107

Godafoss Falls, Iceland

Reykjavik, Iceland Iceland

Compostela,, Spain Santiago de Compostela

Minerva Miner va

Alhambra,, Spain Alhambra

Exceptional cr cruise uise offers aboard aboard Miner Minerva va Travel board Miner Minerva va a with w around 320 likelike-minded minded passengers and dine in the restaurant of your T ravel in country-house countr y-house style aaboard choice.. Be assured d of excellent value for money money, y,, including all tips on boar board d and ashore as well as an inclusive tailor-made tailor-made choice programme.. excursion programme All passengers who have booked and registered registered through through will be eligible to par partake take in the late after afternoon noon bridge sessions sessions,, held on days when the ship is at sea. sea. Ther Theree is no bridge supplement as as,, like most of the excursions excursions,, it is included in the price price.. Mr Bridge actively encourages singles to join the party par ty and they will always be found a par partner tner for a game game..

CALL C AL A LL O OF FT THE HE ARCTIC AR A RCTIC TERN TER RN N

Siglufjordurr Sigl Isafjordur

16 DA DAYS AYS Y D YS DEPARTING EP PAR RTING 21 JUL JULY LY Y 2011

Akureyri

CAT CAT 12 12 Inside G GTY TY T Y£ £1,695 1,695p pp p ((20% 20% Single Supp. Supp.))

Reykjavik Torshavn

C CAT AT 8 O Outside utside G GTY TY T Y£ £2,195 2,195pp pp ((30% 30% Single Supp. Supp.))

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

St Kilda

Dublin

Portsmouth England

F REE ccomplimentary FREE omplimentar y pre pre and and post post cruise cruise coach coach transfers transfers from from L London ondon Victoria Victoria Coach Coach Station, Station, S outh hampton Airport, Airport, B ournemouth and ailway Stations. Staations. Reduced Reduced rrates pre-cruise hotel hotel stay stay and Poole Poole R ates on on pre-cruise Southampton Bournemouth Railway aand nd parking parking aalso lso available, available, see see page page 21 21 of of the the March March 2011 2011 to to May May 2012 2012 S wan brochure brochur ure for for further further details. details. Swan

A SPANISH SPA AN NISH SUMMER SUMMER 15 DA DAYS AYS YS DEPARTING DEP PAR RTING 19 AUGUST AUGUST 2011 SAVE S AVE 1 10% 0% O OFF FF L LEAD EAD IIN N CATEGORIES CATEGOR RIIES CAT C AT 1 12 2 Inside GTY GT TY Y£ £1,595 1,595pp pp ((20% 20% Single Supp.) Supp.) C CAT AT 8 O Outside utside GTY GT TY Y£ £2,475 2,475p pp p ((30% 30% Single Supp.) Supp.)

Portsmouth England

EXCLUSIV IVE MR BRID DGE FARES FA ((F

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Fare a s shown inc i lude in 10% saving)

Livorno Livorno Italy La Coruna

From the green coasts of Spain and Portugal, to the true home of ‘ttyypical’ Spain, A An ndalucia, Miner va cruises to Cartagena, before callliing at th hrree of the Mediterranean’s prettiest islands, Menorca, Sardin niia and Corsica. FREE C Complimentary omplimentar y prepre-cruise cruise transfer from L London ondon A Airport irport to P Portsmouth ortsmouth (please request at the time of booking).

Calvi Oporto

Mahon Alghero

Cartagena Cadiz

Malaga

Š›Žœȱœ‘˜ —ȱŠ›Žȱ™Ž›ȱ™Ž›œ˜—ǰȱ‹ŠœŽȱ˜—ȱ ˜ȱ™Ž˜™•Žȱœ‘Š›’—ȱŠȱŒŠŽ˜›¢ȱŗŘȱ’—œ’ŽȱŒŠ‹’—ȱ˜›ȱŠȱŒŠŽ˜›¢ȱŞȱ˜žœ’ŽȱŒŠ‹’—ȱŠ—ȱ’—Œ•žŽȱŠ••ȱžŽ•ȱœž™™•Ž–Ž—œȱǻŒ˜››ŽŒȱŠȱ’–Žȱ˜ȱ™›’—’—ȱ‹žȱœž ž‹“ŽŒȱ˜ȱŒ‘Š—ŽǼǯȱ Ž›œȱŠ™ ™™•¢ȱ˜ȱ—Ž ȱ‹˜˜”’—œȱ˜—•¢ǰȱŠ›ŽȱŒŠ™ŠŒ’¢ȱŒ˜—›˜••Žǰȱœž‹“ŽŒȱ˜ȱŠŸŠ’•Š‹’•’¢ȱŠŠ— —ȱ–Š¢ȱ‹Žȱ ’’‘›Š —ȱŠȱŠŠ— —¢ȱ’–ŽǯȱŠ›Žœȱœ‘ œ‘˜ —ȱ’—Œ•žŽȱŠ••ȱŠ™™•’ŒŠ‹•Žȱ’œŒ˜ž—œȱŠ—ȱŠ›Žȱ—˜ȱŒ˜–‹’—Š‹•Žȱ ’‘ȱŠ—¢ȱ ˜‘Ž›ȱ˜Ž›ǯȱ˜˜”’—ȱŽ›–œȱŠ—ȱŒ˜—’’˜—œȱŠ™™•¢ǯȱ •••ȱŠ›Žœȱœ‘˜ —ȱŠ›ŽȱžŠ›ŠŠ— —ŽŽȱŠ›ŽœȱȬȱŒŠ‹’—ȱ—ž–‹Ž›ȱ ’’••ȱ‹ŽȱŠ••˜ŒŠŽȱŠ™™›˜¡’–ŠŽ•¢ȱřȱ ŽŽ”œȱ™›’˜›ȱ˜ȱŽ™Š›ž›Žǯȱ›ŠŸŽ•ȱ’—œž›ŠŠ— —ŒŽȱ—˜ȱ’—Œ•žŽǯȱȱ  ŠŠ— —ȱ Ž••Ž—’Œȱ’œȱŠȱ›Š’—ȱ—Š–Žȱ˜ȱ •••ȱŽ’œž›Žȱ ˜•’Š¢œȱ’–’ŽȱȱŖřşŘȱȱřŞşŝǯȱ—•¢ȱ‹˜˜”’—œȱ–ŠŽȱ’›ŽŒ•¢ȱ ’’‘ȱ›ȱ›’Žȱ ž žŠ›ŠŠ— —ŽŽȱ™Š›’ŒŒ’’™Š’˜—ȱ’—ȱ‘Žȱ˜—‹˜Š›ȱ›ȱ›’Žȱ ™›˜›Š––Žǰȱœž‹“ŽŒȱ˜ȱŠŸŠ’•Š‹’•’¢ǯȱ

To book or request a brochure call

01483 489 961 www.bridgecruises.co.uk ww w ww w w.bridgecruiises.co.uk

FEATURES

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

( 01483 489961 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.mrbridge.co.uk

Associate Editor Julian Pottage Technical Consultant Tony Gordon Bridge Consultant Bernard Magee Proof Readers Tony Richards Danny Roth Hugh Williams Richard Wheen Office Manager Catrina Shackleton Events & Cruises ( 01483 489961 Jessica Galt Rachel Everett Megan Riccio Zoe Wright Clubs & Charities Maggie Axtell [email protected]

Address Changes Elizabeth Bryan ( 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.

ADVERTISEMENTS

5 Mr Bridge

2 Summer 2011 on board mv Minerva

7 Double Dummy Quiz by Richard Wheen

3 2012 Diary

9 Justin Corfield says Hold Up in Dummy’s Suit

4 Voyages to Antiquity Cruise on board Aegean Odyssey

10 Seven Days by Sally Brock

5 Just Bridge 6 Bernard Magee at Haslemere Hall

13 Playing and Defending agaisnt Precision by Jeremy Dhondy

7 Mail Order Form 8 Bernard Magee’s Interactive Software

14 Wendy Wensum 17 David Stevenson Answers Your Questions

10 Tunisia

21 Bidding Quiz by Bernard Magee

11 Bernard Magee’s Better Hand Evaluation

22 Bidding Quiz Answers by Bernard Magee

12 Voyages of Discovery 2011 Summer Cruises

23 Defence Quiz by Julian Pottage

15 Voyages of Discovery Winter 2012 Cruises

24 Defence Quiz Answers by Julian Pottage

16 Bridge Event Booking Form

25 Declarer Play Quiz by Dave Huggett

16 Bernard Magee’s Tips for Better Bridge

26 Declarer Play Answers by David Huggett

20 Bridge Weekends with Bernard Magee

27 Lead Quiz by Andrew Kambites

22 Bernard Magee’s Begin Bridge – Acol Version

28 Lead Quiz Answers by Andrew Kambites

23 Reader’s Digest

29 The A to Z of Bridge C by Julian Pottage

25 Mr Bridge Christmas and New Year

36 Double Dummy Answer by Richard Wheen

27 Mr Bridge Tutorial Bridge Breaks

37 Readers’ Letters

36 Duplicate Bridge Rules Simplified

38 Little Voice Used Stamp Contributors

36 Charity Bridge Events 37 Stamps

40 Understanding the Contested Auction reviewed by David Huggett

39 Mr Bridge Rubber/Chicago Bridge Events

41 Heather Dhondy says Open Light in Third Seat Only in a Suit You Want Led

42 Global Travel Insurance

44 Julian Pottage Answers Your Questions

47 Voyages of Discovery 2012 Summer Cruises 48 QPlus 10

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

Page 3

HONOUR POINTS ‘Honours' are the top five cards in the trump suit: ‘A-K-Q-J-10’. If any player holds four of these cards, then his side is entitled to score 100 bonus points above the line and if all five are held, that is worth 150 bonus points. Playing in no-trumps, aces take the role of honours, and a player must hold all four to score 150 for honours. Any player can claim honours, including dummy (or declarer on dummy’s behalf) and either of the defenders. Honours count in Rubber and Chicago Bridge, but not in Duplicate (although it is legal for a sponsoring organisation to run an event in which they do). Honours can be claimed at any time during play, but it is wise to wait till the claimer has become clearly marked with the relevant holding, e.g. if declarer has drawn all the trumps and everyone else has shown out. Otherwise, honours can be claimed at the end of the deal when the score is being agreed. The last chance to claim honours is at the end of the rubber, as defined by Law 78: ‘When it is acknowledged by a majority of the players that a scoring error was made in recording an agreed upon result (e.g. failure to enter honours, or incorrect computation of score), the error must be corrected if discovered before the net result of the rubber has been agreed to.’ Reprinted from the Bridge Players’ Diary. Order your 2012 Diary now.

SA VE UP TO

£2 ,00 0

POMPEII

CRUISES TO CLASSICAL CIVILISATIONS

THE MYSTERY OF

PE

R

CO

UP

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& THE MAGIC OF SICILY

Explore the fascinating history of Sicily, the palaces of Malta and the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum

BOOK NOW FOR SPECIAL

FARES

NO SINGLE

ITALY

Cruise from Athens to Rome aboard the Aegean Odyssey and discover the architectural and artistic legacies of the classical civilisations of the Mediterranean. Discover sites in classical Greece, enjoy the natural beauty and magnificent history of Sicily and Malta – and explore the mysteries of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

SICILY

Vallea

MALTA Mediterranean Sea

Our voyage will be accompanied by a team of expert guest speakers and we are delighted to announce that the renowned historian and author John Julius Norwich will also be joining this sailing.

13-DAY FLY-CRUISE FROM ATHENS TO ROME DEPARTS OCTOBER 13, 2011

Cruise in comfort, relax in style Aegean Odyssey is a premium class ship that has been especially refitted for cruising in the Mediterranean. Carrying just 350 passengers, the atmosphere on board is relaxed with plenty of passenger space, a choice of restaurants (with open-seating dining) and generously-sized accommodations, plus the comfort and attentive service of boutique-style cruising. There is a supplement of £30 for those wishing to participate in the duplicate bridge programme or learn to play bridge. Singles are made especially welcome and a playing partner will always be found. 2 nights in Athens Add a 2-night stay in historic Athens before your cruise. Stay at the centrally located deluxe Athenaeum InterContinental

SUPPLEMENT Civitavecchia Agropoli Sorrento Pæum Tyrrhenian Aegean Stromboli Sea Palermo Ionian GREECE Sea Taormina Sea Trapani Mycenæ Athens Nauplia Syracuse Agrigento

HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE: Classical Greece; the superbly well-preserved Greek temples of Segesta and the Valle dei Templi; the fortifications of Syracuse; the Norman Royal Palace and Palatine Chapel in Palermo and Monreale Cathedral; Paestum and Amalfi Coast; Pompeii and Herculaneum.

MR BRIDGE FARES* Standard Inside Superior Inside Standard Outside

£1,495pp from £1,695pp from £1,995pp

Superior Outside Deluxe Outside Deluxe Balcony

from £2,095pp from £2,695pp from £4,150pp

NO SINGLE SUPPLEMENT ON BOARD

FARES INCLUDE: SIGHTSEEING EXCURSIONS AT ALL PORTS EXPERT LECTURE PROGRAMME WINE WITH DINNER & GRATUITIES ON BOARD EXCLUSIVE MR BRIDGE COCKTAIL PARTIES SCHEDULED AIR & TRANSFERS BOOK EARLY – THIS SPECIAL OFFER IS SUBJECT TO LIMITED AVAILABILITY

CALL

ON 01483 489961

Twin/Double £245 pp, Single £375

10093

ABTA No.Y2206

* Price is per person, single or double occupancy, and includes MR BRIDGE SPECIAL SAVING.The bridge programme is completely optional and Mr Bridge passengers can participate as much, or as little as they wish. This offer is subject to availability, is capacity controlled and may be withdrawn at any time.

V OYAGES TO A NTIQUITY www.voyagestoantiquity.com

COVER CRUISE

Come with me on a cruise, without single supplements, onboard Aegean Odyssey. All cabins and suites for the cruise are offered without supplement. It’s a good cruise with an interesting itinerary and the price includes gratuities on board, local wines with dinner and all excursions. The newly refurbished Aegean Odyssey carries around 325 passengers and, being a compact vessel, it is able to call at the smaller ports unsuitable for the floating hotels and holiday camps now sailing the seas. There is a similar itinerary at the end of August, with the same deal for singles, but with Mary Beard as the onboard lecturer. As I suspect the advertised cruise will be sold out almost as soon as this magazine lands on your doorstep, you should ring if this Summer alternative is of interest to you.

DIARIES Club orders for their 2012 diaries are now overdue. Don’t leave it until the last minute as you usually do. Standard diaries come in the same ten colour covers as last year. Luxury kidrell covered diaries come in ruby red, bottle green or navy blue. Let’s be hearing from you.

PLEASE HELP ME

MONEY SAVER

In an effort to establish the average age of those playing duplicate throughout the UK, I am asking clubs to help me. At your next duplicate, please hand out a blank slip of paper to all participants. Everyone should write their age in years and months on the slip. These should then be collated, the ages totalled and averaged and these figures, in years and months, sent to me with the name and address of your club together with the name, address and postcode of the member with the age nearest to the average of your club. They will be sent a copy of Bernard Magee’s Quiz Book. Entries before the end of June please. The resultant findings will be published in the August issue.

♦ Full board ♦ No single supplement ♦ 6 sessions of duplicate bridge ♦ No prizes or masterpoints

The price of posting a letter has gone up again and once again I write to tell you about Clive Goff ’s unusual service. He buys unused British stamps from collectors and investors and sells them below face value to people like you and me to stick on our envelopes, cards and packages. Do give him a ring on ( 0208 422 4906 or send him an email on Clive-goff@londonrugby.com

GOODBYE BEACH

Latimer Mews Chesham HP5 1UG

2011 8-10 July £199 The Beach Hotel 8-10 July £169 Latimer Mews

22-24 July £199 The Beach Hotel Full planning permission has been granted for the re-development of The Beach Hotel, Worthing.

My rock-bottom offer of a black vinyl covered utility table and four matching chairs for only £100 + £20 carriage anywhere in mainland UK has been extended until 31 July 2011. Those living nearby should ring to order and collect from my depot to save the £20 delivery charge.

It is hoped that both Tunisia and Egypt will be fully restored to normality in time for next season’s bridge parties. Bernard Magee will lead both groups, Egypt in January and Tunisia in February.

♦ No tuition, seminars or quizzes, just bridge

15-17 July £199 The Beach Hotel

UNDERESTIMATE

CALMED DOWN

JUST BRIDGE

There are still vacancies for weekend events with several Just Bridge duplicates during the July and August high season. See adjacent advert. I will be staying over the final weekend with Mrs Bridge to greet guests at the Gala Dinner on the Friday evening to celebrate many happy memories. Bernard Magee (see page 20) will be at The Beach twice in June and there are several tutorial events in June, see page 27. Be assured that The Beach still deserves its reputation for comfort and service.

Page 5

5-7 August £199 The Beach Hotel 12-14 August £245 The Beach Hotel with Gala Dinner 30 Sep-2 Oct £169 Latimer Mews 28-30 Oct £169 Latimer Mews 4-6 Nov £169 Latimer Mews

The Beach Hotel Worthing BN11 3QJ

Please see booking form on page 16.

Bernard Magee at Haslemere Hall

WHAT IS YOUR BID?

HASLEMERE

Mr A Solomons of London, SW19 asked this question in his letter published on page 34 of the last issue of BRIDGE. At Love All, your right hand opponent deals and opens the bidding with 1´ – what do you say holding the following hand?

Haslemere, Surrey

Tuesday 17 May Morning Session: 11.00 – 12.30 Ruffing for extra tricks Afternoon Session: 15.30 – 17.00 Competitive auctions

Wednesday 18 May Morning Session: 11.00 – 12.30 Making the most of your high cards in play and defence Afternoon Session: 15.30 – 17.00 Finding and bidding slams

Thursday 19 May

This latest issue of BRIDGE is being sent a few days early to give readers a last chance to book one or more of the seminars as per the adjacent advertisement. Each seminar is being filmed and will be available as six self-contained DVDs early this Autumn. The contents are all fresh, so even if you have attended all Bernard’s portfolio of thirty-two weekend seminars, most of the material will be absolutely new to you. Reminder. Bring your camera. I have arranged for a photographer to be on hand all three days to take your photo with Bernard. Mobile phones have cameras these days if you do not have your own dedicated digital.

Please note that all sessions will be filmed.

Here are the answers from some of my experts in alphabetical order.

Dave Huggett 1NT. I just know I would bid this. Andrew Kambites 1NT. I dislike this action least. Bernard Magee Double. This is the easy answer for now, but what I bid over 2™ from partner is less easy. I might rebid 2´ to show a strong hand that wants more information.

Afternoon Session: 15.30 – 17.00 Doubling and defence against doubled contracts

( 01428 642161

Q5 K3 Q6532 AKQJ

Sally Brock 1NT. I see this as the lesser evil of pass (second choice), double or 2♦.

Morning Session: 11.00 – 12.30 Play and defence of 1NT

£10 per ticket For advanced booking, please call Haslemere Hall Box Office

´ ™ ♦ ®

As part of The Haslemere Festival, Bernard’s sister Yvie, pictured above, stars in Alan Ayckbourn’s comedy Round and Round the Garden in the same theatre. If you are staying over in Haslemere for the bridge, why not try the play for some light relief on the Tuesday or Wednesday.

Julian Pottage 1NT. Prefer this to double: with a half stopper in spades and only two hearts, the hand is closer to having a spade stopper than it is to having four hearts. David Stevenson Pass. I do not expect this to be a majority view. Second choice double, third choice 1NT. I would not consider 2®, 2♦ or 2NT.

Page 6

INSURANCE Naturally, I am thrilled by the growing success of my club insurance promotion. Over 400 clubs are now covered by a policy that costs less and covers more than any other of its kind on offer in the market place. The significant uptake is evidence of this. Club committees should contact Moore Stephens on ( 0207 515 5270. Buoyed up by this success, I am looking into competitive car insurance for us solid, reliable bridge-playing types. Watch this space.

SECOND HAND TABLES All my holiday venues are shortly being re-equipped. As most clubs cover their tables with green cottonvelvet cloths, condition is unimportant. Stability is what matters. I will have over one hundred to clear in the Summer. Register your interest now and the number you require. I will advise all applicants as to cost. They will be priced to go. Locals may collect.

MINERVA

There is a Mr Bridge host on this ship on all cruises until November 2012. This does not guarantee a duplicate which is dependent on numbers. However, teams or a rubber or two after dinner can make all the difference to a holiday. See their advert on page 2. Nearly all port excursions are included in the prices quoted.

