ALT VI • BULLETIN 3 • Thursday June 11 2020 • editor: Christina Lund Madsen [email protected] Spicy Hands Blass has taken a solid lead ahead of Street and Tulin. Gupta is in 4th, but De Botton and Donner are trailing within 2 VPs. Donner play Gupta in our last match of the Round Robin today, so they get a shot at their own fate, though de Botton sho face Gillis may overtake both on the battlefield. Last night Jason Hackett made the following comment: "So spicy were the hands today in the ALT VI event today that you could fill 10 bulletins." We only filled one, but there is plenty of spice in this one. PRE-BULLETIN THE ALT Monday, May 11, 2020 editor: Christina Lund Madsen [email protected] INVITATIONAL logistics: Rosalind Hengeveld MAY 11-15, 2020 big data: Joyce Tito online bridge events organized by bid72, bridge24 & netbridge.online Important Notice Today’s Schedule RR 7 & Semis THE ALT INVITATIONALThursday June 11 Thursday June 11 All players should enter BBO 10 MAY 11-15, 2020 10.00 EDT/16.00 CET 14.00 EDT/20.00 CET minutes before their match starts at Blass - Lebowitz Semifinals the latest.online Tournament bridge events organized director by bid72, Denis bridge24 & netbridge.online Gupta - Donner Dobrin is waiting for you and will Street - Tulin instruct you where to sit. Gillis - De Botton sign up for the newsletter - 1 - Swing of the Day by Christina Lund Madsen I love swinging, both as a player and WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH kibitzer. This was a lovely board for any Pepsi Lorenzini Lesniak Bessis with my preferences. We begin with the — 1NT 3♣ Dble biggest swing: Pass 3♦ 3♥ 4♣ Board 13. N / All 5♣ 5♥ Pass 6♦ All Pass ♠ A5 ♥ AKT Well bid by the French. 12 tricks for +1370 ♦ KJ92 meant 17 IMPs for Gupta. Despite this board Blass won the match 73-37, 16.64- ♣ J742 3.36. ♠ Q976432 N ♠ T ♥ 4 W E ♥ J8753 In Street vs. Lebowitz the junior could not ♦ AT S ♦ 6 resist doubling Nicolas L'Ecuyer - Paul ♣ T65 ♣ AKQ983 Street after this auction: ♠ KJ8 ♥ Q962 WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH ♦ Q87543 K. Rosenberg L’Ecuyer Z. Grossack Street ♣ - 1NT Pass 3♣ WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH 2♠ Pass Pass Dble Bertens Nowosadzki Gupta Kalita Pass Pass 3♣ 3♦ — 1NT 2♦* 3♣* Pass 3♠ Pass 4♣ Pass 3NT All Pass Pass 4♥ Dble Pass Pass 5♦ Pass Pass 2♦ Hearts 3♣ ♦ Inv. + Dble All Pass It is hard to blame neither North nor South meant the X of 2♠ as T/O but South. EW simply did well to keep quiet. explained he was not sure about their East led ♣K followed by the ace and got agreement. Despite cuebidding in both the 5 and 6 from his partner. Now the suit clubs and hearts the rest of the auction did is in fact blocked, but hard for declarer not seem very convincing for the juniors, to know that. East shifted to the ♠T, won who finished off with a double. by dummy's king, and declarer played diamonds. West won, played the ♣T, and West led a heart, but when he got in with North tried the jack, not guessing the the ♦A, he could not get his partner in the 2♥-overcaller to have a semi-solid 6-card for the ruff. 12 tricks and +950 for Street. suit. Minus 300. - 2 - WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Pachtmann M. Rosenberg Zatorski Zia 1NT 2♥ 3♣* Pass 3NT All Pass 2♥ Hearts+minor 3♣ ♦ Inv. + Christian Bakke There was a lot less bidding at the seniors' table, and Michael Rosenberg bid what looks like a completely natural 3NT from his seat. East led the ♣Q. I am not sure about their methods, but many play the king as a WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH strong lead. The Q you may lead from (K) Moss Bakke Grue Grude QJ if you would like partner to encourage with the ten. Pachtmann did indeed play 1NT 2NT Pass the ♣5, then the ♣6, and yet again the suit 3♣ Pass Pass 3♦ was blocked. Zatorski tried cashing out in 3♠ 4♦ Pass 5♦ case his partner had 4 clubs and then led All Pass a diamond, but now declarer claimed 9 tricks to limit the IMP-loss to 8. WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH A way to lead from this suit to make it Brogeland Michielsen Lindqvist Cullin easy for partner can be to lead ace (partner will most likely discourage), now continue 1NT 3♣ Dble with the queen and shift after that holds. 