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Number One Hundred

April 2010

Cruise from Havana, Cuba to Bridgetown, Barbados via Mexico, Costa Rica, Columbia and Venezuela celebrating Christmas 2010 and welcoming the New Year onboard Discovery See overleaf for further details.

Discovery Club Members save an extra 5%

Christmas cruise includes on board Christmas festivities

Tales of the Old Spanish Main Journey around the Spanish Main where Conquistadors from Spain sought glory, land and gold. Between Cuba and Barbados this Voyage of Discovery promises a trove of timeless treasures. Explore legendary Chichen Itza, Altun Ha,Tikal and Copan – legacies of the great Mayan civilisation, whose reason for collapse is still shrouded in mystery. Costa Rica, Honduras and Belize – lands where riches lie in a wealth of wildlife and stunning, natural beauty. And Cartagena – a colonial gem once itself a trove for the Conquistadors bounty. MR BRIDGE – DUPLICATE BRIDGE GUARANTEED All Mr Bridge passengers, will be part of the exclusive bridge party, eligible for the seminars, drinks parties, quiz competitions, occasional afternoon and daily evening duplicates after first sitting dinner. The bridge programme is fully optional and you may participate as much or as little as you wish. Mr Bridge actively encourages singles to join the party and they will always be found a partner for a game.

Your Voyage includes: • Inspiring destinations and enlightening excursions • Comprehensive lecture and Guest Speaker programme • Travel with around 650 like-minded passengers in 4-star comfort

• All meals, entertainment and gratuities on-board included with no hidden extras • Friendly and relaxed atmosphere on board • All prices on board in British pounds • Captain’s cocktail parties and gala dinners • All port and pre-paid airport taxes

An exceptional 18-day voyage departing December 18, 2010 Date

Port

Dec 18

Depart UK by air and transfer to mv Discovery Dec 19 HAVANA, Cuba Dec 20 At Sea Dec 21 PROGRESO, Mexico Dec 22 At Sea Dec 23 BELIZE CITY Dec 24 PUERTO CORTES, Honduras Dec 25 At Sea (Christmas Day) Dec 26-27 PUERTO LIMON, Costa Rica Dec 28 At Sea Dec 29 CARTAGENA, Colombia Dec 30 At Sea Dec 31-Jan 1 MARACAIBO, Venezuela Jan 2 At Sea Jan 3-4 BARBADOS, British Jan 4 Arrive UK after a flight from Barbados

Inside fares from £2,199pp Outside fares from £2,569pp



01483 489961 for brochures and bookings www.bridgecruises.co.uk

Fares shown are per person based on two people sharing lowest twin-bedded cabin category currently available, are subject to availability, capacity controlled and may be withdrawn at any time. Specific cabin number may not be allocated at time of booking. See brochure for full terms and conditions. Only bookings made directly with Mr Bridge are eligible to be part of the Bridge Group. Voyages of Discovery is a trading name of All Leisure Holidays Ltd.

FEATURES

BRIDGE Publisher and Managing Editor Mr Bridge Ryden Grange Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH

3 Bidding Quiz by Bernard Magee

2 Christmas Cruise on Board Discovery

4

5 Cut-out Form Mail Order Form

7 Double Dummy Quiz by Richard Wheen

13 Bridge in the Desert by Bernard Magee

e-mail: [email protected]

18 Declarer Play Quiz by Dave Huggett

Associate Editor Julian Pottage Technical Consultant Tony Gordon Bridge Consultant Bernard Magee Proof Readers Tony Richards Danny Roth Hugh Williams Richard Wheen Software Support ( 01483 485345 Events & Cruises ( 01483 489961 Jessica Galt Rachel Everett Megan Riccio Club Directory and Charity Support [email protected]

Address Changes ( 01483 485342 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.

6 All Roads Lead to Rome on board Minerva

11 Bidding Quiz Answers by Bernard Magee

( 01483 489961

website: www.mrbridge.co.uk

ADVERTISEMENTS

8 Why it is so important for club committees to insure their club

West North East South

18 Rubber/Chicago Bridge Events 20 In the Wake of the Vikings on board Discovery

26 Justin Corfield says Cash Side Winners Before a Crossruff

24 Voyages of Discovery 2010/11 Winter Cruises

27 A Walk in Spring by Countryman

28 Charity Bridge Events

31 A Successful Partnership by Freddie North

28 Bernard Magee Hand Evaluation

31 Defence Quiz by Julian Pottage

?

2. Dealer East. Game All. ♠ AJ ™ Q85 © AK2 ® KJ876 West North East South 1®

2010 Bridge Breaks 30 Cruising on board Minerva

35 Declarer Play Answers by David Huggett

37 Stamps

36 Readers’ Letters

40 Global Travel Insurance

Pass

?

3. Dealer West. N/S Vul. ♠ A Q 10 7 6 5 ™ 2 © A98 ® AJ5 West North East South 1♠

29

32 David Stevenson Answers Your Questions

(Answers on page 11)

12 Bridge Software

16 Voyages of Discovery 2010 Summer Cruises

22 The Tempest or Micro-bridge by Dick Atkinson

Y

ou are West in the auctions below, playing 'Standard Acol' with a weak no-trump (12-14 points) and four-card majors.

10 Bridge Weekends with Bernard Magee

15 Egypt 2011 21 Freddie North says When in Doubt Lead a Trump

by Bernard Magee

1. Dealer West. Love All. ♠ A J 10 7 6 5 4 ™ Void © 32 ® KQ42

9 Tunisia

19 Dave Huggett says Follow with the Bottom of a Sequence

BIDDING QUIZ

Pass

2♠

Pass

?

4. Dealer North. Love All. ♠ KQ943 ™ 6 © A75 ® KQ82 West North East South

39 Defence Quiz Answers by Julian Pottage

46 Duplicate Bridge Rules Simplified

42 Catching Up by Sally Brock

47 Bernard Magee Tips for Better Bridge

43 Julian Pottage Answers Your Questions 46 Double Dummy Answer by Richard Wheen

48 Cruise to the Riviera with Bernard Magee and team on Board Discovery

3©

Dbl

Pass

?

5. ♠ ™ © ®

Dealer North. N/S Vul. 92 KQ7642 4 K543

West North East South

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

Page 3

1™ ?

1♠

Pass

100 AT LAST

Sending you this latest copy of my promotional magazine BRIDGE, is my way of celebrating the publication of its one hundredth issue. You are currently either receiving it for the very first time or more probably, you have failed to re-register your data. The form for doing this is on the facing page. Please fill it in now and post it back to me if you wish to continue to receive BRIDGE for the next couple of years. It is still free of charge and I am happy to continue to keep it so. However, I do need you to re-assure me that you really want to receive it.

BRIDGE WEEKLY In addition, please provide your email address if you would like to receive your weekly bridge e-supplement. This too is free of charge and we are already on issue 6.

ANY IDEAS

PATIENCE

Having the office open on Saturday mornings has improved our customer service no end, especially for those of you who are still working. This improvement arose from a suggestion put in the comments box on the facing page. Have you got a helpful suggestion to make? Let’s be hearing from you.

It will come as a great surprise to those of you who know me, to learn that I have developed the necessary patience to sort out computer problems. This service is confined to the support of QPlus and Bernard Magee’s Tutorial software. If it were otherwise, I would never be able to maintain my new found virtue.

DISCOVERY 2011 I know it seems a long time off but brochures for the summer 2011 season are now ready. If you’re an early bird do give us a call and we will post one to you.

TEA TOWELS I am now no longer involved in the tea towel business but the range is still on sale. We are Survivors Life’s a Game 10 Commandments £5.95 each. Art Screen Print. ( 01287 637527.

SHARMING Bernard Magee went with a group of readers on our inaugural trip to Sharm el Sheik. See page 13 for Bridge in the Desert.

RUBBER CHICAGO

My, my, doesn’t time fly.

2011 DIARIES

The full range of diary colour covers is on offer to club secretaries who like to have their clubs logo printed on the front. Please call Zoe Wright ( 01483 489961.

Diana Holland, pictured above, is hosting two weekend events for rubber/Chicago players at the ever popular Beach Hotel. See page 18 for details. We are also holding a mid-week event in November at the Beach.

QPLUS TIPS If your QPlus is running too slowly, click configuration and go to playing strength, reset the memory at 9 and the playing level at 27. That should speed it up as a powerful computer will always spend all day thinking about a problem if you give it half a chance. To further enhance your enjoyment of QPlus, go to Deal, then to Match Control and put a black dot in deal number. Reset the scoring method to Team by putting a black dot in that box too. Finally, at the bottom of the panel, go to comparison and put a black dot in the closed room box, setting the number of boards at 16. These adjustments will enable you to have a result after the play of each board. If you do badly compared to the computer, you can always replay the hand automatically and see how the computer had played the hand in the closed room. This is a great way to learn from your mistakes and at your own pace... all in the privacy of your home. ( 01483 489961.

CRACKED Sometimes disks get cracked or scratched in the course of time. QPlus and tutorial software can be replaced by sending the disk back to us together with a cheque for £10 for each replacement. Page 4

TUTORIALS

There are currently five different pieces of tutorial software all of which feature Britain’s best known bridge teacher, Bernard Magee, pictured above. Those of you who do not know of this unique series should start with Acol Bidding and follow it with More Acol Bidding, which could have been called Advanced Acol Bidding. Bernard Magee clearly explains each aspect of the Acol system and illustrates these with twenty hands, which you are expected to bid and he will be talking to you, over your shoulder, as it were. His clear advice will help you grasp the subject matter. Once you have bid to the optimum contract, you play out the hand. An additional feature of the More Acol Bidding program is help and tuition from Bernard Magee with the play of all two hundred hands. Declarer Play is covered by two separate CD’s. Declarer Play and Advanced Declarer Play, the latter which some may find too advanced. These CD’s are not cheap. They take a long time to devise, script, programme and record. If you have a really limited budget, I would recommend the latest in this series, Defence, as it is the most likely to dramatically improve your game. It will also involve you in some hard, but satisfying work. You choose. See facing order form.

✄ If you have not contacted us in the last two years, please enter your details in the box below to re-register:

MAIL ORDER PLAY SOFTWARE QPlus 9.1 QPlus 8.8 (second hand) Trade-in any previous QPlus Book & Disk and just send

£84.00 ....... £54.00 .......

Name

ONLY £32.00 .......

.............................................

Address ..............................................................

TUTORIAL SOFTWARE Acol Bidding More Acol Bidding Declarer Play Advanced Declarer Play Defence

(Dr Mr, Mrs, Miss)

............................................................................ £64.00 ....... £94.00 ....... £74.00 ....... £79.00 ....... £74.00 .......

Postcode ............................................................. Telephone............................................................ E-mail .................................................................

BOOKS Duplicate Bridge Rules Simplified £5.95 ....... Club Offer 10 for only £35.00 ....... Simple Directing at the Club – Dr Gurr £4.75 ....... Better Hand Evaluation – Bernard Magee £14.00 ....... Bernard Magee’s Bridge Quiz Book £14.00 ....... Bernard Magee’s Quiz and Puzzle Book £14.00 ....... Bernard Magee’s Tips for Better Bridge £14.00 .......

If you have any comments, queries or points of interest, please use this panel and post them in: ............................................................................ ............................................................................

Please send BRIDGE to the following enthusiasts:

SINGLE-SUITED BALL-POINT PENS Boxed Set of Four (Spade, Heart, Diamond, Club) £19.95 .......

Mr/Mrs/Miss .............................................................................. Address .................................................................................... .................................................................................................. ..........................................Postcode.........................................

All prices are fully inclusive. I enclose a cheque for £............. Mr/Mrs/Miss ..............................................................................

Mr/Mrs/Miss ................................................................................................

Address .................................................................................... Address......................................................................................................... .................................................................................................. ...................................................................................................................... ..........................................Postcode......................................... Postcode ..............................................( .............................................

Mr/Mrs/Miss .............................................................................. Address .................................................................................... ..................................................................................................

Expiry: ............................ CVV.................... Issue No. ............... ..........................................Postcode.........................................

(CVV is the last 3 numbers on the signature strip)

, Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH. www.mrbridge.co.uk/mrbridge-shop

Please complete all or part this form and return to , Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey, GU21 2TH.

✄

( 01483 489961 Page 5

Swan Hellenic Discovery Cruising

For people with a mind to travel

At Swan Hellenic, we go further and dig deeper. Our on-board guest speakers and excursions ashore, help you gain fascinating insights. You travel in country-style comfort with no more than 320 like-minded passengers and dine in the restaurant of your choice with your friends. Be assured of excellent value for money, including tailor-made shore excursions and all tips on-board and ashore. Travel with a renowned British company, established in 1954, and enjoy an experience that will live with you forever.

Mr Bridge All passengers who have booked and registered through Mr Bridge will be eligible to partake in the exclusive late afternoon duplicate session. There is no Bridge supplement, as like most of the excursions, it is included in the price. Mr Bridge actively encourages singles to join the party and they will always be found a partner for a game.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME MIN100826 15 days departing August 26, 2010 from £1,282pp* (inside), £1,995pp (outside) or £1,538pp* (inside single) Follow in the wake of Pilgrims, maritime explorers and gentlemen on the Grand Tour from Dover to St Peter Port to the magnificent cathedrals of Santiago de Compostela and St Peter’s in Rome. Share in their fascination and wonder as you explore Pompeii and Herculaneum, taste port and sherry in Oporto and Jerez, and marvel at the Moorish Alhambra and the Rennaissance cities of Florence, Pisa and Rome. A tailor-made excursion programme, entrance fees and all gratuities are included. *Fares exclusive to Mr Bridge FREE Complimentary pre-cruise transfer from London Gatwick to Dover (please request at the time of booking). For Airport parking details please see Terms and Conditions below

01483 489961

Fares shown are per person based on two people sharing a category 12 inside cabin or a category 8 outside cabin. Offer applies to new bookings only, is subject to availability and may be withdrawn at any time. Booking terms and conditions apply. All fares shown are guarantee fares - cabin number will be allocated approximately 3 weeks prior to departure. 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. Parking at London Gatwick must be arranged and paid for independently. Please call BCP parking on 0871 360 2993 quoting BCPAT3897 for a discounted rate.

for brochures and bookings

YOU DEMAND

SAVING TREES

KEEP SAVING

Among the most frequent requests of our cruisers, are the following, particularly the more discerning.

Several requests from readers as to how to suppress junk mail. Not BRIDGE of course, but all that unwanted material that you find somehow dropping regularly onto your doormat.

We have just received a further cheque in support of Little Voice from the sale of the used postage stamps that you and your friends are carefully putting by for me.

l l l l l l l l

small ships no flying balconies insightful port lectures inclusive tours no single supplements open sitting dining daily duplicate

Discovery can meet some of these requirements but certainly not all.

You need the Mailing Preference Service. Register your name address and postcode with them and most, if not all of your junk mail will die away within three or four months.

The work that Little Voice does in Addis Abba, is amazing and is well worth accumulating these otherwise worthless pieces of waste paper.

DOUBLE DUMMY by Richard Wheen

Freepost 29 LON 2077 London W1E 0ZT.

GOSSIP VALUE

Minerva, pictured above, carries only 325 passengers, has 12 cabins with balconies (they sell very quickly), Oxbridge quality port lectures, inclusive tours and open sitting dining arrangements. Bridge groups of nine or ten tables at most. I have bridge hosts on the following cruises: Highlands and Islands Dover to Dover 12 August – 26 August See advert on page 30. 15 days from

£1595pp. All Roads Lead to Rome Dover to Naples 26 August – 9 September See adjacent advert. 15 days from

The new design of my credit card is intended to promote both me as well as the game of bridge. Indeed, both are now so inextricably linked that the promotion of either promotes the other. Just producing the card to make a payment provides a real talking point. It is a real Mastercard and can be used in just the same way as any other plastic. To encourage you to help me with this promotion, I will give you vouchers to the value of 2% of all you spend on the card. These will be issued every six months based on the information provided by the card issuer. The vouchers may be used in payment towards any of my bridge holidays, cruises or mail order merchandise.

YELLOW BOOK

♠ ™ © ®

♠ A87 ™ Void © Void ® A32 Q J 10 Void W N E S Void KQ6 ♠ K4 ™ Void © A ® J94

♠ ™ © ®

965 Void K 10 7

South is declarer, on lead in a no-trump contract, and needs five of the remaining six tricks. How should he go about it? (Answer on page 46.)

CAPTION COMP I will close entries to the caption competition in the last issue on the 30 April and publish the result and details of the winners in the coming summer issue.

Duplicate bridge players are said to be notoriously careful with their money – nothing wrong with that you say but steady on old chap, aren’t you generalising a bit. Well, yes, I suppose I am, but it really is about time to use the new rule book. Copies going back to 1990 are still in use at some clubs. To this end I repeat my offer – made at the time of publication of Duplicate Bridge Rules Simplified. Send in your old book – half the cover will do and seven first class stamps. I will send you the current issue by return. Meanwhile, my club offer still stands – 10 copies for £35 delivered.

BRIDGE DIRECTION Long overdue, but really welcome none the less, Bridge Direction Simplified is to be published later this year. I have commissioned Bernard Magee and David Stevenson to produce a clear, concise and accurate guide to bridge club direction. For the moment, Simple Direction at the Club by Dr C E Gurr is on sale at £4.75.