CHRISTMAS REALLY IS COMING

DOUBLE DUMMY by Richard Wheen

There are small bridge parties this year on both Discovery and Minerva – full details on request. At home, our Christmas will be held at Denham Grove. The Christmas break itself, 24-27 December, will focus on Just Bridge, although there will be low key bridge tutorials and supervised play for those who want them. Twixmas, 27-29 December, will be a standard tutorial break, but the New Year Event, 29 December – 1 January will feature a new series of three seminars: Developing at Duplicate Pairs, together with matching sessions of supervised play. Following this, there will be a standard tutorial event: 1-3 January 2012. See advert on page 25.

REPEAT MAC I am pressed by enthusiasts of Apple Mac to provide a compatible bridge play program. As there is no prospect of a Mac version, I recommend Bridge Baron. As a service to readers, I now stock the very latest version of a Mac compatible, bridge play program, Bridge Baron 21 for only £60. I also offer to take a cheque for £36 and any piece of old bridge software in part exchange. Offer ends 31 July 2011.

RE-REGISTER Another Spring, another spring-cleaning. If you do not tell us that you are still alive or have moved house, sadly we cannot continue to send you BRIDGE. If your friends comment that they have not received their copy recently, please tell them that they must have ignored my entreaties to re-register.

´ ™ ♦ ®

´ ™ ♦ ® KJ75 76 Void Void ´ ™ ♦ ®

MAIL ORDER PLAY SOFTWARE

Q8 43 Void 32 N E

W S

´ ™ ♦ ®

QPlus 10 NEW QPlus 8.8 (second hand) QPlus 10 upgrade (trade-in your old QPlus version) Bridge Baron Version 21 The very latest and Mac compatible

6 J98 9 4

£86.00 ....... £56.00 ....... £35.00 ....... £60.00 .......

TUTORIAL SOFTWARE

A92 A 10 2 Void Void

North is on lead with spades as trumps. How can North/South make five tricks, when they seem to have two spade losers (the king and a long spade)? (Answer on page 36.)

BRAND PLUG All packs have jolly jokers and mine are no exception. Each pack of my premium quality playing cards contains a red, a blue and a yellow jolly joker. 60 unboxed packs for £60. London Bridge Centre. ( 0207 4868222.

Begin Bridge – Acol Version Acol Bidding More Acol Bidding Declarer Play Advanced Declarer Play Defence

£66.00 ....... £66.00 ....... £96.00 ....... £76.00 ....... £81.00 ....... £76.00 .......

SOFTWARE BUNDLE OFFERS Any two software pieces Any three software pieces Any four software pieces

£120.00 ....... £175.00 ....... £220.00 .......

BOOKS Duplicate Bridge Rules Simplified Better Hand Evaluation – Bernard Magee Bernard Magee’s Bridge Quiz Book Bernard Magee’s Quiz and Puzzle Book Bernard Magee’s Tips for Better Bridge

£5.95 ....... £14.00 ....... £14.00 ....... £14.00 ....... £14.00 .......

TABLES AND CHAIRS SPECIAL OFFER. Standard black vinyl covered bridge table and set of four matching chairs

BUNDLEWARE I have been urged to make a special offer for those wishing to make multiple purchases of the software products. I have been very reluctant to do so as there will always be some complaints but here goes anyhow.

£120.00 .......

Prices are inclusive of VAT and postage. I enclose a cheque for £.......... Mr/Mrs/Miss ................................................................................................ Address......................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................................... Postcode ..............................................( .............................................

The tariff is set in the adjacent order form. However, if you have purchased in the past six months or so, do draw my attention to it and claim your bundle discount off your next purchase. (This offer closes 30 June 2011).

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

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

All good wishes.

( 01483 489961

Mr Bridge Page 7

BERNARD MAGEE’S INTERACTIVE TUTORIALS ACOL BIDDING l

Opening Bids and Responses

MORE (ADVANCED) ACOL BIDDING

DECLARER PLAY l

ADVANCED DECLARER PLAY

Suit Establishment in No-trumps

l

Suit Establishment in Suits

Making Overtricks in No-trumps

l

Making Overtricks in Suit Contracts

l

Basics

Slams and Strong Openings

l

Advanced Basics

l

Hold-ups

l

Support for Partner

l

Weak Twos

l

l

Endplays

l

Pre-empting

l

Strong Hands

Ruffing for Extra Tricks

l

Avoidance

l

Overcalls

l

No-trump Openings and Responses

Wrong Contract

l

Defence to 1NT

Entries in Notrumps

l

l

Defence to Weak Twos

l

Simple Squeezes

l

Counting the Hand

l

Trump Reductions & Coups

l

l

£66

Opener’s and Responder’s Rebids

l

Minors and Misfits

l

Doubles

l

Competitive Auctions

l

l

£76

£81

£96

l

Delaying Drawing Trumps

l

Two-suited Overcalls

l

Using the Lead

l

Defences to Other Systems

l

Trump Control

l

l

Endplays & Avoidance

Playing Doubled Contracts

l

Safety Plays

l

l

Doubles

Misfits and Distributional Hands

l

Using the Bidding

DEFENCE

£76

l

Lead vs No-trump Contracts

l

Attitude Signals

l

Lead vs Suit Contracts

l

Discarding

l

Partner of Leader vs No-trump Contracts

l

Defensive Plan

l

Partner of Leader vs Suit Contracts

l

Stopping Declarer

l

Count Signals

l

Counting the Hand

Sharpen your defence in the course of 20 introductory exercises and 120 complete deals

Make your cheque payable to

( 01483 489961

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

www.mrbridge.co.uk/mrbridge-shop

Fax 01483 797302

System Requirements: Windows XP, Vista or 7, 8mb RAM, CD-ROM

Justin Corfield Says

Hold Up in Dummy’s Suit he fate of many a contract depends on whether declarer can establish a long suit in dummy. Your job, as a defender, may be to prevent this at all costs. On some days, this is easy:

T

´ ™ ♦ ® ´ ™ ♦ ®

J75 Q 10 6 4 3 Void Q 10 6 3 2 ´ ™ ♦ ®

West

98 2 KQJ9654 J75 ´ N ™ W E ♦ S ® AK63 AK5 872 A94

North 3♦

Q 10 4 2 J987 A 10 3 K8

East

South

Pass

3NT

End

West leads the ™4, won by declarer, who plays a diamond. East can defeat the contract by holding up the ♦A until the third round. Before we move on, consider what might happen if West had led a club. Dummy plays low, and East must not play the ®K – if he does, the ®J suddenly turns into an entry and a dead dummy springs back to life. Do not do that. Killing dummy’s suit is not just about the hold-up; it is a way of life that can begin at trick one. When dummy has a long suit with no semblance of an outside entry, it is easy to see the need to hold up your stopper. A well-trained partner should be able to signal to you how many cards in the long suit he started with, telling you on which round to take your winner. When, unfortunately, dummy has outside entries, things become (much) more complicated.

´ ™ ♦ ® ´ ™ ♦ ®

J752 Q 10 6 4 4 9762 ´ ™ ♦ ®

98 85 K Q 10 9 6 5 A53 ´ N ™ W E ♦ S ® AK6 AK32 872 Q J 10

´ ™ ♦ ® Q 10 4 3 J97 AJ3 K84

After the same auction, South is again in 3NT. West leads a low spade. Do you want to play or defend? You should defend. Declarer will win the lead and play a diamond to the ♦K. East has two diamond tricks whether he wins this or not. However, the difference is all about timing. If we take the first diamond, declarer might win the return in hand and play another diamond, setting up the suit while the ®A is still in dummy as an entry. In contrast, if we hold up on the first round of diamonds, declarer can never get the suit going. What happens if declarer chooses to play a diamond to the ♦10 instead? This prevents East from ducking and so is a good play. However, declarer is not the only one who can play well. After taking the ♦J, there is just one defence worth talking about – can you see it? Right, East can switch to the ®K, giving up his club trick to knock out dummy’s entry (the Merrimac coup) – declarer has to win or East goes back to spades. I do not include this unusual play here just to be dramatic. Rather, it shows the lengths to which a defender must go to kill the dummy. Now for a scary one: same auction, same contract and a spade lead from your long-suffering partner. Page 9

´ ™ ♦ ®

J752 Q 10 6 4 42 974 ´ ™ ♦ ®

98 85 A Q J 10 9 6 5 53 ´ Q 10 4 3 N ™ J97 W E ♦ K3 S ® K Q J 10 AK6 AK32 87 A862

When declarer wins and finesses in diamonds, East needs to duck, doing so smoothly. If you duck with sufficient nonchalance, declarer will surely repeat the diamond finesse… and regret it. Here is one final example:

´ ™ ♦ ®

A95 9 KQJ987 762 N W

E S

´ ™ ♦ ®

J862 J32 A53 Q 10 5

South is in 3NT, having bid hearts strongly. West leads the ®4. Declarer wins your ®Q with the ®K and plays a diamond… ♦10 from West. Whilst the hold-up is a sound general strategy, you must ask yourself what is going on. The usual aim of the hold-up is to stop declarer from establishing dummy’s suit. On this deal, nothing can shut out the diamonds; and it is too late to try to dislodge the ´A entry. What we can do is grab the ♦A and return the ®10. If partner’s clubs are running and declarer has eight top tricks, this defence will be essential. ■

Seven Days

AT THE ROYAL KENZ TUNISIA Two-week half-board duplicate holidays

£769*

by Sally Brock February was rather quiet. Sadly, my good friend Debbie La Croix, who I have mentioned before in this column, lost her battle with ovarian cancer and died on the 12th March. Many of us will greatly miss her. At the beginning of March, one of Barry’s jurors had a holiday on a Thursday and Friday, so we took the opportunity to have a short holiday: three nights in Seville. Although the weather was not brilliant, it was warm enough for us to eat outside most of the time. We relaxed, visited many churches (a lot for a couple of atheists anyway), watched flamenco, ate and drank too much and generally had a good time.

Monday

6-20 November 2011 Tony & Jan Richards 19 Feb – 4 March 2012 Bernard Magee *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 October 2011. Prices for seven-night stays are available on application. Pay £70 per fortnight per person extra and have a pool-facing room, tea & coffee making facilities, bath robe and a bowl of seasonal fruit.

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

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Back to earth with a bump. After taking the kids to school, going to the gym and weighing myself (shock horror! I must do something about this) I settle down to catching up with work and dealing with the emails that have arrived in my absence. Dominica is the title that I am working on just now. Then, in the afternoon, I have an online session with Richard and Gerry. Barry has a juror with a sick child so there is an unexpected day off for him; his loss is our gain as we get to play together against Richard and Gerry rather than me partnering myself (I might do better that way, but it is not so much fun).

Tuesday In the evening, I drive into London for the launch of the British Guild of Travel Writers’ annual yearbook. This is, as always, quite good fun with lots to drink

and nibble on, as well as an excellent raffle. I keep buying tickets because, in the past, I have won a weekend in Dublin – though I suppose lightning is unlikely to strike twice. This year, it is held at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden, so all that merriment takes place in between (and on) London buses from one era or another (including the latest prototype that has yet to hit the streets).

Wednesday A day off for Barry. Finally, after more than four months, his trial is over and the jury finds all the defendants not guilty of murder – a great relief. We have an unhurried, relaxing morning before I set off for a Selection Committee meeting in Bloomsbury. After much deliberation on a number of issues, we finally break up at about 4.30pm and adjourn to the pub. I leave them later to meet Nicola for supper before

Page 10

proceeding to the Acol where we are playing in the new London League. This is not one of our better performances as we end up with only 1 VP – Nicola and I have not played for about five months and we are just beginning to start our preparations for the Venice Cup in October.

Thursday I need to leave London by 7am in order to get home in time to take the kids to school. Then the gym. In the evening, Briony and I go to a Careers Fair at her school. Shortly, she has to make a final choice of the A levels she wants to do. She is a good all-rounder and is finding it difficult to think about what she might do as an eventual career. At the fair, she is particularly inspired by the companies that take young people on immediately after A levels, where there is an opportunity to go to university alongside a real job. She likes the idea that what

Seven Days

continued

she would be learning would be of obvious practical benefit (and, of course, the idea of receiving payment to go to university appeals in these days of high tuition fees).

Friday Off to my parents for the weekend. We pick the children up after school and arrive early evening in time for a drink and a browse of an art exhibition at Corsham Court, a lovely old house that is part of Bath University. Then a pub supper and back to my parents’ house for a game of Categories. You know the sort of thing: everyone chooses a ‘category’ and then has to think of two things for each category beginning with a particular letter. I like this because I usually win, but the real fun is listening to my mother argue the case for being allowed ‘Atlantic Ocean’ under ‘Waters’ for the letter ‘o’, because it is a surname!

Saturday This is the real reason for this specific visit. One of my parents’ friends bought a bridge lesson with me for another friend for a birthday present. Thus Andi, Paula, Linda and I all get together for a lesson. It did not seem sensible to prepare anything since I have no idea of anyone’s standard, so we just play a few hands but collect the cards, duplicate style, rather than in tricks as rubber bridge. (By the way, I would recommend that you all get into the habit of

doing this when playing bridge socially. If an interesting hand crops up and you want to go back over the play, it makes life so much easier.) We will draw a veil over the first deal when they allow me to make three notrumps after a club lead, with a club holding of two low cards facing jack doubleton! What would you bid with this hand, at Love All?

´ ™ ♦ ®

6 AJ984 Q973 Q 10 6

East 1´

´ ™ ♦ ®

West North East South Pass Pass 1´ 2♦ 2´ 3™ 3´ 4♦ Pass 5♦ All Pass

This is the start to the auction: West North Pass Pass 2´ ?

North 6 AJ984 Q973 Q 10 6 West East J 10 3 ´ AKQ984 Q 10 2 ™ K65 6 ♦ 54 KJ9852 ® 73 South ´ 752 ™ 73 ♦ A K J 10 8 2 ® A4 ´ ™ ♦ ®

South 2♦

If you were not a passed hand, it would be difficult. Do you bid that decent fivecard heart suit, or should you raise diamonds? However, as a passed hand it is much easier. In order to bid a new suit at the three level, you need good values and a decent suit. For it to be sensible for you to do this on a hand that was not suitable to open the bidding, you must have a diamond fit. So, here, you can bid 3™, also showing a diamond fit. The full hand is shown at the top of the next column. Superficially, you might think that there are three losers: one in each side suit. However, it is impossible for the defenders to take them all. A spade lead and club switch sets up the queen of clubs for a heart discard, while a heart switch would set up that suit for club discards.

After a couple of hours of entertaining (I hope) bridge, we adjourn for a splendid lunch. There are definitely plenty of less enjoyable ways to make money! In the evening, we go to a village talent show. I certainly have my share of misgivings about this (and I let Barry off – he was playing in a National Pairs semi-final on the Sunday – and I put him on a train before the event starts). It is actually good fun – especially as I know many of the people. Star of the show is Caroline Dale, a top-class concert cellist who lives in the village.

Sunday After a family lunch, I have arranged a bit of a treat for the three of us: we go quad biking on a local farm. Of course, the children spend most of their time lapping me – I think they do three circuits for every two I manage – but the weather is brilliant and we all have fun. ■

Page 11

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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Playing and Defending Against Precision with Jeremy Dhondy

I

f you play only in your local club, you may come across very few different systems; if instead you visit other clubs, tournaments or countries or even venture online, you may come across something more exotic. The aim of this article is to help you when you come across strong club systems such as Precision Club. There are strong club systems other than Precision, but they are quite rare and for the most part the same principles apply whichever one you meet. A Chinese Engineer, C C Wei, is credited with the invention of Precision Club and, when it first surfaced in the late 1960s, it came to prominence because previously unknown (in bridge terms at least) Taiwan suddenly started doing exceptionally well at international level. The players were good, of course, but the system was credited widely with making a difference. The main elements of the system are: 1. Most opening bids are limited to 15 points maximum. 2. Virtually all strong hands start with 1®. 1♦ is the negative response. A normal 2NT opening is the exception to this. 3. Major openings show five cards. 4. 1NT is typically 13-15. 5 . 2® is the opening for hands with good clubs and opening strength. 6. 1♦ is the dustbin bid into which all other opening hands go. 7. Weak Twos in the majors. If you meet a strong club, it is first worth deciding what to do if they do not open a strong club! This is as there will be more opening bids that are under 16 points than over. It may be obvious, but a failure to open a strong club limits opener’s strength – this gives responder some licence; it will be more common for sequences to go:

West 1™

North Pass

East Pass

South ?

East may have more points to pass than you might expect in a traditional system.

´ ™ ♦ ®

J54 J2 KJ32 10 7 5 3

This hand would be a routine pass of a 1™ opening so, when you consider protecting, you should be aware of this. The other side of the coin is that opener can jump around with rather weaker hands in terms of point count than you might expect. This is because, given opener’s failure to open 1®, responder will never expect some hand with 18 or 19 points. A typical example might be:

´ ™ ♦ ®

KQJ95 A Q J 10 5 7 J5

A Precision player, after opening 1´, will rebid 3™ over a 1NT response, whereas a traditional Acol player would regard it as lacking in high-card strength to do this. When the opponents open 1♦, they may have diamonds but they may also have hands unsuitable for anything else. It is usually better to defend by bidding as if it is a normal 1♦ opening. This does not always work but it saves a lot of heartache and discussion. When strong club players have good hands, they open 1® and here you can take advantage. If you sit back and admire their sequence (and, of course,

Page 13

they know their methods) then your opponents can have a lengthy and pretty sequence and alight often in an excellent contract. They have started lower, by opening 1®, than those who play traditional systems and have more room to explore. They can also make bids called ‘asking bids’ to determine things like how good their trump suit is or how many controls they have. They cannot do this so easily if you intervene, so what you can do is disrupt them by being keen to enter the auction. The standard way to defend against a strong club is to bid immediately with a suitable weak hand and wait for the next round with a good hand. Suppose you hold a hand such as this:

´ ™ ♦ ®

K J 10 7 5 43 Q 10 6 5 54

You would overcall 1´, even though you are a bit weak to do this normally. If your partner can raise, your opponents will have a tough time sorting out what to do in the auction. You will be able to imagine how unpleasant a decision they can have:

´ ™ ♦ ®

Q5 KQ85 AJ53 AK6

With this hand, your opponent has opened 1® to show a strong hand; you have bid 1´. When responder doubles to show some values, they know they are close to game; your partner then bids 3´. This gives the opening side a nasty decision. They may double to say that they do not know what to do

Precision

continued

and will find it difficult to get to 3NT when it is right; they may languish at the four level in an uncertain cause if they cannot bid no-trumps. Some players bid naturally against a strong club but others have a conventional defence worked out. A simple one is that a double of 1® shows the majors and a bid of 1NT (not needed to show a strong hand) shows the minors. As Precision players open 1® to show a good hand, they need something to do with opening hands that have at least five clubs and do not qualify for a strong club opening. On these hands, they often open 2®. A typical example might be:

´ ™ ♦ ®

76 KJ95 K7 A Q 10 7 4

If an opponent does this, then it is right to defend the way you would against a natural 1® opening, i.e. you double for take-out. Usually, they respond 2♦ if they want to investigate the possibility of game. 2♦ is a relay asking the opener to describe his hand telling responder whether he has a four-card major and whether he is minimum or maximum. You can double the 2♦ response to show diamonds and enough values that you do not mind if partner competes. If you want to know more, there are endless references on the worldwide web. w w w. u s a b r i d g e . c o m / assets/applets/Precision_Cl ub_Article_One.pdf is an ■ example.

The Diaries of Wendy Wensum Episode 3: Hold Up? – Daylight Robbery! illie and I have settled in comfortably as members at the Riverside, so I felt confident enough to invite my friends, Gail and Chloë, to the club as visitors. Both are beginners and attend local bridge classes. As they arrived at our table, Millie welcomed them by raising her halfempty brandy glass. The first two hands were relatively uneventful, but the next board produced an unexpected twist. I knew that something had gone wrong with the bidding. For a start, Millie was dummy. She was looking distinctly nervous in the role. In my view, that’s because she doesn’t get enough practice at it. The trump suit was also rather dicey. Gail was West and led the ´A. With the king in dummy, prospects for the club slam seemed to have improved significantly. Even so, the chances of success were still slim.

