June 23rd 2013
In the 10th round of the European Open Teams Bridge Championships the Ventin team played against the Israel EIDI team. The match ended with Ventin’s victory by 40-10 IMPs.
This time the Ventin team was represented by BERTHEAU Peter, CULLIN Per-Ola, HALLBERG Gunnar, WRANG Frederic and the Israel EIDI team by: FRIEDLANDER Ehud, LIRAN Inon, YADLIN Doron, YADLIN Israel, YADLIN Doron(npc).
Till board 8 Ventin team only had a 7 IMP advantage but the last two boards fully defined the match.
Board 9
The bidding and the lead were exactly the same in both tables. South opened 1NT (strong), North find out via Stayman that they didnt have a major fit and closed the 3NT game. The lead was the 2.
Declarer knows that he cant lose against East because he will return a heart defeating the contract, his only possibility is that the leader has the A, so he has to play the K .
In one of the tables the declarer, Yadlin I., played dummy’s J and could not fulfill anymore his contract.
Cullin won with his Q to immediately proceed with the 2. South played the J, Bertheau won with the Q and continued with the 10, declarer won with his A. Although he played all his clubs first, he had to go through the K and the A, and ended two down.
At the other table Wrang played the K and after winning the trick, lose the diamond finesse in West hands. Friedlander returned a heart, but now Wrang had his 10 tricks, so he played the A and advanced with his tricks.
In board 10, the lack of confidence in one of the two Israel EIDI partnership, generated a double digit swing against the team.
In one of the tables Cullin opened 1, Yadlin I in South competed with 1, Bertheau doubled and North closed the heart game…three passes closed the bidding…Declarer had to lose 5 tricks, scoring -200.
In the other table Liran opened 1 and Wrang also competed 1, West doubled and Hallberg also closed the 4 game.
But now Friedlander, after his partner and South Pass, with two aces in his hand doubled for penalty. His partner distrusting his own opening, said 4 and now was Hallberg who had the opportunity to double.
Final contract 4 doubled, lead A.
Over the lead, Hallberg played the 6…asking for a diamond switch. His partner continued with the 6 asking a heart return…declarer ended two down scoring -500, and 12 IMPs more for Ventin team.