For some time after the Master League final there is nothing. True, the club evenings and Friday training sessions continue, but no matches. I am glad with this lull, I must say.
Starting March (Sjoert wrote this column for our Dutch sister site Bridgevaria.nl in February, -Ed. Bridgevaria.com) things will get busy again with the final of the Dutch Top Circuit, the National in the US (to say it correctly: the Spring North American Bridge Championships in Reno), practice matches against Russia and Bulgaria. That is why, for the time being, I enjoy the break.
That is, until I am told that someone wants to pay me one million euros (about US $ 1,300,000) if I become world champion within five years...

Sounds interesting of course. The only condition is that the pair has to bid according to the Looier-system. What does that mean?

The Looier-system is based upon:
- a strong 1NT opening
- four-card major suit openings
- many relays
- many canapé's (bid your shorter suit first, the longer one afterwards).
It means there is a lot of learning to be done, but fortunately the Looier Bridge Club is located in Amsterdam. Playing there is at Monday evenings, the system is compulsory. Enough opportunities to practise therefore.

There is an earlier opportunity however, to make big money. Since we won the Dutch Master League for teams, our club 't Onstein sent us out to the Cavendish Invitational in Las Vegas. A huge festival, where pairs are 'sold' first in an auction. Rather peculiar is that I am far too expensive to buy myself. Meaning I cannot win the real big money (since the buyer of the winning pair does), but the kitty for the players is well stacked too.

To keep myself focused, I ask my trainer for some dummy play problems. Just to practise. Here are two of them. I thought them quite difficult, so don't despair if you don't succeed...

Problem 1		♠	K 10 9 8 7
		♥	A K 4
		♦	J 4
		♣	10 8 7
		♠	A Q J 6 5
		♥	Q 7 2
		♦	A 10
		♣	K 5 3

Solution
The best line of play does not guarantee the contract but will succeed very often.
Declarer wins the lead in dummy and then plays ♦J from there, hoping for East to cover. Whatever East does, declarer wins with the ♦A, draws the trumps, cashes the hearts and exits with the ♦10.
If West gains the lead — a chance declarer has increased considerably by his manoeuvre in diamonds if East had one diamond honour — declarer is home and dry.
If not — East comes in because he either has both diamond honour cards or has not covered and West has not gone up with the ♦K — declarer is faced with the task of not losing three club tricks. His chances are very good, since East can only play a club.
If East chooses wrongly and plays a small club, South ducks. West is welcome to win but is endplayed.
So a good East player will return the ♣J/♣Q, South covering with the ♣K. If West wins (bad news again), he too will have to play back a club. Of course he will play a small one, for by playing the last face card, he would make dummy's ♣10 good.
Only in that case, declarer, who has been very unlucky so far, will have to guess: inserting the ♣8 wins if West has the ♣9, inserting the ♣10 wins if West has the last face card in clubs.
Inserting the ♣10 is roughly twice as often winning (compared with inserting the ♣8) since this is a restricted choice situation: when East returned either the ♣Q or the ♣J, he might have picked the other one if he held both. The fact he did play a specific honour card makes it therefore less likely he holds the other one as well. Or to look at it in an easier way: the ♣10 wins if East had either the ♣Q9 or the ♣J9, while the ♣8 wins only if East had the ♣QJ and not the ♣9. (This means that if declarer were to insert the ♣8, he is being inconsistent: he plays East for the ♣QJ and West for the ♣9. Better would then have been to duck East's club honour return; thus he would win if East had ♣QJ9 as well).

Problem 2		♠	A 5 4 3 2
		♥	A 5 2
		♦	9 4
		♣	7 4 3
		♠	K Q J 8 7
		♥	4
		♦	K 8 5 2
		♣	A Q 10

Again South is declarer in 4♠. West leads the ♥K. How should South plan the play?

Solution
Declarer wins with the ♥A, ruffs the ♥2 and cashes the ♠K. If EW follow suit (so if the trump suit is 2-1), the contract is 100% safe.
Declarer crosses to the ♠A, ruffs the ♥5 as well and plays the ♦2 from hand, towards the ♦9!
East is welcome to win with the ♦Q/♦J/♦10 but whatever he returns, he cannot embarrass declarer. Come what may, declarer can endplay West.

For those who like to have that explained, here we go:
- If East returns a small diamond or club, South covers with the ♦8 or the cheapest club respectively. West wins but has to play back into the club tenace or make South's ♦K good. If West (best defence) returns a small diamond, declarer throws a club in dummy. East is allowed to make the ♦A, South wins the club return with the ♣A and cashes the ♦K, pitching dummy's last club.
- If East returns the ♦Q/♦J/♦10, declarer covers. West is allowed to make the ♦A, since he can only play a diamond back. If that is the ♦Q/♦J/♦10, dummy ruffs and South's ♦8 is good. If West (best defence) plays back a small diamond, declarer throws a club from dummy. East is allowed to make the ♦Q/♦J/♦10, South wins the club return with the ♣A and cashes the ♦8, pitching dummy's last club.

PS: If the trump suit is 3-0, West could, if South were to play along the same lines, go off-lead unpunished with a heart. South probably does better now to hope for one of the club finesses to succeed.