luis

I've played a combination of multi-2d and muirderberg for a long time with one of my pds. The best thing about the 2d opening is that you can open 2h/2s with 5 cards. Multi itself is not great but the 2h/2s openings on 5 cards have always produced good results for us. I agree with the defense suggested by Ron, doubling 2d with diammonds is too restrictive. If you have 13-15 HCP even balanced you must enter the auction or maybe it will be too late after a 4h (p/c) bid gets back to you, pd may not act unilaterally over a 3 or 4 level bid and you will miss a game. Besides Ron's suggested defense Dixon's work well too but it's less natural, if you can make your pd learn Dixon fine if not just use the std Natural def suggested by Ron. Free's defense while it may work for him looks inferior to , please understand that this is just my opinion. Finally about how multi 2d should be I think that a weak 2 in a major ONLY is best because the bid is then not-forcing and your opponent can pass to see what happens because the auction may well end in 2d. Playing this variant there're some interesting gizmos available when you are not vulnerable like passing 2d without diamonds or when pd bids 2 or 3h p/c passing with spades.... With my pd when NV vrs VUL we used to alert a pass of a p/c bid as "might just have the other suit!", of course we did that only from time to time........

Pepsi-Cola and Kwiecen played 24 of the 26 boards of the match, they lost a segment by 9 imps and won by 20 once they were down 53 and we were running the preemptive defense against endzone passes. So I won't accept that the result would have been different we played better than they did. Period. And then you can say whatever you want trying to dismish the level of our players but this was a teams tournament and what counts is the team..... Finally we have at least 3 players that can easily play at top-elite level but they don't have money to do it nor we have a national asociation with interest in projecting Argentine bridge to world class competition. Instead of highlighting a win from a team with new names in bridge and a lot of future you say that there're better players that could have played..... It's sad....

If the system you are playing makes you bid 1h instead of 1d then 2h must show 4 card support or I'd object the whole system as a complete nonsense. Once I didn't show what I really have and being vulnerable I prefer a shot at 4h than missing the game. Down 1 is not a disaster and missing this game can be.....

1st of all objection to the 1h bid with a good 5 card diamond suit and horrible hearts I'd have bid 1d now if pd bids 1h I have an easy 2h rebid. I wonder why people think that they must bid a 4 card major always first.... Pass - 50 : Can be right if you have no game. 2S - 30: Showing values in spades as a game try if pd has 4 spade cards 4s may be your best game. 2N - 40: Dooubtful call. 3D - 60: Values in diamonds as a game try I guess. 3H - 20: Invitational without describing your hand at all 3N - 10: A guess 4C - 0: Splinter in pd suit is not a good move. 4D - 0: We don't have short diamonds. 4H - 80: If it goes down it goes down......

It's interesting to note that if west unblocks the cK on the cA you have to play all your trumps without ruffing a diammond and then the 4 diammonds finally leting east win the cQ and he has to put you back in hand with the sK to cash the cJ :-)

The point is which is our best playable contract (we can't play 1s): Options: 1nt, 1h, 2c, 2d, 2s If we bid 2s or pass 1h we are gambling on one of 5 possible contracts. If we bid 1nt we can still play 2c, 2d or 2s. 1nt is wrong if our best spot is 1h and I think that's not likely. The problem of 1NT is that a doubling machine it's easier to start over a 1nt bid than a suit bid, someone may double 1n and it's easier for the other player to leave the double.... but still we can find a 2m contract that can't be doubled or is only down 1 if doubled..... if everything fails we'll likely end up in 2s doubled and if they can double 2s it's likely that a t/o double and penalty pass over 2s would have been found if we bid 2s....... If you think 2s is indeed the right bid then bid 1nt then retreat to 2c if doubled and then retreat to 2d if doubled and then retreat to 2h if doubled and finally retreat to 2s if doubled. If they manage to double all those contracts and they manage to double 2s as well then bad luck but we have a lot of chances to escape..... They frequently get obfuscated and jump to 3nt or something :-)

:-)) I'm not saying your line doesn't win I'm saying that I can lost control since after ruffing back to dummy someone will have more trumps than me! It was too risky to play intentionally to lose control of the hand and rely in clubs 2-2 and hearts 4-3, can easily be a disaster on a different layout.

