South African Bridge Federation 2020 Congress – Cape Town

BULLETIN #2 Wed 11 March 2020

Compiled by: Neil Hayward

Hand of the Day Contributed by Alon Apteker

Alon is a successful businessman, investor and avid bridge enthusiast.

After graduating from Wits in 1992, he co- founded Internet Solutions which rapidly grew into South Africa’s largest internet service provider. After IS was acquired by Dimension Data PLC in 1998, Alon was appointed to the board of DDH PLC, a FTSE 100 company where he served as executive director until 2001.

In 2010 Alon co-founded and served as executive Chairman of Akeso Clinics, which was grown into South Africa’s largest private psychiatric hospital group. Akeso was sold to Netcare in 2018.

Alon is an international bridge player, having represented South Africa regularly since 2004. He has played in the semi-finals of the world bridge teams championships for South Africa in 2007 and has won 12 national titles and some prestigious international tournaments. He has two runners-up placings in team events at American NABCs and a number of other high placings at various international pairs and teams events.

Three of his four sons (pictured left to right below Aras, Jude and Noah) play bridge at a competitive level with Noah having already won two national titles by the age of 17.

1

The Hand Chosen by Alon Apteker

Hand: 23 Vul: All Dealer: S

 AJT953 West North East South  2 1NT  KQ94 2 (a) 3 (b) . J8 4 (c) 4NT(d)  7  86 5. (e) 5 (f)  KJ965  QT74 6 (g)  JT65  7

. Q92 . KT7643 (a) Transfer to spades  KQ42 (b) A super-accept, always 4cS  A83 (c) Cue bid, 1st or 2nd round control  A832 (d) Key card blackwood . A5 (e) 1 or 4 (f) Do you hold the trump Q? (g) Yes, but no side suit K

Alon was struck by this hand, played against him by Rob Stephens. It is remarkable that James Grant and Tim Cope also mentioned this hand, totally independently. Playing in 6, which requires good bidding, let us say a small heart is led by West. If diamonds are breaking 3-2, the hand is easy. You need to see what can be done if the hand contains a pitfall, which is when diamonds break 4-1. Rather than guess who holds diamond length (if anyone), you can ensure the contract in the following manner. Since an elimination is envisaged, win in hand, lead the K, and, when trumps are found to be 2-1, ruff a heart high, cross to a trump in hand, drawing the last trump, and ruff a heart. Now cash the K, followed by .A and a club. If the hand winning the second round of clubs is out of diamonds, a ruff and discard is on the way. If the hand winning the second round of clubs holds four diamonds originally, a diamond lead will reveal the situation, and allow you to wrap the suit up via a marked finesse. And anything else is also going to give you a ruff and discard.

2

Great Names in the History of Bridge

Ely Culbertson (pictured with his wife, Josephine) was born in Romania, his father an American by the name of Almon Culbertson, his mother a Russian, Xenya Rogoznaya. He attended the Sorbonne in Paris, and the University of Geneva. He spoke Russian, English, French, German, Czech and Spanish fluently, was comfortable reading five other languages, and was fully conversant with Latin and classical Greek. Remembering the few conventions of his time must have been an absolute doddle. Even Stayman was around 20 years in the future.

Between 1917 and 1921, Culbertson lived in various European cities, earning a living from his card-playing skills. He then moved to America, playing auction bridge and poker for money. In 1923 he married Josephine Dillon, a prominent member of the auction bridge community in Manhattan. They forged a career in bridge as players, teachers, and as publishers. Her name was attached to a bidding convention, the Josephine 5NT bid.

As contract bridge took over from auction bridge, Culbertson saw his opportunity to be the big name in the new game. He founded and edited The Bridge World magazine, and he saw to the production of a new type of plastic card, called Kem Cards. He owned a chain of bridge schools, run by teachers who were qualified to teach the Culbertson bidding system.

