A TRUE ( BUT TRULY UNBELIEVABLE ) BRIDGE STORY....( By Bridgemeister Gibson ) Well, there I was paired up with quite an experienced player in a first round team of 4 match in the Nicko. Agreeing to play his rather bizarre system, we were not achieving much in the way of good results, but the boys on the other table were keeping us in with a chance. Remarkably after 24 boards the match was tied, and a 3 board play-off was called for. Once again. my partner and I did nothing other than provide our opponents with a couple of gifts, ensuring they went home relieved and happy. Yet, victory could have so easily been ours but for one truly remarkable board, where nothing quite like it has ever taken place.....anywhere .......such was the inflexibility and insanity of his bidding system. No other player past or present could have bid in such a way. We were red against green, and my LHO opens one spade. My partner is staring at AJ9864....Q4....A.....KQ85....and quite rightly has to pass under his system rules. Nevertheless, this is a whopper of a hand, and using Zar valuation it adds up to a marvellous 36 zars ( 21+10+5 ), which only requires a modest 16 zars in my hand to be in game. After a pass from my RHO. I come in with a vulnerable 2 heart overcall. Lo and behold, LHO bids 2 spades.....which again my partner passes !!! His reluctance to double apparently was done for two reasons: (i) it might be construed as a take-out into the other two suits, which he didn't have, and (ii) he half expected me to reopen with a double which he would then convert to penalties. Now the bidding was back to me, and with one last effort to buy the contract I bid 3 clubs. My LHO opponent passed.......and it was over to partner to bid (a) 3NT making plus 2, (b) 4H making plus 2, or (c) 5C making plus1. So what bidding card did he plonk on the table?...... No need to guess...it was a PASS. How he could do this.....when holding a doubleton in my first bid suit, solid support in clubs, first round controls in the other two suits, not to mention seeing me bid to the 3 level vulnerable all on my own......I do not know. I actually held: (void)....A109765.....K74.....A1096, which added up to 32 zars ( 16 +10+6 ). This gave us a combined total of 62 which says slam is on.

So I very much doubt in the history of bridge whether anyone has ever passed a 16 HCP hand 3 times during an auction, when partner has bid on his own up to the 3 level vulnerable.

Matches are won and lost on such hands where unexplicable aberrations take place, and our plus 170 was poor comfort when our partners came back with minus 920 on their scorecard. That board in particular denied us glory alright, because our catastrophe could so easily have been avoided. However, if partner had elected to play a sensible system, or at least use his chosen zar hand valuation method correctly, there wouldn't have been this story to tell. So if there's anybody out there with a similar tale of unbelievable woe, please post a comment. It may help me to feel better.