aur1n voorn[1 - mr bridgeexceptional value cruising aboard minervafares shown are per person and...

Fare shown is per person based on an inside Guarantee cabin where a cabin number is not given at time of booking. This includes all applicable discounts and may not be combined with any other offer; Discovery Club discount is applicable and will be deducted at time of booking. Mr Bridge exclusive fares are up to £150pp off outside cabins, up to £100pp off inside cabins and up to £50 off Guarantee fares. All fares are correct at time of print, are subject to availability and may be changed or withdrawn at any time. Only bookings made directly with Mr Bridge can be are eligible to be part of the Mr Bridge Group. Terms and conditions apply. See brochure or website for full terms & conditions. Voyages of Discovery is a trading name of All Leisure Holidays Ltd.

01483 489961 for brochures and bookingswww.bridgecruises.co.uk

Christmas in the Caribbean on board Voyager

Celebrate Christmas and New Year with in the Caribbean with A pot-pourri of islands, each idyllic, each exotic and each unique! Christmas

in the Caribbean promises legacies of colonial history, stunning landscapesof simply breathtaking beauty, dramatic nature, vibrant culture, and magicalunderwater worlds.

Why choose this cruise? • Opportunity to fly over Canaima National Park and enjoy the aerial view of spectacular Angel Falls • Leisurely cruise around St Lucia with its legendary pitons • Tobago – perhaps the last of the ‘Virgin Caribbean’ • Caracas – the Venezuelan capital in the most magnificent of settings • Montserrat – an island showcase of volcanic nature • Marvellous coral and marine life around Bonaire

Details of the Mr Bridge programme can be found on page 18.

Exclusive Fares

Caribbean GemsDeparting 20 December 2012 – 4 January 2013 – 17 daysOn board mv Voyager From £1,949ppBarbados ~ St Lucia ~ Guadeloupe ~ Montserrat ~ Grenada ~ Tobago ~ Margarita Island ~ La Guaira ~ Curacao ~ Bonaire Island ~ Santo Domingo ~ Montego Bay

BARBADOS

ST LUCIA

GUADELOUPE

MONTSERRAT

GRENADA

TOBAGO

MARGARITA ISLAND

LA GUAIRA

CURACAO

BONAIRE ISLAND

SANTO DOMINGO

MONTEGO BAY YOUR VOYAGE INCLUDES

• A comprehensive bridge programme hosted by the Mr Bridge team

• All meals, entertainment and gratuities on board

• Comprehensive lecture and guest speaker programme

• Captain’s cocktail parties and gala dinners

• Flights included

Discovery club members save an aDDitional 5%

VOD_BR117_ Caribbean Gems_A4.indd 1 29/08/2012 16:29:44

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher or its Managing Editor.

Ryden GrangeKnaphill, Surrey

GU21 2TH

( 01483 489961e-mail:

[email protected]:

www.mrbridge.co.uk

Publisher and Managing Editor

Mr Bridge

Associate Editors Bernard Magee Julian Pottage

Technical Consultant Tony Gordon

Proof Readers Tony & Jan Richards

Danny Roth Richard Wheen Hugh Williams

Office Manager Jane Cavell

Events & Cruises ( 01483 489961

Rosie Baker Jessica Galt

Rachel Everett Megan Riccio

Sophie Pierrepont

Clubs & Charities Maggie Axtell

[email protected]

Address Changes Elizabeth Bryan

( 01483 485342 [email protected]

All correspondence should be addressed to Mr Bridge.Please make sure that all letters, e-mails and faxes carry full postal addresses and telephone numbers.

BRIDGEFEATURES

5 Mr Bridge 9 Our Party Night

by Colin Payne

10 The A to Z of Bridge: N & O by Julian Pottage

14 The Diaries of Wendy Wensum

15 Rules for Dummy by David Stevenson

16 Scottish Seniors Win Bronze in Dublin by Liz McGowan

17 Miracles of Card Play reviewed by David Huggett

21 Bidding Quiz by Bernard Magee

22 Bidding Quiz Answers by Bernard Magee

23 Defence Quiz by Julian Pottage

24 Defence Quiz Answers by Julian Pottage

25 Declarer Play Quiz by David Huggett

26 Declarer Play Answers by David Huggett

27 Lead Quiz by Andrew Kambites

28 Lead Quiz Answers by Andrew Kambites

29 Julian Pottage Answers Your Questions

33 Doubled and Venerable reviewed by David Huggett

37 David Stevenson Answers Your Questions

40 Catching Up by Sally Brock

41 Seven Days by Sally Brock

43 Readers’ Letters

46 Beryl Hutchinson

47 Julian Pottage says A Double then a New Suit Shows a Good Hand

ADVERTISEMENTS

2 Christmas in the Caribbean on Voyager

3 Tunisia 2012/3

4 Passage to Oman aboard Minerva

7 Mail Order Form

7 Cut-out Form

8 Cruise to the Caribbean aboard Voyager

9 Christmas 2012 and New Year 2013

14 Stamps

15 Voyages to Antiquity Cruise to Burma

18 Voyages of Discovery Voyager 2013 Cruises

20 Bridge Events with Bernard Magee

21 S R Bridge Tables

21 Bridge Tie

22 Mr Bridge Playing Cards

23 Mr Bridge Just Bridge Events

25 Charity Bridge Events

26 Begin Bridge, Acol Version with Bernard Magee

27 Mr Bridge Tutorial Bridge Breaks

30 Global Travel Insurance

35 Bridge Event Booking Form

36 Bernard Magee at Haslemere 2011/2012

38 Duplicate Bridge Rules Simplified

44 Stamps

45 Club Plugs

45 2013 Diaries Standard and Luxury

46 Bernard Magee’s Tips for Better Bridge

48 Tutorial Software

48 QPlus Offer

Mr Bridge

AT THE ROYAL KENZ

TUNISIA

Two-week half-board duplicate

bridge holiday

4-18 November 2012 Golf available

Tony and Jan Richards

£769*

24 Feb – 10 March 2013 Golf available

Bernard Magee and his team

£799* *per person half-board sharing a twin-bedded room and is inclusive of bridge fees. Single supplement £6 per night. These prices are based on air travel from Heathrow to Tunis. Flights from other UK airports are available at a supplement. Prices for seven-night stays are available on application.

Pay £70 per fortnight per person extra and have a pool-facing room, tea & coffee making facilities, bath robe and a bowl of seasonal fruit.

These holidays have been organised for Mr Bridge by Tunisia First Limited, ATOL 5933, working in association with Thomas Cook Tour Operations Limited, ATOL 1179.

DETAILS & BOOKINGS

( 01483 489961

Exceptional value cruising aboard Minerva

Fares shown are per person and include 14 nights accommodation on board Minerva, meals, shore excursions, gratuities and departure flights from Gatwick with arrival in Heathrow, transfers available on request. Fares shown are Saver Fares – cabin number will not be allocated at time of booking. Full payment required at the time of booking. 100% cancellation charges apply. Not combinable with any other offer or discount and no further loyalty discount. Other categories and fares are available. Prices correct at time of going to print but are subject to change. Offers apply to new bookings only, are capacity controlled, subject to availability and may be withdrawn at any time. Fares shown include all applicable discounts and are not combinable with any other offer. Booking terms and conditions apply. Travel insurance not included. Swan Hellenic is a trading name of All Leisure Holidays Limited ABTA W0392 ATOL 3897. Only bookings made directly with Mr Bridge guarantee participation in the onboard Mr Bridge programme, subject to availability.

To book or request a brochure call

01483 489 961When calling please quote MRBS12

www.bridgecruises.co.uk

PASSAGE To oMAN15 DAYS DEPARTING 21 NoVEMBER To 5 DECEMBER 2012

Inside £1,750pp (Category N), Outside £2,225pp (Category I)

No single supplement – exclusive to Mr Bridge

Discover Arab and nomadic culture as you follow ancient trade routes from Egypt down through the Red Sea and around the Arabian peninsula to Oman and Dubai. On an inclusive full day excursion to Luxor including lunch on the banks of the Nile, explore the treasures of Ancient Egypt. Discover traditional merchant houses, archaeological sites, atmospheric souks, ancient frankincense trade routes and ports, palaces and mosques and – as a complete contrast – the 21st century city of Dubai.

PASSAGE To oMAN15 DAYS DEPARTING 21 NoVEMBER 2012

CAt 12 Inside GtY £1,695pp (20% Single Supp.) CAt 8 Outside GtY £2,195pp (30% Single Supp.)

After experiencing the beautiful countryside of Dublin and remote St Kilda, explore the Norse world and hear about the sagas, volcanic landscapes and islands. Discover Iceland’s capital Reykjavik, geysers and waterfalls, whale watch and discover active volcanic landscapes and islands.

FREE complimentary pre and post cruise coach transfers from London Victoria Coach Station, Southampton Airport, Bournemouth and Poole Railway Stations. Reduced rates on pre-cruise hotel stay

and parking also available, see page 21 of the March 2011 to May 2012 Swan brochure for further details.

Godafoss Falls, Iceland

At Swan Hellenic we will always go further and delve that bit deeper. our on board Guest Speakers and inclusive excursions ashore take you behind civilisations both ancient and modern, with fascinating results. You will travel in country-house style with around 350 other like-minded passengers. Choose to dine in the restaurant of your choice and in the company of your friends and you will still be assured of exceptional value for money, including a comprehensive programme of shore excursions and all tips on board and ashore. Travel with a truly great British company, established in 1954, and enjoy an experience that will live with you forever.Join Mr & Mrs Bridge to participate in the truly wonderful ‘Swan’ experience. We have enhanced the standard Minerva bridge programme to complement the on board entertainment during the numerous sea days making for a wonderful bridge cruise. On this sailing there will be duplicate sessions every evening with seminars and afternoon bridge on days at sea. there is no bridge supplement as, like most of the excursions, it is included in the price. Additionally, as there is no single supplement, there will be a number of singles travelling and they will always be found a partner for a game.

no single supplement

Minerva

Mosque, Dubai

Dubai Creek

Djibouti

Salalah

Muscat

Khasab

SafagaEgypt

DubaiUAE

SH_BR117_swanad 1 cruise_A4.indd 1 30/08/2012 10:17:53

MINERVA REFURB

Having recently been invited to look over Swan Hellenic’s Minerva at anchor in Portsmouth Harbour, I thought you might like to hear about my visit. Both the port and ship exceeded my expectations, proving that a combination of imagination and lots of money really can work.

The newly built Portsmouth Cruise Terminal is light, airy and has lots of parking. The city planners should be congratulated. As for the ship, what an improvement. Gone is most of the old-fashioned junk that cluttered its lounges and corridors. She has now blossomed into that rare thing, a small ship with a spacious feel. A number of cabins have been upgraded to include balconies. Bridge players will be delighted that the regular card room has been retained. The chair covers, carpets and drapes have been renewed, with much love and care lavished on the choice of colours and materials.

It is a great shame that due to apparent lack of support, my provision of bridge hosts on all Minerva sailings looks like finishing at the end of this year.

Many of you introduce yourselves once on board, having booked as the result of seeing adverts in this magazine and/or Bridge Weekly. As far as the ship’s owners and management are concerned that is just

not good enough. So, if you want bridge, do mention that you do, better still make your booking through my office. After all, that’s our job.

GOOD NEWS

Going forward, I have been asked to promote and travel with a full-blown exclusive Mr Bridge party on board Minerva later this year – see the adjacent advert. Lots of days at sea means lots of bridge for everyone, especially for beginners.

Those wanting to learn this wonderful game will be sent the interactive CD, Begin Bridge, at the time of making their booking so that all the basics are covered before the cruise starts. Then, once onboard, it is only a matter of practice. If you have a friend who’s always wanted to learn, this is their chance. And with a no single supplement saver fare deal on selected inside/outside cabins, this is their chance of a lifetime.

In addition to learning to play bridge there are some really interesting tourist attractions included.

... AND 2013

If this cruise on Minerva is at too short notice, Mrs Bridge and I will again be on this lovely refurbished ship, sailing from Tenerife to Barbados, all around the mouth of the Orinoco on the north-eastern coast of South America. Lots of days at sea means lots and lots of bridge. The itinerary includes places I certainly have never been to before. Register your interest now, asking for a brochure to be sent right away. I suspect this cruise could turn out to be a quick sell as I have a

saver fare deal including no single supplement with single fares from £1,550 for 17 days sailing from 18th November.

It is something to look forward to, which I now find myself doing, more and more, as I get older.

MISSED

A significant number of readers have told me how much they have missed the prize quiz. I like to avoid disappointing anybody where possible, so write and tell me how you would open the bidding, holding the following hand, playing Acol (12-14 no-trump).

♠ A K 9 7

♥ Q J 4

♦ J 5 2

♣ K 8 7

Answers with your name, address and telephone number before 13 October.

QPLUS

This program is still the best one for Acol players. Those of you with this wonderful software should try the following bridge hands that I have come across whilst playing in the past few weeks: 8087/05, 7363/07, 7414/16 and 0722 numbers 01 to 06.

Do let me know what you think and when writing or phoning, let me know of any interesting hands.

CELTIC SIMS

There is a chance of holding a heat at bridge clubs throughout the UK to raise funds to help with the costs of sending Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish teams to world championships, if and when they qualify.

And the Scottish Seniors have: see report on page 16 by Liz McGowan. The first of the Celtic Sims will take place from Monday 3rd December to Thursday 6th December and Green/Red points awarded. Enter through [email protected]

COVER STORY

Having had so much to tell you about Minerva, the cover story of this issue is the Christmas and New Year cruise on board Voyager.

Those of you who have waited for a replacement for the good old ship Discovery have been very patient and December finds Voyager sailing the blue Caribbean. For details, see page 2. On page 8, details of the inaugural voyage from Portsmouth can be found.

DON’T BIN IT

There is an insert introducing Voyager and its inaugural programme included with this magazine. There is up to £150 off some of these voyages if booked before 30 September, so it’s at least worth giving it a glance.

The bridge club on Voyager is at the top of the ship with wonderful views and has up to nineteen tables. You won’t be disappointed.

SAD NEWS

Beryl Hutchinson, a regular member of my weekend and onboard ship team, has died after a short illness, see page 46. May she rest in peace.

MAEVE BINCHY

Sadly, this lovely lady has recently died. I will find space to tell you how she has helped both me and the game of bridge in the next issue. May she, too, rest in peace.

NEW BABY

I promised news of the latest office baby. Office manager, Catrina Shackleton, was safely delivered of a son on 14 August. Felix James weighed-in at 7lb 6oz. Mother and son are well, as is proud father Mark.

EITHER/OR

Tutorials or Just Duplicate at The Chatsworth Hotel, Worthing. £169 per person.

16 – 18 November Finding Slams

Crombie McNeil

30 – 2 December End Play and Avoidance

Ned Paul

Full support team with supervised play for those who want it. Just Duplicate for those who prefer just duplicate. £169 per person. No single supplement. Payment in full at time of booking. Debit cards or cheques preferred. Strictly subject to availability.

WARNING

If you would like my weekly emag, do provide your email address. As it is paid for by advertising, you will receive some bridge related adverts. Likewise, this publication is paid for by advertisers. When responding, do say you saw it in BRIDGE or heard about it from Mr Bridge. Several of our services are being discontinued from apparent lack of support, in particular the continuous bridge host provision on Minerva.

Once again, Donald Russell are supporting BRIDGE. If their ad offends you, you know what to do*. Meanwhile, others say thanks for helping to keep this publication going.

EXTENSION

The last push to promote second-hand QPlus has yielded over a £1,000 pounds for Little Voice, the charity with a school house in Adis Ababa, Ethiopia. Offer now open until 31 October.

Q Plus 7 donation £10. Q Plus 8 donation £16. Q Plus 9 donation £25.

For multiple orders, readers can make a sensibly reduced pro-rata donation. Send me your cheque for the disk of your choice. Please make your cheques payable to L.U.C.I.A Little Voice and send me two 2nd class stamps to cover the cost of posting it to you. Thank you.

CLUB INSURANCE

Now that members, asked to leave by their club, have started suing the club committee for damages arising from the alleged infringement of their human rights and/or psychological damage, not being insured is as daft as these claims. £60 per year to cover a club of up to 100 members is a small price to pay for peace of mind. Ring Moore Stephens on ( 020 7515 5270.

CHELTENHAM

Bernard Magee will be speaking at this festival on Monday 8 October. Those wishing to hear him live should grab the opportunity. The Cheltenham Literature Festival has grown over the twelve years since its inception. The organisers are widening its scope and have chosen to include bridge. Hooray.

CLUB QUIZ

If your club would like to have a Bernard Magee quiz for your Christmas party just send in your name and club details by snail mail or email and your quiz will be sent to you by the first week of November. Just be sure to include your club’s name and your own full details, including email address and telephone number.

ARDINGTON 2012

More rooms are now available at this hotel for single occupancy.*Shut your eyes and turnover.

A ROUND TUIT

Still published as a tea towel.

£6.96 including p&p. Art Screen Print ( 01287 637527.

SECONDS

I have a stock of slightly unsaleable copies of Duplicate Bridge Rules Simplified. Send in three second class stamps per copy or £1.70 by phone using a credit card or pay by PayPal using the link on our online shop.

ELSTEAD HOTEL Bournemouth BH1 3QP

9 – 11 November 16 – 18 November

Just Duplicate Full Board £169pp

No single supplement

Day Guests: two days bridge, lunch and dinner, £125 per person. Payment should be made in full at the time of booking.

BETTER BRIDGE WITH

BERNARD MAGEE

The first CD is now ready. It is based on the topics covered in the six lectures given by Bernard at Haslemere last year. This is Bernard Magee at his best. A must have.

Mr Bridge

Mr Bridge MAIL ORDER

Prices are inclusive of VAT and postage to UK mainland. I enclose a cheque for £..........

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PLAY SOFTWAREQPlus 10 £86.00 .......QPlus 10 - Trade-in £35.00 .......Bridge Baron

Mac compatible £63.00 .......Bridge Baron – Trade-in £36.00 .......

TUTORIAL SOFTWAREBegin Bridge

Acol Version £66.00 .......Acol Bidding £66.00 .......Advanced Acol Bidding £96.00 .......Declarer Play £76.00 .......Advanced

Declarer Play £81.00 .......Defence £76.00 .......Five-Card Majors

with Strong No-Trump £89.00 .......Better Bridge with

Bernard Magee Haslemere 2011 £69.00 .......

Better Bridge with Bernard Magee In course Haslemere 2012 of preparation

SOFTWARE BUNDLE OFFERAny two software pieces £120.00 .......

BOOKSDuplicate Bridge

Rules Simplified £5.95 .......Better Hand Evaluation £14.00 .......Bernard Magee’s

Bridge Quiz Book £14.00 .......Bernard Magee’s

Quiz and Puzzle Book £14.00 .......Tips for Better Bridge £14.00 .......

Make your cheque payable to Mr Bridge and send to: Mr Bridge, Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH

( 01483 489961 www.mrbridge.co.uk/mrbridge-shop

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TUTORIAL DVDsHaslemere 20111 Ruffing for Extra Tricks £25.00 .......2 Competitive Auctions £25.00 .......3 Making the

Most of High Cards £25.00 .......4 Identifying &

Bidding Slams £25.00 .......5 Play & Defence of

1NT Contracts £25.00 .......6 Doubling & Defence

to Doubled Contracts £25.00 .......All 6 DVDs as a boxed set £100.00 .......Haslemere 20127 Leads £25.00 .......8 Losing Trick Count £25.00 .......9 Making a Plan

as Declarer £25.00 .......10 Responding to 1NT £25.00 .......11 Signals & Discards £25.00 .......12 Endplays £25.00 .......All 6 DVDs as a boxed set £100.00 .......

