Luc Bellicaud, the developer behind Lia and Coach Luc, spent part of his July away from the code. He was in Riga, Latvia, representing France in the U31 category at the European Youth Teams Championships.
At 27, Luc is a familiar face in the U31 field, and he already holds its biggest prize: a world title, won in 2023.
Fifteen countries took part, playing a double round robin. After seven days of almost non-stop bridge, France finished on top, 14 victory points clear of runners-up Poland.
Huge congratulations to the French team: Luc partnering Romaric Guth, with teammates Arthur Boulin and Théo Guillemin, Maxence Fragola and Nao Tabata, captained by Lionel Sebbane.
Once he was back home, Luc sat down and wrote up some of the deals. It turns out his opponents spent a good part of the week trying to push him and Romaric around with preempts. Here’s his account.
Seven problems under preemptive fire
by Luc Bellicaud
In July I was in Riga for the European Youth Championships, representing France in the U31 event with my regular partner Romaric Guth, as I had already done twice before.
One theme showed up quickly: our opponents preempted us, often, high, and rarely at a convenient moment. Here are seven of those deals, where we had to decide fast and without a safety net. Each time, take a moment to choose your call before reading ours, and what I think of it now, in the cold light of day.
Deal 1: Bid seven over Blackwood?
You are vulnerable, the opponents are not. You open 1 with:
Your Latvian left-hand opponent overcalls 3 and partner cue-bids 4, showing a game-forcing hand with spade support. Your right-hand opponent, unsurprisingly, takes the preempt up to 5.
You are in a forcing pass situation, of course. What do you bid?
My first thought was 5, but that natural bid doesn’t really help partner value his cards: two diamond honors opposite will get him excited and steer us into a poor slam. 5 felt a bit closer to my hand, but not strong enough either, since slam can be very easy opposite good cards like Axxx Kxxx Ax Jxx.
So I passed, without much conviction, planning to bid 5 over a double from partner and turn it into a slam try.
Romaric then made a call I hadn’t seen coming at all: 5NT, which for us is Blackwood.
Do you answer quietly with 6, or jump to 7 to show undisclosed extras?
The jump felt a bit much to me. I can go down in seven opposite a very strong hand with three diamonds, such as Axxxx KJx AKx Ax. Maybe he shouldn’t use Blackwood with that kind of hand, but above all I wanted to answer quickly, so I wouldn’t break tempo and take away partner’s chance to bid again over 6.
Romaric bid the grand with:
His reasoning was that the grand was at worst on the heart finesse, and often cold, since my third heart would frequently go away on a club. I think that was well judged.
The board was flat: our teammates’ opponents also reached 7, unopposed, and half the field found the grand slam.
Deal 2: Burying a six-card suit headed by AKQ?
Same match. Partner opens 1, vulnerable, and this time it’s my screenmate who preempts 3.
I have values, and options:
What do you bid?
The first option is to show spades with 3 (for us, 3 would show diamonds). That’s game forcing between the two of us, but not anymore if fourth hand bids again. The second is to raise partner with a 4 cue-bid, which keeps things simple if the preempt is extended, and doesn’t leave partner thinking I have only two hearts and am just giving preference.
I went for the cue-bid, not exactly proud of burying a six-card suit headed by AKQ. This time the preempt wasn’t extended, and partner made a last train bid of 4.
At that point stopping looked clear to me: the eight-card fit is fragile and the chances of getting into trouble at the five level are far from negligible. Sure, partner will never find a bid with xxx AQJxx Axxx x, but that’s too hard for me!
Curiously, only one pair played 4. Eleven played in hearts, and two of them bid 6 and went down.
Deal 3: Double or pass over the Multi?
Still in the same segment, here is Romaric’s hand:
He faces a Multi 2 opening, green versus green, after my pass in first seat. That limits me to 10 points, unless I have an awful 11. In our system, double shows 13-15 balanced and everything else is natural.
What’s your choice?
Romaric doubled, which worked out badly, since I bid 3 freely over 2. Thinking about it now, the risk is too big and passing is better. Game in notrump will be a stretch at best, and I can always double 2 or 2 later if I’m short with 9-10 points, to find game in the other major.
Deal 4: Bypassing 3NT?
Once again you’re in Romaric’s seat. Partner opens 1 (11+, better minor, or 17-19 balanced) and your Bulgarian opponent, green versus red, preempts 3.
3NT or 4?
Both have their merits, but on the day you had to bid 4 to have any chance of reaching the diamond grand slam. Over 3NT, partner bids 4 and you no longer have a way to use Blackwood for diamonds.
Deal 5: The 8-4!
In third seat, red versus red, I pick up a startling collection:
I considered 5, but with the spades on the side I didn’t think there was any rush. So I opened quietly at the one level… and the auction came back to me after 2 on my left, double from partner, pass on my right. It’s fair to say I didn’t expect that!
What do you do with this 8-4?
It doesn’t make me happy, but the only game that looks makeable to me is 3NT. 5 looks dead on arrival with the AQ probably sitting over me. I could bid 3, of course, but that’s not very ambitious!
After a few surprises (a spade lead to the ace, then a switch to the queen of diamonds), I made 3NT, and picked up about ten IMPs when my teammates defended accurately to beat 5 in the other room.
For the record, the winning move was to pass 2 doubled!
I also learned that week that all Croatians preempt like madmen. I thought it was only some of them!
Deal 6: When the system does the work
On this deal our system let us find 6 very easily, somewhat by accident:
| Romaric | North | Luc | South |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass | 1 | 3 | |
| 3* | Pass | 3 | Pass |
| 4 | Pass | 4NT | Pass |
| … | 6 | All pass |
*3 shows spades.
Over 3, I could show extra length in hearts and then use Blackwood once we had the fit. After a natural 3, it gets a lot more complicated…
Deal 7: 1100 or a double game swing?
Your left-hand opponent opens 4 at favorable vulnerability. Partner passes, so does your right-hand opponent, and it’s up to you:
What’s your call?
An uncomfortable spot: you can just as easily have a double game swing as lose 1100 against nothing by bidding 5.
Romaric tried a rather eccentric double. It has its merits, but I wouldn’t have found it: you’re only happy if partner passes with good defense, which is fairly rare. Most of the time he’ll bid 4, and if he does pass, there’s a good chance he has a nice club fit and 5 is better than 4 doubled.
I was also surprised to see the field split between pass, the majority, and double, a few tables. I expected some 5 bids!
If I find the motivation, I’ll write up the second half of the championship one day! It was a double round robin, so there are plenty more interesting deals to come.
Thank you, Luc, and congratulations again to the whole French team. We’re hoping that motivation turns up soon.
