Scottish Bridge

The Official Magazine of the Scottish Bridge Union April 2020

Bill Ross (player profile page 21) CONTENT Issue 117

Editorial 2 Ruffing Fresh Air John Matheson 3 Thorny Roses 4 Camrose Weekend 2 6 Defending Against Slams John Matheson 7 Junior Camrose Ronan Valentine / Liam O-Brien 9 Pressure Decisions John Matheson 15 European Open Trial Finale Iain Sime 16 The 30 point part score Paul Gipson 19 Pressure Play Ben Norton 20 Player profile Bill Ross 21 Keep Bridge Alive Pro-am Joan Forsyth 24 At the Buchanan Club Carl Dickel 26p Play Challenge Jim Patrick 27 Bronze Section 28 Standard System File 28 Bidding Quiz 29 Conventions 30 Play Problems 31 Improvers Bidding Challenge 19 Russell Frame 32 January Panel Answers 33 A First for Powmill Bridge Club Catherine Pirrett 35 Pairs at the Club Brian D Short 36 The Night of… Part 2 Paul Gipson 38 Play Challenge Solutions Jim Patrick 41 Middle for Diddle David Kaye 42 Better Behaviour 44 July Peebles Hydro Bidding Panel Patrick Shields 45 Panel Answers 54 April Problems 55 Crossword 56 Master Point Promotions 58 The Editor of the SBN is Liz McGowan, 23 Blackford Road, Edinburgh EH9 2DT Email: [email protected]

1 Scottish Bridge News Editorial ______

The Covid-19 restrictions on daily life are publishing them in the magazine and online; affecting us all. Bridge clubs have closed, chasing up your panel for answers and and National and District events are opinions and writing the article based on postponed for the foreseeable future. I am these; dealing with the entries and sure we are all missing our Bridge Fix, not allocating scores; sending your articles to least for the social contact that bridge offers. the editor and the website; and repeat. But Many of us fall into the ‘vulnerable’ age just four times a year. If you fancy the category, but it was heartening to hear of the challenge, or know just the person for the younger members of the Melville Bridge job, please contact the editor. Club who offered help with shopping and While in London I fell heir to some very old dog-walking. I am confident that other clubs Journals, courtesy of Kay will also look after their members where and Norman Selway. They are the source of they can. We should keep our social the historical piece on the Buchanan Bridge network functioning, so do not be afraid to Club by the late Carl Dickel. Expect further talk to one another on social media. strolls down memory lane in later editions. We hope that the magazine will provide And it was good to hear from Powmill Club some entertainment, and that you can get in Strathaven that their club is thriving. hold of it. But what content shall we have in the next This issue covers lots of major events that edition? The European Championships took place before the shutdown: two scheduled for Madeira in June will be Camrose weekends; our Juniors’ triumph in postponed, and there are no local events to the Junior Camrose; Trials for the Open cover. Please consider using some of your European Championships; the Winter free time to write about your personal Foursomes; and the Keep Bridge Alive Pro- bridge experiences – a special deal, an am in London. The latter was well attended amusing episode, memories of people who by Scottish players. Many of our Juniors are no longer with us – anything that is were present, smartly turned out in kilts for worth remembering but might be forgotten. the occasion. Joan Forsyth, our President We shall be very grateful to receive your elect, gives an entertaining account of a contributions, preferably by 1st June. very special event. While you are at it, why not complete the As ever, I am grateful for the contributions Crossword, and have a go at the Bidding from our regulars. In particular, I would like Competition? You can email your answers to thank Russell Frame, who has run the to the editor, who promises to acknowledge popular Improvers Bidding Challenge since their receipt. its inception. He reckons that five years is As we go to print British Summer Time enough, so plans to retire after his 20th begins. Let us hope this marks the challenge in July. Not an easy act to follow, beginning of the end of the pandemic. but we need a volunteer! The work involves Meantime keep well and stay safe. selecting four bidding problems and

2 The actual lead at the table was the 4, Ruffing Fresh Air which should have simplified matters. John Matheson Three rounds of trumps can be drawn followed by Ace and another spade. East The first Camrose weekend was held in has no defence: if he ducks the ♠8 declarer Edinburgh on January 10th – 12th. Scotland can later concede a spade and one; if he started well but had a poor Sunday against covers with the ♠J declarer wins the King the strong teams. There were a lot of wild and returns the Ten to the Queen. Dummy distributions requiring good technique to still has a to establish the suit. overcome them. These three hands all have a similar theme. (They have been rotated The Welsh declarer erred. He cashed only through 180° for convenience.) two trumps before playing the ♠A. West ruffed and 6♣ could no longer be made. Match 1 v Wales 2 Match 4 v Ireland Board 27 ♠A8 NS Vul A63 Dealer W ♠AT9852 None Vul 9632 Q87 Dealer N ♣AK74 AT4 ♠- ♠QJ754 ♣3 N ♠KJ7 ♠Q64 KQT852 J974 N W E 96 542 K874 JT5 W E S KQ87 9 ♣852 ♣9 S ♠KT9632 ♣9752 ♣AKJT84 - ♠3 AQ AKJT3 ♣QJT63 J6532 ♣Q6 WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH 1 1NT 3 4♠ WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH 5 Dbl Pass 6♣ 1♠ 3♣ 3 End 4♣ 4 End On the lead of the K a classic style West led the ♣7. East won the King and prevails. Play small from dummy and ruff returned the 9 to the Queen and Ace. The in hand. If anyone is in spades, it is best single dummy line is to play a trump to West. Leading a low spade at trick 2 puts it hand, ruff the ♣Q and draw two more to him. If he ruffs fresh air we can draw two rounds of trumps. Declarer has the to rounds of trumps, set up the spades with two give West his two diamond tricks, with the ruffs and discard the Q on the A. long diamond as the tenth trick. Whenever hearts are 3-2, this succeeds. If West discards on the spade – often the better option – we win the Ace and follow At the table South played the T at trick 3. with the ♠8. East will split his honours and East discarded a club and West won the we . We now can arrange to ruff two of King. There was now no defence. After a our small spades in dummy, again making club ruff in dummy the 4 catches East in our slam. Tackling the side suit first is the “ruff fresh air” dilemma. commonly the best line. With spades 3-3 and a fortunate heart position 4 can always be made. (If East

3 ruffs the T at trick 3 and returns a trump Scotland NS declarer has to switch horses and set up WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH spades to make.) However, East may have 3♠ 4 * been 4=2=1=6. Now he defeats the adopted Pass 4♠ Pass 5 line by ruffing the T and playing his last Pass Pass Dbl trump. In this scenario ruffing the Ten is not End ruffing fresh air as it is an important trick- *4 = Non-, + building card. When West comes in with the 8 another trump sinks the contract. This was a weird example of ruffing fresh air. The J was led to the Queen and ruffed. Match 5 v England Board 8 East returned the ♠7, hoping to put his ♠863 None Vul partner in for another heart ruff. The Q6 Dealer E Scottish declarer won the singleton King! If A64 he now follows Hydes’ line he makes 5 ♣AT764 doubled. Unfortunately he muddled the ♠T52 ♠AQJ974 play, ending two down. N KJT842 - W E The whole weekend was great experience, J2 875 S especially for our younger team members ♣52 ♣Q983 competing against the world class players of ♠K England and Ireland. A9753

KQT93 ♣KJ Thorny Roses England NS The first Camrose weekend was a triumph for the English team: they scored an WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH amazing 90.5 VP out of a possible 100. 1♠ 2♠* Pass 2NT* Pass 3♠* This does not mean that they played perfect Pass 4 Pass 5 bridge – there is no such thing. There were End some interesting moments where imps were lost. But they consistently out-thought and *2♠ = : s + a minor out-played the opposition. *2NT = enquiry Winning bridge requires some *3♠ = strong with spade shortage. unpredictability, even the occasional rank bad call or play. South for England was Alex Hydes, one of the best dummy handlers in the country. ♠A Partnering Ben Handley-Pritchard he J854 finished a close second in the English Open QJ72 European trials, qualifying them for ♣KT96 Madeira. Even he could not make this Artur Malinowski heard RHO open 1 in contract. A spade to the Ace and another third seat. His 1 surely fails the spade was ruffed. He ran the ♣J to the Suit Quality Test. But LHO bid 1♠, partner Queen. He made one heart trick, five made a pre-emptive raise, and opponents diamonds and four clubs for one down. allowed themselves to be pushed to 3♠-1. He gained 4 imps.

4 ♠3 Texas, showing spades, so he opened 5 AJ87 and went quietly two down. T9432 Scotland’s West bid an ineffective 1 . Tom ♣Q76 Townsend made a light double with his perfect shape, and insisted David Bakhshi was second to call when he on game. East doubled 5♣ – partner had picked up this collection. RHO opened a opened the bidding after all – but there is no potentially short club and he overcalled a defence. West led two top diamonds and truly horrible 1 . His partner made an declarer ruffed high, cashed the ♣A and led unassuming cuebid, then raised his 2 sign- a spade from dummy. East won and off to 3 . Scotland made an ill-advised returned a spade. When the Ten dropped double, since 3 was unbeatable, but under the King Bakhshi drew trump ending Bakhshi may have felt too ashamed to net +530. He failed to spot the winning line and in dummy and took a ruffing spade went one down, losing 6 imps instead of to establish a discard for his last diamond. It looks better to duck the spade, but declarer gaining 9. can still make: he ruffs his last diamond This was the last board of the event. high and the ♣9 for his contract. Match 5 Board 32 Alex Hydes found a different opening bid: ♠J952 EW Vul WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH QT98 Dealer W 1♣(!) Pass 2 * Pass 9 3NT End ♣AQJ4 2 * = 5 spades, 4 hearts, 6-9HCP ♠T7 ♠AQ864 N The auction panned out perfectly for him. 52 J743 W E North led the T and the defenders cashed AKQJT853 6 S 3 heart tricks. Double Dummy we can all ♣5 ♣T76 invent reasons for South to do the right ♠K3 thing, but it is really hard to blame him for AK6 switching to a diamond. Hydes claimed 9 742 tricks. The double game swing gave ♣K9832 England 15 imps. What should West open? Three Wests chose an old-fashioned Gambling 3NT. One East ignored the Positions after Weekend 1 vulnerability and passed! North led the ♣A, 1 ENGLAND 90.5 partner encouraged, and the defence made 2 IRELAND 66.14 the first 8 tricks for +400. The other Easts 3 SCOTLAND 52.37 bid a sensible 4♣ and West duly converted 4 WALES 39.43 to diamonds. North doubled for takeout, and 5 N IRELAND 30.18 South passed, collecting 200 for one down. 6 NIBU 19.38 The other Wests did not have a Gambling (Eagle-eyed readers will spot that these 3NT available. Their choice would appear scores do not total the expected 300. Wales to be between 4 and 5 . For Ireland’s Nick were fined 1VP for late arrival, and Fitzgibbon 4 would be South African Scotland 1VP for slow play.)

5 but East continued clubs and the aggressive Camrose Weekend 2 Welsh bidding was rewarded with a score of England sent out a new team for the second +750 and 12imps. weekend in Belfast. Losing to Ireland in Match 1 meant they were unable to maintain Match 3 v N Ireland Board 10 their 90% record, so they settled for just ♠T743 All Vul over 70%. Scotland had a dismal time of it, J642 Dealer E losing to everybody except NIBU. 84 Particularly dismal was our Penalty Double ♣JT7 ♠K95 ♠Q86 record. Most of our doubles were of N KT87 AQ93 contracts that could not be beaten, but there W E 653 QT2 were a couple that got away. S ♣984 ♣A52 Match 4 v Wales Board 18 ♠AJ2 ♠AKJ93 NS Vul 5 942 Dealer E AKJ97 A52 ♣KQ63 ♣Q9 ♠642 ♠Q87 WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH N Q5 KJ63 1NT Dbl W E J9876 Q4 End S ♣K64 ♣A832 South doubled the weak 1NT and, as often ♠T5 happens, North had no choice but to cross AT87 his fingers and Pass. KT3 South led the K, asking for a count ♣JT75 and North showed a doubleton. South

knows partner has 2-4HCP, but does he WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH have an ? One South tried the ♣Q, 1♣ Pass asking for an attitude signal. North might 1♠* Dbl Pass 1NT Pass 3NT Pass Pass drop ♣J, promising the Ten, but that allows Dbl End declarer to win the Ace at the right time to keep him off lead. Still, a club continuation West’s response to the short club was a likely holds declarer to 7 tricks. North transfer that denied a 4+card Major, and his actually played the ♣7, hoping South could double respected partner’s opening bid. read that as an encouraging, card. Now a He led a diamond to the Queen and King, low club continuation creates an entry for and declarer ran the ♠T to East’s ♠Q. A North to lead a diamond through and hold diamond return nets 500, a 12imp gain declarer to 5 tricks. A really tough defence when your other pair have stopped sensibly to find. in 2♠. But West had chosen the 9 as his In real life both Souths cleared diamonds, lead, persuading partner that he did not have hoping that partner’s values were in hearts. an honour. East switched to a heart, ducked Now declarer could cash 4 hearts and to the Queen. A heart return establishes a establish a spade for 7 tricks, and when fifth defensive trick for 200 and a 7imp South threw spades he made an overtrick. gain. But West switched to ♣4 to the Ace. -380 was a flat board. It is not yet too late for the diamond return, 6 discarding two clubs, as West ruffed the Defending Against Slams third round. The Northern Irish player John Matheson started on diamonds immediately, at trick The second weekend of the 2020 Camrose two. West ruffed the third round with the trophy was held near Belfast on 6-8 March. T and was over-ruffed by the A. A spade I was watching avidly on BBO. The to the Jack and Queen led to minus 1. following two deals illustrate important I much prefer the Scottish line. At trick 7 points about defending slams. West returned .K which was ruffed, East Match 3 v N Ireland Board 13 contributing the four. I shall now focus on the defence. ♠A98763 All Vul K96 Dealer N East knows that declarer has 3 more trumps, 3 and the defence will come under pressure ♣A95 when he cashes them. He constructs North’s ♠QT4 ♠52 hand. He is known to be 6=3=1=3 and must N T843 Q72 have the K. W E 94 JT862 S At trick 8 declarer plays a trump on which ♣KQ86 ♣JT4 East and dummy discard diamonds leaving ♠KJ this position. AJ5 AKQ75 ♠63 All Vul ♣732 K96 Dealer N - WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH ♣- ♠- ♠- 1 Pass 2 N T84 Q72 Pass 2 Pass 2NT W E - J Pass 3 Pass 4. S Pass 4 Pass 4NT ♣Q8 ♣T Pass 5 Pass 6 ♠- End AJ5 7 I am pleased to report that the only pair to ♣7 bid and make this decent 6 was Scottish. On the next trump how does East discard? I am not sure of their full understandings. Obviously he must keep the J. Expert Even in 2 over 1 it was a difficult hand to defenders will realise he cannot let go his bid, especially if 2 promised only five club, since that would set up a double cards. Two of the other pairs were down in squeeze for declarer. (If the club goes, 5 is 6NT, a very poor contract, and two pairs thrown from dummy. East is down to his played in game. three hearts and the J, West has three Northern Ireland also bid 6. Both hearts and a winning club. The last trump declarers received the .J lead, won with the squeezes East out of a heart. Dummy can Ace. now pitch 7 and since West has to keep a club he must come down to two hearts also. The Scottish declarer played a spade to the A heart to the Ace and J to the K leaves King and the J covered by the Queen and North with a winning heart.) Ace. He then started on diamonds,

7 To give the defence a chance at trick 9 East In the Closed Room in our match West has to keep his club and diamond coming settled for 5 over 5 . We lost 13 imps down to Qx. If North has the T there is a when our West judged better! very good chance that he will score his To be fair it is quite close, but I prefer 6 to Queen. 5. Some very sophisticated partnerships Match 3 v N Ireland Board 25 solve this dilemma by employing forcing ♠654 EW Vul passes (FP), at this vulnerability only, on AKJ853 Dealer N this type of sequence. 8652 Eg 3 bid* 5 ? ♣- *bid = any one of Dbl, 3, 4 , 4 ♠J9873 ♠AKQ N 6 42 If we have agreed FP applies here, I pass. W E AKQ3 J97 Partner must bid. He doubles and I go 5, S ♣A87 ♣KQ53 inviting 6. The actual East hand bids the ♠T slam. This is known as “Pass and Pull”. QT97 If West had, say, JT9753 6 KQT4 .A8 T4 he bids 5 immediately over 5 . East has ♣JT9642 not been invited to slam and bids on only

with an exceptional hand. WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH 3 Dbl 5 6♠ Dbl End In the same match Scotland had wretched Second Weekend Scores luck on this deal. 1 ENGLAND 71.63 6 was an excellent contract. But the 3 2 IRELAND 66.78 lead to the Queen got a club return and that 3 WALES 61.40 was minus one. North’s of 4 SCOTLAND 35.98 6, usually ‘find my void’, makes sense if 5 N IRELAND 50.75 his partner is on lead. 6 NIBU 19.38 Ireland also reached 6 by West. The English North did not double, but his 3 lead persuaded partner to switch to a club. Final Camrose Scores, 2020 A big gain when the Irish ‘sacrificed’ in 7 to lose 1100. 1 ENGLAND 162.13 2 IRELAND 132.92 The NIBU North opened a Multi 2 and 3 WALES 100.83 East declared 6, but North failed to make 4 SCOTLAND 88.35 a Lightner double. T was led. North might 5 N IRELAND 80.93 have tried 3 on this, but he took his King 6 NIBU 32.84 and 6 made. In the other room NIBU defended 5 X, but EW played clubs early, allowing declarer to establish that suit and escape for -1.

