TampALT PRE-BULLETIN • Monday December 14 • editor • [email protected] The TampALT Invitational

DECEMBER 14-18 2020

WORLD CLASS ONLINE BRIDGE EVENTS

A Palette of Players Ready to Give We are approaching the end of the year, and I doubt any of us will miss 2020 as we enter the New Year. While we wait for this wonderful event to occur, we are happy to welcome an exciting and diverse field for the last major ALT event this year. We have the best of the best mixed with participants from the TampAlt Qualification, and as so often before, we are probably in for a surprise or two. So join us and see which presents await our players in this time of giving.

All players should enter BBO 10 Today’s Schedule TampAlt minutes before the beginning of a match. TD Denis Dobrin will instruct Monday December 14 you where to sit. All players must have 10:00 EST / 16:00 CET – Swiss R1 (14 boards) their name in their BBO-profile. 12:30 EST / 18:30 CET – Swiss R2 (14 boards) Private isn't allowed for the sake of opponents and kibitzers. 15:00 EST / 21:00 CET – Swiss R3 (14 boards)

- 1 - Draw Round 1

Format 10 rounds of Swiss (14 boards pr. match) followed by quar- terfinals for the top 8 teams.

Results

Link to previous and future Alts & bulletins Alt.bridgeresults.org

- 2 - To do the Impossible From the TampAlt Q By Nick Smith

I had the pleasure of playing in Martin My partner’s double of 1♠ showed 3-card Cantor’s Remembering Roland squad in heart support and I decided to cut to the the TampAlt Qualification, and although chase with 3NT. we were never quite in a position to qua- lify, the event produced some memorable Tim led the ♠A and switched to ♣J which deals. ran to my king. I played a heart to the queen and, for want of anything better to In Match 9, Jonathan Davis and I were up do, tried a spade to the queen and king. against a talented Dutch pair, Tim van After some thought, Tim returned a cun- den Bos and Adriaan Lucassen. Five times ning ♦3… in 14 boards, I was declarer in a sensible, freely-bid game. Three times I had zero The winning line is to rise with the DK, chance as the cards lay and the other two the♣ 8 and cash the ♣Q. If South were also unmakeable, double dummy, but does not discard the ♦A, he is squeezed what lovely deals they were! out of a major card and thrown in with the DA to concede the 9th trick in his choice of This was the first. major exit. So let’s say he discards the ♦A on the ♣Q. Declarer simply cashes the ♠Q and exits with his last spade. South takes 8. Dealer West. None Vul. his two spade winners but must then con- ♠ 7 2 cede the last three to the ♥Q, the ♣A and ♥ 8 6 the ♥A. ♦ Q T 8 6 5 ♣ T 7 5 3 Needless to say, I fell at the first hurdle, ♠ 9 5 ♠ Q J 8 4 playing the ♦J from dummy on the ♦3 ♥ Q J 3 ♥ A 9 7 5 switch – now there was no play. Perhaps I ♦ K J 9 2 ♦ 7 4 should have done better? ♣ A 9 6 4 ♣ K Q 8 ♠ A K T 6 3 Can South avoid this fate after winning ♥ K T 4 2 the ♠K by playing ace and another dia- ♦ A 3 mond? ♣ J 2 Not if I read the cards right. After rising with the ♦K, the key move is again to WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH finesse the♣ 8 and cash the ♣Q. South Davis Lucassen Smith van den Bos must reduce his spades to 106 or his hearts to K10. If the former, I can play the ♠Q and 1♦ Pass 1♠ 1♥ exit with a spade to his ten, to claim two Dble Pass 3NT All Pass hearts and the ♣A at the end. If a heart, I must play the ♥A and, unless he jettisons that card, a second heart to his

- 3 - king for an enforced spade return and the this trick with the ♦K and returns the ♠Q long heart. If he does ditch the heart king (best). Declarer must this trick and under the ace, I have the ♠Q, the ♥Q and South is squeezed in the other three suits the ♣A on top. including trumps.

