ABF Newsletter September 2005
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NEWSLETTER AUSTRALIAN BRIDGE FEDERATION INC. EDITORS: David & Sue Lusk NO. 115 SEPTEMBER 2005 Approved for Print Post S65001/00163 ABN 70 053 651 666 Opinion The ANC Women’s Teams Australia hosted the World Youth Teams By Pele Rankin Championships in Sydney last month. Having observed 2005 ANC was the first one I had participated in. I the event first-hand for some of the time and also found it a very different experience representing my keeping up with it on the website for the rest, I would State from playing in any other teams event. Less have to say that the whole exercise was impressive. sleep and more pressure which alas meant fewer bottles of wine during post mortems. Other than There is a massive expense in running such events, minimizing errors, we didn’t do anything not only in a financial sense but also in the time extraordinary. Having veterans Margaret, Greer, Toni expended by both paid staff and a very large number and Sandy certainly made for a solid foundation. The of volunteers. The fact that national bridge bodies keep following hands in the final against NSW were worth volunteering to accept this kind of responsibility says noting. much about how they see themselves as members of a wider bridge community. It was not only pleasing that Round 3, Board: 5 Australia took on the responsibility; it was a revelation to observe just how well it could be done. Dealer: N North Vul: NS l 10 So what is so complicated about running an event over k 98532 ten days for a field of 18 teams? j AQ854 West i Q7 East The infrastructure required for a modern international l 97 l AKQJ6543 event is enormous. The WYT included three matches k Q1074 k A broadcast on-line by BBO and an almost instantaneous j J1063 j 9 results service on-line. The information available i K102 South i 9865 included massive detail with score cards, datums and l J82 even the play of the board during the finals. Hand k KJ6 records were also available. A quality bulletin was j K72 released daily, also available on-line. There was a i AJ43 hospitality desk and an excursion was organised for all players, captains, coaches and visitors (about 150 West North East South people, all up). In addition, each overseas team was Rankin Watts Lachman Folkard provided with a host or guide to see to any details which Pass 4l All Pass may have been a problem on foreign soil. Lead: k6 This all underpinned a well-run tournament with four directing staff on the floor and an event manager plus Looking at all four hands, 4l has no play. The play, scoring staff behind the scenes. however, demonstrates how timing and pressure can Members of the ABF and the international bridge cause a good player to misdefend. Rosa quickly community owe a vote of thanks to the convening panel identified that the club situation was hopeless unless of David Stern, Peter Gill, Kim Neale, Nick Fahrer, the Ace was on-side and they broke 3/3 or Ace on-side Pauline Gumby and Matthew McManus, plus a host and an honour smothered by the King, promoting her of other volunteers, for putting together an international pips. At trick 2, Rosa played a club towards the King event of which we can all feel justifiably proud. and Folkard rose with the Ace. Troubles over and 10 IMPs in as 4l was down one in the open room. David Lusk 1 Round 6, Board: 19 It was a tough but enjoyable week. Hope to see you Dealer: S North again for more “fun??!!” Vul: EW l K9 k QJ952 Thanks to our fantastic captain Jill Broad who j 62 pampered us all week with jelly beans, coffee and West i A1084 East water. Special thanks to Bill Hunt who prepped us for l A82 l 107653 weeks leading up to the ANC to the point of making k K87643 k A us practise with screens and bidding boxes because j A83 j KQJ94 “you’re going to need it, girls”. i K South i 65 l QJ4 k 10 The ANC Seniors’ Teams j 1075 By Neville Moses i QJ9732 According to the bookies there were just four chances for this year’s Seniors’ Teams Championships – West North East South Victoria the favourites, SA and NSW equal second Rankin Watts Lachman Folkard picks, Queensland a chance and write your own ticket 3i about the rest. 3k X All Pass However, as is the case