8 ♠J863 NS Vul Junior Camrose 2020 QJ963 Dealer E Ronan Valentine K This year’s Junior Camrose was held at the ♣K32 University of South Wales in sunny ♠T942 ♠A7 N Newport. Scotland fielded the 3 pairs that A4 KT82 W E contested the European Championships: 8764 AJ5 S last year: Athena Chow / Glen Falconer; Jun ♣J4 ♣AT86 Nakamuru-Pinder / Stewart Pinkerton; ♠KQ5 Liam O’Brien / Ronan Valentine. 75 I think it would be fair to suggest that there QT932 was a degree of expectation on the Scottish ♣Q975 team this year. We hadn’t won the event Despite this we did manage to put some since 2012 but we had an experienced team IMPs together to recover and win by 56-25, against English teams that were not as leaving us narrowly in the lead having strong as some we had faced in the past. played the two weakest teams. However, it would be unfair to suggest that Our third match would be the first test of the this would mean that there would not be weekend, playing the EBU team, in theory competition. The Republic of Ireland are the weaker of the two English teams. competent and, on their day, can be a very However, they had comprehensively beaten useful outfit; and it is never easy to beat the the England team and therefore left us well-drilled English juniors. With 2 English feeling wary before the match started. teams in the Junior Camrose, it looked like It was a scrappy affair, where our gains a 4-horse race before play started. generally came from their errors as opposed We started the event against a new-look to our successes. 7 -1 and 4 +2 was one Northern Ireland team, and we were example, another was a 3NT-5 that Liam expecting a comfortable enough result. This and I defended. The result of all of this? A match went to form with Scotland running 44-27 IMP victory! Could we frank the out 86-14 IMP winners, securing the form against the English team and familiar maximum 20VP and a pleasing start to the foes? weekend. Board 18 ♠J65 NS Vul Next up for the team were Wales. A team KQT87632 Dealer E that, on paper, we should beat comfortably – but that we have proved incapable of in ♣A2 series gone by. At Liam’s and my table, it ♠AQT2 ♠4 N looked like a tale of old woe. A 4♠X= on 54 J9 W E Board 1 was followed by this hand: AQ2 9853 S (See top of next column) ♣J943 ♣KQT765 I held the North cards and saw 1NT passed ♠K9873 round to me. Despite the unfavourable A colours, I was loath to pass this out (some KJT764 may argue that I am loath to pass at all.) I ♣8 balanced, showing the Majors, and East Both Easts made the normal 3♣ opener and found a of 2♠. That drifted 2 both Souths ventured 3 . The English West off for -500 and a loss of 9IMPs selected 3NT and Glen tried 4♣, but North 9 had a similar decision in each case. Both spades. 3 agrees diamonds and would North’s elected to bid 4 , the final contract. almost certainly preclude me from bidding The English East led her singleton spade to spades later in the auction. her partner’s Queen. West cashed the ♠A With a weaker hand, I would have likely and gave partner a ruff. Even on a trump chosen 2♠, but I have very clear slam switch Jun can discard a club loser on a ambitions, and it makes sense to set a strain spade: the actual diamond gave a choice of as quickly as possible to allow maximum winning lines. A comfortable +620. room for investigation. So, you bid 3 . Athena found a far more effective lead. She East didn’t get the memo. He bid 4 which tabled the 9! This gave declarer no play. passes back to you, not part of the plan. She and Glen waited for their 4 black suit What do we know at this point? We know tricks and collected a well-earned 13 IMPs. that hearts are probably 6-4-2-1 around the The Scottish EW had a tough time in the table, so we don’t have a heart loser. We slam zone during this set, missing two know that partner is very likely to have both excellent slams and bidding one that was minor Aces, so is this enough for slam? beatable on the lead. Today was a fortunate It is certainly enough for small slam, but we day and the English South didn’t find the are very close to Grand. Give partner a hand killing lead. This all resulted in a 40-35 IMP such as xxx x Axxxx AQxx and Grand is on victory, and a fourth straight win. the spade finesse, and this is an absolute Next up were our good friends, the Republic minimum for his call. So how can we of Ireland. We have played against this investigate the Grand? squad in one permutation or another for I think the call has to be 5 . 3 already many years, and I have played with one of agreed diamonds as trump, and 5NT for us them in a World Junior Championship. But is pick-a-slam. So 5 has to be a Grand we were after a fifth successive win, and Slam try asking partner to show me Ireland were chasing us near the top of the something extra. I hadn’t quite decided if I table, so it was an important match to win. was bidding 7 over 6 , but partner accepted the try by bidding 6♣ over East’s Board 2 ♠AKJT6 NS Vul anti-lead directional double, so I bid the A5 Dealer S Grand and that was worth 13 IMPs. KQJT4 ♣4 Tighter defence from the Scots brought ♠987 ♠2 about two more game swings to the good N Q98764 KJT3 guys and that produced a 58-25 IMP lead W E - 9765 overall, leaving us with 5 wins from 5! S ♣9863 ♣KT52 However, the cross table was a timely reminder that we were not as far ahead as ♠Q543 we may have supposed as the standings at 2 halfway were these: A832 ♣AQJ7 1 SCOTLAND 79.92 2 EBU 70.19 Board 2 gave me three bidding problems in 3 IRELAND 64.93 a row: South opened 1 and West made a weak jump overcall of 2 . My first decision 4 ENGLAND 57.44 was whether to bid 2♠ or 3 . 2♠ is forcing 5 N. IRELAND 18,67 and introduces the prospect of playing in 6 WALES 7.85

10 Despite an excellent start, we were rather bid 4 and Jun bid 4♠. Stewart correctly concerned to be only 9 VP ahead, knowing analysed his hand as excellent in context that we would need good results against the and made a try with 5 . Jun showed equally two weaker sides to enhance our place at the good judgment in accepting the try, making top of the table before the toughest run in of exactly for +1430 and 13 IMPs. any of our rivals. Our match with Northern A personal highlight followed on board 29: Ireland went to plan and resulted in a 133-3 IMP win. Excessive arguably, but a good Board 29 ♠6 All Vul sign of a team that was learning lessons of QJ8643 Dealer N T842 maximising results against the weaker ♣Q9 teams and learning from past errors. ♠4 ♠KQ532 N The Welsh match followed a similar AT72 K95 W E pattern, and the team put in a very 975 AQJ3 S competent performance to run out 77-32 ♣T7543 ♣2 IMP winners, which was enough to give us ♠AJT987 38.6 VP out of 40. How would we fare in a crunch match as the K6 team in front – a position we have collapsed ♣AKJ86 from before? Well the EBU certainly was a North showed a most disappointing and un- test of mettle. A test we were clearly failing Junior display of discipline by passing first in the first 8 boards of the set where we lost in. I therefore opened 1♠ which bought the 38 IMPs and replied with a meagre 6 IMPs. contract. I turned to the kibitzer, an English Board 27 and 28 were the key to our U16 player, and suggested that it was likely recovery. We won 13 IMPs on each board, that trumps weren’t going to break well for with superior judgement on both hands. Jun me. I was right. However, one would and Stewart did well to bid this slam: usually expect trump length on one’s right Board 26 ♠AQT62 All Vul in this position: North would normally Q65 Dealer E reopen with a double with short spades. Q62 South started with the ♣AK, on which ♣J9 North played the ♣Q then ♣9. I ruffed the ♠74 ♠J N second club. The layout of the club suit was A942 KJT873 W E not entirely clear, as North could have A85 T94 S started with QJ9. But I think the actual club ♣QT75 ♣862 position is more likely. ♠K9853 It was clearly wrong to tackle trumps, so my

plan was to cross to the A, and play a KJ73 diamond to the Queen, trying to establish ♣AK43 side suit tricks. I led the 5 towards the A, I opened 2 as a weak only Multi. South and South ruffed! This was a surprise, but it overcalled 2♠, partner doubled (pass or was not surprising to see him return the ♠J. correct) and North not unreasonably bid 4♠, So what now? Winning with the ♠Q was ending the auction. There was more clear but what next? Well, we have already excitement at the other table. East started ruled out playing on spades, we have no with a natural 2 , and Stewart elected to tricks in clubs and hearts, so it seems clear double keeping all strains in play. West now 11 to play on diamonds. I selected the J, In the last match we faced the Republic of which South won with the K. He returned Ireland. We were 5VP ahead of EBU who. the 6 which I won with the A and then were playing Northern Ireland. We could attempted to cash the Q. South ruffed this expect them to score the maximum 20VP with the ♠7, and played the ♣J, which I which meant that we had to beat the ruffed with the ♠3 as North pitched the 4. Republic by 20IMPs. We managed a fast At this point I have a full count of the hand. start by gaining on board 18: I know that South started with a void in Board 18 ♠AK742 NS Vul hearts, 2 diamonds, 5 clubs which leaves A75 Dealer E him with 6 spades. Can we still make the Q4 hand? Yes, but only on a misdefence. If we ♣876 play a heart to the Ace and South doesn’t ♠J6 ♠98 N ruff, pitching a club, we can play clubs from K3 Q964 W E the top throwing our red cards and South AKT98762 53 S will be forced to give us a spade at trick 13. ♣5 ♣JT932 So, I led the 9 towards the Ace and South, ♠QT53 feeling sorry for my predicament, pitched JT82 the ♣8! Gin! +80 was worth 9 IMPs when J 2♠ went 3 off at the other table. Not to ♣AKQ4 worry, in the spirit of not playing too many My partner opened 1♣, as per our systemic hands well, on the very next board I had 8 agreements. West then bid 3 , which top tricks but settled for 7 in 2♠… showed 9-15 HCP with 6+ diamonds to at The result of all these exciting hands? Our least 2 top honours. I bid 3♠ and Liam first loss of the weekend, albeit by a small raised to game. The play in 4♠ was trivial, margin of 42-50 IMP. This still left us ahead and I scored 11 tricks for +650. of both English teams and the Republic of In the other room, Stewart was more Ireland, but with England to play next. concerned about partner having the right England were keen to dent our title hopes cards for slam, so chose a more leisurely 1 for their ambitions of sneaking back into over the 1♣ opener. North bid 1♠ and South contention, but additionally, to allow the raised to 2♠. Stewart now confessed to EBU team to catch us up. having a proper hand by bidding 3 , in the After Match 9 we might have the event won hope this might buy the contract. No such with a match to spare. That did need the luck: North bid 4♠. Stewart hadn’t finished Republic of Ireland to beat the EBU and us and completed the plan by bidding 5 . This to beat England by a sufficient margin, but got doubled, but despite going 2 off was a the key thing was that the event was ours to gain of 8 IMPs. lose. Across the match our defence proved to be And try to lose it we did. Our boys missed a little sharper than the Irish and we ran out two vulnerable games that were bid against winners of the match by 43-20 IMP! A cosy Liam and me, and they also had a system 3 IMPs more than we required to win the misunderstanding. This was never going to event. produce a winning card and we ended up After a very Scottish performance of having falling to our first big defeat of the weekend, it all and attempting to lose it all, the team losing by 25-51 IMP. were thrilled to do the non-Scottish thing and win. However, our Scottish tendencies 12 required scores to be checked, checked and SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST checked once more before we would accept O’BRIEN KRIPA VALENTINE CLARK that we had indeed won. Pass Pass Pass 1NT1 This was Scotland’s first win since 2012. Pass 2♣ Pass 2 Most members of that winning team are Pass 3NT All Pass 1 now commonly seen playing for Scotland’s 15-17 Open team. It was a privilege to win the As South you hold: ♠A4 event at my fourth time of asking (some of KJT my team-mates have had several more 983 attempts than that). It was especially sweet ♣T8632 to get the victory before some of our players Your lead? ‘expire’ as Juniors. The Stayman auction tells us that right hand A huge thank you to the SBU for funding opponent is short in the majors. So partner the team, to Gosia Rozman our NPC, and to has length sitting over the majors on our the WBU for organising an excellent edition left, which makes leading a short major of the Junior Camrose and Peggy Bayer. attractive. We also know the opponents Oh, and a final thanks to my team--mates don’t have much more than 25HCP, so who, despite the grey hairs they have likely partner has some values. Finding him with given me with the tension of the final result, a heart honour might work well. were an absolute joy to play with and a Perhaps a heart lead is best, but I went with credit to themselves and to the SBU. fourth highest of my longest suit. Junior Camrose Final Table Dummy comes down: 1 SCOTLAND 145.76 ♠JT63 N 2 EBU 145.18 9432 W E 3 ENGLAND 132.09 AK75 S 4 IRELAND 117.91 ♣K 5 WALES 33.76 ♠A4 6 N. IRELAND 24.30 KJT 983 ♣T8632

Your signals are standard count, attitude.

Partner plays the ♣J under the ♣K. This is Counting on Defence either a singleton or from JT – looks like Liam O’Brien declarer has six clubs to the AQ. This hand is from the penultimate round of Declarer plays a diamond to the Queen and the Junior Camrose. We were playing partner follows with the 6. East cashes the England, who, unusually, were not our main ♣A discarding a heart and partner discards rivals. The younger EBU team had the ♠5. 2 is led to the Ace, partner outperformed them and were close behind following with the T. Declarer leads a us. A solid result would leave us in a great small spade to the King. Time to count. position going into the last match. What is declarer’s shape? Opponents have an uncontested auction: How many points has he shown up with? 13 How many more can he have? Congratulations to the winners of How many tricks does declarer have? our National Events What can partner have to get us five tricks? Declarer’s shape – we know he has six Mixed Swiss Pairs clubs. Partner’s play of the 6 then T (Ruby Martyn Trophy) means he has three, so declarer also has 1 Stephen Peterkin & Sam Punch 147 three. That means declarer is 2236. 2 Fiona Greenwood & Derek Sanders 118 Declarer’s points - ♣AQ, Q and ♠K. 3= Jean Macleod & Ross Woodburn 103 That’s 11. Given that RHO is a junior and David Liggat & Liz McGowan has a 6-card minor, he is likely to have the Silver Prize lower end of 3-6 more HCPs. Margaret MacCallum, David Ripley 87 Declarer’s tricks – 3 clubs and 4 diamonds make 7. Bronze Prize Hazel Rutherford & David Sands 82 If declarer has the ♠Q and Q there is nothing we can do. The hearts are blocked so we would only take 3 hearts and 1 spade. Mixed Swiss Teams Partner’s early ♠5 discard looked like it (Helen Walton Trophy) could have been encouraging. What if 1 Jim Hay, Abi Milne 91VP declarer has the A and not the ♠Q? Now Jean Mcleod, Ross Woodburn we can knock out the A and we will take 2 Charles & Vi Outred 86VP 3 hearts and 2 spades. George Plant, Malgorzata Rozman Can the heart switch ever give declarer their 3 David Liggat, Liz McGowan 7VP 9th trick? If declarer has the AQ and no ♠Q Fiona McQuaker, Iain Sime he can always set up a spade trick for 9 anyway. Bronze/Silver Winners: You win the ♠A and switch to the J. The Douglas McGregor, Ann MacLeod 54VP full deal is: Margaret MacCallum, David Ripley

♠Q9752 NS Vul Q765 Dealer: S Winter Swiss Teams JT6 (Carolyn Peploe Trophy) ♣J 1 Ali Ahmed, James Thrower 85.08 ♠JT63 ♠K8 N Joe Fawcett, Andrew Mcintosh 9432 A8 W E 2 Tracy Capal, Paddy Murphy 84.66 AK75 Q42 S Liz Commins, David Stevenson ♣K ♣AQ9754 ♠A4 3 Roy Bennett, Anne Symons 81.97 KJT Bob McPaul, Harry Smith 983 ♣T8632 (The two leading teams were English This was a success. At the other table Jun refugees from the Winter Foursomes, which Nakamaru-Pinder guessed spades correctly attracted a large entry from South of the so 10 imps in. Border this year,)

14 Pressure Decisions defend 3X holding two small spades, but South has a lot of defensive tricks. If you John Matheson know the opposition’s style it becomes even more attractive. A few years ago wild overbidding was largely confined to junior bridge. However, After two rounds of spades East played the a hand from the English Senior European T. On the layout 5 cannot be made, but Trials in 2020 illustrated that age is no what is the best single dummy line? barrier. Trumps have to be 3-2. East surely has the ♠84 EW Vul ♣K but unless it is singleton or doubleton K9652 Dealer N we are still a trick short. Another small A5 chance is doubleton QJ. To combine all ♣J754 our chances win the A and take the club ♠AJT5 ♠KQ632 finesse. An additional extra chance is to N 743 QJ8 catch East in a squeeze when he holds say W E J93 T7 KQxxx QJx Tx .KT9. However, if we S ♣T32 ♣K96 run off all the diamonds before taking the ♠97 club finesse, we create a horrible guess for AT ourselves. Dummy has to discard before KQ8642 East. It is best to first establish whether East ♣AQ8 started with .Kx.

