Interesting hand from the Buffett Cup

This hand from the first segment of the Buffett Cup, played this morning, interested me. This auction was repeated several times, and, of course, all declarers made at least six. The West hand, in my opinion, is way too good for a 4S call here.

Why preempt when you have such an immense hand?

Why preempt when you have spades?

Couldn't you have a hand more like AQxxxxx x x Qxxx?

Does the board-a-match scoring affect your thinking on this hand?

Several excellent players made this decision, so I may well be in the wrong here. Would you bid 4S on this? Why?

Buffett Cup

The biennial Buffett Cup starts today in Louisville, KY. This is a 'challenge match' much like golf's Ryder Cup, which starts on Friday, also in Louisville. Europe and the USA have each sent six pairs to battle in a grueling (but friendly) set of matches. Scoring is done by board-a-match (hence the 'grueling'). There are three segments to the challenge match -- Pairs, Teams, and Individual.

The first Buffett Cup was played in Dublin, Ireland in 2006. The USA team was victorious. Europe led after the Pairs and Teams competitions, but in the Individual the Americans pulled out a last-minute win.

Every hand of this event will be broadcast on Bridge Base Online. Here's the schedule of the broadcasts.

This year's teams:

Europe:

Sabine Auken and Marion Michielsen

Michel and Thomas Bessis

Boye Brogeland and Espen Lindqvist

Tom Hanlon and Hugh McGann

Tor Helness and Jan Peter Svendsen

Michal Kwiecien and Jacek Pszczola

USA:

Bob Hamman and Zia Mahmood

Geoff Hampson and Dick Freeman

Alan Sontag and David Berkowitz

Tobi Sokolow and Janice Seamon-Molson

Howard Weinstein and Steve Garner

Roy Welland and Bjorn Fallenius

Happy kibitzing!