Bread N' Butter Part IV

This is Part IV of the Bread N' Butter series: a look at Meckwell bidding in the recent world championship when one of them had 10 to 17 balanced, either in opening position, or directly over an opponent's opening. We will consider balanced as any 4-3-3-3/4-4-3-2/5-3-3-2, plus any hand that Meckwell treated as balanced.

US expert Richard Pavlicek (see RPBridge link on the right for his full site) has an interesting chart of top pro performance:

http://www.rpbridge.net/9x65.htm

One thing to consider for this chart, is that Meckwell almost always play the tough matches and sessions. On day 4 of this year's Bermuda Bowl round robin all the matches were tough, meaning there was no break for Meckwell. They started the day playing the always competitive German squad. This match featured our first look in this series at the Meckwell notrump structure.


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On board 21 Meckwell wheeled out one of their favorite gadgets, 1NT-2NT as Puppet Stayman. Compared to using 1NT-3C as Puppet Stayman, 2NT has extra space, and Meckwell use it to handle the 5-4/4-5 in the minors hand, game going, no four card major, and with major suit shortness if just game going values. The theory is that if opener bids a five card major over 2NT Puppet Stayman, then if it hits a three card fit on a 5-4-3-1, they are well placed. Likewise if it hits the singleton of the 5-4-3-1, then there is no 4-4 minor fit for slam purposes, and usually there will be wasted values in the five card major opposite the shortness, and thus 3NT will be a good place to park the contract. Here on this board Rodwell used Puppet Stayman, Meckstroth denied a five card major with 3C, Rodwell showed 5-4/4-5 in the minors game going values with no four card major, 3H asked shortness, and 3NT showed short hearts. Both tables made +460.

On board 28, Rodwell opened a 14-16, and North doubled with good playing value.


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Meckwell provided their opponents with one of the best convention cards at the world championships, including 21 supplemental notes. Their convention card can currently be seen here:

http://www.ecatsbridge.com/documents/files/2009Brazil/Systems/bermudabowl/usa2/meckstroth-rodwell.pdf

Note 18 tells us that: "1N comp: … system on over ART X. Over PEN X, XX=C/H or D/S". Since this German pair describe their double as penalty on their convention card, Meckstroth's double showed either the rounded or pointed suits. Rodwell bid clubs in case it was rounded, and North bid two spades only to hit a pointed LHO. This was down two, and in the open room North overcalled one spade over West's one club opening, played there for down one, and that was 3 IMPs to USA2.


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On board 31, Rodwell transferred to hearts, then showed clubs with game going values opposite the 14-16, with a hand that is better than its 9 high card points. South led a small spade using 3/5 leads against notrump. It was not clear to Meckstroth on whether to duck two spades or not. He won the second spade trick, and knocked out the diamond ace. South continued spades, and North was able to set the contract when in with the diamond king. At the other table the lead was the spade 7, which gave declarer a better read on the suit layout, and he ducked the first two rounds to bring home +400 and 10 IMPs. This was enough to give German a 35-26 win, 17-13 in victory points.

Bread N' Butter Part III

This is Part III of the Bread N' Butter series: a look at Meckwell bidding in the recent world championship when one of them had 10 to 17 balanced, either in opening position, or directly over an opponent's opening. We will consider balanced as any 4-3-3-3/4-4-3-2/5-3-3-2, plus any hand that Meckwell treated as balanced.

Round 8 featured USA2 against my pick for the gold medal, Bulgaria. The latter team ended on the podium, but only with the bronze, but still gold vs. bronze was a heavy metal match in the round robin.


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On the first board Rodwell opened another maximum, having 13 points for a balanced hand in their one diamond opening. East countered with a natural two diamond overcall, and West showed a well-prepared partnership, able to bid three clubs as a substitute cuebid (another option that could be employed, if 2D would usually be six or longer, would be 2NT as a forcing call, much like a cuebid). Now this got them to the decent four heart contract making. In the other room, Hamman was also able to make a natural two diamond overcall over an artificial one diamond opening, but there Zia leapt to 3NT. On a bad day, 3NT would be off five or six clubs on the go, but here the long clubs were entryless, and the 3NT adventure just cost 1 IMP.


