Poznan, Poland.

I am here in Poznan, Poland for The 5th European Open Bridge Championships.

If you think NABC in the USA and Canada are long, these championships will run for the next two weeks. Being the open championship, there are 1591 players from 53 different countries playing here.

The first event is the Mixed Teams. I am playing with my German friends, Pony Nehmert, Barbard Gotard, Marie Eggeling, Thomas Gotard and Tomasz Gotard on the PONY team. 

There are 90 teams in this event. The teams are divided into 15 groups of 6. A round robin of 5 matches the first day, top 3 of each group advance to the A-Swiss, the rest to B-Swiss. 

To-morrow, the top 27 teams from A-Swiss and 5 teams from B-Swiss will play KO over the next three days.

We were 2nd in our group and will play another day. Results are posted on line.

On the last round and last board, we needed 1 imp to qualify.

Round Robin- Round 5. Board 20. Dealer West. All Vul.

You as East hold ♠ Q1098542 ♥ 42 ♦ 87 ♣ 87

1♦ – DBL to you, what would you bid?

At my table, Pony-East bid 2♠ weak. I-West corrected to 3♦ , down 1 for -100

 

West	North	East	South
1♦	DBL	2♠	Pass
3♦	Pass	Pass	Pass

 

At the other table, East bid 3♠  and played there. Our teammates defended well, down 4 for +400. We won 7 imps.

This was the deal.

 

Dealer:West Vul:All	North ♠ AKJ6  ♥ K7  ♦ QJ6  ♣ AQ52
West ♠   ♥ A1095  ♦ AK109543  ♣ K9		East ♠  Q1098542 ♥  42 ♦  87 ♣  87
	South ♠ 73  ♥ QJ863  ♦ 2  ♣ J10643