Home | Peter van der Linden | Penalty double or pass (3rd and final part): Fredin doubles
Penalty double or pass (3rd and final part): Fredin doubles

Peter van der    Linden

To read two earlier columns on this subject click here (part one) and here (part two).
The 'Mother of all "double-or-pass" problems', below, is not named as such because it is a difficult problem (it isn't) but because the consequences of the wrong decision were so spectacular.
The deal is from the Germany − Sweden match during the 1997 European Teams Championships in Montecatini (Italy). Swedish crack Peter Fredin was faced with the following problem (?) — by the way: according to the championship's Daily Bulletin the player in question was Fredin's partner Eriksson but all later publications make it clear Fredin was the culprit:

N/—   
A K 10 6 3 2
windroos  
6 2
  
Q J 6 4 3
  
  

WestNorthEastSouth
FredinRathErikssonTomski
1pass1
2
4passpass
??
   

Should West double or pass?

West's 2 bid is one of the very few bids in an opponent's suit that is natural. It says: 'So what if South has a weakish four-card spade suit? That doesn't bother me since I have at least a good six-card spade suit and a very good hand.'

But what in heaven's name does North's 4 bid mean then? It cannot be natural, since West and South have at least ten spades between them. Furthermore: of course North knows West to have six or more. So despite South having bid spades first: after West's 2 bid spades is no longer 'NS's suit' but 'EW's suit'! So North shows shortness in spades; probably he has a void, a 0-5-4-4 distribution and a good hand.
But how then could South pass North's 4 cue-bid? The only possible explanation: South has fallen asleep and thinks North is showing spade support.
All is clear then: West should pass. NS will go down a lot, while they probably can make at least game in clubs or hearts.

In reality it turns out NS can make 7:

N/— 
 A K Q 10 3
A 10 9 7
K Q 7 6
A K 10 6 3 2
windroosQ 9 8
6 2
J 7 5
Q J 6 4 3
K 8 5 2
J 10 8
 J 7 5 4
 
9 8 4
A 9 5 4 3 2

But South wasn't the only one who had dozed off (was it the heat?). West, Fredin, did an unbelievable thing: he didn't pass, he doubled. The penalty was huge:

WestNorthEastSouth
FredinRathErikssonTomski
double??
4NT1
pass
5
pass
6pass7!!
pass
pass
pass
 

1 Choose from the minors

North caught the lifebuoy by bidding 4NT. Still South wasn't awake, for he surely should have bid at least 6 instead of 5. Finally, after North's raise to 6 (no-one can accuse him of bidding overcautiously!), South rubbed the sleep from his eyes and carried out the sentence over poor Fredin (and his even poorer partner): +1440 to Germany.

Since that day a double like this is known as a 'Fredin double'.

At the other table things went badly for Sweden too:

WestNorthEastSouth
HolowskiNilslandGotardFallenius
1pass2
4
passpass
double
pass
pass
pass
 

North's pass over 4 (he left the decision to his partner, who probably even might have passed) probably is too passive (compare with the intrepid bidding of his colleague-North at the other table!). In view of West's telling message that South has little or no strength in spades, North can visualise a slam. Whether a grand slam is biddable is hard to say (preferably 7 of course, since 7 is defeated by way of a club lead).

Double dummy NS could have defeated 4 by three tricks (diamond lead; South can eventually make three diamond ruffs): +500 to NS. Of course (how was he to know?) North didn't lead a diamond. But when he didn't succeed in giving his partner a single diamond ruff and somehow failed to make two diamond tricks himself, he even allowed West to make his contract. Another +590, meaning 19 IMP to Germany.

2007, ten years later: the Cavendish, the annual Butler (meaning: IMP-scoring) 'big money tournament'. Preceding the play the participating pairs are auctioned. The 'owner' of the eventual winning pair pockets hundreds of thousands of dollars. The winners themselves cash in a bit less, but still a small fortune.
Again Fredin plays a major part:

E/All   
K 7 6 4 3 2
windroos  
K 10 8 6
  
9 6 2
  

  

WestNorthEastSouth
FredinNyströmMossBertheau

213
5!6pass
pass
??   

1 Muiderberg: 5-4+ spades-minor suit, 6-9 HCP

After having beaten the big drum by leaping to 5, Fredin faced our familiar problem: to double or not?
Whether a double now is Lightner or not, is debatable (North has more or less been pushed into a slam) but that question is not important, this time. After all, West can judge that a club lead by his partner is not needed to defeat this slam: North will go down anyway. Possibly the slam will even fail by two or three tricks, since West's leap to 5 forced North to gamble (therefore a double probably isn't so much a Lightner double but simply 'gotcha'). A double may be very profitable, therefore.
On the other hand: hearts is the only suit against which Fredin has defensive strength. Can NS escape? To...7 for instance? That would be ironical, if we recall the last deal.
As it turned out the 1997 deal hadn't caused Fredin a severe trauma, for he doubled.
How will he have felt, after this continuation:

WestNorthEastSouth
FredinNyströmMossBertheau
doublepass
pass
7!!
pass
pass
double
pass
pass
pass
  

And yes: +2330 to NS:

E/All10 8
 
 A Q J 7 5 2
A K Q
5 4
K 7 6 4 3 2
windroosA Q J 9 5
K 10 8 6
3
9 6 2
J 10 8 3

9 6 3
  
9 4
7 5 4
A K Q J 10 8 7 2

Eventually Fredin − Moss finished tenth, which brought in a handsome sum. A short calculation shows however, that by passing at the crucial moment (resulting in 6 undoubled down one) Fredin would have cashed an extra $ 60,000.

I wonder whether more Fredin doubles are to be expected...

 

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