Marc Smith visits the second Invitational Alt Mixed tournament

The Polish/Russian squad led by Jacek Pszczola dominated the first running of the ‘Invitational Alt Mixed’. They return this week to defend their title, along with a number of new teams in a very strong field. This time, Pepsi’s East European sextet will be up against, RED SEA (a Polish, Israeli and Bulgarian combination), TIRAMISU (an exotic mix of French, Italian and Swiss flavors), the multi-national combination known simply as the ALT STARS, as well as four quasi-American teams, all of which include some of the world’s most exciting players in their ranks.

As usual, we begin with some problems for you to consider. Firstly, with both sides vulnerable, you hold as South:

What do you bid?

Next, with just the opponents vulnerable, your hand as North is:

What action do you now take?

Lastly, with just the opponents vulnerable, you hold as East:

What do you bid now?

PEPSI began with a 20-IMP victory over RED SEA in Round 1 of the round robin, but it was not long before those two teams established themselves at the top of the table. Both were assisted by gaining a large swing on the same deal of their Round 2 match. At all four tables in our two matches, the South player was confronted with the first of the bidding problems posed above:

Both Vul - Dealer East

In the match between DONNER and RED SEA, Gary Donner raised to Three Spades. West competed with Four Clubs and opener converted to hearts. Can you really blame Donner for doubling? Alas, when the double went back to Cathy Baldsyz, she reconsidered and converted to clubs. No One doubled that and, after North’s singleton heart lead, the defenders managed to defeat the contract by one trick: N/S +100. Although Four Hearts undoubled would have produced a larger penalty, it would only have reduced the loss on the deal…

West - Larsson North - Dav. Birman East - Helgemo South - Dan. Birman

After the same start, experienced Israeli international Daniela Birman did not raise spades immediately. When West forced to game with a stop-asking cue-bid and Geir Helgemo then bid 3NT, though, she decided that a sacrifice was in order. 

In the circumstances, it is hard to fault either the Norwegian star’s double or his lead of the ♥K. David Birman won with the ♥A and continued with the ♥Q and ♥J, discarding clubs. Helgemo could ruff, but declarer now had only the ♠K and the ♦A to lose. N/S +790 and 12 IMPs to RED SEA.

West - Kazmucha North - Wooldridge East - Filipowicz South - Edmonds

In the Match between EDMONDS and PEPSI, having also passed Two Spaces Jodi Edmonds found herself in the same position as had Daniela Birman. Rather than save over 3NT, though, she opted to defend and led the ♠3. 

Declarer discarded a heart from dummy and the spotlight fell upon America’s Joel Wooldridge, a former double World Junior champion. Had he won the ♠A and switched to his singleton heart, his partner would have been able to cash five winners in the suit. When he, instead, put in the ♠J, Dominic Filipowicz won with the ♠K, cashed four diamond tricks and, with the aid of the finesse, four club tricks: a spectacular E/W +600.

At the last of our four tables, Anna Gulevich, a member of the Russian team that won the most recent World Mixed Teams championship, in Wuhan in 2019, also passed throughout on the South cards…

West - Hurd North - Gromov East - S.Rimstedt South - Gulevich

At this table, John Hurd reopened with Three Diamonds. The former Swedish star, now representing the USA, Sandra Rimsteadt, did not want to commit to playing 3NT with only one stopper when there was an alternative game in diamonds, so she temporized with Three Spades, perhaps looking for a holding such as ♠Q-x opposite. When Hurd showed the three-suited nature of his hand with Four Clubs, Rimstedt then opted to offer hearts as a possible game contract. 

If hearts is the partnership’s best strain, would partner perhaps not bid Four Hearts over Four Diamonds?

Gulevich led a spade and declarer ruffed in dummy. When Rimstedt then led a heart to the king, the roof fell in. South won and drew all of the remaining trumps before playing another spade. Declarer was allowed to score the ♠K and managed to cash three minor-suit winners before South ruffed in with her last trump. North claimed the rest of the tricks with winning spades. Silence can, indeed, be golden, it seems: N/S +500 and 15 IMPs to PEPSI.

