86 | March• 2018
HOUSE OF CARDS
queen).Meviusemailedtheinforma-
tion to Brogeland.
On September 13, 2015, Bridge
Winners published ‘The Videos
Speak: Fantoni–Nunes’, a damning
analysis by Woolsey. In a statement
fromthatmonth,thepairsaid,“We
will not comment on allegations at
this time.”
On Bridge Winners, the first reader
comment in response to this news
said it all: “Is this
theend?Speechless
now...”IT WASN’T QUITEthe
end. Brogeland soon
received an anony-
mous email tip from
someone identifying
himselfas‘NoMatter’.
The tipster advised
looking at videos of Germany’s Alex
SmirnovandJosefPiekarek,aswell
asthePolishpairCezaryBalickiand
AdamZmudzinski.Insubsequent
emails,NoMatterpointedoutwhat
towatchfor:signallingbasedon
wherethepairputthespecialbid-
dingcardsinthebiddingtraythatis
passed between the players during
the auction.
Smirnov and Piekarek, told of the
discovery, admitted to the violation in
a statement. Balicki and Zmudzinski
denied the charges.
Still more astonishing, however,
isthefactthatBrogelandbelieves
the person behind the mask of Noscreen. Cullin decided to watch the
previoushand.Theboardhadbeen
positioned in the same peculiar spot
–butthistimebyFisher.Aswith
thesucceedinghand,theteamled
hearts.“Myadrenalinstartedpump-
ing,”Cullinsays.“Istartedwatching
all the matches from the European
championships.”
After several hours, Cullin was
convinced the board’s placement
signalled what suit the
partner should lead
with.HetextedBroge-
land, who forwarded
the information to
Woolsey.
Three days later,
Woolsey posted to
Bridge Winners an
essay entitled, ‘The
Videos Speak’, con-
firming Cullin’s hypothesis. Fisher
andSchwartzweresuspendedby
theACBLandplacedunderinves-
tigation by that body and the Euro-
pean Bridge League (EBL). It was an
extraordinary exoneration for Broge-
land. But he wasn’t done yet.
MAAIJKE MEVIUS,a45yearoldliv-
ing in the Netherlands, is a physi-
cistandanavidrecreationalbridge
player. While watching Fantoni and
NunesinYouTubevideos,shegrew
convincedshehaddecodedhowthey
wereusingcardplacementtosignal
to their partner whether they held
any high honour cards (ace, king or
VIDEO
CAMERAS AND
MICROPHONES
ARE NOW
INSTALLED AT
SOME MATCHES