The last major event on the 2023 European bridge calendar is the final stages of the ‘Coupe de France’. After numerous knockout rounds, four teams made it to the semi-final stage, where both matches were relatively close. In one tie, SAPORTA (Pierre Saporta, Renata Saporta-Tworzydlo, Jean-Michel Voldoire and Bruno Lorrain) beat the team captained by Gerard Salliere by 10 IMPs, 62-52. In the other, CHOTTIN (Philippe Chottin, David Harari, Bernard Doussot, Alexandre Kilani, Benjamin Marie and Thibaud Vincenot) edged out the highly-fancied team captained by Hilda Setton by just 4 IMPs, 54-49.

The Cup winners would therefore be either SAPORTA or CHOTTIN, the result to be determined over the course of a 30-board match split into three 10-board segments.

As usual, we start with some problems. Firstly, with both sides vulnerable, you are South holding:

What do you bid? If you jump to 4♥, what action, if any, do you then take when West’s 4♠ bid is passed back to you?

Next, with only your side vulnerable, you are sitting in the West with:

What action, if any, do you take?

Finally, with only your side vulnerable, you hold in the West seat:

What is your strategy with this hand?

For those watching live on BBO VuGraph, there was little to shout about in the first stanza, and SAPORTA emerged from a quiet set of boards leading 11-4. The Great Dealer awakened for the second stanza and, early on, both South players had to answer the first of the problems posed above.

Bruno Lorrain chose to jump to 4♥ at his first turn. He then had a decision to make when Benjamin Marie’s 4♠ bid came back to him. Should he pass, double or bid on? The pass chosen at the table turned out to be the worst of the options, but perhaps a different action earlier could have avoided this decision altogether.

Lorrain led the ♥A and switched the the ♣Q at trick two. Declarer had lost three tricks already, and the defenders still had to make two diamonds later in the play. N/S +200 seemed to be poor recompense for the vulnerable game bonus that was available.

Alexandre Kilani (left) collected a bronze medal on his international debut, as a member of the French Schools team at the 2007 European Youth Championships. In a distinguished career as a junior international, he went on the collect three gold medals, from the Youngsters Teams at the 2008 World Bridge Games, from the Junior Pairs at the 2012 European Youth Pairs Championships, and from the Junior Teams at the Europeans a year later.

On this deal, he raised this partner’s heart opening via a 3♠ splinter bid. This proved to be enough to encourage Philippe Chottin to commit to the five-level on the North cards after West’s raise to 4♠.

A spade lead and a safe switch would have left declarer needing the club finesse for his contract. When East led a low diamond, Chottin rose with the ♦Q from dummy, thus avoiding the loser in that suit. With the club finesse working, declarer was eventually able to discard dummy’s spade and claim all 13 tricks. N/S +710 and 11 IMPs to CHOTTIN.

A couple of boards later, one West was faced with the second of this week’s problems…

Renata Saporta-Tworzydlo (right) made her international debut as a member of the Swiss Women’s team at the 1985 European Championships. Playing with Pierre Saporta, she just missed out on a medal, finishing fourth, in the 2016 World Mixed Pairs in Wroclaw.

Taking advantage of the favourable vulnerability, Alexandre Kilani applied maximum pressure with a 4♥ overcall of East’s third-seat 1♣ opening. Pierre Saporta reopened with a double, leaving his partner with the key decision. Judging whether to take a save at red is rarely easy. On this deal, with both sides able to make ten tricks, so bidding 5♣ would have been the winning decision.

Renata Saporta passed the double and led the ♠Q. Declarer won with dummy’s ace and led a trump, Pierre rising with the ♥A. He cashed a club and exited with his second trump, leaving declarer with a guess for his contract. When Kilani rose with the ♥K, down came West’s queen. There was still a diamond to lose, but declarer had ten tricks. N/S +590.

Events were very different in the replay…

Thibaud Vincenot (left) and Benjamin Marie made their international debuts together as members of the French Schools team at the 2013 European Youth Championships. They were both members also of the team that narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing fourth, in the Youngsters Teams event at the World Bridge Games the following year.

Jean-Michel Voldoire opened the bidding on the North hand, and now it became a guessing game as both sides tried to determine who was bidding to make and who was saving. Vincenot’s 3NT overcall added significant momentum to the auction. When he then backed in with a double of South 4♥, Marie knew he had a big fit with whichever long minor his partner held, so he advanced with a ‘pick a minor’ 4♠ cue-bid.

Vincenot duly bid his long suit and now the spotlight fell on Voldoire. Of course, the best he could do was to double and collect +200 to limit the damage. His decision to bid on to the failing 5♥ cost only 3 IMPs. N/S -50 meant 12 IMPs to CHOTTIN.