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On board 19, another one diamond opening was again countered with a natural diamond overcall, and East was able to make a non-forcing two spade call. Now Rodwell took the high percentage chance that Meckstroth didn't have natural diamonds with short clubs, and competed with three clubs. On a bad day Meckstroth would be 4-4-4-1 or 4-3-5-1 or 4-4-5-0 and three clubs would get doubled and drilled, but here Rodwell's three club venture was worth a push, as it was the very same adventure in the other room!


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On board 21, we see that even Meckstroth has his limits for takeout doubles with 4-3-3-3s, vulnerable, opposite a passed hand. Even though it must have been hard to pass a hand that would have opened if given the opportunity, once East opened his 4-3-3-3 11 count with one diamond, that prevented Meckstroth from introducing his. 1NT made for 3 IMPs, as the other room was comatose.


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On board 23, Meckstroth applied a typical Meckwell upgrade. The 10 count had a five card suit, with the T987 for spots, and a bonus ten in the heart suit. Thus the "11-15" one diamond was opened. West with diamonds well stopped, overcalled 1NT and this was doubled by Rodwell. Both sides had 20 high card points, but Rodwell had the tempo of the opening lead - a spade lead set up seven tricks for the defense and +200. In the other room North-South played two spades, +110, and that was 3 IMPs for USA2.


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Board 25 saw an interesting treatment of the 3C jump by Bulgaria - here it was a game force with clubs. I like the Meckwell method of using 3C as a signoff with both minors, and on this hand one could just bid 2C over 1S as natural and forcing - perhaps for this East-West pair a two club bid would not be forcing.


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Board 27, saw yet another Meckwell upgrade into a one diamond opening with a ten count - again here the five card suit had nice spots. West overcalled that five card suit, and now Rodwell made a negative double. His side only had 17 high card points, and no eight card fit, but there easily could have been a fit in one of his suits. This was redoubled, and sent back to Rodwell who had a decision. On a bad day, Meckstroth could be 3-3-2-5, and now any bid he made might get doubled and drilled. However Rodwell's choice of two diamonds instead got both East and West to take additional calls, and they reached three hearts down three, undoubled since Rodwell had to be concerned that Meckstroth might have a ten count in a bad layout - here he had that ten count, but the layout was ideal. In the other room Hamman competed by bidding hearts twice, and this got Zia to introduce clubs for some reason - down two was worth 2 IMPs to USA2.

It's been all odd boards so far, but we get even on the last board we look at: board 30.


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Meckstroth had a healthy 13 count for his 3-4-3-3, so he doubled the artificial one diamond opening. Rodwell leapt right to four spades, and West doubled this on the way out. This was down 2 for -300. In the other room, Hamman, using an ancient style where ace-less ten counts don't open one bids, passed, and South opened.


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Hamman's double was responsive, bringing the minors into play (okay, into the bidding), and the redouble was support, showing exactly three spades. Here North was content with just two spades, making for 9 IMPs. USA2 won the match 24-22, but again this was just a 15-15 victory point tie.

Bread N' Butter Part II

This is Part II of the Bread N' Butter series: a look at Meckwell bidding in the recent world championship when one of them had 10 to 17 balanced, either in opening position, or directly over an opponent's opening. We will consider balanced as any 4-3-3-3/4-4-3-2/5-3-3-2, plus any hand that Meckwell treated as balanced.

The Meckwell system notes run hundreds and hundreds of pages, though in recent years a few pages have been tossed with the elimination of both Multi (no strong option) and mini-notrump in certain circumstances. Yet having those notes wouldn't do you that much good without knowing how to use the system - even more important than knowing the meaning of a bid is knowing when to employ it. I think that's one of the primary reasons that Meckwell have kept a tight rein on their system. If their system notes were used indiscriminately, without understanding the style and judgment necessary to use it, the results could be somewhat dismal.