M

´ ™ ♦ ®

Millie KJ83 K954 10 6 965 N W

E S

Wendy ´ Void ™ AJ2 ♦ AKQJ53 ® KQ74

From the beginning, I knew it was going to be my fault. It was I, who after much debate, finally agreed to play these fancy Benjamin two bids. Needless to say, it was Millie who had suggested adopting them. With a good diamond suit and a 20 count, I opened 2®. Millie responded with a 2♦ relay. It seemed to be going so well. At this point, I naturally assumed that, as usual, I would be dummy. That hog instinct within her is difficult to counter. On this occasion though, I was quite wrong. A veil will be drawn over the precise details of the auction. It is sufficient to say that Millie had forgotten the new meaning of the 2® bid and assumed it was artificial and forcing to game. To be fair to Millie, we had agreed the system change in the hostelry after the last bridge night and so a haze engulfs the exact arrangements. In addition, some confusion also arose over the meaning of a 4® bid, which Millie insisted was always Gerber asking for aces. I certainly don’t remember that from our classes, but I digress. After the lead of the ´A, I contemplated the possibility of making my 6® contract; it still seemed remote. For a start, I did not hold the ace, jack or ten of trumps. I ruffed the opening lead in hand, and led a small heart to the king. At this point, I considered ditching my ™J on

Page 14

the ´K, but a spade continuation from defenders later would cause even more havoc. At this moment of crisis, Millie disappeared from the bridge room to have her brandy tankard refilled. From dummy, I led a small club to the king; it held the trick. Now I played a small diamond to the ten on the table followed by low club; East played low; I played the queen, and West the ten. Lo and behold, now another trump from hand crashed the ace and the jack. A heart return from West ensured the contract. For the record, Gail, West held ®A-10-2, and Chloë the ®J-8-3. ‘Why didn’t you take the ®K or ®Q with your ace earlier?’ I enquired of Gail. ‘Well,’ said Gail, ‘as you know, I am going to bridge classes now just like you used to do and last week we were learning about holdup plays, so I thought I would try it out.’ ‘You have learned it very well, dear,’ said Chloë. She sounded kindly enough, but I thought I heard a touch of irony in her voice. ‘Who did you say your tutor was?’ inquired Millie, who had just returned with another brandy, but the director had called the move and Gail and her partner were already on their way to the next table. Millie turned to me. ‘Why didn’t you use my ´K?’ she asked sternly. ‘Should we have bid the Grand?’

No Sin ingle le Supple lements ts on sseelleected I & G ccaabiin ns ssu ubjjeecct ˜ ˜ȱȱŠŠŸ ŸŠŠ’’•Š •Š‹ ‹’’••’ ’¢ ¢ȘȘȘ

Winter Winter 2011/12

—Œ›Ž’‹•ŽȱŒ›ž’œŽȱ˜ěŽ›œȱ›˜–ȱ˜—•¢ȱǡŗǰŝŚş —Œ›Ž’‹•ŽȱŒ›ž’œŽȱ˜ěŽ›œȱ›˜–ȱ˜—•¢ȱǡŗǰŝŚşpppp In Winter 2011-12 Discoveryȱ ’••ȱœŠ’•ȱ˜ȱ‘ŽȱŠ›ȱŠœǰȱ‘Žȱ›’Ž—ȱŠ—ȱžœ›Š•’Šǯȱ‘’œȱŽ¡Œ’’—ȱ™›˜›Š––Žȱ ’—Œ•žŽœȱ–Š’Ž—ȱŒŠ••œȱ’—ȱ¢Š—–Š›ȱǻ˜›–Ž›•¢ȱž›–ŠǼǰȱ‘’—ŠȱŠ—ȱ Š™Š—ǯȱ¡™Ž›’Ž—ŒŽȱœ™’ŒŽȱ‹Š£ŠŠ›œȱŠ—ȱœŠŒ›˜œŠ—Œȱœ’Žœȱ’—ȱ—’ŠȱŠ—ȱ‹ŽȱŽ—Œ‘Š—Žȱ‹¢ ¢ȱ‹ŽŠž’ž•ȱ—˜—Žœ’Š—ȱœ•Š—œȱ˜›ȱŸŽ—ž›Žȱ˜ȱ‘’œ˜›’Œȱœ’Žœȱ’—ȱ¢™ȱŠ—ȱ ‘Žȱ•ŠŒ”ȱŽŠǯȱ’Ž—Š–ȱ˜ěŽ›œȱŒŠ™’ŸŠ’—ȱœŒŽ—Ž›¢ȱŠ—ȱ–Ž–˜›’Žœȱ˜ȱ›ŽŒŽ—ȱ‘’œ˜›¢ǰȱ ‘’•Žȱ–˜Ž›—ȱ•Š—œȱ–ŽŽȱ Š—Œ’Ž—ȱ›Š’’˜—œȱ’—ȱ‘’—ŠȱŠ—ȱ Š™Š—ǯȱ—ȱžœ›Š•’ŠȱȮȱ‘’œȱŸŠœȱŒ˜ž—›¢ȱ˜ěŽŽ›œȱŠȱ ŽŠ•‘ȱ˜ȱ—Šž›Š•ȱ‹ŽŠž¢ȱ Š—ȱ‹žœ•’—ȱŒ’¢ȱ•’Žǯȱ˜˜”ȱ—˜ ȱ˜›ȱ‹ŽœȱŠ›ŽœȱŠ—ȱŒŠ‹’—œȱŠ—ȱœŽŒž›Žȱ¢˜ž›ȱ™•ŠŒŽȱŽŠ›•¢ǯ ••ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ™ŠœœŽ—Ž›œȱ ’••ȱ‹ŽȱŽ•’’‹•Žȱ˜›ȱœŽ–’—Š›œǰȱ›’—”œȱ™Š›’Žœǰȱšž’£ȱŒ˜–™Ž’’˜—œǰȱŠ’•¢ȱ ŽŸŽ—’—ȱ‹›’ŽȱŠŽ›ȱę ꛛœȱœ’Ĵ’—ȱ’——Ž›ȱŠ—ȱ˜ŒŒŠœ’˜—Š•ȱŠŽ›—˜˜—ȱ‹››’ŽȱœŽœœ’˜—œǯȱ‘Žȱ‹››’Žȱ™›˜›Š––Žȱ ’œȱž••¢ȱ˜™’˜—Š•ȱŠ—ȱ¢˜žȱ–Š¢ȱ™Š›’Œ’™ŠŽȱŠœȱ–žŒ‘ȱ˜›ȱŠœȱ•’Ĵ•ŽȱŠœȱ¢˜žȱ ’œ‘ǯȱ›ȱ›’ŽȱŠŒ’ŸŽ•¢ȱŽ—Œ˜ž›ŠŽœȱ œ’—•Žœȱ˜ȱ“˜’—ȱ‘Žȱ™Š›¢ȱŠ—ȱ‘Ž¢ȱ ’••ȱŠ• Š¢œȱ‹Žȱ˜ž—ȱŠȱ™Š›—Ž›ȱ˜›ȱŠȱŠ–Žǯ

DISCOVERY C CLUB LUB MEMBERS SA SAVE AVE A VE AN EXTRA 5% TR RADE ADE RO OUTES UTES tto o BO OMBAY MBAY November 14, 2011 ~ 15 days^ 6DIDJDRYHUQLJKW a-HGGDKa0DVVDZDa6DODODKa0XVFDWa0XPEDLRYHUQLJKW 

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

Fares shown are per person bas based sed on two people sharing lowest inside twin-bedded twin-bedded cabin categor categoryy and include all applicable discounts for new bookings only only.. All offers are subject to availability availability,, cannot be offer,, are capacity controlled and may be withdrawn at any time. Fares correct combined with any other offer or loyalty offer Fares shown include current current fuel supplements cor rect at time of printing, but subject to change. See brochure for full terms partt of the Mr Bridge Group. **No single supplement applies to selected I and G cabins on selected cr cruises, uises, terms and conditions. Only bookings made directly with Mr Bridge are eligible to be par DQGLVVXEMHFWWRDYDLODELOLW\A2QWKHVHFUXLVHVÁLJKWVIURP0DQFKHVWHUDUHDYDLODEOHDQGLQFXUD…SSVXSSOHPHQW…SSHDFKZD\ 9R\DJHVRI'LVFRYHU\LVDWUDGLQJQDPHRI$OO/HLVXUH+ROLGD\V/WG DQGLVVXEMHFWWRDYDLODELOLW\A2QWKHVHFU XLVHVÁLJKWVIURP0DQFKHVWHUDUHDYDLODEOHDQGLQFXUD…SSVXSSOHPHQW…SSHDFKZD\ 9R\DJHVRI'LVFRYHU \LVDWUDGLQJQDPHRI$OO/HLVXUH+ROLGD\V/WG

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, Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH

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

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

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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Page 16

David Stevenson answers your questions on Laws and Ethics

Can I Use a Transfer Bid with Length in the Suit I Bid?

Q

My partner and I play that a 2♦ response to 1NT is usually a transfer to hearts, but could be a weak take out in diamonds as follows: 1NT 2♦* 3♦ 2™ End *transfer

This has caused controversy; some were saying that the sequence is illegal. Simon Smart, Grimsby (same from Dave Bryan).

A

It is legal to play any system of responses to 1NT, and you would be surprised how many people do not think any means any! So, of course, your method is permissible. Although your 2♦ response is legal, you must alert it, not announce it and must never describe it as a transfer. If people ask what 2♦ is, you say something like, ‘hearts, or weak with diamonds, expecting partner to rebid 2™.’

®♦™´

Q

In a league match, the contract was 3♦. I had made six tricks and

three tricks remained. I won trick eleven with the ´A and claimed the last two tricks with my ♦A-9. There was only one diamond still out (the ♦K), so I knew it would drop. My LHO scooped up her cards and agreed. My partner and I both picked up ours and began to shuffle them. RHO had started to put away her cards, so although they were still in order, one could not see which she thought were winners and losers. She said, ‘No, it was one off.’ My partner, my LHO and I all disagreed; I explained that I won both the last two tricks. RHO then began to rant and kept asking ‘So what tricks did you win then?’ aggressively. While I was trying to remember, her partner said, ‘I have all my cards in order; we can check it that way.’ RHO refused to do that and kept on, ‘So what cards etc...’ while giving me no time to reply. Dummy said, ‘Well he made the first trick with …’ only for my RHO to say rudely that dummy has no rights and should be quiet. Eventually, my LHO per-

suaded her partner to go on to the next deal. Name and address supplied.

A

It is always difficult when no director is present. Many leagues provide phone numbers for directors. The EBU has a list of directors on its website and in its diary and the WBU has a list of directors in its Journal. Best when there is a disagreement is to phone a director. Of course, your RHO is out of line. She has no right to harangue you. Dummy has a perfect right to speak once there is a claim because the hand is finished. If a director had been present, he would probably have penalised RHO for her behaviour. He would certainly have shut her up, listened to the other three players, looked at the cards of anyone who had not shuffled their cards and, based on the information you have provided, no doubt ruled in your favour.

®♦™´

Q

I had 15 HCP in a 4333 distribution. Downgrading because of the poor shape, I opened

Page 17

1NT, which my partner announced as 12-14. Was my action reasonable in a club duplicate? Steve Bailey by email (similar from Harry Crisp, Poulton le Fylde).

A

It is legal to evaluate your hand using more than just points. So, if you upgrade an eleven count, perhaps because of a good five-card suit or lots of tens, or if you decide to downgrade a fifteen count, because it is 4333 (as you did) that is perfectly legal. You are, in both cases, saying that, in your view, it is a balanced hand that is worth twelve to fourteen points. This applies in anything from a novice club to international matches. Note, however, that if you have an agreement to open 1NT whenever you have 15 points and a 4333 shape, then you should announce ’12 to a poor 15’.

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

North, declarer, led a spade. East followed. Declarer instructed South to throw away a singleton diamond. She just sat there and did nothing until he said, ‘Ah, trump please.’ I (West) would have won the trick but for the ruff. Mrs Eileen Fox by email (similar from F Davis, Merseyside).

A

Dummy should not participate in the play, especially not to make suggestions to declarer. What dummy did on this occasion is illegal and very naughty indeed. If I had been the director and you had called me, I would have made sure that dummy played the singleton, not the trump. I would also have warned dummy that any repeat of making suggestions about the hand to declarer would result in a procedural penalty.

®♦™´

Q

As declarer, I conceded a trick to the queen of diamonds and claimed the rest. Had I played on, the queen of diamonds would have fallen under my ace, making my ten of diamonds good. Should my concession have stood? Chris Pryce, Cowes, Isle of Wight.

A

The Law says a concession is void if there is no normal play to lose a trick. It certainly does not mean ‘it is impossible to lose a trick’; otherwise,

it would say so. Whether it counts as normal to lose to the queen of diamonds when it would have dropped under the ace depends on the full deal, the play to date and so on. This is a judgement decision for the director.

®♦™´

Q

After dummy goes down, who should touch dummy’s cards – declarer or dummy? Mrs R A Hockenhull, Hertford.

A

You do not say whether your social bridge group plays rubber bridge or duplicate bridge – and it makes a big difference. If it is rubber bridge, it is normal for declarer to play dummy’s cards herself by reaching across. However, it is legal for her to name the card and dummy actually to move it. If it is duplicate bridge, then the correct way to play is for declarer to name the card, dummy to move it and declarer never to touch dummy’s cards. There are obvious exceptions, such as if dummy has gone off to make a cup of tea, or if dummy has a medical problem that makes it difficult.

®♦™´

Q

I was defending 4´ doubled, having bid diamonds. My partner led a diamond. I won and led a second diamond, ruffed low by declarer. Declarer drew one round of trumps and played a club, which I won. I played a third diamond, declarer ruffed and my

partner overruffed. Play continued and my partner later discarded a diamond on a club; nobody noticed the revoke except me. Do I have to disclose the revoke if the opponents do not notice? William Parkinson by email.

A

There is no requirement for any player to point out an established revoke by himself or his partner. Neither the Laws nor the general ethics of the game require it. Having said that, many players would think this wrong. There is what I call personal ethics, similar to what some call active ethics, which are a player's own view of what to do over and above what the Laws require. Thus, many players will always point out revokes by themselves or their partners, even though it is not required. Note that other people's level of personal ethics may differ from yours and you cannot require them to follow yours. Therefore, even if you point out your own revokes, you have no recourse because another player does not.

®♦™´

Q

After East/West lose a trick, East puts his card down in the wrong direction, indicating that East/West won the trick. West notices this before anyone leads to the next trick. Can West point the error out to East? Ian De’Ath by email.

A

A player may tell his partner he has a trick the wrong way but only until the next trick starts. After that, declarer

Page 18

may tell someone else but nobody else may. This is a change in the last law book: previously players could not tell their partners.

®♦™´

Q

Playing a weak no-trump (12-14) and needing 40 points for rubber, my RHO opened 1NT in third seat and played there. On the first four tricks, my RHO produced the ace and king in the two majors. I assumed my partner had the rest of the high cards and defended accordingly. RHO made nine tricks, holding 20 points. Was his opening justified? Roger Gorvin, Macclesfield, Cheshire.

A

Certainly – you tell partner your points so that you can bid efficiently to game or slam. When a slam is unlikely and game is only 40 points, you want to open 1NT as much as possible.

®♦™´

Q

Are there any rules regarding the way that you should deal the cards? Gerry Horton, Birkdale, Southport.

A

At duplicate, you deal boards before the start. Any form of dealing is permissible as long as consecutive cards dealt do not go into the same hand. The traditional method of dealing clockwise is recommended but not mandatory. At rubber bridge, the traditional method of dealing clockwise starting with the player to dealer's left is mandatory.

Ask David

continued

Q

I opened 1´, the person on my left passed and my partner doubled. Is this legal? Jan Hollingdale, Edinburgh (similar from David Rose, Brighton).

A

You can double only your opponents’ bids, never a bid by your

partner.

®♦™´

Q

If a table is small, may one move the board to one side if the majority of the players agree? W D Cleland, Heswall, Wirral.

A

The Laws say the board must remain in the centre of the table. In real life, people have always been somewhat lax in following this and moving it to a side of the table, or even under a bidding box. It does not matter so long as you neither remove it from the table nor rotate it. However, any player who insists that it remains in the centre has that right.

®♦™´

Q

In rubber bridge, if you are already 40 below, bid 2´ and make an overtrick, is it acceptable to put 90 below the line instead of 60 below the line and 30 above? Valerie Fryer by email.

A

Yes, it is perfectly normal to do so and gets you to the correct result.

Q

In third seat, I opened 1® with 8 points, ®A-K-Jx-x in a 1-3-4-5 shape. I made the bid thinking that I would want a club lead against West’s possible spade contract. My opponents maintained that my bid was a ‘psyche’ subject to club rules, whilst I maintain that if I have my suit it is a light opener and not a psyche. Ken Davies, Purley.

A

Since psyches are legal, it is not entirely clear what difference it makes. I do not know what ‘club rules’ means, but a club cannot ban psyches. If your system is to allow this opening then it is a light opening, but you must disclose this. For example, it is legal to write on your System Card (Convention Card) ‘third-in-hand openers may be light’ and then it is part of your system and always legal. If, however, it is not part of your agreed system, it is either a Deviation or a Psyche, dependent on whether the misstatement of honour strength is ‘gross’. Generally, 1345 hands need 11 points to open: three points short is gross, just about, so yes, I would call it a psyche.

®♦™´

Q

Can I respond 2® to 1NT and say ‘not Stayman’? Mrs C I Price, Godstone, Surrey.

A

response to 1NT you say ‘Stayman’ if it is Stayman, you alert if it is any other convention and you do neither if it is natural.

®♦™´

Q

Please point me to some documents that give guidance on: shuffling cards before putting them back in the board; discouraging people from saying ‘Run a suit’; alerting calls above 3NT. Adam Macleod, Gosport.

A

It is a matter of law that players must shuffle their cards before putting them back in the board. This you can see in the Law book, Law 7C, downloadable from the EBU website. Discouragement for saying ‘Run the clubs’ you can see in the EBU White book, paragraph #46.2, downloadable from the EBU website. This cites the WBFLC minute, downloadable from the WBF website. The details of alerting you can see in the EBU Orange book, chapter 5, downloadable from the EBU website.

®♦™´

Q

The bidding went as follows:

West North East South Pass 2NT Pass 3®*

When you make a bid, you do not say anything because it passes information illegally to partner. If your partner bids 2® in

I asked what type of Stayman 3® was. North said it was five-card Puppet Stayman. As soon as I passed, South said

Page 19

that if I was not going to bid, I should not have asked for info at that point. Was this correct? Michael Kaye, Kintbury, Berks.

A

It is legal for you to ask questions. It is not legal for an opponent to give rulings at the table, which is what he is doing, in effect. In general, the authorities do not recommended you to ask questions, unless you are interested in bidding in the auction. At the end of the auction, when it is your turn to lead, you can ask as many questions as you like.

®♦™´

Q

It seems odd that I announce ordinary transfers (e.g. 1NT-pass2♦) but I do nothing if partner makes a Texas transfer (e.g. 1NT-pass4♦). Why is this so? Jim Greer, Streatham.

A

When the EBU introduced announcements, it felt that keeping the number of them small and then perhaps increasing them if they proved popular, was much safer than making them apply in many positions and then perhaps trying to reduce the number. As for not alerting them at the four level, I think there is a feeling that the EBU made a mistake and that alerts should apply above 3NT on the first round only. However, people do not want regulations amended between n major reviews.

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

PROGRAMME

2011 BRIDGE WEEKENDS

This is the format for all Bernard Magee hosted events.