CHOTTIN won the second stanza 32-20, so they led by 5 IMPs (36-31) going into the final 10-board set.

That small lead survived the first deal of the set, but not the second, on which both West players had to answer the last of this week’s problems.

Jean-Michel Voldoire (right) made his first international appearance at the European Mixed Pairs in 1990, and he made his debut in the French Open team at the 1999 European Championships. He collected a bronze medal in the Mixed Teams at the 2014 World Bridge Series in Sanya.

On this deal, Bruno Lorrain upgraded the East hand to a 15-17 1NT opening. Evaluating good hands with a poor suit is often tricky, and Voldoire decided that a consultative approach was right on this West hand. He first transferred to clubs and then advanced with a quantitative jump to 4NT. With no great club fit and a sub-minimum for his original opening, Lorrain had an easy decision to pass.

In fact, 6NT does have play, needing both red suits to come in. Lorrain won the opening spade lead and cashed the ♦A-Q, bringing down the jack. He then cashed dummy’s second spade winner before playing the ♥A and finessing against North on the second round of hearts. When South could not produce the ♥Q, declarer had twelve tricks. E/W +690. Which side was happier with that result?

Alexandre Kilani also upgraded the East hand to a 1NT opening. However, Philippe Chottin adopted a unilateral approach on the West cards. He first asked for five-card majors with Puppet Stayman (3♦). When Kilani denied a five-card major, Chottin simply jumped to slam in his long suit.

Yes, Kilani could have saved the day (and 26 IMPs) by converting to no-trumps, but it seems to me (and to Kilani) that 6♣ did not invite East to do anything but pass and produce dummy.

Obviously, 6♣ is completely hopeless, with at least two unavoidable trump losers no matter how the suit splits. E/W -100 and 13 IMPs to SAPORTA, who moved into an 8-IMP lead.

Our final deal from this final perhaps presented the E/W pairs with a game or partscore decision…

The sequence followed by Voldoire on this West hand shows an invitational hand with long clubs in Standard French, something similar to what many Americans playing 2/1 would bid 1♠-3♣ with. With this East hand, Lorrain had no reason to do anything other than pass.

In fact, the 4-0 trump break means that even the three-level is potentially too high for East/West.   A heart lead would certainly have given the defenders five tricks. When Bernard Doussot (left) led a diamond to his partner’s ace, can you see how David Harari must defend to get a fifth trick for his side?

At the table, Harari returned a spade at trick two. Doussot won with the ♠A and tried to cash the ♦K, but switching to a heart is also not good enough. Declarer ruffed the diamond switch, unblocked the ♠Q, and crossed to the ♣A. Declarer’s losing heart went on dummy’s ♠J and declarer conceded two trumps, claiming nine tricks. E/W +110.

Harari needed to attack the entries to dummy. Note the difference if South switches to a trump at trick two, removing the ♣A. Declarer can win and play a spade, but North wins and switches to a heart whilst the spades and still blocked. Whatever he does, declarer must now lose a trick to the ♥K in addition to two aces and two trumps.

After the same start to the auction, Chottin advanced with an invitational 2NT at his second turn. This seems particularly strange to me as, if it is a partscore hand and partner passes 2NT, surely you would rather be playing in your eight-card suit. Also, if it is a game hand, is it not possible that 5♣ will be better than 3NT. Surely, it is very unlikely that partner will steer you in that direction after a 2NT rebid.

The result was that Kilani raised to a 3NT game that had little or no chance. Renata Saporta led a diamond, Pierre Saporta (right) winning with the ♦A and switching to a club. Winning with the ♣A, declarer played a spade to the king and ace, and Renata continued diamond to the jack and queen. Pierre now exited with a spade.

Declarer won and cashed the ♣K on which North pitched a diamond. Tempted by the only chance he has to make the contract, Chottin also threw a diamond from dummy. When he then ran the ♥9 to South’s king, Pierre was able to cash the ♣Q and then cross to the ♦K so that his partner could cash her remaining long card in the suit. Three down: E/W -300 and another 9 IMPs to SAPORTA.

SAPORTA won the final stanza 34-16 and thus claimed the “Coupe de France” title with victory by 13 IMPs (65-52). Congratulations to the SAPORTA team, Pierre Saporta, Renata Saporta-Tworzydlo, Jean-Michel Voldoire and Bruno Lorrain.

I would like to wish all of my regular readers a very happy and prosperous New Year. May 2024 be a year in which all of your finesses work, both at the bridge table and in life. I will be back soon with the best of the action from the opening event of 2024, the first weekend of the Camrose Trophy.