Day 11 of Team Funbridge in Las Vegas (updated 10/12/24)
To help you follow the adventures of Team Funbridge as if you were there, this article will be updated very regularly.
A major event for Team Funbridge!
Day 1: Departure for Las Vegas
Day 2: Olivia starts well in the Soloway Cup!
Day 4 : Board-a-Match Teams kicks off
Day 5 : Results for Team Funbridge after 4 days in Las Vegas!
Day 6 : A dispatch from Margaux as the Blue Ribbon Pairs begins
Day 7 : Sofie and her mother – a winning team in the Women’s Pairs!
Day 8: Sofie and Margaux start in the Mixed Pairs event, plus sight-seeing in Las Vegas
A major event for Team Funbridge!
After the Winter Games in France, the Marit Sveaas tournament in Bodø, Poland, Norway and the Pula festival, Funbridge is now sending its junior team to play the North American Bridge Championships in Las Vegas!
Organised by the American federation, the NABC is the place to be for bridge fans! This year, it takes place in Las Vegas, from 28 November to 8 December. For 11 days, players can participate in tournaments for all levels, meet players from all around the world, and above all enjoy a unique atmosphere where competition is synonymous with fun and conviviality.
Image by young soo Park from Pixabay
Las Vegas is the perfect setting for this NABC: iconic hotel-casinos, incredible shows and lights that shine non-stop. Whether for the tournaments or just for the atmosphere, the event promises to be unforgettable in this mythical city. 🃏✨
Sofie Sjødal, Federica Dalpozzo, Valentina Dalpozzo and Margaux Kurek-Beaulieu will represent Funbridge in Las Vegas, and we will also follow other players from the Team, such as Olivia Schireson, Andrea Nilsson, Léo Rombaut, Nicolai Heiberg-Evenstad, Finn Kolesnik and Christian Lahrmann, who are ready to shine in this great competition.
The Team will start by playing the Soloway Knockout Teams, which is one of the flagship tournaments of the NABC. The competition has two stages:
- 2-day Swiss qualifying: All teams will face each other and only the best ones will advance to the next stage.
- 5-day KO: Knockout matches until the final.
Take part in the special tournament: Team Funbridge in Las Vegas!
Don’t wait to sign up and take on Team Funbridge players from November 23 to 25! This tournament is part of the Bridge Points Circuit and it is a great chance to challenge yourself and have a great time. 🥳
Day 1: Departure for Las Vegas
Valentina
Hi all, Valentina here!
It’s the 27th of November and Federica and I are leaving from Bologna to Las Vegas. The first flight takes off at 6.30am local time. We arrived at Amsterdam airport where a 9-hour flight to Minneapolis, Minnesota, was waiting for us. And now the last flight, from Minneapolis to Las Vegas. 15 hours in the air for this 19-hour journey.
It’s been a long day but we’re here, in Las Vegas!
Sofie
We have arrived in Las Vegas! I travelled with my mum, and since a 9-hour time difference is a lot, we thought it would be good to have a few days to adjust. Our flight from Oslo was to Los Angeles, so we took the opportunity to do some sightseeing there. We got to see the Santa Monica Pier, the Walk of Fame and a few other attractions. After a day and a half in Los Angeles we rented a car and drove to Las Vegas. The only problem was that the rest of America seemed to be doing the same thing. Unfortunately, not because they are all playing the nationals, but because it’s Thanksgiving weekend, and a lot of people are travelling to be with their family. So, the trip that was supposed to take 4 hours took us about 8. But we got here safely and are now off to see the Las Vegas Strip before we start playing tomorrow.
Margaux
I left Lille very early this morning before making two changes, one in Paris and the other in Amsterdam. The journey from Amsterdam to Las Vegas went surprisingly quickly, and I watched two Disney films and four romantic comedies. Glad to have arrived after a 24-hour day!
Day 2: Olivia starts well in the Soloway Cup!
Here we go in the Soloway Cup
We are playing in the Westgate Resort and Casino, one of Las Vegas’s many casinos, where there are also shops and restaurants, plus three large rooms suitable for bridge.
Today, we played 6 matches of 7 boards apiece, and only the first of these smiled on us – against our friends Sibrand and Stefan. This was followed by a string of losses punctuated with just one win by 2 IMPs. The two sisters are playing together whereas I am playing with Sofie.
So far, it’s Olivia who is the best-placed among Team Funbridge, currently riding high in 5th place! She is in a quartet alongside Brent Xiao, Richard Jeng and Amber Lin.
With us there are also Léo, Christian and Nicolai who are playing with Jérôme Rombaut, Roy Welland and Sabine Auken, constituting also an excellent team.
