kaapo: Good morning and welcome to Finnish Pairs Championship Final 2009
kaapo: This is round 24/35
kaapo: The website with standings is here http://bridgefinland.com/sm/pari09/
kaapo: We're in Vaasa Western-Finland at Vasa Bridgeklubb's playing venue Bridge-Center
kaapo: Our operators for the weekend are Juho Granström and Pinja Pyykkönen, good morning to you
kaapo: The E-W pair, Tiina (West, lady) and Antti Elsinen are on top after round 23
kaapo: Huomenta Roland
kaapo: 4-card marjos are part of Finnish Standard, and they are still quite popular here
kaapo: Hei Kippari
kippari: huomenta kaikille
kaapo: We try a bilingual commentary here
kaapo: So Olavi "Kippari" Kivipensas will mostly speak in Finnish
jara:  With everything friendly 4!H makes, this, however, is good compensation
kaapo: Hi also to Pekka "Jara" Viitasalo, nice nickname :)
kippari: eikös tämä Jara ole JJ
kaapo: Rehi, Pekka
bagman:  sorry for the previous confusion; I'm on sick leave instead of playing and cannot commentate on regular basis
kaapo: And good morning to Christer Englund
kaapo: Ah, Christer has a boat to lift, so he cannot join us
kaapo: One would've thought that North would bid 2!H, fourth suit forcing to game
bagman:  Nonstandard but no confusion there
kaapo: Usual treatment is that 3!H is invitational with 5-5 then
kippari: oikealla pata-arvauksella 11 tikkiä
kaapo: A kib thinks that 2!C undervalues the hand
bagman:  2 !C is a wide range bid
kaapo: She has a very good hand for the call, but she's not quite worth 3!C, forcing to game
bagman:  3!C would be an overbid and 3!D a misbid (IMO) 
kaapo: Usually partner stretches to make another call over 2!C, like a preference to 2!D. And then South can bid again to show extras
bagman:  THe spade switch is marked
bagman:  declarer probably gets it right
bagman:  THe first two boards were not what the leaders were hoping for
bagman:  They were booked for -500 on 70, but that would have required very accurate defense
kippari: ruutulähdöllä mahdollisuus 10 tikkiin
kippari: ja tietysti tarvitaan oikea risti-arvaus
kaapo: As the skipper tells, 10 tricks are now possible
kaapo: 3-board rounds, so that was the end of our first round today
kippari: rauhallinen sunnuntai-aamun avaua,kolme meedeli brikkaa
kaapo: Elsinens are in the lead after round 23 so they'll stay at this table http://bridgefinland.com/sm/pari09/results.php
bagman:  This can be very easily a below average round for the leaders (but close to 50%)
kaapo: We might see Vesa Paasivirta - Petri Kuoppala here next round
kaapo: So Antti (N) - Tiina (S) vs Vesa Paasivirta (E) - Petri Kuoppala (W)
kippari: pelinviejän kannalta hyvin istuvat kortit 
kippari: 11 tikkiä
kaapo: Skipper predicts 11 tricks
kippari: 6 C on kotipeli kuten kibitsi viestittää
kippari: piti kyllä peittää varmuuden vuoksi
fabsayc: problem now
kaapo: This is the Finnish pairs championship so all players are Finnish (although I cannot remember if that's a requirement for the entry right)
kaapo: South is the only lady at the table, Tiina Elsinen. She was part of the Finnish ladies team winning silver at the Nordics this summer
kippari: patarouva kääntö oli kyllä upea
kippari: Antin piti maskata pataa toisen kerran ollessaan kiinni pata 8
kaapo: Skipper congratulating for the !SQ shift and noting, that Antti should've took another finesse in spades
kippari: pisteet edelliseltä krs 44-58 Rahille
kaapo: A Swedish top player makes a further note on the previous board: "!SJ unblocking !ST then !S9 preserving entries"
fabsayc: 9 was ok, but then needed to repeat finesse before playing clubs
kippari: pieti on tulossa tai kaksi
kippari: Antti ottaa tuplamaskin ruudussa ja pietejä tulee 3/4 kpl
kippari: tämä ei kyllä voinut olla kotipelilinja
kippari: mites 3 NT olis mennyt,HK ukos,laisto ja ...