FRIDAY

with Bernard Magee

1500

JUNE

Welcome Desk open Afternoon Tea 1745 to 1830 Welcome drinks reception 1830 to 2000 DINNER 2015 BRIDGE 1 DUPLICATE PAIRS

3-5

Blunsdon House Hotel Declarer Play

10 - 12 24 - 26

The Beach Hotel Better Defence

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

£245

SEPTEMBER 30 - 2 Oct

The Olde Barn Hotel Finding Slams

NEW SEMINAR

1000 to 1230 SEMINAR & SUPERVISED PLAY of SET HANDS (tea & coffee at 1100) 1230 to 1330 COLD BUFFET LUNCH

£245

The Beach Hotel £245 Further into the Auction

SATURDAY 0800 to 0930 BREAKFAST

The Beach Hotel Worthing BN11 3QJ

£235

OCTOBER 7-9

14 - 16

Blunsdon House Hotel Stayman and Transfers with Improver Section

£245

Chatsworth Hotel £245 laying Suit Combinations

NEW SEMINAR

21 - 23

Denham Grove Game Tries

1815 to 2000 DINNER

£245

4-6

Inn on the Prom Hand Evaluation

£235

SUNDAY

11 - 13

Blunsdon House Hotel Suit Establishment

£245

Chatsworth Hotel Finding Slams

£245

Denham Grove Squeezes

£245

0800 to 0930 BREAKFAST

1230 to 1400 CARVERY LUNCH 1400 to 1645 BRIDGE 4 FURTHER SUPERVISED PLAY of SET HANDS or DUPLICATE PAIRS

Blunsdon House Hotel Swindon SN26 7AS

NOVEMBER

2015 BRIDGE 3 DUPLICATE PAIRS

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

The Olde Barn Hotel Marston, Lincs NG32 2HT

18 - 20 25 - 27

NEW SEMINAR

NEW SEMINAR

Chatsworth Hotel Worthing BN11 3DU

Full Board No Single Supplement See booking form on page 16 Inn on the Prom St Annes-on-Sea FY8 1LU

Page 20

Bernard Magee’s Bidding Quiz

2012 BRIDGE WEEKENDS with Bernard Magee Denham Grove Near Uxbridge UB9 5DU

JANUARY 6-8

Chatsworth Hotel Leads and Defence

£245

MARCH 23 - 25

NEW SEMINAR

Chatsworth Hotel Squeezes

30 - 1 Apr NEW Blunsdon House Hotel SEMINAR Finding Slams

£245 £245

20 - 22

The Olde Barn Hotel Squeezes

£245

27 - 29

Inn on the Prom Losing Trick Count

£245

JUNE 8 - 10

NEW SEMINAR

Blunsdon House Hotel £245 Playing Suit Combinations

15 - 17

Chatsworth Hotel Doubles

The Beach Hotel Worthing BN11 3QJ

£245

Denham Grove Splinters & Cue-bids

Chatsworth Hotel Signals and Discards

£245

2-4 16 - 18 23 - 25

NEW Blunsdon House Hotel SEMINAR Squeezes

NEW SEMINAR

North

East

South

Pass

1™ 1NT

Pass Pass

3. Dealer East. Love All. ´ AKJ5 N ™ 2 W E ♦ A9876 S ® KQ2

North

East

South

3™

Pass

£245

4. Dealer West. Love All. ´ AK842 N ™ A76 W E ♦ 65 S ® Q32

£245

See booking form on page 16

Page 21

West

?

Denham Grove £245 Playing Suit Combinations Chatsworth Hotel Endplay & Avoidance

Pass

£245

NEW SEMINAR

30 - 2 Dec

The Olde Barn Hotel Marston, Lincs NG32 2HT

Chatsworth Hotel Finding Slams

South

1♦

2. Dealer East. Game All. ´ K7654 ™ A42 N ♦ 852 E W ® 87 S

West

NOVEMBER Denham Grove Near Uxbridge UB9 5DU

East

£245

12 - 14 Blunsdon House Hotel £245 Landy Defence to 1NT & Responses 19 - 21

North

?

1´ ?

OCTOBER 5-7

1. Dealer East. Love All. ´ A76 ™ K94 N W E ♦ A875 S ® A52

West

APRIL Blunsdon House Hotel Swindon SN26 7AS

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

West

North

East

South

1´

1NT

2♦

Pass

?

Answers to Bernard Magee’s Bidding Quiz on page 21 ´ ™ ♦ ®

1. Dealer East. Love All. A76 ´ K2 N K94 ™ AQ6 E W A875 ♦ KQ96432 S A52 ® 3

West

North

East 1♦

South Pass

?

2®. Hands with support for a minor are not always easy to bid because you will often want to play in no-trumps rather than the minor. With no four-card suit other than diamonds, you are a little stuck – a raise to 3♦ would not be forcing – nor should you leap in no-trumps for that will not help your side have a good conversation. Sometimes, the best tactic is to make up a bid so that you can hear your partner’s second bid. Whenever you contemplate telling a lie, make sure it is a minor lie – bid clubs rather than one of the majors because your partner is less likely to get excited about your bid. Over 2®, your partner jumps to 3♦ and now you can think about a slam: you start by agreeing the suit with 4♦ and then East might use Blackwood. While finding 7NT might not be easy, at least you will find a slam.

´ ™ ♦ ®

2. Dealer East. Game All. K7654 ´ A2 N A42 ™ KQJ6 W E 852 ♦ J763 S 87 ® A 10 5

West

North

1´ ?

Pass

East 1™ 1NT

South Pass Pass

2™. You have two decisions to make: the level and the denomination. With 7 HCP, you should stay in a partscore – your five-card suit is poor and there are no tens and nines, so you should certainly not push too high. The denomination is not such an easy decision: with such a weak hand, you would prefer to play in hearts or spades and this is what you should put across to your partner. Any bid at the two-level is weak and non-forcing. 2™ is the right bid: it shows only three hearts because you did not support right away and it gives East the choice between hearts and spades. On this occasion, East will pass 2™. Although your side has only a 7-card fit, it is not a surprise to find that partner can make an extra trick in hearts rather than no-trumps because he can ruff a club in your hand. 1NT makes seven tricks, whilst 2™ makes eight.

´ ™ ♦ ®

3. Dealer East. Love All. AKJ5 ´ 43 N 2 ™ AK98753 W E A9876 ♦ 4 S KQ2 ® 653

West

North

East 3™

?

South Pass

4™. Your partner’s 3™ shows a weak hand with a seven-card heart suit. As a rule, when you respond to a pre-empt without good support, you need 16+ HCP to go for game. You have the required strength for game, so you should go for it. However, make sure you choose the right game: most of your partner’s hearts are likely to be useless in 3NT; you will not be able to reach them. Instead, you should raise to 4™: after all, you do have an eight-card fit!

´ ™ ♦ ®

4. Dealer West. Love All. AK842 ´ 7 N A76 ™ 982 E W 65 ♦ Q J 10 9 8 4 S Q32 ® K65

West 1´ ?

North 1NT

East 2♦

South Pass

Pass. You need to start by working out what your partner’s bid means. Notrump bids by either side change the nature of an auction: if East has 9+ points, he should make a penalty double of North’s 1NT. This means that East must have a weak hand with long diamonds: probably 6-8 points and six diamonds. He is bidding it to compete for the partscore – rather than letting North play in 1NT, he thinks he might make 2♦ – you must pass. 2♦ makes for +90, whilst North may well make 8 tricks in notrumps for -120 – a worthwhile n difference.

BEGIN BRIDGE – ACOL VERSION An Interactive Tutorial with Bernard Magee Learn to play bridge from the very beginning with Britain’s best-known teacher

£66

See Mail Order form on page 7

System Requirements: Windows XP, Vista or 7, 8mb RAM, CD-ROM

Page 22

DEFENCE QUIZ

Subscribe TODAY and save over 28% on the full cover price!

12 issues for £29.99!

by Julian Pottage (Answers overleaf) ou are East in the defensive positions below. It is your turn to play. Both sides are using Acol with a 12-14 1NT.

Y

1. ´ ™ ♦ ®

W

Q3 K3 J98765 Q73 ´ 84 N ™ 98765 E ♦ 2 S ® A J 10 9 2

3. ´ ™ ♦ ®

W

KJ93 K8 Q 10 9 7 6 K5 ´ N ™ E ♦ S ®

West North East South 1♦ 1´ 3♦* Pass 3NT End *pre-emptive

West North East South 1♦ Pass 1´ Pass 2´ Pass 4´ End

West leads the ´J, the ´Q wins and you play the ´8. Declarer plays a diamond to the ♦K and a second round to partner’s ♦A. What do you discard?

West leads the ♦3, covered by the ♦10, ♦J and ♦A. Declarer plays a trump to the ´K and a second round. What do you discard?

2. ´ ™ ♦ ®

4. ´ ™ ♦ ®

W

Q3 K3 J98765 Q73 ´ 84 N ™ AQ95 E ♦ 2 S ® 10 9 8 6 4 2

SAVER OVE

4 10 9 3 2 KJ2 A 10 9 4 2

28%

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K953 872 AQJ7 10 8 N

W

E S

´ ™ ♦ ®

4 K963 9542 Q542

West North East South 1♦ 1´ 3♦* Pass 3NT End *pre-emptive

West North East South 1´ Pass 3´ Pass 4´ End

West leads the ´J, the ´Q wins and you play the ´8. Declarer plays a diamond to the ♦K and a second round to partner’s ♦A. What do you discard?

West leads the ®6; your ®Q loses to the ®A. Declarer plays on trumps – the ´Q, which holds – and another spade to partner’s ´A. What do you discard?

WORTH £39.99

*Calls from a BT landline cost 9p per minute. Calls from other providers may vary. This offer is available in the UK only.

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Page 23

Answers to Julian Pottage’s Defence Quiz on page 23 1.

´ ™ ♦ ®

´ ™ ♦ ® J 10 9 7 6 2 J 10 4 A4 K5 ´ ™ ♦ ®

Q3 K3 J98765 Q73 N E

W S

´ ™ ♦ ®

84 98765 2 A J 10 9 2

AK5 AQ2 K Q 10 3 864

West

North

East

1´ End

3♦*

Pass *pre-emptive

South 1♦ 3NT

West leads the the jack of spades, the queen wins and you play the eight. Declarer plays a diamond to the king and a second round to partner’s ace. What do you discard? Since cutting communications is not an issue, you can guess why partner has held up the ace of diamonds: to obtain a signal from you. To oblige, you should discard the jack of clubs – any honour discard shows a sequence, usually an interior sequence. Without such a clear signal, you may struggle to convince partner to switch from a holding like K-x. Although you risk blowing a second undertrick, this is unimportant at teams or rubber bridge.

2.

´ ™ ♦ ®

´ Q3 ™ K3 ♦ J98765 ® Q73 J 10 9 7 6 2 N J 10 4 W E A4 S K5 ´ AK5 ™ 8762 ♦ K Q 10 3 ® AJ

West

North

East

1´ End

3♦*

Pass *pre-emptive

West leads the jack of spades, the queen wins and you play the eight. Declarer plays a diamond to the king and one to partner’s ace. What do you discard? Much is as on the previous deal. This time you want to signal for a heart. For sure, you could ask for one with the nine. This will work if the initial lead is from A-J-10-x-x-x and partner wants to put you in to play a spade through the king. Unfortunately, you might need all your hearts if, as is the case, you need to run the suit to beat the contract. You should discard instead the two of clubs, clearly a discouraging card. By a process of elimination, partner should work out that you want hearts, if anything. After a switch to the jack of hearts, covered by the king and ace, you trust partner to hold the ten of hearts and lead a low heart next. This avoids blocking the suit and allows you to run four heart tricks. You could also make four heart tricks if partner had four hearts, even without the ten – though the switch would then be to a low heart rather than the jack.

´ ™ ♦ ®

3.

´ ™ ♦ ® ´ ™ ♦ ®

South 1♦ 3NT

A72 J7654 3 J873

N W

West Pass End

E S

´ ™ ♦ ®

84 AQ95 2 10 9 8 6 4 2

KJ93 K8 Q 10 9 7 6 K5 ´ ™ ♦ ®

4 10 9 3 2 KJ2 A 10 9 4 2

Q 10 8 6 5 AQ A854 Q6

North 1♦ 2´

East Pass Pass

Page 24

South 1´ 4´

West leads the three of diamonds, covered by the ten, jack and ace. Declarer plays a trump to the king and a second round. What do you discard? You should place partner with the trump ace: a lead of dummy’s suit, even from a singleton, is unattractive without a trump entry. So you want to get in to deliver a diamond ruff. You have a choice. You could discourage hearts with the two and hope partner works out the position. Clearer and thus better is to discard the ten of clubs. Your partner is much more likely to take note of a high card.

´ ™ ♦ ®

4.

´ ™ ♦ ®

A72 AJ4 86 J9763

K953 872 AQJ7 10 8 N W

E S

´ ™ ♦ ®

´ ™ ♦ ®

4 K963 9542 Q542

Q J 10 8 6 Q 10 5 K 10 3 AK

West

North

East

Pass End

3´

Pass

South 1´ 4´

West leads the six of clubs; your queen loses to the ace. Declarer plays on trumps – the queen, which holds – and another to partner’s ace. What do you discard? As declarer may intend to throw a heart on the diamonds, you must signal for hearts. As you hold the king and dummy no hearts of value, it is very unlikely that a heart switch could cost. You discard the nine of hearts. Trusting you to hold the king (you would not have asked for a heart if holding the queen or worse), partner switches to the four of hearts. You win with the king and continue the suit, picking up South’s queen. Three heart tricks and a trump enable you to beat the game. n

DECLARER PLAY QUIZ

Christmas & New Year 2011

by David Huggett (Answers overleaf) ou are South as declarer playing teams or rubber bridge. In each case, what is your play strategy?

Y 1.

´ ™ ♦ ®

Q97 Q82 J87532 A

3.

´ ™ ♦ ®

A94 A65 KQJ976 A

N W

N E

W

´ ™ ♦ ®

S

´ ™ ♦ ®

´ ™ ♦ ®

AK K763 A 10 6 4 J95

You are declarer in 5♦ and West leads the ´J. How do you plan the play?

2.

73 6 A Q J 10 5 4 A964

4.

´ ™ ♦ ®

Near Uxbridge, UB9 5DU 24-27 December £355 Just Bridge & Any Questions Jo Walch 27-29 December £199 Suit Establishment Alex Davoud

K2 AQ9852 A98 93

29 Dec – 1 Jan £355 Develop at Duplicate Pairs Crombie McNeil

N E

W

K5 A74 K93 Q J 10 8 3

You are declarer in 5® and West leads the ™Q. How do you plan the play?

E S

S

´ ™ ♦ ®

KQ8765 32 A 10 973

You are declarer in 7´ and West leads the ®K. How do you plan the play?

N W

Denham Grove

E

S

´ ™ ♦ ®

1-3 Jan 2012 £199 Sacrificing – Crombie McNeil

A764 Void K Q 10 5 Q J 10 8 7

( 01483 489961

You are declarer in 3NT and West leads the ´5. How do you plan the play?

e-mail: [email protected] website: www.holidaybridge.com Please call if you would like a sample copy of the programme

Page 25

Answers to David Huggett’s Play Quiz on page 25 ´ ™ ♦ ®

1.

´ ™ ♦ ®

J 10 8 6 3 10 9 5 9 K 10 8 7

N W

E S

´ ™ ♦ ®

You are declarer in 5® and West leads the ™Q. How do you plan the play?

Q97 Q82 J87532 A ´ ™ ♦ ®

542 AJ4 KQ Q6432

AK K763 A 10 6 4 J95

You are declarer in 5♦ and West leads the ´J. How do you plan the play? Assuming you have only one trump loser, it looks as if you have two losers in hearts unless you can find one opponent with a doubleton ace, when you can play up to an honour and duck a second round. There is a better line. Win the spade, cash the ace of diamonds and the ace of clubs before returning to hand with a spade. Ruff a club and discard the remaining club on the spade queen. Now give up a diamond. If the defender winning this has the ace of hearts, he will have no safe exit. He will either have to give you a ruff and discard in a black suit – enabling you to throw away a heart – or give you two heart tricks, by either leading the ace or leading away from it.

2.

´ ™ ♦ ®

´ ™ ♦ ®

73 6 A Q J 10 5 4 A964 AJ8 ´ N Q J 10 5 3 ™ W E 72 ♦ S 752 ® ´ K5 ™ A74 ♦ K93 ® Q J 10 8 3

Maybe you are regretting not being in a small slam, for if the club finesse is right there are twelve easy tricks available, or thirteen if they do not cash the ace of spades. Since you are in game, you have to be careful and assume the worst-case scenario. If the club finesse loses and a spade comes back, you are in danger of losing three tricks, so you must turn your attention to that possibility. Of course, if the trump finesse is right you do not have to take it because the king of spades is safe from attack if you lose the lead to West. Instead, play a club to the ace at trick two and, if the king has not appeared, just play another. As it happens your forethought will drop the singleton king offside – to the annoyance of the defenders.

3.

´ ™ ♦ ®

´ ™ ♦ ®

Void KJ94 852 K Q 10 8 5 2 ´ ™ ♦ ®

N E S

´ ™ ♦ ®

J 10 3 2 Q 10 8 7 43 J64

KQ8765 32 A 10 973

You are declarer in 7´ and West leads the ®K. How do you plan the play? Q 10 9 6 4 2 K982 86 K

Grand slams are always difficult to bid and you have to make sure that you give the problem the attention that it merits. Here, it would be too easy to think that there are about fourteen tricks ‘on top’ and consequently nothing to worry about; it is at times like these that you have to be extra careful. The only thing

Page 26

So, at trick two, play the ace of spades and, if West shows out, continue with the nine of spades. East will undoubtedly play the ten but you can win, re-enter dummy with a heart and take the marked finesse against the jack.

´ ™ ♦ ®

4.

´ ™ ♦ ®

Q 10 8 5 3 43 62 K642

K2 AQ9852 A98 93 N W

E S

´ ™ ♦ ®

A94 A65 KQJ976 A

W

that can go wrong is if you run into a bad trump break. Although you can do nothing about that if West has all the missing trumps, you certainly can if East has them.

´ ™ ♦ ®

J9 K J 10 7 6 J743 A5

A764 Void K Q 10 5 Q J 10 8 7

You are declarer in 3NT and West leads the ´5. How do you plan the play? You know from the Rule of Eleven that East has at least two spades but, with the suit well guarded, it might seem right to win the opening lead in dummy. You plan to play on clubs, aiming to win two spades, one heart, three diamonds and three clubs. Stop to see what will happen if you do. An alert East will win the first club and return his remaining spade. Then, whether you duck or not, West will clear the suit and have enough winners to defeat you when he wins the king of clubs. So simply duck the first lead and the defenders’ communications will be cut! The hold-up play is easy to recognise when you have only one stopper in the suit led, less so when you have two. n

Tutorial Bridge Breaks NOVEMBER 2011 18-20 £199 18-20 £199

Ardington Hotel Worthing BN11 3DZ

Staverton Park Stayman & Transfers Improvers Stan Powell

25-27 The Ardington £215 Take-out Doubles Improvers Crombie McNeil

JUNE 2011 3-5 £215

The Olde Barn Endplay & Avoidance Crombie McNeil

The Beach Hotel Endplay & Avoidance Crombie McNeil

10-12 £199

The Olde Barn Hand Evaluation Ray Hutchinson

17-19 £215

The Beach Hotel Sacrificing Alex Davoud

14-16 £215

The Ardington Losing Trick Count Sandy Bell

14-16 £199

The Olde Barn Sacrificing Gary Conrad

MARCH 2012 9-11 £245

863 J62 Q432 K53

West

North

East

South

Pass End

2´

Pass

1´ 4´

2 ´ ™ ♦ ®

2 5432 Q743 K843

West

North

East

South

Pass End

2´

Pass

1´ 4´

3 ´ ™ ♦ ®

KQJ 5 K865 J6432

West

North

East

South

Pass End

2´

Pass

1´ 4´

4 ´ ™ ♦ ®

Q 10 8 3 K87 743 QJ9

West

North

East

South

Pass End

1´

Pass

1™ 2♦

N W

E S

Blunsdon House Hotel Signals and Discards TBA

N E

W S

APRIL 2012 DECEMBER 2011 2-4 £215

13-15 £245

The Ardington Game Tries Ned Paul

The Ardington Declarer Play Sandy Bell

27-29 £245

Blunsdon House Hotel Game Tries TBA

NOVEMBER 2012 9-11 £245

Blunsdon House Hotel Suit Establishment Ned Paul

20-22 The Ardington £245 Further into the Auction Alex Davoud

FEBRUARY 2012 10-12 £245 The Olde Barn Hotel Marston, Lincs NG32 2HT

1 ´ ™ ♦ ®

FEBRUARY continued 24-26 The Ardington £245 Suit Establishment Gary Conrad

JANUARY 2012

28-30 Staverton Park £199 Better Defence Alex Davoud

You are West in the auctions below. It is your lead. (Answers overleaf.)

The Beach Hotel Worthing BN11 3QJ

Staverton Park Nr Daventry NN11 6JT

OCTOBER 2011

Andrew Kambites’ Lead Quiz

The Ardington Take-out Doubles Improvers Alex Davoud

N W

E S

N W

E S

Blunsdon House Hotel Swindon SN26 7AS

See booking form on page 16.

Page 27

Answers to Andrew Kambites’ Lead Quiz on page 27 ´ ™ ♦ ®

1.

´ ™ ♦ ®

863 J62 Q432 K53

7542 Q74 A98 642 N W

E S

´ ™ ♦ ®

´ ™ ♦ ®

A K9853 J7 J 10 9 8 7

K Q J 10 9 A 10 K 10 6 5 AQ

West

North

East

Pass End

2´

Pass

South 1´ 4´

Leading away from isolated honours often costs a trick. That is not to say you should never do it, but this auction has revealed no threatening side suits for declarer, so there is no indication that declarer can discard losers from one suit on another suit. Lead the three of trumps. Your main objective is to be passive, though, occasionally, repeated trump leads may prevent declarer from ruffing losers in the short hand or cross ruffing.

