Every May, the Taiwan national tournament often has to yield to both Mother’s Day and the APBF, which means it always clashes with the Tokyo Invitational. In the past, this made joining Tokyo’s event nearly impossible. But now, as a professional player with a new focus, I finally made it — my first time at the Shibuya Bridge Center!
This neighborhood is packed with department stores and great food — so many restaurants it’s hard to choose. Compared to it, Yotsuya felt like a culinary desert 😝. To make sure our bosses had the smoothest indoor walking routes, I really should’ve done a site visit days in advance 🥲.
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🪶 Team Intro: MoonLeeSoYang Makes Its Debut
This year’s event had 16 teams in total — 3 from Korea, the rest from Japan. The qualifying stage was a 15-round round-robin played across 2 days, 4 rounds per session. Each session came with individual seating cards, and you couldn’t discuss boards with teammates until the whole set of 4 was over — that’s when we’d finally get to see the hands and results.
The big room at the Shibuya Bridge Center (yes, there are smaller ones too 😉)
3 wins, 1 tie, and 4 losses might sound middling, but we always took home at least 6 VPs in a loss — a comfort, since I’d feared bottoming out. Still, we hadn’t faced the top 5 teams yet, so our position was probably not as shiny as it looked 🥲. At least, we were ahead of the other 2 Korean teams — hopefully that gave the bosses some peace of mind 🤣.
My partner had boldly underled from ♥️A to lead ♥️5. I instantly woke up 😳. After the ♥️Q won, I knew my only hope was that partner held something like ♣KQ+♦️A / ♠K+♦️A / ♣KQ+♠K. Either way, the right defense was a ♣ return — there was no way I’d waste that inspired lead.
Thanks to that masterstroke, NS took ♠AK+♥️AQ+ ♣K and a ♣ ruff — 6 tricks! 2♠= became 2♠-1, scoring us 6 precious IMPs. Out of 8 tables, we were the only ones to defeat the contract!
After the sequence, the opponents almost always have an 8+ card fit. If your hand looks like 42xx / 41xx / 3154 / 3145 / 2245 / 2254 or even a void in ♥️, you should seriously consider doubling or bidding 2N to compete.
How much strength is needed? It depends on vulnerability and shape. Favorable: 8+ HCPs might do. Equal or average hands: 10+ HCPs. Unfavorable: tread carefully.
✨Don’t let them steal a 2-level contract when you have the shape to fight!✨
Yang: "Do you like massages? 😄" Qrious: "Of course!" (Who doesn’t? 🤔) Yang: "I booked in-room massage — one for you too!" 💆♀️ Qrious: 😱😱😱 (jaw drops) "Thank you, Your Majesty!" 🥰💖 It was so relaxing that I passed out early and... the journal died on Day 1 🤣
Our opponents on Day 2 included mostly top-ranking teams and another Korean team led by Kelvin. Honestly, I didn’t hold much hope for us to “stay average and qualify” — just praying not to get crushed 🤣.
Surprisingly, we went 3-1 in the morning. We took a small loss against Japan’s seasoned seniors (Rank #2), but scored 16 VPs against Japan’s mixed team (Rank #3) — sweet revenge for the Asahi Cup back in January 😜. Two more big wins against mid-ranked teams — including a near shutout with 19 VPs in a particularly meaningful matchup — brought us up to 135 VPs and 5th place!
After the afternoon matches, our bosses asked for an update. We had 1 win and 2 losses — not as strong as the morning, but still respectable. I delivered the bad news after results came in: “Looks like no time for afternoon tea 😉.”
We ended the qualifying with 7 wins, 1 tie, 7 losses, totaling 160 VPs — 7th overall. That’s 10 VPs over average and far beyond my expectations. Even more impressive — no blowouts all event long. We never earned less than 5-6 VPs in any round!
Thanks to our surprise qualification, we were picked by the top-ranked Japanese Open team in the quarterfinals. We kept pace in the first half, trailing just 7 IMPs, but got flattened in the second 🫠.
Still, Top 8 was more than mission accomplished. The bosses didn’t seem fazed at all — they were already asking, “Can we go to dinner now?” by Board 8 🤣.
Luckily, I had reservations at both 16:30 and 19:30 — the latter came in handy. Clearly, no one expected to make the quarterfinals… someone even had a massage booked at 8 PM and had to skip the celebration dinner 🥲.
Makiko’s recommendation — Gonpachi Izakaya — was perfect. Everyone left full and happy!