One objective of this series is to look at the style and judgment on average balanced hands that Meckwell brought to the table at this year's Bermuda Bowl, and that help propel them to world champions once again. In round 6 against Norway we see some key examples of the Meckwell style with balanced hands.

On the first board of the match Meckstroth opened one diamond in second seat with 11 high card points.


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South doubled, and Rodwell, comfortable with diamonds and not having much in points, passed. It is not necessary to bid up a storm to dissuade your opponents from bidding game - sometimes just opening at the one level can do it. When North bid two clubs, South took the low road and missed three notrump. How much did Meckwell gain here?

Well they lost 4 IMPs.

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In the other room East opened a natural one club, and Zia doubled, West, not at all comfortable about clubs, transferred to spades, and Hamman passed to await developments. When East's one spade came back to him, he now bid two diamonds, but Zia, even with four spade stoppers, didn't want to try for three notrump with three little clubs. 2D was down one after declarer played clubs early. Picture the North-South auction if East doesn't open in one of the rooms.

Three boards later we see a typical auction in the other room.


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West opened a natural one diamond, Hamman overcalled, and East made a negative double, knowing if partner bids two hearts, he can now bid two spades showing five or longer spades but a hand not good enough to bid two spades directly over two clubs. Zia introduced hearts over the double, in a situation where some would play transfers (in that case a transfer to hearts would either be natural with hearts and/or lead directional in hearts with a club fit). West competed in spades, and East had just enough, including a fifth spade and ace third of diamonds, to need to invite. This was down one.


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In the Meckwell room, Rodwell opened one diamond, showing two or more. When North overcalled, Meckstroth stayed out of the bidding, even with nine high card points. North-South ended in three clubs, making, for a push.

The next board had Meckwell not even trying for game while the opponents tried four hearts. How do you think a game fared that Meckwell did not even sniff at? Four hearts was doubled, down 2, and that was 9 IMPs for USA2.


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On the next board, Hamman and Zia reached 3NT played by Hamman, a contract that has brought in zillions of IMPs over many decades. However the black suits didn't cooperate, and the communications between the two hands were tenuous, and the contract ended down three. The alert on the one spade was that it was natural but promised an unbalanced hand - with a balanced hand, they rebid in notrump even with four spades.


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In the Meckwell room, Meckstroth opened one diamond with the 4-3-3-3 11 count. When South overcalled two clubs, nobody saw a reason to bid, and this made, giving 6 IMPs to Norway.

On board 26, the last board of this match for this series, Meckstroth opened one diamond, this time with a maximum point count for a balanced hand in their one diamond opening in first or second seat. In the old days you needed 13 points to open - now 13 points is a maximum!


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South overcalled one heart, Rodwell made a negative double to show four spades, and now both sides raised their major suit, and South made a competitive bid of three hearts. He has a small doubleton in spades, and strong working cards in each of the other suits. However he only has five hearts, and no singleton/void, which, in terms of the Law of Total Tricks, suggests passing two spades. This type of decision shows why expert partnerships try to accurately define the two heart bid over the negative double, some using this bid only with a weak hand or only with constructive strength, and some use a jump bid of some sort over the negative double to show a mixed raise, having four trumps with constructive values, in order that the two heart bid can deny that.

Three hearts was down two, -200. In the other room Hamman showed their methods for keeping two hearts well defined: he passed the negative double. This allowed the opponents to play two spades, and USA2 gained 2 IMPs. Norway won this low scoring match 24-22, but that was a tie in round robin scoring victory points 15-15. Norway was content with the victory point tie as they were in first place after the initial two days, while USA2 was holding down the seventh of eight playoff spots.

Bread N' Butter Part I

This is Part I of the Bread N' Butter series: a look at Meckwell bidding in the recent world championship when one of them had 10 to 17 balanced, either in opening position, or directly over an opponent's opening. We will consider balanced as any 4-3-3-3/4-4-3-2/5-3-3-2, plus any hand that Meckwell treated as balanced.