kaapo: Skipper was predicting how the play would go and pondering 3NT's chances
kaapo: End of this round, very short break and then next round
kaapo: Results after R24 http://bridgefinland.com/sm/pari09/results.php
kaapo: Elsinen - Elsinen continue with a healthy lead
kaapo: Vaasa is a city in Western-Finland with about 60,000 inhabitants
kaapo: It's Swedish name is Vasa, witch comes from the Swedish royal house, Vasa
kippari: JJ(Jouni Juuri-Oja) kehuu Vesan S! Q kääntöä kisan tähän asti parhaaksi suoritukseksi
kaapo: About one fourth of the population are Swedish-speaking
kippari: siis S Q kääntöä
kaapo: The city has two bridge clubs, Vaasan Trikki (Finnish) and Vasa Bridgeklubb (Swedish)
kippari: tai Kaukon ja Clasin tarjoamaa 7 ruutua eilen
kaapo: The Swedish club is the larger and the host of this competition
kaapo: Huomenta Seppo Sauvolalle
zebutin: huomenta kaikille/hi to everyone
kippari: moi
kaapo: Ah, we've got new player names up
kaapo: Vesa Voutilainen (East) - Aimo Salmi (West) are from Vaasa. They are members of the Finnish club, Trikki
kaapo: Trikki of course is Finnish for trick
kaapo: Nice double fits here
zebutin: for both sides
kippari: kuka on pelinviejä?
kippari: selviskin jo
kaapo: North didn't really get a chance to support spades
kaapo: I believe 1!C only promised 3, so 3!C was slightly odd
bagman:  North will score the !HA in the end
kaapo: Yes, not enough diamonds to pitch all hearts
kaapo: I've been told Aimo Salmi doesn't play 5-card majors
kaapo: So 1!C did show 4 cards
bagman:  EW have a provfitable save in 5!D
zebutin: but can they find it? could be tricky
kippari: edullinen 5 ruutua tässä,tuleeko omillaan 4 S päälle
bagman:  NS make only 10 tricks in spades
bagman:  Declarer's best chance for 11 tricks is to find AQ hearts onside
bagman:  Antti went for the misplay chance
zebutin: seems like tried for Hx
bagman:  If W had Ax he should have taken it
bagman:  It wasn't likely that E could hold Qx of hearts
kippari: edellisen pisteet 42-60 Elsisten tappioksi
kaapo: As Kippari has noticed, we have updated results at http://bridgefinland.com/sm/pari09/results.php
bagman:  Antti Elsinen made a 10 point error when misanalysing the end position in 4!S where he should have played for minor suit squeeze for -1
kippari: Kauko ja Clas vain 18 pinnaa edellisestä,kärki karkaa?
bagman:  NS play negative free bids. This sequence is one of the reasons why I don't :)
kaapo: Yes, makes it difficult to show your suit
bagman:  anyhow NS landed on their feet as the contract is great
bagman:  The defenders will score the trump ace for a nice +420 for NS
kaapo: End of round 26. Four more rounds to go before a break
zebutin: kaikki kohdataan? vai 33 kierrosta/jtn?
kaapo: Next we shuold see Enell - Björkqvist of the host club Vasa BK
kaapo: They are currently on the bottom of the list
kaapo: There are 36 pairs competing
kaapo: 35 of them were chosen via regional qualifications
kaapo: And the title holders were appointed a place in the final
kaapo: Over the course of 35 rouds, everyone will play each other once
kaapo: The top favourites of the competition are last year's champions Kauko Koistinen - Clas Nyberg
kaapo: They were in 5th place after round 25
kaapo: With about 160 match points behind the leaders, Tiina and Antti Elsinen
zebutin: they need some good scores to be back in competition for medals
zebutin: 1!H maybe not everyones cup of tea with 10 high
kaapo: So round 27 with Bo-Erik Enell (E) - Torvald Björkqvist (W) vs Antti Elsinen (N) - Tiina Elsinen (S, lady)
bagman:  X promises either a limited std negative X or G/F with any shape
kippari: nyt käy kyllä kylmät oikealla puolustuksella
zebutin: this could be ugly
bagman:  On a spade lead this goes -2
kippari: -3
bagman:  true, miscount
zebutin: 9fast tricks with right defence to defenders
bagman:  or -1 when W cashes a high club
bagman:  and plays a spade back
zebutin: seems like -1
kaapo: He had a nice idea, telling partner about his clubs. He merely forgot how many clubs there are in the deck
kippari: pitikö Tiinan tarjota 2 ruutua
bagman:  It is difficult to say if Tiina should bid 2!D as she has a supporting spade honour and NTish hand
bagman:  As EW make 2 !S, this is not a disaster
kippari: nihkeitä on avauskädet vuoronperään:)
bagman:  They found the right suit but are they too high?
zebutin: this has some chances atleast, but well see how it goes
kippari: tää ei kyllä me himaan
bagman:  There are only 3 losers 
kippari: mistä tikit:)
zebutin: question is where to find enough tricks
kippari: alku kyllä sujuu puolustukselta huonosti
zebutin: !H return now, finese to !S Q and just made...?