♠- EW Vul WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH K96 Dealer N - Pass 1* 2 - 3** Dbl*** Pass 5 ♣J7 End ♠- ♠- N nd 743 QJ8 * Not many, especially 2 seat at red, would W E - - open 1 on this collection S ♣T3 ♣K9 ** Playing 5 card majors he pre-empted to the fit. He has four good trumps and a raft ♠- AT of losers. Many would settle for 2. 2 *** Minimal values, but he does have ♣A8 appropriate shape plus an Ace and a King. He is hoping his partner has three decent Come down to this position and cash the hearts. .A before playing the last trump hoping to EW were seizing bidding space, hoping to squeeze East. pressurise the opponents’ decisions. They Your plan is foiled because West has the achieved that but offered a hostage to ♣T, but there is the extra chance that he may fortune. After North’s marginal double lose interest in the play and discard a club! South had three reasonable choices: 4 , 5 and Pass. Until a few years ago passing would have little support. At the table South chose 5 , a poor contract when 800 was available from 3X. It may seem strange to 15 In the other match, Donald Mackenzie/Alan European Open Trial Whiteford were allowed to play in 5 Finale doubled. Their teammates Bob McKinnon Iain Sime and Cathy Ferguson escaped for minus 100 in 5 doubled. Also 12 imps to Some years ago, the SBU introduced the McKINNON. continuous Victory Point (VP) scale for international trials. Almost every overtrick Any hope that both leaders would capitulate imp was worth something, if only 0.05 of a in the final round were soon extinguished. VP. It meant that exact ties were virtually You (North) hold 872, QT98, KQ92, impossible. Despite this, the HAY and .42. What would you bid after partner PETERKIN teams were absolutely level on opens 1. at favourable vulnerability, West 90.46 VPs with one match to go in the trial 2 (weak), passed back to partner for the European Open team to represent who reopens with a double? Scotland in Madeira. HAY (Jim Hay / Derrick Peden; Patrick Home / Finlay Board 3 ♠872 EW Vul Marshall) would play McKINNON in the QT98 Dealer S final round. PETERKIN (Stephen Peterkin KQ92 / Sam Punch; Derek Sanders / Alex ♣42 ♠QT43 ♠AJ6 Adamson) would play MAIOLANI. N K76543 A2 W E Both the opposing teams were not 3 T7654 S completely out of the running, but they ♣Q6 ♣K85 would need a big win and a favourable ♠K95 result from the other match. Things started J well for the underdogs. How much faith do AJ8 you put in The in ♣AJT973 deciding whether to bid one more in a high- level Spades v. Hearts fight? Passing 2 doubled was not a success. When partner mistook the club lead for a Board 1 ♠- None Vul singleton the diamond loser disappeared AKQJT83 Dealer N and there was an overtrick. Plus 870 and 14 A43 imps to PETERKIN. The HAY team also ♣KJ2 prospered on this board by making 2 EW ♠K653 ♠AQJT8 and beating 3 at the other table. N - 75 W E PETERKIN had another windfall on the KQJ872 T96 S next board: ♣654 ♣A98 (See top of next page) ♠9742 9642 Sam Punch/Stephen Peterkin reached 3NT 5 by West. When the defenders led and ♣QT73 continued diamonds, 3NT made ten tricks. That is about four tricks more than would Total Trumps 20, but 22 tricks are available. have been made after a heart shift. Plus 630 Only Paul Maiolani / Jim McMenemy was worth 11 imps against a club partial at reached 6 (doubled) after opening 2♣. the other table. That won MAIOLANI 12 imps against 480 at the other table. 16 Board 4 ♠KQ62 All Vul Jim Hay and Derrick Peden then bid two NS KT6 Dealer W games missed by their opponents. HAY Q975 were now leading the event by 14 imps. On ♣65 Board 11 a good defence by Alex Adamson ♠AJ975 ♠T8 / Derek Sanders neutralised another 11 imps N 9872 A3 gained by HAY. W E KJ8 T2 S Board 11 ♠QT864 None Vul ♣A ♣KQJT874 J Dealer W ♠43 QJ32 QJ54 ♣T76 A643 ♠AJ9752 ♠K3 ♣932 N K94 Q7632 W E After five boards HAY were 28 imps behind - KT7 S PETERKIN. Board 6 changed that ♣A432 ♣KQ9 dramatically. ♠- AT85 Board 6 ♠Q9764 EW Vul A9654 K7653 Dealer E ♣J85 4 ♣53 HAY’s opposing EW bid to a poor 6♠, ♠K ♠85 N down two. All the other tables were in 4 QJ82 AT4 W E AKT8 J6 by East. Patrick Home was favoured by the S A lead. He ruffed that, crossed to the ♣K, ♣KQ875 ♣AJT9643 ruffed another diamond and lost only three ♠AJT32 trump tricks. 9 Q97532 In the other match, PETERKIN’s opponents ♣2 also led the A, with the same outcome. Derek Sanders found the more testing lead The auction was competitive at all four of a club. East won in hand, and led a trump tables. With South showing spades and to the King, then a spade to the King. South diamonds, the heart finesse needed for 6♣ ruffed to play another club. East played a was a heavy favourite. What about The Law second spade towards dummy, South of Total Tricks? pitching a diamond. Dummy's Ace won This time there were 21 Total Trumps, 22 and a third spade was ruffed and Total Tricks, with the par result being 6♠ overruffed. Another club meant that spades doubled down two. That was achieved by couldn’t be established. The defence won Jim Hay / Derrick Peden, winning 14 imps three trumps and two diamonds for minus when Patrick Home was allowed to declare two. 6♣. PETERKIN lost 13 imps when they PETERKIN then restored near- parity with declared 5♣ by East, whereas Tam Penman a thirteen-imp pick-up on Board 13. and Mark Menzies bid the slam. Unlucky 13? 13 imps to MAIOLANI. The PETERKIN lead over HAY was cut to 1 imp.

17 Board 13 ♠J All Vul Jim Hay also received the ♠8 lead, ducked AQ75 Dealer N to the Ten. But East, unclear of the spade QT9654 position, switched to a club when in with the ♣T9 diamond A. That allowed twelve tricks. ♠732 ♠KT9864 Plus 490 would win the event with a plus N 84 632 score, or even if North made only nine tricks W E AJ2 3 in 3NT. S ♣AJ843 ♣Q76 Alas for HAY, Donald Mackenzie and Alan ♠AQ5 Whiteford uncovered the spade weakness. KJT9 They shunned 3NT for the unbeatable 4 . K87 Minus 420 meant only two imps for HAY. ♣K52 So, incredibly, both teams won 16.42-3.58. At most tables the auction started Pass - 2 We had an exact tie. This was split by the (weak) - 2NT - Pass - 3. (Stayman). PETERKIN team being declared winners, Whichever version was used, South became as they had beaten HAY in their head-to declarer in 4 . No West found the winning head match. diamond lead – why would they? NS +620. Well done to both teams, and best wishes to The MAIOLANI South doubled 2 and the European team of Stephen Peterkin/Sam North bid 4 . Sam Punch led her singleton Punch, Derek Sanders/Alex Adamson and diamond and was rewarded with two ruffs Finlay Marshall/Patrick Home (npc Anne for plus 200. Symons). Of note is that Patrick Home will Some small swings meant that, with one make his Scotland debut in the Open Team board to go, PETERKIN led MAIOLANI at the age of 78. Surely a record! by 28 imps whereas HAY was 26 ahead of McKINNON.

Board 16 ♠KT EW Vul AQ Dealer W An anecdote from an anonymous lady QT432 from the North. ♣AKT3 My husband had accompanied me to a ♠AQ742 ♠J98 N weekend Congress. After one session we 62 J974 W E shared the lift with the late Bill Innes. 765 AJ8 S Making conversation, he asked my husband ♣Q74 ♣652 how his session had gone. ♠653 KT853 I explained that my husband did not play K9 bridge. ♣J98 “What a coincidence – neither does my partner!” At both tables in the PETERKIN v. MAIOLANI match, the auction was a normal 1 - 1 - 2NT - 3. (Checkback

Stayman) - 3 - 3NT. Both Easts found the spade lead and continuation. One down, no swing.

18 South to get the lead and continue a spade The 30-point partscore safely as he knows the situation. Paul Gipson So I played Ace and another heart, allowing THE WINTER FOURSOMES is my favourite John to discard a high diamond to suggest Scottish event and I've been lucky enough continuing spades. Iain could safely to have been in the last four finals. continue the suit and I had to settle for seven tricks, losing three hearts and three spades. In the first half of this year's final I held a very strong hand playing against Iain Sime The carding at the other table was less and John Murdoch. accurate and the defence did not continue spades, so declarer was allowed to make Winter 4s Final Board 6 three no trump, a loss of 13 IMP for us. ♠Q8652 EW Vul Amazingly, with East-West holding thirty KQT9 Dealer E points between them, this is a partscore 5 hand. Double dummy you can make seven ♣865 tricks in spades, eight tricks in no trump, ♠AK ♠J94 N nine tricks in hearts, and ten tricks in AJ543 87 W E diamonds. AK QJT73 S ♣AK43 ♣972 ♠T73 Winter Fours Results: 62 98642 Winners: Paul & Alex Gipson, ♣QJT Alan Goodman, Brian Short

Runners-up: Iain Sime, John Murdoch WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Paul Iain Alex John Miro Dragic, Douglas Piper Pass Pass The runners-up were unbeaten on Saturday 2♣ Pass 2 1 Pass evening, (including a win over Gipson) so went straight to the Final. 3NT All pass

1 Losing semi-finalists: 0-4 HCP Mike Ash, Chris Chambers Lead: Q Jun Nakamaru-Pinder, Paul Barton This was not a good hand for our system of using a 2 response as a 'double negative', but fortunately the final contract was Subsidiary Teams normal. 1= Derek Sanders, Stephen Peterkin John followed to the first trick with a Sam Punch, Tim Rees discouraging 6 and Iain switched to a low Ben Norton, Eshan Singhal spade. I should have played the ♠9 from Jonathan Clark, Kripa Panchagnula dummy, potentially confusing their (placed second after split tie) signalling, but I played small and John was 3 Liz McGowan, David Liggat able to play the ♠7, showing reverse count. Callum McKail, Nigel Wolfendale Once again, a small heart now works better, as John would not have been able to clarify his signal, but this might have allowed 19 The contract needs the J to fall in three Pressure Play rounds, bringing you up to eight tricks. Ben Norton Playing spades out of hand, hoping for an THE SCOTTISH BRIDGE UNION was kind even break, is unlikely to do much good, enough to invite a group of English juniors with East able to gain the lead for a heart to their flagship teams event, the Winter return (West can do some unblocking if Foursomes, in mid-January. The team of necessary). That leaves the club suit. Kripa Panchagnula, Jonathan Clark, Eshan With the rounded-suit Aces marked in the Singhal and myself enjoyed the event and West hand on the bidding, the technical line would like to thank our hosts for providing is a strip-and-: rumble diamonds, a welcoming atmosphere. cash the spade tops, then lead the ♣K. West can win the ♣A, but if he began with at most The team did not fare too well in the main a doubleton spade, or erroneously throws knockout event, bowing out before the one, or fails to unblock, he will have to yield quarter-finals, but that was opportunity the ninth trick in one of the rounded suits. enough for one of my teammates to showcase his enterprise. Jonathan Clark rejected that line in favour of a much better one. He advanced the ♣K Winter 4s Board 41 at trick two. It was extremely difficult for ♠863 NS Vul West to win that, before he had a read on the J74 Dealer W hand. West defended normally by ducking, 4 to cut off dummy’s clubs when declarer had ♣QJ7532 a doubleton. When the ♣K held, Clark ran ♠JT9 ♠Q42 for home with five diamonds, two spades, a N AQ653 98 club and a heart trick. W E J76 8532 S With West having to make his club play ♣A6 ♣T984 before seeing a count card from his partner, ♠AK75 this psychological ploy was all but certain KT2 to work. AKQT9 ♣K At the other table, declarer chose to run the diamonds. This not only gave the defenders WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH a count on declarer’s tricks, but also Panchagnula Clark allowed East to throw a distribution- 1 Pass Pass Dbl showing ♣T. When declarer finally tabled Pass 2♣ Pass 3NT the ♣K, West knew to take his ♣A and get off lead with the ♠J. Declarer recovered well End by ducking that, losing the lead to the safe Lead: 5 hand, and thus scored the long spade for the game-going trick. Clark’s 3NT was a practical effort. He received the 5 lead, ducked to his T. This line has merit, of course, but would have failed, against best defence, if the ♠9 How would you plan the play? had been in the East hand.

20 as a teacher on secondment. When my Player Profile school and another amalgamated in 2002 Bill Ross everyone over fifty was offered early I was born in Forfar in 1946 but grew up in retirement with full enhancement, an offer Arbroath, which is why the first football too good to turn down. result I look for on a Saturday afternoon is We have three children, Allan, David and that of Arbroath F. C. While in Arbroath I Sally and four grandchildren, Gabrielle and had a three-week job one summer painting Samuel in Bedford and Sofia and Lucas in unicorns' knees. I always wanted to go on Aberdeen and one step granddaughter, the television panel show “What's my Bromwyn also in Aberdeen. Line?” I'm pretty sure Isobel Barnett, Not long after we were married my wife Gilbert Harding, David Nixon and Barbara took an interest in evening classes which Kelly would never have guessed “unicorn annoyed me. She said, “Why don't you go knee painter”. to one as well?” I said I wasn't interested in In 1964 after failing to get into Jordanhill basket weaving or elderberry wine tasting College to train as a P. E. teacher I ended up or anything like that. She pointed to one. at Aberdeen University to study for an M.A. “Bridge,” she said, “that's cards. You like I had no idea what I wanted to do there, so playing cards. Get your name down”. I had my Adviser of Studies suggested I do always been interested in cards from an Maths, English and Latin as these were early age and can still vividly remember my subjects in which I had Highers. Not a good granny's tin containing pennies and choice as it happened. I managed to get 10 halfpennies which we used to play out of 300 in my Latin class exam, a record halfpenny nap and “horsey” (Newmarket which I believe still stands to this day. for posh people!). I also remember the whist I spent most of my first year playing drives where if you did not follow the football, representing Scottish Universities mantra “second in hand play low, third in on five occasions and I used this as an hand play high” your partner would look excuse for failing my exams, only passing daggers at you. Anyway, I joined the Bridge English after a resit. The university decided class and that was me hooked. As an aside a this was not an appropriate excuse and former bridge partner of mine, who shall informed me that my presence there was no remain nameless to avoid embarrassing him longer required. After nearly becoming an had an even stranger introduction to bridge. uncertificated teacher at Fraserburgh He went to enrol in lip reading but when he Academy I ended up working in a bank for got there found out that you had to be deaf a year before resitting and passing my to enrol in lip reading. The next table was Maths. I graduated in 1968 and then did a Bridge so he enrolled in that instead and year's teacher training. In 1969 I taught in a became hooked also. primary school in Arbroath. When I first started playing I couldn't wait I married Marjory in 1970 and began to enter everything and in those days for teaching in Aberdeen. I taught primary for nearly all national events there were eleven years before switching to teaching qualifying rounds in order to get to the Maths which I taught until 1996 before finals. Changed days now! I vividly becoming a full-time union official with the remember my first encounter with Brian teachers' union EIS. Although I was full Short and Sandy Duncan. The Frischmann time union I was technically still employed Trophy at that time was an under-30s event

