NEWSLETTER AUSTRALIAN BRIDGE FEDERATION INC. Editor: Stephen Lester [email protected] NO. 174 JULY 2015 Approved for Print Post S65001/00163 ABN 70 053 651 666 Order of Australia Medal recipient ● Conducting workshops for he entire bridge young people community congratulates T on weekends David Lusk on his award of and constantly the Order of Australia Medal endeavouring for service to the community to stimulate and the game of bridge in greater inter- the 2015 Queen’s Birthday est in bridge in honours. schools David was President of the ● Continuing to South Australian Bridge contribute to Association (SABA) from 1982 - 1984 and was a the ABF News- professional bridge teacher for them from 1987 - letter through 2014. his popular He was also on the SABA ‘Coaching Committee from 1975 - 1980; the Cathy at Contract’ series for the improving SABA representative to the ABF player from 1985 - 1987; the SA State “I think there are a lot of people that have done Youth Coordinator from1990 – 2005 more and are more deserving of an award like and the National Youth Coordinator this” he says. “I had lots of support from so many from 1999 – 2006. His many people along the way. I would love to somehow personal triumphs can be seen via break the award into tiny pieces and share it with the SABA Honours Board pictured all those who have helped and support me.” on this page. A well deserved honour. Other achievements include: Inaugural Awards for Excellence ● Editing a booklet titled ‘A History of the South n 2015 the Victorian Bridge Association launched an Australian Bridge Association 1933 - 1983’ IAwards for Excellence program designed to recognise ● Being co-editor of the Australian Bridge the many people in our game who provide an outstand- Federation Newsletter from 1994 - 2006 ing contribution to its success in their club, region or state. Awards were presented in three categories - ● Involvement in the running of the first state Teacher, Volunteer and Offi cial - for contributions in junior pairs and teams events in the mid-sixties. the 2014 calendar year. The judging panel comprised David has maintained a passionate interest in the President of the VBA and youth bridge and spent a decade as the South the Presidents of Victoria’s Australian Bridge Association’s Youth Co- three regions. The panel had a ordinator. He was instrumental in maintaining range of outstanding nomina- South Australia’s steady flow of quality junior tions from clubs around the players. state, but the three winners ● Authoring ‘Teaching Package for Youth Bridge were standout candidates. Players’ The awards were presented ● Writing a weekly article for the Sunday Mail in at the 2015 Victor Cham- South Australia from 1991 – present; and pion Cup, and our inaugural Mary Elson winners - treated to a wonderful display of Thai dancing and the Chris Heesom evening ended with the traditional “all-in” photo of (Bairnsdale the competitors. Bridge Club) for Volunteer Given that we were heading from wintery weather into of the Year; the hot and humid, we made sure we gave ourselves Mary Elson time to acclimatise. It seems that this paid dividends, (Waverley as we hit the ground running. The unbackable favourite Chris Heesom being presented her award Bridge Club) by VBA President Ben Thompson in our section was China, and it would take a miracle for Teacher of to fi nish ahead of this professional team. Our realistic the Year and Tim Woodley (Ballarat Bridge Club) aim was to fi nish in at least second place but do our for Offi cial of the Year were delighted to be hon- best to stay in touch with fi rst. It very quickly became oured by the VBA for their efforts. obvious what an impossible battle this would be… The VBA thanks all clubs for participating in the During each of the three round robins, our team won awards, and we hope that other states will also in- more matches than China, and we won each of our troduce awards for outstanding contributions in their head-to-head matches, but it was the size of the wins states, and that eventually a national award will be against other teams that counted in the end. China’s established whereby a national winner is selected from were much bigger than ours. This meant that by the state fi nalists. time we met in the last match of the event, they were well and truly locked into fi rst place, whilst we were Our Women at the APBF Championships locked into second. The fi nal placings were: by Sue Lusk t is always an honour to represent Australia and this 1. China 399 Iyear we get to do it twice. Our fi rst outing was at 2. Australia 348 the 50th APBF Championships in Bangkok. For me 3. Chinese Taipei 325 it was a return to the city where I played my very Some bridge: fi rst international tournament over 30 years ago. Our “Ladies” team consisted of our core four of Barbara South deals, EW vulnerable Travis – Candice Ginsberg and Margaret Bourke – J 8 7 Sue Lusk together with Leone Fuller – Val Biltoft, A 10 6 4 2 who were added after the Playoffs, plus npc David Q 9 Appleton. The bonus in having David as our captain K 7 2 was that Julia Leong came too. She was very quickly Q 10 9 K 4 3 added to our team as “Manager,” and a wonderful job J 9 7 K Q 8 she did; making sure that we always had snacks or A K J 8 4 10 7 3 lunch between sessions, running all sorts of odd jobs 10 4 A 9 8 5 for us and generally being our “mum”. A 6 5 2 5 3 6 5 2 Q J 6 3 This hand, against Thailand, resulted in a game swing to us when Margaret and I were the only pair in the Ladies fi eld to bid and make 3NT. Margaret opened a 12-14 1NT fourth in hand. Given that I was a maximum pass and had a good suit, I just raised to 3NT. Maybe the lack of Stayman was why South chose to lead a spade rather than a club. Margaret, naturally, took Although it is an international tournament and at the the diamond finesse, which lost, but when North table the competitions is always fi erce, the APBF switched to a heart rather than a club, she easily came always has a welcome and friendly atmosphere to nine tricks. Against Barbara and Candice, our Thai away from the table. I have many friends from other opponents stopped in 2. countries over the years and it is always a pleasure to Against the Chinese the hand on page 4 was a nice catch up with them. At the opening ceremony we were partscore swing in our favour: Disclaimer: It is ABF policy not to accept advertising from persons or organizations believed to be unreliable or financially irresponsible. 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BRIDGE CLUB LIBRARIES $14.95 postfree NON-DISCOUNTED BOOKS AND SOFTWARE ARE POSTFREE West deals, all vulnerable South deals, nil vulnerable Q 10 5 4 J 7 6 2 10 6 J 8 2 J 10 9 6 9 6 5 K 10 3 J 7 2 K 8 J 9 6 4 Q 10 5 3 K Q 8 5 A 9 7 4 2 10 6 4 A K Q 9 5 3 8 4 3 A 5 A K 8 4 2 J 10 3 9 7 5 2 Q 6 6 4 K 9 3 A 7 3 A K 9 8 4 J 3 7 K Q 7 2 Q 7 A J 8 4 A Q 10 8 5 West North East South West North East South Lusk Zhang Yu Bourke Wang Hongli Pelkman Bourke Wood Lusk Pass Pass 1 Dbl 1 3 All Pass 2 Pass 2 3 West North East South 3 3 4 4 Ran Jingrong Travis Gan Ling Ginsberg Pass Pass 5 All Pass Pass Pass 1 Dbl After cashing A, I switched to 7.