Bulletin Saturday

E-bulletin editors: Jan van Cleeff, Lex de Groot and Rosaline Barendregt
Pictures: Elisabeth van Ettinger

Content Saturday E-bulletin:
Busy man
Taking a view
The Hand that Would not Hit the Bulletin

Busy man

Jan Jansma

In Round Robin #4 I had an opportunity to kibitz Jan Jansma. The Dutchman is playing here with Swedish star Peter Fredin. At their table opponents were Massimo Lanzarotti and Arturo Wasik. As usual, Jansma was occupying himself with lots of things simultaneously: discussing system with partner, asking opponents for explanations, defending a heart partial (actually a cold heart game), showing an earlier deal to your editor and politely begging Zia (who was giving free lessons to his partner and Lavazza opponents two tables distant) to be a little more quiet.

Jansma quizzed me on this one:

   Q 10 8 7 6 2
   T
   J 9 7 5
   A K

It was actually Fredin’s hand. His LHO opened with 1, doubled by Jansma and RHO jumped to 3. Your bid, please. Jansma looked at me, while he was about to declare 4 and waiting for the opening lead.

“4”, I whispered, “and after the expected 4 I would correct to 4. I suppose that shows mild slam interest.” “Wrong”, Jansma retorted, meanwhile claiming twelve lucky tricks in his 4 contract. “That way, you probably offer a choice of game contracts, 4 or 5. At the table Peter bid 5 and after my 6 cuebid he signed off in 6. Duly made of course.” The full deal being:

Round 4, Board 2 - East / NS
	Q 10 8 7 6 2    T    J 9 7 5    A K
A 4           J 9 5    T 4 3 2    J 9 6 4		9    Q 8 6 4    A K Q 8 6    7 3 2
	K J 5 3    A K 7 3 2    -    Q T 8 5

Peter Fredin & Jan Jansma Discussing the system

On the last deal of the set Jansma was in high spirits. Whether this had something to do with a slam his opponents  had missed, I am not sure, but with this hand he tried a little joke:

E/-
   T 3
   A 10 7
   Q 9 5 4
   K 10 7 3

Fredin opened 1NT (15-17) and Jansma bid 3NT, correcting himself to 2NT almost immediately: “You are declaring this, aren’t you?” After the expected giggles by players and kibitzers – only Zia was preoccupied with something else, likely his partner  - Jansma substituted 3NT. And that was that. Well... not quite, since Fredin removed to 4! Jansma went into the tank. “What was going on? Did we agree on some conventional meaning for 3NT? Or is Peter taking revenge, playing a little joke on me?” In the end Jansma passed. Not that it mattered much:

Round 4, Board 14 - East / -
	A Q J 9 6    8 4    A 7 3    A J 9
K 7 5 2    K Q J 9    J 10 2    8 4		8 4    6 5 3 2    K 8 6    Q 6 5 2
	T 3    A 10 7    Q 9 5 4    K 10 7 3

oth 3NT and 4 were cold games, especially when Fredin found the Q.

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Taking a view

On board 25 of round five everybody bid game. Well, almost everybody. There is always the exception and this time the exception was called Tony Forrester. Playing against Sweden he held as East:

Tony Forrester Taking a view...

   10 6 5 3
   A K Q 8 7
   K 5 4 2
   -

Red against green in second seat, the bidding went:

West		East
Bakhshi		Forrester
-		1
2		2
3	(f)	3	(waiting)
4		?

At the other table Anders Morath bid 4 in more or less the same situation, meant as a cuebid. Anders knew that his partner Bengt-Erik Efraimsson held a solid seven-bagger in clubs, and the auction ended in 5.

At his table Forrester took a view and passed! Was he right? Let’s have a look:

Round 5, Board 25 - North / EW
	A 7    J 6 4 3 2    J 8 7    10 5 3
K 9 2    5    Q    A K Q 9 8 7 6 2		10 6 5 3    A K Q 8 7    K 5 4 2    -
	Q J 8 4    10 9    A 10 9 6 3    J 4

Against 5 David Gold led a low diamond. Tom Townsend won the ace and switched to the Q. That quickly led to down two.

Bahkshi was allowed to make twelve tricks when the A was led, followed by another spade, resulting in six imps to Team Forrester.

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The Hand that Would not Hit the Bulletin

‘This hand will certainly not hit the bulletin’, was one of the BBO commentators’ prediction when board #2 of Round 6 was tabled. Wrong.

Dutch Juniors vs. Ventin

Dutch junior Bob Drijver looked as North at:

   A Q J 10
   A J 7 4 3
   7 4
   A Q

West	North	East	South
Brogeland	Drijver	Lambardi	Groenenboom
-	-	Pass	2 (0
Pass	2NT (1	3	3 (2
Dbl	4 .(3	Pass	4 (3
Pass	4NT (4	Pass	5 (5
Pass	6 .(0	All Pass

1) inv+ relay
2) good weak two in hearts
3) cuebid
4) RKC
5) 1 or 4

West’s double of 3 caused Drijver to upgrade his hand. Right he was:

Round 6, Board 2 - East / NS
	A Q J 10    A J 7 4 3    7 4    A Q
K 9 6 5 4    10    Q 8    J 8 6 5 3		8 2    6    A 9 6 5 3 2    K 7 4 2
	7 3    K Q 9 8 5 2    K J 10    10 9

Bob Drijver

He won the 8 with the queen and drew trumps. A diamond to the king did the job. All things considered one might argue that being (over-)active does not always pay off. This was proved at the other table when NS reached 4, with EW silent.

In the match between Lavazza and Orange Red, two teams very much in contention for top positions in the Red Group, the deal appeared to be decisive for the 17-13 win by the Dutchies.

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