21 and Emily Garden and I qualified for the that she was speaking nonsense. My son final in Edinburgh. Early on we met Brian could hardly stop himself laughing so we and Sandy and they bid steadily to a small went to the buffet car instead so that I could slam. Now I had eleven points and “knew” calm down. that you needed 32 points for a small slam. I am a member of Aberdeen Bridge Club, “They can't be very good” I thought to Phoenix Bridge Club and Montrose Bridge myself. Twelve tricks duly rolled in. Brian Club. I find it quite extraordinary that a and Sandy won the tournament and Emily small town like Montrose has produced so and I came last. It was then that I realised I many young players who have represented had a long way to go if I wanted to be a Scotland at junior level. A great deal of competent bridge player. credit must go to John and Sarah Williams Another amusing incident I recall was a and their band of helpers for the education local individual competition in Aberdeen and encouragement they have given to these not long after I had started playing. I was youngsters. across the table from an elderly gentleman I I have had moderate success in national had never seen before (I thought he looked events. I won the Alan Fairlie Individual in about ninety!). I asked what system he 1977 and was runner up the next year. I have played. “System laddie”, he said, “I hinna won the Fairlie Pairs and Diamond Senior got a system. I jist plays at hame wi mi Pairs with Emily Garden, the Spence Cup mither and faither!” with Allan Pelling, the Peebles Swiss Pairs Another amusing incident springs to mind. and Stirling Pairs with Ray Gallacher. I I was playing against David Liggat and the have played with many good partners but late David Frew. They bid to three no-trump easily the best was the late Bill Innes, with played by David Liggat. I led and David whom I played for a year in Aberdeen Frew put down seven solid clubs and no before he moved north to Banff. He was a other honour cards. “There you are, David” joy to play with and it was an education he said, “you only need to find two tricks in watching him make contracts that looked your hand”. It wasn't long into the play impossible. before we realised that David Liggat was I can easily recall my worst ever bridge going to need nine tricks in his hand in order moment. Our team was playing a team from to make the contract. This he found Leeds in the last sixteen of the . impossible. We had agreed to play in Dumfries as that My last amusing bridge story relates to a was approximately halfway between time when I was on a train from Amsterdam Aberdeen and Leeds. Going into the last to Brussels with my younger son. There eight boards we were ten points ahead were four Americans sitting opposite us and although it should have been a lot more. My I could see and hear clearly what they were stupid defence let through two 3NT doing. The woman nearest to me had maybe contracts and we were out. The long drive read page one of a bridge book and the other back to Aberdeen was in silence the whole three had not got past the first sentence. The way. I have never come closer to giving up woman kept talking utter rubbish and tried bridge. to tell each of the others what to do, also I have served on the Scottish Bridge utter rubbishly (if there is such a word!). I Council on two separate stretches, once in was becoming more and more incensed and the 1980s and once again in the 2000s so felt an almost overwhelming urge to tell her can easily see the difficulties in bridge 22 administration in Scotland. It is a bit like I don't really have a favourite food; it Jeremy Corbyn trying to placate both depends on the mood I'm in. If pinned down Remain and Leave Labour supporters, you I would probably say seafood pie or beef end up pleasing neither. Scottish bridge is olives. made up of those who want to do well and I have no favourite colour. Though not possibly represent their country and those colour blind I am not colour conscious. I who just want a quiet game of bridge with don't understand matching colours or hot no hassle. In trying to cater for both lots and cold colours. I don't know if there is a both sets become alienated. Those not word for that! interested in international bridge become angry at money being spent on a supposed Bridge has been good to me although living elite while at the same time that supposed in the North has had at its disadvantages elite feel that more money should be spent regarding the travel involved in on them. My own view is that no one participating in national events. I calculate representing their country should be out of that my eight hundred odd national points pocket in order to play. I would like to see have come at around ten miles per point. It's more money from the Scottish Government good to see the Women's Pairs and Women's being put into bridge and other similar Teams being held in the North but I would activities but in the present climate I feel like to see more. I would like to see the this unlikely. National Pairs final run in a similar way to the Spence Cup with each district hosting As well as bridge I play bowls, both indoor the final on a rota basis. and outdoor, I walk round a golf course occasionally (to say I play golf would be in In closing let me say that running and breach of trade description rules!) I used to organising bridge nationally is not the like going to pub quizzes until people easiest of tasks and I think all of us bridge started bringing their mobile phones and players should show more appreciation for googling the answers. I have appeared on those who give up their time voluntarily in television quiz shows on several occasions; order that Scottish bridge can run once on Top Club, twice on 15 to 1, (the successfully. second time rather ignominiously!) and more recently my daughter and myself appeared on BBC Scotland's Wonderball. As for film I have always enjoyed westerns and find it sad that these are no longer fashionable. My favourite is Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid which I first saw in an afternoon matinee in Ottawa in 1973. I enjoy the Rebus books of Ian Rankin and the Harry Hole books of Joe Nesbo. I have little time for modern pop music, I prefer folk and country music; Tom Paxton, Eric Bogle, Willy Nelson and Kris Kristofferson being my particular favourites.

23 Keep Bridge Alive [KBA] Pro Am Joan Forsyth As many of you will know, KBA is a new research project and campaign led by Sam Punch, Scottish Bridge Internationalist and Professor of Sociology at the University of Stirling. Through research she hopes to promote the advantages of playing bridge, and thus to encourage more people, of all ages, to give it a try, and to help arm activist Joan Forsyth: incoming SBU President. Bridge Federations to persuade Delighted to have the opportunity to play in Governments to include bridge in their this important event with one of Scotland’s National Curricula and to consider this best pool of talented juniors. Looking forward to of all mind sports officially as a sport. meeting, or at least glimpsing, some of the On 20th February, as part of Sam’s world’s best bridge players and picking up campaign, Stirling University hosted what a few tips in the beautiful surroundings of was billed as “a unique bridge experience”, Stationers’ Hall” featuring writer, television presenter and The SBU generously paid the Juniors’ professional poker player Victoria Coren ransom. Liam O’Brian and Jun Nakamaru- Mitchell. The Keep Bridge Alive Pro-Am Pinder were chosen to represent the Scottish Tournament provided “an opportunity for juniors and the Central District agreed to enthusiasts to bid to partner players from pay their famous son, Liam O’Brien’s, around the world – including travel costs. (Eddie and I covered our own (Germany), David Bakhshi (UK), Dennis expenses.) Bilde (Denmark), (UK), Boye Brogeland (Norway), Tommy Garvey Various prominent bridge players, (Ireland), (UK), Barbara including Liz McGowan, were offered as Hackett (Germany), Fredrik Helness raffle prizes and Howard Greenwell won (Norway), Zia Mahmood (USA), Artur one of these. He partnered Neil Rosen. Malinowski (UK) and (USA) The KBA Pro Am was widely publicised – and to play, dine and network with other and well marketed and, in the end, all the world class bridge players in the setting of Pros were spoken for, some attracting bids one of London’s historic hidden gems, of over £1000. Stationers' Hall.” Players flew in from 12 countries and other UK’s Bridge Unions were invited to notable participants included James Mates, sponsor their own Juniors to play. Somehow ITV newsreader; President of the World or other, in the heady atmosphere of the Bridge Federation, Gianarrigo Rona; and third day of the last Peebles Congress, the President of the , President of the SBU, Eddie McGeough and Jan Kamras. I were manhandled into a KBA frame by It was an absolutely amazing experience Sam, photographed by Tim Rees and and it was a great privilege to be there. I generally primed to play with two juniors. flew into London City, planning to change at my son’s house in good time to arrive for 24 the drinks reception at 6pm. Unfortunately the plane was delayed, and my son lives in Richmond, so I travelled by DLR and the Underground to St Paul’s. I eventually stumbled in and emerged into the magnificent main hall where others were already mingling. No sign yet of Eddie who had gentrified the instructions by deciding that “drinks reception at 6” meant 6 for half 6, but there was Liz McGowan being much feted, and Howard Greenwell and a beautiful well-dressed elegant lady who was the mother of Shahzadd Natt, a well- A total of £56,000 was raised from the known former English Junior who was now evening. The new project, ‘Bridge: A a bridge Professional. Shahzadd himself MindSport for All’ – [KBA was rebranded appeared with his young pretty girlfriend, during the event] – was described as a also a bridge professional. Indeed, many of “sociological research project that explores the Pros were young. interactions within the mind-sport, well- being, transferable life skills, mental health Soon bridge celebrities crowded the room, and social connections”. [So, there we have , , Willie Coyle it, they are going to prove that it is doing us effortlessly mixing with those already billed all a power of good; that there is no need to and us star struck amateurs. Sam said a few worry about the fact that partner finds eye words, and dinner was announced. Liam to eye contact increasingly difficult as the and I ate standing at high tables joined by night progresses nor the need for a Ronan, Jun and Eddie. Ronan described restorative double gin and tonic to wistfully platters of cakes which he’d spied accompany the early hours’ post-mortem.] entering our room but hadn’t seen since, but wine flowed for some time. Stephen The evening closed with a question-and- Peterkin provided background piano music. answer session with the personable Victoria Coren Mitchell, and it is fitting that she has The play commenced, Eddie partnering Jun the last word[s]:- “I’ve been playing bridge and I Liam, for the 24 Boards. since I was a small child – sporadically, It was stimulating and fun and amongst a enthusiastically and badly. Having said that, world class field we didn’t entirely disgrace I never shout at my partner, which I believe ourselves. Eddie was bemused to win a all the experts will tell you is the main skill. prize for being the best President of a “Bridge is a really wonderful game, rich Federation. Stephen Peterkin was 6th, and with twists and complexities that requires a Archie Bouverie and partner 4th. modicum of effort but definitely rewards it. Before the prize giving and raffle draw Sam Like poker – which I’m better at – it is a introduced Zia Mahood who gave very coded conversation, a formal dance of a warm effusive congratulations to Sam and game, constantly stimulating and intriguing. her team for a wonderful event. Especially if you’re good at remembering which suit is trumps.”

25 very efficient secretary, Jim Allan, and ‘hey At the Buchanan Club presto’, you have a partner. A majority of Carl Dickel the members play a mysterious system The Buchanan Club, 16 Woodside called ‘Sixteen and Blackwood’. This turns Crescent, Glasgow, is one of Scotland’s out to be Culbertson, the ‘sixteen’ referring oldest and most famous clubs. Originally to the number of points required for a 1NT formed in 1932, play took place in the opening. You are soon struck by the fact premises of the Glasgow firm of outfitters – that ‘partnerships’ do not appear to play Rowans Ltd – of Buchanan Street, and with each other and to your delight you can, Harry B Rowan was a predominant figure in without fear, approach the best players for a the formation. The address supplied the game. I admire very much the way the name of the club. Manning-Foster came ‘experts’ smilingly agree to enter the lesser along and gave a series of helpful lectures light’s name in their diaries for a future and was appointed the first Honorary board game. Their real feelings? Who can Secretary. He donated the Manning-Foster say? Trophy which to-day is still competed for annually by teams of four in the club. Reprinted from the October 1951 Contract Members of those early days who still take Bridge Journal, (then the official organ of an active part include such well-known the EBU). personalities as Susan Knox, Clement Ellis and Stanley Nicolson. The club obtained its present premises under lease in 1934 and, Carl Dickel was Secretary of the SBU and going from success to success, was able to the West District from 1949-55. During that purchase the property in 1945. period he wrote regularly for the Contract There is a very natty club tie, but applicants Bridge Journal in a series entitled ‘Over the for membership have quite a process to go Border’. He wrote a weekly column in the through before they can become a full- Glasgow Herald from 1958-98. In 1984 he blown member. The appropriate application received the Sobranie Award for Bridge form signed by a proposer and seconder Writer of the Year. He was made an must be sent to the Secretary. The proposer Honorary Life Member of the SBU in 1996. and seconder must then complete a A E Manning-Foster founded the British confidential questionnaire. Thereafter there Bridge League in 1931. is a ‘test’ and if you have not yet been turned down your name goes on the notice board Susan Knox won the Scottish Women’s for a week. Not even Paul Masters would be Cup in 1936-37. excused the ‘test’. There is a junior section Clement Ellis was President of the SBU providing the younger members with a from 1944-46. He played 11 Camrose useful introduction to the game, and older matches and acted as npc in 3. players assist by giving lectures once a month. By the way, intending visitors who Stanley Nicolson was a founder member of do not know a member should obtain a letter the SBU. He played 11 Camrose matches of introduction from their club Secretary. and acted as npc twice. Let’s say you are now a member and you visit the club on a Wednesday (the one and only duplicate night) without fixing up a partner. You contact the hard-working and 26 Obituaries Play Challenge Jim Patrick 1 All Vul Dealer North ♠KT87 Bernard Teltscher J872 1923-2020 A6 ♣A85 Bernard will be forever remembered in Great Britain as the original sponsor of the Senior Camrose, for which he donated the ♠AQ4 Trophy. A65 9532 He was born in Vienna, but his family ♣T96 moved to England in 1938. He made a huge success of the family wine business, which WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH allowed him to dedicate himself to his real 1♣ Pass 1NT love, bridge. No mean player himself, he End played with the best – including Irving Rose, Tony Priday, Willie Coyle and Victor Contract: 1NT Lead: ♣K Silverstone. He made a great contribution to Playing 5-card majors and a strong no- bridge in England, sponsoring the Ledere trump the bidding is sensible. You duck the Trophy as well as the Senior Camrose. club lead and the ♣J continuation when East In 2015 he was awarded the inaugural Tony discards a slow heart. West now leads the Priday award for his “outstanding ♣2, on which East comfortably throws a contribution to bridge and enhancing all its diamond. How do you continue? aspects.”

2 EW Vul Dealer West

♠KT94 AJT54 Avril Sloane K7 ♣A4 Avril worked in the accounts department of Hutchesons’ Grammar School in Glasgow. She became the 12th Secretary of the SBU ♠AJ2 in 2017. She had a delightful personality 98762 and was efficient, willing and helpful. J9654 Sadly, her tenure was brief: a cancer ♣- diagnosis forced her to resign in 2019 and WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH she died in January this year. 3♣ Dbl 4♣ 4 She played her bridge in Glasgow, and our End sympathies are with her family and the larger bridge community there. Contract: 4 Lead: ♣Q. How do you play this one?

Solutions on Page 41

27 The SBU Standard System File (14) Chapter 3. Higher-level Openers 3.1 The 2♣ Opener. An artificial strength-showing bid that promises 23+HCP if balanced; or, if unbalanced, a hand too strong to allow partner to Pass in response. Responding to a 2♣ Opener 2♣ 2 = the normal response, a relay unsuitable for any other action 2 /2♠ = natural, 5+card suit, with at least 2 top honours 3♣/3 = similar, but even better suit quality for space reasons 2NT = 8-10 HCP balanced, scattered Quacks but few controls Note: any sequence other than 2♣ - 2 - 2NT is forcing to game. Opener’s Rebid 2♣ - 2 2NT = 23-24HCP balanced. Further bidding as after a 2NT opener 3NT = 25+HCP. Respond as to 2NT but a level higher 2 /2♠ = Natural 5+card suits, forcing to game 3♣/3 = Natural, 6+cards suits, normally unbalanced 3 /3♠ The jump promises a self-supporting solid suit. (Partner cues an Ace, bids 3NT with a King, else raises) 2♣ -2M 3M = single raise, sets responder’s suit as trump, demands cues. 2NT = 23+HCP balanced without primary support New suit = natural without primary support

Further Bidding after 2♣ - 2 - 2M/3m 2♣ - 2 3 = single raise. 3+card support with at least 2 controls 2 4 = jump to game = 3+card support, fewer than 2 controls 3♠/4♣/ = Splinter, 4+card support, singleton, 0-1 controls 2♠ = Natural, no heart fit 3♣/ = Natural, suit not good enough for immediate 3m response 2NT = weak . (Gives opener room to bid a second suit) 2♣ - 2 This sequence shows an unbalanced hand 3 4 = 3+card support, nothing else to show 3M = natural, maybe showing a stopper for 3NT 3NT = rare, likely values in clubs, or scattered in all unbid suits

Note: Responder cannot have a very strong hand opposite a 2♣ opener. Try to show your limited assets to help partner decide what to do. 28 Basic Bidding Quiz 14 Answers (A 2♣ opener is almost always forcing The 2♣ Opener to game. Use it when you cannot bear the thought that if you open one of a suit What do you open with these hands? it might go Pass-Pass-Pass.) a) ♠ A5 AQJT2 a) 2♣. ‘Only’ 22 HCP but so much AQJ stronger than most 20-counts that ♣ A72 you should upgrade to 23-24.

b) ♠ A4 b) 2♣. You probably have 9 tricks in A73 3NT, but a 3NT opener means AKQT87 something else. ♣ A9

c) ♠ A c) 1 . If this buys the contract you will AJ74 not be upset. There is no game AQJ64 unless partner has a few values. ♣ AJ5 d) 1♠. No need to worry that this may d) ♠ AKJT765 be passed out - you have too few KQ652 HCP. With a limited 2-suiter start bidding your suits: this avoids ♣ K4 having to cope with heavy pre- emption in your shortages. e) ♠ AKQJT7532 - e) 1♠. Yes, you have 10 tricks in J54 spades, but opening 2♣ will not ♣ A help you decide whether there is slam. Not need to press when you f) ♠ AKQJT85 have the boss suit. - f) 4NT. The very rare hand where you KQJT3 just want to know whether partner ♣ 4 has a Ace. 4NT asks him to cue any Ace that he owns. g) ♠ - AKQJ63 g) 2♣. Unlikely that it will go All Pass AJT76 but this hand is too strong to risk it. ♣ A If they pre-empt in spades you can either cuebid, or just bid hearts. h) ♠ QJT9864 h) 5♠. The very rare 5M opener AKQ shows a hand with no losers apart AKQ from the top 2 trump! Partner raises ♣ - to 6♠ with the ♠A or ♠K: bids 7 with both, passes with neither.

