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The 2006 Rosenblum Teams in
Verona started in disturbing fashion for my partner, David
Berkowitz, and myself. In the first round-robin match we faced a
team from the Netherlands. They showed up at the table with a
convention card bursting at the seams (and a confidence level to
match). In the �special bids that may require a defense�
section, there were 14 items listed! Some of them we could easily
cope with (such as Multi-2 ),
but others were mysterious. Some weren�t even legal. I�m not
the litigious type, but I asked a director about the legality of
this list, and after consultation with other directors, he
determined that 2 of the items had to come off.
Of the remaining 12, one
was �transfer overcalls.� If we opened one diamond, and they
overcalled one spade, it showed �hearts!� Beautiful. How do we
cope with that? What is double? What does it mean if we bid two
hearts? Two spades?
The match was supposed
to be starting (the clock was running); David and I had to spend
time and brain power dealing with all this nonsense. Could we have
prepared in advance? No. The round-robin matchups were not posted
until game time.
We had an abbreviated
(not long enough) discussion about how to deal with all of these
pre-alerts, but I was annoyed. My LHO was giving us a  hard
time. He didn�t understand why we had to make such a fuss over
this laundry list of conventions. �Don�t they allow
conventions in America?� he wanted to know. This was not a
pleasant way to begin the event. Finally, the screen came down
(all events in Verona were played with screens, bidding trays,
etc.) and the first auction began. (Just my luck, that Mr.
Obnoxious was on my side of the screen).
Our opponents had a
great result on Board 1. They made several alertable bids, at
which point, LHO (I�m going to call him OLHO from now on, for
Obnoxious Left-Hand Opponent) told me he wouldn�t alert any
more. �Everything
we bid is alertable, so I won�t alert you, okay?�
�No,� I said � �please follow normal procedure.�
He continued acting in obnoxious fashion (unusual, because in my
past experience the Dutch players were always perfect gentlemen�a
pleasure to play against).
On the second deal, my OLHO
started whistling (I didn�t recognize the tune). Vul against
not, I opened a strong club (Precision).
OLHO grabbed for our convention card. �What is your defense?�
he demanded. �What are you talking about?� I replied. He
wanted to know what my partner�s bids would mean if he
overcalled. �That depends on what your overcall is,� I
patiently answered. �But, I want to know your system over
everything�so I can decide what to bid.�
I asked him to just bid, and he�d find out.
This wasn�t good enough. I had to explain all the
possibilities (in writing � this is how things are done behind
screens).
Finally, he bid 3 .
He didn�t alert it. I wrote: �What is 3?�
He wrote �natural.� What happened to "everything
he bids is supposed to be alertable?" Oh well.
Three spades was passed around
to me, and I bid 4 .
OLHO, still whistling his merry tune, slammed a double card on the
table (this meant he had a special preempt)�in fact, his hand
was :
QJ10953
Q
A642
 A10.
The tray went to the other
side and when it came back, we saw that David had redoubled
(business), and my RHO had passed.
I passed and glared at LHO.
He didn�t look so happy any more. He studied the auction
and realized he was in big trouble. He could pass (if it made, the
score would be 1080�we were vulnerable). He could run.
He stopped whistling.
He studied and studied and finally chickened out and ran to 4.
This was doubled, as was his partner�s runout to 5.
(His partner had six clubs to the jack, five hearts to the jack
and two small singletons). The price was minus 1,100. Meanwhile,
four hearts redoubled would have been two down (plus 1,000). His
decision to run had swung 2,100 points. This was a humbling moment
for OLHO.
Two deals later, he again went
for 1,100 and the rout was on. Several of my kibitzers were
beaming from ear-to-ear (this is a family article, so I can�t
repeat what one of them whispered to me). OLHO behaved (shocked
silence was more like it) the rest of the match. I�ll never
forget the moment that �the whistling stopped.�
The auction that stopped the
whistling:
| Larry |
OLHO |
David |
RHO |
| 1
(Prec) |
3 |
Pass |
Pass |
| 4 |
DBL |
RDBL |
Pass |
| Pass |
4 |
DBL |
5 |
| DBL |
Pass |
Pass |
Pass |
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