£1282pp.

However, pay £6.75 and I will send you Gurr now and the Magee/Stevenson when it is ready. Every club should have at least one of these books to kick-start an interest of a few of your younger willing horses to take on this interesting and, most of the time, rewarding work.

Crusaders and Pharaohs Limassol (Cyprus) to Aqaba 21 November – 4 December See advert on page 30. 15 days from

£1655pp. These cruises include bridge, gratuities and most tours. What more could you want? Page 7

CLUB INSURANCE

Why it is so important for club committees to insure their club The rise in TV adverts offering free legal assistance in the event of an accident or personal injury has increased public awareness of the possibility of making a claim and, as a result, the need for club committee members to seek public liability insurance is becoming more important than ever. Over the last year we have seen a number of incidents that highlight the need for clubs to take out insurance to protect their committee members against possible claims. One case concerned a member leaving his club, tripping over another member’s briefcase and falling through a plate glass door. As a result of the injuries sustained, the gentleman sadly died a few weeks later. This could have resulted in a liability claim against the club committee and member but, fortunately, the gentleman dictated a letter absolving his club of any responsibility and making it clear that the accident was his own fault. An act that is rare these days. Another incident occurred when a member attended a club evening. After parking his car in the club car park, the member apparently slipped over on ice and injured his knee. Some months later the member initiated a claim via solicitors for personal injury as a result of the fall. The allegation of fault by the club surrounds their statutory duty under the Occupier Liability Act 1957 to provide safe premises for lawful visitors and that the club failed to do so by not clearing the ice or gritting the car park. The car park holds around 60 cars, so clearing ice or gritting the car park would not have been easy for the club committee to arrange. Recently we received a call from an uninsured club. The committee members were aware of the need to insure but had decided not to bother. That is, until a rather large club member had the chair that they were sitting on collapse under them. The individual concerned is claiming injury and making a claim on the club, which in effect is the committee members. The committee are now left to deal with defending the claim and any subsequent payment. The club have now decided to take out club insurance. In the first two cases the committees were initially extremely concerned but fortunately both were insured through our club protection policy scheme. In the second case, the ongoing claim and all associated correspondence has been passed to the club’s insurer. However, in the third case, as the club was not insured it is for the committee to respond to the allegation or to seek legal advice, which may prove very expensive. In the event that liability is proven, any damages will have to be met by the club’s members. These examples illustrate how important it is for committees to insure their club. The present bridge club insurance scheme has an annual premium of £57.75 plus £2 administration charge and for clubs wishing to join in April taking them through to this November the pro-rata premium including the £2 administration charge is just £45.50.

For more information please contact Moore Stephens Insurance Brokers Ltd email: [email protected] ( 020 7515 5270

Every club committee needs public liability insurance cover. Ring Moore Stephens for a competitive quotation. Speak with Sylvia Donovan who will be pleased to help you. ( 020 7515 5270. Do let her know you heard it from Mr Bridge.

TRAVEL COVER Whilst on the boring subject of insurance, those needing travel insurance should consider Global Travel whose terms and conditions can be found on pages 40 & 41. The form provided is for a single holiday – those wanting an annual policy should download the form from my website, or if it’s easier, telephone and I will post one to you. Again, do say you heard of it from Mr Bridge.

MUSICAL VISIT

SHETLAND SILVER When Discovery stopped in Lerwick last summer, Mrs Bridge treated herself to a pair of earrings while on a visit ashore. They were so attractive I contacted the owner on my return home with a view to having a pendant (and chain) and matching earrings. These he dutifully designed and I illustrate them below.

Ï

Silver pendant Gold (9ct) Silver earrings Gold (9ct)

£29.95 £69.95 £34.50 £85.00

Postage and packing: Silver £2.50 (1st class post) Gold £5 (Special delivery) See his website: www.shetlandjewellery.com ( 01595 830275

CHARITY EVENTS

Felicity is growing up fast. As promised, I am including a snap taken on her recent visit to Ryden Grange.

POSTAGE SAVINGS

On page 28, I provide a listing of fund raising events involving bridge. Do try to support them if you can. Organisers, do send in your details really well in advance – bridge players have events and matches booked a long way forward. The listing in BRIDGE is provided free of charge. Organisers should also ask the bridge trade for prizes, most will help. The worst they can do is say no.

Another price increase has just come in. Support Clive Goff’s unusual service supplying unused stamps at a useful discount. ( 0208 4224906 [email protected] Page 8

TWIT Several months ago now, I set myself up on Twitter. Apologies to followers. Just about to restart so watch out.

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

CHRISTMAS CRUISE

My ‘Ask Julian’ and ‘Ask David’ services can only work if the problems they are asked to examine and advise about can be published. Please bear this in mind.

AT THE ROYAL KENZ TUNISIA 2010/2011

APPLE MAC QPlus does not currently have a Mac version, so I recommend Mac users to buy Bridge Baron. This is available from Chess and Bridge. Ring ( 0207 388 2404 and ask for Matt.

TUNISIA

As featured on the front cover, our 2010 Christmas cruise sails from Havana, Cuba to Bridgetown, Barbados via Mexico, Costa Rica, Columbia and Venezuela. Hosted by Alex Davoud, do book now to avoid disappointment.

CHRISTMAS IN THE UK

The Royal Kenz Hotel has at last completed its refit and has an amazingly improved bridge room (pictured above) with lovely new tables, chairs, decor and lighting. It also has a new indoor swimming pool.

This year we will have Christmas groups at The Olde Barn Hotel, Marston, Lincs and Denham Grove, near Uxbridge, Bucks with Twixmas and New Year’s Eve breaks also at Denham Grove. Do book early to avoid disappointment.

Two-week half-board duplicate holidays 31 Oct – 14 Nov £749* Tony and Jan Richards Golf available

STOP PRESS WINDOWS 7

20 February – 6 March £749* Bernard Magee 6 March – 20 March £749*

Having spent a lot of time and energy trying to find a new Tunisian venue, I really do not think I will find anywhere better.

20 March – 3 April £749* *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 Gatwick to Monastir. Flights from other UK airports are available at a supplement. All prices are firm until the end of March 2010. Prices for seven-night stays are available on application.

LAST CHANCES The Beach Hotel site is to be re-developed as apartments. In the circumstances, I am making the most of this much loved venue in 2010. Over the last few years our weekend events at this hotel have got better and better. Book early to avoid being disappointed. No single supplement.

Hans Leber, pictured above, reports that QPlus is compatible with the latest version of Windows. In consequence there is no need for an upgrade to the current 9.1 version.

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 by Tunisia First Limited, ATOL 5933, working in association with Thomas Cook Tour Operations Limited, ATOL 1179.

Place your orders with confidence.

DETAILS & BOOKINGS ( 01483 489961 Page 9

2010 WEEKENDS

BRIDGE WEEKENDS with Bernard Magee © Full-board

© Two seminars

© All rooms with en-suite facilities

© Two supervised play sessions

© No single supplement

© Four duplicate sessions

with Bernard Magee Full Board £235 per person No single Supplement 22 - 24 October Denham Grove Doubles

Please book me for ..... places at £235 per person,

29 - 31 October Denham Grove Splinters and Cue-bids

or ..... places at £145 per person as day guests. Single .... Double .... Twin .... Sea View1 .... Executive2 .... Venue ................................................................................. The Beach Hotel, Worthing

Dates ..................................................................................

16 - 18 April Blunsdon House Hotel Leads and Defence

Mr/Mrs/Miss ..................................................................... Address............................................................................... ............................................................................................

23 - 25 April The Olde Barn Hotel Signals and Discards

Postcode ............................................................................ ( ......................................................................................

4 - 6 June The Beach Hotel Suit Establishment

Special requirements (these cannot be guaranteed, but we will do our best to oblige) ...........................................................................................

18 - 20 June Blunsdon House Hotel Signals and Discards

Please give the name(s) of all those covered by this booking ........................................................................................... Please send a non-returnable deposit of £50 per person per place by cheque, payable to Mr Bridge. An invoice for the balance will be sent with your booking confirmation. On receipt of your final payment, 28 days before the event, a programme and full details will be sent together with a map. Cancellations are not refundable. Should you require insurance, you should contact your own insurance broker. 1£30 supplement per room (Beach Hotel only). 2£50 supplement per room (Blunsdon House and Denham Grove only).

25 - 27 June The Beach Hotel Game Tries 6 - 8 August Blunsdon House Hotel Hand Evaluation

Expiry: ............................ CVV.................... Issue No. ............... (CVV is the last 3 numbers on the signature strip)

, Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH

( 01483 489961 Fax 01483 797302

Page 10

26 - 28 November The Beach Hotel Further into the Auction 3 - 5 December The Beach Hotel Sacrificing

The Beach Hotel Worthing, BN11 3QJ This elegant family run hotel has the finest seafront location in Worthing.

Blunsdon House Hotel Swindon, SN26 7AS A family run four-star hotel within the county of Wiltshire.

Denham Grove Uxbridge, UB9 5DU

20 - 22 August Blunsdon House Hotel Better Defence

Set in 42 acres of grounds, Denham Grove combines a modern design with a peaceful rural setting.

1 - 3 October The Beach Hotel Declarer Play

The Olde Barn Grantham, NG32 2HT

8 - 10 October The Olde Barn Hotel Game Tries

e-mail: [email protected] website: www.holidaybridge.com

12 - 14 November The Beach Hotel Better Defence

Enjoy the tranquillity of this idyllic retreat set in beautiful countryside in the heart of rural England.

ANSWERS TO THE BIDDING QUIZ ON PAGE 3 by BERNARD MAGEE (as he might if you respond in a major), so 1©

4NT. Finding a slam after the opponents

should be a harmless lie. The full auction

have pre-empted is not easy, but you must

♠ 82

might be: 1®-1©-1♠-2™-3©-4NT-5©-6®.

keep the possibility in mind: after all, if you

™ Q63

After partner rebids 1♠, you make another

© A654

artificial bid 2™ – the fourth suit – and partner

® AJ76

supports your ‘diamond suit’, bidding 3©. This

1. Dealer West. Love All. ♠ A J 10 7 6 5 4 ™ Void

N E

W

© 32

S

® KQ42

is perfect because you have a wonderful picture of your partner’s hand: five clubs, four West

North

East

South

?

spades and three diamonds, leaving just one

have an ace in the pre-emptor’s suit and partner has a singleton (as he does), the 3© bidder is unlikely to make a defensive trick. Here partner has shown an opening hand (12+ or 6-7 losers) and you have just five losers or 14pts and a singleton.

heart; with this knowledge, you can try for

You are confident of a spade fit and, holding

slam. If partner shows no aces, you pass his

1♠. In first or second seat, a pre-empt usually

the ©A – the perfect card in the opponents’

5® response; if he has one ace, you bid on to

suit – the final contract is going to depend on

shows 5-9 points and a seven-card suit: the

6®; and if he has two aces (5™), you could

how many aces partner holds. When you

nine point maximum is because if your suit is

check on kings, looking for 7®.

jump to 4NT without any suit bid, partner

strong then its extra power merits a normal

should simply show the number of aces

one-level opening if you have ten points. Here

he holds. Your partner has a minimum hand

you open 1♠ and then, over a 2® response, you can jump to 4♠, in the knowledge that your partner has 10pts (for a two-level response) as well as a side-suit fit in clubs, making game an excellent prospect.

for a take-out double, but his two-ace reply

3. Dealer West. N/S Vul. ♠ A Q 10 7 6 5 ™ 2

N W

© A98

E S

® AJ5

♠ K942

is enough to allow you to jump to 6♠,

™ J843

which is very likely to make a comfortable 12

© 65

tricks.

® Q86

Clearly, had you opened 3♠, your partner 5. Dealer North. N/S Vul.

would have passed. A 4♠ opening is a better option than 3♠, but it is a little random.

West

North

1♠

East

Pass

South

2♠

Pass

N W

© AK2

E S

® KJ876

™ 8

N W

E S

® K543

2. Dealer East. Game All. ♠ AJ

♠ AK753

™ KQ7642 © 4

?

™ Q85

♠ 92

♠ KQ83

4♠. The losing trick count is an excellent form

™ 3

of hand evaluation when you have a fit, but

© J74

you need to take account of extra aspects: six

® AQ432

losers would suggest inviting game but, with a six-card trump suit and three aces in the

West

© A973 ® 962

North

East

South

1™

1♠

Pass

?

hand, this is without doubt worth a raise to West

North

East

South

game. The point count evaluates the hand as

Pass. It is always difficult to bid hands when

1®

Pass

19 total pts: 15 HCP + 2 length + 2 singleton –

the opponents bid your suit: it is important to

this also suggests a raise to game. Your

remember that if you bid their suit here, you

partner is pretty much minimum, but game

are not telling your partner you have it too.

should be straightforward.

You would actually be saying that you have a

?

1©. In Standard Acol, this is not an easy bid. You have a wonderful hand, but you need to

good hand and game ambitions, usually with

make a bid that forces your partner to bid

spade support.

3NT and 4NT are too random. If you are to

4. Dealer North. Love All. ♠ KQ943 ♠ AJ85

again: any club bid will limit your hand. 5®, find a slam with a hand like this, you are

™ 6

going to need space in the auction to find it.

© A75

One of my common phrases, when in

® KQ82

™ K982

N W

E

© 2

S

® AJ74

desperation for a bid to keep things going is: West

you to find out what kind of hand your partner has – he is unlikely to jump to any huge level

certainly be happy that you are not playing in hearts. With little strength and no huge hatred for spades, you should simply pass and await developments.

‘it is always best to tell a lie in a minor.’ A 1© response keeps the auction going and allows

Hence, 2™ is not the right bid; I can tell you North holds ™A-J-10-9-5, so you should

North

East

South

If 1♠ becomes the final contract, you should

3©

Dble

Pass

be happy enough with the potential to ruff a diamond or two.

?

Page 11

■

BERNARD MAGEE’S INTERACTIVE TUTORIALS ACOL BIDDING l l l l l l

l

l l l

Opening Bids and Responses Slams and Strong Openings Support for Partner Pre-empting Overcalls No-trump Openings and Responses Opener’s and Responder’s Rebids Minors and Misfits £64 Doubles Competitive Auctions

MORE (ADVANCED) ACOL BIDDING l l l l l l l l l l

Basics Advanced Basics Weak Twos Strong Hands £94 Defence to Weak Twos Defence to 1NT Doubles Two-suited Overcalls Defences to Other Systems Misfits and Distributional Hands

DECLARER PLAY l

l

l l l l l l l l

Suit Establishment in No-trumps Suit Establishment in Suits Hold-ups Ruffing for Extra Tricks Entries in No-trumps Delaying Drawing Trumps Using the Lead Trump Control Endplays & Avoidance Using the £74 Bidding

ADVANCED DECLARER PLAY l

l

l l l l l l

l l

Making Overtricks in No-trumps Making £79 Overtricks in Suit Contracts Endplays Avoidance Wrong Contract Simple Squeezes Counting the Hand Trump Reductions & Coups Playing Doubled Contracts Safety Plays

DEFENCE l

l l

l

l l l l l l

Lead vs Notrump Contracts £74 Lead vs Suit Contracts Partner of Leader vs Notrump Contracts Partner of Leader vs Suit Contracts Count Signals Attitude Signals Discarding Defensive Plan Stopping Declarer Counting the Hand

System Requirements: Windows XP or Vista, 8mb RAM, CD-ROM

Q PLUS 9.1 l l l l l l l l l l

Friendly Interface Hint and Help Buttons Easy Installation Manual Rubber, Duplicate and Teams Scoring Instant results playing in teams mode 2,500 pre-played hands for teams 2,000 pre-played hands for match-pointed pairs Check your pairs percentage and ranking Systems include: Acol, including £84 Bernard Magee’s system, Standard American or create your own.

TRADE-IN OFFERS Trade-in any previous version of Q Plus. Just post in the booklet and disk and a cheque for £32. Trade-in any other bridge software before 30 June 2010 and send it with a cheque for £49. Order with absolute confidence.