MR BRIDGE TIE £15.00 .......

BONE CHINA MUGSBidding Sequence £15.00 .......It’s Only a Game £15.00 .......Mystery Man £15.00 .......

BRIDGE PLAYERS’ DIARIESStandard: Red ..... Navy .....

Tan ..... Black ..... Ivory ..... Green ..... Burgundy ..... £6.95 .......

Luxury Kidrell Covers & ball-point pen Ruby Red ..... Navy Blue ..... Green ..... £14.95 .......

If you have not contacted us recently,

please enter your details in the box

below to re-register:

Please send BRIDGE to the following

enthusiasts:

Please complete all or part of this form and return to: Mr Bridge,

Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey, GU21 2TH.

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Fare shown is based on two people sharing a twin bedded Guarantee cabin; cabin number will be allocated at time of embarkation. Fare is correct at time of going to print and includes all applicable discounts and is subject to change at any time. Only bookings made directly with Mr Bridge are eligible to be part of the Mr Bridge Group. Discovery Club Discount is combinable and will be applied at time of booking. Please note that Mr & Mrs Bridge will only be travelling on part of this cruise. For full terms and conditions please see the main brochure. Voyages of Discovery is a trading name of All Leisure Holidays Ltd.

01483 489961 for brochures and bookingswww.bridgecruises.co.uk

Sail to the Caribbean on board Voyager this Winter

The ‘Crystal City’ and ‘Pearl of the Atlantic’ are the gems at the forefront of Voyager’s journey taking you across the ocean to where the dazzling blue skies and stunning azure waters of the Caribbean promise four glittering island treasures. St Kitts – once the Mother Colony of the West Indies, Antigua – a showcase of colonial architecture, Martinique – a little piece of France in the Caribbean and Barbados – the Caribbean’s own ‘Little England’.

Why choose this cruise? • Medieval Santiago de Compostela • Madeira – the ‘Floating Garden of the Atlantic’ • Glorious landscapes of Martinique • Historic Sugar Train ride on the beautiful island of St Kitts • Fascinating history on the island of Antigua

Details of the Mr Bridge programme can be found on page 18.

From £999pp


Voyage to the CaribbeanDeparting 4 – 21 December 2012 – 18 daysOn board mv Voyager from £999ppPortsmouth ~ La Coruña ~ Funchal ~ St Kitts ~ Antigua ~ Martinique ~ Barbados (overnight)

ST KITTS

ANTIGUA

MARTINIQUE

BARBADOS

PORTSMOUTH

LA CORUÑA

FUNCHAL

YOUR VOYAGE INCLUDES

• A comprehensive bridge programme hosted by the Mr Bridge team

• All meals, entertainment and gratuities on board

• Comprehensive lecture and guest speaker programme

• Captain’s cocktail parties and gala dinners

• Return flight included

VOD_BR117_Voyage to the Caribbean.indd 1 29/08/2012 16:30:32

1 Rubber Bridge Self explanatory. Set timer for 25 minutes, with no dealing after the bell.

2 Chicago Play 4 hands, normal vulnerability, each hand scored as duplicate.

3 Goulash Deal 2 sets of 5 cards and 1 set of 3 cards to each player. Bid. Play all contracts worth game or which would convert an existing partscore to game, also any doubled or redoubled contracts. Otherwise, score 1 trick less than bid (1 level bids = 0). Then stack and cut the cards without shuffling before redealing. Note: After a played hand, shuffling is at the dealer’s discretion. Set time to 25 minutes. No dealing after the bell.

4 Irish Roulette, Chicago Scoring Shuffle and deal as normal. Play 4 hands. Each player in turn is declarer. Contracts are predetermined by the organiser (game contracts work best). Suggested scoring system: successful contract, 500 + contract value + 100 per overtrick. Unsuccessful contract, 100 per undertrick.

5 Pass the Parcel, Rubber Bridge Scoring Shuffle and deal as normal. Each player passes 4 cards of the same suit to the player on their left. Bid and play the hand. Set time to 25 minutes. No dealing after the bell.

6 Bid as normal, but overtricks are penalised as well as undertricks

at 200 per trick. Reward for making the contract; 300.

7 A small prize for last person making a trick with a two when the bell goes.

8 All or Nothing Shuffle and deal as normal. Play 4 hands. Trump suit is predetermined; First hand clubs; then diamonds, hearts and spades. Dealer is declarer and may opt to make all 13 tricks or no tricks. Scoring is from the following table:

‘All’ Tricks ‘Zero’ attempted made attempted -1050 0 +1400 -750 1 +1050 -500 2 +750 -300 3 +500 -150 4 +300 -50 5 +150 0 6 +50 +50 7 0 +150 8 -50 +300 9 -150 +500 10 -300 +750 11 -500 +1050 12 -750 +1400 13 -1050

Note: Defenders score the reciprocal of declarer’s score (e.g. Declarer +300; defenders -300).

9 Gamblers’ Delight Deal as normal. Play 4 hands. Each hand dealer decides contract with no bidding (level and denomination). Scoring:

For contracts bid and made.

1 level 100 2 level 300 3 level 600 4 level 1000

Overtricks 50 eachUndertricks 100 each.

Our Party Night by Colin Payne

From the start, everyone is banned from playing with their regular partner. We have a series of half-hour sessions, playing a variety of games based on bridge. We choose from some of the games below. We have a break halfway through for drinks and a

buffet. Prizes are slightly arbitrary; probably top lady and gentleman; others maybe ‘closest to zero’ or closest to a score determined at the end of the evening by drawing a card (card value x 100; black is plus; red minus). We try to avoid members playing for a predetermined prize.

Party Bridge Mr BridgeChristmas & New year

2012/13Duplicate Bridge

Denham groveNear uxbridge, uB9 5Du

24-27 Dec £455

Just Bridge – Jo Walch(with a small separate section

for rubber / Chicago Diana holland)

27-29 Dec £215 game tries – gary Conrad

29 Dec – 1 Jan £445 Finding Slams gary Conrad

the Olde BarnMarston, Lincs Ng32 2ht

24-27 Dec £455

Just Bridge27-29 Dec £215

Doubles – Patrick Dunham29 Dec – 1 Jan £445 Losing trick Count Patrick Dunham

( 01483 [email protected] www.holidaybridge.com

Booking form on page 35

Please call if you would like a sample copy of the programme

NNATIONAL BRIDGE ORGANISATIONS (NBOs)Responsible for organised bridge within their countries and for submitting entries to the major international bridge competitions. Devolution came to bridge in the UK in 2000, so the EBU, SBU, WBU and NIBU are now all NBOs.

NATURALA suit bid that guarantees some length in the suit named, or a no-trump bid suggesting the hand is playable in no trumps.

NEGATIVE DOUBLEA double after partner has opened the bidding and right-hand opponent intervenes with a suit call, to show values and, usually, four cards in an unbid major.

It is for takeout, not penalties. It also goes by the name of Sputnik double because players first used it in 1957, the same year as the launch of the Russian spacecraft, Sputnik.

♠ 7 6

♥ K 10 7 4

♦ Q 9 5

♣ A 8 5 3

This hand is suitable for a negative double if partner opens one of a minor and RHO overcalls 1♠, or if partner opens 1♠ and RHO overcalls two of a minor.

At duplicate, negative doubles have become almost universal.

NEGATIVE INFERENCEAn inference about the lie of the cards that you draw by considering why an opponent did not choose an alternative bid or play. For example:

West North East South

1♣ Pass 1♥ Pass

2♣

The other players can infer that West does not have a four-card spade suit since it would be normal to show the suit in preference to rebidding the clubs.

NEGATIVE RESPONSEA response denying values, often after a strong artificial opening, e.g. a 2♦ response to an Acol 2♣ or a 1♦ response to a Precision 1♣. It can also be a response denying the hoped for shape or card in response to an asking bid, e.g. a 2♦ reply to a Stayman enquiry.

NEUTRAL CARDA card played that gives no signal or inference about the strength or distribution of the suit.

A middling card in a suit-preference situation is one example of a neutral card.

When the defenders know their own plan, they will play neutral cards to avoid giving unnecessary information to declarer.

NEUTRAL LEADAnother term for a passive lead, i.e. one that gives nothing away.

NEW SUITIn the bidding, a suit the partnership has not shown before. In the play, a suit that has not been played before.

NEXT STEP FOR KINGSAn agreement whereby, after the

response to an ace-asking 4♣ or 4NT, a bid of the next step, provided it is not the agreed trump suit, asks for kings. Other names for such an arrangement are Rolling Blackwood and Rolling Gerber.

NIBUSee Northern Ireland Bridge Union.

NO BIDTerm signifying ‘Pass’. Traditional in Britain before the introduction of bidding boxes.

NO-TRUMPSHighest-ranking denomination at bridge.

In a no-trump contract, the highest card in the suit led wins the trick. The trick scores are higher in no-trumps than other denominations, making a no-trump game (3NT) the lowest game contract.

No-trump contracts tend to be profitable when the partnership has a stopper or two in each suit and lacks an eight-card or longer fit in one of the majors.

NO-TRUMP FOR TAKEOUTAn old defence to weak three openings whereby an overcall of 3NT serves as a takeout request allowing all other calls to be natural, including a penalty double.

NON-FORCINGA bid that does not demand a continuation from partner.

Most game bids and limit bids are non-forcing. One-level opening bids, overcalls and pre-emptive bids of any sort are generally non-forcing.

In this auction, all four first-round bids are non-forcing:


1♥ 1♠ 1NT 2♠

A to Z of Bridgecompiled by Julian Pottage

NON-FORCING SEQUENCEAny sequence of bidding that is not forcing, such as the following examples:

1. 1♥-Pass-1♠-Pass-2♥

2. 1♥-Pass-1NT

3. 1♥-Pass-2♣-Pass-2♦-Pass-2♥

4. 1♥-Pass-2♣-Pass-2♦-Pass-3♦

NON-PLAYING CAPTAIN (NPC)Most international teams of major bridge-playing countries appoint captains who are not a playing member of the team. The main responsibility is to decide who plays in various stages of the contest, at which tables they play and the tactics to follow. He or she also represents the team in discussions about playing conditions, protests and appeals, and at social events, press conferences, etc.

NON-PROMISSORY STAYMANA variation on Stayman with standard replies by opener but which allows responder to use Stayman on a balanced hand not containing a four-card major. If a 2NT response to 1NT is conventional, responder has to find some other way to invite game in no-trumps, one solution being to start with 2♣. Using non-promissory Stayman, after opener rebids 2♥, responder rebids 2♠ if holding four spades; 2NT instead would deny four spades.

NON-VULNERABLE (NOT VULNERABLE)In rubber bridge, the condition of a side that has not yet won a game. At duplicate, the board indicates whether you are non-vulnerable, sometimes with a green band or the absence of a red band. The bonuses for making a game or a slam are lower when non-vulnerable, as are the penalties for going down in a contract.

NORMAN 4NTA slam convention in which one shows aces and kings with one bid. An ace counts as one point and a king as a 1/2 point.

Responses adhere to the following scale:

5♣ Fewer than 11/2 points 5♦ 11/2 points (one ace and one king, or three kings) 5♥ 2 points (two aces, four kings, or one ace and two kings) 5♠ 21/2 points (two aces and one king, or one ace and three kings) 5NT 3 points, etc

NORTHOne of the compass positions at the bridge table. In duplicate, North usually assumes the responsibility for scoring the table’s result and for correctly placing boards on the table.

NORTHERN IRELAND BRIDGE UNIONRegulatory body for duplicate bridge in Northern Ireland.

NOTTINGHAM CLUB SYSTEMA simple English 1♣ system popular in the Nottingham area. The system uses an artificial 1♣ opening (16-21 points) and five-card majors.

NUISANCE BIDA bid aiming to disrupt the opposition’s auction. Any pre-emptive bid is a nuisance bid. Overcalls made on weak hands with little expectation of buying the contract are also nuisance bids.

OOBLIGATORY FINESSEThe play of a small card on the second round of a suit in the hope that a particular opponent will have to play the master card. For example:

NW E

S

K 4 3 2

A 8 J 10 9

Q 7 6 5

To avoid two losers in the suit, you start with a small card towards dummy. After winning with the king, you play small from both hands – there is no point in playing up to the queen since East’s failure to capture the king marks West with the ace. If you reverse the East-West hands, it would be necessary to play initially from the North hand towards South’s Q-7-6-5; again, you would need to duck the second round.

ODD-EVEN DISCARDSA system of discards in which the face value (odd/even) of the discard may signal attitude or suit preference. Odd cards encourage the suit discarded while even cards indicate suit preference between the other two suits. For instance, when discarding on a spade lead, the ♥3 asks for a heart, the ♥8 asks for a diamond and the ♥2 asks for a club.

ODD TRICKEach trick won by declarer in excess of the book. ‘One odd’ is one trick in excess (i.e. declarer’s seventh trick).

OFFENCE1. Any breach of the Law.2. Attacking mode in bidding or play.

OFFSIDEIf you finesse and it loses, you can say the missing card is ‘offside’.

NW E

S

A Q 10

K 7 5 J 8 4 2

9 6 3

In this double finesse position, the king is onside (under the queen) while the jack is offside (over the ten).

OGUSTAnother name for Blue Club responses to a 2NT enquiry over a weak opening. Opener rebids as follows:

3♣ minimum, poor suit 3♦ minimum, good suit 3♥ maximum, poor suit 3♠ maximum, good suit 3NT A-K-Q-x-x-x in suit opened

A to Z of Bridge continued


OLYMPIADA bridge event held every four years, in the same years as the Olympics, in which countries from all over the world compete – now known as the Mind Sports games.

ONE-BIDA bid at the one-level.

ONE CLUB SYSTEMA system of bidding that employs an artificial bid of 1♣ as its strongest opening. Usually the bid denotes a minimum of about 16 or 17 points. In the UK, strong club systems were quite popular in the early 1980s but are now relatively rare. Precision is the most common strong club system.

ONE OVER ONE RESPONSEA sequence such as 1♣-1♠, where responder bids at the one-level. A one-over-one response has a very wide range and (by an unpassed hand) is forcing for one round. Responder may have as few as 5 or 6 points or, with an unsuitable hand type for a jump shift, great strength.

♠ K Q 8 5 2 ♠ K Q 8 5 2

♥ 9 6 3 ♥ A K J 4

♦ 8 5 ♦ A 4

♣ 7 5 2 ♣ K 3

A one-over-one response of 1♠ is correct with either of the above hands if partner opens one of either minor.

ONE-SUITERAn unbalanced hand with one long suit and no other biddable suit. Pre-emptive openings and overcalls show a one-suiter with a single bid. Bidding a suit twice, particularly if the rebid is with a jump, tends to show a one-suiter.

ONLINE BRIDGEA method of playing bridge using a computer and an internet connection. You can play from home or from wherever you have a laptop and

suitable connection. You play against other players sitting at their computers. Online bridge is popular for players who want to play at unsocial hours or who, for whatever reason, cannot attend a bridge club.

ONSIDEIf you take a finesse and it succeeds, you can say the missing card is ‘onside’.

OPEN1. To make the first bid in the auction.2. Teams or pairs competition

where no restriction applies to the contestants (sex, age, master point ranking, or other such-like thing).

OPEN HANDDummy.

OPEN PAIRSA competition open to any pair, irrespective of membership, age, sex or masterpoint ranking. In British congresses, where entry to the main event is restricted, it is customary for an Open Pairs event to take place at the same time.

OPEN ROOMRoom where spectators can watch the players. At international or other important matches it is usual to have at least one room for this purpose.

OPEN UPTo ‘open up’ a suit is to play the first cards in that suit. As a defender, you are more likely to open up new suits when you are playing an active defence than when you are trying to defend passively.

Some suits are safer to open up than are others. The riskiest suits to open up are those where you have an honour ranking just above an honour held on your right.

NW E

S

K 9 5

A 10 6 2

Holding the ace over dummy’s king and the ten over the nine, East is unlikely to want to open up this suit.

While it might be safe to do so if South holds Q-x or Q-J-x, often you will find the suit frozen and opening it up will blow a trick. If South has J-x, x-x, J-x-x, x-x-x, Q-x-x, Q-x-x-x or Q-J-x-x, it is better not to lead the suit.

OPENING BIDThe first call of the auction other than pass. The generally accepted wisdom is that you need a hand a little better than average (e.g. 12+ HCP) to make a one-level opening. This way, if partner has an average hand, your side can make a part-score, or if partner also has opening bid strength, you can make game.

OPENING POINTSA method of hand valuation by which you add your high card points to the length of your two longest suits.

♠ A Q 8 7 5 ♠ A Q J 7 5 2

♥ K J 7 3 ♥ A K 8 3 2

♦ 7 4 ♦ 5

♣ 6 3 ♣ 4

The first hand has nineteen opening points (10 in high cards, 5 for the spade length and 4 for the heart length). The second hand has twenty-five (14 HCP, 6 spades and 5 hearts). OPENING LEADThe lead to the first trick, before the dummy appears. The opening lead is often the single most important play on a deal. Before making the opening lead, you should consider the bidding and your own hand. At duplicate, having selected your lead, you should place it face down on the table.

The best opening leads are those that are both safe (unlikely to concede a trick) and attacking (likely to set up tricks). A sequence such as K-Q-J-x is usually a good lead. A suit partner has bid is usually a good lead too. Against a no-trump contract, you usually lead from a long suit, aiming to set up long cards as well as high-card winners.

When, as often happens, you do not have an ideal holding in any suit, you will need to weigh up from the auction and your hand, whether to prefer a passive lead or an active lead.


If you can see that suits are breaking badly for declarer and finesses are likely to fail, you are more likely to go passive. If the auction sounds confident and your hand holds few surprises for declarer, you are more likely to attack. A trump can be a good lead if you have a good holding in declarer’s second suit. Leads from unsupported honours, especially aces, tend to be risky.

OPENING LEADERThe player who makes the opening lead, the one to the left of declarer.

OPTIONAL DOUBLEA double suggesting all-round strength and inviting partner to choose between bidding on and defending for penalties. At low levels, optional doubles are relatively rare; normally doubles are either definitely penalty or definitely takeout. Optional doubles tend to occur when the opponents have pre-empted to the game level.


4♠

Dbl


1♥ Dbl 4♥

Dbl

On each of these auctions, West’s double is optional.

ORANGE BOOKColloquial term for The Handbook of Directives and Conventions Authorised by The Laws and Ethics Committee of The English Bridge Union.

OUT-OF-THE-BLUE CUE BIDThis is a cue bid made before the partners have bid and raised a suit. It implicitly agrees the suit partner has just bid as trumps and shows a control in the suit of the cue bid.


1♥ Pass

2♣ Pass 3♥ Pass

3♠

It is most unlikely that spades is the best trump suit – East has shown a good six-card heart suit and (by not rebidding 2♠) has denied holding four spades. Therefore, West’s 3♠ agrees hearts and shows a spade control. Depending upon the partnership style, the control may be first round (ace or void) or second round (king or singleton). West might hold:

N

W ES

♠ A J 4

♥ K 6

♦ 9 6 4

♣ A Q 10 8 4

OUT ON A LIMBPhrase used to describe a dangerous action such as bidding no-trumps with no stopper in an opponent’s suit.

OVERTerm describing a player’s hand (or cards therein) with respect to his right-hand opponent, e.g. ‘Sitting over’. South is over East while honours in West’s hand will be over South’s honours.

OVERBIDA call made on insufficient values. For example, if partner opens 2NT showing 20-22 points and you raise to 6NT with an average 10-point hand, this is an overbid.

OVERBIDDERA person who overbids.

OVERBOARDTo be at too high a level.

OVERCALL1. The first bid by a member of the side

that did not open the bidding.2. To make a bid after an opponent has

opened the bidding.