My fifth and final chance to make a game Say he discards a diamond. North can do was even more byzantine: no better than persevere with the ♠J. This time declarer covers, South ruffs and we overruff in dummy. A diamond is ruffed Board 12. Dealer West. NS Vul. in hand, we go back to the ♥A and a further diamond to strip South of his ace. ♠ Q J T 9 3 Now we can exit with a to South’s ♥ 4 3 king. South must lead from ♣K98, so we ♦ K 9 8 7 4 make the last three tricks with the ♣10, ♣ 6 the ♣A and our remaining trump in hand. ♠ 6 4 ♠ A K 7 5 2 ♥ A Q ♥ J T 9 8 7 2 If instead South discards a club on his ♦ Q 6 5 ♦ J partner’s winning ♠Q, declarer overruffs ♣ A Q J T 4 2 ♣ 5 the next spade with the ♥Q, as before, ♠ 8 cashes the ♣A and ruffs out the♣ K. Now ♥ K 6 5 he can discard his spade loser on the ♣10 ♦ A T 3 2 and South just takes the ♥K at his leisure. ♣ K 9 8 7 3 Not being gifted with second sight, I crossed to the ♣A at trick 2 and tried to WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH take a ruffing club finesse. When North put Davis Lucassen Smith van den Bos a small trump on this, there was no way 1♣ 1♠ 2♥ Pass back for me. I was pleased to go just one 2♠ Pass 3♥ Pass off and gain 3 IMPs when ♣5 was down three in the other room. 4♥ All Pass Double dummy, there is one lead to beat South led his singleton spade. Even loo- 4♥ – a small trump. If declarer wins the king at all four hands, it is not easy to spot queen and (in a moment of inspiration) a line to make 4♥ as the cards lie. But see if calls for the ♣Q from dummy, South must you can spot it! duck the trick! Say declarer perseveres with the ♣J, North ruffs with his remai- The winning line is to take the ♠A, finesse ning trump. Perhaps declarer overruffs the ♣Q and then to lead the ♣J off table! and gets off play with the♦ J. South must Amazingly, I was not up to this. take this and, as long he exits with the ♥6 or a diamond, the defence is now in con- North ruffs the♣ J (best), you overruff and trol. exit with the ♦J. South gains nothing by winning it so let’s assume North takes

- 4 - Award for Alt-Jan by Christina Lund Madsen

The IBPA (American Bridge Press Association) has awarded Jan van den Hoek and Tom Reynolds the Memorial Award 2020 for their efforts organizing online bridge events.

The award is given to initiatives Alan Truscott would have appreciated. The IBPA said the following about the award:

"For your work on setting up the online bridge tournaments that have kept bridge going through the pandemic."

Jan van den Hoek shares the award with Jan van den Hoek Tom Reynolds, who has also organized team matches since the beginning of the pandemic - and is participating in the TampAlt this week. You can (re)read both interviews here:

Both Jan and Tom have previously been Jan van den Hoek interviewed in this bulletin. Tom Reynolds

Online Events for Charity - Christmas is the season of giving December 19-21 ALT supports the CAT Legal Defense Fund alt.bridgeresults.org All fees go to the CAT Legal Defense Fund, so register your team now. Two pro/am events take place during Christmas and New Year. This is a chance to play with a bridge champion while supporting either Norwegian Juniors or ho- meless in California.

December 27th at 1:00 PST / 22:00 CET: Marin Unit Auction for Homeward Bound Bid and play with a US pro to help homeless families.

January 2nd at 12:00 EST/18:00 CET: Drømmemakker Cup - support Juniors in Norway Play with your favourite World Star and support a Norwegian Junior Camp

- 5 - Teams / Players / Nicknames TampALT

AGRIPORT BRIDGESCANNER Anton Hiemstra adh36 Konrad Araszkiewicz konrad80 Bauke Muller beukertje Andrei Arlovich goblin2000 Oscar Nijssen oscar2000 Boguslaw Gierulski bogier Tim van de Paverd tim_p Jerzy Skrzypczak TXT Yke Smit yke Krsysztof Kotorowicz przedpielk Simon de Wijs sm1 Wojciech Olanski Olanski Erikas Vainikonis bookie_lt AMATEURS Vytautas Vainikonis vainikonis Franco Baseggio baseggio Bill Cole april2 CLEMENT Jiang Gu jiang_gu Reda Amiry mavrick Alex Kolesnik kolesnik Nikos Delimpaltadakis nickd Aitai Lo aitail Michel Eidi abulmish1 Harrison Luba hilto37 Clement Maamarbachi cmaa Ming Sheng kainsheng Yankos Papakyriakopoulos yankos Andy Stark astark Ahmed Samir a_samir Vassilis Vroustis bill123 BELGIUM 2 Faramarz Bigdeli faramarz COPPENS Valerie Carcassonne-Labaere etpuiszut Kees Bakker keesbak Philippe Coenraets philippeiv Pim Coppens PimCop Bernard Dehaye alienor2 John Lesmeister jlesme Clovis Dehaye aqwis17 Gert-Jan Ros rosgjw Isabelle Dewasme totilas001 Nico Klaver tttiger Alain Labaere kortrijk Rene Hermans galileo60 Jean-Pierre Lafourcade foxyguy52 Alain Moulart amoulart DE BOTTON BERNAL Thomas Charlsen tcharlsen Francisco Bernal franco64 Janet de Botton Capt Lulu Diego Brenner dbrenner Thor Erik Hoftaniska kasper20 Juan Carlos Castillo juanka Tom Townsend mug Carlos Hoyos charlie111 Agustin Madala septiembre DE MICHELIS Alfredo Versace nevaio Luca De Michelis Lucadm Miguel Villasboas Giuseppe Failla gioffi Massimiliano Di Franco m_difranco BLACK Andrea Manno maqeda Andrew Black boggis Kamil Nowak kamiln dagold Piotr Zatorski dzeronimo Gunnar Hallberg rerack Simon Hult hultahult Andrew Mcintosh mcintosh Thomas Paske thomas1000

