| Adventures of bridge professional 24: the 2010 White House Top 12 |
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The level of play in sponsor Max Abram's house is high. The twelve strongest Dutch pairs assess their form and possibilities. This year the tournament was already decided after one day! Ricco van Prooijen and Louk Verhees scored one swing after another and took such a lead on the Saturday, that all they had to do on the Sunday was to show up. Due to personal circumstances I couldn't play on Saturday. So I played my first deal on Sunday, when winning was already impossible. That was a first for me. The first swing of the day was against our teammates Bauke Muller — Simon de Wijs (the Top 12 is an event for pairs but scoring is in IMPs, - Ed. Bridgevaria.com).
1 13-15 2 Take-out double on spades (!) My double of 2♥ was the so-called 'free take-out double'. Most pairs play a double like this as showing a heart suit. That is not good, I think, and this deal shows very clearly why. If I had passed, De Wijs would have bid 3♠ as well (and Muller probably 4♠ as well). None of us could have doubled then. The double on such a transfer should therefore preferably be for take-out on the five-card suit of the transfer bidder, in this case spades. By way of the diamond ruff 4♠ went down two: + 500 and a 10 IMP profit to us, since 4♥ would have been defeated as well (by one trick). The last deal of the day turned out to be an interesting dummy play problem.
South declares 6♠, West leading the ♦Q. Louk Verhees ruffed, played the ♠A, and on seeing the trump distribution tried the ♣A, the ♣K and the ♣Q. When East ruffed the ♣Q, Verhees was down one. Jacco Hop did find the winning line of play. After the same first two tricks (the ♦Q ruffed, then the ♠A, seeing the ♠Q come down), he drew the remainder of the trumps and played a club to the ♣10. Nicely played. The opponents were… once again Muller — De Wijs! It just wasn't their tournament. Bas Drijver and I did the best thing possible by finishing second. |
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