1♦ 2♣

North’s 2♣ is an overcall and, in bidding 2♣, North is overcalling.

An overcall can serve many purposes:1. To disrupt the opposing bidding;2. To suggest a lead;

3. To find a good contract in which to play;

4. To pave the way for a sacrifice, which may be cheaper than letting the opponents play in their contract.

Shape and suit quality are more important for an overcall than they are for an opening. Here, North could hold a 9-count with ♣K-Q-10-x-x-x and an ace on the side, but should not hold a 5332 13-count with ♣A-J-x-x-x.

OVERCALLERThe player who makes an overcall.

OVERRUFFTo ruff a trick that someone has already ruffed, with a higher trump. Although usually it is a good idea to overruff when you get the chance, if you would have to play a very high trump to do so and you have a useful discard to make, it may be better not to do so. If, instead, an opponent threatens to overruff, again it might be better to discard.

NW E

S

♠ Q 9 5 2

♥ 9 6 3

♦ A K 5

♣ 9 7 2

♠ J 10 3 ♠ 8

♥ 10 5 ♥ A K Q 8 7 2

♦ Q 8 7 4 ♦ J 9 2

♣ J 8 5 3 ♣ 10 6 4

♠ A K 7 6 4

♥ J 4

♦ 10 6 3

♣ A K Q

South plays in 4♠ after East has bid hearts. The defenders start with three rounds of hearts. If South ruffs the third round of hearts low, West can play the ten (or jack) of spades to overruff. South does better to discard a diamond loser. Then, if East persists with a fourth heart and West ruffs with an honour, dummy can play the queen to overruff.

OVERTAKETo play a higher card from one hand when already winning a trick. You often use this technique when a hand is devoid of entries and the suit is blocked. For example:

NW E

S

♦ A Q J 6 5 4

♦ K

If dummy has no side entry, you overtake the king with the ace. This gives you access to three tricks in the suit and may allow you to run the entire suit if it divides evenly.

OVERTRICKA trick in excess of the number for which you have contracted. Overtricks do not count towards game and, in rubber bridge, you score them above the line. For example, if you bid 4♠ and make 13 tricks, you have made three overtricks, the difference between the 13 you have made and the 10 you contracted to make.

At matchpoints, making overtricks can be a particularly useful way to improve your score.

OVERTRUMPSynonym for overruff. ■


The weather contin-ued fine and sunny, and so Millie, Jus-

tin and I explored historic Rhodes, marvelling at the wonderful culture and ar-chitecture of the classical civilisation that once was ancient Greece.

Meanwhile, Spouse re-mained at the hotel at-tending workshops on the noble game.

Having experienced competitive bridge for the first time, he now sought further victories. Like most new converts to a cause, a missionary zeal engulfed him.

The holiday was nearing its end and, on the final day, the main event was the mixed pairs. Millie was playing with Justin and I with Bryn, now fully re-covered from his alcoholic haze.

Thus, by default, Spouse formed a partnership with Fay, an equally enthusias-tic newcomer and fellow tutee at the bridge seminar sessions.

Their system card was heavily laden with conven-tions, partially memorised and definitely not fully mastered.

On this critical hand, Millie and Justin were playing North-South against pleasant but un-known opponents.

NW E

S

♠ 7 5 3 2

♥ K Q 6 2

♦ 8 4

♣ K J 2

♠ Void ♠ J 10 9 8

♥ J 9 5 ♥ 10 8 7 4 3

♦ 10 9 6 5 2 ♦ 7 3

♣ Q 10 8 6 4 ♣ 9 7

♠ A K Q 6 4

♥ A

♦ A K Q J

♣ A 5 3

As dealer, Millie opened two clubs (Acol). With no opposition bidding, the full scientific auction was:

North South

Justin Millie

2♣

2NT 3♠

4♠ 5♣

6♣ 6♦

6♥ 7♠

End

Seven spades seemed a reasonable contract, but drifted one off to the jack of trumps with the un-friendly break. As luck would have it, Bryn and I (sitting East-West) played the same board against Spouse and Fay.

The bidding followed a less than subtle route, demonstrating that un-sophisticated approaches can sometimes prove vic-torious.

North South

Spouse Fay

2♣1

4NT2 5♣3

5NT4 6♥5

7NT End1Acol2Ace asking30 or 4 aces4King asking52 kings

When the spades refused to break, Spouse took the successful club finesse to make his contract with three spades, three hearts, four diamonds and three clubs, giving him and Fay a top and Bryn and me a bottom.

On the plane journey home, Spouse was insuf-ferable. He explained first to Millie and then to me in great detail the finer points of outlandish conventions and complex techniques learned from the bridge tutorials.

Later, I explained to Mil-lie my plan of action, ‘Next time, I’ll book him on a walking holiday in Crete and arrange a trek for him up the Samarian Gorge.’ Millie looked surprised. ‘Surely you mean down the gorge?’ she questioned, ‘Up is a very difficult climb.’

‘Precisely,’ I replied with malicious and vengeful in-tent.

The Diaries of Wendy Wensum

Episode 9: A Grecian Jaunt

Part 2: Beware the Colossus

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What should dummy do during the play? A famous

English bridge player reputedly said that the best place for dummy was away from the table buying the next round of teas and coffees. While no doubt he was joking, there is an element of truth in what he said, because dummies love to get involved. They act like a nursemaid to partner, worrying on his behalf. Sadly, many of the things dummies do are illegal. When the dummy has only winners left, some dummies feel the urge to say, ‘They are all good.’ This is illegal: suppose partner had not realised. That is suggesting a play to partner: the defenders should call the director immediately.

The most common failing of dummies, which happens all the time in clubs and lesser events, is to tell declarer he has led from the wrong

hand. Sometimes declarer names a card, for example ‘Ace of clubs’, at which point dummy says, ‘You are in your hand,’ then declarer says, ‘Oh, sorry,’ and leads from the other hand. This is illegal for two different reasons. First, dummy must never draw attention to an irregularity before anyone else, so, once declarer has led (and calling for the card is leading it), dummy should stay quiet. Second, the defenders must be given the option of accepting the lead from the wrong hand – and they never are.

Some people dispute this, saying, ‘Surely dummy is allowed to warn partner he is leading from the wrong hand?’ True, he can warn partner, but only if he manages to do so before it happens. Once the card is played, it is too late – and once a card is called for from dummy, it is too late.

Thus, dummy can stop his partner if he is starting to call a card, or is removing a card from hand.

What else do dummies do wrong? One of the most annoying habits is to play a different card when declarer asks for a card and there are equals. If dummy has A-K-Q and declarer says, ‘queen,’ dummy must play the queen. It breaks people’s concentration if dummy plays the ace and it is rude as well. Similarly, dummies who reach for small cards unasked, or even for a trump when they think declarer is ruffing in the dummy, are a menace. If declarer says, ‘Play anything’, that is a choice for the defenders to make, not dummy.

What else is dummy allowed to do? When declarer has shown out of hearts, he may say, ‘No hearts, partner?’ In effect, he is warning him against

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establishing the revoke. He can also tell declarer he has put a trick the wrong way, but only before the start of the next trick. In addition, if one of the other three draw attention to an irregularity, dummy can (and should) call for the director. If the director wants to know something, he might ask dummy questions: of course, dummy can answer. When the play is over, dummy can call attention to an irregularity, but only then, so if he realises someone has led from the wrong hand or revoked, he can point it out then. He can also point things out about claims that have occurred since play ceases.

The above is about the limit of what dummy can do. Put the dummy down, keep quiet, warn partner against doing things, check partner has not revoked, tell him he has a trick the wrong way, point things out at the end of the hand and nothing more.

Scotland’s Seniors Team at the 2012 European Championships (Willie Coyle, John Matheson,

Derek Diamond, Victor Silverstone, John Murdoch, Iain Sime and Captain Harry Smith) has done us proud, winning Scotland’s first ever medal at this level. This qualifies Scotland for the World Championships in Bali next year and the SBU must soon embark on a fundraising campaign.

Willie Coyle, MBE (for services to education) is the quiet man of Scottish bridge but deservedly the most respected. In partnership with Victor Silverstone he played a key role in Scotland’s glory years in the 1960s and 70s when we broke England’s dominance of the Camrose with five winning series and two ties. He is our most capped player in British Open teams and, with John Matheson, has spearheaded Scotland in senior events. John, a retired GP, is enjoying perhaps his most successful spell ever, challenging Victor Goldberg’s record 15 Scottish Cup wins. Since Scotland achieved separate status in 2000, he has played in every possible international event in either the Open or Senior team. Nothing dims John’s enthusiasm for discussing bridge and, since retirement, he does that a lot.

Willie Coyle was one of very few to make 4♠ on this board from the match against Finland and the only one to score 880 after John Matheson’s pressure redouble. A club lead beats 4♠ trivially, but the jack of hearts looks more tempting. Willie won the ace – he did not want to give West the opportunity to switch. He

drew trumps ending in dummy and casually led the four of hearts from the table. Who can blame East for rising with the queen? Partner might have led from J-3 and he was looking at two diamond tricks and hoped to come to a club eventually. But the queen dropped partner’s ten and Willie could lead the nine from dummy, ruff away the king and discard his losing club on the eight.

NW E

S

Dealer South. E/W Game.

♠ A 10 5 2

♥ A 9 8 4

♦ Q J

♣ A Q 10

♠ Q 7 ♠ 4

♥ J 10 ♥ K Q 7 6 5

♦ 9 8 5 4 ♦ A K 7 2

♣ 9 7 6 4 2 ♣ K J 3

♠ K J 9 8 6 3

♥ 3 2

♦ 10 6 3

♣ 8 5


Matheson Coyle

2♠

Pass 4♠ Dbl Pass

Pass Redbl End

Victor Silverstone is one of our most

capped players, but he moved to London from Glasgow in 1975. After Great Britain was split into three parts, he became English, though you would not think it to hear him talk. When invited to play with Derek Diamond in the Scottish Seniors Trials, he grasped the opportunity with enthusiasm. Derek is a very successful player who rises to the big occasion. As an untried partnership, they had some moments

of considerable interest. There was a board where a Grand Slam could be made in diamonds, spades or no-trumps; Derek and Victor played in 5♣-1 – but they were not the only pair to play in Exclusion Keycard Blackwood. A pair from the winning English Ladies team (I would not dream of naming

names) duplicated their score.

NW E

S

Dealer East. N/S Game.

♠ K

♥ A Q 6 4

♦ A K J 8 4 2

♣ 10 6

♠ A 7 ♠ Q J 10 8 6 4 3

♥ K J 8 5 ♥ 9

♦ Q 3 ♦ 10 9

♣ J 9 8 5 2 ♣ A Q 4

♠ 9 5 2

♥ 10 7 3 2

♦ 7 6 5

♣ K 7 3


Coyle Matheson

3♠ Pass

Pass Dbl Pass 4♥

End

Scottish Seniors Win Bronze in Dublin

by Liz Mcgowan

This was a nice result that helped Scotland to a 20-10 win over silver medallists, Poland. The Polish East opened 4♠, passed round to Derek Diamond, who dou-bled. There were four una-voidable losers and declarer was not gifted with second sight, so North scored his singleton king of spades for two down, 300 to Scotland.

John Matheson favours a loose pre-empting style, but, in deference to his partner, he opened just 3♠. North doubled for takeout and South bid 4♥. Willie led ace and another spade, ruffed in dummy. Victor Marko-wicz (South) tried ace, then queen of hearts, hoping to pin a doubleton jack. Willie won his king and stranded declarer in dummy by lead-ing the queen of diamonds. Markowicz cashed a second top diamond, then exited with a heart, hoping that Willie would be endplayed to lead away from the ace of clubs. No luck: Willie drew trumps and led a club so that John could make his remain-ing spades. Five down gaveScotland a 13 IMP swing.

The third pair, Iain Sime and John Murdoch, are very active on the Scottish bridge scene. John is one of our most capped Camrose players, displaying a very flexible approach in dealing with the idiosyncrasies of several different partners. Iain has become a regular in the Camrose team with John Matheson. Like the rest of us, they sweated through the final match against the Netherlands, watching as the possible medals changed colour from bronze to silver, then back to bronze on the very last board. ■

Scottish Seniors continued

This book was first published in 1982 and introduced the

unsuspecting bridge world to the delights of life in the monastery of St. Titus. This was ruled with a stern hand and a beady eye by its formidable Abbot, Hugo Yorke-Smith, whose main interest seems to lie in the garnering of master points and a good bridge repu-tation rather than more spiritual attainments.

There is a wonderful cast list of players, some good, some hopeless, but the strength of the writers lies in their ability to make these players seem real, as though you know them.

The book consists mainly of the bridge life of these monks, their weekly duplicates and forays into national competition.

The Abbot is incensed when the EBU will not let him enter an all-male team into the Hubert Phillips Bowl, making, as he puts it, no allowance for their predicament. They introduce a relative from a nearby convent to complete the team who, according to the Abbot, will cost the team about 100 points a board. Great stuff, but I have to wonder whether that sort of non-PC humour would get past the censors these days... and of course Sister

Grace turns out to be the best player of them all.

After a short interval in Africa, where two monks go to convert the Bozwambi tribe to Acol and where we meet some more outrageous characters, we return to the monastery.

My favourite story of all has to be the last, which features the sorrowful Brother Anthony who is a member of the silent Eustacian order and therefore, of necessity, an over-cautious bidder. (Bidding boxes were not around in 1982 remember, but, anyway, perhaps their use would be against the spirit of the thing.)

Playing East with the Abbot as his partner, this deal proved too much for Brother Anthony to bear:

NW E

S

♠ 8

♥ 8 6

♦ A 10 5 4 3

♣ A 8 7 3 2

♠ 9 7 5 2 ♠ K Q J 10

♥ 10 9 7 4 3 ♥ K J

♦ 9 7 6 2 ♦ K Q J

♣ Void ♣ K Q J 9

♠ A 6 4 3

♥ A Q 5 2

♦ 8

♣ 10 6 5 4

Forced by his vows to pass throughout, he heard the

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opposing pair bid to 5♣ and, sensing they were making a mockery of him and his Order, he spoke. ‘Double,’ he said, noting that his voice had broken, but, after the lead of the ten of hearts, declarer crossruffed to produce the following ending:

NW E

S

♠ Void

♥ Void

♦ 10 5

♣ A 8

♠ Void ♠ Void

♥ 9 7 3 ♥ Void

♦ 9 ♦ Void

♣ Void ♣ K Q J 9

♠ Void

♥ 5 2

♦ Void

♣ 10 6

The hapless East had to ruff the diamond lead high and return another high trump to the ace. A further diamond lead promoted declarer’s ten of trumps and the game made.

I suspect you either love the authors’ sense of humour or hate it.

I have been a fan ever since these stories first appeared and, although I cannot pretend that the hands will make you a better bridge player, they are likely to make you a happier one.

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She carries just 550 like-minded passengers in home from home comfort. Some of Voyager’s exceptional features will include her vast open deck space allowing for superb vantage points. Smart leather upholstery and wood panelling in the library will offer the perfect area to relax, and contemporary furnishings and large windows in the Veranda restaurant are ideal for leisurely dining.

we are proud to announce that a Mr Bridge team will be on board all Voyager sailings. during the course of her refurbishment a dedicated spacious bridge room will be created. this will allow for spectacular views, giving bridge players the opportunity to thoroughly enjoy their on board bridge experience.

the Mr Bridge ethic is to promote friendly competitive bridge. Your bridge team will offer bridge every evening, there will also be morning seminars and afternoon bridge sessions while the ship is at sea to complement the on board entertainment. You are able to partake as you wish. if you are a single bridge player rest assured that the Mr Bridge team will partner you with other like-minded players.

dinner on board Voyager is open sitting, which allows for greater flexibility. however, we have arranged that Mr Bridge clients can meet up with those in similar circumstances and sit at tables together. Being part of a group means that Mr Bridge passengers should never feel they are alone.

if you have any questions, call the Mr Bridge office on 01483 489961, and our friendly team will be happy to assist.

A

Library

Explorer Grill

Artist’s impressions of Voyager after refurbishment

All fares shown are per person based on two people sharing lowest twin-bedded inside cabin category currently available, are for new bookings only, include all applicable discounts and cannot be combined with any other discounts, excluding Discovery Club discount for past passengers. Cabin number may not be allocated at the time of booking. All fares correct at time of print, are subject to availability and may be changed or withdrawn at any time. Terms and conditions apply. Only bookings made directly with Mr Bridge are eligible to be part of the Mr Bridge Group. See brochure or website for full terms & conditions. Voyages of Discovery is a trading name of All Leisure Holidays Ltd.

www.bridgecruises.co.uk01483 489961 for brochures and bookings

29th APRIL – 14th MAY 2013 16 days from £1,499pp

Follow in the footsteps of Vikings, knights, crusaders and merchants around a sea where recent history is just as intriguing.

BALTIC VOYAGER

Ostend • Kiel CanalWarnemünde • Helsinki St Petersburg • TallinnStockholm • Copenhagen

26th SEPTEMBER – 8th OCTOBER 2013 13 days from £1,979pp

this fascinating voyage takes in medieval walled cities, monuments of ancient greece and transits the remarkable corinth canal.

ADRIATIC, AEGEAN and CORINTH CANAL

Dubrovnik • Kotor Katakolon • Itea • Corinth Canal • Piraeus • Mykonos Volos • Dikili • Canakkale istanbul

St Peter Port • HolyheadLiverpool • Belfast Oban • Port of Tyne

castles, cathedrals, palaces and historic landscapes – all part of the rich heritage of an island nation whose history covers thousands of years.this cruise is in partnership with the national trust.

2nd – 11th JUNE 2013 10 days from £1,099pp

H E R I T A G E of the B R I T I S H I S L E S

11th – 25th JUNE 2013 15 days from £1,719pp

As summer solstice approaches explore the north cape and the awe-inspiring scenery around norway’s beautiful coastline.

Bergen • Brønnøysund Tromsø • Honningsvåg Hammerfest • Leknes Molde • Stavanger

St Peter Port • Fowey Waterford • Dublin Kirkwall • Invergordon Greenwich • Dover

the royal horticultural Society’s chelsea Flower Show takes centre stage on this cruise around the British isles in springtime.

14th – 25th MAY 2013 12 days from £1,319pp

BRITISH ISLES and the CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW

Istanbul • Nesebur Odessa • Sevastopol • Yalta Feodosiya • Novorossiysk Sochi • Batumi • Trabzon

As Voyager traces the Black Sea’s legendary coastline the enthralling history of the region unfolds. Explore legacies of the russian tsars and magnificent Istanbul.

8th OCTOBER – 21st OCTOBER 2013 14 days from £1,999pp

THE LEGENDARY BLACK SEA

THE LAND of the Midnight Sun

25th MAY – 2nd JUNE 2013 9 days from £1,009pp

The Emerald Isle promises a cluster of charming towns, historic cities and a wealth of breathtaking landscapes and spectacular coastlines formed over many millenia.

CELTIC TREASURES

Foynes • Killybegs Portrush • Dublin • Cobh St Peter Port

21st OCTOBER – 2nd NOVEMBER 2013 13 days from £1,599pp

Visit sacred destinations and the marvellous ruins of cities lined with the early history of christianity. there is an option to visit the Holy Land after your cruise.

IN THE FOOTSTEPS of ST PAUL

Istanbul • Canakkale Dikili • Kusadasi Antalya • Patmos • Kavala Thessaloniki • Piraeus

Marseille • Nice • LivornoCivitavecchia • Castellammare Di Stabia • Messina • Brindisi Ancona • Venice • Sibenik Hvar • Dubrovnik

this voyage opens up fascinating chapters of history, visits cities reborn after conflict and others frozen in time.