Make your cheque payable to

( 01483 489961

Still the very best Acolplaying Software available

Happy BRIDGE reader, Gill Smith writes: I love my QPlus Bridge. As a learner, I always have a faithful partner whenever I want one. She is always available (late at night too) and she bids and plays perfectly. She has never kicked me under the table, rolled her eyes or taken a sharp intake of breath. If I bid or play badly she is on hand with sound advice yet she doesn’t take offence if I ignore it. There is also a use which I didn’t realise when I bought the CD. It is the facility to feed in the real hands that we deal, and see how it would have bid and played them. I have done

this on arriving home, usually cross with myself, after a duplicate session. My faithful friend gives me a sensible perspective on the matter. When playing Chicago or rubber at home, at the end of the bidding and playing a difficult hand, I have opened up my laptop and switched on QPlus. With fellow learners, I have looked at hands and seen how our electronic friend would have bid and played. We still have lots to learn. I bracket my QPlus disc together with the dishwasher – an essential luxury that I would find very difficult to live without.

and send to: Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH

www.mrbridge.co.uk/mrbridge-shop

Fax 01483 797302

Bridge in the Desert by Bernard Magee

J

anuary and February are great months to travel to get away from the cold Winter: this year being an exceptionally good one to escape. Mr Bridge has been running breaks in Tunisia for eight or nine years now, using the Royal Kenz Hotel in Port El Kantaoui among others. A great hotel, a lovely atmosphere and good bridge; the weather tends to be 10 degrees warmer than at home and there is usually a breeze to contend with. It was time for us to try somewhere hotter and, with that in mind, I took a group of players to Sharm El Sheikh. On the Southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula the weather is consistently in the mid 20s in January and can be relied on. I went out early with one of our helpers, Jo, so that we could prepare the bridge rooms and check out the facilities of both the hotel and the whole resort. After two or three days of sun, the clients were due to arrive and they duly did, in the middle of the worst storm to hit for seven years. They do not do rain in this part of the world – most of the roofs are flimsy and many are slatted or do not even exist. Hence, after hours of persistent rain everywhere was flooded, powercuts plunged the hotel into darkness and rivers of water greeted the guests. Electric storms decorated the sky for hours on end – I sat on my balcony to take it all in – at the same time I was wondering how to cheer up the guests. What a greeting: half an inch of water on your bedroom floor. Hotels all over the resort were in chaos: millions of pounds worth of damage had been done, but the staff worked tirelessly to overcome the problems and the weather had soon

regained its usual calm sunny aspect. Within 2 or 3 days things were back to normal and we all started to settle a little more. By the end of the holiday, we were able to think of the storm as a wonderful experience. The bridge room was spacious and held both the seminar facilities and playing facilities in the same area, which made things simpler. We had some noise and temperature problems, but, all in all, I think it has the potential to make an excellent venue for our events in the coming years. Fortunately our playing venue was not affected by the storm, so we were able to settle in to playing – most people play only in the evenings, but there is bridge available most afternoons and there are seminars on some mornings followed by set hands. On the first evening after the storm, some players were still to arrive and others had settled in and were playing: the situation was chaotic, but all in hand – you can experience these kinds of things during an auction, but all too often, one player loses control:

♠ ™ © ®

Dealer South. Love All. ♠ 62 ™ Q © AK96432 ® 10 6 3 A J 10 9 5 4 ♠ 8 N J 10 5 2 ™ K43 W E Q 10 © J87 S 4 ® KQJ987 ♠ KQ73 ™ A9876 © 5 ® A52

Page 13

West

North

East

1♠ Pass

2© 4©

3® End

South 1™ 3™

Auctions where all four players bid a different suit are unusual and it is important to be wary on such deals – very often they will be misfits and staying low tends to be the wisest option. West makes a weak but reasonable overcall, North’s 2© is also reasonable, but East’s 3® is too much, he does better to pass. However, as is so often true in bridge, if your bad bid induces an equally bad bid from your opponent, then was your bid so bad after all? South has a weak opening bid and no fit for his partner, so he should be wary. His 3™ bid is poor: opening 1™ and rebidding 3™ should suggest a sixcard suit: remember that your partner still has a bid – with a little help in hearts he might bid them now. However, North wants to play in diamonds – 3© would have been perfect, for +110, instead he has to settle for 4© one off. It is amazing how often one mistake is followed by another in bridge: had East passed over 2©, South would have rebid 2™, North would have bid 3© and that might have finished the auction. So East will feel his bid was brilliant and it is not easy to argue with success. Of course, had North-South left their opponents to play the contract (doubled) then they would certainly have got their best score: against accurate defence, declarer will make only six tricks in clubs. When you think there is a misfit and the bidding is stormy, let your opponents play the contract – so often they will end up wrecked.

Bridge in the Desert continued

The weather settled down and the skin colours of our group changed gradually: from snow-white to red and then into varying shades of brown. Knowing the weather will be warm and calm everyday makes dressing so much easier. Sharm el Sheikh is a resort: very few locals live in the area; most work for 40 days on the trot and then travel home for 7 days to Cairo or Luxor or the like. One of our restaurant managers, Ayman, took us on a local tour, to the various religious establishments: Coptic Christian and Muslim and then around the resort. It was interesting to get a flavour of the area as well as to see some of their traditions, one of which is to celebrate Christmas on January 6th, which explained why all the decorations were still up, including their nativity figures and manger together with a Father Christmas in the background.

and Brenda). You could see plenty of fish off the pontoon, especially near the end where a shoal tended to congregate. So what was the snorkelling like? Thousands of fish, all sorts of colours, colourful corals of all shapes and sizes, giant clams, sea anemones, seaweeds, little crabs. The sea water is very salty which contributes to its buoyancy. My favourite experience came on a calm day when I was able to lie face down on the water without moving for ten to fifteen minutes. This enabled me just to watch the sea-life beneath me and since I did not need to move, many of the more shy animals made an appearance. Some of the colourful fish tend to swim and dance all of the time, but the quieter fish, especially some of the groupers, hide in the shadows. I hovered above a

Snorkelling Sharm el Sheikh is most famous for its snorkelling. Now you could be forgiven for thinking that this might not interest the bridge group, but by the end of the holiday I would say more than 80% of the group had been in. My first visit to the ‘snorkelling beach’ had seen the pontoon (of plastic barrels) going up and down on the waves, so I had thought it best to warn people off the idea. However, as the days progressed and with flat calm seas, the pontoon was much more easily navigated and so I suggested that the bridge group might take a bus down together. This was not so much an organised tour, rather an opportunity to go snorkelling whilst there were others about for moral support. Over 30 of us made the trip and it was great to see so many people getting in. With the pontoon so flat, I was able to lead some players up fully clothed (Pam

large red fish (I think it was a moon grouper) and I stared into its blue eyes for at least a minute, but there was only going to be one winner in that competition. I gave in and turned my attention to some of the camouflaged fish – their skin very similar in colour to the coral. Then I moved closer to the pontoon and swam amongst the shoals of fish and before long I started getting a few pains on my chest which they were nibbling. Calm days at the pontoon led to very pleasurable snorkelling and so often calm and passive play by declarer will lead to an equally pleasurable outcome. The term passive tends to describe the avoidance of playing new suits: generally, in bridge, the side that leads a suit for the first time is at a disadvantage

Page 14

unless the suit turns out to be very strong (or very weak).

♠ ™ © ® ♠ ™ © ®

J5 8752 J5 K Q 10 8 7 ♠ ™ © ®

K4 K J 10 KQ63 J942 N E

W S

♠ ™ © ®

AQ762 64 10 9 8 7 63

10 9 8 3 AQ93 A42 A5

3NT by South. Lead ®K.

On this hand West led the ®K against 3NT: a perfectly reasonable lead from a good strong suit (KQ10 is a broken sequence so it is worth leading from the top). However, North’s club strength makes the lead less potent. Declarer has eight top tricks. It might be tempting to take some top tricks and look at discards, but so often best play is to give the opponents the lead blind and let them open up a new suit. Win and lead a club back. West takes his queen but has to switch suits and looking at dummy, he decides to switch to the ♠J. At first glance this looks like good defence – he finds his partner’s strong suit – but, as so often when the defenders open up a suit, it gives declarer the upper hand. East takes two spade tricks, but this establishes two for declarer, leaving him with ten tricks. As suggested, for good switches you want very weak suits or very strong suits. The defence’s weakest suits make safe switches: hearts and diamonds give nothing away. Left to his own devices, declarer will probably make only nine tricks: aiming for a tenth by leading towards his ♠K and losing to the ace.

Bridge in the Desert continued

that Understanding calmness is often the best defensive technique is not easy, but had you lain on the surface of the water and seen the fish as if in another

world, then you would understand that it is worth considering.

Tours There were a limited selection of tours available: a large party went to St Catherine’s Monastery near to the site of the Burning Bush. Other tours took you on glass-bottom boats or to Ras Mohammed – a national park at sea – coral gardens that were alive with fish and plants. There were other tours available and we will make sure there is a more extensive range in the future.

being able to sit in the sun with the temperature already in the 20s at 8am meant that many of the bridge group would sit outside the Atrium restaurant and create a lovely atmosphere and we could almost have had a bridge movement, although early morning bridge would take a little getting used to.

A 5* spacious resort hotel complex with a friendly atmosphere situated 3km from the resort centre of Na’ama bay and a 15 minute courtesy bus ride from the hotel’s private beach.

Till Next Time The bridge group had great fun: there were plenty of different events and seminars as well as tours and snorkelling. Undoubtedly, there were parts of the holiday that could be bettered (all-inclusive resorts take getting used to) but I

Duplicate Bridge with Bernard Magee 17-31 January 2011 £1029*

Hotel

The hotel was a great sprawling complex with four or five pools and several restaurants. However, the bridge group had our own private restaurant for the evening meals which was excellent for ambience and social purposes. Perhaps the favourite mealtime was breakfast: the pleasure of

AT THE 5* KIROSEIZ THREE CORNERS, NA’AMA BAY, EGYPT 2011

feel sure that there will be a great improvement next year. The new General Manager of the hotel arrived just two days before me and he has great plans for the hotel. I took all my problems to him at the end of the event and he was confident that he will correct them for next year. Hence it is with excitement that Mr Bridge can offer you two choices next year: Egypt in January for sun and snorkelling or Tunisia in February for warmth and culture. They are very different experiences, but I can assure you that you will enjoy ■ either. Page 15

All inclusive board includes: buffet-style breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks served at selected times between meals, ice cream served in the afternoon and afternoon tea. An unlimited amount of hot, soft and alcoholic drinks (excluding international brands and cocktails) served 10 am to midnight. The bridge itinerary consists of four seminars and set hand sessions, a quiz with an answer session and a varied evening programme. *per person half-board sharing a twin-bedded room and is inclusive of bridge fees. Single supplement £221 per fortnight. These prices are based on air travel from Gatwick. Flights from other airports are available at a supplement, Birmingham, Glasgow, Bristol, Cardiff, Manchester and Newcastle. This holiday is arranged in conjunction with Thomas Cook Holidays ATOL1179.

DETAILS & BOOKINGS ( 01483 489961

There’s a whole world of discovery. Even before you set foot ashore. Experience the cruise of a lifetime. You will discover some of the great cities and monuments from the ancient and modern worlds plus along the way, you will also share the stories and insights not everyone gets to see. The renowned guest speakers unlock the secrets, while Discovery is the perfect way to get to any destination. It will be a voyage you won’t forget. A SHIP LIKE NO OTHER AND AN EXPERIENCE TO MATCH On board, the 4-star Discovery combines all of today’s modern comforts with a sleek exterior reminiscent of the classic liners of yesteryear. Small enough to reach out-of-the-way ports, yet large enough to make light work of crossing the great oceans, Discovery avoids the excesses of today’s mega-liners. Instead, she has been expressly conceived for our special brand of ‘discovery cruising’ to create an atmosphere on board that is friendly and relaxed.There are all the facilities you would expect on a ship of this size, including three restaurants, a choice of bars and lounges, two pools, a well-stocked library, lecture theatre/cinema and internet centre.

MR BRIDGE – DUPLICATE BRIDGE GUARANTEED All Mr Bridge passengers are eligible to attend the exclusive drinks parties.When Discovery is at sea there are morning seminars and afternoon bridge sessions.Those choosing to pay the £30 per bridge player supplement, will be eligible for the evening duplicate after the first sitting dinner.The bridge programme is fully optional and you may participate as much or as little as you wish. Mr Bridge actively encourages singles to join the party and they will always be found a partner for a game.

YOUR VOYAGE INCLUDES: • Inspiring destinations and enlightening excursions • Comprehensive lecture and Guest Speaker programme • Travel with around 650 like-minded passengers in 4-star comfort • Flights from/to the UK for fly-cruises (Manchester £15pp supplement) • FREE parking at Harwich for no-fly cruises • All meals, entertainment and gratuities on-board included with no hidden extras • Friendly and relaxed atmosphere on board • All prices on board in British pounds • Captain’s cocktail parties and gala dinners • All port and pre-paid airport taxes

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DECLARER PLAY QUIZ

RUBBER / CHICAGO 2010 at The Beach Hotel, Worthing, BN11 3QJ Hosted by Diana Holland

28-30 May (Fri-Sun) 30 July-1 August (Fri-Sun)

by David Huggett

16-18 November (Tue-Thu)

(Answers on page 35)

Please note there are no seminars or set hands at these events

£199 – Full-board – No Single Supplement

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

Y 1.

♠ ™ © ®

8653 Q6 AK74 K73

3.

♠ ™ © ®

J3 A865 A983 K65

N W

N E

S

♠ ™ © ®

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ BOOKING FORM _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Please book me for .... places, Single .... Double .... Twin ....

E

W S

♠ ™ © ®

Q J 10 9 4 KJ7 J3 A85

You are declarer in 4♠ and West leads the ®2. How do you plan the play?

K 10 2 KQJ972 QJ A7

You are declarer in 4™ and West leads the ©7. How do you plan the play?

for the Rubber/Chicago event(s) of ..................................... Mr/Mrs/Miss ..................................................................... 2.

Address............................................................................... ............................................................................................

♠ ™ © ®

K85 A643 853 654

Postcode ............................................................................

4.

♠ ™ © ®

875 754 AQ975 Q3 N

N W

W

E

♠ ™ © ®

Special requirements (these cannot be guaranteed) ........................................................................................... Please send a non-returnable deposit of £50 per person per place by cheque, payable to Mr Bridge. An invoice for the balance will be sent with your booking confirmation. On receipt of your final payment, 28 days before the event, a programme and full details will be sent together with a map. Cancellations are not refundable. Should you require insurance, you should contact your own insurance broker. (Sea view £30 supplement.)

A Q J 10 7 3 92 AK4 A3

You are declarer in 4♠ after West opened the bidding with a pre-emptive 3™. West leads the ™K. How do you plan the play?

, Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH

( 01483 489961 Fax 01483 797302 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.holidaybridge.com

Page 18

E S

S

( ......................................................................................

♠ ™ © ®

A2 AJ8 J 10 8 AK762

You are declarer in 3NT and West leads the ™K, East playing the ™3 showing count. How do you plan the play?

Dave Huggett Says

Follow with the Bottom of a Sequence ost people understand the value of leading the top card from a sequence and the message it conveys to partner. It is equally important to follow with the bottom card of a sequence when partner leads a suit and you are trying to win the trick. The following deal will show why:

M

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

Love All. Dealer South. ♠ AK3 ♥ K75 ♦ 64 ♣ Q J 10 7 5 742 ♠ Q 10 8 5 N QJ8 ♥ 9642 E W K9732 ♦ QJ8 S K3 ♣ 82 ♠ J96 ♥ A 10 3 ♦ A 10 5 ♣ A964

West

North

East

Pass

3NT

End

South 1NT

West leads the ♦3 and declarer wins with the ♦A after East has contributed the ♦J. (As declarer plans to finesse into the hand with the presumed diamond length, there can be little point in holding up. Moreover, because the opposition are playing fourth best leads he knows that the diamonds are either 4-4 or 5-3.) Declarer then crosses to a top spade in dummy and leads the ♣Q, running it when East plays low. The finesse loses but now West can safely lead a diamond to his partner’s queen, a card he knows his partner must have else declarer would have won the first trick with the ♦Q rather than the ♦A. This way, the defenders can now cash enough tricks to defeat the contract. Maybe that looks too easy – but, if

East had played the ♦Q on the first trick, West might have gone astray. He might have switched to the ♥Q, hoping that East held the ♥A and one of the ♥10 (for at least three heart tricks) or the ♦10 (probably four diamond tricks). Knowing for sure that partner has a certain high card might be useful for another reason altogether:

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

Love All. Dealer West. ♠ KQJ4 ♥ 72 ♦ J3 ♣ AKQJ6 A2 ♠ 63 N K54 ♥ Q J 10 8 6 W E S AQ74 ♦ 9862 9854 ♣ 32 ♠ 10 9 8 7 5 ♥ A93 ♦ K 10 5 ♣ 10 7

West 1NT Pass

North Dbl 4♠

East 2♥ End

South 2♠

West has no clear-cut lead but in deference to his partner’s bid he leads the ♥4. East contributes the ♥10 and declarer wins with the ♥A before leading a low spade. West rises with the ace and now knows two things! Firstly declarer must have the ♥9 – else partner would have played that card at trick one – and secondly partner must have the ♥J and the ♥Q else declarer would have won the first trick with one of those cards. So a lead of the ♥5 now gives the lead to East, who should have no trouble at all in returning a diamond. Whatever declarer does, he has to lose two tricks in that suit and four tricks in all! Our final deal is exciting and shows how attention to detail can save you a Page 19

headache when the stakes are high:

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

N/S Game. Dealer West. ♠ Q653 ♥ A Q J 10 7 6 ♦ 2 ♣ 42 A ♠ 2 N 9532 ♥ 4 E W K97643 ♦ Q J 10 8 S 53 ♣ K Q J 10 9 8 6 ♠ K J 10 9 8 7 4 ♥ K8 ♦ A5 ♣ A7

West Pass Pass

North Pass 6♠

East 5♣ End

South 5♠

When an opponent opens with a highlevel pre-empt it can all become a bit of a guessing game and, while South’s overcall looks reasonable, North’s raise is perhaps debatable. In any event, 6♠ became the final contract. West led the ♣5, East contributing the ♣8. The declarer won with the ♣A and led a low trump. West won, perforce, and considered his options. An opening bid at the five-level usually indicates an eight-card suit and, with a threatening heart holding in dummy, a switch to a low diamond looked inviting. Perhaps a wheel had come off in the bidding and East had the ♦A. Just in time, West remembered that East played the ♣8 at trick one! That denied the ♣7, marking declarer with the card, so West played a second club.