kippari: patalähtö olisi kyllä vienyt kaikki mahdollisuudet
zebutin: now needs to discard spade to !D
zebutin: was hoping for Jx in !S? would be interesting shift
zebutin: and even then discarding !S cant cost, because !S A scores and can throw !C away
kaapo: Leading a low club would be ok vs a NT contract
bagman:  N will pitch a diamond
bagman:  This is ok, as he was unlikely to have a 4th round diamond loser
bagman:  unlucky diamond position 
kaapo: All double finesses don't succeed
bagman:  lucky lead, which N might have exploited better by setting up the clubs
kaapo: 3-board rounds, so that was the end of round 27
kaapo: We have results after R26 at http://bridgefinland.com/sm/pari09/results.php
kaapo: And we're soon about to switch to round 28
kaapo: Matti Niemi - Jorma Valta took silver last year
zebutin: and are currently holding it tightly again
kaapo: And they have a good going now too. They took the second place several rounds ago and are there at the moment too
kippari: Uskali-Sundsten nousee vielä mitalille:)
kaapo: Skipper is rooting for Kaj Sundsten - Pekka Uskali who are currently 4th
kaapo: We should see Matti Leino - Mikko Nieminen here next
kaapo: They have the scary 13th place after R26
kaapo: Finns seem to be systems freaks. Most of the rounds on vugraph at least one of the pairs have been playing an artificial system
kaapo: Two top pairs at the moment use natural methods, however
kaapo: Nieminen - Leinonen play Einari Club, the standard system in the Turku city area
kaapo: It has strong club with control responses, and 4-card majors
kaapo: So Mikko Nieminen (W) - Matti Leinonen (E) vs Antti and "Tintti"
kaapo: This bidding looks very natural, though
kippari: 2x11p ja just jarrut päälle ennen täyspeliä
bagman:  Club lead and diamond back in time beats this
zebutin: some pairs might try for game
kaapo: Oops, Matti Leino
kaapo: I thought there was something funny in the name :)
kippari: nyt ristiä
bagman:  OK, declarer set up the setting trick himself
bagman:  now 3x hearts and then a club for uppercut
kippari: ensin herttaa 2x sitten ristiä:)
bagman:  A club now does not help as declarer discards a heart loser
bagman:  2x hearts or 3x hearts, both work
bagman:  South can be certain that E doesn't have the !HA
bagman:  The play doesn't make sense if he held it
bagman:  It is also likelier that N holds the !HA in his 4+ hearts than !SA/K in his singleton spade
bagman:  odd
kaapo: R27 scores are there http://bridgefinland.com/sm/pari09/results.php
kaapo: No changes in top 3
zebutin: Koistinen-Nyberg have stepped up to 4th place, and are trying to rise even further
kaapo: Precision-style 2!C
bagman:  NS will end in 4 !S
kaapo: 2!S now perhaps by South?
kaapo: For some it would show some tolerance for playing in !Ds however
bagman:  oops
zebutin: this cant be too good score for leading pair
bagman:  anyhow they made a plus score
bagman:  +90 is one of the bottom scores
bagman:  and other pairs start a level lower and NS have better time to find the spades
kaapo: 1!D could be 2
bagman:  This kills the entry to the clubs
kaaleppi: tai sitten ei
bagman:  declarer needs to take a club finesse and then start to work on diamonds
bagman:  in a hope scoring two clubs, two diamonds and a heart for -200
bagman:  Maybe !CA now and a low diamond towards !DQ 
bagman:  booked for -200 now but the defense might give him 6th trick
bagman:  North needs to get a spade trick to score the !HJ for South to pitch the club
bagman:  Now NS are fine
kippari: hyvä lähtö
kaapo: End of round 28. Two more rounds before the break
kaapo: Utter - Pöppönen will reappear on the vugraph
kaapo: Lasse Utter has the star nickname lasu on BBO
kaapo: He's probably one of the most active players in the BBO masterpoint competitions
kaapo: R29 with Lasse Utter (W) - Ari Pöppönen (E) vs Antti (N) - Tintti (S)
kaapo: EW play 5-card majors
kaapo: And 2!D is an inverted raise
kaapo: Kippari might have a word or two to say on opening 1!D?
kaapo: Utter - Pöppönen won the Finnish IMP championship in the spring
kippari: no,huonoin väri avauksessa ja siihen vaatimus 2D,2Nt oli varmaan pidot yläväreissä
kaapo: Here they are on 10th place with 51,8%, so they might have hoped for a better position
bagman:  South should cash the !CA for two reasons:
kippari: kaikki availee huonolla 11 p käsillä
bagman:  partner is likely to have 5 for the switch to deuce
bagman:  partner might have the K
kaapo: 3rd/5th leads are practicly standard in Finland at this level, and most play them in shifts too
kippari: onko se hyvä vai huono taktiikka,selviää tuloslistoista
kaapo: This was much faster yesterday, when we had Koistinen - Nyberg in the vugraph
bagman:  Declarer can make 4 spades on his own + 2 each red
bagman:  then it's over
zebutin: anyone for 1nt opening with Utter's hand? or too much points in black suits?