West

North

East

Pass End

2´

Pass

Leading a trump from three small cards in the suit is as safe as you can get. Leading a singleton trump is not safe, as is demonstrated here. Left to his own devices declarer is likely to play for the queen of spades to drop, following the guideline, ‘Eight ever, nine never’. After a trump lead, he cannot go wrong. The safe lead is the four of hearts. On passive subsequent defence, declarer is likely to lose a trump, two diamonds and a club. You might like to look at the diamond suit. Whichever side is first to play it gives a trick away, so it is in the best interest of the defence to leave it to declarer. This is called a frozen suit.

´ ™ ♦ ®

3.

´ ™ ♦ ®

KQJ 5 K865 J6432

On this deal, declarer has one loser in each suit. If West leads any suit apart from trumps, the loser disappears in that suit. On a trump lead, East takes the ace and returns the jack of clubs. The defence prevails as long as it is passive.

´ ™ ♦ ®

2.

´ ™ ♦ ®

2 5432 Q743 K843

J983 AKJ 10 5 2 652 N W

E S

´ ™ ♦ ®

A K 10 7 6 Q 10 9 AJ6 AQ

´ ™ ♦ ®

Q54 876 K98 J 10 9 7

South 1´ 4´

´ ™ ♦ ®

4.

´ ™ ♦ ®

Q 10 8 3 K87 743 QJ9

W

E S

´ ™ ♦ ®

8 J 10 7 6 J 10 7 3 2 Q87

A 10 9 6 3 KQ98 AQ K9

West

North

East

Pass End

2´

Pass

South 1´ 4´

Bridge players love leading singletons against a suit contract. This is understandable because it is very pleasing to be able to use a small trump to ruff one of declarer’s winners. Unfortunately, if the singleton lead does not work, it often costs a trick. Suppose West leads the five of hearts, East plays the ten and declarer wins with the queen. Later on, declarer wins a trick with dummy’s ace of hearts Page 28

K9654 4 10 8 6 K763 ´ ™ ♦ ®

N W

E S

´ ™ ♦ ®

7542 A432 94 A 10 5 N

´ ™ ♦ ®

and has a marked finesse against East’s jack of hearts when West shows out. I know you can ruff in, but it does not help you because your trumps will take tricks anyway. Left to his own devices, declarer would surely hope the heart suit broke 3-2, leaving him with a fourth round heart loser. Is this unlucky? Look at your trumps. You do not particularly want a heart ruff. Your trumps are too good! Lead the king of spades, passive and with the possibility of cutting down ruffs.

AJ J 10 9 5 AK2 8542

72 AQ632 QJ95 A 10

West

North

East

Pass End

1´

Pass

South 1™ 2♦

Leading the queen of clubs looks attractive but this auction cries aloud for a trump lead. South has shown at least five hearts and at least four diamonds. Much of the time North, if weak, will give preference to 2™ rather than pass 2♦. Even if North has three diamonds and only two hearts it is often correct to retreat to 2™: a 5-2 heart fit will probably play better than the 4-3 diamond fit. The most likely reason for North to pass 2♦ is that he has only one heart, in which case you should be aiming to prevent heart ruffs in dummy. Lead the three of diamonds. Partner will play three rounds of trumps, leaving declarer with lots of heart losers and short of tricks. Hint: consider leading a trump if the bidding suggests that dummy has a side-suit n singleton.

A to Z of Bridge compiled by Julian Pottage

C

other words, with four hearts and five clubs, you open 1™ rather than 1®. The style, the brainchild of Pierre Albarran in France, has influenced Italian bidding theory. It features in the Neapolitan Club, Blue Club and Roman systems.

CAB

An old-fashioned natural system of bidding, with similarities to Acol, particular features of which are aceshowing responses to the 2® opener and Blackwood. CAB stands for Two Clubs, Ace responses and Blackwood.

CANSINO CONVENTION

A little used defence to a 1NT opening bid where an overcall of 2® shows clubs and two other suits, and a 2♦ overcall shows both majors. CAPTAINCY

CADDY

An assistant who collects score cards at a large tournament. The use of Bridgemate and similar scoring devices means that caddies are now rare. CALCUTTA

An unusual type of duplicate tournament that makes possible a fairsized financial gain to any player or other participant. After the entries close, an auction takes place at which players and spectators bid to place bets on contesting pairs. The money bet goes into a pool and is later distributed among the purchasers of the winning pair.

1 The captain of a team: his responsibilities include scoring, selecting line-ups, arranging the match venue (for private matches) etc. 2 When one member of a partnership has made a limit bid, the other takes the ‘captaincy’ and usually selects the contract. If someone makes an asking bid, the asker takes the ‘captaincy’ and usually determines the contract.

West must have the ♦Q (or East would have played the card, the lower of touching honours in third seat, rather than the ♦K) and East surely holds the ♦J (or West would have led the ♦Q rather than fourth best). West therefore started with Q-x-x-x and East with K-J-x-x-x. The information that East has 4 points in diamonds to West’s 2 may then help you to place cards in another suit. CARRY-FORWARD OR CARRY-OVER SCORE

When an event takes place over more than one session, the ‘carry-forward’ score is that part of the score carried over from a previous session. If the participants are the same in each session, a full carry-forward is normal. However, if the earlier session was a qualifying session, with a reduced field in the subsequent session, the carryover may be some fraction or subset of the full score. CARVE

CARD READING

The determination of the distribution of the unseen hands and the location of the missing high cards by logical deduction from the bidding and play.

Slang term meaning to misplay. ‘Butcher’ and ‘Play Misère’ are similar terms. CASH

To lead a winning card or cards. CALL

Any bid, double, redouble or pass. CAMROSE TROPHY

Annual tournament contested by the open teams of England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland under the auspices of Bridge Great Britain. The tournament takes place over two weekends early in the year and you can watch all the action at Bridge Base Online. CANAPÉ

A bidding style in which, with two suits, one bids the shorter suit first. In

♦ 86 N W

E S

♦ A5

Suppose you are playing in a spade contract after East has bid diamonds and West has supported. West leads the ♦2 and East plays the ♦K. From the bidding and the size of the spot card led, you place West with four diamonds and East with five. You can also place the picture cards in the suit.

Page 29

CASH OUT

To take a series of tricks by leading winning cards. The term usually applies to the situation when a player realizes that he is on lead for the last time and takes all the tricks that he can. CHANGE OF SUIT

The bid of a different suit e.g. 1™-Pass2♦. CHEAPEST BID

The most economical bid available to a player e.g. if the auction is up to 2´, the cheapest bid is 2NT.

A to Z of Bridge continued

CHINESE FINESSE

CLEAR A SUIT

A deceptive play attempting to score a trick with an unsupported honour. For example:

To force out, by successive leads, adversely held high cards and so establish winners in the suit. In other words, you clear a path for your side to run the suit.

CHECKBACK

A convention for finding 5-3 and 4-4 fits in the majors after opener’s 1NT rebid. Responder’s 2® rebid is artificial, asking for more information and showing at least the values to invite game.

Layout 1 A43 ´ A5

N

K86

E

W S

J 10 7 2 N

´ Q 10 7 4 2 1♦ 1NT ?

´ K9

1™ 2®

2♦ minimum without three hearts or four spades 2™ minimum with three hearts 2´ minimum with four spades, but not three hearts 2NT maximum without three hearts or four spades 3® maximum with four clubs 3♦ maximum with five or six diamonds 3™ maximum with three hearts 3´ maximum with four spades, but not three hearts CHEST ONE’S CARDS

To hold one’s cards tight to one’s chest to prevent the opponents from seeing them. CHICAGO

A form of rubber bridge that comprises sets of four deals (chukka) with pre-determined vulnerability. On the first deal, neither side is vulnerable; on the fourth, both sides are. On the other two deals one side is vulnerable, usually the dealing side. Scoring is similar to rubber bridge but with bonuses for games replacing the rubber bonus. If a deal results in a pass out, the same player redeals. Some play a variation, known as duplicate style Chicago; the procedure is the same as regular Chicago but duplicate style scoring applies: part scores attract an immediate bonus rather than carry forward to subsequent deals and honours do not count. The benefit of playing Chicago is the known length of a chukka. CHICANE

An old expression for a trump void.

´ J863

S

Q95

Opener Responder

E

W

Layout 2 A43 K86

N W

E S

10 7 5 2

West leads a low spade to the jack and king. West, when back on lead, then ‘clears’ the suit by continuing with another spade.

QJ9

CLEAR-CUT TRICKS

Suppose you are South on Layout 1. If you judge that West holds the king, you might lead the queen (as you would if you held the jack with it) hoping to escape a cover. If the position were actually as in Layout 2, West would be right not to cover since you could take the king with the ace and finesse the nine on the second round to score three tricks. The Chinese finesse has a chance of success only if West has the king but neither the jack nor the ten, so it is usually not the best line of play.

A conservative method of assessing a hand’s playing strength, typically used in assessing whether the hand qualifies for a strong opening bid. In your long suits, you assume partner is void and the second most favourable distributional division of the other cards. In the other suits, you assume no help from partner (typically three low cards).

´ ™ ♦ ®

Hand 1 AKQJ853 A94 73 5

´ ™ ♦ ®

Hand 2 AKQJ53 AQ2 73 52

CHUKKA

A term for the four deals at Chicago bridge. The term originates from polo. CLAIM

Declarer makes a claim by placing his cards face up on the table and announcing that he will win one or more of the remaining tricks. A defender makes a claim by showing any or all of his cards to declarer and announcing he will win one or more of the remaining tricks. When a player makes a claim, he should state his intended line of play. If he fails to do so and an opponent contests the claim, restrictions apply to his play. In duplicate, if anyone disputes a claim, the players should call the Director to adjudicate. Claiming, if done well, speeds up the game and so is generally a good idea.

Page 30

Hand 1 has eight clear-cut tricks. Even facing a void, the spade suit will play for no loser if the break is either 3-3 or 4-2. Hand 2 has only six clear-cut tricks. Facing a void, the spade suit will play for one loser on a 5-2 break, the second most favourable. The ™Q, being of uncertain value, does not count towards the total of clear-cut tricks. CLOSED HAND

The hand of the declarer as distinct from the ‘open’ hand, the dummy.

A to Z of Bridge continued

facing Q-x-x-x, you would usually draw them with the ace, jack and ten. This leaves you with the option of winning the fourth round in either hand.

´ ™ ♦ ®

CLOSED ROOM

In important head-to-head teams-offour matches, the two pairs of a team usually play in different rooms. One of these rooms may be designated the ‘closed room’, the other the ‘open room’. Spectators, including any non-playing captain, may watch in the open room but may not enter the closed room.

865 J6 AK5 AK973

COMPASS POINTS

North, South, East and West indicate the positions of players at the table. COMPETITIVE AUCTION

Nowadays, players use many low-level doubles as competitive rather than penalty.

COFFEE HOUSING

Bidding sequences in which both partnerships enter the auction. Competitive auctions are common, occurring on perhaps 70% of deals, adding to the excitement of the game.

This means bidding the suit partner has shown at a minimum level. eg. 1NT-Pass-2♦-Pass-2™.

Indulging in unethical behaviour to mislead the opponents. For example:

COMPETITIVE DOUBLE

COMPOUND SQUEEZE

A double, primarily for take out, to convey that the bidder is unwilling to pass but has no good descriptive bid to make. South’s double is competitive in the sequences below.

A rare preparatory triple squeeze, followed by a double squeeze. Normally, the ending requires two double menaces (guarded by both opponents) and a one-card menace (guarded by one opponent only). The one-card menace must be over the relevant opponent, and declarer has top winners for all the remaining tricks but one.

KJ Q2

N W

E S

A3

54

When South leads low, West pauses before playing low, as he might if he held the ace instead of the queen, thus misleading declarer. The term comes from a style of bridge that one used to encounter in European coffee houses. COLD

Slang term describing a contract that is certain to make. ‘Frigid’ and ‘Icy’ are similar terms. COME-ON SIGNAL

A signal that encourages partner to continue playing a suit. In standard methods, you usually give a come-on signal with a high spot card. For example, if partner switches to the ´A and you hold ´K-J-9-2, you play the nine (assuming you can afford it). COMMUNICATIONS

The ability to transfer the lead between the two hands of a partnership. Communications are very important as they allow you to reach established winners and to lead towards (rather than away from) tenaces. Playing suits in the right order can help to maintain communications, as can careful management of suits. For example, if you draw three rounds of trumps with a holding of A-K-J-10-x

West

North

East

South

1®

1™

1´

Dbl

West

North

East

South

1´

2™

2´

1® Dbl

In the first sequence, it would be pointless for South to attempt a penalty double of a bid that is natural and forcing, especially at such a low level. The double suggests a doubleton heart (not enough hearts to raise to 2™), a four- or moderate five-card diamond suit (not enough diamonds to be bidding 2♦) and a weakness in one of the black suits (hence the inability to bid 1NT). This hand would be typical:

´ ™ ♦ ®

865 J6 K9743 AK9

In the second sequence, after the opponents have bid and raised spades, it is most unlikely that a worthwhile penalty is available from defending at this level. The double suggests a doubleton heart (not enough hearts to raise to 3™ or 4™), five clubs (not enough clubs to bid 3®) and no spade stopper. This hand would be typical:

Page 31

COMPLETING A TRANSFER

´ ™ ♦ ® ´ ™ ♦ ®

Void 3 J92 J85

Void 8 K73 K64 N

W

E S

´ ™ ♦ ®

´ ™ ♦ ®

A Void Q84 Q92

K AK A6 A3

First, see that the requirements are present: Declarer has six top winners (three ace-kings), doubly guarded menaces with entries to the threats in both minors and a singly guarded menace in spades (the king over East’s ace). The lead of the ™A squeezes East in three suits. To avoid conceding a trick immediately, he must discard from one of his minor suits. This gives West sole responsibility for guarding that minor suit, thereby preparing the way for a double squeeze. South next plays the king and ace of whichever minor suit East discards, and then leads the ™K, which creates a double squeeze on both opponents.

A to Z of Bridge continued

COMPUTER DEAL

1 Term to describe the creation of deals by computer. These deals are more correctly distributional than those that some players deal. This is because humans often do not shuffle the cards properly. 2 Term to describe a deal physically dealt by a computer dealing machine: this usually requires cards with special markings similar to bar codes for the machine to identify the cards. CONCEDE

To give one or more tricks to the opposition. CONCESSION

A player makes a concession when he announces he will lose the remaining tricks. A player may also concede one or more tricks as part of his own claim. CONDONE

To bid or play immediately following an irregularity and thereby convert it into a legal action. For example, if at South’s turn to bid West opens 1™ and North bids 1´, North’s bid condones the bid out of turn. CONGRESS

A tournament, typically played over a (long) weekend, and often comprising several individual competitions. Usually, a congress takes place in a hotel or conference centre.

opponents. It is also opposite to a signoff. Constructive bids are usually invitational (partner may pass) or sometimes forcing for one round rather than game forcing. All of EastWest’s bids in this sequence are constructive: West

North

East

South

1® 1´ 2NT

Pass Pass End

1™ 1NT

Pass Pass

CONTRACT

The undertaking by declarer to win a number of tricks, in the denomination named, specified by the final bid of the auction. The number of tricks is six more then the bid, ie. you need ten tricks to make 4´. A defender may double the contract, in which case a member of the declaring side may redouble. The lowest contract is 1® and the highest contract is 7NT redoubled. CONTRACT BRIDGE

Contract Bridge evolved slowly from the game of Whist, through the games of Auction Whist, Auction Bridge and finally to Contract Bridge in 1926. It differed from its predecessors in that only tricks bid for and made counted towards game (based on the Plafond system). Harold Vanderbilt changed considerably the method of scoring and perfected the new game with the inclusion of incentives for games and slams, as well as the Plafond system of bidding towards game by accumulating partscores. CONTROL

CONSOLATION EVENT

In some congresses and large tournaments, the main event has qualifying rounds to reach the Final. Usually, a ‘consolation event’ takes place concurrently with the Final for the pairs/teams who failed to qualify. CONSTRUCTIVE

Description of a bid that is helpful and forward going, seeking to find the best contract. This is opposite to an obstructive or pre-emptive bid, the main aim of which is to make life difficult for the

1 This is a holding in a suit that prevents the opponents from cashing more than a certain number of tricks in the suit. An ace or void (in a suit contract) constitutes a first-round control, a king or singleton (in a suit contract) constitutes a second-round control. To contemplate a grand slam, a partnership will need first-round control in every suit. To contemplate a small slam, it will need first-round control in at least three suits and first- or secondround control in the fourth.

Page 32

´ ™ ♦ ®

KQJ753 6 AQ74 J4

This hand has first-round control in diamonds, second-round control in each major and third-round control in clubs. If 6´ has any hope of being a viable contract, partner will need first- or second-round control of clubs and at least two first-round controls in total. 2 In some systems, notably the Blue Club, aces and kings have specific numerical values: two for an ace and one for a king. In this case, for example, a hand with one ace and one king or with three kings would have three controls. CONTROL FREAK

A player who likes to takes decisions on behalf of the partnership in system, style and play. In the bidding, he likes to make general forcing bids, such as fourth-suit forcing and bids of the opponent’s suit, to find out about his partner’s hand while disclosing little about his own. In the defence, he expects his partner to signal everything and to lead or return his suits. CONTROLLED PSYCHES

A psychic bid is one that deliberately misdescribes one’s hand to confuse the opponents. A psychic bid that some special bid by partner can uncover is a controlled psyche and makes the use of such bids safer. British bidding restrictions prohibit the use of controlled psyches. CONVENTION

A call or play with a defined meaning understood by the partnership, which has little or no similarity to the natural use of the bid. Common examples of a convention are a 2® Stayman response to 1NT and a 4NT ace-asking enquiry. CONVENTION CARD

A card by which a partnership gives details of the system of bidding it is using and its methods of leads,

A to Z of Bridge continued

discards and signals. It varies from the simple, acceptable in most local clubs, to the very detailed information required by sponsoring organisations for major tournaments. Having a correctly completed convention card is a courtesy to your opponents and may assist the director if any dispute arises about the meaning of your side’s bidding. System Card is another name for a Convention Card. CO-OPERATIVE DOUBLE

A double, usually at a low level, that shows willingness to bid on or to penalise the opponents but with no strong preference between the two. West

North

East

South

Pass

2™

3©

1´ Dbl

Historically, this double would have been a pure penalty double. However, it is quite rare for one to have a diamond stack on this sequence. Since North might leave in the double, South needs a few diamonds for this cooperative double. Here is a possible hand:

´ ™ © ®

AJ9432 Q6 K62 AJ

The best contract might be 4´, 4™, 3NT or 3© doubled. To keep all options open, South doubles. With undisclosed length in one of the majors, North is likely to show it or, with a flattish hand and a few diamonds, pass. COUNT SIGNALS

A signal to convey information about the length of a suit rather than its strength. In standard methods, a peter (high-low) shows an even number of cards. Defenders may give count signals on suits that declarer plays, especially if dummy holds a long suit but few

entries. Here is an example:

© K Q J 10 5 N

© A82

W

E S

© 96

play of the hand. Many coups have identifying names, some descriptive (such as scissors coup, crocodile coup, trump coup, coup en passant), others from the names of their authors (such as Deschapelles coup), or the places where they first surfaced (such as Bath coup and Vienna coup).

© 743

COUP EN PASSANT

Declarer plays a diamond to the king and continues the suit to drive out the ace. East plays high-low (the nine before the six) to show an even number of diamonds, clearly two. This enables West to hold up the ©A until the third round. If East had three diamonds, he would play upwards and West would know to take the ace on the second round. Defenders may also give count signals on each other’s leads, doing so either by agreement or when an attitude signal is clearly pointless.

The lead of a plain suit card to promote a low trump sitting over a high trump. For example:

´ ™ © ® ´ ™ © ®

A Void A Void

32 Void Void Void N

W

E S

´ ™ © ®

´ ™ © ®

Void A 3 Void

Void K 2 Void

´ J75 ´ K Q 10 8 3

N W

E

´ 9642

S

´ A

When West leads the king, East can see that declarer will win with the ace – this means that it will be obvious to all that East has nothing in spades. In this situation, East should make a count signal. Normal is to play second highest from a four-card holding, in this case the six.

In the diagram above, with hearts as trumps, North leads a spade. If East discards, South scores the ™K at once on a ruff. If East prefers to ruff, South discards and makes the ™K on the last trick. Either way, the ™K becomes a winner. COUNTING ONE’S CARDS

The Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge state that players should count their cards, face down, before they look at their hand, to check that they have thirteen.

