Belgian Juniors Bid Slams (and sometimes make them)

by Jean-Francois Jourdain (Belgium)

Belgium came to Jesolo with a completely renewed team, which will be soon presented to you. Those who were present in Riccione, two years ago, however, know about our secret weapon, Benoit Guiot, better known as Benguigui. A well known principle in Belgium is “Benguigui’s bidding… and everything becomes possible”. We will show his skills in a moment, but first let’s observe that he is not the only one to bid slams in the team. Look at what Dirk De Hertog and Tine Dobbels produced in the match against Scotland :

Board 15. Dealer South. N-S Vul.
	♠ A K 9 8 ♥ A 9 7 6 ♦ A 10 ♣ K Q 10
♠ 10 5 ♥ K Q 10 8 4 3 2 ♦ 7 4 3 ♣ 9		♠ Q 6 4 2 ♥ J ♦ K J 9 8 6 ♣ 7 6 3
	♠ J 7 3 ♥ 5 ♦ Q 5 2 ♣ A J 8 5 4 2

South’s Two Clubs was Precision so, after the 3♥ pre-empt of West, Tine Dobbels did not have too much difficulty in bidding a slam, letting her partner display his technique.

For Scotland, Alex Wilkinson led the ♠10 and declarer soon read all the cards. He put up the ace, drew two rounds of trumps in dummy and did not forget to cash the ♥A, removing East’s exit card. Then he played his remaining trumps, pitching all the hearts from dummy, and when the last club came Sinclair had an uncomfortable choice: regardless of which suit he discarded now, declarer should play that suit and throw him in. Well done and 1370 points to Belgium, but alas no swing. In the other room Morrison opened 3 ♣ (vulnerable pre-empts are not any more what they once were) and the same contract was reached, this time without the information of long hearts in West.

Declarer took the ♥K lead and drew trumps. He tried his luck with the double spade finesse and when the jack lost to the queen, the Belgian East was so sure South held seven clubs (despite the evidence to the contrary) that he judged that a diamond trick was necessary to set the contract. So he switched to that suit for a flat board. Now let’s see the Belgian efforts in the Closed room for trying to set a slam record. First a missed attempt:

Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul.
	♠ 10 5 ♥ Q 8 3 ♦ A 5 2 ♣ A Q J 7 2
♠ K Q J 9 8 ♥ A K 10 6 5 2 ♦ J ♣ 4		♠ A 6 ♥ 4 ♦ K Q 8 7 4 ♣ K 9 8 6 3
	♠ 7 4 3 2 ♥ J 9 7 ♦ 10 9 6 3 ♣ 10 5

Board 19. Dealer South. E/W Vul.
	♠ 3 ♥ Q J 9 4 ♦ 7 5 3 ♣ J 8 6 3 2
♠ Q J 10 9 5 4 2 ♥ – ♦ Q J 8 4 ♣ K Q		♠ A ♥ A 10 8 7 2 ♦ 10 6 2 ♣ A 9 7 5
	♠ K 8 7 6 ♥ K 6 5 3 ♦ A K 9 ♣ 10 4

One might think what he wants about the vulnerable 4♠ pre-empt – personally I find a vulnerable 3♠ more than enough with all that rubbish – but anyway, Jef thought his partner promised at least nine tricks and tried once again for the slam bonus. With no diamond control and another key card missing he was happy to escape without a double – which South certainly should have produced had he read this article before the match – but nevertheless scored another 13 IMPS in the wrong column when Sinclair bid in the other room seemed more aware of what a 4♠ should looked like.

But don’t think the Belgians were discouraged by all those poor contracts. On Board 20 they reached 6♥ with the following material :

Board 20. Dealer West. All Vul.
	♠ Q 5 4 3 ♥ Q J ♦ Q 2 ♣ Q 10 8 4 2
♠ A J 9 6 2 ♥ A 8 6 ♦ A 10 9 6 3 ♣		♠ ♥ K 9 7 4 3 2 ♦ J ♣ A K 9 7 5 3
	♠ K 10 8 7 ♥ 10 5 ♦ K 8 7 5 4 ♣ J 6

Board 10. Dealer East. All Vul.
	♠ Q 8 3 ♥ K J 10 8 ♦ 4 3 ♣ Q 7 6 5
♠ A K 7 ♥ Q ♦ A Q J 10 2 ♣ A K J 9		♠ J 10 9 6 ♥ A 9 7 5 2 ♦ 6 5 ♣ 8 3
	♠ 5 4 2 ♥ 6 4 3 ♦ K 9 8 7 ♣ 10 4 2

Benguigui proceeded now to develope a spade trick in dummy before his only entry was removed. He played ace, king and another spade. North trusted his ‘certain’ trick in clubs and missed his last chance to beat the contract by returning a heart. Instead of that, he exited in diamonds. Benguigui cashed out the suit. Five cards before the end, North could still hold ♥ K J and ♣ Q 7 6 but, when the ♥Q was played and covered to the ace, he was hopelessly squeezed by the thirteenth spade. Benguigui dropped his ♣Q and scored 1440 points and 13 IMPS. That was sufficient to hold the Belgian loss to 11-19 VPS.