NEWSLETTER AUSTRALIAN BRIDGE FEDERATION INC. EDITOR: Stephen Lester NO. 127 SEPTEMBER 2007 Approved for Print Post S65001/00163 ABN 70 053 651 666 Opinion Gold Hunt in the Far East n a previous editorial, I commented on the fact that aving lost the final of the Australian Open Teams Iit can be daunting for new players to start playing HPlayoff by a single IMP, our team, npc George at clubs. Many of our ‘newcomers’ are newly-retired Bilski, Peter Gill - Paul Gosney, Tony Nunn – Sartaj people, with time on their hands, ready to ‘take up’ Hans, Bobby Richman – Zolly Nagy, set out to contest bridge, an aim they have long considered. the PABF Championships in Bandung, Indonesia in early June. But where is the necessary influx of young players to the game? In my own club, we encourage youth play- ers, charging them half price for a game, and for the large part, they are welcomed. But the fact remains that the young faces I see at my own club are few and far between, despite the fact that in Victoria, Cathy and Andrew Mill provide a very active youth bridge programme at Alphington Bridge Centre. The youth section of the ABF website shows that there are a number of drives aimed at encouraging youngsters, and each state has a youth representative. Yet the Youth Bridge Camp in Nashville, USA, was cancelled earlier this year, and while there were two Tony Nunn - Sartaj Hans or three Australian Youth newsletters in 2004 and The mood in the team was upbeat: after all, we did win 2005, in 2006 there was only one, and the most recent a revenge match against the “Bermuda Bowl” team was in January 2007. by 120 IMPs. With an aim to acclimatise ourselves to Over the ditch in New Zealand the situation is even the playing terrain, we had participated in the Geologi more dire. The last Youth Newsletter was published Cup, a premier Indonesian tournament contested a in 2005, and the NZ Youth Register fits on one page. few days before the PABF Championships. Four of A Youth Camp held in Christchurch in July reportedly us finished second in this strong event and Peter Gill went well, but I was told that at a recent Youth Pairs - Paul Gosney teamed up with Youth Team members event in Auckland there were only three entries. Nye Griffiths, Griff Ware and their npc, Cathy Mill to When I started playing the game I was 19, and my win the consolation Swiss. first bridge was played at a club. I loved it. There The usual recipe for Australian teams overseas has been were many players around my own age over the next to arrive a day or two before play begins, start talking few years, and a large number of these contemporar- about winning the event over dinner, sometimes start ies have stayed in the game, growing older like me. off rather well, but almost always fall over before the But it is a sad fact that at 56 I can often be one of the event is finished. This time, there was a sentiment of younger players in the room. doing well in the weeks leading up to the event. In If like me it alarms you that bridge is not attract- fact, a few seconds after we lost the playoff in March, ing young players, take the time to read the edito- someone said “This is OK. We can go win the Far rial in the August IBPA Bulletin, where the editor East now.” starts “Junior bridge is under siege”. Globally, junior “All talk and no oomph”, thought my good old pessi- bridge is in serious trouble. The link is http://www. mistic heart. I am sure a few others thought so too. After ibpa.com/511bc.pdf. Let’s not just sit still and let oth- all, Australia had not won the Far East Championships ers do all the work for youth bridge. for about 37 years, and had one third place finish to show for our last four outings, the last silver medal dat- ing back to the early 1990s. China would be a strong favourite to clean up the field, they won last year with Index a match to spare. Japan is another power in the region, Articles Of Interest & Information and Indonesia would have the home team advantage Opinion 1 and probably boasts one of the best credentials on the How to play against experts 5 international stage from the Asia-Australia zone. Five-Suit Bridge 6 2008 Open & Women’s Playoffs 8 Gill ‘n Goz McCutcheon Leaders 9 Buoyed on by the success in the local event, we jumped New name for trophy 9 off to a good early start. 