For the record, raising immediately to Four Spades was not a great success either. At the table where one South player took that action, LHO backed in with 4NT and you ended up defending Five Clubs (down one).

After seven matches in the round robin, it was a close-run thing at the top of the table, with PEPSI (93.04 VPs) just edging RED SEA (92.25) into second place. Also qualifying for the knockout stage were ALT STARS (78.32 VPs) and TIRAMISU (75.84), with EDMONDS (71.04) just missing out.

PEPSI chose ALT STARS as their semi-final opponents, and began the match with a 10.1-IMP carry-forward. In the other semi-final RED SEA enjoyed a 6.1-IMP carry-forward advantage over TIRAMISU. RED SEA won the first half of a very low-scoring match 25-7 to lead by 24.1 at halftime, Although TIRAMISU almost blanked their opponents in the second half, there was just not enough in the boards. They won the second half 18-1, but it was RED SEA who advanced to the final with victory by a score of 32.1-25.

The other semi-final was truly a game of two halves. Although PEPSI began with a 10.1-IMP lead, it did not last long. The ALT STARS fielded an All-Danish foursome who won the first stanza 40-1 to lead by 28.9 IMPs at the midway point of the match. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, is a well worn adage, but ALT STARS sent Johan Cammerlev and Camilla Krefeld to the bench for the second half, presumably so that they could rest up for the final. 

The first three deals saw the PEPSI team make just a 2-IMP dent in the deficit. Then came something more substantial, when one of ALT STARS’ remaining Danes was faced with the second of the bidding problems posed earlier:

E/W Vul - Dealer West

After three rounds of bidding, Helle Rasmussen had to make a low-level competitive decision when her partner reopened with a double of Two Diamonds. With her diamonds sitting under the opening bidder, spades bid on her right, and only a doubleton in support of partner’s suit, none of the options looked particularly attractive. To me, though, Two Hearts looks like the standout choice, but what do I know?

Rasmussen opted for the option that I suspect would have ranked third amongst readers’ choices, and Pepsi unerringly found the best opening lead for the defense, the ♣K. Declarer won with the ♣A and immediately returned a club to East’s queen. East switched to his heart, which was ducked to West’s queen, and now came the defensive crossruff. A heart was ruffed with the ♠10 and East gave his partner a club ruff. When another heart came back, though declarer threw a diamond and, when East had to ruff with the ♠A, Rassmusen was in control. She won East’s diamond exit with the jack, picked up West remaining trumps via the marked finesse, and pitched her remaining diamond loser on the ♥A. N/S +110 and a plus score at least, which is probably better than would have been achieved in a heart contract with such a bad trump break.

At the other table, North faced a similar decision, although here it was he who had bid spades, rather than West:

West - A Jansma North - Gromov East - J Jansma South - Gulevich

Aida Jansma (quite sensibly) chose to pass on the West cards after South’s One Heart overcall, so Andrey Gromov introduced his moderate spade holding. Anna Gulevich’s double of Two Clubs was a support double, showing three spades, and her second double for takeout. Knowing that his partner was 3-5 in the majors, Gromov was essentially faced with the same decision that his Danish counterpart had been at the other table. The Russian, though, opted to go for the jugular and pass for penalties. After all, partner had shown extra values and was, crucially, known to hold five minor-suit cards.

Gulevich led a spade to the king and ace, and Jan Jansma gave himself the best chance by immediately returning the suit, but Gulevich was up to this challenge. She won with the ♠Q, cashed her ♥A, effectively killing dummy, and then exited with the ♦A and a second trump to her partner’s king. Gromov played a club now and declarer rose with his king. South won with the ♣A and returned the suit. Declarer won with the ♣Q and exited with a club, setting up that suit, but he still had to lose another trick to North’s ♦J. N/S +500 and 9 IMPs to PEPSI.

