Adventures of a bridge professional 19: Reno

Home | Sjoert Brink | Adventures of a bridge professional 19: Reno

Ed Hoogenkamp Guest Authors Peter van der Linden Sjoert Brink

Sjoert

A week after the disappointment of losing the final of the Top Circuit Bas (Drijver) and I flew to the USA to participate in the Vanderbilt, the main event of the Spring North American Bridge Championships in Reno (earlier Bridgevaria.com published a report on 'Reno' by Simon de Wijs, read it here).
The Vanderbilt is one of the three biggest events in America. Almost all of the world's top players are present. Perhaps the field is even stronger than in a world or European championship. Helgemo (Norwegian Geir Helgemo has been one of the world's leading players for many years, -Ed. Bridgevaria.com) has never won this event. Every time I study the field I think: what a nice profession I have.

We are hired by a grain trader. He is obsessed by the game and enjoys all aspects of it. What he likes most, is one of us coming up with an exciting deal or a good story.
Take for instance this beautiful hand I got as a dealer (IMP-scoring):

♠	A K Q J 9 8
♥	K
♦	K Q 5
♣	A K 4

West	North	East	South
	Bas		Sjoert
—	—	—	2♣
pass	2♦	pass	2♠
pass	3♦¹	pass	4♦
pass	5♣²	pass	??

¹ Six-card suit
² Control-showing; denying a major suit control

Clear enough, partner has six diamonds, no control in hearts or spades, but still he makes a slam try (he will have a singleton club). In short, he has the ♦A.
An easy bid, is that what you say?
Of course, I bid 6♦, just as you would have. But the story afterwards was amusing.
If I were to bid 7♦, they need to lead a heart in order to beat the grand (we have fourteen tricks on top). But since Bas announced he doesn't have a heart control, the opponents will 'know for certain' that I have a first round heart control (ace or void). So they will not lead a heart, will they? (Against a grand slam it is usually best to lead safely; that is why many players will lead a trump, assuming the grand-bidders have investigated the trump suit and found it to be solid. Sometimes however this assumption turns out wrong: the trump lead may then murder partner's trump Qxx... -Ed. Bridgevaria.com).
Alas, I didn't have the guts to bid the grand but I thought the story worth telling. The grain merchant thought it even 'legendary' and was of the opinion I should have done it.

As I said before, the most important event in Reno is the Vanderbilt. During the round of 64 we were opposed by team Rogoff (he played very well with Louk Verhees in the Cavendish once, finishing fourth).
After 48 out of 64 boards we were trailing by 8 IMP, so anything was still possible.
The first of the last 16 boards was good:

		♠	K J 8 4
		♥	J 9 8 4
		♦	A 10 7 4
		♣	A


		♠	A Q 10 9 8
		♥	A K
		♦	K 5 2
		♣	Q 3 2

I was in 7♠. East had doubled a conventional club bid, so West led a club.
I had to ruff two clubs in dummy, so it looked like the ♥Q had to come down on the third round (or earlier). I won the club lead, crossed to the ♥K, ruffed the first club, crossed to the ♥A, ruffed the second club and ruffed a heart.
EW both followed suit but the ♥Q hadn't shown up. I had one more chance: a squeeze in hearts and diamonds. It was to succeed if the opponent holding the ♥Q also held four (or more) diamonds. The squeeze could work against both opponents. But if it worked, West was the more likely victim since East had length in clubs and was therefore unlikely to have eight red cards as well.
I cashed three trumps and fortunately West indeed had the desired hand: the ♥Q and four diamonds. This was what was left:

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

On the ♠8 West was in a fix, he threw a diamond and I made three diamond tricks, landing the grand.

Two boards later there was another slam on a squeeze:

		♠	A K 9 8 7
		♥	Q
		♦	K 5
		♣	A Q J 9 8


		♠	6 5 4
		♥	K 7 2
		♦	A Q 4 2
		♣	K 7 4

After I (South) had opened 1♣, Bas had no intention whatsoever of stopping below slam. So a little while later I found myself playing 6♣.
Although better than 6♠ — that slam didn't stand a chance with at least two unavoidable losers: the ♥A and at least one spade — at first glance 6♣ seemed doomed as well because here too it looked like I had to lose the ♥A and a spade. But after a heart lead to the ♥A and a diamond switch, this slam turned out to be makable as well by way of a squeeze. I needed one opponent to have three (or more) spades and four (or more) diamonds. And fortunately an opponent had precisely that.
All I had to do was win with the ♦K, cash all the trumps (throwing a heart and a spade from South), cross to the ♦A and cash the ♥K (pitching a spade in North). The red cards in the diagram have been played. The opponent who had started with length in both spades and diamonds had by now been forced to give up the guard in one of the suits.

When this slam was duly made as well, I expected to have won back the necessary 8 IMPs.
Alas, we turned out to have won back only 6 IMPs, so we lost the match by 2 IMPs. Very sad indeed...

The winner of the Vanderbilt was none other than Helgemo with his team; his first win of the event.

Top Tips

Brink Bridge Promotions

On the Brink of successful bridge