1NT. I have 5HCP and if 1NT is usually 6-9 it's not that far. I don't want to play 2s vulnerable in a 4-3 fit we may have a 8/9 card fit in a minor suit so I'd be happy if pd can rebid a minor over 1NT. With this particular vulnerability it's likely to be trapped after a T/O double and penalty pass if I bid 2s.

Ben I have 4 hearts in dummy, I take the cA, heart to Ace and ruff a diamond, spade King wins the trick. Then I have to ruff "something" to enter dummy and someone will have more trumps than me :-) since after ruffing dummy has only 2 trumpies :-))

Yup Ben I should have made that game I thought the club switch was a singleton. In fact after seeing dummy I decided that if the 4s opening was "normal" then our 5h contract was actually a very good contract, with 5d or a slam likely going down in the other room. We were up by 53 so I played to collect some imps by going down 1 in 5h :-) Maybe they were doubled in 5d or 6d in the other room.... If I play to ruff a diammond how do I get back to dummy? The only way to get back to dummy is ruffing a spade or a club and then even with hearts 4-3 someone will have more trumps than dummy and I lose control of the hand. My line wins if the dT drops doubleton in east (I thought he was 7-3-2-1) and goes down 1 otherwise..... They did bid 6d down 2 in the other room and I won 3 imps :-) You said a reopening double is better than 4nt, I agree but I think I'd have pulled the double to 5c with a 7 card suit... wouldn't you? I have a defensive trick in spades and one in clubs so 4s maybe down 1 or 2 but we can easily win 5c vulnerable with my 7 card suit and diamond void.... Pd will pulll 5c to 5d and there we go again.... What do you think?

My thought was that with the hA I was cold for 6h and with the sA It was on a finesse. So I jumped to 6h. Pd held an ace but it was the cA :-(, AQ of hearts were onside pd held Tx. They lead a spade and switched to a club so I was able to reach dummy and play the h finesse for down 1 and no swing since 5h can't be made and was played at the other table.... So if you bid 5h congratulations and the 4nt bid was very cool but as Sartaj said if pd bids 5c and RHO bids 5s you never showed an 8-card suit.... Remember if pd has the hA you are almost cold in 6h.

1) AK10xx-Ax-xx-KQJx Pass I don't like the doubleton diammond nor Ax in hearts It's very likely to have 3 losers in the red suits and one in clubs or spades (or both) so this is a pass to me. 2) AK10xx-Axx-x-KQJx 4s probably down 1 Singleton diammond is good and clubs are solid 0/1 losers probably. The Axx of hearts plays well if pd has an honor the K or even the Q are good with my holding. I have 5 losers but chances of pd covering two are very good know. hQ and sQ can be enough to win 4s or hK and cA or dA and hQ, etc.... 3) AKQ10x-Axx-x-K10xx 3h Clubs are weak and I can't see a place to park the 4th club so I can easily lose 3 clubs a diammond and a heart or even more. But if pd has a good minimum with the cA I want to play game. The hQ and cA can be anough so a try is a try. 4) AK10xx-Kx-xx-AQJx 3h probably going down in 3s or 4s :-) Another try this time doubtful but well..... I need help in hearts if pd has the hA and cK I'm cold in 4s so I'm inviting with a 3h bid. 5) AK10xx-Kxx-x-AQJx 4s directlyy, expect to make it.

Ben report's was excellent as usual. In the third segment everything was already decided but a very interesting hand come up. This were the NS hands Q AKQJ AKQJ92 xx Kxxx xx - AJ96542 NS vul, east opened 4s. With the south cards I passed, pd reopened with 4NT and I bid 5c, she pulled to 5d as expected and I "corrected" to 5h that was passed after a long hesitation. We have an agreement that when pd shows a two suiter a "direct" paradox bid in one of the suits show some support, corrections always show a missfit. That's why I can't bid a direct 5h. 5h went down 1 when diamonds were 6-0 with the ten not falling void :-). I wonder if there's a better way to handle this cards.....