29 Refining the System b) is a serious high-card raise which you show with the 2♠ cuebid. This 11. The Unassuming Cuebid leaves room to investigate game, In a competitive auction there are some perhaps 3NT, if partner is not minimum. extra calls in your armoury: double, You may have a choice of cuebid: redouble, pass, and the cuebid of an (1 ) - 1♠ - (2 ) - ? opponent’s suit. In the early days of bridge such a cuebid showed a game- Here you can use 2 as a good raise to forcing hand, but that made it very 2♠; and 3 as a good raise to 3♠. infrequent. The cuebid is more useful (1♣) - 1 - (2 ) - ? as a strong raise of partner’s suit. a) ♠KT32 b) ♠K852 (It was Terence Reese who named it A97 K984 ‘Unassuming’.) K732 98 What would you call on this auction? ♣97 ♣A95 1 - (1♠) - ? When both cuebids force to the same a) ♠3 b) ♠K852 level you might choose the one that QJ92 K984 shows a high card or two in the suit you 6532 98 bid to help partner judge what to do. ♣K542 ♣A95 You will quite often use the UCB with 3- With a) you would raise to 2 in an card support of an overcall, or a 5-card uninterrupted auction. The overcall Major opening bid. Where there is room gives you extra options. This is a some partnerships use 2NT to show a primarily offensive hand, with little 4-card raise of partner’s Major, and the defence to a spade contract, and you UCB to show 3 cards only. can describe it by jumping to 3 , a pre- (1 ) - 1♠ - (2 ) emptive raise in competition This may a) ♠KQ32 b) ♠K52 help partner decide whether to 97 K864 against 4♠. A72 32 b) is a normal raise to 3 , with ♣QT97 ♣A95 prospects of making game and nice Knowing how many trump you have defence to 4♠. You can show this by makes it easier for partner to decide bidding 2♠. Partner has room to sign off in 3 if minimum and will bid on to 5 how high to compete. You bid 2NT on over 4♠ only if he expects to make. a) and 3 on b). You can also use the UCB to show a The Unassuming Cuebid promises the good raise of partner’s overcall: values to raise to at least the level (1 ) - (2♣) - (P) - ? where partner must rebid his suit. When partner responds with a sign-off at the a) ♠Q532 b) ♠A52 lowest possible level (which he should 92 K984 do if possible even if LHO takes some K432 9 action) you should respect his decision. ♣K87 ♣A95 Bid again only with substantial extra With a) you simply raise to 3♣ to try to values. buy the part score.

30 1 ♠T Improve your Play AKQT6 Elimination Play Q74 ♣9762 We are taught not to take ruffs in the ♠AK9742 ♠QJ65 longer trump hand. This does not add N 93 8542 to our trick-taking total. There is one W E JT A9 exception: when you have mirror S distribution and need to compel ♣AJ3 ♣KT4 opponents to open up a suit. ♠83 J7 1 ♠AK9742 ♠QJ65 N K86532 93 8542 W E ♣Q85 JT A9 S ♣AJ3 ♣KT4 2. You must lose a club, so cannot afford to lose 3 diamonds. Your You opened 1♠, North overcalled 2 , chances of establishing a diamond partner raised spades and you bid trick are slim if you open up the suit. game. If an opponent leads diamonds you North leads K, A and Q on which can be sure of making a trick by South discards a diamond playing Second Hand Low. How do you plan the play? Assuming North has led from ♣KQ 2 ♠862 ♠AK you can endplay him by eliminating N AKQ94 JT8753 spades before putting him on lead W E J52 Q43 with ♣Q. Win ♣A, draw trump, cash S ♣A9 ♣J7 ♠AK, return to hand in trump and ruff your last spade in dummy before This time you opened 1 , North exiting in clubs. North must open up overcalled 1♠ and partner raised you to diamonds or give a ruff and discard. game. North leads ♣K. 2 ♠QT9753 How do you plan the play? 6 AT8 Solutions ♣KQT 1. You have already lost 2 tricks, and ♠862 ♠AK must lose a diamond, so it looks as N AKQ94 JT8753 if you need a good guess in clubs to W E J52 Q43 make your game. Luckily you do not S ♣A9 ♣J7 need to guess when you have plenty of trump. Ruff the third heart, draw ♠J4 trump ending in dummy, and ruff the 2 last heart. Now play A and another. K976 With the red suits eliminated from ♣865432 your hand and dummy, whoever The common features of elimination wins must either lead a red suit, play are: plenty of trump (if one hand is allowing you to ruff in one hand out of trump the ruff and discard threat while discarding a club from the disappears); and a 3-3 fit that you do other; or lead clubs for you, not want to play yourself. eliminating your guess. This is fun! 31 Improvers’ Bidding Problem 4 Pairs NS Vul N E S W Challenge No 19 ♠AK7 - P 1 P This challenge is aimed at all Bronze A8 ? category players (ranked below the QJT82 ? level of Regional Master). We aim to ♣K86 have the questions both instructive and thought-provoking. Entries from those January Top Scores in classes are particularly welcome. Congratulations to the top scorers in Please submit your entries to the various categories, particularly [email protected] by 7th Robert on his top score of 33 on a June. Look out for the scores and particularly difficult set: comments of the panel of teachers in the next edition of Scottish Bridge News and on the SBU website under 2Star Master “Bronze”: “Articles for New Players”. Will Iles Stewartry 31 Generally speaking the system in use is Iain Bannatyne Ardeer 30 Standard with 12-14 NT, 4-card 1Star Master majors, Stayman, Transfers and Blackwood. Any deviation from this will Tina Peowrie Stewartry 30 be indicated. Graham Dempsey Carlton 27 Master Problem 1 Pairs EW Vul Jane Smithson Berwick 32 N E S W Mary Stone Kelso ♠Q76543 - - P 32 T96 P P 1 P Peter Calder Berwick 31 J 1♠ Dbl* 3 P District Master ♣A96 ? Robert Spode Kyle of 33 *Takeout with both minors Lochalsh Problem 2 Pairs All Vul Marilyn McDonagh Carlton 30 N E S W Local Master ♠KT4 1♣ P 1♠ P Jennifer Bute Carlton 32 4 ? Robin MacPherson New Melville 32 AK65 Grace McVey Doon ♣QT752 32 Club Master Problem 3 Pairs EW Vul Alistair Smillie Moray 31 N E S W Arthur Selman GBC 29 ♠AT2 - - - P QT72 1NT P 2 * P Novice AK32 2♠ P 3♣ P Susan Allen Hawick 30 ♣J2 ? Barbara Strickland New Melville 26 * Transfer to spades 32 likely make or whether we are missing Improvers’ Bidding both minor suit Aces. Challenge (18): Mike opted for a different way forward: January 2020 Gallacher: 5 : My partner is showing Russell Frame both minors, no interest in the other major, and we both have a better than We have input from a panel of nine minimum hand. A jump bid should show bridge teachers for our latest challenge, this to allow partner to decide if there which appears to have been extremely may be a slam here. difficult as there were 41 different answers for the 4 questions! Peter trusted that partner knew best: Details of Challenge 19 appear on the Edmond: Pass: I would expect partner preceding page and will also be posted to have two heart stoppers, neither 4 on the SBU website – if you are a clubs nor 4 spades and a jump to 3NT Bronze category player, please have a does not encourage me to try 4NT go and submit an entry. (would this be Quantitative or Ace- Let’s see what our panel of teachers asking?) has to say: Problem 1 Votes Marks Problem 1 Teams NS Vul 4 5 10 N E S W 4 2 8 ♠ AKJ2 - - - 2 * 4♣ 0 7 A62 Dbl P 3NT P 4NT 0 7 KQJ62 ? 5 0 6 ♣-4 * 5 1 5 5NT 0 4 * weak Pass 1 3 (Apologies to anyone who answered on 6NT 0 2 the basis of the wrong hand quoted in 4♠ 0 1 the last edition of the SBNews.) At the table partner held ♠Q6, KQ5, The majority of the panel decided to A543, ♣K953 so 6 could be made, look for a slam: but only 10 tricks were available in no- Benson (similarly Hamilton, Male, trump by South on the lead of ♣J. Pigott and Tudor): 4 . Partner probably has long clubs without four Problem 2 Teams All Vul spades but should have something in N E S W diamonds. Removing 3NT to 4 shows ♠ A94 P 1♣ slam interest and is 100% forcing. AT98642 ? Liz and Derek preferred a general - force: ♣A32 McGowan (similarly Sanders): 4 . The majority of the panel chose a 1- Partner either has values with a double over-1 overcall: heart stopper or a long club suit which Tudor: (similarly Benson, Hamilton, he hopes to run and Kx(x). My cuebid McGowan and Pigott): 1 : Potentially should help to find out whether 6 is a a strong hand if partner has heart 33 support, but if not then there’s the risk Pigott (similarly Benson and of a big penalty so, at this vulnerability, McGowan): 4 . No rebid in hearts is go slowly initially. forcing but, with 35-37HCP, the Grand Mike and Peter preferred a pre-empt: looks highly likely. If partner shows support I can check for controls before Gallacher (similarly Edmond): 3 . My hopefully bidding 7NT. If partner merely partner has passed and I am third in bids 3NT I’ll settle for 6NT. hand so a 3-level overcall should show this type of hand. Steve found a different way to force: Derek chose a weak jump overcall: Male: 2♣. Checkback Stayman to set up a Game-forcing situation – too good Sanders: 2 : No need to get too for 4 . excited, can bid 3 later if need be. Mike opted for (Keycard) Blackwood: Steve preferred an advance sacrifice Gallacher: 4NT: This is Grand Slam Male: 4 : Partner has passed and we territory – let’s just check for Aces, need too many good cards for slam. It looks as if opponents may have a Problem 3 Votes Marks diamond game so I’ll up the ante! 3 4 10 3 3 9 Problem 2 Votes Marks 2♣ 1 8 1 5 10 4♣ 0 7 3 2 9 4NT 1 6 2 1 8 7 0 5 4 1 7 6NT 0 5 Dbl 0 5 6 0 4 4♣ 0 2 5NT 0 3 Partner’s hand was ♠K8632, 753, 5 0 3 Q765, ♣8 so 11 tricks were available 3♠ 0 2 when hearts broke 2-1. 4 0 1

Problem 3 Pairs All Vul Partner held ♠AT7, Q9, QJ4, N E S W ♣AK953 so Grand Slams were ♠ K9 - - 1♣ P available in no-trump and hearts!

AKJ8764 1 P 1NT P Problem 4 Pairs NS Vul AKT ? ♣Q N E S W ♠AJT853 - - 1 P Clearly slam was on but the panel was AKJ8 ? divided on how best to proceed. The A62 largest vote was for a jump in our own ♣- suit – but is this forcing? The majority of the panel opted for the Hamilton (similarly Edmond, Sanders ‘old-fashioned’ strong jump shift: and Tudor): 3 . The partnership has Gallacher (similarly Benson, 35-37 HCP so I’ll make a Edmond, McGowan and Sanders): and hope to ask for Aces later. 2♠: We have the values for game and Others invented a diamond suit: the choice is between a strong jump 34 shift and a Jacoby 2NT but I want to get across where my values lie as partner’s Scottish First for values must be outside hearts. Powmill Bridge Club Jim Steve and Maurice opted for a gentler 1-over-1 response: Powmill Bridge Club is the first bridge club in Scotland to employ the BridgePal Tudor (similarly Male and Pigott): 1♠. electronic scoring system. BridgePal is a Starting with a low-level response low-cost scoring system which uses hoping to glean some information about standard Android devices for results entry, partner’s hand. 6 will be popular but enabling results to be available at the end of can I improve on that: 6NT or 7 ? the playing session and subsequently Danny preferred to show his cub registered on the club’s website. shortage: The BridgePal developers John and Mirna Hamilton: 4♣: A splinter. Really all Goacher said: roads should lead to 6 as it’s going to “We are pleased that Powmill Bridge Club be hard to find out about the ♠K for 7 . has decided to adopt our BridgePal wireless Problem 4 Votes Marks scoring system. BridgePal is freeware, originally developed for our own use, and 2♠ 5 10 now rapidly gaining popularity in the UK 1♠ 3 9 and other countries. Powmill is our first 4♣ 1 8 known user in Scotland, though as of 4NT 0 7 November 2019 there are currently nearly 2NT 0 6 100 clubs worldwide using BridgePal 6 0 5 including over 50 in the rest of the UK and 4 0 3 several as far afield as New Zealand. 4♠ 0 3 Full details of BridgePal and a list of known 3 0 1 users can be found on our website at 3♠ 0 1 http://bridgepal.co.uk”.

Partner’s hand was ♠K4, QT654, Powmill had previously been using a paper- KJT9, ♣A4 so Grand Slams were based results system and the new set up has available in hearts and no-trump, but drastically reduced the amount of paper not in spades, as West had a heart void. utilised. Powmill has significantly increased its Forthcoming Attractions profile in recent years and now supports for Bronze Players three teams in the Lanarkshire and West of Scotland leagues and participates in a If only…. number of national and district events. We suggest that you organise some Powmill plays throughout the year at the online games – not the same of course, New Community Centre in Strathaven on but the same challenge once you get Monday afternoons and Thursday used to it. Clubs and Districts may take evenings. Full details can be found on the a lead here: keep an eye on the SBU Powmill website: website: www.sbu.org.uk which has links to your District and thence to your www.bridgewebs.com/powmill own Club. 35

Pairs at the Club - 11 Hand 3. EW Vul Dealer N Brian D. Short ♠ 8 KQJ962 In “Pairs at the Club” 9 we looked at QJT7 competing against a weak NT. The topic is ♣ A3 worth examining further. My theme was that the pre-emptive nature WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH of 1NT made competing difficult but at Pass 1NT ? pairs this was particularly important. +100 from 1NT- 2 will be a poor score when you You are always South. can make a 110+ part-score. And you may miss a game if you both have 12 or 13 What, if anything, do you bid? points. Solutions on the next page I recommended light-ish doubles (minimum HCP = top of their range) and examined some resulting tactical considerations. This time a few more examples – do we compete or not? Tales from Stokke, 2019

The 2019 European Junior Bridge Hand 1 None Vul Dealer E Championships were held in a sports arena ♠ KT3 South of Oslo. The refreshment area was 43 quite small but well stocked. The system AJT8752 was simple: first pay for your item, then ♣ T collect it.

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Early on Ronan discovered the ice cream. - - 1NT ? Having consumed one before a winning match he felt it his duty to the team to purchase one before every match, long after it became clear that the magic was no longer working. Hand 2 EW Vul Dealer N One problem for the British was that the tea ♠ AKT7 on offer was mainly herbal, with only the KQ96 occasional sachet of English Breakfast. 9 When David Burn and Sally Brock arrived ♣ JT86 he offered to buy her a refreshment. “Do you have any proper tea?” he asked the WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH young lady at the till. 1NT Pass Pass ? “Have you paid for it?” “Certainly not! Proper-ty is theft.”

36 Pairs at the Club –11 The argument is the same as always at pairs. It is a little risky to bid but more risky Solutions to pass. You’ll make some ruffs in your hand and may be able to finesse through Hand 1 None Vul Dealer E opener in clubs. Even with only a 4-3 fit, ♠ KT3 you will scramble quite a few tricks and, as 43 AJT8752 always, if partner is weak -50 or -100 will ♣ T be better than, say -120.

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Hand 3 Dealer North Love all. 1NT ? ♠ 8 KQJ962 Bid a semi pre-emptive 3 . I know you have QJT7 only 8 points, but most pairs are poorly ♣ A3 organised after interference over 1NT, particularly at the 3-level. If partner has a WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH decent 13+ with some diamonds he may Pass 1NT ? punt 3NT, you may keep E/W out if they This is a tactical bidding problem. Many can make 3 of a major and even if they can players think that bids can always be double you are unlikely to go more than 2 defined by what they mean to partner but off, now against a probable game. You have the effect that they have on opponents is made an unusual “save”. also a very valuable consideration. The only bad thing that is likely to happen is you going off when they were about to go Consider a completely different hand where off too, but there are greater upsides. Don’t partner overcalls 1♠ and you have lots of be timid – Get in with 3 ! spades and lots of shape. Rather than bid 4♠ directly (the normal action) it may be best Hand 2 None Vul Dealer W to creep up to 4♠, hoping that they will ♠ AKT7 double. This is called “walking the dog”, an KQ96 example of “tactical” bidding. 9 My recommendation on this hand is to bid ♣ JT86 3 rather than the obvious 2 (or 2 using

Multi-). On paper you are slightly WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH strong for this but if you bid 2 West may 1NT Pass Pass ? be able to compete with 2♠ or perhaps 2NT (showing a minor) and they find a fit. Over Same old problem – flat hand with no 3 West needs a much better hand to suitable bid available. With 5-5 (or possibly compete. A slight risk of missing game but 5-4) in the majors you could probably have you should win the part-score battle. A bid 2♣? Well, what’s a small heart or spade good bet at pairs, and if partner is decent, between friends? Just bid 2♣ anyway. As he may still raise 3 anyway. East has passed, you know that partner has There are more dimensions to bidding than at least a couple of cards. He’s just being telling the table exactly what you have got. rude if he does not have length in at least one major!

