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In the Pool with Jan Jansma
by Jan van Cleeff
For Jan Jansma a tournament like this is merely fun. Two weeks of swimming, sun bathing and bridge. What else can you wish for? When I passed along the swimming pool Jansma looked in great shape. A bronzed body and all smiles he shouted: ‘Have some great hands for you. By the way Six Diamonds looks horrible, doesn’t it?’. He showed me a hand from the mixed pairs, on which his opponents bid small slam in diamonds and Jansma had:
| | ♠ A J 6 3
♥ A J 10 5
♦ Q 6 ♣ 9 8 4 |
I rushed to my room, grabbed my bathing suit and a towel and hurried back to the pool to hear the rest of the story.
| Board 23. Dealer South. All Vul. |
| | ♠ A J 5 3
♥ A J 10 5
♦ Q 6
♣ 9 8 4 |
♠ 10 6 4 2
♥ –
♦ A K 8 5 3 |  |
♠ –
♥ K Q 6 3 2
♦ J 10 9 7 4 | | | ♠ K Q 9 8 7
♥ 9 8 7 4
♦ 2
♣ 10 6 2 |
| West | North | East | South
|
| Jansma | | Michielsen
|
| | | | Pass
|
| 1♦ | Dble | 1♥ | 1♠ |
| 2♣ |
2♠ |
5♦ |
Pass |
| 6♦ |
All Pass |
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‘Since you are missing two aces and the trump queen you might consider Six Diamonds rather optimistic, but in fact even the grand is quite a good contract.’ That being said, Jansma dived into the water, followed by your editor, who didn’t want to miss a word.
In the pool Jansma gave me this one:
| Board 4. Dealer West. All Vul. |
| | ♠ J 8 6
♥ Q J 9 8 3 2
♦ A 9 4
♣ 8 |
♠ A Q 5
♥ 4
♦ J 6 5
♣ Q 10 7 6 5 2 | |
♠ 10 9 4 3
♥ A K 10 7 5
♦ K Q 2
♣ K | | | ♠ K 7 2
♥ 6
♦ 10 8 7 3
♣ A J 9 4 3 |
| West | North | East | South
|
| Jansma | | Michielsen
|
| Pass | 2♦* | 2♥ | Pass
|
| 2NT | Pass | 3NT | All Pass
|
*Multi
North led the queen of hearts. Jansma took the ace and tabled the king of clubs. South won and returned a small spade for the jack. The next round of spades went to the king and ace. A diamond was played, North rose with the ace and declarer unblocked an honour. The third spade went to the queen, and Jansma cashed the queen of clubs followed by the jack and king of diamonds and played a low heart from dummy. North was endplayed and had to give the ninth trick in hearts.
Before leaving the water Jan gave me another hand:
| Board 14. Dealer East. None Vul. |
| | ♠ J 9 6 3
♥ K 10 8 7 6
♦ A 5
♣ K 8 |
♠ K
♥ 3 2
♦ K Q 10 9 6 4 2 | |
♠ A 8 7
♥ A 9 5
♦ J 8 3 | | | ♠ Q 10 5 4 2
♥ Q J 4
♦ 7
♣ J 10 7 5 |
| West | North | East | South
|
| Jansma | | Michielsen
|
| | | 1♦ | 1♥ |
| 1♠* |
2♥ |
2NT |
3♥ |
| Pass |
Pass |
4♦ |
All Pass |
*Transfer to No Trump, denies four or more spades
< ‘Bad’. Jansma did not want to consider this hand as ‘Good’
It is easy to see that Four Diamonds is a make. Playing pairs, Jansma of course was looking for the overtrick. North led a heart. Declarer won the ace, crossed to his hand with the king of spades and played the ten of diamonds. North, afraid to crush the ace and king of trumps, followed low. The rest was plain technique for Jansma. He overtook the ten with the jack and pitched his heart loser on the ace of spades. Later Jansma handled the clubs correctly playing for king doubleton in North. Why?
‘Probably with the king of clubs and a singleton South would have done more bidding on the hand. And from the play and the bidding it was clear that North had a 4-5-2-2, so I was pretty sure about the position.’
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