Moscito went sollid, nothing "systemic" to report in fact most of the wins were judgement decisions. Mainly in the bidding, the play of the cards as expected in a top match was very very even. The only swing that "may" be attributed to the system was the hand were I held AKQxxx, xxxx, xx, x. Pd opened a 10-14 no 4M 1d and I bid a negative "forcing" 1h relay asking pd to bid 1s if she has 3 spades. I needed her to declare the hand because my hand isn't suitable to receive any lead so transfering the play to the hand with the soft spots was good. Had she bid 1s I'd have bid 4s expecting heart shortness. But she bid 1NT showing a balanced hand with 2 spades so I bid 3NT with 6 tricks in my hand. The lead did indeed give up the 9th trick and we scored a swing (4s down 2) at the other table.

I feel insulted. First of all Pszcola-Kwiecen did play. They rotated their three pairs. BBO teams played a huge KO tournament to meet this team so don't come and tell me know that if "foo had played" I assume they fielded their best formations. They even choose the date and time for the match which made things very difficult for 7 of the 8 Haspel players who live in Argentina. Insulted again, I'm afraid the teams you mention didn't won't the KO tournament that we did win so define "stronger". Maybe they are strong to you. Our team fielded one the best players in our Country (tenuki), one of our best youths (CarlosP) and the best female player of the country (AnaA), the rest of the team were good players that usually produce good results. We may not have enough money to play at international level but we are entitled to some respect.

Argentina Haspel Wins!!! Now let's wait for Ben's report of the match... Hurrah!

I'm happy with the way we played I just smelled a chance to defeat 5c :-) Anyway we finished the first segment 44 imps up, what a score!

I missdefended a 5c game, but it's hard to see the winning action I'm happy with the rest of the boards. The player on my right is slooooooooow

While I'm posting this my pd is playing 3nt making, the match is slowww! Share your comments here. Ben's superb analysis coming I hope :-)

As usual an awesome! report Ben, thanks! I played the 1st 8 boards where we lost some imps I think that in board 1 we faced the problems all big club systems have: the 1c opening itself. They did well to crowd the auction but I think I have no bid different than 3NT with my 4333 hand and Ana should pull that 3NT with that excellent hand and a club void (AKxxx, AKxx, KJxx,-) a 4c bid is my choice after 3nt. I bid 4h and that ends the auction with a push and some nice fireworks for the kibitzers. The rest of the hands were perfectly normal I think. And that 4h game non-vulnerable still looks against the odds to me but.... I can't argue with success... Bring the poles!

I did have a convention card with my pd :-) About this incident I won't comment because I'm biased and because I don't like what both sides did at the table.

It was the last board (8th) of the 1st segment: http://bbo.bridgebase.com:81/perl/history....32&p=2003-09-09 Played at 19:3 None vulnerable North: KQ-A5-QJ32-J65432 East: 7653-KQJ-954-KQT South: 82-9876-AKT86-97 West: AJT94-T432-7-A85 The bidding was: South West North East pass pass 1d pass 3d pass pass pass The 3d bid 6-9 with 4+ diamonds was not alerted nor asked at the table. I wasn't playing at tha table but apparently west said that she was going to bid over a weak 3d and passed assuming it was a limit bid.

Hi, I'm not very fond of posting freak hands but since this forum is not very active lately let's go with one: You have: 7, KJ987642, AKQ2, - And the auction is: LHO Pd RHO You 2s p 4s ? 2s is a weak two, none vulnerable, IMPs, teams match.

Yes, 11pm EST, my fault. So 11pm EST is the official date for the match :-) Sorry for the confusion!

September 9th at 11:00 pm (EST) Onomatopeia vrs Argentina Haspel Brought to you by Bridge Base. We are dead even in the Las Vegas odds. So this may be a close match! As a member of the Haspel team good luck to the Onomatopeia guys and congratulations for reaching the finals!