12th – 26th SEPTEMBER 2013 15 days from £1,899pp

MEDITERRANEAN MEDLEY

A SUPERB SHIP WITH FACILITIES TO MATCH

• Three Restaurants providing a range of options including alfresco dining • 30 Balcony Cabins • Two Lounges • Four Bars • Lecture Theatre

• Library • Pool with two hot tubs • Health and Fitness Centre • Beauty Salon • The Bridge Club • Medical Centre • Internet Centre

S U M M E R 2013


Voyager brochure spread.indd 1-2 30/08/2012 13:31:28

OctOber 2012

5 – 7 The Olde Barn Hotel £245 Suit Establishment

8 Cheltenham Literature Festival £10 10.00-11.00 Hand Evaluation £10 11.30-12.30 Penalty Doubles

12 – 14 Blunsdon House Hotel £245 Landy Defence to 1NT

19 – 21 Chatsworth Hotel £245 Signals and Discards

26 – 28 Cheltenham Regency £245 Doubles

NOvember 2012

2 – 4 Blunsdon House Hotel £245 Squeezes

9 – 11 Inn on the Prom £245 Declarer Play

December 2012

28 – 30 Chatsworth Hotel £245 Better Defence

mArcH 2013

22-24 Queensferry Hotel £245 Leads and Defence

APrIL 2013

5 – 7 Blunsdon House Hotel £245 Losing Trick Count

12 – 14 Chatsworth Hotel £245 Declarer Play

19 – 21 Inn on the Prom £245 Thinking Defence

Full Board – No Single Supplement. See booking form on page 35.

The Olde Barn HotelMarston, Lincs NG32 2HT

Chatsworth HotelWorthing BN11 3DU

2012-2013 BRIDGE EVENTS with Bernard Magee

Blunsdon House HotelSwindon SN26 7AS

26 –28 The Olde Barn Hotel £245 Splinters and Cue Bids

JUNe 2013

7 –9 The Olde Barn Hotel £245 Endplay and Avoidance

14 – 16 Chatsworth Hotel £245 Sacrificing

JULY 2013

5 – 7 Blunsdon House Hotel £245 Signals and Discards

12 – 14 Cheltenham Regency £245 Thinking Defence

OctOber 2013

11 – 13 Blunsdon House Hotel £245 Splinters and Cue Bids

18 – 20 Chatsworth Hotel £245 Playing & Defending 1NT

PROGRAMMEThis is the format for

all Bernard Magee hosted events.

FRIDAY1500 Mr Bridge

Welcome Desk open Afternoon tea/coffee

1745 to 1830 Welcome drinks reception

1830 to 2000 DINNER

2015 BRIDGE 1 DUPLICATE PAIRS

SATURDAY0800 to 0930

BREAKFAST

1000 to 1230 SEMINAR & SUPERVISED PLAY of SET HANDS (tea & coffee at 1100)

1230 to 1330 COLD BUFFET LUNCH

1400 to 1645 BRIDGE 2 TEAMS of FOUR or FURTHER SUPERVISED PLAY of SET HANDS

1815 to 2000 DINNER

2015 BRIDGE 3 DUPLICATE PAIRS

SUNDAY0800 to 0930

BREAKFAST

1000 to 1230 SEMINAR & SUPERVISED PLAY of SET HANDS (tea & coffee at 1100)

1230 to 1400 CARVERY LUNCH

1400 to 1645 BRIDGE 4 FURTHER SUPERVISED PLAY of SET HANDS or DUPLICATE PAIRS

Cheltenham Regency Hotel Cheltenham GL51 0ST

Bernard Magee’s Bidding Quiz

You are West in the auctions below, playing ‘Standard Acol’ with a weak no-trump (12-14 points) and four-card majors. (Answers overleaf.)

NW E

S

1. Dealer East. Game All.

♠ Q J 4 3

♥ 3 2

♦ 7 6 4

♣ Q 10 8 6


2NT Pass

?

NW E

S

2. Dealer East. Love All.

♠ K Q 3

♥ Q 7 6

♦ Q 10 9 3

♣ Q 7 4


2♣1 Pass

?

1Acol, strong and artificial

NW E

S

3. Dealer North. N/S Game.

♠ J 10 5

♥ A 6 3 2

♦ K 5 3

♣ Q 9 8


Pass 1NT Pass

?

NW E

S


♠ A 9 6 4

♥ 5

♦ A 9 5 4

♣ A 7 5 3


3♥ Pass

?

Bridge Tie

Treat yourself to a beautiful hand-crafted bridge table.

Made in France from specially selected beech our tables will grace any room. Mahogany or cherry finish

Traditional green felt or luxury velour playing surface.

Folds flat. Patented Hinging Device

Three different models from £149

Phone 01483 750611www.bridge-tables.co.uk

S R Designs, 1 Hook Hill Park, Woking, GU22 0PX

FREE COLOURBROCHURE

£15including postage

& packing

From Mr Bridge

( 01483 489961

www.mrbridge.co.uk

Order Form on page 7

Full Board – No Single Supplement. See booking form on page 35.

Inn on the Prom St Annes-on-Sea FY8 1LU

2012-2013 BRIDGE EVENTS with Bernard Magee

26 –28 The Olde Barn Hotel £245 Splinters and Cue Bids

JUNe 2013

7 –9 The Olde Barn Hotel £245 Endplay and Avoidance

14 – 16 Chatsworth Hotel £245 Sacrificing

JULY 2013

5 – 7 Blunsdon House Hotel £245 Signals and Discards

12 – 14 Cheltenham Regency £245 Thinking Defence

OctOber 2013

11 – 13 Blunsdon House Hotel £245 Splinters and Cue Bids

18 – 20 Chatsworth Hotel £245 Playing & Defending 1NT

Queensferry Hotel North Queensferry KY11 1HP

NEW SEMINAR

NW E

S

1. Dealer East. Game All.

♠ Q J 4 3 ♠ A K 8 6

♥ 3 2 ♥ A Q 5

♦ 7 6 4 ♦ 8 3

♣ Q 10 8 6 ♣ A K 9 7


2NT Pass

?

3♣. 2NT shows 20-22 points so, with five points, you should go for game: you will have 25-27 points between you. With this hand, you would also like to explore which game: a spade contract may play better if you have a fit.

The solution is to bid Stayman. It is the same as Stayman at the 2-level, just one level higher. Yes, this is a natural extension of Acol, although some play Baron or five-card Stayman (again using the 3♣ bid) – they all enable you to find the 4-4 spade fit.

3♣ asks opener whether he has a four-card major; here, your partner would bid 3♠, which you would raise to 4♠.

This would make easily against reasonable breaks, whilst 3NT would fall foul of a diamond lead unless the suit divides 4-4.

NW E

S


♠ K Q 3 ♠ A

♥ Q 7 6 ♥ A K 5 4

♦ Q 10 9 3 ♦ 7

♣ Q 7 4 ♣ A K J 10 9 8 6


2♣1 Pass

? 1Acol, strong and artificial

2NT. What are the responses to the artificial 2♣? 2♦ is weak while all other bids are natural and positive.

You are not weak and have no particu-lar suit to mention, so no-trumps is the best call, but at what level: 2NT or 3NT?

Some might plump for 3NT because 2NT might just show 8-10 points – the snag is that it uses up too much space. Remember, partner might have a distri-butional hand when he opens 2♣ and he might want to tell you about it. East will rebid 3♣ over 2NT, giving you plenty of space to explore on your way to 6♣.

NW E

S

3. Dealer North. N/S Game.

♠ J 10 5 ♠ K Q 7 6

♥ A 6 3 2 ♥ K 5 4

♦ K 5 3 ♦ A 6

♣ Q 9 8 ♣ J 4 3 2


Pass 1NT Pass

?

Pass. 1NT shows 12-14 points and you hold 10 points. That makes a maximum of 24 points – not enough for game. You have no five-card suit, so a no-trump contract is likely to be best.

Is there anything else to consider? Well, you have one ten and one nine, which is merely average, so you should not add on anything for that. Even if you

Answers to Bernard Magee’s Bidding Quiz on page 21

did add anything for intermediates, you would take it off again for your ugly 4333 shape. No, it is certainly right to pass.

In no-trumps, the defence start with diamonds; partner wins and knocks out the ♠A; back comes another diamond. There are seven tricks but no more: one of the defenders started with five dia-monds, giving them six tricks – the ♠A, the ♣A-K and three diamonds.

As you can see, it is lucky you did not try 2NT or 2♣ (Stayman). Partner would probably have passed 2NT: even that would have been too high.

NW E

S


♠ A 9 6 4 ♠ 7 2

♥ 5 ♥ K J 10 8 7 6 4

♦ A 9 5 4 ♦ 3

♣ A 7 5 3 ♣ K 9 2


3♥ Pass

?

Pass. Partner has made a weak pre-emptive bid; all you have for him are three aces. With no great fit, you have no reason to alter the contract.

Pre-empts are designed to obstruct the opponents’ bidding. Every so often, they affect your own side; the best solution is simply to accept that the gains have to be tempered by a few losses.

Here, you suffer no adverse effect – 3♥ is the perfect resting place, while 4♥ would need a lot of luck to come home. ■

Mr Bridge Premium Quality CardsStandard Faces, with or without bar codes. Unboxed.

6 red / 6 blue £19.95 30 red / 30 blue only £60Available from The London Bridge Centre. ( 020 7288 1305 www.bridgeshop.com

JUST DUPLICATE with Mr Bridge

Elstead Hotel, Bournemouth BH1 3QP

9-11 November 2012

16-18 November 2012Please note there are no seminars

or set hands at these events.

Chatsworth Hotel, Worthing BN11 3DU

16-18 November 2012 hosted by Crombie McNeil

30 Nov - 2 Dec 2012 hosted by Ned Paul

£169 Full-boardNo Single Supplement

Payment in full at the time of booking.

Please see booking form on page 35.

NW E

S

1. ♠ Q 6 ♥ K 5 ♦ J 10 8 7 4 2 ♣ A K 3 ♠ A 10 ♥ 10 7 4 3 ♦ K 9 5 ♣ J 8 6 5

West North East South 1♦ Pass 1♠ Pass 2♦ Pass 3NT End

West leads the ♥Q, won by the ♥K. Declarer calls for the ♦J. What do you do?

NW E

S

2. ♠ Q J 9 6 ♥ K 10 5 3 ♦ 7 2 ♣ A K 3 ♠ K 7 3 ♥ A Q 7 ♦ 10 9 8 5 4 ♣ 8 6

West North East South 1NT Pass 2♣ Pass 2♠ Pass 4♠ End

West leads the ♦K. Declarer takes the ♦A, crosses to the ♣A and calls for the ♠Q. What do you do?

NW E

S

3. ♠ K 8 6 2 ♥ J 10 8 4 ♦ K 7 ♣ J 4 3 ♠ J 9 5 4 ♥ A Q 3 ♦ A 8 3 ♣ Q 10 6

West North East South 1♥ 3♦1 3♥ Pass 4♥ End 1Weak

West leads the ♦Q. You win the ♦K with the ♦A and return the suit. Declarer ruffs, goes to dummy with a spade and calls for the ♥J. How do you defend?

NW E

S

4. ♠ K Q 6 ♥ J 10 3 ♦ K 7 ♣ J 10 8 4 3 ♠ J 9 5 4 ♥ K 6 4 2 ♦ A Q 3 ♣ 7 6

West North East South 1♥

Pass 2♣ Pass 2NT

Pass 3♥ Pass 4♥

End

West leads the ♦J. You win the first two tricks with your ♦A and ♦Q. How do you proceed?

DEFENCEQUIZ

by Julian Pottage (Answers overleaf)

You are East in the defensive positions below. It is your turn to play. Both sides are using Acol with a 12-14 1NT.

Answers to Julian Pottage’s Defence Quiz on page 23

NW E

S

1. ♠ Q 6

♥ K 5

♦ J 10 8 7 4 2

♣ A K 3

♠ J 9 7 4 ♠ A 10

♥ Q J 9 6 ♥ 10 7 4 3

♦ Q 6 ♦ K 9 5

♣ 9 7 4 ♣ J 8 6 5

♠ K 8 5 3 2

♥ A 8 2

♦ A 3

♣ Q 10 2


1♦ Pass 1♠

Pass 2♦ Pass 3NT

End

West leads the ♥Q won by the ♥K. Declarer calls for the ♦J. What do you do?

The rule to cover the last of touching honours works well here. If you cover the first time, declarer wins with the ace and plays back to the ten; up comes the queen to leave the suit established.

The way to make two tricks is to let partner win the first diamond, leaving your king-nine as a tenace over the ten. Ducking also gains if partner has the sin-gleton queen because you do not want to waste your king on the same trick as partner’s queen.

NW E

S

2. ♠ Q J 9 6

♥ K 10 5 3

♦ 7 2

♣ A K 3

♠ 10 4 ♠ K 7 3

♥ 8 6 4 ♥ A Q 7

♦ K Q J 6 ♦ 10 9 8 5 4

♣ 9 7 5 4 ♣ 8 6

♠ A 8 5 2

♥ J 9 2

♦ A 3

♣ Q J 10 2


1NT

Pass 2♣ Pass 2♠

Pass 4♠ End

West leads the ♦K. Declarer takes the ♦A, crosses to the ♣A and calls for the ♠Q. What do you do?

This time, you have poorer spot cards in the suit declarer is attacking. This time, declarer may hold the ten of spades and pick up the suit whatever you do. Can you see why it is still a good idea to duck? You are really hoping that partner has the ten of spades. If you duck, de-clarer has a guess. If you started with K-x and partner with 10-x-x, it would be right to lead low next. On the actual layout, when you began with K-x-x and partner with 10-x, the winning action is to con-tinue with the jack to pin the ten. Some of the time, declarer is bound to guess wrong. Of course, if you cover first time, declarer has no guess – partner’s ten pops up on the second round, resolving the suit.

NW E

S

3. ♠ K 8 6 2

♥ J 10 8 4

♦ K 7

♣ J 4 3

♠ Q 10 3 ♠ J 9 5 4

♥ 6 ♥ A Q 3

♦ Q J 9 6 5 4 2 ♦ A 8 3

♣ 9 5 ♣ Q 10 6

♠ A 7

♥ K 9 7 5 2

♦ 10

♣ A K 8 7 2


1♥

3♦1 3♥ Pass 4♥

End 1Weak

West leads the ♦Q. You win the ♦K with the ♦A and return the suit. Declarer ruffs, goes to dummy with a spade and calls

for the ♥J. How do you defend?You have a three-way choice this time

– duck, cover with the queen or win with the ace. If you duck, you presume declar-er will play low too and the lead will stay in dummy. You will make only one trump trick. Playing the queen is even worse. You do not even leave declarer the op-tion of a losing guess (playing you for A-x). Correct is to take your ace. Having done so, you want to keep the lead out of dummy. You do not want to return a trump, giving a free finesse. Nor do you want to concede a ruff and discard or play from your queen of clubs. Correct is to exit with a spade.

NW E

S

4. ♠ K Q 6

♥ J 10 3

♦ K 7

♣ J 10 8 4 3

♠ 10 8 3 2 ♠ J 9 5 4

♥ 8 ♥ K 6 4 2

♦ J 10 9 6 2 ♦ A Q 3

♣ A 9 5 ♣ 7 6

♠ A 7

♥ A Q 9 7 5

♦ 8 5 4

♣ K Q 2


1♥

Pass 2♣ Pass 2NT

Pass 3♥ Pass 4♥

End

West leads the ♦J. You win the first two tricks with your ♦A and ♦Q. How do you proceed?

You should anticipate that declarer intends to finesse against your king of hearts. How do you protect this card from capture? Yes, you will duck the jack (and the ten). You must also reduce dum-my’s trump length to stop declarer from finessing on the third round. You should play a third diamond, forcing dummy to ruff. ■

NW E

S

1. ♠ K Q 9

♥ 7 6 3

♦ J 7 5

♣ A Q 6 3

♠ A J 10 7 5 3

♥ A 8 2

♦ 9 6

♣ J 2

You are declarer in 4♠. West leads the ♦A-K and a third diamond, which you ruff. How do you plan the play?

NW E

S

2. ♠ A 10

♥ 7 6 3

♦ 8 2

♣ A K 10 9 6 4

♠ Q 9 4 3

♥ K 4

♦ A Q J

♣ Q 8 7 3

You are declarer in 3NT and West leads the ♠2. How do you plan the play?

NW E

S

3. ♠ A 4

♥ 8 7 5 4

♦ K 7 5

♣ Q J 6 4

♠ K Q 3

♥ A 10 9 3 2

♦ A 8 3

♣ K 2

You are declarer in 4♥ and West leads the ♠J. How do you plan the play?

NW E

S

4. ♠ K 8 3

♥ 7 6 4

♦ K J 10

♣ A K 6 4

♠ A

♥ A 5 2

♦ A Q 9 7 6 3

♣ 7 3 2

You are declarer in 6♦ and West leads the ♥Q. How do you plan the play?

DECLARER

PLAY

QUIZby David Huggett

(Answers overleaf)

You are South as declarer playing teams or rubber bridge. In each case, what is your play strategy?

OCTOBER 2012

6 NSPCC Bridge & Supper, Royal British Legion, Sutton. £10. Wendy Powell ( 01353 664752

16 CHRISTCHURCH & EAST DORSET CONSERVATIVE ASSOCIATION 7.00pm. West Parley Memorial Hall, Christchurch Road, West Parley. £26/table inc. supper. Maureen Anderson ( 01202 894819

20 FORCE Chicago bridge at St John’s Ambulance Hall, Seaton. 2pm. £20 per table to include tea and cakes. Frances Sell ( 01297 552721

20 RNLI Cheltenham Bridge Club 10.30am–4pm. Lunch & glass of wine. £15pp. Margaret Beverley ( 01242 510193

24 NSPCC Chicago Bridge Lunch. £48 per table to include ploughman’s lunch with wine. Court Gardens Farm, Ditchling, East Sussex. 11 for 11:30am. ( 07860 736077

24 MARDEN HOUSE CENTRE Bridge Drive at Marden House, New Road, Calne, Wiltshire SN11 0JJ. Raffle in aid of ARTHRITIS RESEARCH UK 10.30am for 11am start. Excellent lunch with wine or juice. Tickets £17.50 per person. Jane Rowell ( 01249 819619 [email protected]

27 WELCARE IN BROMLEY St George’s Church Hall, Bickley Park Road, Bickley, BR1 2BE. 2pm to 5.30pm. Come with a partner for Progressive Chicago. £6 per person including tea/coffee with light refreshments. Gillian Scales ( 020 8663 3173 [email protected]

E-mail your charity events: [email protected]

CHARITY BRIDGE EVENTS

OCTOBER continued

28 CHIGWELL RIDING TRUST FOR SPECIAL NEEDS St John the Baptist Church, Church Lane, Loughton, IG10 1PD. 2.30pm. Tickets £10 per person to include a sumptuous tea. Gerald ( 0208 508 7035

29 RNLI Bridge afternoon at Waltham Chase Village Hall (near Bishop’s Waltham). 1.30pm for 2pm - 5pm. £40 a table including tea. Sue Carpenter [email protected] ( 01489 893843

31 THE ROTARY CLUB OF BOLTON-LE-MOORS Bolton Golf Club, Chorley New Road, BL6 4AJ. 1pm prompt. Tickets £8 (including afternoon tea and prizes). Michael Cull ( 01204 842910

NOVEMBER 2012

2 WESSEX CANCER TRUST SOUTHAMPTON GROUP Rubber bridge, Highfield Church Centre Highfield Lane, Southampton. 7pm for 7.15pm start. £6pp. Gwen Pearce ( 023 8023 6145

2 RNLI St Paul’s Church Hall, Pixmore Way, Letchworth Garden City. £48 per table, includes lunch at 12.30pm and afternoon tea and biscuits. Keith Groves ( 01462 632673

3 EYE CANCER Reynolds Institute, Dorchester Road, Weymouth. 2pm start. £32 per table including tea. Gene Hill ( 01305 786509

22 HUDDERSFIELD PENNINE ROTARY CLUB 12 noon for 12.30pm. Outlane Golf Club. £44 per table including lunch, tea and biscuits. Brian Noble ( 01484 427356

Answers to David Huggett’s Play Quiz on page 25

NW E

S

1. ♠ K Q 9

♥ 7 6 3

♦ J 7 5

♣ A Q 6 3

♠ 8 2 ♠ 6 4

♥ K J 4 ♥ Q 10 9 5

♦ A K 8 3 ♦ Q 10 4 2

♣ 10 8 5 4 ♣ K 9 7

♠ A J 10 7 5 3

♥ A 8 2

♦ 9 6

♣ J 2

You are declarer in 4♠. West leads the ♦A-K and a third diamond, which you ruff. How do you plan the play?