The first match we have records for USA2 in the world championships is in round 3, against USA1, in the last match of day 1. The format of the round robin is to match teams from the same zone relatively early, in order to reduce the possibility that a team that can't qualify might throw a match to assist another team from the same zone - see related discussion about F1 racing today.

This match had plenty of Meckwell style viewpoints on flat hands.

(To see the 11 IMPs lost on board 1, click here: http://cuebiddingatbridge.blogspot.com/2009/09/what-heck.html )

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On board 2, Meckstroth opened a 14-16 1NT, and Rodwell responded 2S, their range ask. 1NT-2S handles both the invite with no 4cM (1NT-2NT in standard), and a transfer to clubs. Unlike those who play 1NT-2S as a transfer to clubs, opener here does not show whether they like or don't like clubs - its just 2NT with a minimum, 3C with a maximum.

One problem with 1NT-2S as artificial, as most do, is that it can be doubled showing spades, as it was here. Now one of the best approaches is to pass with decent spades, allowing responder to redouble to ask opener to rebid as usual: 1NT-2S-(Dbl)-P-Rdbl asks opener to bid as if double and pass were not made. Here Meckstroth bid as if the double did not exist, 3C showing a maximum 14-16 1NT opening - this had the advantage of giving the opponents only one more bid each, before he was left to play in 3C, just making. The commentators thought that Robinson's club holding was a reason for not bidding again, but given EW have at least an eight card club fit (aside from rare exceptions), the North hand works opposite most South hands with at most two clubs.

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At the other table 2S was also a range ask (and/or clubs), and it also got doubled. Again here the double was ignored, and 2NT showed a minimum notrump. However the really strange thing is that the Doug Doub - Adam Wildavsky partnership are weak notrumpers: 1NT was supposed to be 12-14, and here 1NT is being opened with 16!

Here, facing what he is told is a minimum weak notrump, Hamman doubled twice, and Zia made a nice 4C "pick a spot" bid. Against 4S East led the club ace, ruffed. Now Hamman played play a diamond to the king, and ace, and when East tried to cash the diamond queen, the contract was coming home, and that was 12 IMPs to USA2. If East had found a small spade away from the QJ after winning the diamond ace, then the contract would have been down.

On the very next board we see an Italian style double by Meckstroth:

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Sometimes this particular style of double, on a flat hand, is called a Bramley, after the US expert who thinks doubling early is better than waiting until later to come into the bidding. However Bramley was commentating at the time, and said "my kind of double - actually, this one is a bit much even for me".

Meckstroth has several concerns on this hand - he is vulnerable against not, and he is opposite a passed partner, and he has no aces, so there is almost no chance of reaching and making game on this hand - double is just fighting for a part score contract, one that could be down 100 a trick.

If you want to see Rodwell double on a flat hand, red vs. white, opposite a passed hand, see page 4, board 2, of

http://www.cavendishinvitational.com/2009/SATBULL2009.pdf

I like Meckstroth's double. If you got to get in, get in early. With 4 clubs in hand, and RHO opening 1C, partner will usually have a suit to bid, often five or longer. However the double is risk if playing standard takeout double responses, where a jump suit bid (e.g. 1C-Dbl-P-2H) can be just 4 cards, albeit with some values. Instead I recommend jump suit replies to the takeout double always promise 5 or longer, thus landing in an eight card or better fit, and that a jump to the two level only promises about 6 to 10 high card points. With just a four card suit, either don't jump, or with invite or better values, cuebid. This means a non-jump reply to a takeout double will be wider ranging than standard, but opener will know it is not that shapely if 6 or more points.

After the double, South transferred to spades, Rodwell doubled to show hearts, North redoubled to show exactly three spades, and South invited with 3C. This ended down one, where in the other room EW were silent, and 1C-1S was all the bidding, +80, and 4 IMPs.