- 6 - Teams / Players / Nicknames Minor Alt

DONNER FREDIN Brad Peter Fredin P_Fredin Joe Grue Joegrue Jan Clemmensson jannec Sandra Rimstedt Sandria Gary Gottlieb garybrook Cecilia Rimstedt Cillar Jan Lagerman jan_l Lady007 P-O Sundelin 1swepo Per-Ola Cullin pocken Johan Sylvan joppesyl Gary Donner Gdonnersc1 GILLIS EASTWEST Christian Bakke chrien Niels van Bijsterveld nielsvbij boye Jan Willem Boiten Janwilb stevieg Ruben Buijs Rubensolo Simon Gillis rayas78 Simon ter Elst stelst Erik Saelensminde skaal1 Ruurd Riewald Ruurd Odin Svendsen pirrum Emile Schols mkgnao Yael Topiol top_33 GUPTA Hans Vergoed MrVeryGood malpaluche Roefi Vilier Roefi Simon de Wijs sm1 Kevin Vreeswijk Kevinvrees Naren Gupta nareng Zia Mahmood zia FLEMISH FURY Bauke Muller beukertje Tim van den Bos timvdb Frederic Volcker fred92130 Dennis Dewit hyperon Ronald Goor ronaldgoor HARRIS Sander Goor sanderg Marusa Gold marusab Xavier Friesen xavierf Jonathan Harris Jdache Noa Kant noakant Niall Igoe ibraves Adriaan Lucassen adriaantje Vladi Isporski smileyv Emiel Vandewiele blink128 Eddie Malhasyan Master DJ Reinder van der Weide flinthos Steve Root AsNuttyAs Tobias Westerveld tsbw Todor Tiholov polborta Rumen Trendafilov rumen FRANCE SUD Marc Bompis iglou IMP Bernard Cabanes tonel34 Cathy Baldysz Cathmark Pierre Yves Guillaumin pyg Sophie Baldysz Zofiumb Lasserre Guy eagle 64 Onno Eskes Onno Jean-Marc Hui Ban marquy Steve Green Bashgrove Jean-Jacques Palau grozny06 Rob Helle Rhelle Philippe Poizat taziop Ed Hoogenkamp Altocampo Gerard Sprinkhuizen Sprinksoet

- 7 - Teams / Players / Nicknames TampAlt Q

ISRAEL AND FRIENDS Vincent Demuy Sam Amer samer026 Kevin Castner jafra Erez Hendelman e11 Dan Israeli dan_ehh Phil King philking Peter Trenka trp42 Aran Warszawski aran Asaf Yekutieli tol23

JEDI KNIGHTS David Burn dburn Richard Chamberlain rmchamb David Jones uncle mort NEW ENGLANDERS Mike Graham mdgraham Parul Jain paruljain6 Patrick Shields patr1cks Carrie Liu qiqi MarcSmith Jim Rasmussen jrr Maxim Silin bigmax LA SOCIÉTÉ Thomas Bessis malpaluche POTTER Pierre Franceschetti gewd Kevin Bathurst kmb24 Quentin Robert ptit Vince Demuy okvince Hilda Setton ldase Kevin Dwyer kdwyer Frederic Volcker fred92130 Shan Huang precisebri John Hurd johnhurd LEBOWITZ Cookie Potter ohceep David Grainger drg Adam Grossack nevereast RED DEVILS Zachary Grossack germs345 Geert Arts stratreeg1 dank Sam Bahbout sambah Larry Lebowitz 0 lhl12 Philippe Caputo caputo firechief Steven de Donder pikarek Zvi Engel hros NETBRIDGE Danny de Roos daderoos Kees Bouwen kebosporto Steve de Roos stevedr Aris Bremer arisbreem Mike van der Vorst ratabar Thijs Hoebe hoethi Jan van den Hoek janonline RIPPEY Roderik Oranje roranje Leonardo Cima 100dog Victor Oranje victor nl Walid Elahmadi waso Kees Rentes 7slaper Piotr Nawrocki nawrot Arjan Roelofs arjannl Mike Rippey radiators Jan de Winter winjan tsadek Marco Zomer mczo Piotr Wiankowski vifon_e

