Trick or Treat: Very costly one level contract lead

Board 10 of the 5th segment of the quarter-finals didn't make Tuesday's bulletin, but perhaps it will sneak into Wednesday's.

10 ___ JT652
East _ ---
All __ AK96
_____ A953
3 __________ AKQ8
AKQ86 _____ 97
T72 ________ Q84
T642 _______ KQJ7
_____ 974
_____ JT5432
_____ J53
_____ 8

3NT was a nice EW landing spot. In the Venice Cup, East opened 1C, West responded 1H, North came in with 1S, East doubled this for business, North redoubled this as something, perhaps doubt or big business, and that was the contract.

So the spotlight shifted to East for the lead. A top spade should result in at least +400, but the actual lead of a top club resulted in two club ruffs in dummy and -1120. So the wrong lead to a one level contract cost 1520.

In the Bermuda Bowl, Egypt reached 4H by West, and since North had shown something in the bidding, South doubled with more trumps than declarer. A, K, and another diamond had the queen winning in dummy. Declarer played the heart nine, which won, and then the heart seven, covered by the ten and then the queen. Declarer played a club, and when North ducked, won in dummy, and discarded two clubs on the top spades. Now any card from dummy allowed declarer to score the heart eight, and that was +790 to Egypt, albeit in a losing cause. After the hand, South walked to a nearby window to look at the view before continuing.

Guessing the Semis

Before I predict/forecast/guess each of the semi-finals, let's take a look at the top ranked Butler pairs:

http://www.brenning.se/results/2005/bermudabowl/butler/bermudabowl-quarter-final.htm

Bermuda Bowl
1 0.85 Giorgio DUBOIN - Norberto BOCCHI Italy
2 0.70 Johan SYLVAN - Per-Olof SUNDELIN Sweden
3 0.70 Claudio NUNES - Fulvio FANTONI Italy
4 0.62 Nick NICKELL - Dick FREEMAN USA 1
5 0.58 Fredrik NYSTROM - Peter BERTHEAU Sweden
6 0.51 Eric RODWELL - Jeff MECKSTROTH USA 1
7 0.35 Eric GRECO - Geoff HAMPSON USA 2
8 0.32 Magnus LINDKVIST - Peter FREDIN Sweden
9 0.30 Brad MOSS - Fred GITELMAN USA 2
10 0.27 Paul SOLOWAY - Bob HAMMAN USA 1

Recognize any names there?

Italy(+3) vs. Sweden - all carry-overs in parenthesis

So Sweden has three of the top eight pairs, while Italy has two of the top three. Who to pick? I don't think that Sweden can fluster Italy, who, as a team, have less problems with opponents unusual methods than most teams. So Italy in a close match.

USA 1(+5) vs. USA 2

UberMeckwell Greco-Hampson cancels out SuperMeckwell
Moss-Gitelman using 2/1 should be able to outplay Nickell/Freeman, but these two are running hot.
Ekeblad-Rubin with strong club/canape will lose the battle against Soloway/Hamman with strong club/some canape.
However the stretch run will mean Moss-Gitelman needing to outbid/outplay Soloway-Hamman. They are good enough to do this, but Soloway and Hamman are good enough to find another gear, and race it home. So USA 1 in another close match.

http://www.brenning.se/results/2005/venicecup/butler/venicecup-quarter-final.htm

Venice Cup
1 1.99 Vanessa REESS - Nathalie FREY France
2 1.07 Sylvie WILLARD - Benedicte CRONIER France
3 0.86 Daniele GAVIARD - Catherine D' OVIDIO France
4 0.85 Joanna STANSBY - Debbie ROSENBERG USA 1
5 0.82 Daniela von ARNIM - Sabine AUKEN Germany
6 0.81 Pony Beate NEHMERT - Barbara STAWOWY - HACKETT Germany
7 0.69 Bep VRIEND - Carla ARNOLDS Netherlands
8 0.68 Irina LEVITINA - Hansa NARASIMHAN USA 1
9 0.38 Jill LEVIN - Sue PICUS USA 1
10 0.35 Ling GU - Yalan ZHANG China

France(+16) vs. USA 1

France has the top three pairs in the Butler, but USA 1 has their three pairs in the top 9. Still, any team that can destroy Canada must be great, so France is the pick.

Germany vs. Netherlands(+16)

This is too close to call, so going with the carry-over I'll pick the Netherlands.


http://www.brenning.se/results/2005/seniorsbowl/butler/seniorsbowl-quarter-final.htm

Senior Bowl
1 0,79 Eddy M F MANOPPO - Henky LASUT Indonesia
2 0,78 Flemming DAHL - Georg NORRIS Denmark
3 0,69 Jens AUKEN - Kirsten Steen MOLLER Denmark
4 0,64 Rose MELTZER - Garey HAYDEN USA 1
5 0,50 Roald RAMER - Nico KLAVER Netherlands
6 0,40 Roger BATES - Lew STANSBY USA 1
7 0,30 Peter LUND - Steen MOLLER Denmark
8 0,27 Munawar SAWIRUDDIN - Denny SACUL Indonesia
9 0,23 Jaap TROUWBORST - Nico DOREMANS Netherlands
10 0,22 Alan SONTAG - Peter WEICHSEL USA 1

Indonesia(10.5) vs. Denmark
This I'll go with the heart and pick Lasut and Manoppo, who I would like to see win this. But the match will be so very close.

