44 English Bridge December 2016 www.ebu.co.uk
2® was a game-forcing response and Tor Helness rebid his
clubs on the next round. Geir Helgemo had nothing more
to say about his own hand and bid the fourth suit to keep
the bidding moving. After close inspection, Helness was
satisfied with his stopper in diamonds and ventured 3NT.
Well bid. You would be very unlucky to lose five heart tricks
and, in fact, the ™A was onside.
At the other table Auken and Welland climbed to 5®,
going three down when the diamonds broke 5-1.
Awards: 3NT-W (10), 3NT-E (9), 5® (6), 6® (4), partscores
(3)
5.Game All. Dealer West
´ A 10 7 5 4 ´ 3
™ K 8 6 4 ™ 3
t 7 4 t A K 10 6 2
® A 4 ® K Q 10 9 7 5
N
W E
S
West East
Helgemo Helness
1´ 2®
2™ 3®
3t 3NT
showing a weak two in hearts or spades. Franck Multon was
happy to stop in 2™ if that was partner's long suit. When
West showed spades with his 2´ rebid, Fleischer made a takeout
double and Multon suggested a spade slam. Martens
took 4™ as natural and his partner went five down
vulnerable, losing 15 IMPs and eventually the match by the
same margin.
We are here to draw instruction from this horrendous
misunderstanding. Martens should have paused to consider
carefully the apparent inconsistency between partner's 2™
sign-off and the later leap to 4™. East would have responded
2´ with good hearts. In the cold light of day, his 4™ could
only mean that he had a great hand for spades.
Awards: 4´ (10), 5´/6´ (5), part-scores (2), 4™ (0).
6.Game All. Dealer West
´ K Q J 10 9 4 ´ A 7 5
™ 10 5 4 ™ -
t 6 5 t K 10 9 3
® 6 4 ® A Q 10 7 3 2
N
W E
S
West North East South
Martens Fleischer Multon Martel
2t Pass 2™ Pass
2´ Dble 4™ All Pass
In the last set of the Spingold final, the score
was 75-73 when this catastrophic board
arrived. Krzysztof Martens opened a multi,
Our experts limp home with 34/60. Not so good for them but maybe we can all learn from their mistakes,
which reminds me that I must end by looking for some bidding tips.
Tips to Remember
• It is better to know a relatively simple system well than to play a complex system and forget it every
now and again. There are hundreds of ways to lose IMPs after doing very little wrong. Do not add
extra ways unnecessarily.
• If you are not sure whether partner's bid is forcing (yes, it can happen to us all), it is usually safer to
bid than to pass.
• When your partner makes a bid that seems surprising (or impossible) after the preceding bids, think
carefully before you decide on your next action. Partner thinks he had made the best call on his hand
and you should trust him. r