- 8 - Teams / Players / Nicknames TampAlt Q

SELIGMAN bakhshi Mark Lair mslair Agustin Madala Artur Malinowski malisuper mseligman

SKEIDAR Lasse Aaseng lasseaa Martin Andresen mime477 Tom Andresen brulle Arve Farstad kha66 Geir Helgemo micelle45 Christer kristoffersen stoffers

SWEICE Jón Baldursson icebaldi Olof Bergstrom zangman Bjorn Fallenius bf Birkir Jonsson birkirjon Adalsteinn Jorgensen jorgi Mats Nilsland nilsland TRANSNATIONALS Martins Balodis MartinsLAT THE RON & THE KIDS Kevin Gotink Kefman23 Jacob Freeman jacob04 Ilze Mikelsone Mikjelsone Finn Kolesnik fkolesnik Maria Mylläri lucky 7 Christian Lahrmann christianl Selena Pepic Selena96 Daniel Lavee thekid1 Louise Selway joloiyse Owen Lien olien Florian Weiss Floon ronsmithsf Jovana Zoranovic jovana_jjz Anam Tebha anamtebha VENTIN THE MUGS Carlos Fernandez Carlitosf Jon Cooke mugsmate Joaquin Pacareu Paca1987 Kay Preddy kay preddy Antonio Palma Apalma Norman Selway jespersens Juan Carlos Ventin Phave Cameron Small cameron_1 Frederic Wrang Fly21 ballebo-jr Fredrik Nystrom f_nystrom ULI Giovanni Donati giova007 Gabriella Olivieri ollina VINITA Giacomo Percario giacomopr Morten Bilde ballebo Federico Primavera fulldire Søren Bilde sbilde Ulrike Schuster chrispe1 Vinita Gupta vinita Walter Schuster schustmozz tgbh3 Antonio Sementa ilaria75 Hemant Lall hemantlall

- 9 - Conditions of Contest • TampAlt

1. The TampAlt (Main event) will be hosted 4. Qualifying Stage in Bridge Base Online from 14th to 18th of The qualifying stage will be played in the December, 2020. form of a “Swiss” and will consist of 140 boards played in 10 matches of 14 boards 2. All participants are bound by the regula- each. The results of each match shall be tions contained within this document. converted into Victory Points in accor- The Alt Organization emphasizes that all dance with the appropriate WBF IMP/VP their events are on invitation. scales (see p. 10 below). Teams who are interested in getting such an invitation and have the idea they meet In the Swiss stage, any errors in assigning the standard of Alt’s various events, can opponents shall not invalidate the result apply for that. of that, or any other, match.

Invitations for this event will be issued to In case of an odd number of teams the bye teams of 4 – 10 players. team will receive 12 VPs. Alt reserves the right not to invite any team/player without giving a reason. In the event of two or more teams having the same number of Victory Points, their At the moment teams and/or players (also rankings will be determined as follows: who have played in the Alt before) are applying, they agree on the reserved rights The total Victory Points of each team's as mentioned. opponents ("Swiss Points") is calculated and the team with the largest number of Should a team be disqualified and/or "Swiss Points" is ranked first, and so on. withdrawn by themselves (before or If two or more teams have the same during the event), no refund of the entry number of "Swiss Points”, their rankings fees will be made. will be determined by their relative IMP quotients. 3. Schedule of play: The top 8 teams from the Swiss qualifying Monday to Wednesday 14-16 December: stage will advance to the knockout stage. 10:00 EST / 16:00 CET – R1 (14 boards) 12:30 EST / 18:30 CET – R2 (14 boards) 5. Knockout Stage 15:00 EST / 21:00 CET – R3 (14 boards) Before the start of the knockout stage a Thursday, 17 December 2020 fixed (standard) bracket will be created 10:00 EST / 16:00 CET – R10 (14 boards) and the teams placed 1st – 4th in the Swiss 14:00 EST / 20:00 CET – Q-final (28 boards) will be seeded no. 1 – 4.