Conclusion Play bottom of a sequence in third seat. This helps partner place the other high cards. ■

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Freddie North Says

When in Doubt Lead a Trump e all know that there are many times when the only lead to beat a contract is a trump. As well as when you need to cut down on ruffs, sometimes a lead from any side suit could cost a trick. I must now draw to your attention the word ‘doubt’. Assuming doubt comes after careful reflection – especially in relation to the bidding, and is not just a reflex action because nothing else quickly comes to mind – those six little words have much to commend them. Before we go on, let’s consider the arguments for and against a trump lead.

W

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

Q86 742 KJ73 AQ7

N

Against a Trump Lead 5 When the trump is a singleton – the danger is that leading the suit may kill Q-x-x or J-x-x-x in partner’s hand. 6 At times, you can ill afford to lose the valuable tempo that the opening lead gives – you need to set up winners before declarer can obtain discards. 7 A closer review of the bidding can point you to an opposing weak spot – e.g. if the opponents look for 3NT and, when neither of them shows a stopper in a specific suit, they call a suit game. Let’s look at some real examples. You are West. On the first, South opens 1♥ and North’s raise to 4♥ ends the auction.

E S

This is typical of the ‘anything could be right – or wrong’ situation. Added to that, there is little bidding to go on with which to form a picture. So doubt does exist and no amount of mature reflection will pierce the gloom. Lead the two of hearts. Partner held:

In Favour of a Trump Lead 1 When the bidding suggests dummy has a short side suit and only a few trumps. 2 When you have the opponents outgunned and only ruffing losers can minimise their losses. 3 When you have a good holding in declarer’s second suit, which suggests he may try to ruff losers in dummy. 4 When you have tenaces or other unattractive holdings in the side suits and partner is marked with few values.

N W

W

E S

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

9743 Void 10 9 8 6 K8532

As it happens, a club – a most unlikely choice – would be safe. A diamond (round to South’s queen) or a spade (resolving a two-way finesse) would be fatal. Maybe declarer will get the spade right anyway – or maybe he won’t. At least you haven’t helped him. The next deal becomes interesting when East-West refuse to allow their opponents to play in hearts.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

Dealer East. Love All. ♠ J84 ♥ AQJ96 ♦ 532 ♣ K8 Void ♠ Q 10 9 5 2 N 743 ♥ 2 W E K Q J 10 7 4 ♦ 986 S A965 ♣ Q J 10 4 ♠ AK763 ♥ K 10 8 5 ♦ A ♣ 732

Page 21

After a pass from East, South bid his spades, West his diamonds and North his hearts. It then became a battle of the red suits, with neither side seemingly knowing the maxim ‘the five level belongs to the opponents’. When EastWest bid to 5♦, North-South went on to 5♥. Not to be outdone, East-West went on to 6♦, duly doubled. If North leads a heart, declarer can get out for two down, losing one heart, one diamond and one club. This is likely to be cheap against 5♥. However, suppose that North leads a trump at trick one and another when in with a heart. Now declarer loses a second heart trick. At equal vulnerability, three down is a great score for North-South. On my final deal, the lead looks easy.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

QJ2 72 AK743 853

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

♠ ♥ W E ♦ S ♣ K 10 9 8 6 5 AJ86 J2 A

A43 K 10 9 5 96 KQJ9

N

West

North

East

Pass Pass End

2♦ 3♠

Pass Pass

7 Q43 Q 10 8 5 10 7 6 4 2

South 1♠ 2♥ 4♠

Many players would select the king of clubs without much thought – but that lets the contract make. West’s strong heart holding suggests a trump lead. Declarer can no longer ruff a heart in dummy – West continues with ace and another trump when in with a heart. ■

The Tempest or Micro-bridge by Dick Atkinson

M

y uncle, the 7th Baron von Münchausen, is an intimate acquaintance of all the old royalty and aristocracy of the Continent. On this occasion, in the mid-1930s, he was the special guest of the King of Naples on a bridge cruise. Their last landfall had been Tunisia, and they were headed for Majorca, when a furious storm blew up, interrupting a small but brilliantly contested pairs’ event, for which the prizes were to be a ruby encrusted breastplate and a magnificent diamond tiara from the old Hungarian crown jewels. My uncle had been leading, according to his estimates, and had set his heart on the tiara, which he had decided should adorn the perfect golden tresses of his Baroness – if he ever found a worthy candidate for that position. He had just removed his last hand from the board and had time to notice that it consisted of eleven top spades and both red aces when the yacht lurched sickeningly. ‘To the lifeboats!’ roared the burly boatswain. My uncle had the presence of mind to snatch up the board with its three as yet unclaimed hands – and the prizes too, of course! Very soon, the King’s yacht was driven onto a rocky reef and her august passengers found themselves fighting for their lives in the raging surf. Miraculously, all found themselves safely on the sandy beach of a small tropical island. The crew were nowhere to be seen, so it was with some relief that they discovered the island had an inhabitant, who was immediately recruited as a servant. He kept pointing at himself and muttering something like ‘Caliban’. Perhaps he meant ‘cannibal’? In any

case, they named him Friday and set him to work with a salvaged crate of Beluga caviar and a few slightly damp loaves of bread, which he dried and ultimately toasted, using Count Gonzalo’s monocle as a burning glass. But I digress. All twelve blue-blooded bridge players had survived and fell to discussing their interrupted tournament. My uncle, keen to establish his right to the grand prix, plucked the thirty-nine somewhat damp cards from the rescued board, and laid them out on the beach, reconstructing his own hand by elimination and tracing it in the coral sand. There being no red suit void, 7♠ was demonstrably solid and my uncle could not have been overtaken. This was not proven with sufficient rigour to satisfy Prince Sebastian. The Baron might, for example, have risked 7NT fearing that he needed one more top . . . Eventually a compromise was agreed. The event would be replayed, according to modified rules devised by my uncle. From the lone and defective pack of thirty-nine cards, he created three packs of twelve cards each, to wit: 1. ♥ K Q J 10 ♦ K Q J 10 ♣ K Q J 10 ♦9876 ♣9876 2. ♥ 9 8 7 6 ♦5432 ♣5432 3. ♥ 5 4 3 2

Three squares, the Tables, were traced in the sand with his gold toothpick and the direction of the protagonists’ short shadows was designated North. Only three deals would be played and there would be an arrow-switch for the third. The winners would receive the prizes which, with considerable presence of mind, the Baron had rescued during the hurricane. There could be two contracts Page 22

in any denomination, i.e. to win two tricks, or to win all three. It was decided that the successful declarer would be credited with the ten ‘missing’ tricks now residing on the bottom of the ocean or otherwise unavailable: two tricks would therefore be scored as a Small Slam, all three as a Grand. There could be no vulnerability, as there were too few deals to work through a fair sequence. It was obvious that undertrick penalties would have to be high to prevent ridiculous sacrifices, so these were fixed at 500 each, and could be doubled and redoubled.

The Play My uncle resumed his partnership with the Duke of Milan. They played the first deal, shown below, against Count Gonzalo and his Contessa:

♥ Void ♦ 10 ♣ K J ♥ Void ♦ K ♣ Q 10

N W

E S

♥ Q J 10 ♦ Void ♣ Void

♥ K ♦ Q J ♣ Void

On this deal the Duke (sitting North) conservatively passed, the Contessa called ‘Heart Small’ and my uncle overcalled a speculative ‘No Trump Small’. Count Gonzalo doubled, and the Duke redoubled. The Count took his king, then switched to his ten of clubs. The Baron finessed without a moment’s

The Tempest continued

thought, and claimed 1,610. His analysis was correct, of course. West could not have a heart, or he would have led it at the second trick. Nor, for that matter, could East hold a club loser as well as a queen-high trump suit.

♥ 97 ♦ 7 ♣ Void ♥ 86 ♦ Void ♣ 8

N E

W S

♥ Void ♦ 986 ♣ Void

♥ Void ♦ Void ♣ 976

The second hand was played with the Neapolitan Monarch West and his heir, Prince Ferdinand, East. The Prince opened ‘Diamond Grand’ and my uncle was in the hot seat, figuratively speaking. (They all actually sat cross-legged on the sand, while Friday fanned each of them in turn with a huge palm frond.) It seemed clear from his bid that the Prince held either ♥ — ♦ 9 x x ♣ — or perhaps ♥ 9 ♦ 9 x ♣ —. The former seemed more likely, since it was by far the sounder call. The second might even be a better ‘No-trump Gran d’ call, in fact, thou gh the calculation is a little complicated. But the odds hardly favoured a less than sound Grand in either case. Uncle Leo favours boldness in the bidding. Rather than concede a sure 1,440, he would consider a sacrifice. The No-trump Grand could pass off all right. On the other hand, if the King held the fourth diamond, he would lead it and there would be no escaping a 6,000 set. (It is a point of honour with the Baron to Redouble.) Then he considered the lie of the outstanding hearts. Most likely was that both the Monarch and the Duke held two each. Of course, His Majesty could have 9-8, in which case the Heart Grand would be two or three down – but so would No-trumps! A diamond lead would be most unwelcome . . . so it could be imperative to bid the Grand from the Baron’s side. That is exactly what he did: ‘Heart Grand!’ The King, of course, doubled, and led his singleton club, rather than

lead into the trump suit. Who can blame him, especially on that bidding? The Heart Grand Slam would have failed from the other side, of course, and the No-trump Grand was doomed from either side, so the Baron felt confident that 2,190 was a good score. One more deal to go . . .

The Quarrel Prince Sebastian, however, despite being bound by etiquette not to eavesdrop on events at another table, turned from his place as South at Table 3 and asked in silky tones how my uncle had felt so confident of a heart holding opposite his void. In vain did the Baron rehearse his logical analysis. Finally the Duke, whose own honour was also at stake, demanded immediate satisfaction from the Prince. There was a particularly ugly scene, especially when the Duke’s own brother offered his services as second to Prince Sebastian. There were no swords or pistols to be had within a thousand miles, so the seconds – my uncle and Antonio – agreed upon coconuts at ten paces, which was about as much space as there was on the beach. ‘Friday was sent up a tall palm tree to collect ammunition, but on reaching the top of the trunk, he began shouting down to us excitedly, pointing emphatically towards the South. It had to be a ship! Using the cards for tinder and the Archduke’s monocle as a source of ignition, we managed to start a small signal fire.’ The Baron shook his head at the memory. ‘An hour later, much to the chagrin of all but Friday, who was left in possession of his lonely isle, we found ourselves captives to a crew of Lascar pirates, who intended to sell us into slavery in the Levant – the males as Eunuchs of the Harem. Luckily, their captain was a keen card player – and a compulsive gambler. I found myself playing for the highest stakes of my life. I had snatched up the cards from that third sandy table, other than Prince Sebastian’s, which he had flung into the flames. I found I had three twos, three threes and three fours. Holding 5-5-5, a foolproof No-trump Grand, the wicked prince had realised I was headed for victory and aborted the event for a second time! But I grow weary, my boy. Could you get my hot chocolate now?’ ‘All right.’ I busied myself with the Page 23

hot milk. ‘But you must finish the story now, Uncle!’ ‘Ah yes. I found that the captain of the pirates was familiar with games of the bridge family. Would he be prepared, I suggested, to make a substantial wager on his ability to evaluate a hand of cards? I would deal out several hands. He could pick whichever hand he wanted and choose which suit should be trumps and decide who should have the opening lead; yet I would undertake to beat him with one of the rejected hands, the stakes being my liberty and – er – virility.’

The Wager I got him to repeat that for me. ‘Surely that is madness, Uncle Leo. Unless the hands were somehow sufficiently complicated to trick him into a poor choice?’ ‘That would be one way, true. Unfortunately I had only the nine cards I salvaged from the beach, leaving little room for complexity! However, I made up three hands of three cards each.’ He jotted them on one of my linen napkins: A. ♥ 4 ♦ 3 ♣ 2 B. ♥ 3 ♦ 2 ♣ 4 C. ♥ 2 ♦ 4 ♣ 3

‘You see, my boy, that it is not so easy after all to determine which of three hands is the best!’ I saw it now: Hand A must always take two tricks against Hand B, and Hand B similarly beats Hand C. In fact the Pirate Captain chose Hand A, but the Baron simply picked Hand C, and had to win two of the three tricks. ‘When I think what each of those tricks was worth – Donner und Blitzen!’ He squirmed uncomfortably in the huge armchair and his eyes seemed to water a little. ‘So you never won the tiara?’ I asked. ‘Oh . . . Er, no. Not precisely won . . . But I still remember that game fondly. Who else can boast of having called and made a grand slam in an unbid void suit? A dash of brandy in that chocolate, if you please.’ ‘And did you ever get your revenge on Prince Sebastian?’ ‘Not I!’ A cruel smile briefly lit up his ancient features. ‘Make that a double brandy.’ ■ Previously published in BRIDGE 48.

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Justin Corfield Says

Cash Side Winners Before a Crossruff crossruff, as its name suggests, is when, as declarer, you alternately trump one suit in dummy, and another in your hand. By these means, you aim to make extra trump tricks. You are in 4♠, on the ♦A lead:

A

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

AKQJ Void 10 8 6 4 2 9743 N W

E S

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

10 9 8 7 87642 Void AK82

You need to cash the top clubs early, preferably leading towards them. Yes, someone might ruff one of the first two clubs (if the suit splits 4-1), but in that case you were surely not going to make the contract. Cashing the side winners early allows you to make the contract whenever it is possible to do so. Even when you know to cash the side winners early, it is still important to play the hand through mentally before you touch a card – seemingly simple hands can have a pitfall or two. This time, you are in 6♣ on the ♠K lead:

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

A432 7 A654 K J 10 7 N

This hand almost plays itself – clearly, you are going to ruff hearts in dummy and diamonds in hand, eventually making all eight trumps and the two top clubs, right? Maybe: the danger is that whilst you are crossruffing the red suits merrily, one of the defenders will discard a club or two. Then when you get around to ‘cashing’ the club winners, a defender might be able to ruff one of them. These are the East-West hands:

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

632 AQJ AK975 65

N W

E S

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

54 K 10 9 5 3 QJ3 Q J 10

If you simply ruff the lead and embark on a crossruff, you will fail. When you ruff the fourth round of hearts in dummy, West will discard a club. Thereafter, you will never be able to take your club winners. Can you see how to avoid this sad fate?

W

E S

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

9 AQ532 K32 AQ98

Counting your winners, you have four top tricks, and can make all eight trumps on a crossruff. Following the maxim, you cash the side winners first. Did you notice, though, that you must ruff hearts first, or your crossruff will run out of steam? If you collected your four winners ending in dummy, you are going off. If you collected them ending in your hand, you can claim. So play the ♠A, ♦A, ♦K, ♥A; then crossruff. Do you think West would have done better to lead a trump? You are right. How should you play on a trump lead? The difference this time is that you can make only seven tricks from the trump suit. It follows that you must risk the heart finesse. Play the ♣K, ♥Q, ♦A-K, ♥A; then crossruff to victory. Page 26

Taking a finesse is not the same as cashing a winner, but the maxim still applies: you need to do your work in the side suits before you start the crossruff. The maxim that you need to cash side winners early does not mean that you need to cash all of them – cash only those tricks that are necessary for your contract. You are in 6♠ on the ♦K lead from West:

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

987 AKQ5 A5432 A N W

E S

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

A K Q J 10 432 6 5432

Since West has failed to lead a trump, you can make all eight of your trumps separately. Those eight tricks, plus the minor-suit aces, add up to ten. So it follows that you need to cash two heart tricks immediately, (bringing your total to twelve), before proceeding with the crossruff. Always count your tricks with care before you play a card. If you try to cash a third heart, you may go down if a defender can ruff and return a trump. If, on the other hand, you cash fewer than two hearts, you take the risk that a defender might be able to discard some hearts whilst you are crossruffing in the minors, stopping you from making enough heart tricks. This brings me to my final piece of advice. Notice how much harder these crossruff hands are once the defenders lead trumps. If the auction tells you that declarer will try to crossruff, a trump lead will often be best. ■

Seasonal Walks with Countryman

A Walk in Spring T

his little piece of England where the birds are singing, the sun shining and the air seriously intoxicating – it is all too easy to fall under its magic spell and dream on, contentedly... Once again, the magical time of year has come when the countryside leads the way, heralding vibrant and exciting times ahead. Let us forget any personal blues and feast our eyes on the burgeoning hedgerows, the blossoms and the colour as spring captivates the beholder.

Before we go any further, here is a hand for you to contemplate.

Dealer South. N/S Vul. ♠ QJ62 ♥ 532 ♦ Q 10 7 ♣ 763 N W

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

Primroses, violets, cowslips and buttercups Cindy, my much-loved golden retriever, is, of course, with me on our daily walk. I can only speculate on her reaction to nature’s gentle metamorphosis where winter is gradually being bundled into the background and spring starts to reveal her colourful wardrobe. Although I have often thought Cindy is almost impervious to climatic conditions and changing scenery, she does seem in exceptionally good form today. As I stop to admire some wild violets and enjoy their scent, she comes dashing up to inspect my find but, unimpressed, she soon races off again to pursue her own idea of worthwhile scent. Primroses, violets, cowslips and buttercups are hardly in the same doggy league as the bird and animal smells that always intrigue the canine world.