The contract looks rather hopeless, though the defence has given you a chance by playing a third diamond. Ob-viously, it would do no good to lead the jack of clubs because West would cover if he had the king – and yet somehow you need to make three club tricks. So having ruffed the third diamond, play a trump to dummy and continue by playing a low club. If East wins, he will be giving you the three club tricks you require so he does better to duck. Then, after winning with the jack, you play a club to the ace and ruff a club. On a good day, the king will fall, so you finish by drawing trumps ending in dummy, throwing a heart on the queen of clubs.

NW E

S

2. ♠ A 10

♥ 7 6 3

♦ 8 2

♣ A K 10 9 6 4

♠ J 8 7 2 ♠ K 6 5

♥ A 9 2 ♥ Q J 10 8 5

♦ 10 7 5 4 ♦ K 9 6 3

♣ J 2 ♣ 5

♠ Q 9 4 3

♥ K 4

♦ A Q J

♣ Q 8 7 3

You are declarer in 3NT and West leads the ♠2. How do you plan the play?

While it looks natural to play low from dummy, this would be wrong. Suppose East wins with the king and plays a heart; in this case, you would need to find the ace of that suit well placed. So put up the ace of spades immediately and take a diamond finesse. This way you are go-ing to suffer defeat only if the king of spades, the ace of hearts and the king of diamonds are all wrong. In other words, you need only one out of three finesses to work as opposed to one out of two: you have boosted your chance by 12.5%.

NW E

S

3. ♠ A 4

♥ 8 7 5 4

♦ K 7 5

♣ Q J 6 4

♠ J 10 9 7 2 ♠ 8 6 5

♥ Void ♥ K Q J 6

♦ Q 10 6 4 ♦ J 9 2

♣ 10 8 7 3 ♣ A 9 5

♠ K Q 3

♥ A 10 9 3 2

♦ A 8 3

♣ K 2

You are declarer in 4♥ and West leads the ♠J. How do you plan the play?

When things look to be easy, this is the time to take extra care. Your losing diamond in hand can be discarded on an eventual club winner from dummy, so the only losers you have are the ace of clubs and as many hearts as fortune dictates. Win the opening lead in dummy and lead a low heart, inserting the nine from hand if East follows with a low card. More often than not, you will lose to an honour in the West hand: if that hap-pens, it means that you can lose at most two tricks in trumps. You will win any re-turn in hand, cash the ace of hearts and drive out the club ace.

Every now and again, East will hold all four missing trumps and your foresight

in anticipating a possible bad break will pay dividends.

NW E

S

4. ♠ K 8 3

♥ 7 6 4

♦ K J 10

♣ A K 6 4

♠ J 9 7 4 ♠ Q 10 6 5 2

♥ Q J 10 3 ♥ K 9 8

♦ 8 2 ♦ 5 4

♣ Q 10 5 ♣ J 9 8

♠ A

♥ A 5 2

♦ A Q 9 7 6 3

♣ 7 3 2

You are declarer in 6♦ and West leads the ♥Q. How do you plan the play?

Although the slam is far from ideal and they have found your weak spot straight away, there is still hope. With only eleven tricks on top, you clearly have to make another club trick; for that to happen, you need a 3-3 break. So take the ace of hearts and cash the spade ace. Then cash two rounds of trumps ending in dummy and discard a club on the king of spades. Play the two top clubs and ruff a third round. If the suit has broken as required, you will be able to enter dummy with a third trump and pitch a losing heart on the long club. Note that you play this way, taking initially only two rounds of trumps, whether or not all fol-low to them: you need the third round as an entry to dummy. ■

BEGIN BRIDGE ACOL VERSIONAn Interactive Tutorial CD with Bernard Magee

See Mail Order form on page 7. £66

Andrew Kambites’

Lead QuizYou are West in the auctions below playing teams or rubber bridge. It is your lead. (Answers overleaf.)

NW E

S

1 ♠ 7 4 3 2 ♥ 8 2 ♦ 9 5 4 ♣ 9 5 3 2


1♣ 1♥ 1NT Pass 3NT End

NW E

S

2 ♠ 7 4 3 2 ♥ Q 8 2 ♦ 9 5 4 ♣ 5 3 2


1♣ 1♥ 1NT

Pass 3NT End

NW E

S

3 ♠ 7 4 3 2 ♥ 8 7 5 ♦ 9 5 4 ♣ 8 3 2


1♣ 1♥ 1NT

Pass 3NT End

NW E

S

4 ♠ A J 3 ♥ 9 7 5 3 2 ♦ J 7 ♣ J 6 3


1♣ Pass 1NT Pass 3NT End

OctOber 2012

12-14 Ardington Hotel £245 Losing Trick Count Sandy Bell

19-21 The Olde Barn Hotel £215 Signals and Discards Stan Powell

NOvember 2012

2-4 The Olde Barn Hotel £215 Game Tries David Stead

9-11 Blunsdon House Hotel £245 Suit Establishment Ned Paul

16-18 Chatsworth Hotel Worthing £169 Finding Slams Crombie McNeil

23-25 The Olde Barn Hotel £215 Playing Suit Combinations Will Parsons

23-25 Queensferry Hotel £245 Game Tries Crombie McNeil

30-2/12 Chatsworth Hotel Worthing £169 Endplay and Avoidance Ned Paul

FebrUArY 2013

15-17 The Cheltenham Regency £245 Hand Evaluation Chris Williams

Tutorial Bridge Breaks

Ardington HotelWorthing BN11 3DZ

See booking form on page 35.

The Olde Barn HotelMarston, Lincs NG32 2HT

Blunsdon House HotelSwindon SN26 7AS

Answers to Andrew Kambites’ Lead Quiz on page 27

NW E

S

1. ♠ A K J

♥ 6 4 3

♦ K Q 10

♣ K Q J 10

♠ 7 4 3 2 ♠ Q 8 5

♥ 8 2 ♥ A Q J 7 5

♦ 9 5 4 ♦ 6 3 2

♣ 9 5 3 2 ♣ A 4

♠ 10 9 6

♥ K 10 9

♦ A J 8 7

♣ 8 7 6


1♣ 1♥ 1NT

Pass 3NT End

Partner has overcalled hearts and there is certainly no reason not to lead his suit. Lead the ♥8: top of a doubleton.

NW E

S

2. ♠ Q J 8

♥ 6 3

♦ A K J

♣ A Q J 10 8

♠ 7 4 3 2 ♠ A 10 6

♥ Q 8 2 ♥ A 10 9 7 5

♦ 9 5 4 ♦ 8 7 2

♣ 5 3 2 ♣ K 6

♠ K 9 5

♥ K J 4

♦ Q 10 6 3

♣ 9 7 4


1♣ 1♥ 1NT

Pass 3NT End

You are certainly going to lead a heart: the question is: ‘Which one’?

A certain group of players automatically lead: ‘Top of partner’s suit.’ While I suppose this has the merit of clearing up which is your top card, it has major practical disadvantages. The disadvantage here is that the card is wasted: here, it should serve the vital purpose of neutralising an honour in

declarer’s hand. Suppose you lead the ♥Q. Declarer

then has a second heart stopper. He wins with the ♥K, finesses clubs and makes ten tricks without needing to touch spades: two hearts, four diamonds and four clubs.

If you had chosen to lead a heart from a holding of ♥Q-8-2 in a suit partner had not bid, you would have led the ♥2. There is no reason to depart from your normal lead just because partner has bid the suit. Partner takes the ♥A and analyses your lead. You will see in Hand 3 that you do not lead your lowest card from three small, so either you have led a singleton (in which case declarer has an unlikely holding of ♥K-Q-J-8-4) or you have an honour (K, Q or J). Partner returns a heart; then a clever declarer will also realise you have a heart honour: clearly, you started with ♥Q-x-x. Declarer rises with his ♥K to try to block the suit and finesses clubs. Partner takes the ♣K and leads a heart to your ♥Q. Having no heart left, you try a spade: two down.

NW E

S

3. ♠ K Q J

♥ 4

♦ A K J 10

♣ K Q J 10 4

♠ 7 4 3 2 ♠ 8 6 5

♥ 8 7 5 ♥ A Q J 9 6 2

♦ 9 5 4 ♦ 3 2

♣ 8 3 2 ♣ A 5

♠ A 10 9

♥ K 10 3

♦ Q 8 7 6

♣ 9 7 6


1♣ 1♥ 1NT

Pass 3NT End

The usual lead from three small cards is the middle one. Then play the top one, followed by the lowest – middle-up-down – MUD. As in Hand 2, there is no reason to change just because partner has bid the suit. Lead the ♥7.

Why would it be a mistake to lead the ♥8? When you follow with a lower heart next time, partner might assume you had a doubleton. That would mean declarer started with ♥K-10-x-x and has two heart stoppers. Lacking the entries to drive out two heart stoppers, partner might decide not to set up a second heart trick for declarer and abandon the suit.

Opinions differ as to whether to lead the seven (MUD) or the four from a holding of 10-7-4. I believe the seven is better.

NW E

S

4. ♠ 9 8 4

♥ 10 6

♦ A K Q

♣ A K Q 10 8

♠ A J 3 ♠ Q 10 7 5 2

♥ 9 7 5 3 2 ♥ A J 8

♦ J 7 ♦ 6 4 3 2

♣ J 6 3 ♣ 4

♠ K 6

♥ K Q 4

♦ 10 9 8 5

♣ 9 7 5 2


1♣ Pass 1NT

Pass 3NT End

Traditionally, you would have led a fourth highest ♥3. Partner would win the ♥A and probably see no reason not to return the ♥J, allowing declarer to make eleven easy tricks. You cannot blame partner: you might have held ♥K-9-7-3-2.

Modern theory is to lead the second highest card from a suit with no honour (A, K, Q or J). This is rather like comparing Hands 2 and 3: the bottom card from an honour but the middle from three small. If you play this lead style (known as leading second best from a bad suit), you will lead the ♥7. Partner should work out that it cannot be fourth highest and (from South’s failure to bid 1♥) that it cannot be from ♥K-9-7. Realising there is no future in hearts, partner will switch to the ♠5, leading to a quick two down. ■

QAs someone who has been play-ing bridge for

around 40 years, I have noticed a few changes in Acol bidding. The minimum strength for a two-over-one response seems to have increased from 8 points to 9, while the range for a 1NT rebid seems to have widened from 15-16 to 15-17.

Does the English Bridge Union Teach-ers’ Association instruct its teachers to follow a particular method and does it update this from time to time?Ronald Bernstein, Wembley.

A A review of the relevant section of the EBU website sug-

gests that the EBU does not ‘instruct’ teachers to adopt a particular method. However, it does provide resources to teachers, based on its ‘Standard English’ method of bidding, which I would say amounts to a recom-mendation. I do know that it updates its recommended methods from time to time; indeed, I understand that the range of the 1NT rebid was on the agenda recently.

QMy partner opened 2NT and I held:

♠ 8 5 3

♥ 5 3

♦ A 8 5 4 3 2

♣ 9 8

I passed and we made several over-tricks, as did the other pairs. Partner held:

♠ A K 4

♥ A 9

♦ Q J 7

♣ A Q 10 7 6

Although the opponents found the heart lead, diamonds broke kindly, 2-2 with the king onside. Should I have raised?Shirley Lake, Camden, London.

AWith 4 points, the usual rule is to pass a 20-22 2NT open-

ing. With the points loaded in one hand, 24-25 points often fails to produce game. Here the situation is a little unusual because so much depends upon partner’s

diamond holding. Facing a doubleton, the hand is going to be worth only one trick. Facing a three-card or longer holding, and assuming the opponents cannot get their long suit going first, it might be worth four or five tricks.

Playing teams or rub-ber bridge, I would raise to 3NT. Going down (or an extra one down), if the diamonds do not run, is of little consequence compared with the chance of making game. At matchpoints, as you were playing, pass-ing seems reasonable.

♣♦♥♠

QMy partner and I missed a slam on these hands:

NW E

S

♠ 6 4 ♠ A K Q 7 5

♥ A 9 3 ♥ K Q 10 5 2

♦ K 10 ♦ Q 9

♣ K Q J 5 3 2 ♣ A

West East

1♣ 2♠

3♣ 4♥

End

Surely with a very strong hand like East’s, it is better to take the bid-

ding slowly. The bid-ding could have started 1♣-1♥-2♣-2♠-3♥; then East can go for the slam. Hugh Ball by email.

A East should respond 1♠, not 2♠ and certainly not 1♥. With

a two-suited hand (not with one of your suits the same as opener’s), the modern thinking is that you should not jump shift. In any case, if you do start with 2♠, there is no need to jump to 4♥ on the next round – 2♠ already created a game force.

A 1♥ response is also wrong; you should not lie about your suit lengths to create a force. If you give West three spades and two hearts, responding 1♥ would result in missing the 5-3 spade fit because West would think that East has only four spades.

A possible auction for the hands is 1♣-1♠-2♣-2♥ (forcing)-2NT-3♥-4♥-4NT-5♦-6♥. East infers from West’s 2NT bid that the op-ponents do not have two fast diamond winners. If you do not feel confident of the dia-mond situation, East would have to cue bid 4♠. Then West could bid 4NT and go on to bid the slam.

Julian Pottage answers your bridge questions

Changes in Acol Bidding

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Ask Julian continued

QI have always believed that 25 points is what

one is aiming for in 3NT and 26 for a game in a major suit. When play-ing last night, an op-ponent said that it was the other way round i.e. 26 for 3NT and 25 for a major game. Could you please clarify?Helen Belcham by email.

A You need to make an extra trick for game in a major, which is

why the recommended point count is higher, 26 for 4♥/♠ rather than 25 for 3NT. I am not sure where your op-ponent got the alternative information from, hopefully not from this publication.

♣♦♥♠

QI am helping with a beginners’ class and would

like to teach Benji Acol, but some tell me that we must teach Standard Acol. Is there a standard? My research does not come up with an answer.Wendy Pattinson, Rugby.

A This is a free country – you can teach what-

ever you like. Quite a lot of people play Benji Acol in clubs and tournaments.

♣♦♥♠

QI opened 2NT (20-22 points); my partner

replied 3♦. I took this to mean that she was strong and making a slam try; afterwards, she said that she had

7 diamonds and only 5 points. What should she have done? A weak take-out over 2NT, I am not sure how to convey this. Christine Barnes by email.

AMost players do not have a weak takeout into diamonds

available after a 2NT opening. With 5 points, you would not want to be making a weak takeout anyway. The partnership has 25-27 points, which suggests bidding game. Depending upon the hand’s shape and how likely the diamonds are to run, responder could bid 3NT or 5♦, neither of which would be a slam try.

♣♦♥♠

QWhen a partner-ship has enough high card points

for game but the losing trick count shows too many losers for game, which system should take precedence? For example, my partner and I had a fit in hearts with enough HCP for game, while the LTC showed only enough values for 3♥. My part-ner made 4♥, though only because two dia-mond finesses worked. Margaret Williams by email.

A No valuation method is 100% accurate. Some players use

both methods, bidding to the higher of the two. They never miss game but do get a lot of minus scores. I would not recommend that approach.

If one method tells you to bid game and the other does not, at least you know you have a close decision. The sensible approach in such a situation is to consider how well your values are working.

Values in the trump suit are always good, as usually are aces and kings. Holdings like Q-x-x are quite good in a suit partner has bid but are of dubious value in an unbid suit. Three low is generally a poor holding in partner’s suit. If you have reasonably good holdings in trumps and other suits that your partner has bid, go for game. If not, stay low.

♣♦♥♠

QNormally, we play Stayman and transfers in

response to partner’s 1NT bid. What is the normal procedure if the LHO of the 1NT bidder doubles, especially if you have not agreed ‘wriggle’ or defence to a double of 1NT?John Collins, Welwyn Garden City.

A The standard practice in the absence of any agreement is

that transfers and Stayman are off after the double. This is because you might well want to play in 2♣ or 2♦ (rather than 1NT doubled) and you are not going to wish to investigate game (normally you would be happy to play in 1NT doubled or 1NT redoubled if you have a good hand).

Many players use some sort of wriggle with some success. Opponents are often strangely reluctant to double an escape bid. The general idea with a wriggle is that you redouble to show a single suited hand (opener then bids a forced 2♣, which you pass with clubs or correct to your long suit) and that an immediate bid shows the lower of two suits. The only type of wriggle to avoid is one that rules out

playing in 1NT doubled.

♣♦♥♠

QMy partner opened 1♦ and I am sitting with:

♠ 6

♥ K Q

♦ Q J 8 4 2

♣ A Q 8 4 2

What should I bid?Nora Bridge by email.

A If you are playing strong jump shifts, which most

people do, it would seem reasonable to bid 3♣. You intend to support diamonds at your next turn.

♣♦♥♠

QWhat happens if either bidder (say opener

or responder) passes an Acol forcing bid, e.g. 1♦-pass-1♥-pass-1♠-pass? Linda Paterson, Ipswich.

A If you pass a forcing bid, this may not be good

for partnership morale and might land you in the wrong contract. However, it does happen from time to time. A player who has psyched or bid very light might pass a forcing bid, for example.

On your sequence, a simple 1♠ rebid would not be forcing. I assume you meant to say that opener jumped to 2♠. If, for instance, responder held a 3505 Yarborough and did not fancy leaving 1♦ in with a void, it would be reasonable to pass 2♠. With a normal responding hand, of course, you would bid again.


QMy partner opened 2♣ (Acol). I held:

♠ K Q 7 5

♥ Q 9 5 3 2

♦ 10 5 4

♣ 6

I responded 2♦. My partner jumped to 3NT. Not knowing what to do, I passed. It easily made 13 tricks. What are your thoughts?Stephen Lamley, Lancaster.

A Partner, who would rebid 2NT with 23-24, has shown

25-27 by jumping to 3NT. With 32-34 points be-tween the hands, you do not want to stop in 3NT.

You really want to bid 4♣, Stayman, with a view to checking for key cards (and a possible grand slam) if partner shows a four-card major. You might try 4♣ even if you are unsure of its meaning: if partner raises to 5♣, at least you will know he has not taken it as Stayman.

If you think that would not work, the choices are 4NT (invitational) and 6NT.

♣♦♥♠

QDoes a jump in the original suit bid by opener

agree the suit when partner had responded in a different suit? I thought both partners had to bid the same suit at some level to agree it was the trump suit.Pauline Bailey,Shalford, Surrey.

A If the bidding goes something like 1♠-pass-2♦-pass-3♠,

opener is indicating values and a good six-card suit. However, the rebid does not set the suit as trumps. While it is quite common to play that 4♣ or 4♥ (the unbid suits) by responder would then be cue bids agreeing spades, there are some bids that do not agree spades, 3NT for example.

