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