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The auction developed as follows: West North East South Krauss Hamman 1♣ 1 ♦ 4 ♥ Pass 4♠ Pass 5 ♥ Pass Pass Dbl Pass Pass 5♠ Dbl Pass Pass Pass At first sight, North should clearly be Pass ing 4♠. One may think that no good player would bid 5 ♥ , but Bob explains: “There’s more than meets the eye. Don and I had recently installed a new gadget to our system. We had agreed that when one of us opened 1♣ and the other bid 4 ♥ /4♠, a new suit by opener was asking for controls in the suit bid”. Yes, Bob bid 4♠ hoping to hear 5♣ from partner, but the systemic response was 5 ♥ . Now “I Pass ed because 5♠ would have been another asking bid”. Bob must have been cursing that gadget, but when 5 ♥ was doubled he could retreat to 5♠ with relative safety, the only problem being that he was already one trick too high. West led ♦ Q, so the Jamaican defenders didn’t lose their diamond trick. After ruffing a diamond, Hamman tried the cheap trick of leading the ♣J. Amazingly, his LHO failed to cover, squandering his club trick. A ruffing finesse duly followed, and Hamman soon registered plus 850. A happy ending! Our hero summed it up: “Technology won… sort of”. ibf@bridge.co.il | www.ibf-festival.org 52- הבינלאומי ה פסטיבל הברידג' 2018 , ביוני 22-28 היכל קבוצת שלמה, ת"א תל אביב-יפו 7 אייזיק רמבה 09-7774031 SAVE THE DATE