For the following competitions we shall also have Finn and Andrea with us. 😊
Partnered by Sofie, I played a rather amusing contract of 4♥. Sofie laid the dummy out with 65432 in the trump suit, grumbling that she might have been better off playing poker next door. I showed her my trumps – KQJT9! Indeed we may well have had a better score on the slot machines in the area down the corridor.
So far, the competition is very pleasant and convivial although the results are not what we are hoping for – we shall need to sharpen up tomorrow!
Day 3 : a nice day
A jolly squeeze and endplay!
Sofie sitting North and Margaux sitting South
- West leads ♦️AK, followed by a third diamond which I take in hand.
- I played my singleton spade to the 9 taken by East with the king.
- East switched to hearts with the jack. I played low from hand, as did West, and took the trick with dummy’s ace.
- Now I played the queen of spades, East rose with the ace and I ruffed in hand. This established my jack as the eighth trick.
- I then played two rounds of trumps and West, in order to guard the spades, discarded a heart.
At this stage I played a small heart from hand taken by West with the king, setting up my queen for the ninth trick.
A stroke of luck
In the pass-out seat on one board, I was really at a loss as to what I should bid with these cards:
In the end, I bid 4♣️, showing five hearts and five clubs and we were able to make 4♥️ with the following in dummy:
A super grand slam related by Valentina
Valentina’s hand
Federica’s hand
Here’s the auction (just our bids):
1♣️ (Fede)
2♦️ (Me): weak with one major suit OR both majors at least as a proposition.
2♠️ (Fede): proposition in ♥️.
2NT (Me): 5-5 in the majors, game-forcing.
3♦️ (Fede): control in ♦️.
5♣️ (Me): Exclusion Blackwood.
5♥️ (Fede): 2 key cards (with the ace of ♥️).
With all this information, announcing the excellent contract of 7♥️ was easy.
Day 4 : Board-a-Match Teams kicks off
Having been eliminated from the Soloway Knockout Teams, we got up and running in the consolation event today: the Board-a-Match (BAM) Teams. We decided to switch up our pairings, with Sofie playing with Valentina, and Federica partnering Margaux.
All the other members of Team Funbridge are playing in the BAM except for Léo, Christian and Nicolai, who are through to the next stage of the Soloway Knockouts. Good luck to them!
A fun hand from Federica
I was holding:
Vulnerable against non-vulnerable. After a 1♣ opening on my right, I opted to overcall 1NT, as I am not a fan of doubling in such cases with a doubleton in hearts.
The bidding continued with a double from LHO and two passes back to me. I made an SOS redouble and everyone passed. I began to get a little nervous, but Margaux looked confident.
After a small heart was led, dummy was revealed:
Not bad, but not enough to make the contract a sure thing.
RHO won with the queen of hearts and continued with the king, everyone following small. Next came a club switch. I put up the ace and played the king of spades. RHO took the ace and returned another club. I went up with the king, felling the jack. I now knew that LHO had five hearts and two clubs.
Then I played a spade to the queen, only for RHO to discard. I was furious at myself for having (twice!) misguessed the spades, which left me needing to get the diamonds right. After cashing the ace, I ran the jack… and, with both opponents following low, it held! Phew.
I was now home and dry. I played two more rounds of diamonds, ending in dummy. After seeing two hearts discarded on my left, I exited with a heart, endplaying LHO, who was forced to give me an extra spade trick.
+1560 meant we won the board.
Still, it’s a shame that a score that big came in BAM format!!!
Finn is currently faring the best in the competition out of all of us, as he currently sits 5th in the standings 😊
Day 5 : Results for Team Funbridge after 4 days in Las Vegas!
Day 6 : A dispatch from Margaux as the Blue Ribbon Pairs begins
Today, the ball got rolling in another major NABC event: the Blue Ribbon Pairs.
Federica and Valentina have gone home, Sofie is playing with her mum in the Women’s Pairs (they are currently leading!) and I am playing with a new partner, Bob Yves. Léo is partnering his dad in the Blue Ribbon Pairs, with Team Funbridge also represented by Finn and the Christian-Nicolai pairing.
Christian, Nicolai’s partner
A bidding dilemma
I picked up the following hand:
Bob opened 1♥️, I responded 1♠️ and he rebid 2♣, showing a limited two-suiter. I now knew that we wanted to end up in clubs, hearts or no trumps. 5♣ seemed too big a leap and I was afraid to go for 3NT in case my partner had a short suit headed by the ace or king, as that could have meant losing control of the hand very quickly.
I therefore decided to bid 4♥️, but unfortunately, we would have made more tricks in no trumps, as Bob held the following:
The heart finesse worked and I’m still not sure what I should have done. The answer could also be different in pairs versus in teams, where the focus is on reaching the safest game.
