Victorian Bridge Association Bulletin October 2019 Editor: Dee Harley

TBIB SPONSORSHIP MASTER POINT PROMOTIONS CHRISTOPHER LEACH We are delighted to advise that TBIB will once Gold Life again be sponsoring Victorian bridge. The Jo-Anne Heywood RACV highly successful TBIB Insurance Restricted Pairs Prize is back and its bigger and even Bronze Life better. It will be conducted in association with Dot Peacock Geelong eligible Swiss Pairs events at Congresses held Kerry Delcourt Bendigo under the auspices of the VBA. Jenifer Codognotto Waverley This year’s competition features a first and Life second prize at each Congress for restricted Kaye McFarlane Ballarat pairs who have entered the day’s competition **National (with a combined prize value of $200) and there will be two winning pairs drawn from all Christine Hynd Ballarat entries over the season at the end of the Ilse Porritt Bairnsdale competition, winning free into the *National Restricted Pairs event of their choice at the Jenny Gray MCC Victor Champion Cup in June 2020. National The competition runs from the Sunbury Bruce Headey Moonee Valley Congress on October 27 until the end of April Carole Sorby Bairnsdale 2020, with the draw for the winners occurring in May. The official launch of the competition Marion Taylor Traralgon will be at Waverley Bridge Club on Saturday Lee Opray Dromana November 2nd. *State The competition is exclusively for Restricted Elisabeth Burgess Bendigo Pairs, i.e. pairs where neither player has more Andrew Poole Whittlesea than 300 , as per the normal Alan Race Yarra Valley criteria of the ABF regarding eligibility for the Restricted category as at the date of the State Congress. Sue Douglas Kooyong Elizabeth Knight Shepparton Entry to the TBIB competition at each eligible Congress will be exclusively via a printed entry Debbie Goldsworthy Whittlesea card, which shall be placed on all tables prior *Regional to round one where restricted pairs will be Colin Wilshire Waverley seated. Regional Robert Cook Shepparton Pairs who wish to enter the competition should complete the form before the conclusion of Julie Wallace Rye Beach round one and the forms will be collected. At Charles Young Bendigo the end of the event, the best two restricted Judy Decouto Waverley pairs to have entered the competition shall Mary Munro Waverley receive the cash prizes. All entries from the season go into the final draw. Richard Fleetwood Mornington Lesley Gorham Waverley The VBA Council wishes to express its appreciation to TBIB for this wonderful support. Page 2 VBA Bulletin October 2019

TRICKY PLAY PROBLEM #1 Lead: §10 DEE HARLEY Let me give you a head start. South has to find I mention in this month’s Mini problem that I 12 tricks. If the diamonds break 3-2 either have run out of Mini Double dummy problems. way, then it is gin! You can win the first club Over the next few months I am going to with the Ace, unblock the A© and play across present some tricky play problems. This is to the A¨, cash the K© throwing your spade very ambitious of me. Not because I don’t and play diamonds and then give up a have the problems (I have about 50 of them!), diamond. When they break 3-2 you will be but because I don’t have the solutions! The home won’t you? But wait! What if the hand example problem I am about to show you is with the 3rd diamond has a heart left, they typical of the problems you will get, and I am surely will be awake enough to cash their ©Q. lucky enough to realise that I think I have on this occasion worked out the answer! I expect An option would be to not cash the Heart, but that in the hands to come I may get some of then you will be a trick short. You may also the analysis wrong! That’s where I will need wish to muse about what might happen if the your help. With these problems I expect you diamonds do NOT break 3-3 – have you any to spend a lot of time understanding the hope then? problem and trying to find the solution. I will post what I consider may well be the answer, I would urge you to spend some time on this and you can let me know where I went wrong. problem, when you have spotted a solution then it’s a bit like doing soduku – you know I hope you will give it a real shot before when you have the right answer because it all looking at my answer because, as you will see makes sense…well I hope so. when you come to understand what the problem is, you are at least part of the way When you find the answer, or have spent too towards finding a solution. Finding such a many hours in frustration, you can turn to solution becomes a wonderful thing. page 8 and see what I think is the solution.

