BRIDGE NOTES: The US ladies bridge team wins Venice Cup 2007

The World Bridge Championship held in Shanghai, China, was another year for the US ladies team in the chain of success in the Venice Cup. Ever since the introduction of Venice Cup in 1974, for exclusive ladies bridge teams along with the Bermuda Bowl, which started much earlier, the American ladies team has recorded good performance in winning more than ten times.
It is noteworthy that American open bridge team and American ladies team dominated the world bridge scene to collect gold medals for securing top positions in the World Bridge Championship. At the Venice Cup in Shanghai, the American ladies bridge team defeated German ladies team in the final to become world champions.
It may be an interesting observation that there were distinct features of bidding and play by the ladies as compared to the male bridge teams. Without going into details, the overall performance of ladies at the game has been praiseworthy in their own line of bidding and play. The style and pattern of bidding by ladies may sound a bit different from the male approach to the bidding. Although the basic teaching of bridge and coaching of both the genders are the same, but the ladies approach to the bidding appeared to be different in each set of the deals.
In the last segments of the final between American ladies team versus German ladies team, the majority of hands comprised of part score contract on both sides. But there were deals, which recorded slam and full game bidding wherever there was a potential for it. In one of the deals, the German ladies bid and made the contract of five diamonds to gain some points against the American counterpart. That hand is reproduced here with bidding and play with explanation of the conventional bids.
(1) Showing a Landy bid with major suits irrespective of strength.
(2) Splinter bid. (There may be difference of opinion about the bidding made by the German pair in applying Landy and Splinter conventions.)
West led heart 9 Stansby started with the nine of hearts, which was won in dummy with the queen of hearts. Then the jack of diamonds was moved from dummy it was ducked by North, and later Stansby won the diamond continuation with the ace, then she played a third round of trumps to stop any heart ruffs.
This move allowed the declarer to make an overtrick because Von Arnim finessed in clubs and discarded her losing spade and heart when clubs broke 3-3. Had Stansby played king of spades instead of using negative defence by playing the third diamond she could have restricted the German declarer to only 11 tricks instead of 12 tricks. Thus the German team scored one overtrick.
DEALER EAST
BOTH-SIDE VULNERABLE:

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North          West          East             South

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S KQ 765       S 4           S J 92        S A 1083

H 96           H AK 73       H Q 10        H J 8542

D A 82         D Q 106543    D KJ 7             D 9

C K 87         C J 6         C AQ 1092        C 543

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THE BIDDING:

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West           North         East             South

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Von          Stansby     Auken Rosenberg      Arnim

                         1 NT               2 C (1)

3S (2)       4 S         5 C                   Pass

5 D          Pass        Pass                  Pass

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