Sittard BC
Internal Championships Imps Teams 2001
Semifinals, Baandert, Sittard, May
22, 2001
Match Lions versus Sextet
Boards 01-04
Copyright © 2001-2025 by Michel Franssen
Board 1
N/-
WEST |
NORTH
ª J 9 8 3
© K J T 8 2
¨ J T 5
§ 5 |
EAST |
ª K Q 2
© A 4
¨ A Q 4
§ A 9 7 4 3 |
SOUTH |
ª T 7 6 4
© Q 9 7 6 3
¨ 7 2
§ Q 6 |
|
ª A 5
© 5
¨ K 9 8 6 3
§ K J T 8 2 |
|
|
|
|
Recommended bidding sequence:
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| --- |
pass |
pass |
1¨ |
| dbl |
1© |
pass |
2§ |
| dbl |
2¨ |
pass |
pass |
| pass. |
|
|
|
|
West's ambitions should take an end, when East still can't bid over his second takeout
double and North's prefential.
More analysis to follow.
Board 2
E/NS
WEST |
NORTH
ª K Q 4 2
© Q 9
¨ K
§ A K Q 9 7 6 |
EAST |
ª J T 6
© K J 4 2
¨ Q 8 6 3
§ J 5 |
SOUTH |
ª A 7 5 3
© T 7 5
¨ A T 5
§ T 3 2 |
|
ª 9 8
© A 8 6 3
¨ J 9 7 4 2
§ 8 4 |
|
|
|
|
Recommended bidding sequence:
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| --- |
--- |
pass |
pass |
| pass |
1§ |
pass |
1© |
| pass |
1ª |
pass |
1NT |
| pass |
3NT |
pass |
pass |
| pass. |
|
|
|
|
1© = Walsh approach,
bypassing a longer ¨-suit in order to find the ©-fit as soon as possible.
3NT = North downgrades a little for his stiff king, but his excellent §-suit more than makes up for it. 2NT would be an underbid, unless
NS have agreed, like Enri Leufkens and Berry Westra,
that such rebid forces game
More analysis to follow.
Board 3
S/EW
WEST |
NORTH
ª 9 2
© K J 9 7
¨ Q T 6
§ T 7 3 2 |
EAST |
ª K 7 4
© A 8 5 4 2
¨ K 8 2
§ A 6 |
SOUTH |
ª A Q 8 6 5
© Q 6
¨ A 7
§ K J 9 4 |
|
ª J T 3
© T 3
¨ J 9 5 4 3
§ Q 8 5 |
|
|
|
|
Recommended bidding sequence:
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| --- |
--- |
--- |
pass |
| 1© |
pass |
1ª |
pass |
| 1NT |
pass |
2§ |
pass |
| 3ª |
pass |
3NT |
pass |
| 4§ |
pass |
4¨ |
pass |
| 4© |
pass |
4NT |
pass |
| 5¨ |
pass |
6ª |
pass |
| pass |
pass. |
|
|
|
2§ = Checkback Stayman,
used to keep the bidding going with a variety of hands. This time, East wants to know
whether or not West has 3-card ª-support.
3ª = 3-card ª-support
and 14 hcp. West must jump, since East may just have invitational values. Some
partnerships treat 2§ as a game force, and
would let West jump to 3ª with minimum values.
3NT = Serious 3NT, i.e,. a general cuebid to investigate ª-slam. Technically, this call cannot be
misunderstood, for if East is interested in 3NT only, he will certainly bid it right over
1NT, rather then telling the enemy were to look for his side's weakness.
4§ = 1st or 2nd round control of clubs; from
his previous 1NT-rebid, West should have ace or king.
4¨ = 1st or 2nd round control of diamonds;
could be singleton or void.
4© = 1st or 2nd round control of hearts, ace or
king only. Now we see how important the Serious 3NT can be. If East starts cuebidding with
4§, and West responds 4¨, East has four options:
- Start asking for keycards, a sort of gamble, since West has not
guaranteed ace or king of hearts.
- Forget about keycards, and cuebid 5¨,
promising 1st or 2nd round control of diamonds, and denying 1st round control of clubs at
the same time.
- Wait in 4ª, hoping West will not take this as
a signoff, and march on with 1st or 2nd round control of hearts, the control East denies
with 4ª.
- Think for at least 60 seconds, and then bid 4ª. This actually happened against us. We were foolish
enough to let this happen without retaining our rights to call the director after the play
of this hand, which were are entitled to under European Bridge Laws. We will get back to
this after having completed discussion of our recommended bidding sequence.
4NT = Roman KeyCard Blackwood.
5¨ = 0 or 3 out of 5 aces, 1403-variation.
6ª = East should not even dream of grand slam.
West has already promised 2 aces and the king of spades, and cannot possibly have the ©AKJTx needed to make 7ª a winning venture in the long run. (West could have the ten
allright, but not the jack, for with 15 hcp and 3532 or 3523, West would open 1NT).
Now back to the auction on our table:
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| --- |
--- |
--- |
pass |
| 1© |
pass |
1ª |
pass |
| 1NT |
pass |
2§ |
pass |
| 3ª |
pass |
4§ |
pass |
| 4¨ |
pass |
....4ª |
pass |
| 4NT |
pass |
5ª |
pass |
| 6ª |
pass |
pass |
pass. |
|
4NT = RKCB.
5ª = 2 or 5 aces, and,
the queen of trumps.
By cuebidding 4¨, West has told all the secrets
of his hand, so the rest is up to East. If East decides to sign off in 4ª, West should obey, unless the hcp strength of his
hand increases during the auction. In no case, West can react differently to a 4ª-call after a long pause of thought.
South led ª3, in order to keep East from
ruffing clubs or diamonds in dummy. East drew trumps, ending in dummy, and called for a
heart to North's king. North returned a ¨ to
the ace. East unblocked ©Q, crossed to ¨K, dumped a club on ©A, ruffed a heart, crossed in clubs, and dumped his remaining §-loser on the fifth heart.
We could still have called for the director after the hand was played, but were again
foolish enough to let it go by. Any competent director would have reverted the result to 4ª+2 by East, based on WBF laws 16A2 and 73F1.
More analysis to follow.
Board 4
W/All
WEST |
NORTH
ª 4 3
© A J
¨ 9 8 7 4
§ J T 9 4 2 |
EAST |
ª A Q T 9 8 6
© 9 7 6 4
¨ Q J
§ 8 |
SOUTH |
ª J 7 2
© Q 8 5 3
¨ K 5 3 2
§ 7 3 |
|
ª K 5
© K T 2
¨ A T 6
§ A K Q 6 5 |
|
|
|
|
Recommended bidding sequence:
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| 2¨ |
pass |
2© |
dbl |
| 2ª |
pass |
pass |
2NT |
| pass |
3NT |
pass |
pass |
| pass. |
|
|
|
|
2¨ = Multi-colored,
i.e., weak-2 in a major, or, one of several types of strong hands.
2© = Signoff opposite weak-2 in hearts. East
may be invitational opposite weak-2 in spades, in case he will raise West's rebid of 2ª to 3ª.
Dbl = Takeout. South either has a 4-card suit in the presumed unbid major, and 12-15 hcp,
or, one of many 16+ hands.
2ª = Showing weak-2 in spades. Vulnerable,
West's spades should consist of KQxxxx, AJTxxx or better.
2NT = A 2NT-overcall to East's 2© would show a
balanced hand, stoppers in both majors*, and 15-17 hcp. Now when East has doubled first,
he should have 18-19 hcp.
*West has not told us yet, which major he has for his presumed weak-2.
More analysis to follow.
Go to
Boards 05-08