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On board 6 Meckstroth opened an 11 count with 1D - a nice AAK 11 this time. South overcalled 1H, Rodwell bid 1S showing five or longer spades, North jumped to 3C shows clubs and the heart fit, Meckstroth double to show exactly three spades even though dead minimum. This got Rodwell to take a shot at 4S, which was down 3, that would have been a nasty -800 if doubled.

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In the other room, the East hand passed, and West opened: 1S-Dbl-2H-4H-4S-5H-Dbl. 2H was a good spade raise, and Hamman's 5H bid was costly, -300 and lose 12 IMPs.

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On board 8, Meckstroth opened a 14-16 1NT in third seat, and played there and went down one. South didn't have a pure value showing double (double would be 4M & 5+minor or one minor or strong hand), and had to take the risk of passing - it was risk, since Meckstroth would upgrade some 13s into the not vulnerable third seat 1NT, and North South could have game on power.

In the other room, East, playing a weak notrump, opened 1D, and Zia overcalled 1NT, making for 1 IMP.


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On board 10 Rodwell overcalled a 1S opening with 1NT (15-18) - after the overcall the runout to clubs started with 2C, Stayman, and then a non-forcing 3C bid. In the other room West doubled 1S, and East played in 2C making, With 3C down 1, that was 5 IMPs to USA1.

On board 13 Meckstroth held:


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He opened 1H. Does it look like he had extras? Rodwell responded 1S, Meckstroth rebid 1NT, and lost 1 IMP as the other room made an overtrick in the same contract.

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The reason I asked if Meckstroth held extras, was on the very next hand, Meckstroth opened a "11-15" first seat 1S on a flat 10 count. Against upgrading is the unsupported club jack and the flat hand. For it would be a nice AQ spade combo in a long suit, and the T9 of diamonds. Rodwell jumped to 3NT over 1S, showing a 4-3-3-3 with 3 spades and game going values, and here they were in a Meckwell 23 point 3NT. On a heart lead, Rodwell was able to set up spades with one loser, and knock out the diamond ace: 4Ss + 3Hs and a trick in each minor was +600. In the other room, East passed, West opened a weak notrump, and they played in 2S, making 4, and losing 6 IMPs.


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On board 15, Meckstroth had this flat hand at favorable, and it went P-P-1NT(14+ to 18-)-?. He did not use DONT here (2C with Cs and major), but instead passed, and both tables played 3D by North South for a push. The match was a 56-18 win for USA2.

Bread N' Butter Introduction

Now for the lead-in to the Bread N' Butter series: a look at Meckwell bidding in the recent world championship when one of them had 10 to 17 balanced, either in opening position, or directly over an opponent's opening. We will consider balanced as any 4-3-3-3/4-4-3-2/5-3-3-2, plus any hand that Meckwell treated as balanced.

The basic opening structure with balanced 10-17 for Meckwell is:

10: Pass (gasp!)
11-13: 1D (1D can also be 10-15 with unbalanced Ds, or 10-15 with 4-1-3-5/1-4-3-5)
14-16: 1NT
17: 1C (16+ if unbalanced, 17+ balanced)

However vulnerable in third and fourth seat, they play 15-17 notrumps, and then:

10-11: Pass
11+-14: 1D (1D can also be 10-15 with unbalanced Ds, or 10-15 with 4-1-3-5/1-4-3-5)
15-17: 1NT

However these high-card point counts are just estimates, as Meckwell believe that playing value overrides straight Goren point count. As they say on their cc:

All points can be adjusted in any situation

and

Judgement allowed in any situation

(some Americans would use judgment, but let's not rush to judge them)

Thus a Meckwell 14-16 1NT is something in the 14-16 ballpark, and does not absolutely promise that high card point count.

Meckwell tend to upgrade a lot more than they downgrade. That is, for example, a 13 count is more likely to be upgraded into a 14-16 1NT, then a 17 count downgraded into that 1NT.

They open many 11 counts. Their teammates (Hamman-Zia, Katz-Nickell) both have this on their cc's:

Avoid opening bad BAL hands 1st/2nd

Meckwell are the opposite - let's see how opening 11 counts worked for them in this year's world championships.

