SNS Bank Matchpoints Pairs 2000

Maastricht, Festi Village, April 30

Session 01, boards 01-07

When we saw no immediate losers, we were pretty optimistic about 7¨. Con Holzscherer, a former Dutch national champion with WAC Tilburg, told us to take a better look, for 7¨ can only be made on a § lead. That way, West ruffs three § in hand, while maintaining trump control: §-ruff, ¨A, ¨T, §-ruff, ©A, §-ruff, ©T, ¨K, etcetera. This dummy reversal requires the trumps to break better than 4-0, © to break 3-2, or 4-card ©-suit to be with 3-card ¨-suit, and some accuracy to take advantage from these favorbale breaks. The other line, 2 ª-ruffs in East, requires trumps to break even, else it is most likely to fail on a premature ruff by the enemy. After two rounds of trumps, West has to discard one ª before he can start ruffing in Dummy, but here, North ruffs the third ©. Of course, this changes our recommended bidding sequence:

1: Designates ¨ as trumps.
2: Shows 1st or 2nd round control in ©. Small slam is almost certain, but if West wants to investigate grand slam, he
    must know more about East's black suits.
3: ¨-control, denies control in black suits.
4: East's last call rules out grand slam, as we have seen.
5: This can only be interpreted as an ultimate preference. If East has extra's for 7¨, there is no way back, unless West comes
    up with a stopper for 6NT.

East has to be very certain of such corrections, for the vaste majority of the field does not even reach 6¨, though the average level of competition of SNS Bank Matchpoints Pairs comes close to that of a Sectional of the ACBL, or Gold Cup Cino del Duca, a (former?) very large matchpoints event at Paris, France.

Such hands make a strong case to raise bonuses for grand slam. It may not make that much of a difference at matchpoints, but the more so at imps. That will require champions to work harder on their grand slam technique, and make the game more spectacular to the audience. At bridge, these things can go hand in hand. ITTF finds it necessary to make the subtle game of table tennis more attractive, by increasing the radius of the ball by 2 mm. WBF obviously doesn't need that sort of crap.

Of course, expert and non-expert feedback are more than welcome.

Recommended bidding sequence:

This time, the wrong player holds the extra ¨ length, but when South shows a moderate opening hand, only very few Norths will think about grand slam.

Recommended bidding sequence:

Many Norths will lead a © to the King. South returns a § to the Jack, North another § to Queen and Ace. From the ©-lead West may draw the inference, North has an entry in ¨, and hook ªJ for his ninth trick. If North finds the §-lead, all West can do is settling for down one.

Majo Nelissen, staff member of the WBF Olympiad at Maastricht, recommends 1¨-1NT-3NT for those playing inverted minors, for East is too strong for a preemptive 3¨-response. He's right, but when we looked at the hand, we did not see 1NT as a very much better alternative. Here, any §-lead by South beats the contract (we would lead the fifth). That's why experts invented all those transfers. As early as the late sixties, West Coast experts like Hermine Baron and Dick Walsh would respond 1© with an East hand like this, see Max Hardy, Five Card Majors Western Style. If diamonds were hearts, East's hand would qualify for a Bergen 3§-response. Perhaps this treatment could be extended to 1¨-openers as well. There is no room for this after 1§, but no need either, for one can always respond 1¨.

Recommended bidding sequence:

West has no choice but to rebid his 5-card ª-suit. 3¨ would be forcing to game. East has no point raising to 3ª, since West has 14 bad hcp at the most. NS can even beat 2ª: ¨9 for the Queen, § to the King, ¨ to the King, small ¨ ruffed with ª9 and ªJ, §A, ¨ ruffed, ªK, ©A, © for Jack, Queen and King, low © to the Eight, ruffed by South, and this uppercut promotes North's ªT to the setting trick. If West doesn't ruff a second ¨, he will lose an extra trick in that suit.

Recommended bidding sequence:

Those Souths playing preemptive jump shifts, will respond 2¨. North then jumps to 3©, which makes 6¨ virtually inevitable. There is nothing wrong with that slam, but West happens to hold a natural trump trick. If West leads a §, only double Dummy play can save South: he takes the Queen with his Ace, plays ªA, runs ªQ, dumping §9, and cashes ©Q, ©A and ©K, dumping his last §-loser. West may ruff, but can do no more harm. If West refuses to ruff the third round of ©, South cashes ¨K, ruffs a ª with ¨T, cashes ¨A and ¨Q, and gives West his only rightful trick.

Recommended bidding sequence:

West's alternative is a negative free 2©-bid (5-card suit, 8-11 hcp), but that gives up on the ª-suit. After his negative double, East has no choice but to rebid his 5-card ¨-suit, though.

South wants to keep East from ruffing § in Dummy, so he leads a ¨ to Seven and Nine. Now East tries ©Q and another ©. South wins, cashes his high ª, and returns ¨ for Queen and King. East draws trumps, crosses in §, and dumps 2 § and a ª on his good © for 9 tricks. Given the good breaks, nothing can keep him from taking the same amount of tricks in a ©-contract.

Recommended bidding sequence:

It takes a §-lead and -continuation to hold East to 10 tricks, for East ducks twice, after which North can never get in. If South leads anything else, and East finesses ª first, he just needs to knock out ©A for 12 tricks.

Go to boards 08-14

Copyright © 2000 by Michel Franssen