Observation of Mr. Balicki/Mr. Zmudzinski Leads from EBTC 2014

This is an observation of 24 boards from EBTC 2014 where Mr. Balicki is on lead and Mr. Balicki/Mr. Zmudzinski have not bid. See here for the list of boards where Mr. Zmudzinski is on lead. The work is based on the original crowd sourced data of the EBTC videos, therefore the Poland-Netherlands match, which is incorrectly labeled as "2014 ETBC Poland-Netherlands" on Youtube.com is not included.

The board was observed from the time that the screen was opened to the end of trick 1/before trick 2.

The following is noted:

First the table, then the details, then the summary.

# LIN # Country Board # Contract Lead (HH:MM:SS) Seconds/fingers #fingers Hand Lead
1 34174 Denmark 24 3NT 1:30:30 6, more? 4 (5?), more? 3:KQ43:9742:8642 D2
2 34185 Israel 21 4S 42:00 7:AJ92:J754:T654 D4
3 34185 Israel 29 3NT 1:59:02 872:Q76:65:JT987 CJ
4 34209 Turkey 18 1NT 17:39 Q96:T6:74:AKQJT3 CT
5 34209 Turkey 24 7S 57:16 9:T6542:K5:T8653 D5
6 34219 Romania 21 6H 36:26 55 4 642:J5:QT85:Q976 HJ
7 34281 Latvia 5 3C 40:39 17 4 742:K52:Q974:QJ5 CQ
8 34281 Latvia 7 4S 58:20 23 5 J4:KJT43:A765:Q4 DA
9 34281 Latvia 11 1NT 85:51 T96:AJ86:KT6:KT3 S9
10 34300 Germany 18 3NT 33:08 K743:QJ86:A75:Q4 HQ
11 34300 Germany 19 1NT 38:05 73:QT92:AJ7:K987 HT
12 34300 Germany 28 4S 1:35:44 3:AK75:J9873:T52 HA
13 34311 Norway 17 1NT 10:05 K72:JT7:AK83:932 DA
14 34311 Norway 21 1NT 42:04 A952:Q872:98:976 H2
15 34316 Russia 8 4H 55:46 10,25 5,5 K6:4:QJ972:J9832 DQ
16 34316 Russia 9 2C 1:00:45 J:Q852:KJT632:K6 H2
17 34316 Russia 14 3NT 1:36:26 J97642:93:852:95 S6
18 34316 Russia 15 3NT 1:42:01 24 4 (or 5?) QT:Q943:J92:7652 H3
19 34329 Monaco 13 3NT 1:34:00 52:AQ64:Q842:Q96 H4
20 34329 Monaco 15 4S 1:41:20 11 5 J2:AJ4:JT542:543 DJ
21 34329 Monaco 16 3NT 1:44:40 27 5 (4?) JT2:QJ96:K643:K9 SJ
22 34338 Estonia 19 ? 23:51 872:T942:QJ5:JT7
23 34338 Estonia 24 4S 57:07 3:AJ643:962:QJ53 D6
24 34338 Estonia 27 4S 1:11:07 T95:KQ8642:A3:53 HK

Board 1

6 seconds after the lead, Mr. Balicki makes a signal. It is not clear from the camera angle if this is a 4 finger, or 5 finger signal. Because of the angle of Mr. Balicki's hand it is noted as a 4 finger signal. Mr. Balicki then leans down, scratches his chin, and appears to repeat the signal, but his body is blocking the view from the camera.

Mr. Balicki's hand is 3:KQ43:9742:8642.

Board 1

Board 2

No signal.

Board 3

No signal. The start of the first trick is interrupted with a director call.

Board 4

No signal.

Board 5

No signal.

Board 6

While declarer is thinking about trick 2, Mr. Balicki places 4 fingers of his right hand on his left arm. This signal has been noticed elsewhere and typically corresponds to a 4 card suit.

Mr. Balicki's hand is 642:J5:QT85:Q976.

Board 6

Board 7

17 seconds after the screen is up, Mr. Balicki makes a 4 finger signal. This occurs just after Mr. Balicki scratches his right chest with his left hand.

Mr. Balicki's hand is 742:K52:Q974:QJ5.

Board 7

Board 8

23 seconds after the screen is up, Mr. Balicki makes a 5 finger signal after putting his head in his left hand. After he makes the signal, Mr. Balicki scratches a lot, then moves some cards in dummy, and potentially makes a 4 finger signal when putting his hand over his led card. This latter is subject to discretion and is noted here but not in the table above.

Mr. Balicki's hand is J4:KJT43:A765:Q4.

Board 8

Board 9

No signal.

Board 10

No signal.

Board 11

No signal.

Board 12

No signal.

Board 13

No signal.

Board 14

No signal.

Board 15

10 seconds after the screen is up, Mr. Balicki makes a 5 finger signal. Mr. Balicki then puts his head on his right hand, scratches his right ear, then makes another 5 finger signal. Mr. Balicki has two five card suits. Mr. Balicki repeats the 5 finger signal while Mr. Zmudzinski is trying to decide if he should win trick 1 or not (overtake the QD lead with his AKx).

Mr. Balicki's hand is K6:4:QJ972:J9832.

First signal:

Board 15

Second signal:

Board 15

Board 16

No signal.

An unusual hand arrangement is noted about 27 seconds after the screen goes up (fists on table, outstretched thumbs touching). Mr. Balicki's hand is J:Q852:KJT632:K6.

Board 17

No signal.

Board 18

24 seconds after the screen is up, Mr. Balicki clearly makes a 4 or 5 finger signal. It is not possible to see if the thumb is extended or not. Based on other examples, it appears to be a 4 finger signal so is recorded as such.

Mr. Balicki's hand is QT:Q943:J92:7652.

Board 18

Board 19

No signal.

Board 20

11 seconds after the screen is up, Mr. Balicki makes a 5 finger signal.

Mr. Balicki's hand is J2:AJ4:JT542:543.

Board 20

Board 21

26 seconds after the screen is up, Mr. Balicki makes what appears a 5 finger signal. It is clearly a signal, the position of the thumb is difficult to determine if this is a 4 finger or a 5 finger signal. The other 5 finger signals have a more extended thumb, the other 4 fingers have the thumb closer to the palm of the hand. This signal is somewhere in between. It is noted as a 5 card signal as this was the original observation (without looking at the hand). It is possible because of the angle that Mr. Zmudzinski is viewing that this may be seen as a 4 finger signal as the thumb may be hidden. If a 5 card signal, this would be a false positive.

Mr. Balicki's hand is JT2:QJ96:K643:K9.

Board 21

Board 22

No signal.

Board 23

No signal.

Board 24

No signal.

Updates

None.

Comments/Criticisms

None.

Summary

There are 24 boards.

The correlation with showing 4 or 5 fingers in the right hand and having a 4 or 5 card suit is very strong. There are 8 boards with a 4/5 finger signal. There is one possible false positive (board 21). The one time where Mr. Balicki repeatedly makes a 5 finger signal during trick one is when he has two five card suits (board 15).

Copyright © October 31, 2015 Hammond Software.