Friday, 18 December 2020 The teams placed 1st-3rd in the Swiss get 10:00 EST / 16:00 CET – Semis (28 boards) to choose their opponents from the teams 14:30 EST / 20:30 CET – Final (32 boards) placed 5th-8th in the Swiss in that order.

- 10 - Conditions of Contest • TampAlt

Those chosen teams are assigned seed no. 1st occasion – warning; 8 – 6 respectively. The teams placed 4th in 2nd and any subsequent occasion – 0.5 VP the Swiss will play the quarterfinal against penalty. the remaining team which gets no. 5. The line-up must be submitted through Quarterfinal and semifinal will be played the line-up web utility. All captains will be over 1 segment of 28 boards each with provided with the respective link and the possible change of the line-up after 14 password. boards (see p. 6 below). It is possible to change the submitted Final will be played over 32 boards, 2 sepa- line-up but not later than 30 minutes rate segments of 16 boards each. before the start of the round.

There will be the following carry over: The line-up is completely blind and will In the quarterfinal no. 1 – 4 get a carry not be published before the start of the over of 10.1 – 6.1 – 3.1 – 1.1 IMP respec- round. tively. In the semifinal and the final the higher ranked teams in the Swiss get a carry over 7. Running the matches of 0.1 IMP as a tiebreaker. All players involved must be online and logged in to Bridge Base Online 10 minutes before the start of the round at the latest. 6. Line-Up All matches of the Round Robin qualifying Players should have their official name stage will be played without change of the on their BBO-profile. Private isn't allowed. line-up; unless there is a serious reason for Teams who infringe this regulation will be that, to be decided by the TD. subject to the following VP penalties: 1st occasion – warning; Semifinal and Final will consist of 2 sepa- 2nd and any subsequent occasion – 0.5 rate segments, so there are no restrictions VP penalty for each match for each player on the line-up. without official name on BBO profile.

The teams are expected to submit their The TD will start the tables and send invi- line-up as soon as practical but in any case tations to the players in accordance with not later than 30 minutes before the start the submitted line-ups. Players are reque- of the round. sted to accept the invitation immediately upon receipt. Teams who infringe this regulation will be subject to VP penalties according to this All tables will play duplicated boards scale: (same boards for every team).

- 11 - Conditions of Contest • TampAlt

The table settings will allow kibitzers but Players are expected to finish 24 forbid communication between players boards within 3 hours 15 minutes. The and kibitzers. Tournament Director may remove unplayed boards if in his opinion a delay Barometer scoring will be OFF. The scores in finishing the match in the allotted time are only visible (for the players) after the would interfere with the smooth running last board has been played. Kibitzers can of the competition. see the scores during the match.

Undo and claim: 8. Request of a TD ruling Alt encourages the players to accept the The Alt team strongly encourages par- opponent’s undo in the obvious misclick ticipants to play in the most respectful situations during the bidding as well as way. Any player can summon the director play. In case such undo is refused a player to the table in case of irregularities. The gets one “challenge” whereby the TD can time for a request for a TD ruling expires be summoned to the table. Play at the 30 minutes after the end of the match. moment of the refusal must be shut down All requests will be decided by a qualified till the TD arrives. The TD is the one who director (if appropriate - in consultation can assess the situation, and if he beli- with another directors and/or world class eves the undo is justified by an obvious players); no further appeal will be possible misclick that no reasonable player should after his/her decision. refuse, the undo has to be accepted by the opponents. To submit protests, captains should send an email to: [email protected]. Players alert their own bids. 9. These Regulations may be amended and If players explain bids via chat they should augmented at the discretion of the orga- set the recipients to Opponents, not Table, nizers if circumstances so warrant so as to so that only opponents see the explana- ensure a smooth, efficient and enjoyable tion not partner. The best way is to explain running of the tournament. the bids via the BBO alert mechanism. Players may not consult their own system Although this tournament isn't aligenced card or use any aids to their memory, with any bridge federation we will coope- calculation or technique between the rate with and provide all information commencement of the auction period and necessary to detect and prevent cheating. the end of play.

The gravest possible offence is for a part- nership to exchange information through prearranged methods of communication other than those sanctioned by the Laws of Bridge or self-kibitzing.

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