USA 1(+11) vs. Netherlands
Yet still another close one, but Sontag-Weichsel can be dominant and can handle the stress, so USA 1 is the pick.

Aces are Not Meant for Taking Tricks?

Round 17, which was a disastrous set for the Candian Seniors and effectively ended their chances of making the playoffs still contained a beautiful partscore hand with an outstanding end position.

North
S: AJ865
H: A75
D: K
C: K832

West ___________ East
S: KT ___________ S: Q973
H: KJ954 ________ H: 32
D: Q982 _________ D: J4
C: Q7 ___________ C: AT964

South
S: 42
H: QT8
D: AT7653
C: J5

With None vulnerable and South the dealer, the following auction occurred:
P = 1H = 1S = 1N
All pass.

The D6 was led to the K and the S5 returned to the T. Declarer now played CQ covered and won in hand, realizing that his communication was now severely compromised. Declarer exited with the DJ to S who accurately played a spade to North's A and a club return to South's J left the following position:

North
S: J86
H: A75
D: -
C: 83

West ___________ East
S: - ____________ S: Q9
H: KJ954 ________ H: 32
D: Q9 ___________ D:
C: - _____________ C: 964

South
S: -
H: QT8
D: T765
C: -

The defense had 3 tricks in to declarer's 3 and thus needed the majority of the remainder. South accurately returned a diamond giving declarer a free finesse and 2 more diamond tricks. The HK (best play) was now led and ducked by North to avoid an end play) giving declarer his sixth trick. The HJ was now led and again ducked by N allowing E to to win the Q. At this point a diamond return allows N to jettison the HA and declarer must return a H to South's 10 who can cash diamonds for down 1. A beautiful ending in which the HA is ducked twice and then jettisoned to beat the contract.

Success for the Graded Grand Slam Force and Multi Loses the Spade Suit

In the Estoril Daily Bulletin from Day 5, Phillip Alder supplies an article entitled "Bidding with Difficulty" in which he discusses the following board 12 from Round 5 of all events.

North (Brown)
S: AKT984
H: QT3
D: 87
C: 92

West____________ East
S: Q5 ___________ S: 6
H: J98654 _______ H: AK72
D: J5 ___________ D: KQT632
C: QT8 __________ C: J6

South (Daigneault)
S: J732
H: -
D: A94
C: AK7543

With N/S vulnerable and West the dealer, at many tables the bidding proceeded:
P = 2S = 3D = 4D
P = 4H* = P = 5N**
P = 6S*** = P = 7S.
* Last Train showing good hand for slam in spades
** Graded Grand Slam Force (Josephine) asking trump quality
*** Showing exactly AK of trumps

This auction was not explained in the Alder article however the combination of last train and fully graded grand slam force led to the good grand which would depend only on partner having third round club control of an even break if partner holds 3 or more clubs. A solid success for the Brown-Diagneault methods.

As the Alder article indicates this hand also shows some of the dangers of the multi 2D opening bid. In the other room the with Bill (West) and John (East) Bowman holding the cards the auction proceeded:
P = 2D (multi) = 3D = all pass.

South passed expecting his partner to hold hearts and not spades thus allowing his opponents to play quietly in 3D-1 while cold for a grand slam. This swung 19 imps to Canada in their narrow 16-14 VP win over Sweden in Round 5.

Alder's article provides an analysis of the auctions at the other 32 tables in play in the 3 events and is well worth a read. In some cases West also opened a multi-2D which led to some interesting results...

To Lightner or Not to Lightner ?

It has been a view of mine, one that is not broadly shared, that Lightner Doubling (a slam double requesting partner to lead either dummy's first bid suit or a suit in which partner is likely to be void) is overrated, particularly the negative inference that if partner has not Lightner doubled he cannot want dummy's suit led and cannot have a void.

Day 6 provided 2 examples and over 30 imps worth of swing to support a more constrained view of the Lightner Double:

Round 16 Board 3

North
S: T975
H: T
D: AQ7
C: JT853

West ________ East
S: 6 ________ S: AQ2
H: AKJ8 _____ H: Q9742
D: JT864 ____ D: K953
C: AK6 ______C: Q

South
S: KJ843
H: 653
D: 2
C: 9742

With EW vulnerable and South the dealer, at most tables the auction proceeded along the lines of:
P = 1D = P = 1H
P = 3H = P = 4N
X = 5C= P = 6H
P = P = X = all pass

This happened at both tables in the Senior Bowl for a quick -200 after a diamond to the A and a diamond ruff.

