January 2027, the capital of country F, Xiangmo City
Loew's bridge partner is Katz. Both of them are agents of the Dingtian Organization in Chicago and the right-hand man of Shamron II.
Loew started out as an intelligence analyst, and later switched to field service, where he was in charge of action teams in various locations.
Ketz is an all-around technical genius, familiar with computer network construction, information communications, explosive proportions and explosive devices, and Ketz also has a very special experience and identity.
Large-scale formal bridge games are usually played in a duplex format with teams of four.
In order to make the competition fair, a single or double round-robin competition system is adopted, which is divided into open and closed rooms. Each round adopts the "Swiss shift system".
For gatherings of friends, or small competitions organized by bridge clubs for relatively unfamiliar players, since it is difficult to form a team of four people, a two-person team is often used, that is, a doubles competition.
During the doubles match, the teams are divided into several teams sitting in the north-south direction and several teams sitting in the east-west direction. The two people sitting in the north-south direction do not move, and the two people sitting in the east-west direction rotate in turn according to the table number.
In each round, for example, there are 16 decks of cards, a north-south team plays one or four decks of cards with 16 east-west teams (or four of them).
After the round, the 16 northern and southern teams each compared the specially converted scores of each deck of cards to determine the winner.
The east-west teams cannot be compared with the north-south teams, but only with those in the same direction.
The bridge doubles match that Loew and Katz participated in was an open competition. You can register by paying a fee. In theory, the players on the team did not know each other.
With Loew sitting in the north and Katz in the south, the game progressed smoothly. The tacit understanding between the two made their cooperation smooth and smooth over the years.
On the 7th deck of cards, Katz took the banker position and through squeezing the cards, expertly completed the three-no-contract contract.
The four players each spread their cards in front of them, conducted a brief review as a courtesy, and then each inserted the cards into the corresponding positions in the card box.
The other tables did play a little slower, with Love and Katz looking relaxed as they waited for the next group of things to come around.
Alfonso and his partner came over and sat at Loew's table, and the four of them nodded politely to each other.
People in the noisy competition hall could not tell that Alfonso and his two opponents were friends who had known each other for many years, let alone suspect that they were preparing to meet.
The four players draw their own cards from the card box according to their positions. This deck of cards has east and west, and south opens. Kezi opened with a red heart, and West doubled.
Loew sorted out the cards in his hand, including a single spade, K and two hearts, AK and seven diamonds, and A and three clubs.
The bidding system of Loew and Katz is natural bidding plus conventional bidding.
Loew held a 14-point high card and two Aces. His partner actually opened the bidding first. Because it was a game with no game, his partner may adopt a sacrificial bidding strategy. It is difficult to know the strength of his partner based on the first round of bidding.
For a one-heart opening bid with no game versus a game, the hand strength range is above 8 points and 5 hearts.
Love's hand was too strong and he had to use a forcing bid. At this time, he bid two diamonds and a new suit, which was a forcing bid.
But Loew thinks about his partner. He has seven diamonds, and his partner's diamonds should be very short. If North does not bid, his partner must bid, and he can only bid two hearts, three hearts, and three diamonds.
Two hearts and three diamonds both show weakness. Three hearts means that the partner has more than ten points and six hearts or more, but what if the partner has more than thirteen points and only five hearts.
He will also jump to bid three hearts. After Loew bids and enters the game, there is a risk of losing the hand.
From the perspective of the owner on the left, if his spades cooperate and he bids two more spades, or even a higher-level spade, it will be more difficult for Ketz to bid later.
At this time, Love's two hearts, three hearts, and four hearts are not forced bids, so they cannot be bid. Love took out the two blue XXs from the bidding card box and placed them on the bidding tray.
His bid was for a double.
East raised one spade, and it was Kez's turn to raise two hearts.
Loew analyzes his partner's bidding. If his partner has a weak hand, he should not bid. Loew still has a chance to bid, so his partner must have a hand strength of more than ten points.
If partner only has five hearts, even if the heart point is strong enough, he should choose to check in this round, and then choose to delay the strong call after Loew calls.
