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 Saturday 9 January 2010, the first set of the Dutch Master League Final: team ''t Onstein' vs. team 'Het Witte Huis' is over. 't Onstein, my team, has succeeded in turning the 17 IMP deficit (the carry-over from the preliminaries) into almost a 20 IMP lead. A wonderful feeling.
The moment I want to start lunch, Ed Hoogenkamp jumps up right before my nose.
'Sjoert, old pal, nice to see you!'
After the usual chitchat, I can't avoid touching the subject of Bridgevaria.nl (and its English version, Bridgevaria.com). I tell Ed that I hope in 2010 I will feel like playing bridge again, and write some columns again as well.
At once Ed understands my intentions have a lot to do with the outcome of this final and speaks these legendary words: 'Job related I support 't Onstein, so go for it, Sjoert.'
I understand Ed's mixed feelings: his partner of almost a lifetime, Louk Verhees, plays for Het Witte Huis. The atmosphere during the final is good. Ricco van Prooijen and Louk Verhees do the decent thing and tell the tournament director that the time penalty imposed on 't Onstein is unjust, since they have used up a lot of time thinking as well. Still the director holds on to the penalty.
A team member compares this with a football* player taking a dive inside the box, trying to get a penalty. The referee is taken in and gives the penalty, but the player has a change of heart and admits he dived voluntarily (a schwalbe — swallow — this is called in Netherlands and Germany). After which the referee sticks to giving the penalty! The match is going very well, I'm doing reasonably well. Then there it is, my deal of this final. As South I am dealt (rotated for the reader's convenience, -Ed. Bridgevaria): | E/— | | | ♠ | 5 2
| | | ♥ | A J 5 3
| | | ♦ | A Q 10
| | | ♣ | Q J 6 3 | |
| West | North | East | South |
|---|
| Paulissen | Drijver | Jansma | Brink | —
| — | pass | 1♣ | | pass | 1♠ | pass | 1NT | | pass | 2♣1 | double | redble
| | pass | pass | pass | |
1 Check Back Stayman: at least invitational strength; requests a closer description of North's hand; this way North can find out whether South has three spades, for instance Jan Jansma wanted to pass 2♣, then had another look and doubled.
I thought: this has to finish here; this is going to be the winner. So I redoubled. Of course I should never have done so, since we had a 40 IMP lead and there were only eight more boards to play. Paulissen led the ♥9 and my partner Bas Drijver tabled the perfect dummy: | E/— | ♠ | K Q 9 4
| | | | ♥ | K 10 7 | | ♦ | 4 3 2
| | ♣ | K 5 4
| | | |  | | | | | | | | | | ♠ | 5 2 | | | ♥ | A J 5 3 | | ♦ | A Q 10
| | ♣ | Q J 6 3
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I lost the ♠A, a diamond and three clubs (East had five clubs: ♣A10xxx), so I made the contract just, scoring +560.
At the other table NS ended up down two in 3NT, -100. Meaning we won 12 IMPs on the board. Winning this Dutch Team Championship is wonderful. All the more since I was told that from all players in the final I had won the fewest titles and that my track record during the finale was a mere 33%. Let's hope I will keep the mood for bridge and therefore the joy in writing columns too! * Football in Europe is what Americans call soccer |