Only 8 teams entered the consolation bracket A. We held 3rd place in the morning, but our performance (and luck) quickly slipped. Two straight 1 VP rounds in the afternoon meant disaster finally caught up 😂. Seems their energy limit is about 2 days — after that, the red light comes on 😅.
In the last match of the consolation, I opened 1N (15–17) as North. The auction ended quickly in 3N. When dummy came down, I let out a silent sigh. We do play Puppet, after all...
4♥️ would’ve had chances with ♠A or ♥️K onside. 3N looked bleak.
Lead was ♠Q–7–5–K. Of course I couldn’t just knock out ♣A and give up. I entered the dummy with ♦A, finessed ♥️K — success! East had a singleton ♥️, and after 5 rounds of hearts, East had thrown 4 clubs, West a spade.
Aha! 🤔💡😎 Showtime! 😏 That discard left only one possible layout — the hand was now an open book:
With perfect defense, 3N is dead. West keeps all ♠, wins ♣A, returns a ♠ — 5 tricks gone. Even with a discard, East can shift to ♠9, then ♣A, then ♦ back.
Ironically, 4♥️ — which looked better — fails on bad ♣ splits and simple defense.
From -12 IMPs to +12 — a true 💩💩💩 contract that came out golden 🙃🙃🙃
🃏Qrious’ Quick Tip Corner：Puppet Stayman
Generally, 1N–3♣ is used as Puppet Stayman to check for a 5-card major.
1N-3♣ = Puppet Stayman
1N-3♣-3♦ = No 5M 1N-3♣-3M = 5M 1N-3♣-3♦-3♥️ = 4 cards ♠ 1N-3♣-3♦-3♠ = 4 cards ♥️
Nowadays, many players open 1N even with 5M332 or 5M4m22 shapes, so checking for a 5-card major after 1N has become more important. Puppet Stayman can help you avoid bad 3N contracts when one suit isn’t stopped well, and instead reach a better 4M game.
Best use cases: 3–4 or 4–3 in Ms — seek both 5–3 and 4–4 fits.
Even 2–3, 3–2, 3–3 works, as long as doubletons aren't honor-heavy. Even 4–2, 2–4, 4–1, 1–4, 3–1, 1–3 can justify Puppet to seek safer 4M.
4333? Just bid 3N and move on.
🌸Off-Table Moment
The previous morning, after finishing the hotel breakfast buffet, I had a strange feeling 🤔. Even though my phone was on silent mode, I somehow sensed a 7:30 breakfast invitation 🤯. She wanted a bakery, and I found one before 8 🥐☕ — totally my style, and luckily, it was just what she liked too 🎯
After eating, the boss casually said she wanted to stroll around. So off we went, spending 1 hour browsing the Donki across the street 🛍️. A 2-hour breakfast date 💑, back to the hotel by 9:30, game started at 10:30. Where else do you find such a thoughtful partner who gets up 3 hours early? 😎
🎴Board Highlight — 6♣ That Stunned the Room!!!
Ms. Yang’s bidding was brilliant — fast! firm! fearless!
N S 1N 2♠ (Range ask or ♣ suit) 2N (Min) 3♥️ (Short ♥️) 3N 4♣ 5♣ 6♣
I wanted to cue-bid after 4♣ but the hand was ugly enough 😓. When I bid 5♣, Mrs. Yang raised it to 6♣ without hesitation!
When East dropped ♣J and ♣T — I almost thought I was playing with a pro 🤣.
As expected, we were the only table to bid and make the slam — round of applause!
🃏Qrious’ Post-Match Debrief
Boss-exclusive teaching notes, mosaic version 😘Dinner that night was in Roppongi — a high-end tempura place the boss had booked a month ahead with a ¥100,000 deposit. Clearly, she was ready to celebrate early 🤪.
Although we didn’t end up on the winner’s board, making the Top 8 was already more than enough. Here's hoping we team up again soon — for more bridge, more fine dining, and more unforgettable stories 🥳
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Despite my usual airport-hotel routine, this time I had a special flex — I actually scored a reservation at the Pokémon Café!! And at 20:35 on Day 3 — perfect timing!
Cuteness overload 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
- [中文] 2025 東京邀請賽：https://qriousbridge.blogspot.com/2025/05/2025.html
- [English] 2025 Tokyo Invitational：https://qriousbridge.blogspot.com/2025/05/2025-tokyo-invitational.html
- [한국어] 2025 도쿄 초청 대회：https://qriousbridge.blogspot.com/2025/05/2025_10.html
- [日本語] 2025 年東京インビテーショナル：https://qriousbridge.blogspot.com/2025/05/2025_9.html
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