At the Book Table

30 years ago at the Labor Day weekend in Pittsburgh I kibitzed Jeff Meckstroth as he and Gerald Caravelli won the Men's pairs, in the days of those events. I had travelled to the regional as young, poor and single - single both with no girlfriend, and, much worse, single with no bridge partner, as my regular partner had just had his first triple bypass.

Being impoverished, I didn't have enough cash to play every single session, and if I couldn't find anybody who knew bridge at the partnership desk, I would kibitz one of the best players. Even though Meckstroth was just a few months older than me, he had already won the Mott-Smith Trophy for most points at the 1979 Spring NABC, and it was clear he was a future bridge superstar.

Watching him in action I became cognisant of how "at the table" he was - how aware he was of everything and anything going on at the table. He was even aware of his sole kibitzer, and even talked to him between rounds! Kibitzing was not only costing nothing, but I was getting bridge lessons too! He was one of the nicest pros I ever kibitzed.

Now you might think this is the lead-in for the start of the series on Meckwell bidding of balanced hands, but it's not. Instead it's about picking the book I won in the MasterPoint Press/BridgeBlogging.com contest for picking guessing the World Championship Seniors event:

http://world.bridgeblogging.com/?page_id=16

My choices of books are:

5. Go Ahead, Laugh!
Bridge Humor by Jude Goodwin

Clearly, this should now be Go Ahead, LOL! I love the cartoons by Goodwin, but I tend to prefer the graphic novels of cartoons - thus I would pick Go Ahead, Make My Day by Dirty Harry, but not this delightful collection.

4. I Shot My Bridge Partner
by Matthew Granovetter

Now this is more to my taste, so much so I already devoured it when it first arrived, and I highly recommend it, unless your partner is a gun collector and book borrower.

3. World Class
Conversations with the Bridge Masters
by Marc Smith

This book has conversations/stories with players like Hamman, Zia, Meckstroth - players who won the event I didn't pick properly. I already have the book, and thus there was no reason for me not to pick the Bermuda Bowl correctly.

2. Playing With The Bridge Legends
by Barnet Shenkin, Forewords by Zia Mahmood and Michael Rosenberg

I don't know if a book by Shenkin would be a fast read, but it would be quite thoughtful. I know that since I already have this excellent book.

1. Win the Bermuda Bowl with me
by Jeff Meckstroth & Marc Smith

I'd better pick this, since the sequel, Win Yet Another Bermuda Bowl will hopefully appear in a few months. It's been thirty years since I watched him dominate that regional event, but even after thousands of events, Meckstroth is always "at the table": the player who can best see our intricate game in crystal clarity.

The Winners will be Blogged but the Losers not Flogged

Yesterday in the penultimate Bermuda Bowl session, the pair who could not bid spades were overtaken by another pair who could not bid spades:

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2H was (9)10-13 with 5+ hearts unbalanced - good 13s will upgrade out of 2H. Sadly 2S did not show spades, but just asked. 3D showed 4Ds and exactly 5Hs (usually), and will be either 3-5-4-1 or 1-5-4-3 (2-5-4-2 will open 1NT in their system). South did not want to risk a re-ask in case opener didn't have three spades, so they played in 3D to lose 10 IMPs. At the other table Meckwell bid 1H-1S;-2D-3D;-3S-4S.

Sartaj Hans did a good summary of the Bermuda Bowl finals here:

http://theimpchimp.blogspot.com/2009/09/winner-takes-it-all.html

The "mis-saw" hand was discussed by Ken Rexford here:

http://cuebiddingatbridge.blogspot.com/2009/09/not-sure-what-happened-here.html

and see the first comment by Paul.

The basic take-away point from the Bermuda Bowl is if you want to win the event, don't gift your opponents with lots of IMPs. Sadly this storyline, beyond some initial amusement factor, makes for poor bridge discussion when it is relentless repeated, and I'm not going to cover all the errors which formed the single critical success factor in the match - perhaps instead of single I should call it the double digit success factor.