22-year old Paul Gosney Deadly Bridge Sins 11 started his debut for the Australian Open Team with a Book Review 16 Bridge 18 25-0 win over Thailand. Congresses, ABF & International Events 22 In fact, Peter Gill and Paul quickly became the anchor Summer Festival of Bridge Entry Form 23 pair for the team, leading the pair datums for most of Tournament Reports the tournament and falling back to second only at the Gold Hunt in the Far East 1 very end. They played a rather simple two-over-one Regular Features game force system but being natural card players, both of them revelled when the card play began. Coaching Cathy at Contract 10 Bridge into the 21st Century 14 Check out this hand where they “ran rings around de- clarer” by a series of enterprising defensive efforts: East deals, all vulnerable l K 10 l K 10 9 4 kQ 9 5 kQ 9 5 j9 7 j9 7 3 2 i9 6 i9 6 l J 7 l 8 5 3 l A J 7 6 l Q 8 5 3 2 kK J 10 6 2 k3 kK J 10 7 6 2 k3 j--- j 6 j8 j A 6 4 i4 2 iQ 10 8 5 i4 2 iQ 10 8 5 l --- l --- kA 8 kA 8 4 jJ 10 jK Q J 10 5 iA K J 7 3 iA K J 7 3 Realising that he was endplayed, Peter Gill resource- West North East South fully got out with kK, locking declarer in his hand. Gill Gosney (Note that a “natural” club exit lets declarer claim his Pass 1i1 contract). 1k Dbl 1l 2j 3l Dbl Pass 5i Declarer won kA, cashed his two top clubs and ruffed Pass 5j All Pass a club. At this point the succesful line involves using lK for a heart discard and then cashing kQ. However, 1. 15+, any distribution. the unsuspecting declarer tried kQ prematurely, only Gill, on lead with an awkward hand, led a low spade! to see it get ruffed by Gosney for down one. Declarer played small from dummy and ruffed away I consider this to be the best defensive hand I have Gosney’s lQ. Next came a high trump and an accurate seen in my bridge life: making the most of a difficult duck. On the next trump, Gosney won his ace as Gill lead by Gill, the technical duck of the first diamond discarded a discouraging heart. by Gosney (most would win jA and prompty switch to Continuing the attack on declarer’s trumps, Gosney their singleton heart), the trust demonstrated by Gosney continued a low spade (resisting the urge to switch to in not attempting his heart ruff, the enterprising kK his singleton heart) as declarer, who had the wrong exit when Gill was endplayed, all of this culminating idea about the location of lA, discarded a heart and in declarer’s undermining when he innocently tried to Peter won lA to get on play in the position shown in cash kQ. On top of it, I am told that the cardplay part the next column: of the hand was over in less than two minutes. 12 Grand Greed East deals, nil vulnerable Traditional wisdom holds that one should be conser- l A 9 2 vative about bidding grand slams at duplicate bridge. kA K Q 8 7 5 4 Sometimes, there will be pairs who will stop in game j9 with our cards (or even partscores) and just bidding iA 7 a slam will be sufficient to win IMPs or matchpoints l Q J 10 l 7 6 4 3 without the risk that bidding a grand slam entails. k6 3 kJ 10 jK Q J 4 j A 8 6 5 Traditional wisdom is for traditional souls; here’s how iK J 8 2 iQ 6 4 some modern punks handled a grand: l K 8 5 l A Q 9 7 l K 6 4 2 k9 2 kA 9 6 k5 4 3 j10 7 3 2 jK 3 j A Q J 10 4 i10 9 5 3 iA 9 5 2 iJ West North East South Nagy Richman Hans Nunn Pass Pass 1i 1j 1j1 Dbl All Pass 1NT1 2j2 1. Precision style 2l 4i3 4j4 4l4 While the Australian North in the other room chose a 4NT5 5k5 Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) 4k bid, our opponent 5NT6 7l7 here elected to start with a double. Especially when partner is a passed hand, there is a lot of merit in bid- 1. 15 - 17 ding the value of one’s hand immediately. The reason 2. Artificial, game-forcing Checkback is that slam is unlikely and bidding game quickly might 3. Splinter (Traditional wisdom, don’t splinter in tempt an indiscretion by the opponents.