It's always a pleasure to observe someone doing something really well, be it sports, art, music or what have you. In the second final set of the Venice Cup, two French women - Veronique Bessis and Catherine D'Ovidio - showed an enthusiastic Vugraph audience what a smooth, practiced partnership looks like. Even more impressive is the fact that their domination in the set against Germany occurred after a costly mishap on the first board.

Leading by the score of 81.5-36, the French women dropped 13 IMPs on Board 1 - and then went on to outscore Germany 27-2 on the other 15. The French women were very nearly perfect.

The first deal didn't turn out very well for them, thanks to some interference from the Germans - Sabine Auken and Daniela von Arnim.

Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul.
	ª 8 © K J 7 6 4 3 ¨ Q J 3 2 § Q 9
ª Q J 10 6 5 3 © 8 ¨ 7 6 4 § 10 3 2		ª K 2 © A Q ¨ A K 10 5 § A J 8 7 6
	ª A 9 7 4 © 10 9 5 2 ¨ 9 8 § K 5 4

West	North	East	South
Rauscheid	Cronier	Nehmert	Willard
	Pass	2§	Pass
2¨	2©	2NT	3©
4ª	All Pass

Andrea Rauscheid landed 11 tricks in her spade contract. She took the opening heart lead with the ace, then drove out the ªA and, in with a heart ruff, played a club to the jack and king. When the §Q popped up on the next round of clubs, she had +450.

Auken and von Arnim made it hard for Bessis and D'Ovidio in the open room.

West	North	East	South
Bessis	Auken	D'Ovidio	von Arnim
	2¨ (1)	Dble	4©
4ª	Pass	6NT	All Pass

Bessis Véronique, France

(1) Weak two-bid in hearts or a weak hand with spades and a minor. You can hardly blame Bessis for bidding 4ª, and it was difficult for D'Ovidio to tell who had the high-card strength. After thinking about her bid for a good while, she finally bid the hopeless slam in notrump. On the heart lead, she had five top tricks, and she got another one when von Arnim ducked the first round of spades. There was no chance for any more, so D'Ovidio cashed out for down six: - 300 and a 13-IMP loss. If anyone thought the French women would be affected by the bad result, the pair proved them wrong. The two were just about flawless the rest of the way. Their teammates, Sylvie Willard and Benedicte Cronier, were pretty good, too. The two pairs combined for a nifty 7-IMP gain on the following deal.

Board 7. Dealer South. All Vul.
	ª 10 6 5 2 © 10 8 6 ¨ 4 3 § Q 8 7 3
ª Q 9 © A 9 7 2 ¨ J 9 8 6 § J 5 4		ª K 8 7 © Q 5 4 3 ¨ Q 10 5 2 § A 10
	ª A J 4 3 © K J ¨ A K 7 § K 9 6 2

West	North	East	South
Bessis	Auken	D'Ovidio	von Arnim
			1§ (1)
Pass	1¨	Pass	1©
Pass	1ª	Pass	1NT (2)
All Pass

(1) Precision.
(2) 19-21

The 1© bid was a relay to show the strong balanced hand. Bessis led the ¨6 to the queen and king. Von Arnim played a club to the queen and ace and D'Ovidio continued with a diamond to declarer's ace. Hoping for a singleton spade honor, von Arnim plunked down the ace in the suit and followed with another spade. Bessis won the queen, cashed her ¨J and played a diamond to her partner's 10. D'Ovidio got out with the §10 to declarer's king, a third round of spades went to East, and she exited with a low heart. Von Arnim guessed correctly to insert the jack, but she was down one when Bessis cashed her §J.

Cronier and Willard did very well to avoid notrump at their table.

West	North	East	South
Rauscheid	Cronier	Nehmert	Willard
			1§
Pass	Pass	Dble	Redbl
1©	1ª	2©	2ª
All Pass

Pony Nehmert led a heart to the jack and Rauscheid's ace. A diamond was returned to dummy's ace, and Cronier made the excellent play of a low spade. Rauscheid also did well to duck, and the 10 went to Nehmert's king. Another diamond came back, and Cronier won in dummy and ruffed a diamond to hand. When Cronier led a club from hand, Nehmert played the ace and exited with the 10. Cronier cashed the ªA, dropping West's queen, and pulled the last trump with the jack. That was plus 170 for France.

D'Ovidio took advantage of a defensive error to bring home a close contract and gain more IMPs for her team.

Board 8. Dealer West. None Vul.
	ª 9 6 5 3 © 8 7 4 ¨ 10 8 4 § A Q J
ª A 10 7 2 © 6 3 2 ¨ K Q J § K 6 4		ª J 8 © K Q J 5 ¨ 9 7 5 § 9 7 5 2
	ª K Q 4 © A 10 9 ¨ A 6 3 2 § 10 8 3

West	North	East	South
Rauscheid	Cronier	Nehmert	Willard
1NT	Pass	Pass	Pass

Cronier started with the ª6, which went to the 8, queen and ace. Rauscheid played a heart to dummy, ducked by South, and a diamond to hand after another duck by South. A second heart was played to dummy, and again South ducked. Rauscheid knew there was no future in hearts, so she exited with the ªJ. Willard won the king and played a third round. Rauscheid went up with the 10 and played the ¨K. Willard won the ace and played a club to her partner's jack. Cronier cashed the ª9 and exited with a heart. Another club through put the contract one down. D'Ovidio did one trick better.