Based on years of trust, Loew is convinced that his partner has a stronger heart on the major suit, with more than six cards. The spade is shorter and has no power, and the heart's power should be AQ or more than six cards.
Then he has at least four remaining points spread over the minor suit, and the worst outcome is a single diamond J and QJ three or four clubs.
Even so, with West's double bid, the King of Clubs should be able to be hit. If this is not the case, if the partner has the King of Clubs, he has a good chance of achieving a mini-slam under normal card distribution.
After Kez's two hearts, Alfonso, who was sitting west, called two spades, and it was Loew's turn again.
Through the bidding of East and West, Loew further confirmed that East and West did not have big cards on the hearts, because they only had sixteen points at most, and they had a game, so if their points were not concentrated on spades and minor suits, On, you will lose a lot of points after being doubled.
Loew had obtained the information he wanted through analysis, and saw that the probability of making this deck of six hearts or six diamonds was very high.
The scoring rules for doubles matches are different from those for multiplex matches. Six hearts is the highest score.
Hearts, jointly have found eight cards, and have AKQ.
In this round of bidding, if Loew does not directly bid a small slam, then his bid must be a forcing bid.
The forcing bid includes four trumps. If you ask your partner about the Ace, Loew already knows the answer. His partner only has one Ace of Hearts. If you ask and your partner answers, your opponent will know clearly that both the minor Aces are holding the hand. My husband has it, so I can’t ask A.
There is also a forcing bid of three diamonds. The new suit always forces a bid. The partner's bid must be four hearts. If Ketz thinks that the heart AQ in his hand is very valuable, according to Loew's two forced bids , may also be called the Four No Generals, and ask Loew's A, which Loew does not want to see.
After Alfonso's call of two spades, Loew made an earth-shattering direct call of six hearts.
Alfonso first attacked the ace of spades, and dummy Loew spread his cards. When Alfonso changed to attack the club, dealer Katz used K to eat and sleep.
Adjusting the two rounds will stop on the dummy hand, and find that Dong still has J and two hearts, but because he has AQ10 and six hearts, Q and two diamonds, K and two clubs and three spades.
The contract is made by flying the trump card with the diamond.
Katz cashed in the diamond and found that when East followed up with the second diamond, since the dummy hand now had the Ace of Clubs as a bridge for his return, he spread his cards on the table and announced that the contract was made.
Alfonso and his companions also spread the cards gentlemanly. Loew picked up the club K on the table and said: "This card is very crucial, otherwise the dummy hand will have no bridge."
The opponent agreed. Only Alfonso understood what Loew meant. The K represented 13 points and the club was the fourth suit.
Meet at a secret location in District 4 tomorrow afternoon at 13:00.
The next day, while pouring coffee for his comrades who had come from afar, Alfonso asked: "Did the boss send you here?"
"The boss said that last time you mentioned the idea of making an explosive device to blow up the caves of the Eternal Khanate. He asked me to ask if there is any progress?" Loew took a sip of coffee and continued:
"The boss also said that you have traveled too frequently in recent months, so he asked us to go to Xiangmo City to find you."
"There is great progress. The Jade Khanate couple has made it clear to me their intention to purchase environmental equipment, as well as specific data index requirements. Of course, they are doing so in the name of a water-retaining agent factory." Alfonso continued with a mysterious smile:
"As an expert, I recommended to them a solution for precise environmental air control, which involves evacuating all the air in a closed space and then replenishing different air components according to the precise proportions required by the environment. Especially oxygen, all air is evacuated. Back in the storage tank, when no one enters the enclosed space, the environment is oxygen-free. Before someone enters, oxygen is released in proportion."
Loew didn't seem to fully understand, and said: "It's better to ask Katz to help you with ideas for making explosive devices. The boss asked me to bring him here to do this."
Katz smiled and said to Loew: "It seems that I am not needed. Mr. Alfonso has already told us about his explosive device and even the explosive itself."
Loew raised his head in surprise and looked at his two smiling companions, and asked: "Explosives? What explosives?"
Alfonso stretched out his right hand and gave Kezi a high-five. The two of them shouted cheerfully almost at the same time:
"oxygen!"
