In the first-round match between Netherlands and Israel two members of the Dutch team, Roald Ramer and Henk Schippers, showed fine judgement in this competitive deal:

Board 6. Dealer East. EW Game ª 10 9 © K J 8 2 ¨ J 10 7 5 2 § Q 5 ª A Q J 8 7 6 ª 5 3 2 © A © 7 5 ¨ A ¨ K 9 3 § K 10 9 8 2 § A J 7 6 3 ª K 4 © Q 10 9 6 4 3 ¨ Q 8 6 4 § 4

Ramer and Schippers are playing the Garozzo Precision System. (As many of you may know, Benito Garozzo is training the Dutch national team.) And, using Garozzo's methods, the opponents can seldom bank on being allowed to play quietly, especially when a fit has been located in the defenders' hands! Garozzo himself calls it 'sacrifice slam bidding'. Either you save or you double, as in the sequence shown below.

Ramer of course could readily judge that his partner held the 'zero' type, so he invited him to save against to save against the slam by doubling. Schippers saw no possibility of stopping East/West in their slam so he bid 7 ©, losing 1100 but gaining 7 IMPs because at the other table 6 § was bid and 13 tricks were made..

Ramer and Schippers are survivors of the original group of young hopefuls who set out a year or two again to train under Benito for the Dutch team. Undoubtedly their thorough mastery of the immensely-complicated Garozzo bidding system (known to Dutch newspapers as 'The Computer System') has helped them to win selection. Ramer is a graduate mathematician at Amsterdam university; Schippers the computer manager in a big insurance company.