This problem then is as follows:

WHAT IS COMING UP Dlr: South ª 543

Vul: All © KJ10543 What is happening in my bridge world? ¨ A8 Currently I am in Hamilton in New Zealand, § 32 playing in the New Zealand congress for 2019 Details here: N ª ? ª ? http://www.nzbridge.co.nz/latest- © ? © ? W E updates,listing,4891,looking-ahead-to- ¨ ? ¨ ? congress-2019.html § 10? S § ? On return I will be resuming the state teams AQ ª competition- the PENNANT competition at the © A VBA. Details here: ¨ K76543 http://vba.asn.au/pennant-teams-2019/ § AKQJ

Then there will be the Spring National events The Bidding: held in Sydney in Mid October. Details here: W N E S http://www.abfevents.com.au/events/spnot/ 2 - 2©1 Pass 2NT 2019/ Pass 3¨3 Pass 6NT All Pass Its all go! 1 weak 2 forcing relay 3 non-minimum, ¨ feature VBA Bulletin October 2019 Page 3

CHAIRMAN’S CUP I now had to come up with a different line of play but thankfully, I figured it out. This was JAMIE THOMPSON the full hand

In late July the Australian Junior Team was Dlr: North ª - invited to participate in the Chairman’s Cup, Vul: None the premier teams tournament in the Swedish © K109 Bridge Festival. I was severely exhausted after ¨ QJ108742 taking a long milk run into Stockholm but § KQ8 thankfully, I was playing on a 6-person team, N so I was able to sit out the first two matches ª 986 ª KQJ107 © 82 © AJ4 to rest and recuperate. W E ¨ K9 ¨ A65 Midway through the first match I played, I § AJ9643 S § 105 picked up this hand as East 2nd seat nil: ª A5432 © Q7653 ª KQJT7 ¨ 3 © AJ4 § 72 ¨ A65 § T5 I won the diamond switch in dummy and played on spades immediately. I was happy to My RHO opened 1¨ and I elected to see North show out on the first round because 1NT. My LHO bid 2§ for the majors and my it meant that my plan was coming to fruition. partner, Matt Smith, bid 3NT which ended the auction. South took the 3rd round of spades and switched to a club (a great switch, trying to My LHO led the ©3 (3rd/5th) and this was my make me double hook the clubs). North won dummy: the §K and continued diamonds. I won the Ace and on the run of the spades and the ©A, ª 986 ª KQJ107 North is strip squeezed. © 82 © AJ4 ¨ K9 ¨ A65 In the end North had to hold onto §Qx in clubs and therefore threw away all but one of his § AJ9643 § 105 diamond winners. So I just threw him in with

a diamond and he was endplayed. I took the last two tricks with the §AJ �. On the surface I can develop 8 tricks via 4 spades, 1 heart, 2 diamonds and 1 club, so a 9th trick would probably come from the club SUIT COMBINATION suit. My initial plan was to hearts and then play for split club honours but what How would you handle Q9764 in hand opposite happened next completely changed my plan. A82 in dummy if you need three tricks from the suit. My RHO won the ©K and then immediately switched to the ¨Q. I found this switch Secondary question: how would you handle this suit if this was your suit in a small extremely odd, but I deduced that my RHO slam, and you therefore needed to have only thought that he could develop his diamonds one loser in this (rather pathetic) suit. before I could develop my clubs. RHO being marked with 0-1 spades (because of LHO’s You can assume that in both cases above that majors bid) led me to believe that LHO had the you have as many entries to either hand as ªA, therefore my RHO must have the King and you require. Queen of clubs if he thinks that he can set up his diamonds in time. Solution on P5.

