Vugraph Deals #148

We return to Salsomaggiore in northern Italy on Day 6 of the first post-Pandemic World Championships. With just a handful of matches left in the round robin, the fight is on to secure a place in the knockout stage. This week, we will see the action from the most explosive match of the week so far, as Netherlands take on USA-2, both fighting for a spot at the top of the leaderboard, which will earn them the right to select their quarter-final opponent.  

These two teams came into this match with the Americans leading the field after an incredibly dull 13-4 victory over the second-placed Swiss in the morning match, and the Dutch just 3 VPs behind in third place. After a couple of days when The Great Dealer seems to have been on a go slow, he pulled out all the stops by producing a magnificent set of boards for this match. You will all remember the ‘Thriller in Manilla’ and the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’, well this was the ‘Glory in Salsomaggiore’. (Sorry, that’s the best I could do – finding rhymes for this particular location is not easy.) 

Suffice it to say that there were enough wonderful hands in this match to have filled three week’s worth of articles, so the five deals I have selected are just the crème de la crème. As usual, though, we start with some problems for you to consider. With just your side vulnerable, you are North holding: 

What action, if any, do you take? 

Next, again with just your side vulnerable, you hold in the East seat: 

What action, in any, do you take? 

Finally, a lead problem. With your side only vulnerable, you are North and hear this auction: 

What do you lead?  

While you contemplate those, join the more than 3000-strong crowd watching live just in the Open Room on BBO VuGraph. Many were still getting coffee and settling into their seats as the second deal of the encounter provided a taster of what was to come. 

Simon de Wijs found himself with a tough judgement call when Bauke Muller opened a vulnerable 3♦ in second seat. Could his partner hold as little as the ♦A, the ♠QJ and a couple of low clubs? Of course but, remembering Hamman’s Second Law of Bidding (if you need me to hold a specific hand, assume I don’t have it), he chose to take the low road and jumped only to 5♣. 

John Hurd led the ♣10, and Muller produced a hand that gave slam play. Once the trumps had broken 3-2, de Wijs exited with his heart, setting up a discard for his fourth spade on dummy’s ♥Q. Winning the diamond switch in dummy, he took his discard and then ran the ♠J. East produced the queen, duly rewarding de Wijs’s caution: N/S +600. 

If the Americans at the other table thought they might be in for an easy ride, this early deal soon disabused them of that notion: 

Ricco van Prooijen opened what, much to the amusement of my fellow scribe David Bird, I have long-referred to as an ‘automatic’ weak two. At the last Bermuda Bowl in Wuhan three years ago, though, it was clear that many of the world’s top players have come around to that same view, and now such bids have become almost de rigueur. Louk Verhees piled in with a raise to game, presenting John Kranyak with the first of this week’s problems.  

Of course, Kranyak could have settled for a simple 5♣. Facing something like Qxxxx/xx/xxxxx/x, though, would you not rather play in 4♠ than go down in 5♣ on the 1-time-in-3 that clubs split 4-1? Perhaps, even, 4♥-X is your last plus score. Kranyak eventually talked himself into a double and was, no doubt, not amused to hear Demuy bidding diamonds. He retreated to 6♣ and was greeted with ace and another heart. The good news was that the trumps broke, but he still needed to find the spade finesse working. When it did not, he was one down: N/S -100 and 12 IMPs to NETHERLANDS. 

Seconds out: Round 2. This was the very next deal: 

Louk Verhees opened a Precision-style 2♣ (11-15 HCP, 6+♣ or 5+♣/4-Major). Kranyak overcalled in hearts and Van Prooijen asked for more information with 2NT. Now Vincent Demuy came alive with a jump to 4♥, and Verhees bid 4NT, presumably showing a second suit and a non-minimum. Van Prooijen committed the partnership to slam with 5NT and Verhees settled for 6♣. There was nothing to the play, declarer claiming twelve tricks after Kranyak had cashed his ace: E/W +1370. 