PEPSI halved the deficit with another 9-IMP pickup on the next deal, and then came a deal with a choice of three, or even four, possible game contracts for East/West.

N/S Vul - Dealer East

Although the Danes found their ten-card club fit, the vulnerability precluded them making life overly difficult for their opponents. Pepsi showed values with his first-round redouble and May Sakr simplified the auction when she chose to make a jump rebid in her moderate six-card suit.

The ♣A lead did not harm declarer’s cause. Sakr ruffed, crossed the ♠Q, and played a heart to the nine and ace. Declarer then won the spade return and played hearts from the top. With two black-suit discards in dummy to take care of her losing diamonds, she could afford three trump losers. E/W +420.

West - A Jansma North - Gromov East - J Jansma South - Gulevich

Curiously, the uncontested auction proved more difficult for the ALT STARS’ Dutch pair. At his third turn, Jan Jansma was called upon to solve the third of the bidding problems posed earlier. It is understandable that he did not particularly fancy 3NT facing a likely 3-5-4-1 shape, although on a club lead declarer can make that contract easily enough with a winning diamond guess. On her actual hand, West should probably remove 3NT to Four Hearts, confirming her exact shape and offering a choice of the three suit games. Another alternative, perhaps, is Four Clubs by East, if partner would read that as a ‘choice of games cue-bid’. Over Four Diamonds, East can bid Four Hearts, which can only be doubleton-support, and West can then select the contract. At the table, Jansma chose to raise to game in the known 4-3 fit.

Gulevich led the ♦4, won in hand by declarer with the ♦8. Four Spades certainly can be made, although whether ruffing a club high, playing for trumps 3-3, and then guessing both red suits is a realistic line of play in practice is another matter entirely. What quickly became apparent was that the normal-looking play of a heart to the jack at trick two was not a winning option. North won with the ♥A, returned a suit-preference ♦Q for his partner to ruff, received a heart ruff and delivered a second diamond ruff to beat the contract in double-quick time. E/W -50 and the penalty for reaching an inferior game was the full 10 IMPs to PEPSI, who suddenly found themselves ahead by 1.1 IMPs halfway through the second set. 

PEPSI completed the second-half whitewash by gaining at least 1 IMP on every one of the remaining six deals. PEPSI outscored their opponents 44-0 in the second half to complete an impressive turnaround and win the match by a relatively comfortable 55.1-40. It would be the top two teams from the round robin, PEPSI and RED SEA, in the final, with PEPSI enjoying a carry-forward advantage of 0.1 IMPs.

PEPSI won a fairly dull first stanza of the final 30-21, but the second set was explosive and provided plenty of entertainment for the hundreds of kibitzers from around the world who were watching on BBO VuGraph. On Board 2, RED SEA stopped out of a poor heart game, but both declarers made ten tricks when the winning lead proved too difficult to find. Board 3 was more of the same, with both sides reaching Four Hearts but from different sides of the table. The winning lead was obvious from one side. Not so the other: another 13 IMPs to PEPSI. Then came:

Both Vul - Dealer West

West opened a multi-way Polish Club and rebid 2NT to show the ‘Strong Club’ hand type. When Danuta Kazmucha rebid her hearts, Dominik Filipowicz made a slam try but then declined to co-operate further when his partner denied a minor-suit control. 

Matilda Polilov led a spade. Prepared to lose two trump tricks, Kazmucha won in hand with the ♠A and immediately played the ♥A and a low heart. South won with the ♥J (North discarding) and played a second spade. It was now safe for declarer to cash dummy’s remaining spade winner for a diamond discard, and then cross back to hand with a diamond ruff to drive out the other high trump. E/W +650.

