Sittard BC Internal Championships Imps Teams 2001

Final, Baandert, Sittard, May 29, 2001


Match Lions versus Carpenters


Boards 13-16


Copyright © 2001-2025 by Michel Franssen

Recommended bidding sequence in our versions of Two over One = Game Force and Precision:

Pass = Downgrading for 3343-pattern.
1ª = 5+ suit, 11-15 hcp in Precision.
2¨ = 4+ suit, 12+ hcp. Immediate raises, natural or conventional, require 4+ support, except for the single raise.
2© = 4+ suit, 11-17 hcp in Two over One.
3ª = 3-card support, giving West the options of bidding 3NT and 4ª. Remember, East already forced game at his preious turn to bid.

The auction at our table went completely different. Our very experienced opponents sat EW and played an older form of Precision:

1¨ = 2+ suit, 11-15 hcp. Never heard of downgrading in all those years.
Dbl = Such razor sharp takeout double must meet a lot of requirements, to make up for the lack of strength:

1. Partner has already passed, so he will not run away with our takeout double.
2. Doubler must have 4-card support for both majors.
3. Partner must be able to respond at the 1-level.

Rdb = 9+ hcp, no major suit to bid, very contradictory to the 5/4, West actually has. West is obviously out to double for penalties, when North responds in a major. West should respond 1ª, which is still a one round force.
2NT = When East asked for the meaning of 2NT, South responded: "Balanced hand, no 4-card majors, 10-11 hcp".
Pass = Taking North's 2NT-response for 'real', in which case North should have at least a play for 2NT.
3ª = Should, to our opinion, show 5+ spades and 12+ hcp, for it cannot be, that we love partscores so much, that we even want to play them vulnerable at the level of three, in a possible misfit. The lucrative alternative of course, was doubling 2NT for penalties.
Pass = Not trusting partner after so many years.

After the play, East called the director, and claimed to have been damaged by South's misexplanation of North's 2NT. This serious accusation was convincingly disproved by South's pass to 2NT, which could easily have costed NS 800 or 1100 points, had EW found the obvious double for penalties.

North, a relative novice, felt that 2NT, over West's redouble, could never be invitational, en should therefore show 5+/5+ in the minors. NS had agreed a jump overcall of 2NT should always show the two lower unbid suits, and that short clubs and daimonds should be taken for real. The only exception was made for the strong and artificial 1§ of, for example the Precision, Roman, and Neapolitan systems, since such 1§-openings are completely artificial.

After the match, EW withdrew their case when it turned out, that winning this case would not win the match for them. In the meanwhile, director already had consulted some experts in the room. The director pro forma ruled that EW had to blame themselves, for not adding up their combined hcp count up to game or a penalty double.

If EW would not have withdrawn their case, North should, of course, have received a warning for not having done his homework, therewith receiving some credit for getting lost in a so far for him unknown system of bidding, and an even stranger (and highly inefficient) way of using it by his opponents.

More analysis to follow.

Recommended bidding sequence in our versions of Two over One = Game Force and Precision:

2¨ = Multi-colored, i.e., weak-2 in a major, or many sorts of strong hands.
2ª = Signoff to weak-2 in spades, invitational to weak-2 in hearts.
3§ = Semiforcing in clubs, i.e., 5+ §-suit and 20-22 hcp, or, 8-9 playing tricks, when clubs are trumps.
3© = 4+ suit and forcing game. The only non-forcing action to 3§ would be pass.
4§ = 6+ clubs, unbalanced, no 4-card suits in ª, ©, or ¨.
4¨ = 5+ suit, implying 5-card ©-suit, or ¨-control.
4ª = ª-control, less than 3©, less than 3¨.
5§ = Surrenders, for the hands do not fit well enough for slam.

Slam only makes on a ¨-lead: ¨A ruffed, ©A, © dumped on ¨K, § to the queen, §A, and ª to the queen to set up 2 ª-tricks. A succesful ©-finesse does not help South very much; he must find East with §K or §Kx.

More analysis to follow.

Recommended bidding sequence in our versions of Two over One = Game Force and Precision:

2§ = Multi Landy: 5+/4+ in the majors (5+/5+ if vulnerable).
2NT = Rubensohl: 6+ transfer to 3§.

More analysis to follow.

Recommended bidding sequence in our versions of Two over One = Game Force and Precision:

1¨ = 1+ suit, 11-15 hcp in our variation of Precision.
Dbl = Although North may have problems, when South responds 1ª, he cannot afford to remain silent with this hand.
1ª = 4+ suit, one round force.
4¨ = 6/6 or 7/6 in hearts and clubs, and void in ¨. North would use the simple jump cues of 3¨ and 3ª to show 5/5 or 6/5 in the unbid suits, and shortness in the suit cued in.
4ª = Attempting to shut North out.
4NT = Six Aces Blackwood, since keycards in © and § are equally important for grand slam.
5© = 2 or 5 out of 6 aces, but denying ©Q or §Q.

The slam makes, unless East has ©KQ4.

More analysis to follow.

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