E S

Void A K Q 10 9 8 AKJ AK52

This was the bidding. West

North

East

2♠ Pass Pass End

Pass 4♥ 5♥

Pass Pass Pass

South 2♣ 3♥ 5♣ 6♥

West leads the ace of spades. You ruff and lead two top trumps. East discards a small club on the second round, so you play a third top trump. Next, when you cash the ace and king of clubs West shows up with the singleton queen. What are your plans?

Oak trees and insects As we ramble on amongst some quite magnificent oak trees, I recall reading

Page 27

that they are the great benefactors of the arboreal world. Living for some 250 years, they play host to nature in so many different ways. Insects (there are over 200 varied species), birds, squirrels and many more enjoy the oak like no other tree. The great spotted woodpecker drills out his nest in the rotten branches while jays and squirrels are particularly partial to the acorns. With so much wildlife at home in and around the oak, it inevitably attracts predators to the scene, especially the sparrow-hawk and weasel. Looked at through the microscope, nature is very cruel, but absorbing the bigger picture, as I am right now, the evolutionary merry-go-round makes some sort of sense. Time to get back to our bridge deal.

Back to the bridge hand

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ A K 10 9 8 J74 9852 Q ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

QJ62 532 Q 10 7 763 N W

E S

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

7543 6 643 J 10 9 8 4

Void A K Q 10 9 8 AKJ AK52

Contract 6♥ by South. Lead ♠A

Spring continued Those South players who bid the slam almost on their own must have felt quite relieved when they saw the dummy. With trumps two-two (when it would be possible to ruff the fourth round of clubs) or clubs three-three (when the fourth club would be good anyway), there would be no problem; it soon transpired this was not the case. So, after ruffing the opening lead, drawing trumps and cashing the ace-king of clubs, what now? Some declarers played off their diamond winners, ending in the dummy, and then let the queen of spades run to West’s king, discarding a club from hand – no good. West exited with the thirteenth diamond and declarer still had to lose a club.

The winning line One declarer did find the perfect solution. He cashed the ace of diamonds, entered dummy by overtaking the jack of diamonds with dummy’s queen and then ran the queen of spades, discarding the king of diamonds. West won with the king of spades but this was the only defensive trick as West now had to give dummy the lead to cash the jack of spades and ten of diamonds. Twelve tricks were there.

Unblocking play When we get home and Cindy is snuggling up beside me, I am still thinking about this deal. ‘You know, Cindy, all this business about throwing kings away on queens with carefree abandon sounds very complex but really it just amounts to an unblocking play.’ Like the good and faithful dog she is, Cindy wags her tail. Clearly, she is in full agreement. ■

CHARITY BRIDGE EVENTS JUNE 2010

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Page 28

E-mail your charity events: [email protected]

Better Hand Evaluation Bernard Magee Introduction Better Hand Evaluation is aimed at helping readers to add greater accuracy to their bidding. It deals with auctions in which you and your partner, against silent opponents, can describe your hands fully to each other and, by evaluating them accurately, find the best final contract. The emphasis of all good, accurate bidding is on hand evaluation. There are two general types of auction: a) A fit is found and b) No fit is found. When you do not have a fit, you are aiming to describe the strength of your hand as soon as possible, most often using no-trump bids. This book begins by discussing balanced hand bidding in Acol, as it is very important that both members of a partnership have an accurate knowledge of how to show hands of different strengths. When a fit is found, there is much re-evaluation of the hand to be done; point count, though still important, needs to be evaluated together with distribution. The best way of reaching an accurate assessment is to use the Losing Trick Count; this is an important method of hand evaluation and takes up a number of chapters. Finally, we move on to different forms of evaluation including game tries and splinter bids. You can never know enough methods of hand evaluation; the more you learn, the better you get at judging your hand. Although the Losing Trick Count is used more easily in tandem with your partner, a large proportion of the ideas in this book can be used by an individual. For example, evaluating your hand to be worth an extra point is going to help anyone you partner – as long as you get it right.

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Page 29

Swan Hellenic Discovery Cruising

For people with a mind to travel

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 320 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 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. Mr Bridge All passengers who have booked and registered through Mr Bridge will be eligible to partake in the exclusive late afternoon duplicate session. There is no Bridge supplement, as like most of the excursions, it is included in the price. Mr Bridge actively encourages singles to join the party and they will always be found a partner for a game.

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It Happened That Way by Freddie North

DEFENCE QUIZ

A Successful Partnership laying in the club duplicate, many hands follow a familiar pattern although good judgment is always an essential ingredient. Then, suddenly, without warning, up pops a gem that requires all the attributes of a successful partnership – first, to bid to the best contract and then to make it. Here is the latest prize exhibit.

P

Dealer North. Game All. ♠ AKQ ♥ J7 ♦ AKQ ♣ AJ974 N W

E S

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

J 10 9 5 3 A6 J 10 9 4 3 2

Not all pairs managed to hit the top spot and then emerge triumphant but suppose the bidding goes something like this: West North 2♣ Pass 3♣ Pass 4♠ Dbl 6♠

East South Pass 2♦ Pass 3♠ Pass 5♥ End

North should probably rebid 2NT rather than 3♣, though the lack of a heart stopper is a worry. It is worth noting that the key move in this auction is South’s cue bid of 5♥. It is very often the weaker hand that has to make the effort and not the big hand that has already announced game-going values. Once South shows slam interest and confirms possession of a heart control, North reawakens for the final

thrust. However, there is still the small problem of collecting twelve tricks. West leads the king of hearts against South’s contract of 6♠. How would you plan the play when you find West with four trumps? If you have made your mind up, let us look at the full deal.

by Julian Pottage (Answers on page 39) ou are West in the defensive positions below. It is your turn to play.

Y

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

AKQ J7 AKQ AJ974 7642 ♠ 8 KQ1084 ♥ 9532 N 72 ♦ 865 W E S Q5 ♣ K10863 ♠ J10953 ♥ A6 ♦ J10943 ♣ 2

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

1.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

K76 A 10 K J 10 6 QJ53

92 J9542 A42 A92

E

W S

1NT1 3NT

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

N

West North East South Pass

3.

End

♠ KQ96 ♥ 76 ♦ AQ6 ♣ K963 A 10 2 N Q J 10 9 5 W S 42 AJ2

E

West North East South 1♥

Dbl

4♥

5♦

End

12-14

1

One possible line, having taken the ace of hearts and played three rounds of spades, is to play the aceking-queen of diamonds and hope that the long diamonds are with West, the player with the long trumps. Unluckily, West ruffs the third diamond and wastes no time in cashing the queen of hearts. A better line at tricks five and six is to cash just two diamonds as that is all you need. The ace of clubs and a club ruff come next and now the big moment has arrived. Declarer draws the last trump and triumphantly discards the queen of diamonds from dummy, unblocking the run of the suit in the process. Five spades, five diamonds and the two outside aces make up declarer’s required total. It is a funny old game when you have to jettison the ■ big cards to succeed.

You lead the ♥4, covered by the ♥10, ♥Q and ♥K. Declarer now leads the ♦5. What do you do?

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

2.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

A6 76 Q J 10 9 7 6 AJ3

Q92 Q9542 A42 92

N W

E S

You lead the ♥Q. Declarer ruffs and draws two rounds of trumps – ♦A and then back to the ♦J as East follows twice. Now comes a low club. What next?

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

4.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

96 J764 AKQ6 K 10 3

Void Q 10 5 2 J 10 7 4 2 AJ82

N W

E S

West North East South Pass

1♦

Pass

1♠

2♦

Pass

3NT

End

You lead the ♥4: ♥6, ♥J, ♥K. Declarer now leads a low diamond. What do you do?

Page 31

West North East South 1♠ Pass

2♦

Pass

2♠

Pass

3NT

Pass

4♠

End

You lead the ♥2: ♥4, ♥A, ♥3. Back comes the ♥8: ♥K, ♥5, ♥6. Declarer cashes the ♠A (you throw a diamond) and leads the ♣4. What do you do?

DAVID STEVENSON answers questions on Bridge Laws

Can I Ask About an Unalerted Bid?

Q

I understand that partner must not alert, or announce, bids over 3NT. Can opponents, at their turn to call, ask whether a bid of 4♣ is Gerber? John Armitage by email.

A

Certainly: you can always ask the meaning of any call when it is your turn to bid or play. I wonder why they want to ask. It usually causes trouble and no good comes of it: far better to wait to the end of auction and ask before the opening lead (if you are on lead) or after partner has led face down. ♣♦♥♠

Q

As director, I came to a table where a defender had revoked. The players noticed the revoke before anyone played to the next trick. I ruled that the revoke card should stay face up on the table as a major penalty card and that the offender, who was second to play to the trick, play a legal card. I also gave declarer, who had led to the trick, the chance to change dummy’s card if he wished. He declined and won the trick in hand. Declarer then said that he could forbid or insist upon

the lead of the exposed suit when offender’s partner gained the lead. I consulted the laws books and ruled this was not the case as the offenders were not on lead. Was I correct? Andrew Mountain, New Rhosrobin, Wrexham.

A

No, I am afraid the declarer was generally correct. Whenever a defender gets on lead when his partner has a major penalty card, declarer has three options. 1) he can require that the suit of the major penalty card be led, in which case the penalty card is picked up and the offender can play any legal card: 2) he can forbid the lead of the suit of the major penalty card for as long as that player retains the lead, in which case the penalty card is picked up: 3) he may let the penalty card remain as a penalty card.

A

Yes, you announce a response of 2♣ asking for four-card majors as ‘Stayman’. This is true whether it shows a fourcard major or not. It is not alertable and part of oldfashioned Acol. When Jack Marx invented the 2♣ convention around 1937, using it to show a weak takeout into clubs (by rebidding 3♣) was part of the convention. While it helps to write ‘promissory’ or ‘nonpromissory’ on your convention card, it very rarely makes any difference to opponents; most complaints seem to be on a matter of principle rather than because of any real problem. Feel free to continue announcing it as Stayman; do not let anyone mislead you into thinking that it is alertable. ♣♦♥♠

♣♦♥♠

Q

If we play that a 2♣ reply to 1NT asks for four-card majors but does not promise one – say if it might be the start of a weak take-out into clubs – should we still announce it as Stayman? R Connolly, Lakenham, Norfolk.

Q

When I am dummy, some of my opponents start moving my cards around, sometimes even before I have finished placing all of them on the table. I believe I should put trumps, if any, on my right. What do the rules say? Hanne Pii Pullar, Berkshire.

Page 32

A

It sounds as though some of your friends do not understand the basic manners of bridge. There is no rule about the order of suits when putting down the dummy, apart from trumps on your right. However, there is a rule that other players may not touch your cards: sorting the dummy is both rude and illegal. The only exception is that because some people’s eyesight is poor; they request suits should alternate red-black-redblack. If they ask this, then you should do so. ♣♦♥♠

Q

Playing rubber bridge, when should you claim points for honours? Colin Hughes by email.

A

Legally, you can claim them anytime between the end of the bidding and the point of agreeing the rubber score. Of course, if you claim them a few hands later, you may sometimes have difficulty convincing others. Sensibly, it is best to claim them immediately all the other players have seen them or know you have them because of showing out.

Ask David

continued

Q

North opens 1NT. East overcalls 2♣ which West alerts. When South enquires, West says that 2♣ is Landy, promising both majors. South bids 3NT and this closes the auction. 3NT+1 is the result. In fact, 2♣ was not Landy and South had a natural call of 2♥. North held ♥A-Q-J-x and the room makes 4♥+1. Lionel Treagust, Horsham.

A

If East-West are not playing Landy, then you adjust to 4♥ (+1) since their opponents would probably have got there but for the incorrect information. If they are playing Landy but East forgot, that is hard luck: there is no misinformation and the result stands. If the director cannot be sure whether they are playing Landy – for example if one player says one thing and the other, the other – then the director assumes there was misinformation and adjusts. The general principles are to adjust if there is misinformation and to assume misinformation if the director cannot be sure whether there is or not. ♣♦♥♠

Q

After a club meal, we would like to play a little bridge. How do I organise the movements for 12 tables when we have time to play only one board per table? Marie McFarlane, Cults Bridge Club.

A

You can use any normal movement with one-board rounds. For example, if you just move E/W pairs up,

boards down after each board played, E/W pairs skipping one table after six rounds, you can play 11 boards (or 12, but the last round is against the same pair that they started against).

shout announcements; they should be no louder than should everything else at the table. If a table hears that another table has a weak notrump, I really do not believe it makes much difference, and is no different from the old days when people asked the range.

♣♦♥♠

Q

Can I remind partner of the vulnerability before removing my cards from the board? Geoff Turner, Southgate, London.

A

Yes. In effect, there is no restriction on anything said while neither partner has cards in their hand. ♣♦♥♠

Q

When we arrive at a table, we say to our opponents ‘weak no-trump, Stayman, etc’. Should we still announce the range of a 1NT opening and the meaning of a 2♣ response? It seems a waste of time and adjoining tables could overhear. Seton Cotterill, Raglan, Gwent.

A

After an initial period of grumbling, the new rules for announcements have proved popular. A club can make its own rules on this, so your club could decide not to have announcements for 1NT openings of 12 to 14 and Stayman responses, but I urge you and your club not to take that course. The problem with having your own rules is that you will upset your members when they go to other clubs (or play in events) and members of other clubs when they come to yours. As for the adjoining table, nobody said you should

♣♦♥♠

Q

What is the correct procedure, at rubber bridge, for handling the cards? I put the shuffled pack on my right and leave it there. When my right-hand opponent has the turn to deal, he passes the pack to my partner to cut for him. Someone has suggested I should stretch across and hand the pack to my partner to cut. BettyAnne Henderson, Woodcote, Oxfordshire.

A

The way you do it is correct; what is more, it is a matter of law, covered by Laws 4 and 5 in the law book. To repeat, when partner deals, you shuffle, and put the shuffled pack on your right. Next deal, your RHO picks up the pack, shuffles it if he likes (players never do) and passes it to your partner, his RHO, to be cut. Your partner lifts the top part off the pack, putting it towards dealer, but does not complete the cut. Dealer completes the cut and deals. Leaning across dealer, apart from being against the laws, seems awkward and rude to me. ♣♦♥♠

Q

I am a director in a local bridge club. Could you please tell me how I deal with an illegal bid, as given on pages 4 and 5 in Duplicate Bridge Simplified? Barrie Waite by email.

Page 33

A

If a player opens an artificial 2-bid on a hand that is too weak to be a legal agreement, first you make sure it is their agreement. For example, psyching a 2♣ opening is legal (though very rare). Assuming the bid is part of an agreement, you cancel the board they used it on, scoring average plus to their opponents and average minus to them, so long as the opponents have not already done better than that. If they have, you leave the score unchanged. It is important to explain to the pair concerned that opening artificial strong 2-bids on strong pre-emptive hands is unfair, which is why it is not permissible. ♣♦♥♠

Q

In response to an opening 1NT, is it legal to play these two bids at a club: (i) 2♦ hearts or diamonds (ii)2♠ game forcing, artificial, asking opener to bid his weakest suit? Bob Barker by email.

A

Assuming your club is not the one in a thousand to make up its own rules, the responses are legal as long as you alert. At level 2 (holiday/novice bridge) and above, any responses are permitted to 1NT. Some people do not think any means any, but I assure you it does. You can play anything you like in response to 1NT. 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.

Ask David

continued

Q

I would like to revisit the situation described by A Newsome of Bury St Edmunds, regarding misunderstanding over transfers. You are in a friendly club and have been allocated an unfamiliar partner at 7.29pm, and exchange only a brief ‘Hi, I am M, Acol, weak no-trump, Stayman and Blackwood?’ ‘OK, that will do for now’. Play starts straight away. A few hands in, partner deals and bids 1NT – I announce as 12-14. RHO passes. I now have a problem. I hold:

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

K76 Q9843 86 A76

Now I could pass, but feel it might be better in 2♥. If I bid 2♦ and partner passes, we could be in trouble. If I bid 2♥ and partner transfers to spades, we may only have five between us, so I can try 2NT – I am only two points short of inviting anyway. On balance 2♥ it is. Partner decides to announce ‘transfer’, also a delicate decision, but I contend I receive no extra information as the 2♠ rebid tells me partner has taken my bid as a transfer. Partner should not hold five spades as this would be a normal restriction on 1NT, certainly in a scratch partnership. I now bid 2NT and LHO called the director, who disallowed the 2NT. Judging that 2♠ would fail by one trick, declarer adjusts the score to -50.

I think the director’s ruling is harsh at club level. Might there be a need for a rethink in this area, following the introduction of announcements? Club Player, Liverpool. (similar from David Gostyn, Eastbourne.)