Nicolai, Christian and the Rombauts made it through to the next stage and will thus continue in the tournament tomorrow.
Day 7 : Sofie and her mother – a winning team in the Women’s Pairs!
Following the departure of Federica and Valentina, Sofie teamed up with her mother – her number one fan – for the Las Vegas Women’s Pairs event. And the partnership functioned extremely well, as they were on top after each of the four sessions!
At the halfway stage, Sofie explains: “The event takes place over two days and I am playing with my mother. The first day is devoted to qualification for the finals. We started very well, scoring 64.22% in the first session, placing us in second place overall. The second session started with a few hands in which we had the feeling that whatever we decided would be the wrong choice. If we announced a game contract, the suits were always badly split, and if we played a part score, game was always on. Things got progressively better and we managed to score 55% in the afternoon session which meant we were qualified for the finals.
So today we are playing those finals and we are hoping decision making will improve. In the same tournament last year in Chicago I won the qualifying round and was in the lead halfway through the finals – but then things turned sour. So this time, we’re going for gold.”
So far, so good – our favourite mother-daughter team has achieved its first objective!
Day 8: Sofie and Margaux start in the Mixed Pairs event, plus sight-seeing in Las Vegas
Today, Sofie and I are playing in the Mixed Pairs, each with our own chosen partner. The event is played over two days.
With my partner, twice running we were confronted with the same dilemma about what to bid when holding a two-suiter hand opposite a take-out double. The first time it was like this:
My partner had 4 diamonds and 4 hearts.
And the second sequence was as follows where, this time, it was I who opened with 1NT:
I had 4 clubs and 4 hearts.
In such cases, the worst thing is to choose one suit and hope for the best. In these circumstances, the conventional bid of 2NT comes into play. It does not show a desire to play such a contract (with plenty of points and two spade stoppers, one would pass) but rather it asks partner to choose between two suits. And the 2NT bid is appropriate in both these particular auctions. In the first auction if, in response to partner’s 2NT, I reply 3♣ announcing my four-card suit, partner could rebid 3♦️ showing a diamond-heart two-suiter.
In the second case, I bid 2NT and partner bid 3♣ (he had five clubs and four hearts in this hand) and I passed. Sometimes one does not end up with the best fit but we can at least be certain of having one!
In the evening, I explored the town a little, particularly the Fountains of Bellaggio and the mock-up of Paris.
Jour 10 : The penultimate day!
Most of the Team Funbridge members here in Las Vegas played in the Mixed Teams event.
Unfortunately, with Sofie and my partner, we failed to qualify for the final stages of the competition tomorrow, but we certainly enjoyed being here with all the other young players.
Here’s an amusing hand played by Anam Tebha, a future Funbridge ambassador, who was playing in the same event as us:
I made game in 3NT in a somewhat bizarre way here:
The dummy:
My hand:
The auction went 1♣️ (1♠️) 3NT (end).
They led the jack of spades followed by a small spade from the dummy and another low card on my right, which I won in hand with the queen.
I decided to start with a small diamond to the jack – taken by the queen. They continued with a spade, which I took with the ten before continuing with another diamond, noticing the discard of a small club on my left. East won with the ace and played another spade.
On the ace of diamonds and, now, on my ace of spades, West discarded two clubs.
Thus I now cashed the ace of clubs, with my RHO discarding a spade.
I then played a small club to my jack, West continuing with another club.
At this stage, my RHO was squeezed inextricably and discarded his last spade, enabling me to cash my 3! 🤣
East’s hand at the start was six spades headed by the king, queen-third in hearts, AQ9x in diamonds and a void in clubs. I was, thus, able to make 10 tricks.
Of course, at the other table, they simply played the jack of clubs which won and claimed much quicker.
I should have played the jack of clubs as they did because that is only a bad decision with a singleton queen with East.
But, after that error, the recovery was decidedly amusing!
Day 11: Last day, speedball!
Today, Sofie and I are playing in the Fast Pairs, each with our own chosen partner. Instead of 16 minutes per round, we only have 10 minutes to play two boards: finally a good excuse not to spend time planning your play!
A great bid by partner:
He was holding:
He judiciously opted to redouble, showing a maximum hand and interest in penalising the opposition. That allowed me to double the subsequent 2♥️ with ace-king to five spades and three hearts headed by the ace. It went down two for +300.
The verdict on my first North American Bridge Championships: a fantastic experience, with an amazing atmosphere at the table thanks to lovely opponents and, of course, top partners! 😊 Sofie, Federica, Valentina and Bob, thank you all!
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