COUNTING THE HAND

The deduction of the location of the cards in the unseen hands from the bidding and previous play. For example, if a player shows up with three spades, five hearts and three clubs, then you can deduce he has a doubleton diamond. Alternatively, if a player makes a bid that shows 12-14 points and he shows up with three aces, you can deduce that he has neither the fourth ace nor any kings. COUP

A specialized manoeuvre during the

Page 33

COURT CARDS

Old-fashioned name for the honours. Originating from the fact that the kings, queens and jacks, being all ‘coated’ figures were ‘coat cards’. This quickly changed to court cards due to the association with a royal court. COURTESY BID

A continuation made on a weak hand to allow for the possibility that the opener has great strength. Examples of this are the 3´ bid in the sequence 1´-1NT-3©-3´ or a 2© response to a 2® opening.

A to Z of Bridge continued

CROSS-IMP ´ A4 ™ Q2

COVERING HONOURS

N

The maxim ‘Cover an honour with an honour’ coming from the early days of whist is usually sound but may be wrong sometimes. It is usually right to cover if you hold intermediate cards that covering might promote, or if your holding is short, when partner might hold such cards. It is usually wrong to cover if you have length in the suit and poor intermediates, or if the honour led is a touching honour.

Layout 1 ´ Q6

Immaterial

E

W S

´ K3 ™ K3

´ Q2 ™ A © A

CROSSRUFF

South leads the ©A and discards the ´4 from dummy. Both the hearts and spades are now blocked but South can unblock whichever suit East discards and use the other suit as an entry to the then established queen. CRO

N

´ K74

E

W S

N E

´ K742

S

Generally, East should cover the queen with the king on the first layout (West might hold 10-x-x or A-10-x) but not on the second (South might hold A-J-10-9-x). CRASHING HONOURS

The playing of two high honours by defenders to the same trick. A deceptive play by declarer can sometimes induce defenders to crash their honours. For example:

This stands for Colour, Rank, Odd, usually in relation to two-suited hands.

The gaming house in central London that became famous for its high-stake games in the early days of rubber bridge and the prominent players who supported it. It gave its name to the premier teams’ championship of England. CROCODILE COUP

A play by a defender of an apparently unnecessarily high card to prevent a throw-in on his partner. The defender needs to imagine being a crocodile as it opens its jaws to make sure of catching partner’s winning card (which by this stage is a singleton). For example:

´ 32 ™ AQ

Q5432 A

N W

A play in which declarer uses trumps in both hands to ruff losers rather than drawing trumps. It is usually correct to play off side suit winners before starting to crossruff to stop opponents from discarding those suits and later being in a position to ruff declarer’s winners. A crossruff works best when most of your trumps are high trumps.

CROCKFORDS CLUB

Layout 2 ´ Q6 W

A method of scoring individual pairs in terms of IMPs. You compare each pair’s score with the score of every other pair sitting in the opposite direction and convert it to IMPs, as if each in turn of the other pairs were teammates. A pair’s score on any given board is then the sum (plus or minus) of all the separate IMP scores.

E S

If South, as declarer, leads the queen from dummy, East may decide to cover, causing the defenders to crash their honours. CRISS-CROSS SQUEEZE

A simple squeeze with a blocked suit. For example:

87 65 86 K 10 7 5 4 3 2

As South, you play in 7™. West leads a trump. You should win in hand (you do not want to use dummy’s lowly ™3 for ruffing) and cash the red ace-kings as well as the ®A. You will then ruff clubs in hand and cards from the pointed suits in dummy and make the rest of the tricks. CROWHURST CONVENTION

K6

J 10 9 8 7

´ ™ © ®

´ 96 ™ QJ983 © J2 ® AJ96 Q 10 5 4 3 ´ N 42 ™ E W Q9753 © S Q ® ´ AKJ2 ™ A K 10 7 © A K 10 4 ®8

´ AQ ™ 76

N W

E S

´ K ™ K54

´ 54 ™ 32

When South, declarer, leads a spade, West must play his ´A, swallowing his partner’s ´K. This saves East from winning and having to lead into the heart tenace.

Page 34

A convention, named after the English player Eric Crowhurst, whereby a bid of 2® by responder, after a wide-range 1NT rebid by opener, is an enquiry. For example, if the 1NT rebid by opener shows 12-16 points then the continuations are as below: Opener Responder 1™ 1NT ?

1´ 2®

A to Z of Bridge continued

2© 12-14 points without five hearts or three spades 2™ 12-14 points with five hearts 2´ 12-14 points with three spades, but not five hearts 2NT 15-16 points CUE BID

This is a bid of a suit with no intention that the bid suit should be the trump suit. The term covers several quite different situations.

either a full or half a club stopper. In the second sequence, where partner’s action is an overcall, it is almost universal to play the 3® cue bid as showing a sound (heart) raise. 3 A direct overcall in the suit an opponent has opened conveys the message of a very powerful hand or, more popularly, some form of twosuited hand. The popular Michaels convention and the rarer Ghestem convention both use this type of cue bid to show a two-suited hand. CULBERTSON SYSTEM

1 In a slam investigation, when the partnership has agreed a trump suit (either explicitly or implicitly), the cue bid of a suit shows a control in that suit. By partnership agreement this may be first-round control (an ace or void), or either first- or second-round control. To avoid confusion with the other types of cue bid, some call this a controlshowing cue bid. West 1´ 4®

North

East

South

Pass Pass

1© 3´ 4©

Pass Pass

After East’s 3´ raise sets spades as trumps, West’s 4® and East’s 4© are both (control-showing) cue bids. 4® must show interest in a slam because, with no such interest, West would simply raise 3´ to 4´. 2 In a contested auction, a bid of the opponents’ suit is called a cue bid: it may be a general forcing bid (when no suitable alternative is available) or have a conventional meaning to convey. West

North

East

1™

2®

3®

West

North

East

South

South 1®

1™

2®

3®

Popular nowadays is for East’s 3® cue bid in the first sequence to show a value raise to at least 3™. The older treatment is to play it as asking for

Historic system of bidding devised and popularized by Ely Culbertson, first published in the Blue Book in 1933 and later revised in further Blue Books. Many of the features of the Culbertson system have provided a basis for modern methods. The very successful Four Aces team and public opinion influenced the system, leading to the publication of the Gold Book in 1936, which became standard in America for nearly fifteen years. Features of the system were: 1 Valuation by Honour Tricks, 2 Uniform standards for biddable suits, 3 The approach forcing principle, 4 The forcing Two bids, 5 The forcing take-out (now known as a jump shift) showing three Honour Tricks, 6 Strong no-trump, 7 Non-forcing jump rebids by opener, unless in a new suit, 8 Asking bids. CULBERTSON 4-5NT

A complicated slam convention showing aces and kings as well as asking for them. The 4NT bid shows three aces or two aces and a king of a suit bid by the partnership. The responses are: with two aces or one ace and the kings of all suits bid by the partnership, bid 5NT. If holding no ace, bid five of the lowest suit that the partnership has bid. Holding one ace, bid the suit with the ace at the fivelevel, or at the six-level if it is the ace of the lowest suit genuinely bid by the partnership.

Page 35

CURSE OF SCOTLAND

Name given to the ©9. The exact source of the name is a mystery. There have been various suggestions: 1 In the game Cornette, introduced to Scotland by the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots, the ©9 was the chief card. 2 ‘Butcher’ Cumberland wrote the orders for the Battle of Culloden (1746) on the card. 3 The order for the massacre at Glencoe was on the back of the card. 4 That it derives from the nine lozenges that formed the arms of the Earl of Star, whom Scots hated for his part in the massacre at Glencoe and the union with England. CURTAIN CARD

Written record of a hand in a duplicate board; this enables a player to check that his hand is correct and helps to restore the hand if the board becomes fouled. Curtain cards are no longer in widespread use. CUT

1 Before the beginning of a rubber, from a deck of cards spread face down on the table, each player draws one card. Those drawing the two highest cards play with each other, the winner deals first. 2 Before every deal, the dealer’s RHO cuts the deck towards the dealer by dividing it into two portions. The dealer replaces the lower portion on top of the other. 3 In a qualifying session, the cut is the place at which the field divides in determining who goes forward to the next stage. For example, if there is to be a 7-table all-play-all final in a pairs’ event, the cut will be after the 14th place. CUT IN

A form of rubber bridge in which players draw for partners. At the end of each rubber, players change partners and one or more players leave the table, exchanging places with sitting out players or players from n another table.

CHARITY BRIDGE EVENTS

Answer to Richard Wheen’s Double Dummy Quiz on page 7

´ ™ © ®

´ ™ © ® KJ75 76 Void Void ´ ™ © ®

Q8 43 Void 32 N E

W S

´ ™ © ®

6 J98 9 4

A92 A 10 2 Void Void

S

o there we were, nearing the end of a South-East Surrey Senior Novices’ event and needing, so it seemed to us, several ‘tops’ to get through to the next round. As usual, I was North and my partner was declarer, playing the above hand in an ambitious small spade slam; with dummy to lead, he needed to make all but one of the remaining tricks for the contract. Since West had doubled and my partner and I had held almost all of the points, it was a reasonable assumption that West would have long trumps for his double. When I eased my electric buggy round behind my partner’s chair, looking at the opponents’ hands on the way (such things being permitted in S-ESSN events), I saw that this was indeed the case. My partner’s first step, however, was to finesse the heart ten (success-

JUNE 2011

fully) and then cash his heart ace. At this stage, I was expecting him to lead a small spade from hand, but (as partner told me later) that would not have worked as he needed to ruff his small heart in dummy before drawing trumps. In fact, when declarer led the heart two, West, who had only trumps left, had no choice but to ruff ahead of dummy. Had he ruffed with the spade king, North would have discarded a club and West’s forced spade return would have given declarer a free finesse and the remaining tricks. I could also see that, if West ruffed with any other card, North would overruff and lead his remaining spade, South playing low on it. West could win that trick but would again have to give declarer a free finesse for the last two tricks. Indeed so it transpired. West, who must initially have expected to win at least two trump tricks, took just the one, and my partner brought home his doubled contract in great style. Even East, a rather crotchety senior novice from Redhill, congratulated my partner on his play as I got out my abacus to work out the score for a doubled slam. In the event we achieved an outright top on this deal and just scraped through to the next n round. Phew!

DUPLICAT EBRIDGE RULESSIMPLIFIED (otherwiseknownastheYellowBook)

1 MACMILLAN CANCER SUPPORT DOWNHAM MARKET FESTIVAL “Festival Bridge with afternoon tea”. Downham Market Town Hall. 1.00pm start. Tickets £5.00. Pat Roberts ( 01366 382947 3 SUPPORT FOR PANCREATIC CANCER Village Hall, Hemingford Abbots. 10.00 for10.30am. £14.00. ( 01480  431574 Pat Cole 10 NATIONAL OSTEOPOROSIS SOCIETY 11 Swansea Bridge Club. Friday, 12 The Lloyd Lewis Cup, Open & Novice pairs 7pm Saturday, Challenge Cup Session 1, 1.45pm. Session 2, 7pm. Sunday Swiss Teams 1pm. Diana ( 01792 297081 Gwyneth ( 01792 280009 17 ST MARY’S CHURCH Eaton Socon, St Neots. 10.00 for 10.30am. £13.00. Malcolm Howarth ( 01480  212910

JULY 2011 1 HCCA ALCONBURY  CONSERVATIVE BRANCH. Memorial Hall, Alconbury. 10.00 for10.30am. Tickets: £14.00. Paula Stock ( 01480 890938 14 SAMARITANS OF CHESTER Bridge drive. Starting at noon with Bucks Fizz and sumptuous afternoon tea. £10.00. Mollie McBride ( 01244 675108 17 RUNSWICK BAY RESCUE BOAT Bridge Day, Hinderwell Village Hall. 10–4. Ticket includes lunch. Karen ( 01947 841013 29 IN AID OF WINTON HOUSE CENTRE Charity Bridge Luncheon. £15. 11am-3.30pm at The Herne Farm Leisure Centre, Petersfield.  £15. Sheridan.Rocher@ wintonhousecentre.org.uk 10am-4pm weekdays ( 01730 266046

5 LITTLE GRANSDEN CHURCH TOWER APPEAL. Village Hall, Little Gransden.  10.00 for 10.30am. Tickets: £13.50. Margaret Hipwell ( 01767 677259 Barbara Horne( 01767  677895

only

£595

by John Rumbelow and revised by David Stevenson

Includes2008LawRevisions.

Availablefrom

AUGUST 2011

SEPTEMBER 2011 7 GYDA (Gulu Youth Development Association, Northern Uganda) Corn Exchange, Faringdon. £15. Steve Braithwaite ( 01367 240929 16 ST MARY’S CHURCH Eaton Socon, St Neots. 10.00 for 10.30am. £13.00. Malcolm Howarth ( 01480  212910 22 HUDDERSFIELD PENNINE ROTARY CLUB. Outlane Golf Club 12 for 12.30pm. £44 per table including lunch. Brian Noble ( 01484 427536 23 RIDING FOR THE DISABLED Village Hall, Hemingford Abbots. 10.00 for 10.30. Cost: £14.00. Andria Wilkinson ( 01487  824252 27 ST TERESA’S HOSPICE Richmond Support Group ‘Bridge the Gap’. 2pm. Hudswell Village Hall. Play will be directed by Mike Baker. Tickets £10. ( 01748 850208

OCTOBER 2011 7 ST ANDREWS CHURCH The Mandeville Hall, Kimbolton. 10.00 for 10.30am. £14.00. Mavis Campion ( 01480  860477 15 RNLI. Cheltenham Bridge Club 10.30am-4pm. Lunch & glass wine. £15 p.p. Margaret Beverley ( 01242 510193 21 CHESHIRE HOMES. Village Hall, Hartford, Hunts, Cambs. 10.00 for 10.30am. £13.50. Malcolm Howarth ( 01480 212910 28 OUR KINDERGARTEN IN BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA Our Lady Queen of All Creation RC Church, Rant Meadow, Hemel Hempstead 9am tea/coffee. 9.45am bridge starts. Hot lunch. £15pp. Pat Henry ( 01442 391087

NOVEMBER 2011 11 HEMINGFORD VILLAGE HALL & ADDENBROOKES HOSPITAL CANCER UNIT. Village Hall, Heminford Abbots. 10.00 for 10.30am Tickets £14.00. Ann Tooher ( 01480 352789.

E-mail your charity events: [email protected]

( 01483 489961

Page 36

READERS’ LETTERS FRIENDLY Come and play duplicate every Thursday at 1.00pm, large room overlooking the golf course. Guests £5.00, members £3.50. Ring Maureen ( 07804 885617. Available between 6-7 pm Monday to Friday for any info or just come along. Partners always available or bring your own. North Middlesex Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane, Whetstone, London N20 0NL.

OSTEOPOROSIS The National Osteoporosis Society is the only UK wide national charity dedicated to improving the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis. They campaign on behalf of people with osteoporosis and influence governments and policy makers to ensure osteoporosis is prioritised in health and social care policy. Please support the Swansea Bridge Club charity event. Mrs D Panniers, Swansea.

BUYER BEWARE Your correspondent in a recent issue of BRIdGE writes in praise of Global Travel Insurance. I hope that he never has to make a claim against them. I was taken ill in Tenerife with pneumonia and incurred hospital bills of £2,500. I did not get a penny out of Global. They gave me all kinds of dubious and technical reasons for not paying me eg, ‘I should have

gone to a Spanish NHS hospital.’ There wasn’t one where I was! My legal advisor has studied the small print in the Global policy and says they may be technically correct, but they are morally wrong to refuse a payment in this case. It is this sort of incident that gives the travel insurance business a bad name. Mr E Johnson, Cromer, Norfolk.

Travel Insurance is mandatory for passengers on cruises and most package holidays. Global Travel has been spoken well of by most of our readers.

ANNOUNCEMENTS Having returned to bridge after a gap of fifteen years, two things surprise me. First the alerting procedure. Suppose dealer bids 1NT. Why should partner be obliged to give the point count before any enquiries are made? Opponents can always ask and if you are in a tournament, just look at the opposition’s convention card. I would like you to publish an article that not only tells everyone which bids are meant to be explained without an enquiry by the opposition, but, more importantly, what the justification is for this procedure. Secondly, bidding boxes. I love them. Well, in the sense that I understand the reason for their existence and they

do no harm. But having spent more than thirty years of bridge without problems, are they not a needless complication? I feel that I have heard as many explanations of how bidding boxes should be used as there are stars in the sky. That is an exaggeration, but I will give you one example. This is what was said. ‘The final bid (the contract) should always be on display.’ Really? I always thought that declarer and defenders should remember what the contract is and if they do not, well, tough luck. An article on the proper use of bidding boxes would also be much appreciated. Allan Mitchell Wallace. Kempsey, Worcs.

AN ANSWER I assume that readers may submit answers to items in your ‘Questions and Suggestions’ column? I refer specifically to Mrs Miner’s question in BRIdGE 106. ‘What do you bid when partner opens 1NT (12-14) and you have 11 points, 4-4-1-4 (singleton diamond)? do you use Stayman or what?’ My advice would be to bid 2® (Stayman). If opener then bids a 4-card major, you would invite to game by bidding the agreed suit at the three level. Should opener respond 2©, you would then bid 2NT which opener can raise to 3NT, with 14 points. With a singleton diamond you may think it is reckless to

respond no-trumps after the Stayman enquiry, but if opener has no four-card major, he/she must have at least seven cards in the minors. Michael Derry, Grantham, Lincs.

DOGGY BRIDGE Thank you and your staff for an enjoyable ‘Just Bridge’ weekend at Latimer Mews. The hotel, location, food, service and your bridge team were all first class. I was able to take my dog with me and she was welcomed warmly. Your bridge helpers were very friendly and did everything to make sure we had a very happy stay. It was our first bridge holiday and my daughters and I would like definitely to book with you again. Joan Brown & Lisa Foster, Holt, Norfolk.

CANINE PARTNER In response to your lady reader who enquired ‘about breaks that allow wellbehaved dogs being able to accompany their owners’ on your excellent bridge holidays. It was not clear if the dog was to be a bridge partner or not and, if the former was the case, one is prompted to ask if it aquired the skill of play using QPlus? This would surely be something for good publicity.   Sydney E Veronique by email.

REDUCE THE COST OF YOUR POSTAGE

Page 37

Postage stamps for sale at 90% of face-value, all mint with full gum. Quotations for commercial quantities available on request. Values supplied in 100s, higher values available as well as 1st and 2nd class (eg 1st class: 100x37p+100x5p)

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

READERS’ LETTERS continued DIVERSION Last week I was on holiday in Morocco with three bridgeplaying friends. As we travelled over the Atlas Mountains from Fez to Midelt, the snow began to fall, quickly turning the landscape into Narnia. Our young driver Ibrahim was unused to such bad road conditions and I am afraid that it showed. After two sideways skids in quick succession, towards a rock face on one side and a steep, sheer drop on the other, my friend Jan said, ‘Quick, get that pack of cards out!’ The bridge preoccupied us brilliantly during the next hour of our perilous journey following the snow plough in a long convoy over the mountain pass. With East twisting round in her seat belt from her front passenger seat, North/South in row two and West in the centre of the back seat, we managed several painfully slow hands before driving into Midelt. Mrs K Borgman, Littleborough, Lancs.

PUBLICITY I think that your online forum is valuable and can be helpful to a lot of people. I don’t think that many people know anything about it. Perhaps you should advertise it in your magazine? I participate in the forum and I don’t think that I would have found it had I not come onto your site to express my interest in taking part in your activities.

thriving in this country, especially youth bridge. Your correspondent, Sally Brock, in her Sunday Times column, says exactly the opposite. In fact she hints at a serious dearth of young players. They can’t both be right, so who is right and who is wrong? How can two luminaries of the game have such differing opinions? If I were having a bet on it, I would go unhesitatingly with Sally Brock’s opinion, as bridge must be suffering from the growth of the computer with all the games and ‘stuff’ that people can do with them. Mr N Hart, Wheathampstead, Herts.

CHATTERBOX I was reading david Stevenson in BRIdGE 106 ‘...players talk all the time at bridge and sometimes at unsuitable times’. Yes, that’s me. Fame at last. I am in the Mr Bridge magazine. I have been known to make a comment at the table that can be taken in different ways. My Thursday night bridge partner will say, ‘quit while you’re ahead,’ but luckily for me, the members at the G.B.C. still put up with me.

OLD BRIDGE

Mrs S Rohan, London N8.

TIMES TWO

Mr A Field ( 01243 789947 Chichester, West Sussex.

do you sell, or can you recommend, software for

I recommend Jeff Smith’s free scoring program. Go to www.homepages.nildram.co. uk/~jasmith/

GREAT NEWS Herewith latest cheque for Little Voice. If you are interested in my statistics, the total stands at £2,219 and represents sorting through 315 kilos. (From which local charity – Age Concern and hospices have benefitted by around a further £700). Keep up the good work.