That looked like a fairly normal results, but it was quickly becoming apparent that ‘normal results’ would rarely be found at both tables in this match, 

Of course, no self-respecting Dutchman could risk being seen to pass that South hand in first seat non-vulnerable, so it was only really a question of how many hearts Bauke Muller would open. He opted for two but, as events would reveal, obviously felt he still had something in reserve. Kevin Bathurst overcalled in his six-card suit and De Wijs immediately upped the ante to the five-level, but Hurd brushed the jab aside and bid a confident 6♣. At this stage, Muller recalled the bit in reserve he had for his opening bid, and waded in with a vicious left hook.  

Although not alerted, Bathurst’s Pass of 6♥ probably confirmed first-round heart control, which Hurd obviously knew had to be a void. So, his ace was wasted on offense, but his partner had overcalled at the three-level at red on what he knew was only a moderate suit. It was certainly possible that he would hold both of the side-suit aces, in which case the grand slam would surely be cold, as the ♥A would provide a discard for a losing third-round spade. With no guarantee of a club trick in defense, was the penalty from 6♥-X likely to be any more than a paltry +500? If the Dutch at the other table had been allowed to play 6♣, that was already 13 IMPs out, so bidding a seventh club would cost very little even if it was wrong. 

Whatever the reasoning, Hurd talked himself into taking the plunge, and Simon de Wijs added insult to injury by doubling before cashing his ace: E/W -200 and 17 IMPs to NETHERLANDS. To make matters worse, a check of the full deal revealed that declarer probably had six losers in a heart contract, so a double would have netted 1100 and held the loss to 7 IMPs. 

The Americans had been on the canvas in both rooms, but they managed to get on the board with a partscore swing before the next great firecracker arrived. 

The auction began with a Strong Club and a transfer response showing a positive with spades. I won’t attempt to interpret the relay auction that followed, but suffice it to say that Muller could just about have written down his partner’s hand by the time he jumped to the final contract. 

Bathurst led a diamond and declarer drew four rounds of trumps. He then cashed the ♠A and a fifth trump. I wish I could report that he then played his last trump, catching West in a three-suit repeating squeeze. (Whichever king West bares, declarer then cashes the ace of that suit, dropping the king, and then the queen, squeezing West in the remaining two side suits.) Playing as they were, though, in what Zia once described as Heat 3, when whatever you do works, Muller simply led a spade at trick seven and finessed dummy’s ten. East could not find the ♠J amongst his remaining cards, so that was 13 tricks: N/S +1440. 

I assume that the VuGraph operator got lost trying to follow the auction at the other table, as the hand records just show the auction as: 

Suffice it to say that the contract was correctly recorded, however they might have reached it.  

Verhees opened the defense with the ♠2, covered by the ten, eight and ace. It would seem right to start by cashing six rounds of diamonds and trying to get some idea of the defenders’ hands, and declarer could then have made the no-trump grand via the same squeeze described above. However, so confident was he that Verhees would not have led a spade from four to the jack against a grand slam, that Demuy cashed the ♦A at trick two and then played a spade to the king. 

Of course, when Van Prooijen discarded, the contract was on the floor. N/S -100 and another 17 IMPs to NETHERLANDS. After just six boards, the Dutch led 46-5. Had this been a championship bout, the referee would have ended the contest already. 

Every deal became a true battle. Both N/S pairs got to 5♣ on a misfitting combined 21-count: both finesses worked for declarer so that was a flat board at +600. The Dutch went down in 3NT and got caught in 2♠-X for 300 at the other table. Then the Dutch stopped in 1NT but the Americans climbed to game, which was doubled and went down. This was no namby-pamby Olympic-style amateur bout with padding and helmets, this was a true heavyweight slugfest. Then came what looked like a brief respite, a routine, dull +650 for North/South: 

Yes, indeed. Nothing to be seen here: N/S +650. 

Did I not mention earlier, that sanity at both tables on the same board seemed to be a rarity in this match? 