BBO revamped their archives, and there is an excellent set of vugraphs here for watching and re-watching the world championships:

http://www.bridgebase.com/vugraph_archives/vugraph_archives.php

(btw if you download the Icelandic Cup Semi Final you can watch the Hrannar-Sveinn partnership play Spry yesterday)

The world championship bulletins were excellent as usual, found here:

http://www.worldbridge.org/tourn/SaoPaulo.09/Bulletins.htm

Congratulations to Chief Editor Brent Manley and all the journalists for terrific coverage of the championships.

My detailed look at the world championship will focus this year on world champions again Meckwell, and what happened when they had a balanced hand in the 10-17 range. This will go for days and days, so please skip this blog if you want the "car crash" and "ball dropping" sport stories that the Bermuda Bowl was about. However if you want to see the bread-n-butter of the Meckwell system in action, please stay on this bridge channel, and use the comments feature to add information or to raise questions.

Round we go to the playoffs

One concern I have with round robins as selection methods for the playoffs is that matches against the not-so-good teams count just as much as those against the very best. The not-so-good teams will distribute their gifts at random to the other teams, and later in the event will not be careful.

This year, I decided beforehand that I would prorate the round robin results to see if anything appears. First note that Bobby Wolff, via a post on his wife's blog, is quite happy with the round robin and the teams that made it into the playoffs:

http://judy.bridgeblogging.com/?p=265

Thus this exercise might produce the wrong teams, but here's a look at the top ten in each event.

The prorating was done by reducing the VPs obtained in matches against teams that finished 14 to 22, and team 14 was reduced to 90% of the VP, team 15 80% etc. down to 10% for team 22.

In the Bermuda Bowl this produces this order:

1 ITALY (was #1)
2 NORWAY (was #2)
3 BULGARIA (was #3)
4 USA 2 (was #4)
5 RUSSIA (was #7)
6 CHINA LONG ZHU OPEN (was #8)
7 NETHERLANDS (was #5)
8 ARGENTINA (was #9)
9 GERMANY (was #6)
10 CHINESE TAIPEI (was #11)

Germany doesn't make the playoffs, and Argentina does.

Venice Cup:

1 CHINA LONG ZHU WOMEN (was #1)
2 FRANCE (was #2)
3 USA 1 (was #3)
4 GERMANY (was #6)
5 USA 2 354 (was #4)
6 ITALY 348 (was #5)
7 SPAIN (was #7)
8 DENMARK (was #9)
9 SWEDEN (was #8)
10 ARGENTINA (was #11)

Sweden doesn't make the playoffs, and Denmark does.

Seniors:

1 ENGLAND (was #1)
2 BELGIUM (was #2)
3 USA 2 (was #5)
4 POLAND (was #3)
5 USA 1 (was #4)
6 EGYPT (was #6)
7 SWEDEN (was #7)
8 JAPAN (was #9)
9 ITALY (was #10)
10 INDONESIA (was #8)

Indonesia doesn't make the playoffs, and Japan does.

Here's a look at the top dozen pairs in the Bermuda Bowl Butler (how many IMPs they would have won/lost in the round robin if everybody else was their teammates), married with the system they play:

1 0.91 Alexander SMIRNOV - Josef PIEKAREK Germany - Modified Polish
2 0.88 Boye BROGELAND - Espen LINDQVIST Norway - Modern
3 0.79 Claudio NUNES - Fulvio FANTONI Italy - Fantunes
4 0.70 Kalin KARAIVANOV - Roumen TRENDAFILOV Bulgaria - Modified Polish with variable ranges
5 0.68 Antonio SEMENTA - Giorgio DUBOIN Italy - Standard short club
6 0.61 Vadim KHOLOMEEV - Yury KHIUPPENEN Russia - Standard
7 0.57 Georgi MATUSHKO - Alexander KHOKHLOV Russia - Modified Polish/Swedish with variable ranges
8 0.54 Ulf Haakon TUNDAL - Glenn GROETHEIM Norway - Big Club
9 0.52 Alejandro BIANCHEDI - Ernesto MUZZIO Argentina - Modern + 18-19 bal 2C
10 0.52 Michael ELINESCU - Entscho WLADOW Germany - Big Club
11 0.51 Lixin YANG - Jianming DAI China Long Zhu Open - Big Club
12 0.51 Weimin WANG - Zejun ZHUANG China Long Zhu Open - Big Club