37 Board 8 ♠J7 None Vul The Night Of…. Part 2 T73 Dealer W Paul Gipson AJ9852 ♣T2 HAVING PLAYED SIX BOARDS last time, ♠T9843 ♠AK Perry and I continued our evening at the N 64 J95 Berwick Bridge Club. W E 643 KQ S Board 7 ♠JT652 All Vul ♣AQ9 ♣K87543 5 Dealer S ♠Q652 K3 AKQ82 ♣QJ876 T7 ♠73 ♠AK984 ♣J6 N A762 KQT3 W E WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH AQ2 J764 S Perry Paul ♣K542 ♣- Pass 2 1 2NT2 3 ♠Q End J984 1 T985 Weak ♣AT93 2 15-18 balanced My 2NT overcall is pretty aggressive WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH opposite a passed hand, especially with Perry Paul - - - Pass only a doubleton diamond, but South's 3 1NT Pass 2 1 Pass with only five hearts is too optimistic facing 2♠ Pass 3 Pass a partner with a weak hand: better to take 4 End the tricks against a no-trump contract. 1 Transfer After the lead declarer played two rounds of diamonds. I cashed my spades, hoping for a Lead: ♠Q later ruff, which I got from declarer rather This could have been one of my set play than partner, so the contract went one hands and it was gratifying to see that most down. people made the contract. A fortunate escape as I would have lost the After winning the lead, I played two rounds first six tricks in two no-trump. of trumps, discovering the bad news. A Our score: +1.3 imp spade to the King was ruffed. I ducked the Running score: +19.5 imp) diamond switch and was now in control, with South making two trump tricks, or one trump trick and the ♣A. We did not play boards 9 and 10.

Our score: +7.0 imp

Running score: +18.2 imp)

38 Board 11 ♠J8 None Vul My 5♠ bid was chosen just to illustrate this T73 Dealer S point in the most obvious manner and I AQ82 expected to lose 10 imps when two down. ♣AQT9 However the field mostly made 5 , which ♠T2 ♠AQ97643 N meant a small loss for us. I suspect most KJ964 A52 W E Easts tried to give partner a ruff in spades. 743 - S But the best defence is to win the ♠A and ♣864 ♣J73 lead the A: partner will encourage if he ♠K5 holds the K and discourage with a spade Q8 singleton. KJT965 Our score: -1.2 imp ♣K52 Running score: +18.3 imp WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Perry Paul Board 12 ♠AKQ95 NS Vul - - - 1 AKJ9 Dealer W Pass 3 3♠ 5 76 Pass1 Pass 5♠ Dbl ♣Q2 End ♠J2 ♠T876 N 8 QT5432 1 Very fast pass W E T54 J S Lead: J ♣AKJ9863 ♣T5 Perry did something on this hand that I do ♠43 not approve of but is prevalent in most 76 clubs. He ignored the jump bid to 5 and AKQ9832 just passed quickly, immediately telling me ♣J6 that he did not like spades, had a bad hand, and was not interested in doubling 5 . WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Perry Paul It was not deliberate and could be described 3♣ Dbl Pass 4 as an involuntary action. But the reason that Pass1 4♠ End this is a bad practice is made clear by the 1 corollary: West will hesitate when he is Slightly slower pass interested in spades or thinking of doubling. Lead: ♣T The purpose of the 5-10 second pause after Another set hand where North-South were a jump bid is to remove this method of expected to reach 5 and West supposed to showing your hand by the tempo of your find the killing defence. I think North's call. It is particularly critical in a tempo- auction was fine at our table and South sensitive auction, like the one above. should have bid the diamond game. It is fair to say that this problem exists at the Perry found the best defence of playing highest levels and we’ve seen some major three rounds of clubs (as it is against 5 ). events recently, particularly in the USA, be I ruffed as declarer pitched a heart and decided by committees after director switched to a diamond. Declarer can now rulings on hesitations. just draw trumps and play diamond winners, but she tried for a heart ruff and that led to down two.

39 Perry asked about the speed of his pass over Board 14 ♠A652 None Vul 4 and I said it was fine. Also, this was not Q6 Dealer E a tempo-sensitive auction, since Perry had AJ9754 described his hand with his initial bid. ♣4 ♠T73 ♠KJ98 Our score: +8.2 imp N T52 KJ73 W E Running score: +26.5 imp QT86 K2 S ♣A86 ♣K95 Board 13 ♠T All Vul ♠Q4 AQT53 Dealer N A984 A92 3 ♣K642 ♣QJT732 ♠Q864 ♠J73 N West North East South 9862 4 W E Perry Paul 74 KQ865 S - - 1NT Pass ♣AQT ♣9875 Pass 2 End ♠AK952 KJ7 Lead: ♣5 JT3 If you dislike leading away from a King ♣J3 then you’d be a bit stuck on this hand. I

chose a club since Perry has not bid a major WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Perry Paul and it was a short suit lead, so more chance - 1♣ 1 Pass 1♠ of making the King later. Pass 2 Pass 3 2 Perry returned a club, which was not best Pass 3NT End but at least told us the situation and I just 1 North did not have five hearts when she needed to be careful not to lead away from opened but discovered the fifth one later. another King to beat the contract by a trick. 2 Our score: +0.6 imp Lead: 6 Running score: +22.3 imp Our declarer avoided the tricky 4 contract by opening the bidding looking at only After playing twelve boards Perry and I are twelve cards, the fifth heart stuck beneath scoring at 1.8 imps per board and well another card. placed. Nine tricks were not difficult after my lead. Our second worst result of the evening and one where we had no control over the result. You just have to hope that you get more gifts than fixes. Our score: -4.8 imp Running score: +21.7 imp

40 Play Challenge Solutions Jim Patrick 2 EW Vul Dealer West 1 All Vul Dealer North ♠KT94 ♠KT87 AJT54 J872 K7 A6 ♣A4 ♣A85 ♠853 ♠Q76 ♠92 ♠J653 N N - KQ3 KT Q943 W E W E T2 AQ83 KQ4 JT87 S S ♣QJT98652 ♣K73 ♣KQJ742 ♣3 ♠AJ2 ♠AQ4 98762 A65 J9654 9532 ♣- ♣T96

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH 3♣ Dbl 4♣ 4 1♣ Pass 1NT End End Contract 4 Lead ♣Q Contract 1NT Lead ♣K

The only danger is a 3-0 trump break off- You duck the , and the ♣J side. (West is unlikely to have three trumps continuation as East discards a slow heart. on the bidding.) As you probably have two West now leads the ♣2, on which East diamond losers care is needed. throws a more comfortable diamond. Discard a spade on the ♣A and ruff the You have six tricks. You can give yourself other club to play a trump. When West an extra chance in case the fourth spade is shows out, duck. East can only play a not a winner. The defence have only five spade. Win the ♠J, cash the ♠A and play a club tricks set up, so you can afford to give trump to the Ace. Cash the ♠K and endplay them one more. Duck a heart. If East started with four or more hearts and ♠Jxxx, he will East with a trump. You have four spade be squeezed. tricks, a club, three trumps in dummy and a club ruff. East must allow you to make a Note the defensive carding. West had to tenth trick by establishing the K or by play the Queen or Jack of clubs at trick 2. conceding a ruff and discard. The Jack, the lower, is neutral when there is a choice of two cards. The Queen would This line loses if East has ♠Qxxx but gains have suggested a higher suit. On the third against the other likely 4-2 and 3-3 breaks. trick West has a wide choice of cards and If East has ♠Qxxx, the winning line is to the two is a clear signal for diamonds, the lowest suit. discard a diamond on the ♣A and take four spade tricks before endplaying East.

41 Our inspirational leader, Captain America, Middle for Diddle has selected a motley crew for this match. David Kaye At Table 1 NS we have the Ghostbusters. In these troubled times of extremist politics They may not be our best players but they it is reassuring to note that the Teams in the specialise in countering whatever esoteric Second Division of our Regional League bids and other demons they may have to are essentially Liberal Democrats. Mid- overcome at the top Table. table obscurity is our goal. We hope to WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH avoid the shame of relegation and body - Pass swerve the horrors of promotion to the First 1♠ 2♠ Division. All Pass! Halfway through the season we are bang on As EW have the points for game, it’s target. We are mid-table with a score of surprising that they never made it into the 50.00% - as snug as a bug in a rug. auction. A spade lead holds NS to seven tricks but is far from obvious and was Our next match is against the Modernists. missed by East. We scrambled eight tricks They are a relatively young Team who have for a scarcely believable +110. sliced their way through the lower Leagues to achieve the Holy Grail of Division 2. Captain America played at Table 2. He is Though it would be ridiculous to pretend our least experienced player, but fully that the standard in Division 2 is anything merits his place in the Team. He is a steady to write home about, it is a significant step player, although he suffers from the up from Division 3, and the Modernists are delusion that I am a competent partner. He struggling. So we enter the match with selected me as his running mate. every prospect of a draw. WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH After a handful of boards I have the - 1♠ 1NT Pass uncomfortable feeling that things are going 2♠ Pass 3♣ Pass well. I have a theory that one hand is often 5♣ All Pass emblematic of the set. In this case that hand was Board 9. My 14 count 1NT bid with J876 in opener’s suit is not everyone’s cup of tea. 2♠ was a Masters Club v Modernists, Board 9 transfer to clubs. Completion of the transfer ♠AKQ943 EW Vul showed three to a good honour. Captain QJ Dealer N America had seen my wobbly trump stops 98432 before and wisely selected the club game as ♣- opposed to 3NT. ♠- ♠J876 N Was West worth a of 4♠? We AT93 K5 W E didn’t get where we are today by bidding KJ6 AQT7 S 25-point slams. ♣QJT976 ♣A43 ♠T52 I ruffed one heart and threw another one on 87642 the long diamond. 12 tricks rolled in, 5 despite the 4-0 trump split. +620. ♣K852

42 At Table 3 N/S, Captain America had Nah! You’ve been watching too many chosen the professors. Ardent theorists, Hollywood movies. East, understandably they would often enter a deep reverie, took the money with a double. where they considered what contract they Should East find the killer spade lead? might end up in, the probability of that contract being doubled, whether a It seems wrong to give up the natural spade subsequent sacrifice by the opposition trick, but we don’t want the weak South should be doubled, and possible solutions hand to make ruffs. There may be a case for to the Palestine problem. They refute trying the K as partner is marked with vigorously the theory that they endeavour values and South won’t have heart ruffs. to bore the opposition to death. Once the singleton diamond appears in dummy the spade switch is more obvious. WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Sadly we tried the ♣A lead which allowed - Pass 1♠ 2♠ NS to scramble nine tricks. +300. 3♣ 3♠ 3NT All Pass Overall +1320 on the deal. Professor A led a small spade, West showed This proved to be typical of our good out and Professor S entered a traditional fortune as we harnessed a nice win. trance. Every silver lining has a cloud. We are now Clearly East held ♠Jxxx for his bid. South dangerously close to the top of the League! must have led low from an honour, which is now known to be Txx. The spades are not running and North doesn’t have an outside Another way to win a match on a entry. He won the Ace and tabled the S4. single deal. East reasoned that no one is daft enough to th play away from the master KQ, so South In 4 seat at Game All West picks up had probably led from something like the ♠- K32. East duly inserted the ♠8 which fell to AKQ87654 South’s Ten, and a spade back defeated the - contract by two tricks. +200. ♣AKQ76 At Table 4 E/W, Captain America had At three tables the auction goes selected the Bunny Bashers – specialists at extracting the maximum penalty from 1♠ - P - P - 7 relatively weak opponents. P - P - Dbl End WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH That nasty South holds JT93. One down. - 1♠ 1NT 2♠ 3♣ 4♠ 5♣ Pass At the fourth table the late Rosemary Cadell Pass 5♠ ? was inspired to bid just 6 ! North decided to sacrifice in 6♠. You know what’s going to come next, don’t Rosemary bid 7♣, partner’s 5-card suit. you? Everything has come up roses so far. East is going to be knocked into the making +2140, for a team aggregate of 1940 on the club slam for a truly gargantuan gross board. overall score on the Board.

43 Still, some of us fail to produce Convention Better Behaviour Cards when we should. They are easy to Convention Cards lose and producing a new one is a bother. Please make the effort! A is a description of your agreed methods that opponents can consult Opponents are entitled to ask questions at their turn to bid or play. Opponents are about your agreements. You should not entitled to know all your agreements, conceal any information that you can share whether explicitly agreed or implicit from with confidence. But no partnership has partnership experience. discussed every meaning of every call in every auction. When an opponent asks what From the SBU Competition Handbook: a call means you may feel that you must 2.19 It is an SBU requirement that each provide an answer. Sometimes the correct player in a partnership should carry a answer is: “This situation is undiscussed.” completed Convention Card to be made You should not allocate a meaning to a call available to opponents and the Director if that might give Unauthorised Information required. If the Director’s attention is to partner. In particular you must not say “I drawn to non-compliance with this am taking it as…”, As a corollary, an requirement then he shall direct the opponent may not ask; “What are you offending pair to play using the SBU Simple taking it to mean?” System. They must continue to play this Regular partnerships should find it easier to system until they have fully completed two answer questions. If a situation is genuinely convention cards. No additional time is undiscussed they may be able to recall allowed to do this; only the time available analogous situations. between rounds. Aggressive questioning, particularly of less There are several advantages to completing experienced players, does not conform to a Convention Card. The necessary Better Behaviour. If a player genuinely discussion allows you to firm up your does not know the meaning of a call he agreements. Writing them down may help cannot answer a question. Bullying may you remember what has been agreed. If you extract an answer, but a Director will not be play with different partners in different sympathetic to any complaint based on events you can consult the relevant Card inaccuracy obtained by such methods. before play to refresh your memory. And if “Your guess is as good as mine” may be the someone gives an incorrect explanation the most accurate response. Director can consult the Card to decide whether this is a Mistaken Explanation (the Blank Convention Cards, and some sample score may be adjusted if the Director ones, including the SBU Simple System, believes opponents have been damaged); or can be found on the website. (If there is a Mistaken Bid (the explanation tallies with something on them that you do not what is on your Card but one of you has understand you can score it out.) forgotten the system). In the latter case Go to the SBU website: opponents are not entitled to any www.sbu.org.uk adjustment unless someone appears to have Under ADMIN select Laws and Ethics taken advantage of the Unauthorised from the drop-down menu and click on Information from the explanation, or ‘Convention Cards’. partner’s reaction to it.

44 The passers would consider opening with a January 2020 diamond pre-empt in third seat; only one Bidding Challenge resisted such thoughts. Patrick Shields WHYTE: Pass. This hand is powerful if we find a fit in one of two suits, therefore our Many thanks to the 18 panellists who put bidding objective is to get the knowledge their grey cells to work on this. Some of that we have a minor two-suiter across to these problems are there to get the experts partner. Opening 3 is thus a no-no in any to think (and expose their thinking) but a position or vulnerability. few – you can tell by the primarily binary answers – are there to gauge where He also suggested opening 1 in fourth seat successful bidding style has moved to these (but only that seat). days, that all may learn from that. I There was a strong consensus for 3 welcome to the panel for this set one amongst the rest: triallist from Wales – Richard Plackett, and SIME: 3 . This seems about what partner another from England – John Atthey. All will expect in terms of NV playing strength. the problems were from real-life – many SILVERSTONE: 3 . Standard in first at from the first division of the recent English favourable. Premier League (EPL) season. MOULD: 3 . Normal these days at all forms Problem 1 Teams EW Vul of scoring IMHO. S W N E A number mentioned the possibility of a ♠8 ? different opening; both ASH and MOULD J “know some will open at the 4-level with KQT832 this hand”. Indeed that bid was seen on ♣Q9653 BBO (and was effective) when this hand This was all about if and when to pre-empt arose in the EPL and ASH was “very close when your hand is not the traditional shape. to opening 4 … long way from 2 .” Our A pre-empt serves two functions – it token Welshman PLACKETT always bids up disrupts the opponents’ bidding and it helps and describes his 4 as “putting on the guide partner to the right contract for your maximum pressure at this vulnerability”. side. The balance of emphasis changes with The other opening found was 2 . vulnerability and seat, and the situation WILKINSON was even happy to pass but given (first in hand at green) is at the most GORDON who “will bid clubs later” also obstructive end of the spectrum. noted that “If the suits were more similar, I Those who passed on this hand were very would pass and bid 2NT later”. If system much viewing it as a two-suiter and did not allow a weak 2 he would open 3 . wanting to show both suits on a later round Given we’d consider it a standard weak two of the bidding; the catch (pointed out by with ♠8 J95 KT9832 ♣Q65 the hand we SIME) is that when you do this partner are given is a lot more useful on attack and usually chooses clubs with equal (and a lot less useful on defence and therefore notably equally bad) holdings, and that is not what you want. deserves a higher bid.