The auction started in perfectly normal fashion, but Kranyak then bid 2NT over the 2♠ Stayman response, which was alerted as ‘asking’. We were not told what the 3♣ response showed, but there seemed to be nothing untoward as North then jumped to 4♠. Ah, okay, so it’s a flat board – indeed, it would have been the third of the match! 

No, no… Demuy, having opened 1NT, now launched into Blackwood. Shortly thereafter, he had installed himself in slam. Despite the apparently bizarre method by which it had been reached, the slam turned out to be a straight 50-50 proposition, depending on the location of the ♦A. Of course, the thousands watching live on VuGraph could see that the finesse was failing, and that the Americans were going to lose yet another double-digit swing. N/S -100 and 13 IMPs to NETHERLANDS. 

If they weren’t all sitting calmly at a bridge table, you would surely swear that the American team was punch-drunk. Could they really take another half a dozen rounds of this merciless punishment being meted out by the Dutch, who still clearly had their foot firmly on the throttle? (Apologies for the mixed metaphor – I’ve just been told in my earpiece that the NASCAR references aren’t due until next week's article.) 

They were a couple of boards ahead in the Closed Room now, and you could imagine the groan from the American contingent in the VuGraph audience as the next deal appeared on the screen with the information that the USA pair had gone down in yet another slam. This one also had some play and, indeed, could always be made, as declarer needed to play a diamond side-suit of Qxx opposite A108xx for one loser. And, yes, of course, both sides had participated in the auction, so there was some information available. 

As the Dutch pair in our room bid slowly (very slowly) towards the same contract, Al Graves (who was doing commentary on BBO for this match) and I debated whether the Dutch declarer would bring home the contract for yet another big gain. I said he wouldn’t and Al offered to bet me a whole rouble that he would. I think I was on firm ground here, with the defender sitting over the queen holding K-J-9.  

The board was duly flattened, proving at last that the Dutch did not always walk on water. If anyone knows where I can spend my rouble, please let me know. But, I digress – these flat boards are so dull that it’s easy to lose concentration and that’s now three of them in a row. Not that it must have seemed like much of a respite to the American N/S pair, who had gone down in a slam and three down in game in a 4-3 fit (teammates made 140 in the other major), Then came just what they wanted – yet another potential slam deal: 

Van Prooijen’s 4♦ response was a trump ask and 4NT showed two top honours. Thus John Kranyak was left with the lead problem posed at the top of this article. 

After this auction, a trump lead is certainly safe. A diamond is also possible. But neither will beat the contract. Declarer wins, draws trumps ending on his hand, and plays a spade to the king. South wins with his singleton ♠A and is then endplayed to give declarer his twelfth trick, whichever red suit he returns. 

As it happens, the only lead that gives you a chance is a spade, preferably one that looks like it is from three of four low cards, so the ♠8 or ♠7. Declarer would, presumably, play the king from dummy, but South wins with the ace and exits safely with a trump. Declarer now has one spade discard on the ♥A and a choice of three finesses for his twelfth trick. The diamond finesse and the ruffing heart finesse both lose. Trying to ruff down the ♥K in three rounds works and so does taking a spade finesse against the jack, but it is at least possible that declarer would go down on a spade lead. 

For the American North, who led the ♥3 at trick one, all I can recommend (other than counselling) is a copy of David Bird’s excellent book, “Opening Leads against Suit Contracts”. E/W +920. 

And so to the other room, to see if the USA team can finally get one slam hand in this match right: 

Nope, apparently not. South’s heart lead conceded the twelfth trick, but that was of little solace to the American declarer: E/W +490 and yet another 10 IMPs to NETHERLANDS. 

The Dutch score a resounding victory, by 76-22, which carries them to the top of the leader-board with five matches left in the round robin. USA-2 slip down only to third, though. And, if you think this was a hammering, spare a thought for the Singapore team, who played this same set of boards against USA-1 and were beaten 125-12. And they call the next stage the knockouts!! 

We will be back next week with the best of the action from the final day of the qualifying stage.