Culbertson was the driving force behind a number of famous challenge matches, all of which were won by his team. His first opponents in the USA were Sidney Lenz’s team in the early 1930’s (this was known as the "Bridge Battle of the Century"). In 1935, he and Josephine played a challenge match against P. Hal Sims and his wife.

A series of teams-of-four matches were played in England in the early 1930’s. His opposing captains were Walter Buller's, "Pops" Beasley and against Col. George Walshe. These matches were well publicised in newspapers and on radio. Cinema newsreels also covered these matches. This exposure to the new game of contract bridge stimulated much discussion around the various bidding systems used at the time. Culbertson, of course, pushed his methods, outlined in various books bearing his name.

Culbertson promoted the game of contract bridge to its highest point. The most prestigious tournaments today do not make the front pages of a newspaper. In Culbertson’s era, he saw to it that they did. It was like the Fischer-Spassky chess championship in Reykjavik in 1972.

3

The History of the Playing Cards (The Kings)

♠K - David, the second king of ancient Israel

♥K - Alexander the Great, an all-conquering general

♦K - Caesar, the Roman dictator

♣K - Charlemagne, founder of the Holy Roman Empire

......

On a Point of Law

Asking Questions

You can ask about an alerted bid only when it is your turn to bid. If Partner is on lead at trick one, it is advisable to wait until the lead has been made face-down before asking any questions about the bidding.

You need to be careful that you ask any questions in a neutral way, as opposed to doing so in a way that alerts Partner to a special interest you have in a suit.

The laws specifically prohibit you from asking a question with the intention of helping your partner.

......

The Cheek of the Man

A good player in the USA, Mike Edwards, and a friend of his, a relative beginner in the world of bridge, were having dinner with multiple World Champion, Paul Soloway (pictured here). Edwards’ friend asked Paul about a convention. When Soloway said he did not play it, Edwards’ friend said: "Perhaps you should!"

......

Bridge Humour Alphonse Moyse, a former editor of The Bridge World, advocated the merits of the 4-3 trump fit so strongly that it became well known in bridge parlance as: “A Moysian fit”.

Two tournament players ended up in a spade game with a 4-3 fit in the trump suit. After bringing in the ten tricks required, the declarer said: “I made game on a Freudian fit.”

To which his witty partner added: “You'll have to excuse my partner for his Moysian slip.”

......

4

Morton’s Fork Coup Cardinal John Morton was the collector of taxes on behalf of King Henry VII. He would look at the standard of living of individuals, and, if they clearly lived in luxury, he would demand (reasonably enough) significant payment towards the king’s coffers. If they lived modestly, he would suggest to them that they had plenty of cash stashed away, and significant payments were, again, demanded.

In bridge, the Morton’s Fork Coup involves a play by declarer which creates a dilemma for a defender: it does not matter whether they take their ace, or duck. Either way, declarer’s contract is going to succeed. An example:

NORTH

♠ K75 ♥ Void ♦ 9742 ♣ AQ9532

SOUTH

♠ Q9 ♥ A7 ♦ AKJ ♣ KJ874

West doubled your 1♣ opening. You are declarer in a contract of 6♣. The ♥K is led. The clever move is to ruff this trick, keeping your ♥A in cold storage. You imagine West’s hand looks something like this: ♠ AJ42 ♥ KQ83 ♦ Q853 ♣ 8

You draw trumps (which break 1-1, shall we say). You ensure you are in hand at this point, to lead a spade up. If West wins, you have no spade loser (and the ♦J runs away on the third round of spades). If West ducks, the ♠K wins, a diamond is led back to hand, and the ♥A is cashed. A spade goes away. You ruff the last heart on table, and, with a spade left in each hand, you exit in spades. West wins, and is end-played, forced to offer you a ruff and discard, or a diamond lead, straight into the “jaws”.

If West does not understand what a Morton’s Fork Coup is all about, trick three will clarify any uncertainty. It is at this moment that West was impaled on a Morton’s Fork.