Note that East might have realized what was likely to happen given his diamond fit for his partner and could have corrected to 6N taking the now marked finesse for the diamond Q to wrap up 12 tricks in NT and a 14 imp win against staying in 6H. Also note that because of the Blackwood bid by East, North should realize that 2 diamonds will not cash (East is likely to have the K or a stiff) and thus should quietly let his partner lead without allowing the opponents to find their alternate contract.

Unfortunately for the Canadian women their opponents were playing a canapé system (shorter suit first) and thus opened a heart, right-siding 6H and avoiding the diamond ruff on opening lead. Declarer guessed right in the play for a 13-imp loss for Canada.

Example 2

Later the same day, Round 18 Board 14

North
S: QJ2
H: KQJ7
D: K
C: AQT65

West ___________ East
S: T5 ___________ S: 973
H: 9 ____________ H: T8432
D: J986 __________ D: T5432
C: KJ7432 ________ C: -

South
S: AK864
H: A65
D: AQ7
C: 98

With None vulnerable and East the dealer, at many tables the bidding proceeded:
P = 1S = P = 2C
P= 2S = P = 4N
P = 5C = P = 5S
P = 6S = P = 7S
X = P = P = 7N
All pass.

This occurred when the Canadian Seniors played EW against Japan as well as at many tables on the Vugraph including USA 1 (EW-Meckwell) vs Netherlands, where Jeff Meckstroth doubled 7S allowing the runout to 7N for a minimum 17 imp loss. In the Canadian Senior match the Canada NS rested in 6S resulting in a 25 imp swing to Japan as we lost 13 instead of winning 12. With no double (assuming partner is not over reliant on the negative inference) a club lead might ensue with many imps flowing to those who remained silent.

Although the Lightner double can be extremely useful in getting partner off to the right lead these hands would suggest that it should be used more sparingly. It should be used only when no alternate contract is likely to be available, when partner is not likely to find the lead at all, when you are totally unlikely to beat the slam without the requested lead. Finally the negative inferences of not doubling should not be taken as strongly as many expert players view them today...

Guesses for the Quarter-Finals

Here are my guesses - for entertainment value only (do not bet on them!)

Bermuda Bowl

A) Italy vs. India (+2.3 IMPs)

Lorenzo LAURIA and Alfredo VERSACE were arguing the weekend before the Bermuda Bowl.
Norberto BOCCHI and Giorgio DUBOIN were arguing after this board against Canada:

10 ___ J6
East _ AQ98742
All __ Q9
_____ 98
107542 ______K983
63 _________ ---
AJ42 _______ K10763
K2 ____ ____ Q543
_____ AQ
_____ KJ105
_____ 85
_____ AJT76

South opened 1C, North bid 4C (not described on their cc) but presumably he thought it was a transfer in Hs. South bid 5C to play and that was -300 and -14 IMPs.
After this there was the bloodbath against US 1. So the Italians can get flustered and out of their A game. However India is not the team to fluster them. Italy wins.

B) USA 1 (+9 IMPs) vs. Brazil
USA 1 is older and not as swift as they once were. However their will to win is stronger than ever, and Brazil is no match for them.

C) USA 2 vs. Argentina (+4)
UberMeckwell, HAMPSON-GRECO are unstoppable.

D) Egypt vs. Sweden (+16)
Egypt has relied a lot on 2 partnerships, with 3 superstar players. At some point they will get tired but not yet.

Venice Cup

A) France (15.5) is likely to take it but we will support Canada

B) The Netherlands does not have a dike that can stop the tide of China (16)

C) SMITH-DHONDY vs. AUKEN-VonARNIM - England (3.7) will not find it a cup of tea, but will squeak by Germany

D) USA 1 (9 IMPs) vs. USA 2 - Team America - Rosenberg/Levin/Stansby - with names like that you can't lose, at least not yet.

Seniors Bowl

A) USA 1 (+11) vs France - Rose's team is the team to beat.

B) Indonesia (+16) vs Portugal - Indonesia over the host country.

C) USA 2 (+16) vs. Netherlands - All stars win for USA.

D) Denmark (+16) vs. Israel - Danish victory here.

Quarter-finals match-ups

Carry-overs in brackets (e.g. India has 2.3 IMPs on Italy to start the match)

Bermuda Bowl:
Italy v India (2.3), USA1 (9) v Brazil, USA2 v Argentina (4), Egypt v Sweden (16).

Venice Cup:
France (15.5) v Canada, China (16) v Netherlands, Germany v England (3.7), USA1 (9) v USA2.

