the world.