[zasanya]

barmar, on 2011-October-28, 20:35, said:

And USA 2 missed bidding several good slams, like the hand where East had 2=2=3=6 22-count, and chose to bid it as a balanced hand rather than show the good clubs.

It seems like they may have been getting tired and a little sloppy. But maybe I'm just projecting, since I was watching at 6am.

And I remember at least 2 slams scored by USA 2 which should have gone down.Sort of evens out . Right?
Good Luck Justin .You will need to be at your best and I have no doubt you will be.

[JLOGIC]

paulg, on 2011-October-28, 11:47, said:

USA 2 are 55 imps down with 32 boards to play and I presume that Justin-Joe, Joel-Johnny will be playing the final two sets. Having watched a lot of the match the biggest problem is not the deficit, which is not good but not desperate, but the fact that the Dutch continue to play well.

USA 2 did get 50 imps from USA 1 in the crucial fifth set of the semifinal and there is no reason to panic at this point. Important to try and get 20-30 imps back tomorrow morning, but any positive score will give them a chance.

Go Justin!

Agreed, they are playing extremely well. We are getting outplayed.

[FrancesHinden]

But it's cool that you find time to give us the running updates. Is posting on BBO the winning way to relax between sessions and we should all try it?

[Aberlour10]

Congratulations to Team NED, so as to the USA2 too. To enter the final in the first BB participation is a great achivement. Significant, only 1 of the 12 players in the final is over 40 years old. The future belongs to them all:)

[fred]

Mbodell, on 2011-October-28, 23:54, said:

They aren't playing that many boards. Even if you played every board you'd only be playing 48 boards a day. That's less than the 2 sessions/day at a nationals (which are typically 26 boards/session). While they are playing important, nerve wracking boards which might well up the tension and stress, they are playing on 6 person teams so even if you play 3/4 of the boards, more or less, you are still only playing a NABC session and half a day.

Justin's claimed not to feel much fatigue from this pace, and I think most of the professional teams would find this not too bad.

I think you underestimate the degree to which factors other than number of boards per day can impact some players. I am not suggesting that such factors necessarily had any impact on these particular players, but I can promise you from personal experience that such things can be very real:

- When one plays in the Bermuda Bowl for the first time, it is easily the high point of one's bridge career. When one actually advances all the way to the Finals, each of the last 8 or so days of one's life sets a new record for "most important bridge day of my life". One could be forgiven (at least by me) for feeling the pressure.

- When one is far away from home the different time zone, different food, different germs, different schedule, etc, can take their toll.

- The Bermuda Bowl is roughly 4 days longer than an NABC and, unlike an NABC, every single board is played behind screens and every single board is important.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[Fluffy]

finishing second is fine, it leaves you something to improve next time , winning all the first time is not fun.

[andy_h]

Congrats to the Dutch team! Commiserations to USA2 but certainly a job well done!

[han]

I was very happy to see my two favorite teams in the finals. Of course I was rooting for Justin's team, but I must admit that the Dutch team seemed sharper all around than the USA2 team. Given that they also had a much tougher semi-finals, I think they truly deserved this championship. I expect jlall to have many more opportunities though!

Here was a hand from today where the Netherlands did better:

---

On both tables east played 4H in the east, and south led the jack of diamonds. In the open room Joe Hurd played the diamond ace and the contract was cold. In the closed room Simon de Wijs played the queen on the jack and his partner had enough entries to play clubs through twice, which meant 4H went down 1.

[BunnyGo]

han, on 2011-October-29, 08:35, said:

I was very happy to see my two favorite teams in the finals. Of course I was rooting for Justin's team, but I must admit that the Dutch team seemed sharper all around than the USA2 team. Given that they also had a much tougher semi-finals, I think they truly deserved this championship. I expect jlall to have many more opportunities though!

Here was a hand from today where the Netherlands did better:

---

On both tables east played 4H in the east, and south led the jack of diamonds. In the open room Joe Hurd played the diamond ace and the contract was cold. In the closed room Simon de Wijs played the queen on the jack and his partner had enough entries to play clubs through twice, which meant 4H went down 1.

That was a very interesting hand. I wonder what would have happened if Hurd had returned a small club at trick 2. Maybe declarer should get it right, but it puts him to a guess.

[Free]

I particularly liked the one where both declarers missed the opportunity for brilliancy in a 3NT contract by unblocking ♠K with Jxx (dummy) vs Kx after LHO lead a ♠ to the Ace (I don't have the full hand in front of me). Not sure if it's possible to find this line though (is it even the best line?), but it would've been awesome to see someone do it.