West	North	East	South
Bessis	Auken	D'Ovidio	von Arnim
1§	Pass	1©	Pass
1ª	Pass	1NT	All Pass

Von Arnim started with the ¨6 to the jack. When D'Ovidio played a heart to her queen, von Arnim erred by taking the ace. She switched to the §8, which went to the 4, jack and 2, and the defense still had a chance, but Auken played a diamond and von Arnim won to play the §10. Auken took the §K with the ace and returned a diamond to dummy, but D'Ovidio had matters well in hand. She won the diamond and played a club, establishing the 13th card. When hearts broke 3-3, she had seven tricks for +90 and a 4-IMP gain. Bessis and D'Ovidio made good decisions in the bidding on the following deal, and it paid off with 5 more IMPs.

Von Arnim Daniela, Germany

Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul.
	ª A 10 5 2 © K J 10 6 2 ¨ J 5 § Q 9
ª Q 8 6 © Q 8 3 ¨ K 9 7 § A 10 7 6		ª K J 4 3 © - ¨ A 6 3 2 § K J 5 4 2
	ª 9 7 © A 9 7 5 4 ¨ Q 10 8 4 § 8 3

West	North	East	South
Rauscheid	Cronier	Nehmert	Willard
			Pass
1NT	2§	Dble	3©
Pass	Pass	4©	Pass
5§	All Pass

Put yourself in Rausheid's shoes. After her mini-1NT and North's overcall showing the majors, how would you play clubs? Chances are, you would play the suit just as she did. North led the ©2, and Rauscheid ruffed in dummy. Next she cashed the §K and played a club to her 10. Declarer still had to lose two more tricks, and she finished one down for -50.

West	North	East	South
Bessis	Auken	D'Ovidio	von Arnim
			Pass
Pass	1©	Dble	3©
Dble	Pass	4§	All Pass

Bessis was tempted to bid more, but she no doubt devalued her ©Q, which on the auction looked to be worthless. D'Ovidio ended up with 11 tricks anyway, however, because von Arnim started with a low club, solving that problem for declarer. That was another 5 IMPs to France.

The bidding and play at both tables was good on the following deal, which was a push.

Board 14. Dealer East. None Vul.
	ª A Q J 5 4 © A J 7 6 4 ¨ - § A K 6
ª K 7 6 © K 3 ¨ K J 10 9 8 5 § Q J		ª 3 2 © 10 9 ¨ Q 4 3 2 § 10 9 8 5 3
	ª 10 9 8 © Q 8 5 2 ¨ A 7 6 § 7 4 2

West	North	East	South
Rauscheid	Cronier	Nehmert	Willard
		Pass	Pass
1¨	2¨	Pass	3©
Pass	4§	Pass	4¨
Pass	5¨	Pass	5©
Pass	6©	All Pass

On any lead but a club, South can take 13 tricks, but Rauscheid selected the §Q for her opening shot. Willard won the §A and played the ©A and ©J to Rauscheid's king. Declarer won the club continuation in dummy, entered hand with a heart, pitched dummy's low club on the ¨A and played the ª10. It was a well bid and well played slam.

West	North	East	South
Bessis	Auken	D'Ovidio	von Arnim
		Pass	Pass
1¨	2¨	2©	Pass
Pass	4¨	Pass	5¨
Pass	6©	All Pass

When von Arnim was willing to cooperate in the slam try with a cuebid, Auken simply blased to the slam. Von Arnim also got the §Q lead, and she duplicated Willard's play to record +980 and a push.

The Germans nearly had a disaster of their own on the final board of the set. They escaped from a potentially large penalty, but they still lost IMPs.

Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul.
	ª A 10 © A 7 4 ¨ A 9 7 6 § Q 4 3 2
ª K 7 5 2 © Q 8 ¨ 10 5 4 2 § K J 7		ª Q 9 8 4 © J 10 9 3 2 ¨ K 8 3 § A
	ª J 6 3 © K 6 5 ¨ Q J § 10 9 8 6 5

West	North	East	South
Rauscheid	Cronier	Nehmert	Willard
Pass	1¨	1©	Pass
1ª	Pass	2ª	All Pass

Cronier led the §3, won perforce in dummy. Rauscheid didn't have a quick entry to hand, so she played spades from the dummy. Cronier took declarer's ªK with her ace and exited with the ª10 to dummy's queen. The ©J went to the queen and North's ace, and declarer guessed correctly on the return of the ¨7, putting up the king in dummy. South ducked the low heart continuation, won by declarer with the 8. A low diamond was next, and South took the jack and followed with the ªJ and a club out. Although declarer had stolen a heart trick, she could manage only seven tricks - the ªQ, ©8, a ruff in each hand, two clubs and one diamond. That meant -100.

Auken and von Arnim barely escaped from serious trouble but still went minus.

West	North	East	South
Bessis	Auken	D'Ovidio	von Arnim
	1¨	1©	Dble
Redbl	Pass	Pass	2§
Pass	2©	Pass	3§
Pass	3NT	Pass	Pass
Dble	Pass	4§	All Pass

Auken apparently believed von Arnim's 2§ bid to show more strength than she had. 3NT doubled was going to be ugly, and von Arnim did well to run from that contract. Bessis started with the ©Q, taken by von Arnim with the king. She would have done better to take the diamond finesse right away - she could then have organized a parking place for her losing heart - but she played the §9 to the 7, 2 and ace. The ©J came back to dummy's ace, and von Arnim exited with the heart. D'Ovidio won and switched to a spade to the king and ace. Another spade put East on play again, and she exited with another one to von Arnim's jack. In hand at last, she led another club toward the queen. Bessis hopped up with the king and played a diamond, ducked to East's king. That was plus 100 at both tables for another 5 IMPs in a set of relatively flat boards. If the French can get the same kind of performance out of Bessis and D'Ovidio, they will be well placed to add another world championship to their list of victories.