with many of the horses I back, Lead: iA the starters hadn’t read the form guide. Victoria stumbled out of the barrier languishing at the bottom Folkard got her own back on this hand with ‘that pre- of the field for most of the first half and when they did empt’ and could have won the match on this board but hit form it was “too little too late.” Meanwhile fortunately for Queensland, it was played in 5l going neglected outsiders WA (John and Ruth Hansen, Sue one down in the open room. A redouble from either of and Richard Grenside, Sathi Moses and David us was undiscussed as it normally means “pull this Schokman, npc Dennis Yovich) shot away with a big partner & you’re dead meat!” 9 IMPs out. lead and were only overtaken by Queensland, spearheaded by Tony Jackman and Richard Wallis, after a surprise loss to Northern Territory in the second Index round. Articles Of Interest & Information ABF Calendar 19 Meanwhile our NSW team (Ruth and Peter Jamieson, Bridge Teachers Association 10 Mike Hughes and Ted Griffin, Steven Bock and I, npc Contact Details 2, 8, 16, 18 Tina Zines) plugged away in third place, our Copy Deadline 15 momentum halted twice by ACT whose leading pair Country Congress Calendar 21 Len Dixon & George Riszko topped the datums for Letter to the Editors 11 the event. McCutcheon Trophy - 31 August 2005 22 Playoff Qualifying Points as at 15 August 2005 20 Despite the best efforts of Tina to inspire us, we were Major Tournament Reports handicapped by the early form of Mike and Ted who The ANC Open Teams 5 were no doubt suffering a hang-over from their fine The ANC Seniors’ Teams 2 efforts in South Korea for the Australian Seniors in The ANC Women’s Teams 1 the Pacific-Asia Championships and whose mind was The Butler Did It Again 7 on other things (see later.) It was the steady play of Tournament Results 14 Ruth and Peter which kept us in touch with the leaders Regular Features and they showed their flair on this hand against WA: Bridge into the 21st Century 16 Book Reviews 12 Coaching Cathy at Contract 18 Opinion 1 The Director’s Chair 10 ABF Website http://www.abf.com.au 2 Dealer: N North West North East South Vul: NS l J Ruth John k J 1l Pass 2i Pass j KJ9654 2NT1 Pass 4j2 Pass West i AQ652 East 4l3 Pass 7l All Pass l Q853 l A964 k 73 k KQ108652 1. 15-18 j 72 j 10 2. RKC for l i K10873 South i4 3. 1 or 4 (can’t be 1) l K1072 k A94 Only one other pair in the event bid the “granny” - j AQ83 11 IMPs in! And again on this freak: i J9 Dealer: E North West North East South Vul: All l AKQJ986 Peter Ruth k — 1j 3k X j Q108754 Pass 5i Pass 6j West i — East All Pass l 2 l 10754 k A10753 k KJ64 Single dummy this is not a great slam but the odds of j AK92 j — the iK on-side improve greatly after the 3k bid and, i Q83 South i AKJ54 after East rose with the Ace on the first round of spades, l 3 the slam rolled home for a 12 imp swing. k Q982 j J63 With one round to go things looked like this: i 109762 Queensland 184.2 to play WA 152.3 NSW 137.3 to play SA 83.6. Most North-Souths (including Sue and Richard Grenside) played in 5lX and all made it except at the Mike and Ted had now hit form and Tina instructed Hansens’ table when John refused to pitch a diamond them that we needed a good win – we had to score 16 on the run of the trumps – 3 light – a mere 17 IMPs! more against SA than WA managed against Qld. A win (In the NSW/SA match Mike and Ted took the dive in k by 25 looked promising but WA had other ideas: 6 ; -200 for a valuable swing.) West East When the smoke cleared WA had won by a max and it l AK843 l Q9762 was WA v NSW in the final. k A87 k Q2 j AJ j 8 We started off with a handicap – Mike and Ted were i J83 i AKQ97 absent for the first 20 boards. They were playing in a Bridging the Gap between Sessions 3 semi-final of the bronze section of the NSW Croquet 3. Becoming aware of the mistake and hoping to Championships. (I kid you not!) sign off but systemically showing iA singleton. Fortunately for us, WA were suffering the sort of 4. Suspecting what has happened but following letdown that often occurs after their outstanding the system with a cue. performance the night before. And, as usual, when 5. Partner please get the message. you’re feeling flat the luck goes against you.