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BULLETIN No. 5Saturday, April 11th, 2020

editor: Jan van Cleeffjan@bid72.com

co-editors: Bob DrakeElisabeth van Ettinger

Rosalind Hengeveld

Big data: Joyce Tito

THE ALT INVITATIONAL

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De Botton, All The Way!

Left to righ: Alexander Hydes, Thor Erik Hoftaniska, Artur Malinowski, Janet De Botton, Jason Hackett, Thomas Charlsen(Elisabeth van Ettinger & WBF)

RESULTS

SemiFinal c/o Result Total*Blass 10.1 27 37.1De Botton 70 70

Street 6.1 52 58.1Meltzer 37 37

*corrected

FinalDe Botton 77.1Street 39

Looking back at another Alt I dareto say that the concept has turnedout a huge success already. This ispartly due to a sad reason, thevirus. Apparently we created an attractive formula to offer onlinebridge events with the

participation of the world's best players. This is of coursepartly due to our innovative and hardworking staff. One group of people I explicitly want to mention is ourwonderful group of BBO Vugraph commentators. It isimperative that brilliant bridge needs brilliant narrative.And these guys do it, day in and day out. A big hand forPaul Barden, David Bird, Martin Cantor, Al Hollander,Mark Horton, Greg Lawler, Peter Lund, Claire Robinson,and Roland Wald.

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Hamman's Law

by Mark Horton

I spent most of the morning working on an article for thenext edition of BeBRIDGE(https://kiosque.lebridgeur.com/en/publications/bebridge-01-march-2020/). It combines the views of the man who tops the WorldBridge Federation's All Time Open Ranking List, BobHamman, and the reigning Women's World ChessChampion, Ju Wenjun on a variety of topics.

Hamman's Law is one of Bob's popular contributions toBridge. The adage says: 'If you have a bidding decisionto make, bid 3NT if it's a plausible choice.'Low and behold, when I logged in to BBO this deal fromthe Final was under way:

W/All 10 2A K J 3 210 9 4 3 29

A K 8 4 3 Q J 7Q 7 5 9 6 4K Q J 6A K 6 Q 10 4 3 2

9 6 510 8A 8 7 5J 8 7 5

Open roomWest North East South

Zatorski Hoftaniska Pachtman Charlsen2NT Pass 3 1 Pass3 Pass 4 All Pass

1. Puppet Stayman

North led the A and continued with the king and jack,South ruffing and cashing the A, +100.

Closed roomWest North East South

Hackett Street Hydes L'Ecuyer2NT Pass 3NT All Pass

Rather than looking for a possible 5-3 major suit fit, East- if I may misquote from Monopoly - 'Went directly toGo'.North led the A and when South followed with the 8and declarer the 7 he cashed the K which saw declarer score ten tricks and 12 IMPs.To solve this sort of problem you need good defensiveagreements. Suppose North leads the K, asking Southto unblock a high honor. When South drops the ten,North knows that West has the queen. (Without a highhonor, South gives count). Then North must choose between trying to find South with an entry or playing

him for three hearts. If he opts for the former course ofaction - there is just enough room for South to hold anace - then it looks logical to switch to a diamond,hoping that if partner holds a black ace declarer will notbe able to run off ten tricks.Amusingly enough, as long as you switch at trick two, itdoes not matter which suit you select, as declarer canonly muster eight tricks on this layout.

Double Asks for Spades

by Jan van Cleeff

W/EW J 9 5 3K J 9 29Q 9 7 2

6 K 10 7 2A Q 5 3 10 4K Q 5 4 3 8 7K J 6 A 10 8 4 3

A Q 8 48 7 6A J 10 6 25

West North East SouthDe Botton Street Malinowski l"EcuyerPollack Hoftaniska Fergani Charlsen

1 Pass 1 Pass2 Pass 3 Pass

3NT Pass Pass DblPass Pass Pass

Obviously the double asked for a spade lead, so PaulStreet duly led 3: 2, Q and 6. Heart back to the jack.Spade nine to ten and ace. Another heart to the king.And another spade to the king. Next came a club to thejack. North won the queen and erroneously played aheart back. NS +500 'only'.

With the same auction at the other table North kickedoff with the J: king, ace and 6. Heart to queen and king.Spade nine to ten and queen. Heart to the ace. K. Jto queen and ace. Diamond, and south hopped up withthe ace. Heart to the nine. Heart jack. Two spades. EWminus eleven hundred.

Little did Janet de Botton expect to win eleven IMPs onthe board.

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The King's Gambit

W/- 7A J 10 8 4 3A Q 5 3A K

K 8 4 3 A Q 10 9 69 7 K 6 2K J 9 7 68 7 5 10 9 4 3

J 5 2Q 510 8 4 2Q J 6 2

West North East SouthPollack Hoftaniska Fergani Charlsen

Pass 1 1 Pass3 1 Dbl 3 Pass

Pass Dbl Pass 4Pass Pass Pass

1. Mixed raise

East led his stiff diamond. Low from dummy, seven andqueen. Declarer unblocked his clubs and tried a sneaky

10. Kamel Fergani, however, hopped up with the kingand returned a low spade. The fact that his partner contributed the 9, meant as suit preference, was ofcourse helpful. West won the king and returned the K:ace and ruffed by East, who continued with a top spade.Nice defense, but not good enough. Declarer ruffed,

reached dummy with the trump queen and got rid ofthis losing diamonds on the high clubs. NS +420.

At the other table the bidding was exactly the same, theplay was not. Again, East (Jason Hackett) led his singleton. Declarer won the queen, cashed a top cluband played a spade himself. West won and returned the

K: ace and ruffed by East. In this situation Jason foundthe only card to beat the contract:

-A J 10 8 4 35 3A

8 4 3 A Q 10 9 9 7 K 6 J 9 -8 7 10 9 3

5 2Q 510 8 Q J 6

He continued with 6! This 'King's gambit' left declarerwithout a chance. At the table declarer won in hand,cashed the trump ace (the king dropped), but still wentdown; 10 IMPs to De Botton.

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