Seniors Bowl:
USA1 (11) v France, Indonesia (16) v Portugal, USA2 (16) v Netherlands, Denmark (16) v Israel.

Later tonight I'll attempt to forecast/guess to result of each match.

Looking at the Butler Scores

The final Butler scores are up at:

http://www.brenning.se/results/2005/bermudabowl/butler/bermudabowl-qualifying.htm

These scores compare each pair by matching their result with the result of each other pair who was playing at the same time. Thus it is not dependent on their teammates, except for this one exception: Teams tend to play their best pairs in the tougher matches, so some pairs have worse scoring due to facing tough opposition all the time, while others have inflated scores from easier opponents. That said, the Butler scores are still a reasonable measure of performance of a pair.

Let's look at the top ten Bermuda Bowl (open) pairs:

1 0.56 Geoff HAMPSON - Eric GRECO USA 2
2 0.49 Waleed El AHMADI Egypt
3 0.47 Martin REID - Peter NEWELL New Zealand
4 0.46 Alfredo VERSACE - Lorenzo LAURIA Italy
5 0.43 Tarek SADEK Egypt
6 0.43 Fredrik NYSTROM - Peter BERTHEAU
7 0.40 Norberto BOCCHI - Giorgio DUBOIN Italy
8 0.40 Bachiraju SATYANARAYANA - Kiran NADAR India
9 0.38 Tony NUNN - Sartaj HANS Australia
10 0.36 Lixin YANG - Jianming DAI China
11 0.36 Yoshiyuki NAKAMURA - Yasuhiro SHIMIZU Japan

The Egypt pair is split into two entries (2 and 5), as they played briefly with others.

It is interesting that Hampson-Greco playing a version of the Meckwell system, finished first, while Meckwell finished 18th, even after they killed the Italians in the last round (for an IMPs per board score of 2.12).

Let's look at the Canadian performance, starting with the Bermuda Bowl:

41 0.01 Arno HOBART - George MITTELMAN Canada
43 0.00 John CARRUTHERS - Joseph SILVER Canada
52 -0.20 Allan GRAVES - Boris BARAN Canada

Two of the pairs were just about average, while the other one was negative, but not in a really big way.

The top five pairs in the Venice Cup are all great pairs:

1 0.84 Nicola SMITH - Heather DHONDY England
2 0.84 Vanessa REESS - Nathalie FREY France
3 0.80 Sylvie WILLARD - Benedicte CRONIER France
4 0.71 Sabine AUKEN - Daniela von ARNIM Germany
5 0.65 Joanna STANSBY - Debbie ROSENBERG USA 1

See:

http://www.brenning.se/results/2005/venicecup/butler/venicecup-qualifying.htm

For Canada:

18 0.25 Francine CIMON - Linda LEE Canada
26 0.08 Beverly KRAFT - Dianna GORDON Canada
59 -0.35 Barb CLINTON - Joan EATON Canada

One quite above average pair, one above average pair, and one quite below average pair - however for the below average pair their results are quite mixed - some really good sets and some bad ones. Thus the team captain will have to consider that in deciding which pairs play when in the playoffs

The Seniors results are at:

http://www.brenning.se/results/2005/seniorsbowl/butler/seniorsbowl-qualifying.htm

Canada's three pairs:

35 0.02 Michael CUMMINGS - David LINDOP Canada
42 -0.03 John BOWMAN - Bill BOWMAN Canada
53 -0.20 Pierre DAIGNEAULT - Stephen BROWN Canada

End of the Round Robin - The Women Pull it Out on the Last Board

The Canadian Women pulled out a spot in the quarterfinals on the last board of the event as the round robin drew to a close.

Needing to stay ahead of Austria for the eight and final playoff position the women fell behind early and were trailing 314 to 308 VPs for much of the final set as all of us watched the vugraph in the on-site auditorium. However the Austrians fell back and the Canadians pulled ahead 312 to 311 with 3 boards to go and the Austrians finished. By the last board the Women had again fallen back and trailed 311 to 308. However on the last board 3N= by our team and 3N-3 in the other room meant 14 imps and 4 victory points and the women were in to the quarters by 2 Victory Points.

Interestingly the last qualifying score in the Open and Senior Round Robin were right around 335 as expected, however in the Women's event 312 managed to qualify due to the very high scores put up by the top 7 women's team.

A new event starts tomorrow, so logon to the swangames.com for the real-time scoring and watch the Women take on their tba quarterfinal opponents.

The Open and Senior teams finished out their runs earlier in the day with effectively no shot for the Seniors at the start of the day and the Open team finding themselves in a similar position after the first match. Watch their progress in the Transnational teams next week along with at least 2 more primarily Canadian teams:

The Captain's Team
Marc Lachapelle
Mike Gamble
David Willis
Vince Oddy
Mike Yuen
John Gowdy will be added if the Women fail to make the expected run to the Venice Cup Final

The Retek/Deri Team
George and Mari Retek
Tom and Eva Deri

Points Schmoints - 17 and not a Strong Club ??