[Hanoi5]

The Dutch won, so congrats to them. I would have prefered USA II to win but it just didn't come to be. Many opportunities were missed, many weird things happened, but in the end the team that beat the previous winner of the BB among other strong teams to become USA II and get to the Bermuda Bowl and then got to the finals just didn't make it to the first place.

To speak about a hand I didn't get, in the 7th round it went 3♣-X-4♣-X-All Pass. Do the Dutch play that double for penalties?

Also great performance by the amazing Israeli Junior team.

[georgeac]

Congrats to the Netherlands. They played excellent bridge throughout. Valiant effort USA2 and thanks Justin for taking the time to update the forums and your blog along the way. It gave great insight to the mindset on certain hands as well as scores, etc. for the people that could not be awake in the middle of the night. I am sure there will be many many more opportunities for a world championship in the future. 2nd is nothing to hang your head over.

[paulg]

Like many I've seen a few Bermuda Bowls on BBO but never felt so part of one as this time. Doing voice commentary most days contributed a little but easily the biggest factor was feeling that I knew one of the participants. Justin's contributions to this thread, amongst others, and his blogging during the event has significantly increased my enjoyment and I'm really pleased that he and his team did so well.

[jallerton]

han, on 2011-October-29, 08:35, said:

I was very happy to see my two favorite teams in the finals. Of course I was rooting for Justin's team, but I must admit that the Dutch team seemed sharper all around than the USA2 team. Given that they also had a much tougher semi-finals, I think they truly deserved this championship. I expect jlall to have many more opportunities though!

Here was a hand from today where the Netherlands did better:

---

On both tables east played 4H in the east, and south led the jack of diamonds. In the open room Joe Hurd played the diamond ace and the contract was cold. In the closed room Simon de Wijs played the queen on the jack and his partner had enough entries to play clubs through twice, which meant 4H went down 1.

The contract was cold double dummy after ♦A had been played, but Bas Drijver still had to read the cards correctly to make it. It was not impossible for the ♣A to be onside, or even for ♣J to be doubleton in the South hand.

BunnyGo, on 2011-October-29, 09:13, said:

That was a very interesting hand. I wonder what would have happened if Hurd had returned a small club at trick 2. Maybe declarer should get it right, but it puts him to a guess.

An interesting thought, but not any easy defence to find. If East has ♣109x and ♠Qx then you look silly given that declarer might go off on passive defence.

Congratulations to The Netherlands. Justin and USA2 also deserve congratulations for their fine performance over the fortnight. Well played.

[gwnn]

BTW, thanks for your great voice commentary jallerton!

[PrecisionL]

Cold after the A♦?

Hmm, just duck the A♣ later in the hand and declarer has 4 losers.

Oh, you must mean it is cold if he finesses the 10♠.

[joker_gib]

Thanks to all for these wonderful weeks of bridge !

The Ducth played incredibly well and, I think, deserve the title !

These championships have been marked by the young players and it's great for the game we all love !

[mrdct]

Anyone got some good photos from the medal ceremony?

[JLOGIC]

Free, on 2011-October-29, 09:46, said:

I particularly liked the one where both declarers missed the opportunity for brilliancy in a 3NT contract by unblocking ♠K with Jxx (dummy) vs Kx after LHO lead a ♠ to the Ace (I don't have the full hand in front of me). Not sure if it's possible to find this line though (is it even the best line?), but it would've been awesome to see someone do it.

Definitely a findable/easy play. If it were posted on the forums I would not expect anyone to miss it. In the heat of the moment, I got so caught up in whether or not I should play the jack at trick 1 that I just overlooked the possibility of low A K. It was something like... tank tank tank low, ace, insta low, insta spade back...win the king...tank tank tank...WHY DIDN'T I UNBLOCK?! lol

[inquiry]

JLOGIC, on 2011-October-29, 22:38, said:

Definitely a findable/easy play. If it were posted on the forums I would not expect anyone to miss it. In the heat of the moment, I got so caught up in whether or not I should play the jack at trick 1 that I just overlooked the possibility of low A K. It was something like... tank tank tank low, ace, insta low, insta spade back...win the king...tank tank tank...WHY DIDN'T I UNBLOCK?! lol

So score one for the commentors. As you were thinking after winning the ♠K (eventually playing club Ace), one of the commentors said you where thinking why didn't I unblock the king...