Bridge on the Internet with M@nkeytail
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If anyone stills has doubts about it: Internet is the ultimate proof that the 24-hour economy really exists. Every second of the day and night, data flies around the world. Not a single locality is safe. Nowadays, Indians send their smoke signals to Indonesia by notebook, which is why one can now cut the stuff with a knife down there.

A little further down the road, Pygmees in New Guinea order plastic penis tubes and growth hormones by computer from an American manufacturer. The Central African Republic declares war on Greenland by digital tom-tom on account of the shipped igloos having melted. And in the meantime, thousands of game fanatics play chess and bridge to the point of getting RSI..... [repetitive stress injury; or: mouse arm, in Dutch - ed.]

Off late, commerce has taken hold of OKBridge as well. Every other week, these days, Goldman-Soloway play a match against pair of challengers, and it's dollars to doughnuts they don't do it for free. For a mere $ 50 an hour one can engage the services of Gandhi2, pseudonym of the American pro Mark Lair. The other day I watched him in action playing with some client. I was one of the 23 kibitzers and was fortunate in being regaled to one of my favorite coups. Try the opening lead as East after this auction:

S/EW
West   1  Pass  Pass	North   2  3NT	East   3  Pass	South   1  Pass  Pass

-	K 2  K 10  K 10 8 2   K 10 9 6 5	-
A 10 9 8 6 5  J  J 9 5 3  A 8	N E         W S	4 3  A 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 6  Q 3
-	Q J 7  Q 2  A Q 7 4  J 7 4 2	-

While no professional, trpl2u is a remarkable appearance indeed on OKBridge; 'triple double u'. As the phonetics suggest, someone with the intials W.W.W., which is particularly apt for a player on the World Wide Web. The other day I had the honor of giving this ever-opportunistic character (I know him personally) 'the best 45 minutes of his life.' As an opponent, mind you. I had been asked to partner Moshe 'IMP Machine' Lavi, an Israeli coffeehouse player of questionable reputation, against trpl2u and his partner, whose name is not relevant here. Before too long we had accumulated a substantial minus score; WWW was playing with transparent cards and was bidding without any restraint whatsoever. As usual I was being dealt nothing but balanced five-counts. After half an hour, and having sunk into a deep depression, I suddenly awoke from the bad dream as I picked up this monster:  -  A 10 9 8 6  A Q J 10 7 6 4 2  -

As South, and being vulnerable, I opened this red gallery with 1. WWW overcalled (not vul) with 2, and Moshe - so far not having been caught having his bid - trotted out a negative double. Could it be true? A 5-4 heart fit... I decided to take it at face value, and thought it best - after RHO's expected 4 - to blast 7 rightaway, in the expectation that this uncontrolled leap would shut up the opposition, but without any certainty about the outcome of that contract. A vain expectation! One second later the bidding box reappeared containing 7 by LHO and Double from Moshe.
Annoyed at never having had a crack at doubling 7, RHO tabled his flat 18-count. A few seconds later he was glad for not having barked out a few juicy explatives; although 7 went two down, 7 was against the wall, and so the save resulted in another barrelful of imps. The whole deal:
 
 

-	J 4 3  K Q 7 2  9 3  J 10 6 4	-
Q 10 9 6 5 2  3  5  Q 9 7 3 2	N  E       W  S	A K 8 7  J 5 4  K 8  A K 8 5
-	-  A 10 9 8 6  A Q J 10 7 6 4 2  -

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On opening lead Moshe had found my void in clubs, but even without that WWW would, no doubt, have handled the clubs correctly. Too late I realized that my bid of 7 had been a serious violation of the Piet van Besouw [Dutch ex-international - ed.] theory. Holding a hand like mine - and certainly vul against not - 5 should suffice following 4. Should the opponents bid again, you bid one more, and if necessary, one more again. If they let you play in 5 it will be a good save against 7 doubled, two down. An additional advantage is that the opponents must be made of stern stuff  indeed in order to bid 7 over 7.