Please note that anything much thicker than five sheets of paper needs a large letter rate stamp.

EVERY LITTLE HELPS Please accept my meagre contribution of stamps to the Little Voice Appeal. Previously, my used stamps were collected by an elderly lady from my church. As she no longer does so, I collect for Little Voice instead. Mr A Robertson, Fife, Scotland.

THE FOLLOWING ARE AMONG THOSE WHO SENT IN USED STAMPS Mrs H Bennett, Bristol. Mrs A McLorinan, Belfast. Mr F Winkler, Edgware. Mrs R Brown, Kent. Mr G Warren, Falmouth. Mrs V Moore, Hyde. Mrs J Staples, Storrington. Mrs K Adamsom, Oxten. Mr R Rose, Axminster. Mrs M Grigges, Chipping Ongar. Mr A Carter, Bournemouth. Mrs N Rigby, Stratford-upon-Avon. Mr C Kellock, Brestwood. Mrs C Gates, Bexhill on Sea. Mrs G Tomacelli, London SW3. Mr & Mrs R Ferriday, Hereford. Mrs A Bancroft, Vale of Glamorgan. Mrs H McNeil, Faversham. Mrs J Browning, Halifax. Miss P Cottrell, Leatherhead. Mrs M Slater, Bristol. Mr & Mrs P Henry, Bangor. Mrs Pickerell, Belper. Mrs Bate, Harrogate. Mrs J Alexander, Irvine. Mrs Scrivener, Great Ayton. Mrs B Gilham, Upminster. Mrs P Morgan, Bognor Regis. Mrs A Mons, Tewkesbury. Mrs O Woods, Horncastle. Mrs B Carpenter, Sutton Coldfield. Mr J Horgan, Bournemouth. Mr M Mogano, Solihull. Mr G Martin, Caversham. Mrs E French, Ponteland. Mrs M Pengelley, Ardingly. Miss D Morris, Warrington. Mrs Parks, Llanarmon-yn-lal. Mrs A Sayce, Malvern. Mrs S Mathias, London W5. Mrs P Uglow, Dursley. Mrs J Papworth, Cambridgeshire. Mrs M Bleakley, Belfast. Mrs B Spiller, Sutton. Mrs C Ford, Suffolk. Mr & Mrs P Deck, Pewsey. Mr A Llewellyn, Sevenoaks. Mrs B Marks, London N2. Mrs S Cartledge, Upminster. Mrs D Bamborough and Denton Golf Club, Manchester. Mrs S Eckersley, Alicante, Spain. Mrs S Crosher, Ruislip.

many who have given stamps and encourage them to find some more. Mr D Peters, Ramsbottom, Lancs.

SAT NAV STAMP COLLECTING

Mr V Goldwater, Glasgow.

FREE SCORING

Roger Pringle, Drayton, Leics.

Mr Colin Bamberger, Trimley St Mary, Ipswich.

I am a volunteer in my local Oxfam shop. On its shelves, we have Bridge Reflections by The Hon. Victor Bethell, published in 1908. It is in reasonable condition, but with no dust jacket. Would anyone in the area like to make an offer for it?

Andrew Robson, whose statements and opinions I take with a very large pinch of salt, says that bridge is

scoring a duplicate pairs night which does not require us to belong to the EBU?

After recently becoming an avid reader of BRIdGE, I decided to collect used stamps to support the Little Voice charity. My church, Christ Church in Walmersley, has taken this on as well and here is our first instalment. I’m assuming you are happy to receive anything, old or new, British or foreign. If you would kindly let me know, either by email or phone, that you’ve received them I would be very grateful. I will then pass on that information, via our parish magazine, to the

Page 38

Two members, new to the area, said they’d had trouble finding our, or any, bridge club after moving here as nothing came up on the local council’s web site, yet we knew we were there ‘somewhere’, having posted all our details. The ‘path’ was so convoluted as to be near impossible, needing many links and our treasurer asked for access to be made simpler. This has been done and typing in ‘club’, ‘bridge’ or ‘bridge club’ now brings up our site. Mrs H Heffernan, Welling, Kent.

READERS’ LETTERS

4-1-4-4 Open 1®. 4-4-1-4 Open 1®. 4-4-4-1 Open 1© and rebid 2© to a 2® response.

Thank you for sending the QPlus 10 upgrade. A great improvement I must say. Congratulations to your correspondent Martyn Lewis, on his being able to understand 50% of the content of BRIdGE. I am still trying.

in partnership and how to accept bad luck. Even in today’s computer-based world, young people are more likely to buy QPlus or try online bridge if they know the game already. We may not benefit from the seeds we sow now for the future, but where would we have been if parents, grandparents and friends hadn’t taught us the game?

Mr T Maxwell, Thorverton, Devon.

Ian C Kemp, Ware, Hertfordshire.

YOUNG NEEDED

LITTLE VOICE

You asked in BRIdGE issue 106 (p 35), ‘Why do we need the young?’ In a nutshell, so that this magnificent game that we love will still be around in Britain in the next 20, 30 or 50 years. Bridge is not just for retired people. Yes, many people who learn the game young will drop out when families and work intervene, but they will remember the joys of the game and can come back to it later. I learnt from my parents and a friendly neighbour who gave me an Acol crib-sheet; it lay dormant for 20 years but gave me the incentive to try a computer program, read a beginner’s book and join a club when the opportunity arose. Now, I find it is far easier to teach the game to adults who learnt whist originally or bridge as children, compared to those who have no past experience of card play. They enjoy it more, learn faster and are more likely to stick at it. I’m glad that the EBU put a significant part of their limited budget into investing in the future of the game by encouraging bridge in schools. It encourages teamwork, maths, tolerance

I would be interested to know something about the charity ‘Little Voice’. It’s a new one to me.

I would like some help/ideas about running an evening of Chicago. We have a spare evening at our club which I would like to fill. Any advice would be welcome.

Mrs J Allgood, Bath.

Mr B Brooks, Doncaster.

continued TWO POINTS

If you accept that any 4-card suit is biddable then you can absolutely guarantee that every opening 1´ or 1™ is indeed a 5+ suit.

RUBBER / CHICAGO Hosted by Diana Holland

Mr C Jelley, Waikanae, New Zealand.

CHICAGO HELP

SAME FOR ALL

DOWN UNDER CARD We were delighted to receive BRIdGE issue 106 today. We feared that you had decided finally that we were too far away. Many thanks for this latest issue which is as entertaining as ever. I will send my stamps to Mr Colin Bamberger for Little Voice. Diane & Sheila Robertson, Turramurra, Australia.

4-4-4-1 HANDS There is a method which Elena Jeronimidis, BRIdGE April 2011, would not approve, but I find quite playable for 4-4-4-1 hands.

Players often grumble in club pairs events when they experience an evening of really poor hands. On 29th March, playing in the Colchester duplicate Bridge Club, (11 tables), my total high point count for 26 hands came to 169. This gave me an average of 6.5 points per hand. I had a run of 12 consecutive hands when I held 4 or fewer points for each hand. I am sure there are many who can better this. Mr C Stokes, Kirby-le-Soken, Essex.

The Olde Barn Hotel Marston, Lincs NG32 2HT

12-14 August 2011 The Olde Barn Hotel 30 Sept-2 Oct 2011 Ardington Hotel Please note there are no seminars or set hands at these events

£199 Full-board No Single Supplement

MAXIMS Will you please write an article in BRIdGE magazine covering the various rules of play – ie. the rule of seven, eleven, eighteen – and any others? It would be helpful for casual players to have a list of rules with explanations of how to apply these rules.

Ardington Hotel, Worthing BN11 3DZ

Mr J Taylor by email.

1-4-4-4 Open 1© and rebid 2® to a 1´ response.

These so called rules have all been covered in BRIdGE during the last three years.

Page 39

Please see booking form on page 16.

READERS’ LETTERS continued CRUISE PARTNERS Love your cruises. daunted by the single supplement. How about a bulletin board, ‘Anyone interested in sharing a cabin on (cruise) departing (d/m/y) with quiet respectable female (male). Phone (name) on (telephone number).’ Mrs S Burnett, London N2.

UNIMAGINABLE I was interested to see the list of Bernard Magee’s 65 Invaluable Tips for Better Bridge in BRIdGE 104. I am confused by tip 63, ‘Avoid being declarer when you are dummy’. I cannot understand a situation arising when dummy could ever possibly be declarer. I and my friends would welcome an explanation of this Tip or are we missing something? Mr Trevor Allery, Fetcham, Surrey.

I reprint Tip 63 below.

AVOID BEING DUMMY WHEN YOU ARE DECLARER This is probably the most important tip: if you can become a better dummy, you will be amazed at how much your bridge will progress; your partnership will be better as a whole, but you will also have more energy for the rest of your game. It certainly took me a long time; I used to keep a close eye on my partner’s play, ready to pounce on any mistake – to what end? Your partner is not going to enjoy your comments, nor

are your opponents. Bridge is a partnership game; your aim should be to promote partnership harmony, so trust your partner to play the cards and relax while he does so and conserve your energy for your future decisions. The things that dummy can do are limited: 1) dummy is allowed to prevent an irregularity occurring, but he is not able to point it out once it has occurred (until the play is over). 2) dummy is allowed to ask partner whether he has any of a suit remaining, when he discards on an opponent’s (or dummy’s) lead. 3) dummy can keep track of the number of tricks lost or won. dummy is, as the name suggests, a relatively redundant personage but this must not be an invitation to get active and study the cards your partner is playing. Bridge is a complex and fascinating game and there is always so much to think about, so use your time as dummy to relax and get ready for the next burst of thought required. When you play the next deal you will be glad of not having to think about partner’s mistakes or brilliancies, instead you will have a clearer head, ready to find the perfect line. The number of times that dummy will make a comment detrimental to his partner at the end of play is extraordinary. Go to the bar and get your partner a drink – he will certainly appreciate that a lot n more.

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.

Page 40

Understanding The Uncontested Auction by Ron Klinger & Andrew Kambites reviewed by David Huggett W Cassell in association with Peter Crawley ISBN 0-304-36322-7 £7.99

I

f you had to make a list of bridge teachers with a well-documented pedigree, it is a racing certainty that these two authors would figure high up on that list. This collaboration has produced a volume in the Master Bridge Series that acts as a primer to basic Acol bidding in an uncontested auction. Even these days, now and again a hand does come along when you are left alone and, in such circumstances, it would be a shame if the auction went off the rails through misunderstanding of some of the basic principles behind bidding. The contents are prepared in a logical way with the first chapter given over to methods of hand valuation, with particular reference to the Losing Trick Count. As I know only too well, this is something that is seized upon immediately with relish by anyone new to this concept, but which can sometimes prove to be a thorn in the side of the teacher. (‘I had only six losers partner…’) There are lots of sensible pointers about balanced hands, with the authors saying quite rightly that you open any balanced hand outside the no-trump range with a major rather than a minor if 4-4 in those two suits. This makes sense because the aim would be to rebid in no-trumps and majors are not only more important, but more pre-emptive too. They deal with raising opener’s suit in an instructive way and, ´ 10 7 4 although many know the rules for ™ 54 doing this, it is amazing how many © AJ87 people would respond 1NT to 1´ ® Q432 with this hand: Of course, 2´ is the correct bid, even when playing four-card majors, because a 1´ opening promises either a five-card suit or a hand of 15 points or more if playing a weak no-trump. I would have liked the authors to have written more about the concept of ‘reversing’ – such a silly name – because, of all the ideas about bidding, it is just about the hardest to assimilate and is the cause of more terrible contracts than anything else. There are lots of other good things talked about in a sensible way and some relatively new ideas in bidding theory introduced, like Jacoby 2NT in response to an opening bid of one in a major. If you want a book that details, in plain language, just what to bid and when, buy this volume. At the very least, you will be able to prove your partner wrong when he is uncomplimentary about your bidding.

Heather Dhondy Says

Open Light in Third Seat Only in a Suit You Want Led pening light in third seat is a well-known tactical ploy. With luck, it may inconvenience the fourth player who is likely to have the best hand at the table. Since there is no need to find a rebid, (a change-of-suit response by a passed hand is not forcing) your risk of getting too high is slim. However, one main function of the third-in-hand light opening is to indicate a lead to partner. You are likely to end up defending as, more often than not, your side will hold the minority of the points. What do you call in third seat as East on the following collection? Are you tempted to make a light opening?

O

´ ™ © ®

N W

E S

852 K J 10 7 4 A63 Q6

Let us see what happens if you open 1™. This is how the auction develops. West Pass Pass

North Pass 3NT

East 1™ End

entries to set up and cash his suit. Here is the full deal:

´ ™ © ® ´ ™ © ®

N E

W S

´ ™ © ®

´ ™ © ®

K Q 10 95 82 A98532

964 Q6 Q9754 J 10 4

´ ™ © ®

852 K J 10 7 4 A63 Q6

AJ73 A832 K J 10 K7

You will see that the heart lead is essential to beat the contract. With just one stopper, declarer does not have nine tricks to run and therefore will have to lose the lead to the defence at some point, and the ace of diamonds provides a sure entry to East’s heart winners. Now consider this hand in the third position. Are you tempted to make a light opening this time?

South 1NT ´ ™ © ®

N W

Now imagine you are in the West seat on lead. Here is your hand.

E S

Here is the full deal this time:

852 J8742 AK6 Q6

´ ™ © ®

964 Q6 Q9754 J 10 4

K Q 10 95 82 A98532 N E

W S

´ ™ © ®

´ ™ © ®

852 J8742 AK6 Q6

AJ73 A K 10 3 J 10 3 K7

What a disaster! Not only has East’s opening bid put West off a diamond attack, when you could have cashed the first five tricks, but the lead has actually given away the contract. Declarer can win the lead, cross to dummy in spades and play a heart to the ten. Now he will score three heart tricks, four spades and two clubs before he has to lose the lead to the defence. Of course, there will be times when you have a genuine opening with a poor suit. In this case, if you do not get the chance later in the bidding to show that you have real opening values, your bid gets the defence off to a bad start. This is just unlucky and you cannot help that.

Summary ´ ™ © ®

964 Q6 Q9754 J 10 4

If you do, the auction will develop in the same fashion.

N W

E S

Normal is to lead partner’s suit (hearts) rather than yours (diamonds). This is especially so with a poor suit of your own, and few points. Partner may have a better suit and is more likely to have

West Pass Pass

North Pass 3NT

East 1™ End

South 1NT

Now imagine you are in the West seat on lead. You have the same hand as before, so, of course, are going to make the same lead. Page 41

The moral here is that, if your hand is borderline, one key factor in helping you to decide whether to open in third seat should be the quality of your suit. If the opponents end up bidding a game, you know that partner’s hand will be very weak and therefore partner will nearly always end up leading your suit as this will be the only clue. Make sure that this is what you want! n

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SINGLE TRIP SUMMARY OF COVER The following represent the Significant and Key Features of the policy including Exclusions and Limitations that apply per person. A full copy of the policy document is available on request.

CANCELLATION OR CURTAILMENT up to

£1,500

If you have to cancel or cut short your trip due to illness, injury, redundancy, jury service, the police requiring you to remain at or return to your home due to serious damage to your home, you are covered against loss of travel and accommodation costs. Policy Excess £50. For persons aged 61 to 70 years the excess is increased to £100. For persons aged 71 to 90 years the excess is increased to £150. See section headed Increased Excess for Pre Existing Medical Conditions for increased excesses applicable to claims arising from pre-existing medical conditions.

PERSONAL ACCIDENT up to

£15,000

A cash sum for accidental injury resulting in death, loss of sight, loss of limb or permanent total disablement. No Policy Excess.

MEDICAL AND OTHER EXPENSES up to

£10,000,000

Including FIRSTASSIST 24 HOUR WORLDWIDE MEDICAL EMERGENCY SERVICE

(a) The cost of hospital and other emergency medical expenses incurred abroad, including additional accommodation and repatriation expenses. Limit £250 for emergency dental treatment and £5,000 burial/cremation/transfer of remains. Limit £2,500 for transfer of remains to your home if you die in the UK. Policy Excess £75 unless travelling within North or Central America or the Caribbean or on a Cruise when increased to £150. For persons aged 61 to 70 years the excess is increased to £150 unless travelling within North or Central America or the Caribbean when increased to £500. For persons aged 71 to 90 years the excess is increased to £300 unless travelling within North or Central America or the Caribbean or on a Cruise when increased to £1,000. See section headed Increased Excess for Pre Existing Medical Conditions for increased excesses applicable to claims arising from pre-existing medical conditions. (b) HOSPITAL BENEFIT up to £300 An additional benefit of £15 per day for each day you spend in hospital abroad as an in-patient. No Policy Excess.

PERSONAL LUGGAGE, MONEY & VALUABLES up to

£2,000

Covers accidental loss, theft or damage to your personal luggage subject to a limit of £200 for any one article, pair or set and an overall limit of £200 for valuables such as cameras, Jewellery, furs, etc. Luggage and valuables limited to £1500. Delayed luggage, up to £75. Policy Excess £75. Money, travel tickets and travellers cheques are covered up to £500 against accidental loss or theft (cash limit £250). Policy Excess £75. No cover is provided for loss or theft of unattended property, valuables or money or for loss or theft not reported to the Police within 24 hours of discovery.

PASSPORT EXPENSES up to

£200

If you lose your passport or it is stolen whilst abroad, you are covered for additional travel and accommodation costs incurred in obtaining a replacement. No Policy Excess.

DELAYED DEPARTURE up to

£1,500

If your outward or return trip is delayed for more than 12 hours at the final departure point to/from UK due to adverse weather conditions, mechanical breakdown or industrial action, you are entitled to either (a) £20 for the first 12 hours and £10 for each further 12 hours delay up to a maximum of £60, or (b) the cost of the trip (up to £1,500) if you elect to cancel after 12 hours delay on the outward trip from the UK. Policy Excess £75 (b) only.

MISSED DEPARTURE up to

£500

Additional travel and accommodation expenses incurred to enable you to reach your overseas destination if you arrive too late at your final UK outward departure point due to failure of the vehicle in which you are travelling to deliver you to the departure point caused by adverse weather, strike, industrial action, mechanical breakdown or accident to the vehicle. No Policy Excess.

PERSONAL LIABILITY up to

£2,000,000

Covers your legal liability for injury or damage to other people or their property, including legal expenses (subject to the laws of England and Wales). Policy Excess £250.

LEGAL EXPENSES up to

£25,000

To enable you to pursue your rights against a third party following injury. No Policy Excess.

MAIN EXCLUSIONS AND CONDITIONS

Medical Screening

The following represents only the main exclusions. The policy document sets out all of the conditions and exclusions. A copy of the full policy wording is available on request in writing prior to application.

Unless you are traveling to North or Central America or the Caribbean or on a Cruise, there is no need to advise us of your pre existing medical conditions. Please note that we consider a Cruise to be any international sailing or sea voyage travelling international waters but not River Trips.

MAIN HEALTH EXCLUSIONS: Insurers will not pay for claims arising 1. Where You (or any person upon whose health the Trip depends) are undergoing tests for the presence of a medical condition receiving or on a waiting list for or have knowledge of the need for treatment at a hospital or nursing home. 2. From any terminal illness suffered by You (or any person upon whose health the Trip depends). 3. From any medical condition for which You (or any person upon whose health the Trip depends) have within 12 months prior to the date of issue of this insurance been diagnosed with a medical condition or have been admitted or undergone a procedure/ intervention in a hospital. 4. If You are traveling against the advice of a Medical Practitioner.

OTHER GENERAL EXCLUSIONS Claims arising from 1. Winter sports, any hazardous pursuits, any work of a non sedentary nature. 2. Self inflicted injury or illness, suicide, alcoholism or drug abuse, sexual disease. 3. War, invasion, acts of foreign enemies, hostilities or warlike operations, civil war, rebellion, Terrorism, revolution, insurrection, civil commotion, military or usurped power but this exclusion shall not apply to losses under Section 3 - Medical Expenses unless such losses are caused by nuclear, chemical or biological attack, or the disturbances were already taking place at the beginning of any Trip. 4. Failure or fear of failure or inability of any equipment or any computer program. 5. Consequential loss of any kind. 6. Bankruptcy/liquidation of any tour operator, travel agent, airline, transportation company or accommodation supplier. 7. Travelling to countries or regions where the FCO or WHO has advised against travel. 8. Your failure to contact the Medical Screening Line where required.

POLICY EXCESSES: The amount of each claim for which insurers will not pay and for which you are responsible. The excess as noted in the policy summary applies to each and every claim per insured person under each section where an excess applies.

