In Bridge, United States Wins Buffet Cup The fourth Buffett Cup was played in Omaha from Monday to Thursday. Fashioned after the Ryder Cup in golf, it featured the following teams: Europe: Sally Brock and Nicola Smith (England); Michel and Thomas Bessis (father and son, from France); Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio Nunes (Monaco); Paul Hackett (England) and Tom Hanlon (Ireland); Kalin Karaivanov and Rumen Trendafilov (Bulgaria); and Ricco van Prooijen and Louk Verhees (Netherlands). United States: Jill Levin and Jenny Wolpert; David Berkowitz and Alan Sontag; Curtis Cheek and Marc Jacobus; Joe Grue and Brad Moss; Bob Hamman and Justin Lall; and John Hurd and Joel Wooldridge. Initially, there were to be three sections: teams, pairs and individual. But at the last minute an extra set of seven-board team matches was added, with 12 points at stake. In the end this made no difference, since those points were divided 6 to 6. Europe rebounded in the teams, taking it by 46 to 26. However, United States dominated the individual, taking it by 39 to 27, to squeak home by 101 to 97. The United States now leads by three matches to one. In the individual, the scores at two tables were compared using win-tie-loss scoring. Why did the United States do so well in the individual? Surely because its team is more homogeneous. The players know one another's styles very well. Europeans methods vary more widely. As an example, look at the diagramed deal. That was a common auction, although two Easts (van Prooijen and Sontag) overcalled three hearts. This dissuaded their partners (Smith and Lall) from doubling five clubs. Five clubs can be defeated by two tricks. West takes his aces, leads the diamond six to his partner's king, and East plays a third diamond to promote West's club queen as a trick. Lall (West) led the diamond ace, then failed to cash the heart ace, no doubt worried that Sontag (East) had seven hearts for his three-heart overcall. Lall immediately played a second diamond. When East won and led another diamond, Thomas Bessis (South) discarded his heart loser. West ruffed for down one. At the table with which this result was compared, Michel Bessis (West) led the heart ace, under which Nunes (East) played the three. This was presumably intended as a suit-preference signal for diamonds. But West seems to have assumed it was a count signal, showing an odd number of hearts. So, deciding there was no need to attack diamonds, West continued with a second heart. Then, though, Wolpert (South) discarded a diamond loser on the heart king, drew trumps and claimed, conceding only one heart and one diamond. That was a win for the United States, with plus 50 and plus 550. Smith-van Prooijen and Jacobus-Levin defended perfectly, but because Jacobus had doubled, the United States won the board for plus 300, versus minus 100. Berkowitz (West) and Hurd (East) took five clubs doubled down two. At the last table Trendafilov (East) bid five hearts over five clubs. Cheek (South) doubled, led the spade king, then cashed the club king. Grue (North) had the heart king to come for down one. Again, the United States won the board for plus 300 and plus 200.