Great Bridge Disasters

6 April 2000

We left Tony Forrester collecting a 2800 penalty in the semi finals of the 1989 Bermuda Bowl. The scene changes as we move to Brighton in 1996, where Great Britain is playing a friendly International against Iceland. Patrick Jourdain and I were providing the commentary, and we were disappointed that this deal was played on the one day that VuGraph was not operating.

Dealer West
Game All

			7 5
			J 8 6 5 4
			K 8 2
			9 3 2
	9 3	N W E S			8 6 4 2
	7 3				9 2
	Q J 7 5 4				A 9
	A Q 7 5				K J 8 6 4
			A K Q J 10
			A K Q 10
			10 6 3
			10

Tony and Andrew Robson were experimenting with some new 'germ warfare', but as you will see, they had neglected to discuss one important aspect.

West	North	East	South
Forrester	Johann'on	Robson	Arnthor'on
2	Pass	3	Dbl
Re-dbl	All Pass

Two Spades promised either the majors or the minors, usually 5-5 with less than an opening bid. The concentration of honours and the desire to test the new toy were enough to persuade Tony to open the bidding.
Three Spades was to play facing the majors, but also suggested a big fit for one of the minor suits. South doubled to show a good hand, and West was on virgin territory, as the partnership had not discussed this sequence.
A lesser mortal would have bid Four Clubs to confirm a hand with the minors, but Tony reasoned as follows:
A pass would show the majors, and Four Clubs would show the minors with equal length. 3NT would suggest longer clubs than diamonds, and therefore, a redouble must show longer diamonds than clubs.

Alas, Robson was not on the same wavelength, and reasoning that South would need some pretty good spades to stand Three Spades Redoubled, he passed. South was not too surprised to pass, and when North led the five of spades the defenders quickly took the first ten tricks to inflict a penalty of -3400.