TampALT PRE-BULLETIN • Monday December 14 • editor Christina Lund Madsen • [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 finesse 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 Board 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 duck 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 ruff a further diamond to strip South of his ace. ♠ Q J T 9 3 Now we can exit with a trump 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 Alan Truscott 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 entry 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 David Gold 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 Moss Brad Peter Fredin P_Fredin Joe Grue Joegrue Jan Clemmensson jannec Sandra Rimstedt Sandria Gary Gottlieb garybrook Cecilia Rimstedt Cillar Jan Lagerman jan_l Marion Michielsen 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 Brogeland boye Jan Willem Boiten Janwilb Espen Lindqvist stevieg Ruben Buijs Rubensolo Simon Gillis rayas78 Simon ter Elst stelst Erik Saelensminde