In the battle of the Polish Clubs, RED SEA’s Polish contingent also climbed to the five-level, although here it was East who carried the partnership beyond game:

West - Baldysz North - Pszczola East - Janis’ski South - Sakr

Here, too, South led a spade, but Przemek Janiszewski won in dummy with the ♠K (temporarily blocking the suit) to run the ♥10. When this lost to the ♥J, May Sakr wasted no time switching to a low diamond. No problem, though, I would guess declarer thought: he won with the ♦A, unblocked the ♠A, and attempted to cross to dummy in clubs to take his diamond discard. Sakr ruffed the first round of clubs, cashed the ♦K and still had the ♥K to come. E/W -200 was the cost of what, after all, was only a very marginally less-safe line of play than his opponent had taken. That was another 13 IMPs to PEPSI, who had run off 36 unanswered over just three deals.

Just as quickly as it had blown in, the wind now suddenly changed direction. Boards 5 and 7 both produced 12-IMP swings in favor of RED SEA. Board 6, though, was the most spectacular of all:

E/W Vul - Dealer East

Over Janiszewski’s Polish Club opening, South’s 2NT showed an undefined two-suited hand and North’s Three Diamonds was ‘pass-or-correct’, perhaps suggesting clubs, East doubled to show the strong hand-type, and South retreated to the safety of his seven-card heart suit. East might, perhaps, have just bid Five Diamonds at this point, giving up on slam with bad breaks expected and a thus far silent partner, but he made one more effort with a Four Heart cue-bid. 

When Cathy Baldsyz retreated to Four Spades, Pepsi could not resist the temptation to double. Whether East would have passed without the double, we shall never know. Convinced that the double showed a large number of trumps, though, he retreated into his semi-solid minor.

Declarer won the ♥K lead with the ace, cashed two high diamonds, and exited with the ♥10. South won with the ♥Q but found herself endplayed. Sakr exited with a club, but the jack forced North’s ace and declarer ruffed. The ♦7 provided access to dummy, and the ♣K then took care of one of declarer’s spade losers. E/W a fine +600.

West - Filipowicz North - L Poplilov East - Kazmucha South - M Poplilov

Over Kazmcha’s Polish Club opening, Matilda Poplilov took advantage of the vulnerability and gave it full wellie. When her jump to Four Hearts got back to the opener, she might have settled for Five Diamonds, but Kazmucha still had her sights set on something higher, so she reopened with a double. Filipowicz might have guessed to pass, which at least has the benefit of producing a plus score, but it is hard to criticize his removal to Four Spades. There was no alert or explanation, but I assume Kazmucha’s 5NT was some sort of ‘pick-a-slam’ move, which seems rather curious in the circumstances – did she really expect her partner to choose diamonds which is, presumably, the only option other than spades. Filipowic duly bid his clubs and Kamucha converted to spades.

With his quiet pass of Four Spades on this deal, Lilo Polilov demonstrated a valuable lesson for all you budding young players out there (as well as the odd decorated Polish veteran from the other table)’ It is usually better to wait until the opponents have stopped bidding before you double’. In all seriousness, though, it is easy to talk yourself out of any number of profitable doubles ‘just in case the opponents have a better contract elsewhere’. On deals such as this, though, with plenty of distribution around, you should also be wary of doubling the only contract that you know is going down. Curiously, this seems to be a recurring theme in this article?

N/S +800 was worth 16 IMPs to RED SEA, who had outscored their opponents 40-0 over three deals to climb back into the match. The second stanza ended as a 46-40 to PEPSI, who led by 15.1 IMPS with 12 deals left. 

RED SEA won the final set 23-18 so PEPSI won the match 94.1-84 to win both the round robin and the final for the second consecutive Invitational Alt Mixed. Congratulations to Jacek Pszczola/May Sakr, Andrei Gromov/Anna Gulevich and Danuta Kazmucha/Dominic Filipowicz. They will, no doubt, be back again in two weeks to attempt the threepeat. 

Next week, we will be back with the best of the action from the sixth running of the Invitational Alt Open series.