A

The real cause of the problem was opener’s decision to say ‘transfer’ when they had no such agreement. He could have kept quiet, bid 2♠ which was his best guess as to what to do and that would have freed his partner from the restraints of unauthorised information. Players often tell opponents what their system is in situations where they have no agreement. This is unauthorised information to partner, misinformation to opponents and causes trouble everywhere. You say that partner’s 2♠ bid tells you it is a transfer, but this is not true. It only makes it likely, perhaps very likely, that he has taken it as a transfer: it is his announcement that makes it certain, so I must disagree that the announcement adds no information: it removes any doubt. Some time ago, I suggested to the EBU Laws and Ethics Committee that, when a player bids 2♠ over 2♥, one should consider it ‘general bridge knowledge’ that he has taken 2♥ as a transfer. The committee did not agree and its decision is relevant when ruling. Perhaps if people disagree with the committee’s decision, they could write in and ask it to reconsider. With your hand, a pass of 2♠ looks fine if 2♠ is natural, but dubious if it might be on a doubleton spade. So the unauthorised information certainly suggests not passing 2♠. Is passing 2♠ a logical alternative? That is a

judgement matter, but if 2♥ was natural, I believe most players would pass 2♠ so it looks like a logical alternative to me. I believe the director’s ruling was reasonable at any level. Where players break the rules, the game is far more pleasurable if they expect to lose by it. This idea of not adjusting ‘because it is only a club’ means the people who caused the problem gain at the expense of their opponents. While I think there should be fewer penalties at club level, I think adjustments should be the same as at top level. As for announcements, they did not cause the problem, which would have been just as bad if there had been an alert as in the old days. Players should learn not to tell opponents about agreements they do not have: that will save a lot of trouble. ♣♦♥♠

Q

When using curtain cards, when is the best time to complete them? I have heard that filling in a card during the bidding can indicate a strong hand. Hugh Harlow, Devon.

A

The official approach is to fill in the cards after play is over since that is easiest. In practice, most players do so during the bidding. The suggestion that this shows a strong hand is ridiculous. I suggest you complete the card during the bidding as most people do. There are two further points. First, you do not fill in a card just before your own bid because making others wait for you is

Page 34

impolite. You fill in the card when it is not your turn to call, thus holding nobody up. This is similar to the position on leading: it is rude to write the contract on your scorecard (or put it into a Bridge Mate) when everyone is waiting for you to lead. Lead first and then enter the contract. Second, curtain cards fulfil little useful function and cause trouble. I seriously suggest all clubs follow the approach of the leading authorities and discontinue their use. ♣♦♥♠

Q A

Please send me a 3-table individual movement. Mrs Booth, Hornchurch.

According to the EBU movement manual, the starting positions are as follows: N S E Table 1: 10 2 8 Table 2: 12 1 4 Table 3: 7 11 3

W 6 5 9

Bds 1-2 3-4 5-6

After each round, player 12 remains stationary; the other players follow each other around. Therefore, for example, Table 2 East will have players 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 1, 2, 3 on the 11 rounds. You should put out instruction cards showing where each player moves next, e.g. player 7 (Table 3 North) moves to Table 1 West (7 follows 6) so the player at Table 3 North always moves to Table 1 West. Boards come in at Table 3, move to 2, move to 1, and then come out. After the third round, you can score the boards immediately after Table 1, which means the result can follow the end quickly. ■

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

ANSWERS TO THE DECLARER PLAY QUIZ ON PAGE 18 by DAVID HUGGETT ♠ ™ © ®

1.

♠ ™ © ®

K7 A9832 95 Q 10 6 2

You are declarer in 4♠ after West opened the bidding with a pre-emptive 3™. West leads the ™K. How do you plan the play?

8653 Q6 AK74 K73 ♠ ™ © ®

N W

E S

♠ ™ © ®

A2 10 5 4 Q 10 8 6 2 J94

Q J 10 9 4 KJ7 J3 A85

You are declarer in 4♠ and West leads the ®2. How do you plan the play? It looks as though you might have four losers in the shape of two trumps, one heart and a club. Indeed, the opening lead has been a good one for the defence; you must be careful not to win and play a trump at trick two. If you do, the opposition will undoubtedly play another club setting up a defensive winner in that suit for when they regain the lead. If, however, you win and play a heart at trick two then you can throw a club from dummy on the third heart before drawing trumps. Can you see a catch? If you win the first club in hand with the ace and play a low heart, the defence might let the queen win. Someone could win the next heart and lead another club, stranding you in dummy with no quick access to the closed hand. You might be able to return to hand with a third round diamond ruff but you might be overruffed. That danger you can avoid by winning the first club lead in dummy and then playing on hearts. Then you will be able to return to the closed hand with the ®A.

2.

♠ ™ © ®

♠ ™ © ®

K85 A643 853 654

9 N K Q J 10 8 7 5 W E S J92 Q9 ♠ A Q J 10 ™ 92 © AK4 ® A3

Sometimes things look too easy, but it is at just such a time that you have to be extra vigilant. A quick count of the tricks shows that you have six spades, one heart, two diamonds and a club – so what could possibly go wrong? Well you have always to remember the bidding; here, West started with a preemptive bid in hearts, showing a seven-card suit in all probability. That means that, if you play the ™A from dummy at trick one, then East will ruff and your ten tricks will go down to nine. Therefore, you must play low from dummy on the first trick and again on the second if West continues the suit. If West plays a third round, you again play low from dummy but can ruff in the closed hand, draw trumps and come to the ten tricks you originally envisaged. Can anything go wrong? Well, it is possible that East holds all four outstanding trumps, in which case you will never be able to enjoy the ™A. That would be too cruel after playing the hand so well.

3.

♠ ™ © ®

♠ ™ © ®

AQ964 10 3 7 10 8 4 3 2 ♠ ™ © ®

N E S

♠ ™ © ®

875 4 K 10 6 5 4 2 QJ9

K 10 2 KQJ972 QJ A7

You are declarer in 4™ and West leads the ©7. How do you plan the play? ♠ 642 ™ Void © Q 10 7 6 ® K J 10 8 7 2 73

There is always a danger of giving what appears to be a relatively simple problem insufficient thought and this hand is a case in point. At a glance, there appears to be nothing wrong in playing low from dummy at trick one in case West has led away from the ©K, but can this really be the situation? Since there are only two diamonds higher than the seven missing, the lead is not fourth best; the only holding West can have including the king is specifically K 10 7

Page 35

Instead, win the first trick and draw trumps. You can lead a spade from dummy after doing so if you wish and hope to make a lucky guess; in any event, you are sure to lose no more than two spades and a diamond.

4.

♠ ™ © ®

♠ ™ © ®

J963 K Q 10 9 6 64 10 5 ♠ ™ © ®

875 754 AQ975 Q3 N W

E S

♠ ™ © ®

K Q 10 4 32 K32 J984

A2 AJ8 J 10 8 AK762

You are declarer in 3NT and West leads the ™K, East playing the ™3, showing count. How do you plan the play?

J3 A865 A983 K65 W

– not very likely. Much more likely is that the lead is from a short suit. If it is a singleton and you duck, East will win with the king and return the suit to give his partner a ruff. After that, if both spades honours are wrong – or if you misguess them – then you will find yourself losing four tricks and the contract.

Even if the clubs provide five tricks you will still need to make more than one diamond for the contract, so it might look a good idea to duck the first heart. If West leads another then he will not only give you a tempo but a second heart trick. The trouble with this plan though is that West should realise that his partner does not have the ™J or he would have played it at trick one to help his partner. Then West might switch to a spade and that would be bad news if the diamond finesse were wrong. A plan that might just work is to play the ™J at trick one. If West falls for the trap, he will play another heart; then you can win and take the diamond finesse in safety. If it loses and East unexpectedly has another heart, the suit broke 4-3 all the time and posed no threat. Of course, West should ask himself why his partner played the ™3 from a holding of 8-3-2. All the hands in this edition revolve around playing the right card from dummy or hand at ■ trick one.

READERS’ LETTERS

Market, Norfolk. Mr Ray Waller, Thetford. ( 01842 827120

HELP PLEASE Is there a friendly club in my area? Mrs Y. Faulkner, Groby, Leics. [email protected]

DATES COMFORT You cannot imagine how grateful I am to you for sending me your lovely and most interesting BRIDGE magazine. It is read from cover to cover and then passed on to my friends. The Christmas issue is particularly lovely with details of cruise possibilities to some beautiful places. This magazine provided a note of cheerfulness as we returned to Karen from Malindi on the coast, to find that we had been burgled and alarmingly continue to be visited nightly by thugs trying to enter our house, but fortunately both doors and windows are alarmed. This situation is not uncommon where the local population is on the rise and money insufficient to feed large families. To be frightened in this manner for nights on end is horrid and we need to keep our heads. Your magazine is a great comfort to this end. Mrs E C Cameron, Karen, Kenya.

POOR YOU I have just started playing with a person who talks all the time and even leans over to his partner if she puts a trick the wrong way round. I just lose concentration and want to scream. Name & address supplied.

RE-REGISTRATION As I stored the latest issue of BRIDGE, number 99, I noted

that my pile was approaching the round dozen so I think I owe you an email to say how much I enjoy the magazine. As an experienced player, I took it initially to recommend to a learners’ group but I have to say how much I've found to read on my own account. I particularly like David Stevenson's column; he strikes the right tone of firmness and propriety and maintains the important relationship between behaviour and observance of the rules to which we are all subject. On the bridge side, Julian Pottage is always sound and clear, along with the sadly late Freddie North and others. Mr C Chambers, Ipswich.

CRITIQUE Thank you for BRIDGE 99. I entered the quiz in BRIDGE 98 and am disappointed to learn that my answer is deemed wrong. How was I, a mere mortal, to know that you had made a mistake and weren't testing the need to count the cards?! Are the answers to the quiz on page 7 in invisible ink?

Why no bridge weekends at Daventry this year? Or at least a Midlands venue. Mrs A Mann, Nuneaton.

Staverton dates – page 29.

NEW RULES Has anyone ever tried playing rubber under the Shieldhouse-Fagerlund Rules? We love the name. It sounds so pretentious aka Alternating Declarations. They make for great fun; if not great bridge. The first hand is bid in the normal way. If nobody bids, so is the second, and so on. As soon as Pair A play a hand, it then becomes pair B's turn to declare and, if the cards dealt don't enable a bid, they throw in, re-deal and, so on, until Pair B can bid. If both pairs have declared the same number of times, it doesn't matter which pair gets the next declaration. There is a rule to prevent abuse. If it’s pair A's turn to declare, theoretically pair B could force them up free of risk; but if this happens, pair A can opt to pass, leaving pair B 'holding the baby'; and then claim the next two declarations, etc. Try it. It’s addictive. Brian, Göran, Martin and Claes. Gamla Gubbars Bridgeklubb, Rättvik, Sweden.

J Hipwell, by email.

NEW CLUB I have started a new club in Downham Market, Norfolk, playing duplicate Monday 1:30pm – 4:30pm all welcome. £1.50 per session. The address is, The Sovereign Centre, The Trafalgar Estate, Downham

MATTER OF TASTE With fewer letter pages and therefore more articles, I find your magazine extremely informative. Mrs J Rowely, Winchcombe, Cheltenham.

Page 36

ON A POSTCARD Can you not consider using biodegradable film instead of plastic? Mr A Chapman, Marlborough, Wilts. Just stretch the plastic this way and that. Protection complete. Laurie Macaskill by email. Please don’t compromise your magazine with any additional costs necessary to change the packaging. Perhaps Mrs Turner could use her kitchen scissors. Anonymously from Kent but on an attractive postcard. Need only to stretch the plastic to Data Protect. Sarah Wilkins, Exeter. I find a thick black felt pen very useful for deleting personal details. Mr B. Dewick, Bookham, Surrey. The EBU and you print the address on the plastic wrappers of English Bridge and BRIDGE respectively. Bridge World prints on paper inserts.Only you will know the difference in cost. Wolf Klewe by email. In response to your request for suggestions regarding the lady who has no common sense, complaining as she does about data protection and not being able to shred her plastic envelope. Stretch the plastic until the letters become unreadable. Job done. Give me plastic every time. Terry Burney by email. The solution for Mrs Turner is quite simple: cut the address box from the envelope and place between two sheets of paper (or a folded sheet) when next shredding. It then shreds perfectly. Mr G Longman, Cornwall. I have received lots of calls and letters all in a similar vein. I’m sure Mrs Turner will be very grateful.

READERS’ LETTERS continued

LUCKY YOU I have a life partner and a dog, neither of whom plays bridge. Any hotels of yours take dogs? Mine is a retired guide dog, so his behaviour is impeccable. Mrs L McLennan, Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

Several of our venues permit dogs.

ANY INFO Can you update us please about how many clubs are withdrawing from the EBU? Mr D Iwi, London, NW11.

ANY USE Which organisation or charity would like to make use of our old playing cards? Mr R Wakeford, Braunton, Devon. ( 01271 812536.

REVELATION Occasionally, at the bridge table, there are instances where table presence of an exceptional order become evident. At a recent duplicate evening at the Thame Bridge Club, my partner and I arrived at a table in one corner of the room which was badly lit. We played our 3 hands and before the move was called my partner excused herself and I was of a mind to do likewise. I said to the two ladies in opposition that I was constrained to leave them ‘in their small corner’

and instantly they both said, ‘Jesus bids us shine.’ I have no idea why I chose the words ‘their small corner’ for I am not persuaded that the Holy Spirit is one I should cultivate for my future well being, although my friends will know that I have an affinity to spirits of another kind. However, upon reflection, I have to recognise that the power of religion would seem to be considerable, at least when imposed upon those of a tender age at Sunday school. What I find interesting is that after denial in anything spiritual, and without deliberation, my mind, whilst attending only exigencies of bridge, should persuade me to use a few words of a hymn which I had not heard for 70 years. Even more interesting is the response of the ladies who remembered the words which likely they too had not heard for many years. Those of your elderly readers who are familiar with the hymn and are inclined to extol its merit might take comfort from what they perceive to be a religious experience at the bridge table. To others, I point out, that the Lord is ever present. Victor Savage, Bourne End, Bucks.

GOBBLEDEGOOGLE As my wife and her bridge partner have recently started playing 5-card majors instead of Acol, I thought I

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

would check on the relative advantages/disadvantages. I Googled on my computer the question ‘Are 5 card majors better than Acol’, only to receive the somewhat surprising reply ‘Did you mean Are 5 card majors better than Alcohol?‘ I wonder if any of the 5-card major devotees out there are able to provide an answer to this intriguing question. David Howie, Ballater, Aberdeenshire.

MORE DETAILS It is really good that you advertise so many charity bridge events in your magazine. I would find it really helpful if we were informed of the type of bridge that is to be played and the county, plus the postcode if possible, where the competition is to be played. At the moment I am at a loss as to where the venue is and whether I want to participate. Can you help? Mrs S Jennings, Caversham, Berkshire.

A useful suggestion which I may implement in future.

SPEEDY SERVICE Many thanks for your letter offering me £50 off any of your software (Christmas Quiz). As I play only rubber and Chicago bridge I was uncertain what to order. On telephoning, your staff suggested finding your website and trying the demos. This I did in the afternoon and decided to start with Bernard Magee’s Acol Bidding. I ordered it about 5 o’clock in the afternoon and was amazed to receive it through my letter box at 9 o’clock the following morning. Shortly afterwards it was installed – very enjoyable. Quickest service I have ever received. Congratulations. Edna Watson, Poole.

Page 37

MICHAEL SCARROTT A TRIBUTE The news that Michael Scarrott had died, suddenly, prematurely, on holiday, broke on the day we were to resume bridge classes in West Runton. The shock was immediate and surprisingly personal. I had known him only as a bridge teacher but such was the man, he had made a deep and lasting impression. I can write only for myself but I am aware that others have similar feelings. Mike’s teaching was an expression of himself, of his enthusiasm and delight in life and the game. He brought to what he taught a wealth of experience and a depth of knowledge sifted over many years, refined and presented in a way that made sense until perhaps one tried to remember and apply it later. He was patient, repeating himself as often as necessary to drive a point home. He was undogmatic and open to question and yet his experience and quiet manner lent authority to his words, "what I would do is .....". Above all Mike encouraged. He never made us feel small and always found something positive to say. We used to joke that if he could find nothing else to say he would complement on the way the cards were being held. We have had the comfort of being able to show something of our feelings to Mike’s family and I write this to record more widely the privilege it has been to know Mike and the loss we feel now. It is testament to him that his classes live on independently and find great pleasure in the game he loved. Philip Joyce, Cromer, Norfolk.

READERS’ LETTERS continued

POLITE REQUEST I really enjoy the magazine but find Acol bidding not as interesting as Standard American 2/1. Could we have a little 2 over 1 please? Mrs K Rutter, Coolangatta, Queensland, Australia.

ANY IDEAS If possible, could you ask in one of your letters’ pages whether there is anyone in the Mylor, Falmouth area willing to teach my son and his wife who are complete beginners? Please reply to me on ( 01562 882484 Mrs S Parker, Hagley, West Midlands.

IT’S DIFFERENT Love rubber bridge, but have found duplicate much less friendly. I am appalled at some of the comments in David Stephenson’s questions. How do people want to play in such an environment? Mr R Smith, Solihull.

Please believe me Mr Smith, that most duplicate bridge is played by very pleasant and agreeable people. A club with several disagreeable members will quickly start to disintegrate.