Page 4 VBA Bulletin October 2019

CONGRESS RESULTS Warrnambool Bridge Club th Sat. 12 October, 10am Swiss Pairs Sat. 12th October, 10am Restricted Pairs Ballarat Bridge Club Sun. 13th October, 10am Swiss Teams

Swiss Pairs Venue: Brother Fox Cafeteria Deakin Uni 1. Shirley Collins, Chandradeep Chakravorty Contact: Jan Cooke 2. Stan Klofa, Stephen Weisz Phone: 55622484 3. Annette Maluish, Andrew Mill Email: [email protected]

Swiss Teams 1. Kim Frazer, Jamie Ebery, Thilak Bairnsdale Bridge Club Sat. 19th October, 12pm Swiss Pairs Ranasinghe, Gordon McRobert th 2. Geoff Chettle, Greg Lewin, Sun. 20 October, 10am Swiss Teams Laura Ginnan, Peter Hollands Venue: St Mary’s Parish Centre 3. Shirley Collins, Chandradeep Chakravorty, (enter through McDonald’s car park) Sue Beckman, Julie Alliston Contact: Phillip Goode Phone: 0417 738 406 Mornington Peninsula Region Email: [email protected]

Swiss Pairs Sunbury Bridge Club th 1. John Yang, Bei Tang Sun. 27 October, 10am Swiss Pairs 2. Marina Darling, Sue Read Venue: Sunbury Social Club 3. Terri Kay, Kitty Muntz Sunbury Recreation Reserve Contact: Michael Francis Swiss Teams Phone: 0400 737 005 1. Maggie Callander, Shirley Collins, Email: [email protected] David Happell, Lindsey Robinson 2. Stan Klofa, Stephen Weisz, MINI #9 Dee Harley, Anna St Clair 3. Jan Hackett, Tom Hackett, This is the final Mini in the collection I have. Kae French, Penny Corrigan I hope you enjoyed them. Next month I will have something completely different lined up Macedon Ranges Bridge Club for you.

1. John Ashkar, Chelliah Arul Lead: South ª K9 2. Sylvia Gluck, Ben Kingham

3. Gavin & Kirsten Bailey © 7 ¨ K § A ª QJ4 N ª A87 © 4 © 5 W E UPCOMING CONGRESSES & EVENTS ¨ A ¨ - § - S § K Albury Bridge Club ª 53 th Sat. 12 October, 11am Swiss Pairs © 2 Sun. 13th October, 9:30am Swiss Teams QJ ¨ Venue: Commercial Club Bridge Club, Albury § - Contact: Richard Harman Phone: 0413 010 478, South is on lead in a spade contract. Email: [email protected] How can South make 2 out of the last 5 tricks against best defence?

Solution on P7.

VBA Bulletin October 2019 Page 5

WINDOW ON WUHAN Another which fascinated me in the very same session was this one: DEE HARLEY

The World Championships of bridge were held Dlr: West ª KJ3 in Wuhan China, since we can all use BBO, we Vul: All can watch the expert player in action. © 854 Declarer’s technique on this hand caught my ¨ 86 approval. § AJ963 (Hands have been rotated for convenience) - N Q1086 ª ª Dlr: N © KJ10963 © AQ ª 10973 W E Vul: E/W © J9872 ¨ A1032 ¨ KJ9754 S ¨ 9 § 542 § 8 § KQ8 ª A9752 ª J82 N ª AQ6 © 72 © Q64 © 10 ¨ Q W E ¨ A1032 ¨ K876 § KQ107 § 1094 S § J7632 ª K54 A small slam in diamonds is available for E/W © AK53 if they can find it. 6¨ was the contract at only one of the 24 tables in play in the Bermuda QJ54 ¨ Bowl. More frequently the bidding ended up in