♣♦♥♠

QPlease can you advise on taking partner out

of his 5-card overcall to your 5-card suit? When should you do it and is it forcing?Beryl Pattinson by email.

A I like to play a change of suit after partner’s overcall

as forcing so that a bid of opener’s suit (unassuming cue bid) guarantees support. However, the majority view seems to be to play a new suit as non-forcing. If you play it as non-forcing, you need to have a suit that is likely to be a better trump suit than partner’s suit, something like K-Q-10-9-x or K-J-9-x-x-x; remember, you will often get to play in your suit if the bid is non-forcing.

If you play the new suit as forcing, the suit quality is slightly less important but you need enough values to be making a forcing bid – enough to think that your side has the balance of power. Some people play that a new suit is non-forcing after a one-level overcall but forcing after a two-level overcall. This is because partner will often have a six-card suit to overcall at the two level and so is less likely to need a ‘rescue’.

Originally published in 1987, this book is the third in the

series about the bridge-playing monks of St. Titus. Since then, there have been many more volumes, now written, of course, just by Bird, and this volume re-mains one of my favourites. Why is this? Well, this is mainly because the authors are so outrageously non-PC and in these don’t-upset-anyone-at-any-cost days, I was surprised at just what you could get away with over twenty years ago.

Moreover, the characteri-sation is so good. The au-thors flesh out these bridge-playing monks so that you think you know them, or at least someone just like them.

The book is divided into three sections, with the first dealing with the weekly du-plicate games at the mon-astery of St. Titus. Then we move on to Africa where the missionaries are trying to bring Acol to the natives and this features some of the authors’ funniest crea-tions, in particular the par-rot who plays like a demon and certainly doesn’t suffer fools gladly. Here he is play-ing with the luckless Broth-er Tobias:


The Bro.

Parrot Tobias

1♠

Pass 3♠ 4♥ 4♠

End

NW E

S

♠ J 10 8 6 3

♥ 8 6 5

♦ K 9 3

♣ A J

♠ K ♠ Void

♥ 4 2 ♥ A K Q

J 9 3

♦ Q 6 4 ♦ J 8 7 2

♣ 10 8 7 5 4 3 2 ♣ K Q 6

♠ A Q 9 7 5 4 2

♥ 10 7

♦ A 10 5

♣ 9

The defenders play three rounds of hearts; Brother Tobias ruffs the third with the two of trumps. West overruffs and exits with a club but, with no squeeze developing, declarer has to concede a diamond.

Predictably, the parrot is not amused, ‘Four spades cold!’ he shrieks, ‘Ruff the heart high, eliminate clubs and exit with a trump. Whoever wins has to open up the diamond suit or con-cede a ruff and discard.’

The third part of the book details the Abbot’s attempt to win the Spring Four-somes but you will have to buy the book to discover whether or not he succeeds.

If you are looking to im-prove your game, this book probably won’t help very much, but if you are not too sensitive and are after a good laugh with some really good hands then it is a must buy. In short, the monks have never given better val-ue for money.

Doubled And Venerableby Terence Reese and David Bird

reviewed by David Huggett

£9.99 from The London Bridge Centre ( 020 7288 1305 www.bridgeshop.com


QDealer was West, with both vulnera-

ble; I was North:

NW E

S

♠ A K 2

♥ A K Q 2

♦ A K Q 6 3 2

♣ Void

♠ Q 10 4

♥ J 9 5

♦ 10 7 5

♣ A 8 7 5


3♣ Dbl Pass 4♣

Pass 4♦ End

What else could I have done or should my partner have bid 3NT?Lesley Howard by email.

A Your partner’s 4♣ should show strength as well as play-

ability in more than one suit. While your 4♦ should be forcing, with the hand you held, you should not be taking any risks. If you do not want to bid 7♦ directly, for fear that partner might have just the majors, you could bid something obvi-ously forcing (5♣ for ex-ample) and 7♦ next time.

Your partner actually has a tough call following your double. I suspect I would leave 3♣ doubled in. You are going to need quite a good hand for 3NT to make.

♣♦♥♠

QPlaying RKCB with 1430 replies, as West I held:

♠ 5

♥ A K J 9 7 5 4

♦ Q 10 9 7 5

♣ Void


1♠ Pass

2♥ Pass 3♦ Pass

?

I decided to punt 6♦, which made 13 tricks, with 7♦ cold.

Partner held:

♠ A K 9 4 3

♥ 3

♦ A K 8 3

♣ Q J 7

Is there a scientific way to look for a slam or grand slam when holding a void?M S Kington, Newcastle Upon Tyne.

AWhat I am about to say comes with a serious health

warning. It concerns one of the most dangerous con-ventions in bridge to get wrong. It goes by the name of Exclusion Blackwood or sometimes Voidwood.

If you jump in a new suit above the level of game, this shows a void in the suit and asks partner for key cards (or aces, whatever you normally play) on the step principle but excluding the ace in the suit bid.

In other words, if you bid 5♣, partner ignores the ♣A in deciding how many key cards to show. Using 1430 RKCB, as you do, the replies to 5♣ are as follows:

5♦ 1 or 4 key cards (excluding the ♣A) 5♥ 0 or 3 key cards (excluding the ♣A)

5♠ 2 key cards (excluding the ♣A) 5NT 2 key cards and the ♦Q (excluding the ♣A)

Clearly, partner can never have 5 key cards when excluding the ♣A. On the hand you quote, East holds 3 key cards, the ♦A-K and the ♠A, so would reply 5♥. You could then bid 7♦ with confidence.

♣♦♥♠

QThe bidding proceeded as follows:


1♣

Pass 1♦ Pass 1NT

Pass 6NT End

South had a 3-3-2-5 shape with 15 HCP.

North had a 4-3-4-2 shape with 17 HCP.

If North bid 4NT to ask for aces and we use some form of Key Card Blackwood, what suit would South as-sume is trumps? How does South answer if he thinks it is a NT contract? What would 5♦ mean?Steve Bailey by email.

A The question of key cards does not arise when a no-trump

contract is likely. Here, as 4NT would be a direct raise of a no-trump bid and the partnership has not agreed a suit, it would normally be quantitative rather than ace asking. In this case, any continuations should be natural. 5♦ would therefore show strong three-card diamond support or four-card support, suggesting 6♦ as a possible contract.

Perhaps, if you are playing 2♣ over 1NT as some sort of range/shape enquiry

(meaning that North would rebid 2♣ on any hand where it is critical whether South is maximum or minimum), you might agree to play 4NT as asking. In that situation, it is usual to play that the last suit bid naturally (here diamonds) counts as the trump suit.

♣♦♥♠

QCan you suggest the best bid-ding sequence

for these hands?

NW E

S

♠ A

♥ A 9 8 6 4 2

♦ K 2

♣ K Q 7 3

♠ 10 9 8 5 3

♥ 7 5

♦ A 4

♣ A J 9 6

North South

1♥ 1♠

2♣ 3♣

3♥ Pass

South said that North should bid 3♥ with 16 HCP. North said he thought that 2♣ was wide ranging (12-18) and was trying to describe his hand. Who was right?Huw Jones, Swansea.

A South has passed a forcing bid here. With the poor hearts and

good clubs, North’s initial 2♣ rebid is fine. By bidding on over 3♣, North is show-ing extras: South must find another bid. This bid should be 4♥ because North surely has six hearts to bid the suit again (opening 1♥ and rebidding 2♣ had already shown 5-4).


QThe following disaster took the gloss off what

had been a good session:

NW E

S

♠ Q J 7 4

♥ 7

♦ 10 9 8

♣ A J 8 7 3

♠ Void

♥ A 10 8 5 3

♦ A K Q J 2

♣ K 9 6

South was dealer and the bidding went: 1♥-1♠-2♦-Pass.

On a favourable club lead, we made 13 tricks – for an outright bottom. Every other pair had bid and made a diamond or no-trump game.Jasper Carrott by email.

A North cannot bid any differently. From what you say, it seems that

everyone else was playing a strong club system or rebid 3♦ on the South hand.

Although a void in partner’s suit is not good news, when you add some length points for the two five-card suits to the 17 HCP, the hand does appear to qualify for a 3♦ rebid. North would then bid 3NT.

Another way of valuing the South hand is to say that it has only four losers and has first- or second-round control of every suit. This

again suggests the 3♦ rebid. Not even every 2♣ opener would have first or second round control of every suit.

♣♦♥♠

QMy partner and I play the following system

for two level openings:

2♣ to show 24+ HCP (alerted) and forcing.2♦ to show 22/23 HCP in unnamed suit, or 22/23 HCP balanced, or 8 playing tricks in an unnamed suit (alerted).2♥ or 2♠ with 6-10 HCP and a 6-card suit.2NT to show 20/21 HCP and a balanced hand.

I would be grateful for your comments on the above.

Is it the same as ‘reverse Benji’?John Hamilton,Bearsden, Glasgow.

AWhat you play does look very much like reverse

Benjamin to me. The key features of reverse Benjamin openings are:

2♣ = game force even if the hand is balanced.2♦ = near game hand (strong balanced or an Acol Two type hand).2♥/2♠ = weak.

The exact range of the 2NT opening (and the range for 2♦-2♥-2NT) seems to vary depending upon where you play.

It is sensible for one to show 20-21 and the other to show 22-23. ■

E-mail your questions for Julian to: [email protected]

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DVDs

Each £25. Boxed Set of 6 £100

20127 Leads

Bernard takes you through all the basic leads and the importance of your choice of lead. If you start to think not just about your hand, but about your partner’s too, then you will get much better results.

8 Losing Trick Count

A method of hand evaluation for when you find a fit. Bernard deals with the basics of the losing trick count then looks at advanced methods to hone your bidding.

9 Making a Plan as Declarer

Bernard explains how to make a plan then expands on how to make the most of your long suits. The first half deals with no-trumps, the second with suit contracts.

10 Responding to 1NT

This seminar deals with Transfers and Stayman in detail. The 1NT opening comes up frequently, so having a good, accurate system of responses is paramount.

11 Signals & Discards

This seminar deals with Count, Attitude and Suit-preference signals: aiming to get

you working as a partnership in defence.

12 Endplays

Bernard takes you through the basics of the technique before showing some magical hands where you take extra tricks from defenders. In the second half, Bernard looks at how to avoid being endplayed as a defender.

20111 Ruffing for Extra Tricks

This seminar deals with declarer’s use of ruffing to generate extra tricks and then looks at how the defenders might counteract this.

2 Competitive Tricks

This seminar focuses on competitive auctions from the perspective of the overcalling side to start with and then from the perspective of the opening side in the second part.

3 Making the Most of High Cards

This seminar helps declarer to use his high cards more carefully and then looks at how defenders should care for their precious high cards.

4 Identifying & Bidding Slams

The first half of this seminar is about identifying when a slam might be on – one of the hardest topics to teach. The second half covers some of the techniques used to bid slams.

5 Play & Defence of 1NT Contracts

This seminar looks at the most common and yet most feared of contracts: 1NT. The first half looks at declaring the contract and the second part puts us in the defenders’ seats.

6 Doubling & Defence against Doubled Contracts

The first half of this seminar explores penalty doubles and the second half discusses the defence against doubled contracts.

QEast opened 1♦. South bid 1♠. West, who did not

notice this bid, also tried to bid 1♠. He said he would correct the bid to 2♠. I said we could accept the 1♠ bid if we wished. My partner disputed this. West then bid 2♦ and East ended in 3♦.

With hindsight, I should probably have called the director, as I was unsure what should happen, but it is a friendly club.Pamela Steele by email (similar from Richard Davis, Ipswich).

A I am dismayed that you did not call the director for an insuf-

ficient bid. It does not matter whether you think you know the rules: not to call him is just wrong. As for it being a friendly club, players should be happier to call the director in friendly clubs because the directors are friendly too.

If you had called the director, he would have told you that the next player could accept the 1♠ bid if he wished. If he did not, then since 2♠ would be artificial and since there is no suf-ficient bid that shows what the 1♠ bid showed, whatever the player who made the

insufficient bid does, his partner must pass throughout for the rest of the auction.

Your ruling was wrong, I fear. Please call the director next time.

♣♦♥♠

QOur Bridge Club is getting very good at-

tendances and we are in danger of having in excess of 13 tables. Can Mitchell movements be played above this num-ber and, if so, how? Is it better to divide the room into two separate Howell movements? April Bell, Corbridge,North East (similar from C J Williamson, Chelmsford).

AWhat a nice prob-lem to have! Many people dislike Howell

movements, so I would usu-ally try to avoid such things. There are various possibili-ties, assuming you are trying to play 26/27 boards.

With 14 tables, play a Mitchell with a skip, 13 2-board rounds.

With 15 tables, I am not sure of the best. You could play a straight Mitchell stopping two rounds early.

With 16 tables, two sec-

tions, each of 8 tables with their own set of boards.

With more, two sections of Mitchells, making sure the two sections play the same number of boards if pos-sible (so, for example with 17 tables split into 8 and 9, stop the 9 table move-ment after 8 rounds).

There is also a very clever set of movements called Web Mitchells. The disadvantages are two: in some cases, you need three sets of boards, in other cases only two. Of course, this might be viable if you have a Duplimate.

The other slight problem is that some North-Souths play boards in an unusual order, though they would get used to it quickly.

The Web Mitchells need quite a long explanation, too long for this column; their great advantage is that they handle any number of tables over 13 with everyone playing the same 13 sets of boards.

Finally, I have two sug-gestions. One is to purchase the directory of movements by Manning from the EBU: I am not sure whether it has Web Mitchells. The other is to get the Jeff Smith scoring program, http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~jasmith/, which has movements in

it, including Web Mitch-ells, for all numbers of tables up to a very high number – and it is free.

♣♦♥♠

QI was declarer. Before LHO led, she set the

card in the bidding box crossways to remind her of the contract. Is that legal, please? Paul Hildersley, Staines (similar from John Lees).

A It would be illegal in an EBU event, since you may not

have an aide memoire; the only way it would be legal is if the bidding box regulations made it legal.

A club can make their own regulations, so they can allow, forbid, or even require the practice.

Note that it is quite common amongst inexperienced players and does little harm.

David Stevenson answers all queries based on the facts supplied by the letter writer.

Neither Mr Bridge nor David Stevenson has any way of knowing whether those facts are correct or complete.

David Stevenson answers your questions on Laws and Ethics

What Should

Happen After an

Insufficient Bid?

Ask David continued

DUPLICATE BRIDGE RULES SIMPLIFIED

(otherwise known as the Yellow Book)

by John Rumbelow and revised by David Stevenson

Available from Mr Bridge ( 01483 489961

only

£595

QWest opens 2♦, announced as strong. North

shows his stop card and bids 3♠. East and South both pass. West asks the meaning of North’s 3♠. South replies, ‘not sure’ (North-South are a regular partnership). Pressed by West as to the point count, South says, ‘probably strong.’ West passes; 6♦ was a good contract. North, in fact, held eight points and seven spades. What should the ruling be?

Roger Grimsdick by email.

A The players do not seem to have an agreement and South

told them that – so the result stands. Of course, 95% of serious bridge players play 3♠ here as pre-emptive. I do not think forcing South to give an explanation he does not believe in counts as misinformation. He had already said he was not sure.

♣♦♥♠

QThe opening lead was face down on the

table. Before anyone asked any questions, the leader decided to change it. Declarer

called me and asked whether the original lead should stand. How should I have ruled?John Williams, Montrose.

AOnce the leader has made the opening lead, he cannot

change it. Therefore, despite the fact that nobody else has actually seen the card, it is not permissible to change it.

♣♦♥♠

QI was North when the bidding went as follows


1♣ Pass 1♥

1♠ 1NT Pass 3♣

Pass 3♠* Pass 3NT

Pass 5♣ End

South alerted 3♠ and, when asked, said I was promising a spade stopper and requesting that he bid 3NT. This he duly did. In fact, I was holding a small doubleton in the suit and asking for a stopper. In view of his answer, I bid 5♣ fearing the spades were wide open. In fact, he held the ♠A-Q; 3NT and 6♣ were laydown, giving us a bottom. If I had ignored his answer and passed 3NT, we would have got a much

better result. What should I have done?Alan Mansell by email.

A You may make decisions at bridge based on the bid-

ding, your opponents’ mannerisms, the state of the play, your knowledge of the system and nothing else. As a matter of law, you must not use anything else.

Here, you have used partner’s answers to the opponent’s question, which is a big no-no. It does not matter which of you has the system wrong, it is information you are not entitled to use.

If 5♣ had given you a top, the director would have adjusted the score to 3NT. You must avoid taking any advantage from unauthorised information in future.

♣♦♥♠

QMy partner and I play simple discards: we

throw losers and keep potential winners.

Defending a no-trump contract, I discarded a heart from K-x-x. My partner explained, when asked, as not interested in the suit discarded.

When a subsequent finesse of the ♥Q lost to my king, declarer complained that we had misinformed her and accused us of cheating. I called the director immediately, who decided to take no action.

By ‘not interested’, we mean, ‘I am not interested in a heart lead from you, partner.’ We are not denying being able to win any tricks in the suit. On this occasion, I had a six-card spade suit that I wanted led.

Can you advise whether the explanation given is adequate? Fraser McLeod, Southampton.

A There was nothing much wrong with what you said; the

director was most remiss to take no further action against your opponents. The accusa-tion of cheating should have led to a disciplinary penalty at the very least against your opponent, quite possibly fur-ther sanctions. She has every right to ask the director for a ruling: for her to accuse you of cheating is way out of line.

Unless your opponent was a complete beginner, she ought to be aware that any defensive signal depends on many things and may be untrue anyway: false-carding is perfectly legal. The director should have explained this to her as well.

All this is not to say that you could not improve your wording. Since your dis-cards are to keep winners and discard losers, I sug-gest you say exactly that.

♣♦♥♠

QIf a defender keeps his own card faced at

the end of a trick, does declarer need to wait until the card goes face down before continu-ing with the next trick? Name and address supplied.

A Although it does not actually say so in the laws,

players generally assume this is correct procedure. Apart from anything else, if declarer plays the next trick knowing that the defender is still thinking about the last one and might want to see it, declarer is guilty of rudeness.

Ask David continued

E-mail your questions on bridge laws to: [email protected]

QA player opened 1♦ on the following hand.

He said that with 5-6 in the minors and 11 HCP, he had the requisite 19 opening points.

♠ Q 5

♥ Void

♦ A 7 6 5 2

♣ Q 10 8 7 6 2

Is this a psyche or just a light opening?Alex Mathers, Northallerton,North Yorkshire (similar from Sheila Tester, Polegate, Sussex).

A It is legal to agree to open a hand that satisfies the Rule of

19, subject to an absolute minimum of 8 HCP. Thus (from a legal perspective), this is a normal opening; if the pair normally open with this hand, it is not a psyche.

♣♦♥♠

QPlaying teams of eight, team A had pairs 1,

2, 3 and 4 while team B had pairs 9, 10, 11 and 12. The scores on board 8 were as follows:

1v12 4♠-1 by N NS -503v9 4♥= by W NS -42010v2 5♥-1 by W NS +5011v4 4♠-2 by N NS -100

How many IMPs do you score?Ines Penning, Okehampton.

A There are two ways to score teams of eight. You can score

it as two teams of four;

then add the IMPs together. People often refer to this as ‘teams-of-four scoring’. From your comment, I do not believe you are doing this.

Alternatively, you just add all the scores together and work out the IMPs from the total. People often call this ‘teams-of-eight scoring’.

In the example you give, assuming you mean teams-of-eight scoring, consider team A: Hand 8: -50-420-50+100 = -420 = -9 IMPs.

♣♦♥♠

QMy partner and I have agreed to play transfers,

though sometimes he forgets. He opened 2NT. I responded 3♥, holding three hearts and five spades. He did not alert and raised to 4♥, which I passed. I made 4♥, whereas the rest of the room had scored 20 points fewer in 3NT.