An interesting example for Marty Bergen's "Points Schmoints" theory came up on Board 10 of Round 13.

North
S: 976
H: 9753
D: A987
C: 32

West _________ East
S: AKJ53 _____ S: T842
H: 64 ________ H: AT2
D: 653 _______ D: T
C: A74 _______ C: QJT98

South
S: Q
H: KQJ8
D: KQJ42
C: K65

With All vulnerable and East the dealer the bidding went:
P = 1C (Precision) = 1S = P
4S = P = P = X
P = 5D = X = all pass.

The Indonesian South opened 1C Precision on one of the worst looking 17 points with short spades we have seen. A nightmare scenario ensued with the spade overcall, weak pass from partner and raise to the 4S (which is cold). South did well to pass and when his partner doubled correctly evaluated the defensive weakness of his hand and landed in 5DX for -500. Unfortunately at the other table we were not so lucky:

The bidding went:
P = 1D = 1S = X
4S = X = all pass.
After the negative double South expected more defense and was quickly chalking up -990 for a 10 imp loss. The good news was that the team was much better on the other boards and went on to beat Indonesia 22-8.

The Beagles Steal Two Matches

John and Billy Bowman are affectionately referred to as the Beagle Boys in honor of the thieves in the Scrooge McDuck cartoons. This reference is based on both their similarity in appearance and on their consistent ability to thieve at the bridge table.

With the Senior team in tough yesterday and needing some big wins the Beagles pulled out 2 sizable victories on the last hands of Round 14 and 15.

Round 14 Board 16

North
S: A
H: KQ
D: JT74
C: AKT542

West (Billy) _____ East (John)
S: 98754 _______ S: KQT6
H: T762 _______ H: AJ984
D: - ___________ D: KQ8
C: 9863 ________ C: Q

South
S: J32
H: 53
D: A96532
C: J7

With EW vulnerable and West the dealer the bidding went:
P = 1C = X = 2D
P = 5D = all pass

After the preemptive 2D followed by 5D John managed to go quietly in the bidding. Billy led the H2 to the A and John smoothly shifted to the CQ. Declarer now worried about the potential club ruff played a diamond to the A and had to go down one losing the KQ of diamonds. With their teamates making 3D+2 in the other room, the Beagles had a 5 imp pickup instead of a 6 imp loss en route to a 19-11 win over Morocco.

Round 15 Board 16

North
S: QJ
H: Q62
D: AKQ9762
C: 9

West (Billy) ___ East (John)
S: KT8432 ____ S: 97
H: AJ ________ H: KT985
D: 85 ________ D: T43
C: 743 _______ C: T62

South
S: A65
H: 743
D: J
C: AKQJ85

With EW vulnerable and West the dealer the bidding went:
P = 1D = P = 2C
P = 3D = P = 3S
X = P = P = XX
P = 3N = P = 4N
P = 5S = P = 6C
P = 6D = P = 7N
X = all pass

After Billy doubled for a spade lead at the 3-level, the Polish squad promptly rolled into 7NT which as can be seen has 13 tricks on any lead but a heart. Billy was in there with a second double to announce that he was kidding about the spade lead and that something else was required. John led the heart ten for a quick down 2 and a win of 13 imps, with their teammates in 3N+4, en route to an 18-12 win over Poland on the last board of the day.

On the same hand in the Open event Joey Silver, West, led a spade against 3N and declarer quickly made 13 tricks. Joey, always the comedian, promptly told his partner, John Carruthers that he should have led the HA from his AJx allowing John to stew over the potential beat for the rest of the evening. It was only later in the evening at Busby's that he the joke was discovered...

Cardoso's Revenge??

The Senior team played without Steve Brown and Pierre Daigneault yesterday as Steve had come down with some type of one day bug and spent much of the day doing what you do in such circumstances. Today, Day 6, we will be without Captain, Marc Lachapelle, who seems to have come down with the same thing over night...

We are wondering whether this is Cardoso's Revenge for the invasion of bridge players that has descended on Estoril. Cardoso lived from 1880 to 1950 and put Estoril on the map through the construction of the Casino that is adjacent to the playing site in the early 20th century. He also built the 5 star Palacio Hotel and a number of other hotels along with the train line to Lisbon to bring the people to his casino and house him while they were there. A man before his times or at least 80 years ahead of Canadian governments who seem to be building casinos wherever they can...

End of Day 5: The Pre-Dinner Update

I have now officially been traded to record for the Women's team after watching them win big over the Venezuelans... The Women's team is now solidly in seventh and working on moving up in the standings as the round robin draws to a close.

The Senior team did what they had to despite playing short handed today with three solid wins over ranked teams to get back within hailing distance of a qualifying spot. Another good day tomorrow and they will be there for the photo finish on Saturday evening.

