Bulletin

SDAM (in English) author kaapo, 5.2.2010 at 21.33.
Summary: Cayne vs Estonia

Jimmy Cayne has a special convention in his arsenal: SDAM. It stands for Six Diamonds Always Makes. Equipped with the weapon, he and Lorenzo Lauria could safely bid the slam on board 6 in the Nordic Friendship League match between Cayne and ESTONIA:

      llorenzo
6     ♠AT65           pass  1♦   pass  2♦
EW    ♥AQ6            pass  2♥   2♠   2NT
East  ♦AK93           3♥   3NT   4♦   5♣
      ♣J5             6♦
maxkarpov    tiitl
♠Q42        ♠KJ93
♥J954       ♥T2
♦72         ♦T84
♣8743       ♣QT62
      jec
      ♠87
      ♥K983
      ♦QJ65
      ♣AK9.

Despite holding 4 cards in a major, Lorenzo started with an inverted raise 2♦. With a strong hand, it seems a good start for the bidding, and soon enough it was up to Jimmy to make the slam.

Maksim Karpov led a spade, which went to Tiit Laanemäe's king. He shifted to a small club, which JEC took with the ace. Looking from dummy's point of view it's easy to see, that two spade ruffs are enough to make the contract. Thus, Jimmy took ♠A, ruffed a spade low, took ♦Q, played small ♦ to king and then ruffed dummy's last spade high. All there was left was to enter dummy in hearts, draw last trump and claim. Other table stopped at 3NT.

The Estonians national team regulars. All four played for Estonia in the World Mind Sports Games in Beijing 2008. There they made it to the round of 16, where they were just barely beaten by the strong Dutch team. In the NFL match, however, team Estonia had three bad boards in a row starting from board 6, and Cayne took a comfortable lead.

On board 12, Tiit Laanemäe played a low contract with care:

      llorenzo
12    ♠KQJ           1NT  X   2♥  pass
NS    ♥KQ84
West  ♦A74
      ♣KQ2
maxkarpov    tiitl
♠A965       ♠42
♥A9         ♥JT762
♦KJ9        ♦QT53
♣A753       ♣T8
      jec
      ♠T873
      ♥53
      ♦862
      ♣J964.

JEC led a spade to llorenzo's king. He switched to ♣K, which also held trick. ♣Q was taken with the ace, after which tiitl cashed dummy's ♥A. Then he played a heart towards his hand, and Lorenzo took ♥Q. He played a club back, which Tiit ruffed. It was followed by a diamond to jack and North's ace, leaving these cards:

12    ♠KQ
NS    ♥K8
West  ♦74
      ♣
♠A96       ♠4
♥          ♥JT
♦K9        ♦QT5
♣7         ♣
      ♠T83
      ♥
      ♦86
      ♣9.

If Lorenzo had now cashed ♥K, East would easily have the rest. Instead he played ♠Q to dummy's ace - but now Tiit was able to ruff a spade, take two diamonds, and then play spade. Lorenzo was unable to stop Tiit from scoring his last trump. Lorenzo could beat it when in with ♥Q for example by drawing trumps, but holding long, strong trumps it does seem quite normal to try to tap declarer.

Cayne had the best of it also later in the match. Last big swing was board 23 where Krzysztof Martens found a great lead:

      vassili
23    ♠KJ94          1♥   2♦   2♥   pass
All   ♥AT54          3♦   pass 4♥
South ♦73            
      ♣954           
snetram      jassem
♠86         ♠T752  
♥6          ♥K72
♦AQJ642     ♦85
♣KT63       ♣QJ87
      sventsik
      ♠AQ3
      ♥QJ983
      ♦KT9
      ♣A2.

In the other room South had opened 1NT, and West showed long minor. Maxkarpov led a trump to partner's king, but now it was too late for the defence to get the club trick; declarer could dispose of it on spades. Snetram, however, led a club and the defence had the time to collect ♥K, two ♦ tricks and a club trick for down one.

At the end of the match the score was 94 - 49 which transposes to 23 - 7 in victory points. With one match to play, Cayne has an average of 20.9 VPs a match.