If You have a history of any medical condition and are traveling to North or Central America or the Caribbean or on a Cruise, you must first contact the Medical Screening Line to establish whether we can provide cover for your trip. If you are accepted, the following levels of excess will apply. You will receive written confirmation that you are covered for the trip. The number to call is:

0844 8921698 If you are not accepted for cover having been screened, we may be able to offer you cover under our Single Trip “PLUS” product. Please ask us for further details or go to our website.

Increased Excess for Pre Existing Medical Conditions Provision for the acceptance of pre existing medical conditions has been made by the application of increased excesses in the event of claims arising. For claims arising from any medical condition, other than those that are specifically excluded, the excess is further increased as follows: Under the Cancellation or Curtailment section – double the normal excess. Under the Medical & Other Expenses section – For persons aged 60 years or less the excess is increased to £500 unless travelling within North or Central America or the Caribbean or on a Cruise when increased to £1,000. For persons aged 61 to 70 years the excess is increased to £1,000 unless travelling within North or Central America or the Caribbean or on a Cruise when increased to £2,000. For persons aged 71 to 90 years the excess is increased to £1,500 unless travelling within North or Central America or the Caribbean or on a Cruise when increased to £3,000. MEMBER OF THE

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travel insurance is arranged by Global Travel Insurance Services Ltd who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and our status can be checked on the FSA Register by visiting www.fsa.gov.uk/register or by contacting the FSA on 0845 606 1234.

Single Trip Travel Insurance Suitable for individual round trips up to 122 days duration that start and finish in the UK arranged by

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1. United Kingdom England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, including all islands comprising the British Isles (except the Channel Islands and the Republic of Ireland). (Any British Isles or UK Cruises are rated as Area 2). 2. Europe Area 1 and Continental Europe west of the Ural mountain range, all countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea (except, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya & Syria), the Channel Islands and the Republic of Ireland, Iceland, Madeira, The Canaries and The Azores. (Persons residing in the Channel Islands need to pay Area 2 rates for UK trips). 3. Worldwide excluding North America Areas 1 & 2 and All countries outside of the above (except the continent of North America, countries comprising Central America and the Caribbean Islands). 4. Worldwide including North America Areas 1,2 & 3 and The United States of America, Mexico and other countries comprising Central America, Canada, Cuba and the Caribbean Islands.

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SCHEDULE OF PREMIUMS Valid for policies issued up to 31/3/2012 and for travel completed by 31/12/2012. Areas 1 & 2 - Applicable per person up to age 90 years on the date of return to the UK. Areas 3 & 4 - Applicable per person up to age 80 years on the date of return to the UK.

1 - 3 days 4 & 5 days 6 -10 days 11-17 days 18-24 days 25-31 days Each + 7 days or part thereof

Mr Bridge

Area 1 Area 2 Area 3 Area 4 £15.60 £23.80 £49.90 £71.90 £18.70 £30.00 £62.70 £90.40 £21.80 £40.40 £85.10 £121.80 £24.90 £44.20 £94.60 £136.30 £28.00 £50.80 £106.50 £153.40 £31.10 £57.80 £121.20 £174.50 £5.60 £11.40 call for a quotation (maximum period of 122 days)

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3

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4

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5

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6

£

Credit/Debit Card Details

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Security Code

All premiums include the Government Insurance Premium Tax (IPT)

DECLARATION

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On behalf of all persons listed in this application, I agree that this application shall be the basis of the Contract of Insurance. I agree that Insurers may exchange information with other Insurers or their agents. I have read and understood the terms and conditions of the insurance, with which all persons above are in agreement and for whom I am authorized to sign. The form MUST be signed by one of the persons to be insured on behalf of all persons to be insured.

All age adjustments apply to the age on the date of return to the UK The following adjustments apply ONLY to trips in excess of 31 days for all persons aged 65 years and over Geographical Area Area 2 Europe

Premium Increase Plus 50% (1.5 times)

Infants up to 2 years inclusive are FREE subject to being included with an adult paying a full premium.

Signed ............................................................. Date....................... The form MUST be signed by one of the persons to be insured on behalf of all persons to be insured.

Children 3 to 16 years inclusive are HALF PRICE subject to being included with an adult paying a full premium. Unaccompanied children pay the adult rate.

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Group Discounts – Contact us for discounts available starting at 10 persons.

239STI11

Julian Pottage answers your bridge questions

How Do You Handle Nine Cards Missing the Queen?

Q

You have nine cards between the two hands, A-J-10-x-x opposite K-9-x-x and no help from the opposing bidding. You lead the jack putting up the king when LHO does not cover; on the next round, do you finesse or play for the drop? ‘Eight ever, nine never’ says to play for the drop. Statistics say a 2-2 split happens 40% and 3-1 splits happen 50%. What should you do? Ashley Nicklin, Southend-on-Sea.

A

Although you are right that the chance of a 3-1 break is 50% and the chance of a 2-2 break is 40%, this is not the whole story. One time in four when the suit is 3-1, the queen will drop on the first round. When the queen does not appear, you can exclude the cases when the queen is singleton. Three quarters of 50% is 37.5%, reducing it below the 40% chance of a 2-2 break. Play for the drop. Another way to look at is this. When you have played one round of the suit and half of the second round, you

have seen all of the three small cards, two from one opponent and one from the other. One opponent has eleven other cards, the other opponent has twelve. Clearly, the opponent who has twelve other cards has more room for the missing queen than the player with only eleven other cards.

®©™´

Q

What is the best way of trying to find a fit with 4441 hands when partner opens 1NT? John Morley by email (similar from A Client).

A

With at least 11 points, you can use Stayman and rebid 2NT or 3NT as appropriate if you do not find a fit. Partner, if holding no four-card major, will often have your short suit covered, especially if it is a minor. With strong hands (i.e. worth a game force) you may be able to do better, giving yourself a chance to find a fit in a minor, which may be useful when your shortage is in one of the majors. For example, if you play that 1NT-2´ is a raise to 2NT, you can add a strong option. If you bid a suit after partner’s 2NT/3®, that shows a four-card suit looking for a fit.

®©™´

Unless you are weak and short in a major, you can use Stayman and find a 4-4 major fit whenever you have one. With a weak hand short in clubs, you bid 2® and pass next time whatever partner does. With a weak hand short in diamonds, assuming you play that 1NT-2®-2©-2™ asks opener to correct to 2´ with 3-2 in the majors, you can do that. At worst, you finish in a 4-3 fit; often you will find a 4-4 fit.

Q

Playing Precision (13-15 1NT), I was third in hand, green versus red and held:

´ ™ © ®

J7 KJ6 Q J 10 4 Q J 10 9

I did not like the doubleton jack of spades and valued the hand at

Page 44

10 HCP. However, borrowing a king from partner’s hand would give me 13. At the table, I opened 1©, planning to rebid 1NT to show 11-12. Alun Williams, Anglesey.

A

Firstly, you do not need to say ‘green versus red’. Green suffices to say that only the other side is vulnerable – white is the colour to refer to love all. Secondly, the rule about borrowing a king applies to a different situation – when an opponent opens and the next two players pass. Notwithstanding that, some players do open lighter in third seat, though generally not with no-trump bids. Thirdly, if you downgrade your hand because of the poor spade holding, you should also upgrade because of the good intermediate cards in the minors. These support your queen-jack combinations there and are certainly worth a point. Your original assessment, that the hand is good enough for a Precision 1© but not good enough for 13-15 1NT, seems spot on to me.

Ask Julian

Q

continued

Playing a weak no-trump and Stayman I held:

´ ™ © ®

AK 64 10 9 8 5 4 2 AJ9

Me Partner 1NT 2® 2™ 3NT 4´ End

4´ went two off while 3NT was cold for an overtrick. My first thought was to bid 3NT earlier, though the hearts were a concern. What should have happened? Warren Bagust, London W4 (similar from Ken Walsh, Cardiff).

A

You should have gone with your first thought. If you do not play in 3NT, the only alterative is to play in diamonds. It is most unlikely that 5© is a better contract than 3NT. Besides, if you were thinking of playing in diamonds, you would have bid 3© rather than 2®. Partner has bid notrumps and will have the lead coming up to whatever he has in hearts (if they lead a heart). The heart suit is your partner’s worry, not yours. Stayman is both an asking bid and a telling bid. Think of it like saying ‘what do you think of getting together in a four-four fit in one of the majors’? Such a fit can exist only if you hold a four-card major yourself. A man would only get down on one knee and ask his girlfriend whether she would like to marry him if

he wanted to marry her. It would be wrong for him to do so purely out of curiosity. It is the same with Stayman. You are proposing that you play in a major if a major-suit fit exists. You should not make such a proposal if you never intend to play in a major. There is one common exception to the above. Some play that with a weak hand with clubs, you can bid 2® and follow with 3® to show clubs only but not a major. Here, you do not have a weak hand or long clubs, so the exception does not apply.

®©™´

Q

Is it always clear when a call of the opponents’ suit is an unassuming cue bid? Hugh Ball, Eastbourne.

A

Pairs who play unassuming cue bids usually use them in only two situations – (i) Your first call after an opponent opens and your partner overcalls:

®©™´

Q

Is there a satisfactory discardsignalling system for no-trump defending? Philip Hodgson, Coventry.

A

card the higher. One benefit to this method (and revolving discards) is that you can give a positive message without having to reduce either the length or strength of the suit you want. The way you have worded your question suggests this may appeal to you.

No method is perfect, which is why there are so many around. You do not always have the right card spare to convey the right message. If you play that a high card encourages and a low card discourages, you are doing the same as you would when following suit. This method has the merit of simplicity. You may hear this called natural or Held discards, Held standing for High Encouraging Low discouraging. Technically, it is better to play reverse attitude, with the low card to encourage and a high card to discourage, though this idea has yet to catch on widely. The main alternative is some sort of suit preference discards, McKenney being the most common (though again not the best from a technical viewpoint). With McKenney, you do not ask for the suit you discard. Instead, a low card asks for the lower of the other two suits and a high

West North 1© 2©

East 1´

South Pass

(ii) Your first call after partner opens and an opponent overcalls: West North

East 1©

South 1´

2´

Other bids of the opposing suit would not necessarily promise support for partner. depending upon the circumstances, they might ask for a stopper or have a variety of different meanings.

®©™´

Q

Please tell me about reverse bids – bidding a minor suit first then a major – you open 1©, partner responds 1´ and you rebid 2™. I understand this is a reverse and you need 16 or more points for it.

Page 45

Melvyn Jefferies, Padbury, Buckinghamshire.

A

Yes, if, in a simple sequence, you bid a lower-ranking suit followed by a new higherranking suit in such a way that partner cannot give preference to your first suit at the two level, this is a reverse. Although the first suit is always longer, a reverse need not be a minor followed by a major. If you open 1® and rebid 2© or you open 1™ and rebid 2´, this is also a reverse. Since you might have a very good hand when you reverse, it is usual to play a reverse as forcing for at least one round. It is the fact that you cannot usually stop at the two level that dictates the need to have extra values for the bid.

®©™´

Q

With 12 HCP and ©A-Q-x-x, I opened 1NT. My partner responded 3©, forcing with diamonds. I raised to 5© and we ended in 7©. Some suggested that I had not bid high enough. Ken Wicks, Morden, Surrey.

A

Usually, you would rebid 3NT (with stoppers in both majors but little interest in a slam), 4© (with interest in a diamond slam) or three of a major with strength in that major. I am a little confused and do not see how you could possibly bid any more than 5© or how you could have ended up higher than a grand slam. Since a raise to 4© would be forcing, a jump to 5© should be very rare and carry a specific message, such as good trumps but poor controls outside (no ace and probably no king either).

Ask Julian

Q

continued

Please can you explain how the losing trick count

works? Mike Hayfield, Walsall.

A

The losing trick count is a great way of valuing your hand once you have established that your side has a fit. In each suit, you count a maximum of 3 losers, fewer if you have fewer than 3 cards in the suit. You also deduct losers for aces, kings and (usually) queens. Suppose you hold:

´ ™ © ®

K9542 AQ7 93 A 10 2

In hearts, you have only 1 loser. In each of the other three suits, you have two losers. This means you have 7 losers in total. Having seven is typical for a minimum opening bid. Suppose partner holds:

´ ™ © ®

QJ86 K 10 4 J2 KQ84

Partner has 1 loser in clubs and 2 losers in each of the other suits, giving 7 losers also. Now comes the clever bit. To work out how many tricks the partnership can make, you add the losers for the two hands together and deduct the total from 24. 7 + 7 = 14 and 24 - 14 = 10. This means you can make 10 tricks, which as you can see is exactly right – in

4´, you would lose two diamonds and the ´A. If you want to know more, Bernard Magee's Better Hand Evaluation is a good book on the subject.

®©™´

Q

Assuming a good 5-card suit, what range of points does one need to overcall at the one and two level? Michael Garnett by email.

A

You ask a very good question. The upper limit is the easier to quantify. If the hand is too good for a 1NT overcall, it is too good for a suit overcall. So about 17 or 18 points is the upper limit. The lower limit is partly a question of style. For onelevel overcalls, my usual rule is to ask what I would have responded had partner opened one of a suit that ranks above my suit. If I would have responded 1NT, the hand is too weak for an overcall. If I would have bid my suit at the two level, the hand is good enough for one-level overcall. If the opening is 1® or 1©, the first hand is a maximum and the second is a minimum for a 1™ overcall:

´ ™ © ®

K4 AQ874 QJ4 AJ9

minimum overcall, suit quality is paramount. At the two level, the minimum strength is higher. You need an opening bid or close thereto; also, having only five cards in your suit is a flaw for a two-level overcall – often you will have six cards. The second hand above would not be good enough to bid 2™ if they open 1´.

®©™´

Q

At Game All, West has opened 1™. What should North bid with this?

´ ™ © ®

AK6 A93 10 765432

Keith Boothby, Buxton.

A

If you read my column regularly, you will know that I often recommend taking account of suit quality. However, on this occasion, I really cannot see a sensible alternative to overcalling 2®. You do after all have opening bid values, a six-card suit and a singleton. Given the low rank of the club suit, it is likely that if you tried passing on this round the bidding would be too high for you to bid your suit at the two level on the next round.

®©™´

´ ™ © ®

96 AQ874 QJ2 974

Q

Declarer reached a dreadful 3NT. On lead, I had ®K-10-9-6-5 and led the ten.  Dummy came down

Some overcall more aggressively than this when not vulnerable. For a

with a void in clubs! My partner held ®A-J-8-7-4 and played the seven, allowing the contract to make. My lead of the 10 confused partner, who said that if I had led fourth highest he would have played the ace.  John Anderson, New Zealand.

A

The standard lead from your holding is the 10. Perhaps your partner could not believe your holding from the bidding. The golden rule here is to trust partner rather than the opponents. Some play 'strong tens' in which case it would be clear that you have the king or the queen with the 10-9.

®©™´

Q

Is it advisable to use a strong club opening as part of standard Acol? Helen Blenkinsop, Cheltenham.

A

If you play a strong one club opening, you cannot call it Acol. If you play that a one club opening shows a strong hand and has nothing to with clubs, you need another opening bid to show clubs (typically 2®). Playing a strong one club certainly has its advantages, but you cannot simply add a strong one club opening to a natural system and expect everything else to fall into place. Precision is the most common strong one club system. Meckstroth-Rodwell, widely regarded as the best pair in the world, play a form of n Precision.

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

Page 46

SUMMER

2012

Summer 2012 cruises

CRUISES

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DISCOVERY CLUB CLUB ME MEMBERS MBERS SAVE SAVE AN EXTRA 10% UNTIL 31ST MAY MAY 2011

BA ALTIC LTIC IC CONS ONS

May 11, 2012 ~ 16 days

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May 26, 2012 ~ 11 days

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June 5, 2012 ~ 9 days

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June 13, 2012 ~ 16 days

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June 28, 2012 ~ 15 days

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July 12, 2012 ~ 14 days

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A NORDIC ORDIC and and WH HITE ITE SE EA A ADVENTURE DVENTURE

July 25, 2012 ~ 20 days

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Fares From

£1,549pp £1,099pp £899pp £1,749pp £1,649pp £1,499pp £2,199pp

August 13, 2012 ~ 13 days

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August 25, 2012 ~ 10 days

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TIIMELESS MELESS BA ALTIC LTIC

£1,049pp

September 3, 2012 ~ 15 days

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VO OYAGE YAGE tto o tthe he ME EDITERRANEAN DITERRANEAN

September 17, 2012 ~ 8 days

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September 24, 2012 ~ 12 days

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AD DRIATIC RIATIC and and AE EGEAN GEAN ODYSSEY DYSSEY

October 5, 2012 ~ 15 days

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BLLACK ACK SE EA A EX XPLORER PLORER

October 19, 2012 ~ 12 days

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October 30, 2012 ~ 13 days

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£699pp £1,449pp

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Further combinations and grand voyages voyages available available ~ please call for details

0 01483 1483 4 489961 89961 ffor or b brochures rochures and and booking bookkiing ww www www.bridgecruises.co.uk ww bri ridge gecr crui ruises co uk

Fares shown are per person based on two people sharing lowest twin-bedded cabin category currently urrently aavailable, vailable, are are subject subject to to availability availability and and include include all all applicable applicable discounts discounts including including savings savings as as shown shown on on selected selected cabin cabin hure fare fare and and apply apply to to Guarantee Guarantee Fare, Fare, where where cabin cabin number number may may not not be be allocated allocated at at time time of of booking. booking. Fares Fares shown shown include include categories where applicable, for new bookings only. Savings shown are based against full brochure current fuel supplements correct at time of printing, but subject to change. All offers are subjectt ttoo aavailability, vailability, ccannot annot bbee ccombined ombined w with ith aany ny oother ther ooffer ffer oorr lloyalty oyalty ooffer, ffer, are are capacity capacity controlled controlled and and may may be be withdrawn withdrawn at at any any WWLPHA2QÁ\FUXLVHVÁLJKWVIURP0DQFKHVWHULQFXUD…SSVXSSOHPHQW…SSHDFKZD\ 6HHEURFKXUHIRUIXOOWHUPVDQGFRQGLWLRQV2QO\ERRNLQJVPDGHGLUHFWO\ZLWK0U%ULGJHDUHHOLJLEOHWREHSDUWRIWKH0U%ULGJH LPHA2QÁ\FU XLVHVÁLJKWVIURP0DQFKHVWHULQFXUD…SSVXSSOHPHQW…SSHDFKZD\ 6HHEURFKXUHIRUIXOOWHUPVDQGFRQGLWLRQV2QO\ERRNLQJVPDGHGLUHFWO\ZLWK0U%ULGJHDUHHOLJLEOHWREHSDU WRIWKH0U%ULGJH * *URXS 7KRVHZLVKLQJWRSOD\HYHQLQJEULGJHSOHDVHQRWHWKDWWKHUHLVDEULGJHVXSSOHPHQWRI…SHUEULGJHSOD\HUWREHFRQÀUPHGDWWKHWLPHRIERRNLQJ9R\DJHVRI'LVFRYHU\LVDWUDGLQJQDPHRI$OO/HLVXUH+ROLGD\V URXS 7KRVHZLVKLQJWRSOD\HYHQLQJEULGJHSOHDVHQRWHWKDWWKHUHLVDEULGJHVXSSOHPHQWRI…SHUEULGJHSOD\HUWREHFRQÀUPHGDWWKHWLPHRIERRNLQJ9R\DJHVRI'LVFRYHU \LVDWUDGLQJQDPHRI$OO/HLVXUH+ROLGD\V

NEW VERSION

Q PLUS 10 Really user-friendly bridge-playing software

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Improvement over two years from version 9

Extra 500 preplayed hands for match-point pairs making 4,000 in all

Extra 500 preplayed hands for teams making 5,000 in all

Minibridge option

Displays on HD screen & supports large screens

Updated comprehensive manual

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Pentium or equivalent

CD-ROM

8mb RAM

SYSTEM

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New save match function

NEW FEATURES

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Save deals with automatic file labelling

£86 and send to: Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH

including post and packing

Windows XP, Vista or 7

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Closed room – new button to view other table

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Make your cheque payable to

( 01483 489961 www.mrbridge.co.uk/mrbridge-shop Fax 01483 797302

BRIDGE

If undelivered or unwanted kindly return to Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey, GU21 2TH

QPLUS TRADE-IN OFFER

Return any QPLUS CD and booklet with a cheque for £35 and receive the latest version of wonderful QPLUS Bridge.

Order with absolute confidence.

SECOND HAND OFFER

I still have some clean copies of QPlus 8.8 that I have previously accepted in part exchange for the latest version.

Excellent value at only £56.