Our opponents demanded to know how many hearts I held. I replied three and that I intended 3♥ as a transfer. They informed me that before they lead the first card, I am obliged to disclose my false bid. Is this correct? Thea Hill by email.

A Pretty much – you have agreed to play transfers – and your

opponents have a right to know this. You should tell the opponents at the end of the auction that your 3♥ bid was alertable.

♣♦♥♠

QI often play on bridgebase.com. I have noticed

that some players claim

early in the play. If someone rejects the claim, play continues with all hands exposed. This gives them an unfair advantage. Can anyone do something about this?John Collins by email.

A The only connection I have with BBO is that they host

my laws forums: that is a kindness on their part, but is my only connection with them. Indeed, I have only ever played on BBO twice.

Those who play regularly tell me that in fact only the side that rejected the claim can see all the hands. The player who made the rejected claim continues to see only his own hand and the dummy. Thus, if declarer claims and a defender rejects, the defenders can see declarer’s hand but declarer cannot see the defensive hands. Moreover, declarer cannot tell which defender rejected the claim. One cannot therefore derive any advantage by making a false claim.

♣♦♥♠

QIs it legal for declarers who cannot

remember which hand they are in to face the last card they played after turning it over?Phil Hickman by email.

A Any player may look at his own last quitted card before

the next trick starts. While there is no facility for asking which hand a player is in, surely nobody can possibly object. Best is if an opponent

answers, though dummies always want to be involved.

If declarer leads from the wrong hand, the normal rules apply, i.e. either opponent may accept or reject that lead. The only exception to this is if an opponent misinforms him as to which hand he is in.

♣♦♥♠

QMy partner and I open 1♣ on many hands

too strong for a 1NT opening, so long as we have at least a 3-card club suit. Our opponents keep complaining and calling the director. In each case, the director has ruled that the opening does not require an alert. Despite this, opponents have continued to challenge us, sometimes irritably. What is the position?Tim Sharrock, Blunham, Bedford.

A Three-card minors are not alertable, so you should

not alert them. If the opponents are getting ratty with you, call the director and say so: they have no right to do so. Rudeness is not to be tolerated.

You seem to play a three-card club suit with some regularity, so I suggest on your system card you write minimum number of cards as three for 1♣ and explain similarly.

Too many people are intolerant of opponents who play differently from themselves: we want ‘Maxi Tolerance’ for this game to survive. ■

There were a few patches of interest in late May and early

June since I last wrote. We won a Hubert Phillips match (national mixed teams of four). This may not seem particularly remarkable as we are quite a strong team (me and Barry, Nicola and Robert Sheehan) – but we lost in the first round the last two years.

I played in the EBU Con-gress in Bournemouth with Debbie Sandford, then in the Monday Swiss Teams with Nicola. While we all had a jolly good time, there is no good result to report.

We won a Gold Cup match, so are still in that event – if we win our next match, in early September, we will be in the quarter-finals – and it is a long time since I have played in the late stages of the Gold Cup.

The main attraction of this period was the Euro-pean Championships in Dublin where I was a mem-ber of the English women’s team that won the gold medal. We led from early on, always by a decent mar-gin. People have said to me that it was a stroll, a breeze in the park, no pressure at all. Actually, leading from the front is quite stressful. You just think how awful it would be if you fail to win from such a strong posi-tion. In addition, there were several minor explosions as one team member after another bowed under the pressure. Even at the end, it was difficult for the two pairs playing.

We played Sweden in the last round and needed to win 17-13 to guarantee win-

ning whatever happened in the other matches. This was Board 1:

NW E

S

Dealer North. Love All.

♠ 7

♥ K J 10 7 6

♦ Q 5

♣ 10 9 7 5 2

♠ K 10 6 5 4 2 ♠ Q

♥ A 3 ♥ Q 9 8 5 4

♦ J 6 ♦ A K 10 9 7 4

♣ Q 8 6 ♣ 3

♠ A J 9 8 3

♥ 2

♦ 8 3 2

♣ A K J 4

The bidding at our table was:


2♦ 2♥ Dbl

Pass Pass 3♦ All Pass

My 2♦ opener was a Multi, showing a very weak two-bid in either major, often a five-card suit in first (or third) seat non-vulnerable. Nicola’s double was a re-quest for me to pass if I had hearts. East quickly removed herself from trouble and we defended 3♦. According to Deep Finesse (the analysis program), we can beat 3♦; alas, we failed to find what-ever it needed and 3♦ made. We were left feeling a little unhappy, as there was a case for Nicola passing and let-ting declarer struggle. For us, the set continued in a rather scrappy fashion with mediocre bridge from both sides. We had not done ter-ribly, but there was certainly scope for a loss. In the other room, the result of the first board was dramatic and changed the mood of the match totally:

Catching Up by Sally Brock


2♦ 4♦ Pass

4♥ Pass Pass 4♠

Dbl All Pass

Here 4♦ was forcing, show-ing 5-5 in diamonds and a major. This convention is Leaping Michaels; I thought it was supposed to show a good hand. However, I would not want to criticise a teammate for this result. West gave preference to hearts, persuading South that her partner’s suit must be spades after all. When she bid 4♠, West was happy to double. If I had sat North, I think I would have tried five clubs as partner’s spades cannot be that good or she would have bid the suit ear-lier. Anyway, North passed and 4♠ doubled went for 1,100 on a partscore deal. With that board in the bag, the pressure was off for our East/West pair.

When we finished the match, we had lost 14-16. Thankfully, the results in the other matches were favour-able for us and we were un-catchable. All in all, this was a very satisfactory outcome.

In my usual manic fashion, I arrived back at Heathrow at lunchtime on the Sunday; after a short breather, I set off to drive north. Briony and I were going to stay with family friends in Darlington be-fore going to the open day at Durham University on the Monday. Although it was nice to spend time together, I am not sure Briony is well suited for further education.

On the Wednesday night, Barry and I set off to Gat-wick for a crack of dawn flight to Samos, the Greek

island nearest to Turkey (indeed, it looked as if you could swim there from where we were) for a week in the sun with Chris, Brian and Jeremy. We did not do a lot (though, actually, I had my laptop and did quite a lot of work) – it was good to lie in the sun, wallow in the pool and eat and drink to excess.

The next three weeks were quite quiet. Briony and I did an ice-sculpture course in Wimbledon, which was rather fun. My parents had a Pimms and patisserie par-ty to celebrate living in the village for 50 years (and we took their initials sculpted in ice). The following week-end we (Barry, Simon and I) went up to Manchester. There was a memorial event for Michelle Brunner in the form of a mixed pivot teams at the Manchester Bridge Club. Then, on the follow-ing day, a green-point Swiss teams. We had a very enjoy-able weekend, staying with (and playing with) Michael Byrne – but the bridge from all of us was terrible.

At the end of July, for the fourth year running, we went for our annual holi-day with the Sandford fam-ily. This year, we went to the Cotswolds Water Park. We were in quite upmar-ket accommodation with a balcony overlooking a lake (and there are plenty of lakes in the Park – some of which are for water sports while others are sanctuar-ies for various animals/birds). I would thoroughly recommend it for anyone who likes outdoor activities: plenty of lovely walks, bike rides, water sports, etc. ■

Seven Daysby Sally Brock

FridayUp early to pack and get out of our Cotswolds Wa-ter Park holiday house. This has been a very good week (though we would have pre-ferred better weather).

Briony is going to Cam-bodia for a couple of weeks next Saturday (with Pro-jects Abroad, to help in an orphanage) and there are a number of things she still needs, so, no sooner do we get home and unload the car, than we are off to Reading to explore the shops there. We finally get home about six. Barry comes over and we spend the rest of the evening glued to the Olympics.

SaturdayIt is up and into town for more shopping. Some of the stuff we bought yester-day needs to go back, some more things are needed. One of the consequences of the Cotswolds holiday was that we got the bikes up and running. In the afternoon, Barry and I go for a walk along the Thames at Hurley while Briony cycles a longer route; we met at the pub af-terwards. It is always fun to walk along the river – there is such a lot going on (and it will be us on one of the boats in a few weeks – but that is a story for another day).

In the evening, Briony is babysitting, so, after the Olympics finishes (I am not

a huge sports fan – unlike Barry – but that was a fan-tastic night), Barry and I head back into London.

SundayToday is the Young Chelsea Knockout Final, the real prize for which is getting an invitation to play in the Lederer at the end of Sep-tember. The Lederer is a prestigious invitation teams event held at the Young Chelsea every year.

I play in Kitty Teltscher’s team; the line-up for today is Nicola and me, along with Colin Simpson and Willie Coyle. Although our oppo-nents, Mike Hill’s team, have knocked out several strong teams to get to the final, we are heavy favourites on paper. However, we do not play our best and struggle all the way. It is exciting for the kibitzers watching at the Young Chelsea (they can see it on a screen in the bar). On the last deal, we misdefend 3♠ and declarer makes a ‘no-win’ play at trick twelve to go down. If he had made it, we would have had to play extra boards.

If we had got this hand from the last set right at ei-ther table, it would all have been over. In the other room, our pair have a bit of a mix-up as to whether or not a pass is forcing in a com-petitive auction; they bid 6♥ freely, going a couple down. The auction at our table was:


1♥

2♥1 4♥ 4♠ Pass

Pass 5♣ 5♦ 5♥

Pass Pass 5♠ Dbl

All Pass 1two-suited

NW E

S

Dealer South. N/S Game.

♠ 5

♥ 7 6 3 2

♦ A Q

♣ K Q J 8 5 3

♠ K Q 10 9 4 ♠ A 7 2

♥ J 8 ♥ 9

♦ J 7 6 4 2 ♦ K 10 8 5

♣ A ♣ 10 9 7 6 4

♠ J 8 6 3

♥ A K Q 10 5 4

♦ 9 3

♣ 2

South leads his club; I win this in dummy and play a diamond. North goes in with the ace and plays a heart. South wins and con-tinues hearts. In uninspired fashion, I ruff the heart, cash the ♠A and play a spade to dummy’s king. I now have to go one down.

In retrospect, I think I should have played differ-ently. South’s two of clubs looks very like a singleton, which means North must have a singleton in either spades or diamonds. Af-ter I have ruffed the heart, I should ruff a club and then play another diamond. When South shows out in clubs (confirming my first thoughts) and diamonds are 2-2, North’s distribution

is virtually certain (North/South were playing four-card majors, so North had to have four hearts) and I can take the spade finesse with confidence. If North ruffs the diamond, that was a loser in any case; if he dis-cards, I win and concede a diamond, later playing for spades to be 3-2.

Anyway, all is well in the end as we win by 4 IMPs.

Back to Barry’s for supper, and then home.

MondayNicola has been away for a lot of the time between Dublin and now and is feel-ing a bit rusty, as am I, so we have two sessions on-line practising our bidding today. In between, I have a lunch date with a local non-bridge-playing friend. It seems Nicola and I need the practice as we seem to find a way to go wrong on most deals.

We end on a high note, though:

NW E

S

Nicola Sally

♠ A K J 5 ♠ 7 6

♥ 4 3 ♥ A K 9 6

♦ 7 2 ♦ Q 6 3

♣ K Q 9 4 3 ♣ A J 7 2

1♣ 1♦ (alert)

1♠ 2♦ (alert)

2♥ 3♣

3♠ 4♣

5♣

Seven Days continued

My 1♦ response is a trans-fer to hearts; 2♦ is fourth-suit forcing. Nicola shows a doubleton heart; then, with no diamond stopper, rebids her robust spade suit (she could not have five or she would have bid them again earlier). At this stage, it is still possible for her to have a diamond control so I leave her room to show it; then I am happy to pass 5♣ and leave her in the top spot.

I spend the evening work-ing on my laptop in front of the TV. Because I am go-ing away shortly, I let Bri-ony have complete control of the TV, so tonight it is Harry Potter, followed by Big Brother.

TuesdayBriony is working today. She works in a children’s play centre, mostly in the cafeteria there. First, we go for a drive. We are hoping to get her driving as quickly as possible after her seven-teenth birthday, on Septem-ber 18th. To that end, I have already bought a car for her to use; we go driving in a local car park. My brother-in-law is a driving instruc-tor and he is coming for the weekend after her birthday to give her some concen-trated tuition.

Then home via the post office to send a parcel for my grandson Hayden’s third birthday at the weekend.

I spend the morning writ-ing this article. Then I have a simple bright idea to im-prove a difficult area of our bidding and practise it on-line with Barry for half an hour or so to see if it will work before imposing it on

Nicola. Actually, it works fantastically: Nicola and I have an enjoyable hour practising and bidding to the right contract on nearly every slam hand BBO pro-duces for us.

Toby is feeling surpris-ingly sociable (probably be-cause he is shortly going to be on his own for a couple of weeks – his idea of bliss) and we spend the even-ing playing the latest craze: Munchkin (you really need three people to play). I quite enjoy this but this is the fourth time I have played it now; I would not really rec-ommend it for anyone over 50 – the kids are so on top of it while I am so slow and miss so much that they are constantly exasperated with me.

WednesdayBriony and I spend most of the morning packing. She is struggling to fit everything she thinks she needs into her (very large) rucksack. I am trying to persuade her that it is possible to wash out underwear, pyjamas, vest, tops and the like. Af-ter lunch, I take her for a drive and we stock up on a few provisions. Then a final game of Munchkin before I set off for London. While I can comfortably pull the two wheelie bags that I need on the flat, stairs are a strug-gle; so Barry meets me at South Ruislip and we con-tinue by tube to Shepherds Bush. Rather excitingly, he has bought a new car (after the death of his previous one) – this is five years older (i.e. a 1992 model) but very cute – a tiny white Mazda sports car.

Then back to his place and he cooks me Dover sole while we watch the Olym-pics – bliss.

ThursdayBarry comes with me to St Pancras and the Eurostar; then he is off to the Olym-pics. He will get to see Usain Bolt win the 200 metres in real life while we lesser mor-tals will have to make do with the TV. Apart from the fact that our coach thinks that the train is leaving at 13.25 instead of arriving at 13.25, and therefore misses it, all passes off peacefully, and our hotel looks good. It is slightly grand and old-fashioned, but lovely for all that and very close to the Grand Place in Lille.

We settle ourselves in and explore our immedi-ate vicinity for a while be-fore changing into dress uniform and meeting up to walk to the opening cere-mony. We are going to have to do this walk at least once every day for a couple of weeks; we are not sure how easy it is going to be. It turns out to be a comfortable 15 minutes so it should be fine (unless it rains).

I hope you do not have any illusions that this might be anything like the Olym-pic opening ceremony. It is usually just a succession of people giving speeches, ei-ther in badly accented Eng-lish, or else in a foreign lan-guage then translated into English. I am afraid I judge it on how easily I can sleep through it. This one passes muster. Afterwards we have a drink, get a chance to say hello to some old friends and then go out to dinner.

I have a late night talk to Barry about his day – much more exciting than mine – and then to bed.

You will have to wait un-til the next issue to find out how we do (though I guess you will probably know be-fore then if we do well). ■

Dramatis Personae

Sally Brock lives in High Wy-combe with her two teenag-ers, her husband Raymond having died in early 2008. She works partly as a bridge pro-fessional, occasionally playing for pay but more often writing (she is the bridge columnist for The Sunday Times) and teaching online; the rest of the time she works on the produc-tion of travel guides. She has been a member of the British/English women’s team on and off since 1979.

Briony & Toby are Sally’s 16-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son.

Ben, Gemma and Hayden Ben is Sally’s 35-year-old son who is married to Gemma. Hayden is their two-year-old son, and they all live in Waltham Abbey.

Barry Myers is Sally’s new partner, both at and away from the bridge table. He is a criminal defence barrister and lives in Shepherd’s Bush.

Nicola Smith is Sally’s current international bridge partner. They formed a last-minute partnership in 2008 to join the England women’s team for the World Mind Sports Games in Beijing where they won the gold medal. Nicola has been playing international bridge since she was 17, which is rather a long time ago.

Heather and Jeremy Dhondy Heather, youthful and athletic, is a professional bridge play-er, teacher and writer, living in London with husband Jer-emy. She played with Nicola until 2007 but now plays with Nevena Senior. Jeremy is the captain of the England wom-en’s team for Dublin and Lille.

Chris Duckworth and Brian Callaghan are friends living in West London.

Debbie Sandford is a friend and occasional bridge partner. Lives in west London with her three children and partner Gad Chadha.

Simon Cope is a friend, team-mate and some time bridge coach. He was coach of the English open team in Dublin.

READERS’LETTERSFROM L.U.C.I.A.AND LITTLE VOICEI should like to thank your readers for the generous donations that have arrived in our charity bank account in recent months. Most of the funds were raised through the expertise of Colin Bamberger, from the sale of stamps collected by your readers.

The funds are allocated to support one of LUCIA’s partner organisations in Ethiopia: Little Voice (LV).

LV provides a home and education for orphaned children who would otherwise be living a life of destitution on the streets of Addis Ababa. LUCIA’s representatives made a return visit to the children’s home a few weeks ago, and were bowled-over by the warmth and sense of family in the home. Most of the children have lived through terrible hardships, poverty and abuse, but they have been lucky to be found and cared for by the staff and other children at the LV home. Despite their difficult past, everyone works together to build a loving home and safe community. In turn, this gives the children the opportunity to grow up in safety, to have an education and to go on to make their way in the world as confident and responsible adults. We encourage all your readers to continue collecting used stamps, sending them to LUCIA or Colin Bamberger for his expert attention.Jill Russell, on behalf of the L.U.C.I.A. Trustees.

PARTY GAMESYour correspondent, W Marchant, asked about fun bridge games for the annual party time season. With my friends, we played under the following ‘rules’:

Normal deal and normal bidding. However, before the opening lead is faced, three cards are passed from each player to the LHO. Real consideration should be given to the choice of these cards as the bidding could be very influential and the more the game is played, the more important you will find those three cards become. Otherwise, normal play and normal scoring and, as it was played at holiday time, we gave it the name ‘passover bridge’.Mr Colin Dale,Stamford, Lincs.See Party Night on page 9.

FINAL WORDBert Howard from Derbyshire proposed another variation to the rules for playing bridge with only three players in the August 2012 magazine. His main point is that the dealer checks the points of all the hands and then gives the hands with the highest number of points to the other two players before bidding starts.

With one player having seen all the hands, it is hardly a competitive situation and I cannot see the point of it.

My rules were first published in this magazine in April 2012. They are now in

Wikipedia at the end of the section on Contract Bridge. I have had some suggestions of minor modifications but nothing to change the principles involved and I still believe that they offer the best basis for a competitive and realistic game with only three players. Bill Watson, Codsall, Wolverhampton.

WHAT FREQUENCY?Scoring a recent local pairs event, I found that one table had not put the asked for ‘name, rank and number’ of the players on the back of the first traveller. However, this was compensated for by the next table down the line putting their ‘name, rank and number’ information on the back of the first traveller for both their first and second set of boards. How often does that occur?Mr Peter Burville,St Margaret’s Bay, Kent.

FIGURE OF SPEECHNone of the players in our little group seem familiar with ‘Breaking the Barrier’. Is this still in practice?Mr H Bannerman, Cheltenham, Glos.

TEACHER WANTEDMy wife and I are intermediate bridge players. We play social duplicate at a friendly club.

We spend about 2 months a year in Cape Town where we have weekly private lessons and would like to make a similar arrangement for when we are back in the UK.