STAMP SAVER As a senior citizen and one who came to bridge only after retirement from a fulltime working life I am always very pleased to receive the

magazine. I was particularly pleased to see your reference to ‘Used Stamps’ as I had been collecting for some time. Joyce Hadlow, Bury St Edmunds.

BEGINNERS WELCOME The Lawn Bridge Club in Swindon, inaugurated nearly 3 years ago, offers duplicate bridge for players who have learnt to play recently and need a friendly club to put that initial learning into practice. The club meets every Wednesday afternoon and evening and all members help the ‘beginners’ to improve their skills and become good club players. A dedicated team of experienced players are on hand to help and advise and this ‘extended learning’ environment is proving successful. In association with another club, where bridge is taught from the ‘what are trumps?’ stage, the game in Swindon is flourishing. The Lawn Community Association’s centre is our playing venue with its excellent facilities and to find out more details, please give me a call. Derek Fenn, Swindon, Wiltshire. ( 01793 524837.

OVER THE POND I have been lucky enough to receive your magazine ever since I sailed on Discovery. I can tell you, without a doubt, your magazine is completely superior to our ACBL Bridge Bulletin.

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.

First, the British have a delightful sense of humour that is curiously lacking in American bridge columnists. Second, the columns themselves are directed at the average tournament player, not the few titanium masters in the country. Third, and not at all least, you have the very pleasant Tony and Jan Richards to help you promote good bridge as well of the fun of it while sailing the high seas. Please, please, do not drop me from your mailing list. Muncie Marder, Tarzana, USA.

NO CHANGE I belong to Muswell Hill Bridge Club and play about twice a month. After consultation, the committee decided to stick with the status quo and remain with the EBU. The vote was split approximately 50/50 with a sizable number of ‘no opinion’ registered. I thought your readers might be interested as to how this has affected me. The answer is, ‘not the slightest.’ Our table fees remain the same, although this is a trifling amount anyway and on the rare occasions I am given those silly master points vouchers, they still go where they have always gone, i.e. into the waste paper basket on my way out. What a waste of time and effort. Mr David Hope, Enfield, Middlesex.

SAVING STAMPS Have I missed it in one of your recent magazines, or have you not yet informed us what to do with the stamps you asked us to save? Mr G Staples, Storrington, West Sussex.

Please send your stamps to: Mr C Bamberger, 179 High Road, Trimley St. Mary, IP11 0TN ■

Page 38

The following have kindly donated stamps for the Little Voice Appeal: Mrs H Hughes, Quorn, Leics. Mr Bill Shepherd, Devizes, Wilts. Mr K Wheeler, Whitstable. Mr M Bennet, London. Mr & Mrs F Keyzer, Stalybridge, Cheshire. Dr M Norris, East Dean, East Sussex. Mr & Mrs R Harriman, Solihull, West Midlands. Mrs E Elderton, Olney, Bucks. Mrs W Brelsford, Bredon, Tewkesbury. Mrs M Leitch, Ayr. Mrs E Davies, Daventry. Mrs W Holland, Biddulph Moor, Staffordshire. Mrs B Haycocks, Copthorne, Shrewsbury. Mrs T Rofer, Chinley, High Peak. Mrs S Frew, Mrs Dickinson, Grangemouth. Cuddington, Northwich. Mrs Elizabeth Bryan, Old Woking. Mrs J Money, St Peter Port, Guernsey. Mr & Mrs Leys, Taunton, Somerset. Mrs I Ash, Norwich. Mr F Lockyer, Bournemouth. Mrs K Adamson, Ringwood, Oxton. Mrs Rowland, Guernsey. Mr A Clarke, Loughton, Essex. Mr S Heath, Orsett Heath, Essex. Mrs E Bowen, Southsea. Mrs Adamson, Prenton, Merseyside. Mrs A Chaumeton, Highgate, London. Mr & Mrs D French, Hayling Island. Mrs B Quinton, Sutton Coldfield. Mr & Mrs D Piff, Ryhall, Stamford. Mrs E Harrison, High Wycombe. Mrs P Robinson, Havant. Mrs H McNeil, Faversham, Kent. The London U3A Bridge Classes. Mr D Abraham, Ruddington, Notts. Mr C Moore Blackwell, Bromsgrove. Mrs Y. G. Hutchins, Milverton, Taunton. Mr A Mott, Lymington, Hants. Mrs S Cross, Rattray, Blairgowrie, Scotland. Mrs S Oakes, Brighton. Mrs D M Thomas, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Mrs P K Blackaby, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. Mrs C Archer, Willingale, Essex. Mr & Mrs B Tuck, Usk, Gwent. Mrs G Elviss, Great Barrow, Chester. Mr & Mrs B Angus, Brentwood, Essex. Mr A Hallen, Stoke-on-Trent. Mrs M Anderson, Nairn, Scotland. Mrs R Morris, Inverness, Scotland. S E Heath, Orsett Heath, Essex. J R Goodwin, Trowbridge, Wilts. Mrs R Sellors, Norwich. Mrs P Jackson, Spalding, Lincs. Mrs S Crabtree, Holt, Wrexham. Mr & Mrs J Joyce, Chipping, Forest of Bowland. Mrs P Crowe, Cheltenham, Gloucs. Mrs M Morley-Pegge, London W2. Mr P Cobham, Weybridge, Surrey. Mrs J Anderson, Rudgwick, West Sussex. Mrs J Gilligan, Grasscroft, Oldham. Mrs M Woodhead, Letchworth, Herts. Mrs E Hall, Matlock, Derbyshire. Mrs B Attwood, Worthing, West Sussex. Mr L Blanning, Abersychan, Gwent. Mr G Conley, Braintree. Mrs M Andrews, Edwalton, Nottingham. Mrs Elderton, Olney. Mr & Mrs W Farrow, Thorpe End, Norwich. Mrs P Brend, Acton, Cheshire. Mrs Turner, Bramley, Surrey, Mr & Mrs P Griggs, Ongar. Mrs M Turner, Bridlington. Mrs M Burkett, Prenton. Mr R Elviss, Great Barrow. Mrs S Griffiths, East Barnet, Herts. Mrs W A Hawes, Marlborough, Wilts. Mrs Lambert, Harlow, Essex. Mrs J Morley, Sudbury, Suffolk. Mrs P A Bate, Harrogate, Yorkshire. Mr & Mrs Wallis, Yeovil, Somerset. Dr K Shillam, Brighton. Mrs I Hughes, London N1. Mr & Mrs D Cork, Billinghurst, West Sussex. Mrs M Fletcher, Uxbridge, Middlesex. Miss J Simpson, Edinburgh. Mr & Mrs Thompson, Sheffield. Mrs M Nicholson, Peterborough. Mrs N Graham, Sturminster Newton, Dorset. Mrs C Dennes, Norwich, Norfolk.

Thank you all very much.

ANSWERS TO THE DEFENCE QUIZ ON PAGE 31 by JULIAN POTTAGE ♠ ™ © ®

1.

♠ ™ © ®

92 J9542 A42 A92

N E

W S

♠ ™ © ®

You lead the four of hearts: six, jack, king. Declarer now leads a low diamond. What do you do?

K76 A 10 K J 10 6 QJ53 ♠ ™ © ®

J 10 5 4 3 Q863 87 10 8

AQ8 K7 Q953 K764

West

North

East

Pass

3NT

End

South 1NT(12-14)

You lead the four of hearts, covered by the ten, queen and king. Declarer now leads the five of diamonds. What do you do? If you consider only the diamonds, you will duck. You cannot lose your ace and partner might hold the queen of diamonds, possibly singleton. Looking instead at the overall picture it must be right to go in with your ace. You can clear the hearts by knocking out the ace. When you come in with the ace of clubs, you expect to make three heart tricks. These, plus your two aces, will defeat the contract. If declarer can make nine tricks without playing on clubs, that is just unlucky. If you duck the diamond mistakenly, declarer switches to clubs, making nine tricks: three spades, two hearts, a diamond and three clubs.

♠ ™ © ®

2.

♠ ™ © ®

Q92 Q9542 A42 92 ♠ ™ © ®

West Pass End

A6 76 Q J 10 9 7 6 AJ3 ♠ N ™ W E © S ® K873 A K 10 53 K 10 6 4

North 1© 2©

East Pass Pass

J 10 5 4 J83 K8 Q875

South 1♠ 3NT

As on the first deal, there is a risk that any diamond honour partner has will be short. Indeed, now you can see nine diamonds, the risk is more acute. However, even if the king of diamonds – a card you indeed hope partner holds – is not singleton, you still have a good reason to withhold your ace. Do you remember the play to the first trick? Partner played the jack of hearts, which drew the king. Clearly, declarer has the ace of hearts. Do you know where the ten is as well? Since the correct card to play in third seat from J-10-x is the ten, you place declarer with this card. Therefore, you need the next heart lead to come through the A-10, which means ducking the diamond to let partner win.

Since you know (holding the ace of spades) that declarer cannot take any quick discards, ducking could cost only if the club is a singleton. This is very unlikely anyway and impossible on the bidding (South would have bid 4♠, not 5©, if holding a 6-0-6-1 shape). Besides, as your side can make no tricks in the red suits and only one spade, you need two club tricks to defeat the contract.

♠ ™ © ®

4.

♠ ™ © ®

Void Q 10 5 2 J 10 7 4 2 AJ82 ♠ ™ © ®

After partner wins the diamond and plays a heart, you take the ten with the queen and clear the suit. When you later come in with the ace of diamonds, you can cash two long hearts to defeat the contract.

3.

♠ ™ © ®

♠ ™ © ®

A 10 2 Q J 10 9 5 42 AJ2 ♠ ™ © ®

West 1™ End

KQ96 76 AQ6 K963 ♠ ™ © ®

N W

E S

J54 AK8432 98 10 5

873 Void K J 10 7 5 3 Q874

North Dbl

East 4™

South 5©

You lead the queen of hearts. Declarer ruffs and draws two rounds of trumps – ace and then back to the jack as East follows twice. Now comes a low club. What do you do? You can arrive at the right answer in a variety of ways. Looking at the club suit in isolation, there are two ways that ducking can gain. Declarer might have the queen-ten and so a two-way finesse against the jack. There is also the actual layout – when partner has the ten – you want to duck to be sure of keeping the ace-jack over the queen.

Page 39

96 J764 AKQ6 K 10 3 ♠ ™ W E © S ® AKJ8732 K93 Void 764 N

West

North

East

Pass Pass End

2© 3NT

Pass Pass

Q 10 5 4 A8 9853 Q95

South 1♠ 2♠ 4♠

You lead the two of hearts: four, ace, three. Back comes the eight: king, five, six. Declarer cashes the spade ace (you throw a diamond) and leads the four of clubs. What do you do? Before you play on the club, you should ask yourself a question: ‘why is declarer playing on clubs rather than taking discards on the diamonds?’ The answer, as you can see from the diagram, is that South has no diamonds at all. Ducking your ace would thus be highly dangerous. Declarer would put up dummy’s king, throw three losers on the diamonds and take the trump finesse for the overtrick. Holding the jack of clubs (and so knowing declarer does not have a king-jack type of guess in the suit), you really have no reason to duck. After you take your ace of clubs, you should cash the queen of hearts. If you paid careful attention to the heart spots, you will know this will win – partner would have returned the nine of hearts from A-9-8 and not the eight. After that, although you cannot avoid conceding an entry to dummy, a single finesse is not enough to pick up the trumps and partner scores the setting trick with a trump. ■

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Catching Up

West North East South 1™ 2NT 4® Dbl Rdbl 5® 5© Pass 6™ Pass 7™ Dbl End

by Sally Brock

I

t’s been a busy time since I last wrote. First, we had my mother’s 80th birthday party, which went very well. I can thoroughly recommend the idea for a no-trouble dinner party. The starter was a salmon mousse wrapped in smoked salmon (bought from Waitrose), on the table when people went in for dinner, then the Chinese takeaway arrived (electric hotplates borrowed for each table). Finally, my mother had prepared her speciality dessert – a huge meringue sandwiched with whipped cream and raspberries, piped into the figure 80. It was all served on disposable plates, with chopsticks or plastic cutlery, so all the rubbish just went into big black bin liners. A no-worries sit-down dinner party for 40 people, and a jolly good time was had by all. Then there was the snow. I was in Chalfont St Peter, playing a bridge match when it started. By the time I left, the blizzard was in full flow. Of course, I had no coat, no sensible shoes, and was remembering how, a couple of weeks earlier, I had gone to pick up Briony from school and, with the heater, lights and radio running, the battery in the car went flat in about 10 minutes. I crawled, at 5–10 mph mostly in first gear until near Hazlemere, but no-one was getting up the hill to the crossroads there. Was I going to die in my car? Should I stagger out of the car and knock on a stranger’s door? In the event, I took a side road that allowed me to approach the hill from a different road and an inch at a time I slithered up it, wheels spinning all the time. No-one behind me seemed to make it.

So I rather frightened myself and resolved for the rest of the winter to at least keep a blanket and a pair of wellies in the boot. That evening had another highlight: in our team-ofeight match, we scored one 24 IMP swing. This was the deal:

Dealer South. Game All. ♠ Q8743 ™ AK93 © AK87 ® Void N ♠ J2 ♠ K6 W E S ™ Void ™ 10 8 6 5 © J9543 © Q62 ® KQ9842 ® J753 ♠ A 10 9 5 ™ QJ742 © 10 ® A 10 6

Simon Cope and I bid to 6™ as follows: West North East South 1™ 2NT 4® Pass 4© Pass 5© Pass 5™ Pass 6™ End

My four clubs was a splinter bid agreeing hearts; Simon’s four diamonds was a newfangled idea called ‘last train’ – the idea is that when there is only one bid available below game it is more useful to use it to show a little slam interest rather than a control in the suit. When Simon signed off in five hearts, I knew he must have a spade control but couldn’t have the ace and king, so it was easy for me to bid the small slam. In the event he made 13 tricks after some careless discarding. +1460. Our other North/South pair were more ambitious:

I’m not quite sure why East doubled but West took it as a Lightner double and made the unfortunate choice of the jack of spades as his opening lead. +2470. One of our opponents also bid to the grand slam after South did rather too much bidding and North added one for the road. Here West led a quiet king of clubs and the grand slam was one down. +100. At the fourth table, South passed as dealer and North opened one spade. South now made a splinter bid of four diamonds which encouraged North to use Blackwood (not the best choice with a void). That led to South making a five heart response, which West doubled for the lead. North now bid six spades and East duly led a heart which West ruffed. Declarer now had to guess how to play trumps and decided to lay down the ace, so he went one down as well. +100. 1460 + 2470 + 100 + 100 = 4130, comfortably enough for a 24 IMP swing. High Wycombe had snow for a long time. We live on a main road but it is on a hill – even in perfect weather, buses sometimes get stuck. At one stage, my daughter and her friend stood outside our house and helped push cars up the road. Normally this kind of assistance would have attracted some generous donations but once the car got going, they were off, not wanting to stop for anything. The weather caused bridge evenings to be cancelled and I was unenthusiastic about going into London for rubber bridge. Christmas came and went pleasantly enough, with the usual surfeit of food and

Page 42

drink. We were twelve for Christmas morning, with a stocking each; seventeen for lunch. For New Year’s Eve, we had visitors: my cousin’s two children Tom (14) and Annie (11) spent the evening with us while their parents went to a wedding in Henley. Their parents arrived home about 1.30 and they all stayed over until the Saturday, when Ben, Gemma and grandchild Hayden came for lunch. On Tuesday, the children went back to school, Briony having to start with a Maths mock GCSE. But then there was more snow and they were off for the rest of the week. In the middle of January, I played in the two-session Auction Pairs at TGR’s with Robert Sheehan. Each of the 60 pairs was auctioned off beforehand, raising a total of £40,000, most of which was distributed to the buyers of the leading pairs. We were the first seeded pair to be auctioned and went for a low price – although a bit of a knock to the ego, this was actually a good thing because it cost us less to buy back 50% of ourselves (25% each). To start with, things went swimmingly and in the first half, we could do no wrong. However, from our leading position at half-time, most rounds thereafter saw us drop a place and we eventually finished out of the money. Robert reckoned that had we been card-perfect, we might have finished third. Workwise, it was quiet up to Christmas but the pace has picked up a lot recently. As well as travel guides, each year I work on the yearbook of the British Guide of Travel Writers. The yearbook is launched annually at a swanky London hotel so has to be done well. In addition, I am playing with Susanna Gross in the England trials and she wants lots of online ■ practice…

Ask Julian Pottage

What does a Free Bid of Five of a Major Mean?

Q

At matchpoint pairs, how should one bid this hand after North opens 1©? Most pairs were in 5™ and one in 6NT. Nobody was in 6™.

♠ ™ © ®

K72 10 7 2 AK8653 6 N W

E S

♠ ™ © ®

Q5 AKQJ653 J AK4

Keith Lamdin, Clacton on Sea.