The Open Team had an up and down day but delivered their captain's birthday present in the final round with a final round full blitz to get back to a tiebreak scenario for the final qualifying postion.

Everyone is ready for the drive to the finish...

Mid-week Bridge Learnings and Observations

Standard of play around the world particularly in Europe is outstanding with teams from Asia coming on strongly. The play in the Seniors event is particularly strong with many instances where Senior teams outbid and played their open counterparts. In the Open the greater pressure being applied may be one of the causes of the differing results.

It is not merely enough to play defensive bridge, pressure must be applied to the opponents and an offensive approach (despite its risks) are extremely important. In almost all instances where a pressure bid was not applied by our team that was applied at the other table significant numbers of imps were lost.

Bidding is massively important at this level. These comments come from the South African team which on card play and defense felt it was on par with the rest of the field but that the bidding and bidding judgement (not necessarily system) is what did them in.

Bridge is clearly a partnership and team game particularly with respect to team dynamics and psychology. The struggles of a number of top teams are directly attributable to the challenges of keeping 3 partnerships and 6 individuals in the right frame of mind for top bridge despite their individual talents.

Living and Dying by the Sword

The Cummings/Lindop partnership is very aggressive subscribing fully to the theory that getting in the opponents way is the key to winning bridge. Here are 2 sample hands both featuring 3 C overalls by Mike Cummings from Day 4 that show both sides of this approach.

In Round 10 playing against the Netherlands the following hand was played:

N () -> S: KQT62 H: AJT8 D: A9 C: T8
E (Lindop) -> S: AJ984 H: 5 D: 876 C: KQ73
S () -> S: 7 H: KQ9743 D: QT43 C: 65
W (Cummings) -> S: 53 H: 62 D: KJ52 C: AJ942

With None vulnerable and South the dealer the bidding went:
2H - 3C - 4H - 5C -
P - P - X - all pass.

Note that the aggressive 3C overcall made for an easy 5C call by Lindop getting the EW pair to a cheap save against their opponents game. At the other table it simply went 2H-P-4H and Steve Brown and Pierre Daigneault chalked up the game for an 8-Imp pickup to Canada.

Later in the day however a similar auction developed in Round 12 against the Italians on Board 8:

N (Cummings) -> S: 6 H: Q5 D: AQ87 C: AKT976
E (Masucci) -> S: AJ7543 H: 73 D: T43 C: Q5
S (Lindop) -> S: QT82 H: A86 D: J96 C: J32
W (Forquet) -> S: K9 H: KJT942 D: K52 C: 84

With None vulnerable and West the dealer the bidding went:
2H - 3C - all pass.

Perhaps remembering the earlier 3C overcall Lindop passed out 3C which made for ten tricks +130 while the opponents made the same 10 tricks in no trump in the other room for a 7-imp loss by the Canadians.

These two similar hands are good examples of the pros and cons of an aggressive style, to each their own to decide which style they prefer but it certainly makes for exciting, high scoring bridge...

Round 12: Forquet finds the Defense

The final round of Day 4 was a once in a lifetime opportunity for the Senior Team to play against some members of the former Italian Blue Team. Unfortunately Garozzo was not playing this round however Pietro Forquet was in with Nino Masucci. Forquet is the author of what many believe to be one of the all time best bridge books, "Bridge with the Blue Team" which documents 100 of the best hands in his teams career.

The defense on this hand was ample demonstration of the challenges when facing this team.

N (Cummings) -> S: AQ H: QJ D: T643 C: AK853
E (Masucci) -> S: J96 H: 9642 D: 752 C: JT4
S (Lindop) -> S: KT843 H: A873 D: K9 C: 76
W (Forquet) -> S: 752 H: KT5 D: AQJ8 C: Q92

With None vulnerable and South the dealer the bidding went:
1S - P - 2C - P -
2H - P - 3D - P -
3N - all pass.

Many defenders allowed 3N to make by allowing declarer to unblock his significant suits and take advantage of the 3-3 breaks in the key black suits. After the fourth suit 3D and subsequent 3N, Forquet stayed off the diamond lead and attacked sneakily with the C9 attacking declarers dummy entries. Lindop won, cashed the SA and SQ and ran the HQ. When this lost to the K and the club Q came back only eight trick were available before the defense could come to five by playing a diamond through declarer. Well defended by Forquet matching the prediction of the double dummy analysis available with all of the hand records.

Fortunately for the Senior squad many other hands went their way and allowed them to finish an otherwise disappointing day with a solid 18-12 win.

As a final personal note getting to play Forquet's dummy for one hand during the set was a an unaticipated bonus for these World Championships.

Round 12: Mittelman takes an inference, Graves stays quiet

A very interesting tactical bidding hand was played in all events during Round 12. George Mittelman and Arno Hobart showed off their form on Board 12 against Guadeloupe.