45 With respect to other positions and Equal in number with the passers were the vulnerability, there is a case for being much doublers. Double is a useful action when more constructive in second seat and at you have a bidding problem: it gets partner adverse vulnerability but for me and for involved and doesn’t close any doors. It SMITH this is also “a sound enough pre- wins easily over 4 for the reason given by empt for second seat”. FWIW, I am for 4 SIME “In our Acol system, partner may be at favourable vulnerability in first seat and 4-4 in the majors. Or 0-6.” And of course, feel that anything less than 3 is being just double goes with converting 4 to 4 too kind to the opponents. There might have been a time when 4 was Problem 1 Votes Marks not so dangerous, evoked by: 3 10 10 MCGOWAN: 4 . If this is doubled loudly I 4 1 9 may try 4♠. If I bid 4♠ I have no fallback 1 0 6 position. 2 2 4 – but these days opponents don’t often give P 5 2 such clear messages. The majority plumped for 4♠, a very final Problem 2 Teams N/S Vul choice, which partner will rarely if ever S W N E disturb. Can it be right to decide for the ♠KQT652 - P 1 4. partnership? They were not all convinced 942 ? (eg ATTHEY: “maybe too high and maybe T2 wrong strain”) but it was clearer for ♣A4 SILVERSTONE: “a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do”. This hand was from a local match but proved a disaster when both tables bid 4 The gain is a game that won’t be bid if you and were punished there. We cannot say don’t bid it but the downside is, as WHYTE that was a rash bid on the basis of one says “in spades if there is a bad break it is layout, so let’s see what the wisdom of the over me”. There are some positive signs: crowd suggests. First the passers who are SYMONS: 4♠. My suit is decent. At least I relying on partner to act (or are they just know partner doesn't have a weak NT. content to collect 50s?). Partner’s What is clear is that there is no certainty in reopening might, as Smith indicated, any choice. The flexible double suffers from depend on my choice to “pass only if in “Dbl is too tough for partner to get right.” tempo. …[else] I will double.”. (MOULD). Imagine partner with a 2443 One passer was concerned about a pending shape to see why. The bottom line is that it disaster: is a bidders’ game – you have to choose! DRAGIC: Pass. There are hands when partner cannot reopen and we will have 10 Problem 2 Votes Marks tricks but many more hands where 4 by 4♠ 7 10 me brings a -500. Dbl 6 4 GORDON makes the point that some of your Pass 4 2 assets are a trump trick. The reason passers 4 1 1 were a small minority was made concisely by WHYTE who said: “You have more to lose by passing than you can gain.” 46 Problem 3 Teams E/W Vul So, to avoid playing in 5♣, some bid more: S W N E two of the 6♣ bidders acknowledged it was ♠KQT 3 P 4 a complete guess and it does get to a slam AT Dbl P 4♠ P but it forces the final decision onto partner. The 5♣ bidders got lucky as they would A5 ? hear partner bid 5 or 6♣ and can now ♣AKQ965 continue to the Grand Slam. This hand from the Premier League The 4NT bidders on this hand were not features (less usually) a vulnerable pre- totally convincing but were heading for the empt and raise, so the opponents might successful 7♠ opposite partner’s Ace. have some values this time. You don’t often SYMONS made the point that “partner will have 22 HCP when vulnerable opponents remove takeout doubles with an have bid game but in fact the whole world of doubling a pre-empt and then bidding on expectation of making” and so should have has little science – possibly because it’s not either spade length or some high cards. often moving out of a game bid. There is PLACKETT, who does worry about doubled some uncertainty about whether such a contracts that make, points out: “no reason sequence shows a flexible hand with extras, why partner cannot have Jxxxx and a bust”, or a hand which was too strong for a simple which argues that you should get partner overcall; either description could be involved and don’t want to hide the spade applied here – but it will help if partner support. There are two ways to get partner knows which one to rely on. involved and keep spades strongly in sight There were only two passers; one – either at the 5-level. Three of uncomfortable with the double and the panel found 5 but none found the 5♠ uncertain about whether we can introduce bid Mossop produced at the table (which a new suit at the five-level, and the other claiming to be “Disciplined to the end. Too received 6 from partner and led to 7♣ trusting I guess …” and that last comment making). rings true. You know your partner has short Both of these bids give partner the chance hearts as RHO is not bidding game on high to duck out, or bid another suit – or, in this cards, so you do have a plus score to pick case, make a return cue of 6 , after which up; passing is accepting a minimum plus you know to bid the Grand. score here. Dismissing the alternatives: In the EPL two tables of six played in game, one after 3 -P-P-3N-end (and the other ASH: 5 . The potential slam is a little too unknown). enticing for me to just bid 5♣. The majority of the panel went for a simple For Miro this cue was “a slam try in club bid, identified by SIME as fitting either spades” but for Mike and me, it does allow of the candidate descriptions. The big for other suits also. question with 5♣ is what partner needs to Can we learn anything from this? Mostly move on which depends on the unanswered that pre-empts and raises make life difficult question of what hand type you have. (after 3 -P-P-X, P-4♠ it was easy to bid the In either case this hand could be a lot Grand at another table). weaker; as GORDON says: “you have an Ace in hand”.

47 We should also be trying to clarify the ways MOULD and DRAGIC pointed out that there in which we make slam tries in spades; are more scenarios where both 4♣ and 4 clear meanings or messages for 5 , 5♠ and are going off than any other combination of 5NT would be welcome, but were not result. ASH invokes the Law of Total Tricks forthcoming! (estimating 19 here) to check that passing is justified, although he does add that it “is BTW, it is interesting to consider what not particularly reliable when one hand has partner, who has ♠AJ9542 T943 ♣J73, pre-empted”. WHYTE reminds us that should be doing after the double. With a “there are going to be bad breaks”. six-card suit and a void, does it merit They make a strong case for pass, which something stronger than 4♠? leads MOULD to say “I do not think it is Problem 3 Votes Marks close”. But the majority went elsewhere. 5♣ 7 10 Inevitably, we all have some bad 5 3 9 experiences of passing takeout doubles unsuccessfully. SIME claims that “Pass is 5♠ 0 5 trying for a large number...... ending in 10 6♣ 2 5 in our minus column” while for others it is 4NT 4 5 simply “when partner has asked me to bid a P 2 1 suit, I do that”. PLACKETT claims that “it is rarely right to pass without a trump trick.” So the bidders did recognise the Problem 4 Teams N/S Vul possibility but have had their fingers burned too often. S W N E ♠T2 - - - P A number said that they are happier to pass J987 P 4. Dbl P at matchpoints but the clear majority bid 4 . They were not too happy however, and A832 ? there was little certainty expressed about ♣J42 4 (“game if we make it” says SIME and This hand – again from the EPL – has been “No idea who can make what” says offered to test the appetite for passing MCGOWAN). doubles of pre-empts. When we look at the We need to ponder what is happening here. flimsy material on which we see people pre- If a weak(ish) opponent is forcing us to empt – particularly in third seat at choose a contract at the 4-level, should favourable – there ought to be more passes there not be a price they have to pay for that than we see in practice. At the table two privilege? As Victor says “don’t like it Souths passed the double out, and collected when opponents pre-empt”. We will lose handsomely. Most bid 4 and found it too out if we wait until stacked with trumps to difficult to play – although Tom Townsend go for a penalty. The passers seemed much in his newspaper article showed how it more convincing than the bidders. should be played and made. Problem 4 Votes Marks As mentioned earlier by SYMONS we can leave in high level doubles when we feel we 4 13 10 are unlikely to make any contract – almost P 5 9 as best of a bad choice.

48 Problem 5 Teams None Vul One camp preferred to focus on their ♠AKJ5 S W N E strength, although for SIME with 2 it was A87 1 P only “may be better to show values rather than length” and a number of people AQ 1♠ P 2 P recognised the problems that could arise ♣T743 ? were partner to raise. PATERSON was This hand from the EPL produced big confident that partner would only raise to swings in the two matches where the 4 with five, and SYMONS was concerned borderline slam was bid. It is a tricky hand about being locked into hearts; at the table to bid after this sequence and at the four a 2 response was raised (at least twice) to tables known, the two bids chosen are on 3 , so MOULD was right that “The the panel’s list. problems are not on this round”. Or is it a PLACKETT and ATTHEY pointed out an problem? A 3NT bid – as Allerton tried at advantage of starting differently – creating the table – should describe a hand looking a forcing sequence by starting with 2♣ has for NT but short of a club stop. That fits. clear advantages later in the bidding, but The other camp preferred to bid clubs, no Scot mentioned the idea. which might be less likely to get a raise, but There was no doubt we needed a forcing bid suggests to partner that it is a heart stop at this point, with only ATTHEY willing to you need. The 3♣ bidders were as bid 3NT which partner would surely pass. uncomfortable as the 2 bidders, although He does point out that “if I start inventing one saw a potential gain: then the auction will become a problem” SMITH: 3♣. If he does have Qxx it will but it is not impossible for partner to have get No Trump played by the right hand. ♠Q2 432 KJ65432 ♣A and now we have The serious difficulty with 2 and 3♣ is a grand slam to make. Perfect cards, yes, that it makes the viability of 3NT the key but perfect cards for a Grand does make a issue, and never considers slam suitability. small slam a big issue. Nobody mentioned the idea of the Bourke SHORT, SIME and ASH all mentioned the idea of 2NT here as forcing and that would Relay (search for youth.worldbridge.org/ be great, but it is not mainstream (yet). conventions-bourke-relay) whereby on a Having ruled out 2NT and 3NT, there was 1m-1M-2m auction, the lowest bid now is a voice for 4NT and that was the bid chosen a forcing relay, unconnected with the suit by Artur Malinowski in the event; I am sure bid. Either this or the forcing 2NT would the bid should be natural and quantitative solve the dilemma. (which fits this hand very well), but equally A minority camp chose 4 , which sure that many would treat it as Ace-asking. immediately gets over the concept of slam There were two issues in most people’s interest but commits to a suit that might not minds – that of level and that of be right for these hands. GORDON admitted denomination. Partner could have anything to choosing it for lack of confidence that 2 from five (in 1453 shape) to seven was forcing, but nobody else had any diamonds, and we need to find out more. doubts that a new suit by responder is a one Partner could have a solid club stop or a round force. singleton – again we need to find out. We At the table partner had cannot ask, but we can show. ♠2 KQT4 KJ6432 ♣Q6

49 and one pair got away with a slam, but The 4♣ bidders were also taking a step another didn’t. The clubs broke 6-1 and forward in describing their hand, as well as were not cashable, but 6NT was making if making it convenient for partner to provide the hearts delivered a fourth trick or the a diamond . David Bakhshi chose spade finesse was working. this bid at the event and then raised partner’s 4NT to 6NT. (This was the right Problem 5 Votes Marks place – the making grand slam was very 2 8 10 lucky). 4 3 8 The big concern for all was the diamond 4NT 1 8 position with SIME wanting to “see if we 3♣ 5 4 can squeeze a diamond cuebid out of 3NT 1 3 partner.” Some were looking to a grand slam if we can get that cue bid – for MURDOCH it would be 5 (exclusion ask – Problem 6 Teams N/S Vul would it be EKB for you?) but for GORDON S W N E it would be 5NT (Josephine, presumably in ♠AKQJT - P 1 P clubs). - 862 1♠ P 2NT P The story from both camps was that they ♣AJ852 3♣ P 3 P could do something descriptive and hope ? that solved the problem for partner, or that This hand again leaves us in doubt about partner would tell them something useful. denomination and level, although with a Sometimes that is all you can do and hope combined 32+HCP many would simply the problem on the next round is solvable. commit to slam. SIME did recognise that Will 3♠ or 4♣ be more informative to slam was not certain: “5♣ might be down partner? It is hard to tell and you must by trick three” but a number were like expect that partner will almost certainly bid SYMONS: “It’s just a question of finding the 3NT over 3♠, so you will not learn about best slam”. In the EPL, two tables reached diamond control (until you bid 4♣ and a grand slam, three a small slam, and three many commented that they would). Given stopped in game. you get to 4♣ either way – both bids count as equally useful, but 3♠ had the plurality Our experts fell into two camps – one of the vote, so in accordance with the rules emphasising the spades and the other it gets full marks. emphasising the clubs. The spades are clearly stronger than the clubs: Partner’s opening bid here was ♠62 AKQ532 AJ7 ♣K9 MOULD: 3♠. This looks like a 6-card suit and rebids after 1 -1♠ included a Gazilli to me. Hard to see how it can be wrong to 2♣, 3 and 3NT play in this suit. But there is a difficulty: Problem 6 Votes Marks SMITH: 4♣. We are probably going to play 3♠ 10 10 in no-trump to protect his diamond holding. 4♣ 7 9 And however much it looks like a 6-card 4NT 0 5 suit, spades will only deliver 5 tricks. 6NT 0 5 3NT 1 3

50 Problem 7 Teams NS Vul The disruption factor did not feature in the ♠AQJ52 S W N E comments of any panellist (maybe it was 532 ? too obvious?), but the fact that – think KT85 ofyour own bidding conventions here – the accuracy of your bidding drops a lot after ♣5 the opponents have opened, means I prefer This question – using a hand from a recent to bid on anything borderline. inter-County match - is here to test how Getting us to the right contract did feature, standards of opening bids have changed. albeit more often negatively – with ASH There are only two options here – pass and noting that “those who Pass, waiting to 1♠ – and we have a clear majority for come in on the next round may well still be opening the bidding. And that is despite waiting!”. ZAR points (an evaluation only 10 HCP and the adverse vulnerability method taking stronger account of Aces and (which did affect a number of the passers; Kings, and of distribution) was also quoted with DRAGIC saying “would open 1♠ at all as indicating that this hand was an opening other vulnerabilities.” and MOULD bid. declaring “might just open NV”). The suit quality (and hence lead-directing There is one specific issue with opening, value) was mentioned by a number of highlighted by people; “a good spade suit” says MOULD: Pass. If playing 2-over-1 GF, it is ADAMSON. “The suit I am bidding is one I much more difficult for partner to stop out want to tell partner about.” says SMITH. of game with a misfitting 12-count, and you And finally there is the rebid question: will often pay out -200 or worse in those cases. ADAMSON: 1♠. If the clubs and hearts were switched round I would pass because a 2 But according to: response from partner would be very SIME: 1♠. The frequency of gains easily unwelcome. outweighs the occasional no play 23-count The judgment in favour of bidding was “A 3NT, which I expect would be a push no-brainer for me with the suits this way against strong opponents. round” by SIME, “automatic for me -easiest Only two of our panel mentioned the option of set” from SILVERSTONE, “easiest of the of opening 2♠; “close to a weak 2” says bunch” says PATERSON, and “completely MURDOCH but “too good for a pre-emptive automatic for me in any position.” for 2♠” says ASH. The key is that at this SHORT. We all need to be conscious that vulnerability, partner will expect a fully when we choose not to open on such a hand, constructive 6-card suit and is likely to we are playing against the field and should miscount tricks when you only have five. expect a swing. Now what makes this hand attractive as an opener? On top of the disruption to the Problem 7 Votes Marks opponents’ bidding and the improved 1♠ 13 10 chance of getting us to the right contract, P 5 3 the two key factors are the lead directing value of the bid and the ease of rebidding over whatever partner says.