4♣ Pass Pass Dble You could also lead K or Q, depending on Pass 4♦ Pass 5♦ which card is looking for the club jack Dble All Pass according to your agreements. If partner has 4 clubs, you might be in trouble figuring that out, but that is only a Sadly for the Norwegians, Brogeland- problem if declarer has 9 quick tricks. Lindqvist could not resist the temptation, so it was 8 IMPs for Donner, but still Gillis In Donner vs. Gillis Brad and Joe contrary wont their first match 12.33-7.67. to their style refrained from doubling Bakke-Grude in 5♦. In Tulin vs. De Botton, Birman-Padon found an alternative contract: - 3 - WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Malinowski Birman De Botton Padon 1NT Pass 3♣ Pass 3♦ Pass 3♠ Dble Pass Pass 4♦ Pass 4♥ All Pass Janet De Botton kept quiet the entire bidding, and NS reached 4♥. She led a spade as ordered, where a club might have worked better tapping declarer at trick 1. Declarer won the ♠A and played a dia- mond. East won and gave his partner a spade ruff, and next followed a club, ruffed. declarer played one round of hearts and now diamonds, while East pitched clubs twice to ruff North's last diamond. She now played another club, and now South did best by crossruffing ending up down 1. Alon Birman With Hydes-Hackett North-South at the other table there was as usual a lot of bidding. WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Verhees Hydes van Prooijen Hackett Contrary to the other two tables with similar auctions, Hackett did not leave 1NT 2♥* 3♣* Hydes in 3NT after he showed a super Pass 3NT Pass 4♣ accept of diamonds. He cuebid 4♣, and Pass 4♥ Dble Pass from there they got to the cold slam. Pass RDbl Pass 4♠ 16 IMPs for De Botton, who defeated Tulin Pass 5♥ Pass 6♦ by 92-45 in an IMP-orgie and are now All Pass within reach of the coveted 4th spot. 2♥ Hearts+minor 3♣ ♦ NF or GF 3NT Super accept - 4 - Results / Ranking RR5 IMPs VPs BLASS STREET 56 39 13.72 6.28 GILLIS GUPTA 38 91 1.53 18.47 DE BOTTON LEBOWITZ 89 64 15.08 4.92 TULIN DONNER 88 74 13.15 6.85 RR6 IMPs VPs BLASS GUPTA 73 37 16.64 3.36 STREET LEBOWITZ 48 47 10.25 9.75 GILLIS DONNER 48 38 12.33 7.67 DE BOTTON TULIN 92 45 17.89 2.11 Link to results After RR 6 VPs Alt VI results 1 BLASS 90.96 2 STREET 75.66 Link to previous Alts & bulletins 3 TULIN 68.70 4 GUPTA 56.73 Bulletins 5 DE BOTTON 56.54 6 DONNER 54.58 Follow us on 7 LEBOWITZ 48.27 Facebook 8 GILLIS 28.56 Click the link 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. - 5 - With Hearts in our Hearts By Martin Cantor Going into Round 5 just one and a half VPs WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH separated Blass and Street, both unbeaten, Kalita Pachtmann Nowosadzki Zatorski at the top of the table. So their head-to- — 3♣ Pass Pass head clash had to be the match to watch. Yesterday’s hands were largely about dia- Dbl Pass 3♥ All Pass monds. Today it was to be hearts. Spades tomorrow perhaps? The very first board Also as so often, pre-empts make it hard set the scene: for the opponents to reach the right con- tract. Pachtmann had quite a lot to spare Board 1. N / None for his first seat pre-empt but it worked very well when the hand belonged to his opponents. East and West both had good ♠ 964 value for their bids, but you can’t really ♥ 2 argue that either of them should have ♦ Q5 done any more. ♣ AK76543 ♠ AK3 ♠ 85 N Nowosadzki made the same 11 tricks, but ♥ QT43 W E ♥ KJ765 200 was a loss of 10 IMPs and a flying start ♦ AT764 S ♦ KJ32 for team Street. ♣ J ♣ 82 ♠ QJT72 ♥ A98 Board 4. W / All ♦ 98 ♣ QT9 ♠ QT6 ♥ 95 WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH ♦ K6 Street Upmark L’Ecuyer Nystrom ♣ AKQT63 — 2♣* Pass 2♠* ♠ J N ♠ 743 ♥ T7432 ♥ AKQJ86 Dbl 4♠ 5♥ Dbl W E ♦ AQT75 S ♦ J83 All Pass ♣ 92 ♣ J ♠ AK9852 2♣ 10-15 5+♣ no 4M ♥ — 2♠ nat F1 ♦ 942 ♣ 8754 As so often, double fits make for lots of tricks, and Nick L’Ecuyer got the diamonds right to score 650.