There is only one pair in the top dozen playing 1C as 3+ natural opening.

Here is the return of the pair that can't bid spades, from the last session of today's quarterfinal matches (session 3 of 6):

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Well Rodwell bid spades, but that showed 5+Hs, game force. The 2D overcall took just enough space away that spades got abandoned, for a 11 IMP loss. The Dutch were able to open 2D to show a semi-multi, the strong options being 22-23 bal, 28-29 bal, or a strong two suiter, and once East showed the strong spade and club hand, they reached 6S. Does Ken Rexford open this hand 2D strong with 4+ spades?

Agree to disagree?

Some might argue that system is not a success factor at the top levels, but in reality agreements are 2/3rds of what it takes to win. However for that 66.6% the devil is in the details.

Key is having the necessary agreements, and knowing what they are at all times. Let's look at some hands from the World Championships that were less than stellar.

Fantunes bid to a slam off two aces in round 2:

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1S was forcing, 13/14+ 5+Ss or 11-13 with 5+Ss and 4Hs. Over 1NT, opener's 2C showed 13/14-17 with clubs (i.e. natural) or any big hand (17/18+): the Gazzilli approach modified for the Fantunes ranges. 2D was waiting, but established a game force opposite all big hands, 2H showed 3+Hs and a big hand, 3S was a splinter in support of hearts, and now the auction went off the rails. How much did this train wreck cost?

It gained 17 IMPs - they were also in 6H at the other table, down. Here they led a heart. Dummy's clubs disappeared on the top spades, and declarer guessed the diamonds.

The USA1 team started the event poorly, and round 5 saw this:

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2C was 10-15, 6+Cs. Woolsey artificially asked twice, 3D showing hearts, and then bid 4S, intended as a keycard ask in hearts. However Stewart didn't know about the heart fit, and assumed his partner was just placing the contract. This was down four. It only cost 4 IMPs, as the other table was in 6H, down one.

In round 10, Meckwell, even with hundreds of pages of agreements, couldn't bid spades:


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2H was a weak two, and a 2S response would not have been forcing. Rodwell asked with 2NT, and then their agreements over 3H call for a better suit for a 3S forcing bid now. 4H was down two vulnerable, 4S made at the other table (P-1S;-2C Drury-3D;-4S), and that was 13 IMPs.

Today, in round 13, Danailov-Karakolev of Bulgaria hadn't sorted out their agreements over the intermediate two bids of Fantunes. 2D was 10-13, and 3S was intended as a strong jump overcall, but taken as a weak overcall. What did this cost?

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Actually it gained 5 IMPs, since 4S at the other table was down on two aces, the trump king, and a diamond ruff.

Back to the last board of round 2, we saw an agreement work nicely in the Venice Cup.

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After Levitina decided to rebid 2NT instead of 3C, Sanborn was able to transfer to hearts, with 3D, and then bid game. With the diamond king protected by the transfer, this gained 10 IMPs against 4H played by South in the other room.

Here was the Fantunes auction on the North-South hands:

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Fantunes had Gazzilli in action once more. 1S to 2D as described before, now 3C was natural with a strong hand without 3Hs. They ended up in the club game, and the opening trick was low clubs: 4-2-3-6. Fantoni cashed the heart ace, then tried the club ace, not picturing the actual trump layout after the first trick. He now couldn't make the contract, but down three only cost 2 IMPs, as the hopeless 3NT was reached in the other room, and found itself two off.