5

Rank Team Score Name Extra Roster 1 5 95.00 STABELL Stabell - Stabell - Johnsen - Mikkelsen 2 17 86.30 GRANT Chemaly - Grant - Holroyd - Bateman 3 21 82.64 MINWALLA Minwalla - Minwalla - Mestern - Gruft 4 19 81.95 EBER Bloom - Nestoridis - Morath - Bjerregaard - Eber - Fick 5 25 81.53 ASHBERG Alexander - Stephens - Kaminer - Ashberg 6 15 79.53 GOWER Apteker - Donde - Gower - Apteker 7 11 78.50 HUGHES Leigh - Hughes - McGrath - Smith 8 41 74.01 WARD Ward - Dornon - Goosen - Van Niekerk 9 10 73.80 BRACHER Fein - Bracher - Bradley - Verhoog - Gersowsky 10 35 69.83 RABIE Narunsky - Kaprey - Rabie - Stanton 11 27 69.25 CRUISE Cruise - Cope - Pincus - Holman - Siegel - Sulcas 12 40 68.63 PRYCE Davey - Cleveland - Beatty - Knipscheer 13 9 67.02 ALEXANDER Stern - Lambardi - Alexander - Simpson 14 33 64.79 DER KINDEREN Simmomds - Grunder - Keet - Der Kinderen - Armstrong - Rawson 15 12 64.57 OMAR -1.00 Omar - Ebrahim - Mahomed - Ebrahim 16 1 63.51 HAMEL Lagache - Hamel - Brethes - Sarrola 17 31 63.32 LANG Lang - Child - Bernstein - Sandler 18 24 62.87 BERNSTEIN Weers - van der Vyver - Hessen - Sacks - Schewitz - Bernstein 19 20 62.77 VAN VUGHT Ingersent - Van Vught - Van Vught - Shenker 20 32 62.62 BLOCH Bloch - Joffe - Buchinsky - Margolius - Urisohn - Sacks 21 3 62.18 LARIAU Lariau - Lariau - Tortay - Demaison 22 34 62.11 BRYANT Bryant - Kenyon - Smith - Van Niekerk - Gersowsky 23 43 61.40 BALDERSON Foaden - Kenny - Gautschi - Balderson 24 23 60.03 OLIFF Chemaly - Thomas - Wilson - Oliff - Adrain 25 37 60.01 SORENSEN Apteker - Sorensen - Turk - Apteker 26 14 58.40 DANILOWITZ Danilowitz - Danilowitz - Lobel - Izerel 27 6 58.37 PALMER Penlington - Palmer - Golan - Strauss 28 16 57.95 STERN Stern - Harris - Abbott - Zimet 29 28 56.35 LEWIS Lewis - Lewis - Danin - Atie 30 36 54.53 SENDIN Underwood - Sendin - Curzon - Deuchar - Gower - Mullord 31 8 51.58 FRANCIS Wentzel - Francis - Braatvedt - Visser 32 39 49.68 MUTCH Mutch - Oldacre - Campbell - Barlow 33 4 48.85 MCLEOD Mcleod - Mcleod - Botha - Cunningham 34 2 48.81 NICK Cruise - Nick - Sturrock - Brown 35 18 48.11 GROTEPASS Grotepass - Matatodes - Maritz - Croucher 36 30 47.31 WHEELER Irving - Murray - Wheeler - Alger 37 13 45.16 HENDLER Hendler - Shearer - Gravråk - Hjort-Larsen 38 22 44.72 WATERMAN Shepard - Roberts - Waterman - Worthington 39 29 38.74 HINGLE Gilmour - Kruger - Rosslee - Hingle 40 7 37.82 TORTAY Raymond - Duvaux - Kedochim - Tortay 41 42 35.12 MESTERN Kilcullen - Owen - Thirsk - Gruft - Mestern - Reid 42 26 34.05 FLETCHER Botha - Wansell - Fletcher - Wright 43 38 32.79 POTGIETER Beinart - Potgieter - Sive - Shapiro 44 44 32.49 KARON Karon - Penkin - Leslie - Danilewitz - Phillips - Codd