N (Hobart) -> S: KQJxx H: Axxx D: - C: Txxx
E () -> S: x H: KQTxx D: xx C: J9xxx
S (Mittelman) -> S: AT98xx H: x D: KJ9x C: KQ
W () -> S: x H: J9x D: AQTxxxx C: A7

With NS vulnerable and West the dealer the bidding went:
1D - 1S - X - 4S -
5D - 5S - P - 6S -
all pass.

George 6S call was based on the inference that for partner to freely bid at the 5 level he must have good spades with possibly extra length as well as a diamond void and a side A to make the slam virtually cold.

In the other room the auction proceded the same up to 4S however at that point it went all pass as both Alan Graves in the West and Boris Baran in the East went quietly with their possibly biddable hands. The opponents thus rested in 4S for a well earned 13 imps to Canada as part of a 52-1 win over Guadeloupe.

Day 5 The Crunch is Coming

Day 5 begins with a howling wind storm, 6 foot high surf and whipping rain. An omen of things to come for many of the teams in the event as the field starts to settle out.

In the Bermuda Bowl the favored Italians continue to show their form with a total of 238 VPs from 12 matches, averaging almost 20 VPs a match an amazing pace in such a field. Other favorites USA 1 and USA 2 (despite a 25-0 drubbing at the end of Day 3) remain solidly in contention while the surprising (to some) Argentines with the youngest player in the field remain solidly in a top qualifying spot, joined by the recently strong Egyptian squad. Brazil, Japan, Canada and China fill out the remainder of the qualifying spots with at least 5-6 teams including the always dangerous English, Netherlands and Sweden close behind.

In the Venice Cup, pre tournament predictions are beginning to be reflected in the standings with most of the pre-tournament favourites (China, France, USA 1, England, Germany, and USA 2) filling the top spots. Brazil and Canada (another favourite for technical and obvious sentimental reasons) fill the final 2 spots.

In the Senior Bowl, many familiar faces from previous Championships populate the leaderboard including teams from Indonesia, The Netherlands, USA 1, Poland France and Sweden. Israel and Denmark fill out the remainder of the qualifying spots with at least 6 teams within easy stricking distance including USA 2 and the Italians.

The host Portugese solidly in qualifying position in both the Bermuda and Senior bowls throughout the first 3 days had tough days and fell just out of qualifying position but all 3 teams are within striking distance of qualifying for the Knockout phase.

Previous experience with these types of Round Robin events on the WBF 25 point Victory Point scale have taught that around 1.2 VP or so above the 15 VP average per round will provides a solid target for securing qualification. With 22 teams in the round robin phases and thus 21 rounds that makes this weeks target about 335 VP (although lower totals have succeeded before). With 9 rounds to go the Seniors need 167 VP (or about 18.5) to reach the magic number; it will be challenging but is still well within reach.

Happy Birthday!!!

Today is the birthday of Canadian Open Team captain Mike Gamble.

Avery and Ariel wish Happy Birthday Dad!

Lonni, Ralph, and Glen say Happy Birthday.

For Mike's birthday wish, the team will win all three matches today.

Day - 4, Momentum with the Open Team, Women Maintain their Position

A great day for the Canadian Open Team moving up from 11th to an eigth place qualifying position. The Women's team maintained their "photo" for the eighth and final qualifying position while the Senior's had a tough day and fell back.

There is still a lot of bridge to go with just over half the event completed. With the Open and Women's teams firing on all cylinders it should be an exciting drive to the finish. The Senior Team has been in these spots before (Anyone remember 74/75 VPs in Halifax to qualify by 1...) and still has lots of time to make up the required ground.

The Open Team played tight against some the very tough Russian and Brazilian teams beating them in tightly fought low scoring matches, while saving their best for a strong finish in the final match of the day.

We hope to have David Willis posting directly to this blog from Portugal on Wednesday. Also check out the Photos section, now well populated thanks to David and Open Team captain Mike Gamble.

David Willis's comments on the last rounds today:

Quick comment on round 8.

The jinx was finally broken with all three Canadian teams winning and winning big.

Quick comment on round 9.

Carruthers and Silver finish a solid day in the top 10 of the Butler's and the Open Team has moved into 11th in striking distance for the moving day tomorrow...

The Seniors finish on a down note losing to a German team that barely touches a wrong card but remain in solid shape a couple of Victory Points above average.

The Women lose a tight defensive battle to Pakistan and remain in qualifying postion as we approach the halfway mark of the round robin.

After fighting with the wireless Internet for several days, David Willis in Portugal was able to email this posting about the Canadian teams settling in:

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The 2005 World Bridge Championships - A Canadian Adventure in Estoril
By David Willis, Coach of Seniors Team (also advising Open Team)

Introduction

Canada has assembled a varied crew of bridge players including many familiar faces and a few new ones and has sent them off to the World Championships in Estoril Portugal.

