| 38th World Team Championships | Page 3 | Bulletin 14 - Saturday 13 October 2007 |
| |
||
bermuda bowl final session 2 Norway v USA 1 by Phillip Alder
For the second session of the Bermuda Bowl final, with Norway leading by 9.5 IMPs, the United States sent Steve Garner and Howard Weinstein into the open room to play North-South against Erik Saelensminde and Boye Brogeland. In the closed room, Michael Rosenberg and Zia Mahmood were East-West against Tor Helness and Geir Helgemo. The U.S. regained the lead on the very first deal:
(a) A raise with 5-14 points and three-plus trumps (always four-plus if weak)
(a) Singleton or void As you can see, with the cards as they lay, six spades was easy. Helgemo, having jump-raised with only three spades, bid six hearts to offer as an alternative trump suit since his partner could be expected to have some length there. But Helness was not on the same wavelength. Six hearts went two down, losing one heart and two clubs. (On a diamond lead, declarer drew three rounds of trumps, then established diamonds and got one of his clubs away.) Plus 980 and plus 100 gave 14 IMPs to USA 1. The North-South pairs missed a fair, and making, slam on the second deal. The third board gave USA 1 some more IMPs.
(a) In principle, denying a four-card major
(a) 15-17 points Against one notrump in the closed room, Zia led the diamond four. Rosenberg, after winning with his queen, shifted to a low heart. West took the trick with his ten, then tried a low spade. Helgemo put up dummy's king and cashed his seven other winners to score an overtrick. Against three notrump, Saelensminde led the heart queen. Declarer won with dummy's ace and called for a spade, West rushing up with his ace to continue hearts. When East did not overtake the ten of hearts, West pushed a spade through, but declarer had no choice: he played his jack and had nine tricks: two spades, one heart, one diamond and five clubs. Minus 120 and plus 400 gave 7 IMPs to USA 1. Then Helgemo recouped some points with a well-timed penalty double.
Saelensminde ran from one notrump into two hearts, which it was hard for South to double. Declarer took one spade, three hearts and one club for three down, minus 300. One notrump doubled was expensive. North led the club ten, South taking dummy's jack with his queen and returning his low club. Declarer played a diamond to his king, but North won with the ace and led a club to South's king. A spade shift left declarer unable to take more than his three aces. Four down was plus 1100 to Norway and 13 IMPs. Two flat boards were followed by this deal:
On the Vugraph, Saelensminde misguessed the play. He ducked the club lead and took the second trick with West's club king. Declarer overtook dummy's diamond jack with his queen, a play that he could not afford as the cards lay. Weinstein won with his king and cleared the clubs. Now East cashed his two top diamonds, getting the bad news, and led a low heart to catch South's king, but that gave declarer only seven tricks: three hearts, two diamonds and two clubs. In the closed room, where Rosenberg's careful three-club bid would have been great if West had had queen-doubleton or queen-third of clubs, North led the heart six. Declarer played low from the dummy and scooped up South's king with his ace. The diamond jack won the second trick, so declarer continued with a heart to the jack, the diamond ace, and the diamond queen. South, after winning with his king, shifted to a spade, giving his side two tricks there, but declarer claimed the balance. Plus 200 and plus 630 gave 13 IMPs to USA 1 and a lead they would not lose during this session. The next deal was exciting, too.
(a) One key card
(a) Four-of-a-major opening that prefers partner to be declarer This was not a good board for Roman Key Card Blackwood. East knew they had twelve trumps missing a top honor, but was it the ace or king? As Edgar Kaplan was fond of saying, the trump king is not an ace. Taking the low road, East settled for five spades. And he was right if North was going to lead a heart. But when South doubled, East might have redoubled – except that the penalty from six diamonds doubled is only 500. North led the diamond king. Declarer Brogeland drew the trump, gave up a club, then ruffed down the club ace to score twelve tricks. Notice that the Americans right-sided the contract. When Rosenberg took twelve tricks in identical fashion, minus 750 and plus 980 gave 6 IMPs to USA 1 – now ahead by 16.5. Norway immediately recouped 10 IMPs.
(a) 14-16 points
Against five diamonds on Vugraph, Garner led the spade king. Declarer won with the ace and played his low heart, North grabbing his ace and shifting to the club king. Brogeland won with dummy's ace, played a heart to his queen, cashed the spade queen and ruffed a spade in the dummy, North discarding his last heart. West ruffed a club, ruffed another spade (North threw a club), ruffed a club high (in case North was playing a subtle game by not ruffing a spade with the diamond queen), ruffed his last spade, ruffed a card, cashed the diamond ace, and lost the last trick to South's diamond queen – plus 600. In the closed room, Zia made four diamonds exactly. A flat board in a partscore battle was followed by another big swing on card play.
This came down to the heart guess. Garner got it right and Helness got it wrong, giving 10 more IMPs to USA 1. Then ...
In the open room, Weinstein's two-heart response was game-forcing. So, when Brogeland gambled a double of three notrump, Garner, with 19 high-card points, was happy to place the blue card into the bidding tray. After a heart lead to West's jack and a diamond shift, declarer rose with his ace and took his ten top tricks for plus 1400. Against four spades, Rosenberg led a diamond. Declarer Helness won with dummy's nine, drew trumps and conceded a diamond trick for plus 680, but a loss of 12 IMPs. USA 1 was now ahead by 28.5. After an IMP to Norway, it was déjà vu all over again, again!
(a) Semiforcing
Against Garner's three notrump in the open room, Saelensminde led the heart queen. Declarer won with his king, ran the diamond ten, winning, and played a diamond to dummy's jack. West took the trick and returned a heart. Garner won with his jack and played a spade to dummy's queen, Brogeland winning with his king and clearing the hearts. Declarer took his two diamond tricks ending in his hand, then played a spade to dummy's ten. Unlucky – West won with his jack and cashed three tricks, two hearts and the club ace, for three down. Against three notrump redoubled, Rosenberg led a spade, Zia winning with his jack and shifting to his low club. Helness won with his king, ran the diamond queen, winning, then played the diamond ten and rose with dummy's ace. Declarer cashed dummy's spade ace and continued with another spade. Zia won with the king and took his two winners, the diamond king and club ace, but then he had to lead a heart, so Helness claimed. Plus 150 and plus 800 gave Norway 14 IMPs. Note that Norway made a mistake that was avoided by the United States. What was it? Norway erred in making three notrump redoubled when nonvulnerable. Board 31 was flat. Then Zia and Rosenberg bid to five clubs, which needed trumps 3-2, the diamond finesse to win and no opposing trump promotion. Two-thirds of that worked, but the diamond finesse failed. When the Norwegians stopped in three clubs, they gained 7 IMPs but USA 1 retained a small lead, 88.5-81. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |
| Page 3 |
