2nd European Champions' Cup Page 4 Bulletin 3 - Sunday, 12 October  2003


Hidden Assets

by Mark Horton

As we are in Rome I can’t resist the temptation to suggest that on this deal from Round 3 the East players faced an ’eternal problem.’ Should you reveal your assets, or keep everyone in the dark?
At high levels an awful lot of points may be resting on your decision.

Board 18 - E/NS
  ª -
© K Q 8 7 5 3
¨ K 10 7 6
§ 5 4 2
ª Q J 7 6 3 2
© J 9 6
¨ 9 4 2
§ 7
Bridge deal ª A K 8 5 4
© 10
¨ A Q J 8 5
§ 9
  ª 10 9
© A 4 2
¨ 3
§ A K Q J 10 6 3

West North East South
Nystrom Fantoni Bertheau Nunes
    1ª 2§
4ª 5§ 5ª 6§
6ª Dble All Pass  

When North bids Five Clubs East is faced with a classic problem; should he bid Five Diamonds, helping partner to judge what to do if the opponents bid on, or should he keep the diamond suit hidden?

This may not seem to be important, but imagine North had bid Seven Clubs? Would West find a diamond lead? It is also possible that showing your second suit might persuade North/South to go quietly when you can make eleven tricks in spades but not twelve.

You can readily make an argument for either action – this time West was not tested. South led the ace of hearts, and switched to the ace of clubs, +100.

You might ask what was so difficult, but then you may not have noticed the results in the match between Haifa and Rotterdam. Here are the auctions:

West North East South
Westra O. Herbst Ramondt I.Herbst
    1ª 2§
4ª 5§ 5ª 6§
6ª Dble All Pass  

The auction here was the same as on Rama, but the outcome of the board was different when South, holding two aces which both would have survived, led his singleton diamond instead.

De Lombard +1740.
At the other table:

West North East South
D.Yadlin Drijver I. Yadlin Schollaardt
    1ª 3ª
4ª 5§ 5¨ Dble
5ª 6§ Dble All Pass

This needs some more explanation. One might think 3ª shows a solid suit and asks for a spade stopper, but in Rotterdam, other ideas galore. The latest state of affairs seems to be that 3ª now shows a spade stopper and requests partner to bid 3NT if he holds any solid suit. If you don’t believe this we can tell you that this alternative convention has been spotted in Rotterdam not too long ago and, what is more, it worked! The double of 5¨ also needs some explanation, as it definitely was not meant for penalties, but instead conveyed the message that South wanted NS to play a contract themselves. Like South at the other table, East at this one believed his two aces rather than the opponents’ frivolities. He was soon to regret this as tjis slam proved really unbeatable. So the Dutcvh recorded a fully legitimate +1210 to add to the 1740 for a huge swing of 2950 or a rarely seen 21 IMP’s.

By the way, there was far less excitement at the other table in my featured match:

West North East South
Angelini Sylvan Sementa Sundelin
    1ª 2§
4ª 5§ All Pass  

That rather unenterprising effort cost the Italian club 11 IMPs.



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