A

It surprises me too that so few pairs were in 6™. I guess that at other tables North did not open. I know of very few people who would stay out of a slam on the South hand facing an opening bid, whether or not they were sure of the spade situation. I agree with the 1© opening. North has an ace and two kings, which are always useful cards to have. At pairs, whether you would rather be in 6NT or 6™ depends on the lead. Unless the opponents cash the ♠A at trick one, you

might make an overtrick in 6™ by ruffing out the diamonds. You would either need diamonds 3-3 and any trump split or diamonds 4-2 and trumps 2-1. The bidding should start: 1©-2™-3™-4® (cue bid)-4© (cue bid). At this point, South could bid 5™. When the partnership has bid three suits, a jump or advance to five of the agreed major says ‘I want to be in a slam if you can control the fourth suit.’ The replies to this are pass = no control, 5NT = king, 6 of the agreed suit = singleton, anything else shows firstround control of the fourth suit. Here, holding the ♠K, North would bid 5NT. Expecting, wrongly as it turns out, that most pairs are going to be in a slam, South then bids 6NT.

hands are not random – they are abnormally flat. If you find that the hands are wilder at the club with the computer dealing, it is almost certainly due to imperfect shuffling and hence non-random hands at the first club. A bug or bias in the software is very unlikely. In club play, computer dealt hands have two big advantages over manually dealt ones. Firstly, they are more in accordance with the odds, thereby rewarding correct bidding and play more often. Secondly, they make it much easier to provide players with a copy of the hands at the end of the play. This not only reduces post mortems at the table but also gives people a chance to review and learn from what they have done afterwards.

®©™♠

®©™♠

I play at two clubs. At one, we shuffle manually and think we have random deals. The other uses a computer to deal. Is the latter random or fixed to give hands that are harder to play? Peter Pratt, Sleaford, Lincolnshire.

Please could you provide a table showing the likelihood of various trump splits? While I realise that opposing bids will often give some clues, I would like to start with something simple. Michael J Armstrong, Canterbury by email.

A

A

Q

The way many people shuffle, manually dealt

Q

Page 43

You can find probabilities for the common suit

divisions in a number of places, including The Bridge Player’s Diary. Here they are for convenience: 6 cards missing 3-3    36% 4-2    48% 5-1    15% 6-0    1% 5 cards missing 3-2    68% 4-1    28% 5-0    4% 4 cards missing 2-2    40% 3-1    50% 4-0    10% 3 cards missing 2-1    78% 3-0    22% 2 cards missing 1-1    52% 2-0    48% If you cannot remember all the figures, a useful rule is that an even number of cards will usually not split exactly in half whereas an odd number will usually split as evenly as is possible. These percentages are exact for when there are 2 or 3 cards missing but rounded for the others. You are quite right that the opposing bidding and other information you gather during the play can affect the odds, though it is always helpful to know what the raw percentages are as a starting point.

Ask Julian

continued

Q

North reached 4™ on the deal below (1™-2™-4™). It is clearly the right contract, though the 4-0 trump split makes things tricky. What should East lead?

♠ ™ © ®

♠ J ™ AKQJ © A Q 10 9 ® Q973 A6542 ♠ N Void ™ W E S 543 © KJ864 ® ♠ 10 9 8 3 ™ 75432 © KJ7 ® 10

defenders can switch to spades or keep playing trumps. Double dummy, declarer can succeed after a diamond lead. Mind you, it takes the strange play of immediately running the diamonds to throw South’s singleton club. In real life, declarer would win a diamond lead in dummy and play a club, allowing time for the spade switch and forcing defence. ®©™♠

KQ7 10 9 8 6 862 A52

Q

One N/S pair bid to 3NT, scoring 630 and a top; one South doubled 2® for three down, 500. The rest of us played in 2NT. Who, if anyone, was at fault?

Ken Wickes, Morden, Surrey.

A

I would probably lead the ™10. East knows about the bad trump split and thus aims to give nothing away at the same time as possibly reducing dummy’s ruffing value. While a diamond lead is probably just as safe, a diamond does nothing to attack declarer’s ruffing potential and so is inferior. The ♠K is my second choice. If West has the ♠A or the ♠J, it should work well. On the bidding, North is clearly the favourite to hold the ♠A, which is why the spade is my second choice. If East’s hand were weaker, thereby increasing the chance that West has the ♠A, a spade would be more attractive. As the cards lie, West does have the ♠A and a spade lead is the most effective. If the defenders keep playing spades, forcing North to ruff twice, East makes two trump tricks. A trump lead is also good enough. Depending upon declarer’s line, the

♠ ™ © ®

♠ 9863 ™ AQ7 © AK6 ® J73 10 7 2 ♠ AQJ5 9 8 3 WN E ™ K 5 2 S 32 © Q 10 9 8 98542 ® K 10 ♠ K4 ™ J 10 6 4 © J754 ® AQ6

West North East South me 1NT Dbl Pass 2® Pass Pass 2NT End

®©™♠

Q ♠ ™ © ®

My partner (East) and I held these hands (E/W vul):

West 63 A 10 6 2 AQ985 10 2

♠ ™ © ®

East A 10 9 5 2 73 K42 Q97

West North East South 1® Pass 1© 1♠ Pass 2™ End

I thought we might have a 4-4 heart fit and was disappointed to go down three, losing 300. Gill Harrand by email.

Jenny Hill by email.

A

know the doubler has 15+ points, the chance that your partner has a minimum is much higher than usual. Holding three good clubs, doubling 2® is the better bet. If you collect 300 or 500 then that will beat any scores of 120 or so your way. Holding 14 points, your partner should have gone on to 3NT, in spite of the 4333 shape. The play is often easier when you know where all the opposing strength lies. You know which finesses to take and which not to take. As well as that, a defender who holds all the defensive strength often has a hard time in finding safe leads and discards.

If you play a redouble of 1NT as a natural call then you should have done that. I assume you were unable to do so because redouble would have asked partner to bid 2®. Having passed (and thus promised no values) you were right that you needed to take some action at your next turn. With 11 points, 2NT was an option, though game chances were not very good. When you

A

I am afraid I do not agree with either of your side’s bids. Partner clearly intended 1♠ as a lead-directing effort. If opener was going to rebid in clubs or no-trumps, you would quite likely end up on lead. With five fair spades and two low hearts partner was trying to persuade you to lead a spade rather than a heart. However, particularly given the vulnerability,

Page 44

partner should have either a better hand or a better suit for the bid, even more so as Q-x-x in opener’s suit is of dubious value. Whatever 1♠ might show in terms of spades and values, it does not show hearts. With support for both majors, partner would tend to make a take-out double rather than bid 1♠. It was thus most unlikely that you had a 4-4 heart fit. In the absence of a club stopper, I think you just have to pass 1♠. It is improbable that you are missing game when both opponents have bid. With a doubleton spade, you could be sure that your side has the majority of the spades and so should be content with playing in spades. If you bid at all, 2♠ is the bid to make. By the way, I am not sure why you failed to overcall 1© over 1®. Your diamond suit is very good as fivecarders go and you are close to opening values. ®©™♠

Q

Studying the 32 deals played in Celebrity Grand Slam Bridge as televised by Sky, I note that only 7 of the 128 hands have a 4333 shape. Do you know if the deals were random or selected in some way? M S Kington, Newcastle upon Tyne.

A

I do not know whether the deals were selected, though it would not surprise me if they excluded any deals likely to result in a pass out, for instance. On average, a 4333 shape occurs on just over 10% of hands (4432 is the most common shape, occurring on just over 21%). Having seven 4333 hands rather than the expected thirteen is probably not such a large deviation as to prove that they are not random.

Ask Julian

continued

Q A

Q

Can you offer advice about when I should signal? Name and address supplied. You want to signal if the information is of more interest to your partner than to the opposing declarer.

Good times to signal: 1. When partner leads a new suit; 2. When making your first discard; 3. When partner is about to be on lead. Poor times to signal: 1. When declarer is playing a suit and may have a guess in it; 2. When partner has a weak hand and is unlikely to gain the lead; 3. When giving a signal wastes a high card.

North picked up the following hand and opened 1♠:

♠ ™ © ®

KQJ75 9643 A7 AK

Her partner responded 2™ and the question is what should North say now? In practice, she rebid 4™ and that was the end of the story. South’s hand was:

♠ ™ © ®

Void AKQ8752 KJ8 965

With the ace of spades lying nicely with East and the benefit of a diamond lead, we made all 13 tricks. How can we bid even a small slam? Alan Solomon, Wimbledon.

®©™♠

Q

I know that an immediate double of a weak 1NT shows 15+ points, similar strength to a 1NT overcall of a suit opening. Does it still show 15+ in fourth seat, when a protective 1NT overcall would show 12-14? Barry Joyce by email.

A

It is usual to act on a weaker hand in the protective seat after a one-of-a-suit opening and two passes. That is because you can rely on finding responder with a maximum of 5 points. This does not apply after a 1NT opening. Responder may have 10 points (or even a poor 11) and yet pass the 1NT opening. So, you still need 15 points to double in fourth seat.

A

These are tough hands to bid. Other rebids are possible such as 2NT if you play that as forcing, though 4™ is not absurd. 4™ is a bit of an underbid but having your values in short suits tends to be bad news. Responder, with seven solid hearts and other goodies besides should make a further move. I do not mind 5™ (showing poor trumps and good controls or, as here, good trumps but poor controls) or a cue bid of 5© (one would prefer to have the ace of diamonds but at least this highlights the club weakness). Nothing is perfect, but a pass of 4™ is overly cautious. On the losing trick count, South might hope to make all thirteen tricks (5 losers facing a presumed 6 losers), so, even allowing for some

duplication in spades, there should be play for a slam unless the opponents take the first two tricks. By the way, as dummy has four trumps and doubletons in both minors, you can make 13 tricks without risking the ruffing spade finesse: seven hearts, two ace-kings and two ruffs comes to thirteen tricks. ®©™♠

Q

If you and your partner have found a suit fit, does one count the points for a singleton honour plus points for the singleton?

♠ ™ © ®

K964 9863 Q 8752

Paula Marels, Dorset. 

A

Yes, if you have a fit, you count points both for high cards and for short suits. In assessing points for high cards, an unguarded honour counts as one point less than it would have done had it been in a long suit. The size of the singleton does not affect what points to add for shape. With your hand, I count 4 points in high cards and 2 for the singleton. ®©™♠

Q

When should you open higher than 2® with an exceptionally strong hand? G Burns, Southgate, London.

A

It is very rare for it to be right to open other than 2® on grounds of high point count. However, there are hands with great playing strength when you should do so.

Page 45

An opening of 5™ or 5♠ is a special bid. It says: raise to six if you have the ace or king of trumps, or to seven with both. An opening of six of any suit is similar: raise to seven if you have the ace or king of trumps. You would open 5™ and 6™ respectively, on these two hands:

♠ ™ © ®

Void Q J 10 9 5 4 3 2 AKQJ3 Void

♠ ™ © ®

A A Q J 10 7 4 3 2 Void AKQJ

The other special opening bid is 4NT. This asks for specific aces. Partner responds 5® with no aces, 5NT with two aces or bids five of the suit with the ace if holding one ace (6® with the ®A).

♠ ™ © ®

Void A KQJ9 A K Q 10 8 6 4 3

You should open 4NT on this hand. You intend to play in a grand slam if partner shows the ©A (5©) or two aces (5NT) and otherwise to settle for 6®. If you did not open 4NT, it might be hard later to find out whether partner has the useful ©A or the probably useless ♠A – you would also run the risk that the opponents might get together with one of the majors. As you will have gathered from the freak shape as well as the huge playing strength of my example hands, these special openings are rare events. Far more often, the best way to handle a powerhouse is to open 2®.

DOUBLE DUMMY SOLUTION

Ask Julian

continued

by Richard Wheen (Problem on page 5)

♠ ™ © ®

♠ ™ © ® Q J 10 Void Void KQ6 ♠ ™ © ®

A87 Void Void A32 N W

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o there we were, in a South-East Surrey Senior Novices training session. My partner and I were defending a no-trump contract in which declarer (South, to lead) needed to make five more tricks. I was West and I realised it was up to me to beat the contract – partner could have little to contribute. I knew declarer had a good diamond left, but it looked as if we should get at least one spade trick and one or two club tricks. For a while, I was optimistic. Declarer led the king of spades (first blow to my optimism), then the ace of diamonds. I threw a spade on this, hoping my partner could still control the third round of spades if he had to. For a nanosecond he did, until dummy also threw a spade. Now declarer played a spade to dummy’s ace (picking up my last spade) and then led the two of

S

clubs to East’s seven and South’s nine. I won this trick with the queen, but then had to return a club – but which? I saw declarer smiling, since he clearly realised that I now had to finesse myself, giving N/S the last two tricks. If I led my king, declarer would win that trick with dummy’s ace and the last one with the jack. In fact, I led the six; dummy played low and declarer won that trick with the jack and the last one with dummy’s ace. I suggested to partner that he might have tried the ten on the first round of clubs, but declarer pointed out that he would then have played the jack and the end position would have been essentially the same. I wondered aloud whether I should have discarded a club (instead of a spade) on the lead of the ace of diamonds. Declarer, however, explained (slowly and in words of one syllable, as if I were a child who had only started learning bridge that morning) that then he would have changed tack. He would have cashed his ace of clubs and conceded a club to me, after which he would make a second club trick, to add to the two spades and one diamond. So declarer made his contract, and I was duly put in my place.

Q

Dave Huggett has mentioned safety plays at rubber and teams. Are they ever a good idea at matchpoint pairs? Michael Canton by email.

A

Yes, if the contract is unusual (e.g. a pushy slam or good 4-3 fit), safety plays have their place even at pairs.

♠ ™ © ®

AKQ6 A87 AQJ6 87

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As West in 6NT, if you get a diamond lead to the king and ace, it would be a good idea to duck a club whatever the scoring method. 6NT bid and made even without an overtrick is likely to be a 90% score at pairs. Even in normal contracts, a safety play can be a good idea at matchpoints if it caters for a common layout:

♠ ™ © ®

AKQ A872 A872 72

N W

E S

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In 3NT on a spade lead, playing for five club tricks (i.e. not ducking the first round) gains if they are 3-3 but loses in the more common case when they are 4-2 as you will end up with only three club tricks. ®©™♠

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Q

Playing matchpoints and teams, when and how do you take being vulnerable into account? Geoff Turner, Southgate, London.

Page 46

A

When you make a pre-emptive bid or other bid that the opponents might double (such as an overcall), you need to have more playing strength when you are vulnerable. This is because the penalties for going down are higher. If you lose a penalty, you want it to be cheaper than some contract the opponents could have made. For the same reason, sacrifices are rarer when you are vulnerable. Playing pairs, on partscore deals, you need to be wary of going two down vulnerable even undoubled. A score of -200 will be worse than an opposing part score. Playing teams, being vulnerable affects constructive as well as competitive actions. The lure of a bonus for a vulnerable game means you will try slightly harder to reach game when you are vulnerable. This means you bid a bit more aggressively when vulnerable, though only when game is within reach. How you take into account being vulnerable is a bit harder to quantify. On many hands, indeed the majority, you make the same bid whether you are vulnerable or not. It is on the marginal hands that you need to consider the vulnerability, usually resolving in favour of caution when you are vulnerable. It is only when the opponents are the ones sacrificing, or you are looking for game at teams, that you would be more inclined to bid on when vulnerable. At one time, being vulnerable had an even more profound affect on Acol players. This was because it used to be the norm to play a variable 1NT opening, weak non-vulnerable and strong when vulnerable.

Ask Julian

continued

Q

How can a pair at our club come top one week and come bottom the next? D Barton, Southgate, London.

A

The game of matchpoint pairs involves a significant luck element. If your opponents play well or guess well then you may score badly despite playing well yourselves. The same applies to how lucky your decisions are. If you bid a 50% slam needing a finesse that nobody else has bid then you will get either a top or a bottom depending upon whether the finesse succeeds. The annual club pairs’ championship at my local club is a two session event. This year, the pair who came bottom the first week came top the second. It does not just happen in your club. I can explain one of their good results from the second week. At all but one table, East-West played in 3NT going down one. At the remaining table, the pair who won the second session defended 2™ doubled and had the only East-West plus. If you play a different system to the other pairs in your club, then this will increase the fluctuation in your results. The pair, who I referred to above, uses a strong no-trump and fivecard majors. This meant they would have had some different auctions to the field, perhaps playing from the opposite hand or simply getting a different lead due to a less (or more) revealing auction.

One reason so many people enjoy bridge is that you cannot predict the result in advance. If the same pairs came top every week, many people would lose interest. ®©™♠

Q

East opened 1© and South overcalled 1♠, ending the auction. Twelve tricks made even though North’s only values were in hearts because both black queens fell doubleton. Was there a way to reach at least 4♠?

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A K J 10 8 Void K Q 10 AKJ63

John Upson, Penrith.

A

A simple overcall is non-forcing, so 1♠ is wrong on a hand worth more than 17-18 points (including distribution). This hand is thus far too good for a 1♠ overcall. Double is the best way to start. North would bid 1™ and you rebid 2♠. Because the hand is so powerful (you would have opened 2® if you had the chance), even 1♠ after the double does not do it justice. This jump to 2♠ should be forcing and it sounds as if North would then have called 3™. With the double diamond stopper and an apparent misfit, I would try 3NT over that. The other choice (over 3™) is to show your second suit, by bidding 4®, in which case North can put you back into 4♠. ■

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 take-out 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

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

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 defensive 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 trying 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!

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