notsir: no tulee varmaan kohta oikein :)
kaapo: Possible but with no rebid troubles 1!C looks ok
zebutin: well,  seems he did have rebid trouble now...
bagman:  claim time
bagman:  cannot make more than 120
bagman:  now hoping that the diamonds are high :)
zebutin: fast rerun on what happened
kaapo: R28 is there now http://bridgefinland.com/sm/pari09/results.php
kaapo: Sundsten - Uskali are now 3rd and Koistinen - Nyberg follow closely
zebutin: Koistinen-Nyberg still getting closer to medals, and Skippers favorites are on the way
bagman:  Now defense have some chances to separate their trumps
bagman:  declarer could have set up the !DT before starting the heart ruffs
bagman:  and taken one heart ruff and discarded a heart on !DT
bagman:  Now defense just need to cash out 
kaapo: End of round 29
kaapo: One more round and then a break
kaapo: Elsinen - Elsinen will be here next round too
kaapo: And we seem to get Marianna Kultalahti - Mika Karjalainen here as their opponents
kaapo: Our operators this weekend are Juho Granström and Pinja Pyykkönen. They are two of the most resourceful operators there are
kaapo: In the summer we made broadcast from the Finnish cup final and lost connection at some point
kaapo: That was no problem for Pinja: she was ready with a pen and paper and recorded all action while the outage lasted
kaapo: When we were back on-line, she input it all for the viewers. Not a trick was missed!
kaapo: Now she's bound to make an error after the break and after all this praise :)
kaapo: R30 with Marianna Kultalahti (N, lady) - Mika Karjalainen (S) vs Tiina (W, lady) and Antti (E)
bagman:  The par of the hand is 5!SX -2
bagman:  EW are going to score 450
bagman:  West needs to manage the trumps but the position is so lucky that she's very unlikely to lose two trumps
kaapo: R29: http://bridgefinland.com/sm/pari09/results.php
kaapo: Gap between two first getting smaller
bagman:  EW have a reasonable 6!C here
kaapo: And Kari Noponen - Mikko Toivonen have reclaimed the 3rd place
bagman:  3!H - 3!S - 4 !C and then whant
bagman:  East doesn't want to play 5-2 spades
kaapo: 2-over-1 would make it easier as West could rebid 3!C. Here she needs to force with 4th suit 3!D
bagman:  6!C might go down losing two trump tricks
kaapo: Of course, good bidding judgement will do the trick, too
bagman:  Pass now, be a unhappy for a moment and the score 600
bagman:  East has shown now 5-5-0-3
bagman:  West has to evaluate now if there was 620 available in 4M
kaapo: Could West think that East's 4!C and 5!C were just cue bids for !ss?
bagman:  If she thinks there was, she has to bid on
bagman:  West can be sure now that the straight heart finesse is off
bagman:  North is a person who doesn't lead from Qxx or Qxxx in dummy's suit against a slam
bagman:  now the 4-0 clubs sets the contract
bagman:  Even 3-1 would have set it as North can duck the !CK and West cannot get back to hand
bagman:  Should have ruffed with the K as south might have played the 9 on T and West could have overtaken
kaapo: Last board of our morning session coming up
kaapo: Thanks a lot to the commentators Pekka Viitasalo and Seppo Sauvola. Kiitos Olavi "Kippari" Kivipensas!
zebutin: kannattaa ehkä sanoa milloin jatkuu
zebutin: thanx, even though i havent said anything
kaapo: Thanks Pinja and Juho for operating, and Vasa Bridgeklubb and Suomen Bridgeliitto (Bridge League of Finland) for organising
kippari: kiitoksia katsojille
kaapo: Also thanks to our sponsors for the BBO broadcasts, JuuTools and Bridge Promotion, as well as to the kibs
bagman:  thx all
zebutin: play continues 13.20 local time, so after 30minutes (if schedsule is correct)
kaapo: The break won't be long
kaapo: We'll be back 20 past noon Paris time
bagman:  West was a bit too aggressive here with the invitational sequence
kaapo: The web site is at http://bridgefinland.com/sm/pari09/index.php?lang=2
bagman:  the cards are quite badly and contract is likely to go down
kaapo: Results after R30 should be updated soon after the round ends
bagman:  still a club and two spades to lose
kaapo: We'll soon be back with the thrilling end, presented to you thanks to Bridge Base Online
bagman:  Declarer should play a club to the T now and hope that she can set up a club and a diamond for spade discards
bagman:  If that fails, she still has chance to play for both spades onside (or HT onside)
bagman:  now diamond ruff and spade up
bagman:  She should have kept the !CK 
bagman:  Now if the KQ of spades were onside, N would have a club to cash
bagman:  the is no hope now, there is no consistent layout where she can make
kaapo: Thanks and see you