51 Problem 8 Teams Both Vul declaring side bid 7NT missing an Ace? S W N E The answer has to be yes if the contract is always going down, and yes if without the - - - 1 ♠QT7 double the contract might be allowed to .P. 1 P 3 J843 make. “Might be allowed” to make comes P P 3NT -- 3 in two flavours – either the lead lets it ♣QT9863 P 4♣ P 4 through or your later defence, on the basis P 4NT P 5 * that declarer has all the Aces, lets it P 5 P 5NT* through. Our concern must be the case P 7NT Dbl End when declarer might make if we do not defend accurately. * 5 = 3 Aces * 5NT = Queen of trumps If partner was asking for an unusual lead there is a question of what would be This long auction is what happened at the “usual”. Against 6NT or 7NT general (and table and the lead made all the difference, quite strong) advice is to lead passively for so it felt worthwhile to examine what might fear of giving away a trick declarer would drive the winning choice. The panel spend not otherwise get. quite a few words analysing what has happened here. Leading here from four or five small would be ideal, but with any values likely to be in Some people did not expect partner to have a rounded suit would we not think that an Ace: leading diamonds or spades was SMITH: T. Am I to assume they can’t “normal”? This thinking did not get voiced count their Aces? by the panel, so I might be off-beam here. WHYTE: 7. I first make the assumption Could it be vital to lead to partner’s Ace? that my partner does not have an Ace. That depends on whether or not declarer while others are sure of the opposite: might make 13 tricks in the other suits. Could declarer make 13 tricks without MOULD: ♣T. Partner has an Ace (a wheel diamonds (or spades)? Nothing is has fallen off) or partner has it beaten and I impossible but it must be very unlikely. But can lead my convention card. what about a grand slam without club MURDOCH: 3. There seems to have been tricks, or without heart tricks? Suddenly we a keycard confusion and we have to find are looking at something much more likely. partner's Ace. If declarer is missing an Ace, it might be A correct diagnosis. Can we be sure a vital that we lead the correct rounded suit. missing Ace is the issue – no, but the full Unfortunately, there were pointers against panel comments suggest that the balance of a pointed suit lead – in particular, the lack probabilities is this. of a double of 4♣ or 5 . Let’s step back and ask - why did partner MOULD: ♣T. If partner has the A and bother to double? The position here – as didn’t double 5 then they will learn to do with any slam double – is that either the so next time. contract is always off, or there might be a For SHORT all the failure to double denies need for the defence, and in particular the is “a good holding in either suit” – which is opening lead, to be other than was about to sensible as disclosing a missing Ace might happen. Should partner double when the make 6NT easy for declarer where

52 otherwise it was going down. Of course if partner had doubled a cuebid, they are less likely to bid 7NT and give you this chance for a plus score. So we had MOULD choose a club because partner hadn’t doubled Congratulations to the Winners of hearts, while MURDOCH respected the club the Men’s events in February: cue more and that steered him to a heart. PATERSON thought that lack of a heart double made that lead unlikely and so a Men’s Pairs double made that his unusual lead. Help! (Buchanan Cup) For some the choice was simple. 1 John Murdoch & Iain Sime 61.98 WILKINSON and SIME treat the double as 2 Mike McGinley & David Wiseman 57.05 asking for the “suit first bid by dummy.” Some panellists thought the contract was 3 Roy Bennett & David Liggat 56.73 likely to be solid but that declarer might 4 Sandy Greenhill & Richard Melville 56.38 have a choice of plays – and the key thing was to force a trick one guess. (26 pairs took part)

ASH: ♠7. If for some reason he has doubled with a good diamond holding I need to put Men’s Teams declarer to the test before he discovers the (Benny Dexter Trophy) bad break. 1 Roy Bennett, David Liggat 134VP You need to be aware however that Liam O’Brien, Harry Smith declarer too will be listening to the bidding 2 Andrew Symons, Iain Taylor 131VP and looking at the lead and might work out Grant Harrower, Ian Hunter exactly what you are doing and why. 3 Alan Goodman, Brian Short 115VP The combination of the instinct to lead John Murdoch, Iain Sime dummy’s suit and the idea of putting 4 Paul Barton, Gints Freimanis 112VP declarer to a guess led to a serious majority Adam Dickinson, John Faben of the panel leading a spade. In the event, declarer had a maximum of 9 tricks in the (Total entry = 11 teams) minors and had to go for spades (dummy had AKJxxxx) to make 13 tricks. The only way to beat the contract is a heart at trick one, but it is hard to argue with a club. Problem 8 Votes Marks ♠7 8 10 ♠T 5 9 3 3 9 ♣9/T 2 9 ♠Q 0 6 J 0 2

Many thanks the panel again for all the contributions.

53 Panel Answers January 2020 Problem 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Top Scoring Choice 3 4♠ 5♣ 4 2 3♠ 1♠ ♠7 Total

1 Mike Ash 3 4♠ 5 Pass 4 3♠ 1♠ ♠7 76 2= Jack Paterson 3 Dbl 5♣ 4 2 3♠ 1♠ 3 73 Victor Silverstone 3 4♠ 4NT Pass 2 3♠ 1♠ ♣9 73 Iain Sime 3 Dbl 5♣ 4 2 3♠ 1♠ ♠T 73 5= John Atthey 3 Dbl 5♣ 4 3NT 3♠ 1♠ ♠T 66 Alan Mould 3 4♠ 6♣ Pass 2 3♠ Pass ♣T 66 Tony Wilkinson 2 4♠ 6♣ 4 4 4♣ 1♠ ♠7 66 8= John Murdoch 3 4♠ 5♣ 4 3♣ 4♣ Pass 3 65 Richard Plackett 4 Dbl 5 4 3♣ 4♣ 1♠ ♠7 65 10 Harry Smith 3 Pass 5♣ 4 3♣ 4♣ 1♠ ♠T 64 11= Alex Adamson 3 Dbl 4NT 4 3♣ 3♠ 1♠ ♠7 63 Irving Gordon 2 Pass 5♣ 4 4 4♣ 1♠ ♠7 63 Brian Short P Pass 5♣ 4 2 3♠ 1♠ ♠T 63 14 Miro Dragic 3 Pass 5 Pass 2 3♠ Pass ♠T 62 15 Anne Symons P 4♠ 4NT 4 3♣ 3♠ 1♠ ♠7 61 16 William Whyte P 4♠ Pass Pass 2 4♣ Pass ♠7 54 17 Moyra Forrest P Dbl 4NT 4 4NT 3NT 1♠ 3 51 18 Liz McGowan P 4 Pass 4 2 4♣ Pass ♠7 46

Subscriber Results Congratulations to our two winners, Danny Hamilton (Buchanan) and Donald Sutherland (Stirling & Union) on their winning score of 63 on a set where scoring well was tough. They will both be invited to participate in the next Panel. Other good scores: Allan Gordon (St Andrews) 59 Janice Thomson (Prestwick) 59 David Welsh (Stirling & Union) 59 Maurice Pigott (Buchanan) 55 Bill Ross (Aberdeen) 55

54 April 2020 Bidding Problem 4 Teams None Vul Problems S W N E ♠A2 - 3. P 5. You are always South, your pick-up partner AQ864 ? and opponents are competent players and AQJ73 you have agreed a basic classical ACOL ♣J system with a 12-14 1NT. Any deviations will be indicated. If in doubt, bids are Problem 5 Teams None Vul forcing, doubles are takeout.

The form of scoring is specified for each S W N E ♠J63 problem. Problem no 8 is a lead question. - 1 P 2 AKQ P 2 P P The competition is open to all SBN Q4 ? Subscribers, Direct SBU members and ♣AQ963 members of the GBC, New Melville and Carlton bridge clubs. Please send your answers by email to the Problem 6 Teams All Vul editor: [email protected] S W N E quoting your SBU MP number. ♠6 - P 1 P Closing Date: 1st June 2020 K9876 1NT P 3 * P 9 ? Problem 1 Teams EW Vul ♣KJ9832 S W N E *5/5+, + , 15-16HCP ♠KQT94 - - - P AT8542 ? T2 Problem 7 Teams NS Vul ♣- S W N E ♠AK8 P P 4 Problem 2 Teams All Vul A4 ? 873

S W N E ♣AKT98 ♠QT976 - - 1 P AQ872 1 P 3♣ P - 3NT P 4 P Problem 8 Teams None Vul ♣KJ7 ?

S W N E ♠J97 - - - 1 Problem 3 Teams NS Vul AJ2 P 1 P 1 S W N E 963 P 3 P 3NT ♠J852 - 1 2NT* P ♣A863 P P P AQT872 ? K5 What do you lead? ♣Q * Minors, 5/5+

55 Crossword by ‘Finesse’ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27

28 29

ACROSS 1: Old errand runners carrying Greek letter for the founder of Thebes (6) 4: Freezing hail blower transmitted without warning (4,4) 10: Can't bear to wait during time paint is drying out (9) 11: Half-sovereigns tossed, coming up tails (5) 12: Surgeon isn't about to get into arrears by the sound of it (7) 13: Understanding sentences' tenses when back to front with odd bits missing! (7) 14: Return he'll react to regularly (5) 15: Make a prediction for alien: he'll lose his head! (8) 18: Suffering a jagged shard piercing part of one's thigh (8) 20: See 22 23: Fruit counter is in the centre following last makeover (7) 25: Nothing trivial being wrecked, release a savage criticism (7) 26: Singer prone to back out of part (5) 27: Capricious pronouns about love for an impermeable adjective (3-6) 28: Bathes in bubbly alcohol (8) 29: Run the school to turn learners into earners? (6)

56 DOWN 1: Doctor in South America confronts new issue (8) 2: Italian librettist's fancy notepad (2,5) 3: With no highlights about article that's pure (9) 5: How you may hear where your plonk originated (2,3,9) 6: To drive off without hesitation may give rise to this (5) 7: Read about sodium left beside the kidneys (7) 8: A bit of all right is all right in a fancy role (6) 9: Top banana - be unusually soft with the lot of them (4,2,3,5) 16: Drunk guy will struggle to cross it (9) 17: Put in a finish in the finish (8) 19: She once studied salt with other students (7) 21: Abstract model (7) 22 and 20: Made one at the blacksmith's here (6,5) 24: Top golfer plugged in an area near the green (5)

Entries to the Editor: the winner of the £15 prize will be picked at random from those who submit correct solutions.

Solution to January Crossword

1A 2L B 3E R 4I C 5H 6R 7A 8B I V S 9O P E R E T T A 10O F F I C I A L M R S E C S 11I N A N D O U T S T D R P I 12S P R I N 13G B A N K 14G I R L A O R Y A N L 15A N 16A N I A S 17O B S 18C E 19N E S L N 20R L U A 21S A G E 22U N E V E N B A R S E O L M E G 23M A R C I A N O 24K R H B I T 25R H E T O R I C 26L I S T L E S S R O L Y M D 27E M B I T T E R

Winner: Alex T Sutherland (New Melville)

57 Master Point Promotions January 1 – March 31, 2020

Grand Master Senior Master E Norman Lazonby W Anne Ritchie W May Cameron E Vic Macari E Elaine Morrison Senior Life Master 5 Star Master H Richard Langridge C Anne Griffiths N George Innes H Gordon Robertson E David Kaye H Susan Robertson W Alistair Ross 4 Star Master N Marie Mitchell W Sandy Murray W John Cable Life Master 3 Star Master W Alan Kirk A Margaret Brown W Joe Nolan H Jean Macleod W Janet Hedley H Angie McCalman W Timothy Hedley District Master W Alan Roberts A Graeme Mcarthur National Master C Iain McLachlan C Caroline Atkins 2 Star Master A Ruth McCall E Julia Campbell C Roland Cons E Nanna Cartwright S Sham Pirmohamed C Fiona Jeffrey C Margaret Morrow E Joyce Clemie Scottish Master C Phil Robertson E Daryl Fisher C Marilyn Thomson H John Cameron E Patricia Gordon E Anne Young N Janice Hughes E Norma Gray H John Wilson W Charles Fogelman E Sam Harris E Gail Harvey Regional Master 1 Star Master E Margaret Henderson A Rani Sinnak A Douglas Denham E Sandy Lyon C Lynn Fullerton A Sheila Templeton E Fiona McKay C Jim Harley E Fraser Beaton E Tom Miller C Anne Kerr E Ron Challinor E Michael Wareham E Athena Chow E Margaret Pollock H Miriam Drysdale E Clare Douglas E Jim Stone H Charmian Entwistle E Tadeusz Janowski H John Porter H Gill Terry E Malgorzata Rozman H Mary Volume H Steve Terry H George Gibson N Rosa Patroni N Edith Beattie H Gerry Haines W Margaret Ainsworth S John McMiken H Gordon Inglis W Pam McGuire W Claire Harper H Cathy MacPherson W Andy Younger W Jim Mullen H Mairi Middlehurst W Sandra Raeburn N Bert Robertson Master W Marie Wilkinson S Abbie Robertson A Ann Prigg W Douglas Buchanan A David Ripley Local Master W Lindsay Jones C Robert Borthwick A Kate Allan W David Pollard E Kate Aggett A Patricia Armstrong W Sue Pollard E Sheila Davies A Doreen Donald A John Eland 58 A Chloe Farrell W Iain MacMillan E Hilary Morrison A John Harvey W Ailsa McClymont E Andrew Ritchie A Douglas Woodburn W Alison McKeown E Sandra Ritchie C Margaret Hutchison W Jane Molineux E Craig Robertson C Barbara Reay W Hilda Ralph H Mark Entwistle C Marc Shearer W Vanessa Rogers H Brian Mountjoy E Daphne Allan W John Wilson H Martin Phillips E Jim Bell W Helen Young H Sara Shaw E Graeme Bone H Jenny Thomas E Carol Brown Club Master I Elizabeth McNeil E Moira Crawford A Joyce Bowden N Jane Hyde E Dorothy Donnelly A Harry Kirkwood N Catriona Hyland E Tom Duffy A Ella Montgomery N Carole Lovie E Anne Gilchrist A Elizabeth Morris N Joan Mair E Marianne Hasler A Jim Morris N Lesley Marnoch E Anne Lambie A Isobel Potter N Sheena Oliver E Heather Lickley A John Shaw S Mary Mckinna E Barbara Pavey E Shirley Armstrong W Ian Atkinson E Norah Ridley E Moira Ayton W Valerie Atkinson E Jane Robson E Alex Black W Edward Castle E Grainne Scott E Katherine Dickie W George Dickson E Bridget Sinclair E Keith Dickinson W George Hannah E Sue Spencer E Liz Findlay W Miles Harrison E Jo Walker E Robert Fraser W Stephen Hughes H Chris Mickley E Janet Glen W Ele Livingstone N Bill Laver E Walter Hamilton W Elaine May N Helen Rose E Nick Hewitt W Marie Millar S Hilary Jack E Kit Hobkirk W Marilyn Mowbray W Beryl Clarke E Eve Johnstone W John Tebbutt W Stephen Davies E William King W Annette Wright W David Hartley E Terry Luscombe W Anthony Irwin E Anne McFarlane W Tony Irwin E Steve McLachlan W Daniele Lapi E Sue Miles

For information about your master points, visit … https.www.mempad.co.uk

59 Benjamin Eligibility 30 Alex Adamson E 1524.87 31 Bob McKinnon E 1515.89 The Benjamin Individual is an invitational 32 Veronica Guy E 1494.63 event for the players with most National 33 Bob McPaul C 1438.47 Points: those eligible include the top 50 34 Fiona McQuaker E 1391.30 overall, and 6 others who have won most 35 Jill Arthur W 1382.91 points in the last 3 years. This year it has been postponed, like everything else. When 36 Maida Grant W 1375.03 it is rescheduled the rankings below, as 37 Anne Symons E 1362.87 recorded on 31 March 2020, will determine 38 Ross Woodburn E 1359.22 the invitees. If you are a Grand Master and 39 Alan Goodman E 1341.79 would like to play keep an eye out for 40 Jim McMenemy W 1264.48 further news from the SBU website. 41 David Gerrard W 1250.34 SBU Top 50 Ranking List 42 Patrick Home E 1199.09 43 Derek Diamond W 1196.68 1 Liz McGowan E 4824.50 44 Ian Crorie E 1188.78 2 Sandy Duncan E 3966.17 45 Catherine Gerrard W 1188.47 3 Les Steel E 3733.92 46 Irving Gordon I 1186.09 4 David Liggat E 3641.71 47 Stephen Peterkin W 1179.36 5 Brian Short E 3629.66 48 Tim McKay E 1172.12 6 John Matheson W 3189.18 49 Paul Maiolani 1161.38 7 Iain Sime E 3160.90 50 Joyce Benson W 1159.23 8 Roy Bennett E 3106.29 9 Dave Walker E 3054.63 10 John Murdoch E 2861.52 11 Charles Outred E 2832.32 12 Vi Outred E 2747.65 The Top National Point Gainers 13 Mike McGinley W 2429.37 over the last 36 Months 14 Derek Sanders E 2265.63 (List from MEMPAD excludes those who 15 Douglas Piper E 2240.10 transferred a large block of points from the 16 Jack Paterson E 2187.83 EBU during the 36-month period; and those 17 Malcolm Cuthbertson E 2111.59 already in the top 50.) 18 Nigel Guthrie W 2046.75 19 Mike Ash E 1921.64 1 Eddie McGeough A 20 Sheila MacDonald W 1909.65 2 Cathy Ferguson E 21 Finlay Marshall E 1890.04 3 Iain Taylor W 22 Harry Smith E 1867.80 4 George Plant E 23 James McGeorge E 1840.37 5 David Wiseman A 24 Sam Punch W 1799.99 6 Robert Clow E 25 Brian Spears W 1719.17 26 Willie Coyle W 1715.74 27 Derrick Peden E 1714.26

28 Ian Hunter C 1659.82 29 Jim Hay E 1578.61

60 SCOTTISH BRIDGE UNION 12th Overseas Congress Wednesday, 6 May - Tuesday, 12 May 2020

Hotel Iberostar, Albufera Playa, Majorca, Balearic Islands, Spain

For further information, visit SBU Website www.sbu.org.uk

Or Contact or for entries

Julie & Hasan Choudhury SBU Congress Convenors 101 Craigleith Hill Crescent Edinburgh EH4 2JW email: [email protected]