We are reluctant to change our bidding system other than some tweaking. We play 5-card majors, strong NT, club approach, strong twos for majors and Multi for weak majors/strong minors, reverse Roman keycard and

a few other conventions.If you are able to

recommend a bridge teacher to give us private lessons at home, perhaps you could call me to discuss?John Perkins, Walton on Thames, Surrey.In your area, try Ned Paul ( 0208 892 9429

WHY RUBBER?A question came up round our table the other day. Why do we use the word ‘rubber’ in rubber bridge? Or playing a ‘rubber’ in Canasta for that matter.

I cannot find a satisfactory explanation anywhere and wonder whether you can help filling this gap in our knowledge.Hanne Rader by email.The etymology is not certain, I fear, though what is certain is that it is not a term that originated in bridge. Certainly, it is used in baseball, bowls and whist and I have heard it myself in other sports and games.

It can be used for a series of games, such as the World Series in baseball, effectively the final, a set of seven games with the winner the first team to four. It is also used for the final game, for example if they are three all in the World Series, the seventh game is called the rubber game.

While not certain, it is believed the term was first used in bowls.

Famously, in 1588 Sir Francis Drake was interrupted while playing bowls with word that the Spanish Armada was in sight. In a show of leadership for his captains, Drake said, ‘We can finish the rubber and beat the Spaniards, too.’ and the term ‘rubber’ probably migrated to whist and eventually on to bridge.David Stevenson.

REDUCE THE COST OF YOUR POSTAGEPostage stamps for sale at 90% of face-value,

all mint with full gum.

Quotations for commercial quantities available on request.

Values supplied in 100s, higher values available as well as 1st and 2nd class (eg 2nd class: 100x37p+100x13p)

(/Fax 020 8422 4906 e-mail: [email protected]

ARROW SWITCHINGI have just seen George Quinton’s letter about arrow switching in BRIDGE 116. There have been several things written about it over the years. Probably the most informative was the paper, written by John Manning, which first appeared in the bulletin of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, which I was a member of in 1979 when it first appeared. I think it was the only time a bridge-related article ever appeared.

However, I have attached it in case you don’t have a copy. The first is a rather poor photocopy of the original from August/September 1979, the second is a rewrite I did in 2007 as more people were asking for an electronic version. The section on switching starts on page 9, with the ‘answer’ to switch about 1/8 of the boards coming on page 11.John Pain, English Bridge Union, Aylesbury.I have put the 2007 rewrite on our website for those who are interested. www.mrbridge.co.uk/downloads/manning.pdf

SKIP STAYMANIn ‘Skip Stayman on a 4333 hand’, BRIDGE 115, Page 9, the author states, ‘..there is no point in seeking a fit when both hands may be

completely flat,’ but fails to justify this sweeping statement with some back-up.

In looking for, say, a spade fit, responder may have a doubleton, offering a probable ruff opposite an opening 4-3-3-3 hand. Conversely, if responder is 4-3-3-3, he hopes that opener has a spade fit and a doubleton. Points are less likely in an off-suit five-card (3-2) fit than in a 6- or 7-card fit and an inadequate stop could mean 4 or 5 losers in no-trump, but in a suit contract the probable ruff keeps the likely losers down to 2 in that suit.

He adds, ‘..raising in no-trumps gives less information to the defenders,’ but this could equally apply when responder is 4432 with a major, thus the Stayman concept becomes redundant.

Normally, a 1NT opening is 4432 (21.55% of hands are thus) or 4333 (10.54%) and sometimes 5332 (15.52% but let’s assume only one third – it is probably more – are opened 1NT giving 5.17%). Thus their respective likelihoods are:

21.55 = 57.34% (4432) 37.26

10.54 = 28.29% (4333) 37.26

5.17 = 13.88% (5332) 37.26

4432 shape: Of the 12

READERS’ LETTERScontinued

possible arrangements, 6 will have 4 spades: 6/12 x 57.84 = 28.92%

4333 shape: Of the 4 possible arrangements, 1 will have 4 spades: 1/4 x 28.29 = 7.07%

5332 shape: Of the 12 possible arrangements, 3 will have 5 spades: 3/12 x 13.88 = 3.47%

Out of this total of 28.92 + 7.07 + 3.47 = 39.46%, opener will have a spade fit plus a doubleton 28.92 + 3.47 = 82.08% 39.46 of the time. Hence, only 17.92% of the time will opener have a matching flat 4333 hand. Is this amount enough to justify the claim?

Interestingly, it is claimed to be 50/50 as to whether a 4-4 fit plays better than 3NT when one of the hands has no ruffing value. Why 3NT? The contract might be short of game in 2NT or three of a major. Also, did he forget about the 5-4 major suit fits, which on the above one third assumption for a 5332 hand, calculates to 8.79% of the time?Mr L Jackson, Hull.

SOAP FANI suggest Sally Brock try Barry on a gluten free diet for a week as it is possible that he has become intolerant. If this is so, the described symptoms will all clear up very quickly. All major supermarkets sell products to help.

I write as one of her many fans. Long may her contributions continue.Shirley Lake, London, NW1.

WHAT ODDSThe Baron’s calculations on card distribution made me wonder about the possibility

of similar data on the frequency with which hands suitable for the various conventions might occur.Mr B Howard, High Peak, Cheshire.

HOLIDAY BRIDGECarol and I were visiting friends in Portugal who took us to their local bridge club where a couple of the members remembered us from previous visits (the director warned us that the standard was higher than the last club we had met at) but it was mainly ‘new’ faces who made us very welcome.

I say ‘new’ because the majority of the players were ‘past the first flush of youth’. This didn’t stop them using some sophisticated bidding that we hadn’t come across before. One of the more successful was a man 98 years young.

The tactics were explained to us over a few glasses of Constantino but I don’t think we are up to it yet.

It was good fun (we are used to coming bottom) and bidding boxes get around the language problems at the table.

So a thank you to our hosts and the members of the club.Mr A Williams,Llanfairpwll, Anglesey.PS. As an Italian said to me once, ‘if you speak three languages you are multi-lingual, if you speak two languages you are bi-lingual. If you only speak one, you are English.’

WHERE IS IT?Some time ago you promised an article on Precision. So far, it would seem none have appeared.Mr M Taylor,Ballymena,Northern Ireland.It’s been and gone.

CLUB PLUGSREADERS’ LETTERScontinued

LOST & FOUNDWhilst directing at our local club, I was called to table 3 and informed that South had no cards in his section of the board which had been moved from table 4. One role for the TD (Law 14A) is to attempt to find a missing card. To my surprise, all 13 cards were found tucked neatly behind the 7NT card in South’s bidding box on table 4. After a few smiles play continued.Mr D Drinkwater,Stafford Bridge Club.

BRIDGE PLUS

I have approximately 40 copies of Bridge Plus magazine from issue number 2 to when it ceased to be published (some issues may be missing). If anyone would like these & can collect from the Reading area, please contact me on ( 01491 410346.Mrs Ferguson, Reading. ■

Write to Mr Bridge at: Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH or e-mail [email protected]

E-mail correspondents are asked to include their name, full postal address, telephone number and to send no attachments.

Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

FRAMFIELD BRIDGE CLUB

We are a small, friendly, members’ club who meet on a Tuesday morning at 9.15am for a prompt 9.30am start, finishing about 12.30pm. We stop for a tea/coffee mid-morning break.

Come to Framfield Church Hall. Parking is available.

Duplicate bridge is played. Table money is £2 for members and £2.50 for visitors. Annual sub. £10.

We guarantee a partner but bring a friend if at all possible.

We hold two events during the year – a Challenge Cup in May and a Christmas party bridge event, both with food and wine. We visit other clubs for annual events.

Gerald Makeham, Chairman ( 01273 480730 Fred Taylor, Secretary ( 01825 763256

WESTon AnD WoRLE BRIDGE CLUB

We have moved to St Joseph’s Church Hall, Camp Road, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset BS23 2JH.

We have bridge on: Wednesday at 7pm till 10ish, Friday 2pm till 5ish. On Saturday, we have begun no-fear bridge for beginners and improvers at 2pm. £1.50 per session. With refreshments.

Janice King ( 01934 417527

REIGATE BRIDGE CLUB reigatebridgeclub.co.uk

It is now two years since I started teaching and I have formed a club for my students to put into practice what they have learnt. I would like to let others know about the existence of the club.

We play duplicate bridge on Wednesday afternoons 2.00-5.15pm at the Subud Hall, Allingham Road, Reigate, Surrey.

Ms E Hammergren Smith ( 01737 242146

KInGSTon BRIDGE CLUB bridgewebs.com/kingston

OPENING 4 OCTOBER

Club standard duplicate bridge every Thursday 7.30-10.30pm at Shiraz Mirza Community Hall, 76a Coombe Road, Norbiton, Kingston KT2 7AZ.

Single players welcome. Host system to guarantee everyone a game.

Instant electronic scoring; hand records after every session and results posted promptly to the internet.

Friendly game but all normal bidding systems permitted.

Tournament director and host: Ned Paul.

Table money £5 including tea, coffee and biscuits.

Ned Paul ( 020 8892 9429 ( 07792 715517 Rosemary Vase ( 020 8546 8719

Mr Bridge2013

BridgePlayers’Diaries

Contents include♦ Acol Summary

by Bernard Magee.

♦ Guide to the Laws.

♦ Scoring Tables for duplicate and rubber bridge.

♦ Distributional odds.

♦ Hand patterns and fascinating figures.

♦ Seven cover colours: red, navy blue, tan, black, ivory, green, and burgundy.

♦ All covers printed in gold-coloured ink.

♦ Individual diaries £6.95 each including p&p.

♦ Special concession to bridge clubs. 10 or more diaries £3.50 each including p&p.

♦ Luxury version with super-soft kidrell cover, gilded page edges and a ball-point pen attached, in ruby red, navy blue or green. £14.95 each including p&p.

See Mail Order Form on page 7.

Bernard Magee’s Tips for Better Bridge

65 invaluable tips in 160 pages

Bidding Tips 1 Always consider bidding

spades if you can 2 Bid more aggressively

when non-vulnerable 3 Always double when the

opponents steal your deal 4 A takeout double shows

shortage in the suit doubled 5 ‘Borrow’ a king

to keep the auction open 6 After a penalty double,

don’t let the opponents escape 7 Halve the value of a singleton

honour when opening 8 Only add length-points for a

suit that might be useful 9 Isolated honours are bad

except in partner’s suit 10 Use the jump shift sparingly 11 Consider passing and letting

partner decide 12 You need two top honours

for a second-seat pre-empt 13 Put the brakes on if you have a

misfit 14 Strong and long minors work

well in no-trumps 15 One stop in the opponents’ suit

can be enough for no-trumps 16 Keep your two-level

responses up to strength 17 Use your normal methods in

response to a 1NT overcall 18 Don’t overcall just because

you have opening points 19 Overcalls can be quite weak,

so be prudent when responding 20 Weak overcalls must be based

on strong suits 21 6NT requires 33 points

not 4 aces and 4 kings 22 Raise immediately, if weak

with four-card support 23 In a competitive auction,

show support immediately 24 Bid to the level of your fit

quickly with weak hands 25 With strength and support,

use the opponents’ bid suit

Declarer-play Tips 26 When your contract depends

on a finesse, think ‘endplay’ 27 Consider what a defender

might be thinking about 28 Always take your time

at trick one 29 Establish extra tricks before

cashing your winners 30 Use your opponents’

bidding to your advantage 31 Avoid the ‘baddie’

gaining the lead 32 Use the Rule of Seven when

holding up in no-trumps

33 A low lead usually promises length and an honour

34 When declaring 1NT, try to be patient

35 Duck an early round when you are short of entries

36 Lead up to your two-honour holding

37 Do not always assume a suit will break well

38 Drop a high card to put off the defence

39 Play your highest card to tempt a defender to cover

40 Draw trumps first unless you have a good reason not to

41 Do not waste your trumps 42 Consider leaving a lone defen-

sive trump winner out

Defence Tips 43 Keep four-card suits intact

whenever possible 44 Give count on declarer’s leads 45 Keep the right cards

rather than signal 46 Take your time

when dummy is put down 47 High cards are for killing

other high cards 48 Do not waste

intermediate cards 49 Pick two key suits to

concentrate on during the play 50 If in doubt, cover an honour

with an honour 51 If a lead is from two honours, it

is best not to cover 52 Keep your honour to kill

dummy’s honour 53 Try to show partner your

solid honour sequences 54 Lead the normal card when

leading partner’s suit 55 Never underlead an ace at trick

one in a suit contract 56 Be wary of leading from

four cards to only one honour 57 Lead a higher card from

a suit without an honour 58 Lead through ‘beatable’

strength and up to weakness 59 Cash your winners before try-

ing for a trump promotion 60 Be patient when defending

1NT 61 Trump leads can be safe

throughout the play

General Tips 62 Do not put important cards

at either end of your hand 63 Avoid being declarer when

you are dummy 64 Before you lead, ask for a

review of the auction 65 Enjoy the Game!

£14 including postage and packing from Mr Bridge, Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH. ( 01483 489961

Beryl Hutchinson MBE was born on January 6th 1934 in Dairy Drove, Thorney

Fen, Peterborough. Her parents, Albert and Elsie Johnson, lived in a tied cottage on the farm where her father was horseman. Beryl’s mother died in 1940 and her father eventually remarried; Beryl then had two half sisters and two half brothers as well as her brother Cyril. When she caught measles, she went to stay with her maternal grandparents. This soon became a permanent arrangement and she returned to the family home only for holidays.

When she was ten, Beryl’s grandparents moved to Peterborough. Although she failed the 11+ examination, this seemed to act as a spur to a life of hard work and achievement. After leaving school, she took a pre-nursing course two days a week and also helped as a teacher’s assistant in an infant school. Being an active church member, she became a Sunday school teacher, later becoming involved with the Girl Guide movement and the Anglican Young People’s Association.

She passed 5 ‘O’ Levels at Technical College and, following several correspondence courses, she completed her nursing training at Peterborough Memorial Hospital. A period of general nursing followed and she eventually became Night Sister and later Night Superintendent. Her ambition, however, was to be a Nurse Tutor. In pursuit of this, she moved to Grantham and took a position as Ward Sister on the Women’s Surgical Ward.

Marriage in 1963 to Ken Hutchinson meant that Beryl became step-mother to a lovely family of four children, one of them a teenager, so Beryl put aside her ambitions until, sadly, Ken died in 1969.

Beryl decided to carry on with her plan to become a Nurse Tutor and was accepted at London University the following year.

She obtained her Tutor Diploma at Queen Elizabeth College and returned to Grantham in 1972 where she worked as Nurse Tutor until 1975 and then as Senior Nursing Officer. She retired in 1989 having served as Director of Nursing and Assistant Manager for Patient Services.

While all this was taking place, Beryl took on appointments with the Red Cross, progressing from Branch Nursing Officer and Training Officer (both regionally and nationally) to serve finally as Director. Later on, after serving as interim Director in Derbyshire, she took a position which involved a managerial over-view of two Nottinghamshire residential homes. Her hard work was to be rewarded when she was appointed to the Red Cross Board of Trustees in 2004, serving for most of her last seven years on the Board as Vice Chairman. In 1999, she was presented with the MBE for services to the Red Cross.

Beryl was also involved with Grantham College for over twenty years, serving as Vice Chairman of the Governing Body for most of that period.

In spite of the many demands on her time, she also enjoyed playing bridge and even then was organising bridge days in support of the Red Cross or St Wulfram’s Church. She also taught bridge, starting a bridge club for improv-ers. Once retired, her main de-light was in being a member of the sixty-six strong team of Mr Bridge hosts and helpers.

Beryl died peacefully on Monday July 30th after battling for seven months with pancreatic cancer. She had a caring family and a host of friends made during the many years of nursing and teaching. In the relatively short time she spent playing bridge, she made many more. Her down-to-earth approach to problems, her wicked sense of fun and her loyalty made her a very special person. We will all miss her so much. ■

BERYL HUTCHINSON

1934-2012

A Double then a New Suit Shows a Good Hand

Julian Pottage Says

Once upon a time, players would double whenever they had an opening hand and an opponent

opened in a suit first. The double had the name

‘informatory’ as it informed partner that the doubler had opening values. If, as often happened, the doubler’s partner bid the wrong suit, there followed an apologetic, ‘you’ve hit my doubleton,’ as dummy appeared.

Nowadays, unless you are Italian, a minimum takeout double implies support for all unbid suits. Along with this, the upper limit for a simple suit overcall is now about the same as the upper limit for a 1NT overcall. The upshot is that, if you double and later bid a new suit, you show a hand too good for a simple overcall.

Hand A Hand B ♠ A Q 9 6 3 ♠ A Q 9 6 3 ♥ K 8 5 ♥ A Q 2 ♦ 8 5 ♦ 8 5 ♣ A K 2 ♣ A K 3

West North East South 1♣/♦/♥

?

With Hand A, you overcall 1♠. Even counting a point for the fifth spade, you have 17 points – within range for a 1NT overcall and, therefore, within range for 1♠ (indeed, some people would actually bid 1NT on this hand over 1♣ or 1♥).

Hand B is three points better, clearly out of range for 1NT and so too good for 1♠. You should double. You expect to bid spades at your next turn. You have little fear that the opponents will bounce the bidding so much that you do not get the chance. You can outbid them at the same level or, if you judge the level too high to do so, double again.

West North East South 1♣/♦/♥ Pass Pass ?

The ‘too good for 1NT, too good for a suit overcall’ rule also applies in the protective seat. Since, in fourth seat, you tend to bid as though you have a king (three points) more than you hold, even Hand A is too good to reopen with 1♠. You would double. Although opener’s values will now be over yours rather than under them, you have far less fear of vigorous competition when the other side has tried to stop at the one level.

Returning to second seat, when your suit is lower than opener’s, you must be more wary of competition.

Hand C Hand D ♠ 7 ♠ 2 ♥ 10 6 2 ♥ K 9 3 ♦ A K J ♦ A K J ♣ A K 9 6 4 2 ♣ K Q J 9 4 3

West North East South 1♠ ?

If you play strong jump overcalls, you will not have a problem with Hand C. You jump to 3♣. These days, many play weak jump overcalls or use 3♣ as a two-suited bid. In this case, you cannot bid 3♣. Does this mean you double, planning to bid clubs later?

No. To double first, rather than overcall at the two level, you need a hand too strong for a strong jump overcall. With Hand C, you are unlikely to miss game if you overcall 2♣ and partner passes. To make 3NT, you will need help in clubs, a spade stopper and help in hearts as well. With all that, partner will find a bid. You do not want to double and have North bid 3♠, do you? Hand D,

which would be too strong for a strong overcall if you were playing them, must be too strong for a simple overcall. You have to double. When your hand is this good, the danger that the bidding will be at a dangerously high level at your next turn is lower.

Hand E Hand F ♠ 9 6 ♠ A 9 ♥ A K J 5 4 ♥ A K J 5 4 ♦ K Q 8 5 2 ♦ A K 8 5 ♣ 2 ♣ 8 3

West North East South 1♥ 2♣ Pass Pass ?

A double followed by a bid of a new suit is a strong action for opener as well. With Hand E, you cannot afford to double on the off chance that partner wants to defend 2♣ doubled. In the far more likely event that East’s pass means weakness rather than a club stack, you are likely to hear 2♠ (or even 3♠) if you try a reopening takeout double. You do not want that. A natural 2♦, rather than double, looks right and is right.

With Hand F, you still see some hope of game despite partner’s pass. With a hand this good, you do not want to rebid 2♦ for fear of missing game. You do not want to bid 3♦ either with so little shape. Double fits the bill. You can convert 2♠ to 3♦ if need be and you can be sure 2♣ doubled is going down if partner leaves in the double.

Summary

Doubling an opening bid and then bid-ding a new suit shows a good hand – 18+ points if you could have shown your suit at the one level, or a hand too good for a strong jump overcall if you could not. ■

BRIDG

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