june new

The following deal appeared inthepenultimateroundof the Israel Pairs Championship. The two BBO tables featured the top four pairs. Board 24. Dealer West. Vul None 5 K7643 J73 AK97 AKQJT72 9864 QJ2 T5 T9 K54 5 JT82 3 A98 AQ862 Q643 West North East South Graizer Moran Abramov Yadlin 1♠ Pass 2♠ Pass 3♠ Pass 4♠ All Pass Both pairs at this table bid very cautiously, contrasting with the very aggressive bidding we usually encounter nowadays at high level bridge. North was one HCP short of a takeout double, but many experts would double anyway. South also declined an opportunity to double 2♠, probably due to not having four hearts. Eventually East/West took a slow route to 4♠. The defense has five top tricks, but North led ♣A and carelessly continued with ♣K, allowing declarer a ruffing finesse in clubs (after carefully preserving two trump entries to dummy) which took care of one diamond loser, North/South +50 (and a loss of 2 IMPs). At the other BBO table there was more tension: West North East South Goldfarb S. Zack Peikin Braunstein 1♠ Dbl 3♠ Dbl 4♠ Pass Pass 4NT Pass 5♣ All Pass North’s initial double of 1♠ was followed by South’s responsive double of 3♠, showing both minors. However, North was unable to do anything over 4♠ and South was left on his own. The opponent’s 4♠ contract was unlikely to make, so a double was an obvious possibility, but South was looking for a bigger plus. This is not always the winning policy at IMPs. As one cannot tell whether eleven tricks are possible, it might have been wiser to take whatever plus is available on defense. Ariel Braunstein decided to bid 4NT and let his partner pick a minor suit. His partner Shahar Zack arrived at a respectable contract of 5♣, but due to the unkind trump split he had to lose (at least) a club, a heart and a spade. Zack-Braunstein were the only pair to go minus with North-South’s cards, and it cost them 5 IMPs. Nevertheless, they won the match 20:9 and went on to win the Israeli championship by an impressive margin, which goes to show that aggressive bridge usually wins in the long run. South had yet another option (over 4♠), namely bidding his longest suit at the five- level and declaring 5 ♦ . This is what happened in another table, where Arieh Cyngiser made his 5 ♦ contract by running ♦ J at the second round of trumps, dropping West’s ♦ T9 and then discarding a club loser on North’s hearts. A Tough Decision // Ram Soffer 55 2019 יוני 190 גיליון