This journal is intended to provide regular (hopefully daily - once connection problems are resolved) of the bridge (and some of the non-bridge) adventures that as they happen.

Expect more of an informal blog style then the normal journal format that you might regularly expect. No guarantees of accuracy in the bridge analysis will be provided but hopefully the selection of hands will allow you to share in the challenges and successes had by the Canadian teams.

Given my association with the Senior Team much of the bridge results will be from their matches. As possible additional views from the Open and Women's results will be provided.

Detailed match standings can be found at the WBF and the SWAN websites. With regular view graph available on BBO and SWAN and running scores available as they occur at the SWAN website.

Day 0 - Off to Portugal and Settling In

With the Championship to begin on Sunday, October 23; the Canadian team began their long journey to Portugal arriving throughout the week in Estoril. Estoril is a lovely oceanside resort town just South of Lisbon with one of the largest casinos in Europe (located very conveniently right beside the playing site). Day 0 extends from Thursday to Saturday as everyone arrives and gets used to their new surroundings.

Making the trip are:

Open Team: Boris Baran, Alan Graves, John Carruthers, Joey Silver, Arno Hobart, George Mittelman, and Michael Gamble

Senior Team: Bill Bowman, John Bowman, Mike Cummings, David Lindop, Steve Brown, Pierre Daigneault, David Willis, and Marc Lachapelle

Women's Team: Dianna Gordon, Linda Lee, Francine Cimon, Beverley Kraft, Joan Eaton, Barb Clinton, John Gowdy

Other familiar faces among our party include: Muriel, Nader Hanna, Terri Verret, Ray Lee, Denis, Michael Yuen and some others.

The Estoril Eden is to be the home base for most of the Canadian team for the duration and we are happy to learn that we have chosen right as a number of teams from the Atlantico attempt to join us.

We arrived to a significant downpour (which continues for 2 days) and hope that it is not a sign of things to come in an area that has only seen 3 days of rainfall since May.

The Eden is well situated about 10-20 minutes walk from the playing site (depending on your route) with good ocean views along either direction of the walkway that extends along the ocean front.

Second order of business after settling in is the reconnaissance for the local post-game review location, "Busby's" which is conveniently located 50m down hill from our hotel seems to fit the bill and the post session review location is now secure. Interestingly 200 mL of coke is 2.00 Euro and a pint of beer or bottle of water 1.50 Euro and glass of wine 1 Euro.

Cascais, a short walk, train, or cab West of Estoril is quickly identified as the shopping and eating district of choice. Just ask many of the participants about the Paela (seafood platter on jambalaya rice). The McDonald's located at the end of the tram serves beer with burgers leading to a new definition for B&B...

Unfortunately and unexpectedly it turns out that the available Wireless Internet access is both costly and only available to those with European cell phones. Fortunately (as we discover on Day 2 internet access has been made available to the players at the playing site).

As Saturday is winding down the World Championships are about to gear up...

The Captain's meeting is relatively non-eventful, while the start time for the opening reception is moved up by half an hour. The auditorium is packed with all of the teams for the opening ceremony and are all asked to stand and be recognized. The loudest applause is reserved for the Italian Senior Team who feature two of the all time bridge greats: Pietro Forquet and Benito Garozzo of the Italian Blue Team.

After the reception the players already chomping at the bit to get started retire to rest up for Sunday while the captain’s convene a meeting at "Busby's" to discuss strategy for the upcoming week…

Everyone is ready to go.

Canada Open Team avoids a meltdown - after 9 boards the team was down 49-1 to Egypt and attempts to move into the main pack were going to die. Then an amazing rally from boards 11 to 22, scoring 44 imps to 0 and almost tie - 14-16 in VPs, and 45-49 in IMPs!

Although the team is 19th of 22, they have already played both USA teams, are only 19 VPs out of the final playoff spot, and are now finding their form. I expect to see Canada move up into the main pack in the next few days, and challenge for a playoff spot.

Internet access at the playing site continues to pose problems, but our more technically-inclined representatives there expect to have things resolved soon - so we can look forward to photos and reports from the playing site!

Up at 5am Eastern to watch and commentate the Canada-China match. Team was on the right side of two slam decisions, dropped a few IMPs here and there, but otherwise played okay in the narrow loss.

Women's team doing very well, and Senior Team right in the pack.

Put our first photo up from Portugual - hoping to have more photos and some text on what's happening soon.

See the list of sponsors for some who have help send the team to Portugal - the costs are considerable and these sponsors help offset the expense.

Sunday - after a terrible start against Japan, then a big win over USA 1, 18 to 12 in victory points.

Hoping to have reports from the site up a little later (still no emails since yesterday from there).

Canada will be on vugraph tomorrow morning first match against China - its at 5am Eastern so set your alarm clocks if not out of West.