§ A5 a doomed 4ª from the South hand (sometimes it was doubled). At the table I The Bidding: watched, a non-committal club was led. W N E S Declarer won in hand with the King and played - Pass Pass 1NT a small spade towards dummy. When West Pass Pass 2§ 2© showed out the ªK was played. What would Pass 3© Pass 4© you do now?? The Lead: §10 I know these players are under incredible South arrived in 4©. I have shown one pressure having played all week non-stop, possible auction, but the bidding is while you can sit there calmly and quietly with unimportant. your coffee, and mull over why I am asking You have a diamond loser, a possible heart such a stupid question…So you will get it right loser and three possible spade losers. Several – right? declarers played the ©A and ©K, then after The declarer I watched played the Jª which of three rounds of clubs (throwing a spade), course was covered by the Queen so now they eventually allowed West to gain the lead with had to lead spades from dummy to avoid a second spade loser. To get to dummy our the ¨A, to allow them to cash the ©Q, drawing luckless declarer tried to cross with a club a trump each from declarer the dummy and which was ruffed, leaving declarer 2 tricks the contract failed. short. The other declarer instead just led the The successful declarer (from China) played only one top heart before playing the clubs ª3 from dummy. East had to split his honours discarding the ª4 and then playing a spade so was forced to play the ª10, so declarer won towards the King – when that holds you can the ªA and played a low spade to the Jª and exit with a spade or a diamond. Note that ªQ, now declarer on regaining the lead can neither defender can lead trumps (East ain’t draw that last trump with the ª9. No dummy got none, and West would not make his ©Q if entry required (so no club ). Neat? Even he leads a trump). When you have lost a neater would have been NOT playing the ªK diamond trick and a spade trick, only now can but playing the ªJ instead! Now East can win you cash the ©K. then you can cross-ruff your the ªQ, but you regain the lead and play a way to 10 tricks. Many of the declarers struggled to find this line of play. I think it is spade to the ªK and the ª10. one to remember! Page 6 VBA Bulletin October 2019

EDITORIAL category to qualify for the final. None of the Australian teams reached the top 8 and hence DEE HARLEY the final stages, although the open team came A couple of months ago, I reviewed some in 12th out of the 24 teams who had qualified bridge books and asked you to send me your to play, you had to feel sorry for New Zealand favourite books. I am happy to report that I who finished in 9th place (“on the bubble” as did get some response, although I should they say in Poker). admit that I was not exactly overwhelmed with responses. I see no reason not to show the Solution to Suit Combination (page 2) popular books named. Here they are (in no particular order) You: Q9764 Dummy: A82

How the Experts Win at Note: in these problems I assume that You Bridge. Burt & Rose Hall are the declarer as South, that Dummy is Watson’s the Play of the North and that West is therefore on your left (I call him Lefty, but he can also appear as Hand at Bridge. Louis H. Watson LHO Left Hand Opponent) and East is on your

The Rodwell Files (4 parts) Rodwell & Horton right (Rightey or RHO)

Adventures in Card Play Ottlik & Kelsey Needing 3 tricks: Lead the 4 towards the The Most Puzzling A82, playing the 8 unless lefty plays the K, J, or 10 (in which case you play the Ace and can Situations in Bridge Terence Reese now just “knock out” the other two top Expert Game Terence Reese honours to guarantee you your three tricks –

Vulnerable in Hearts Sandy Balfour no more worries).

Bridge in the Menagerie So, when the 8 loses you win the return in hand and lead the 6. Again, if it is covered by Bridge with the Pietro Forquet a higher card, you take the Ace and “knock-

out” the last honour and you can relax. Bridge My Way Zia Mahmood

Judgement at Bridge . If Lefty plays low again then you play the 2. Either your 6 will win, or the suit has broken Take All Your Chances Eddie Kantar and the Ace will now drop the remaining card

in the suit. I have several of these books sitting on my shelves at home. It seems such a shame that If lefty ever shows out, then you can play the they are all mostly idle, I pick some of them Ace and lead towards your hand twice to up, so they don’t get too lonely, and I reread guarantee 3 tricks in the suit. many of them, but there are some books in the list above that I haven’t read. They are So that turns out to be a sure trick problem. probably sitting on someone else’s bookshelf You will make 3 tricks 100% of the time being lonely and unloved. Wouldn’t it be good however the opponents defend. That’s a good thing if we could share them around feeling. somehow?

Secondary problem: You have landed in a I have been enjoying watching the World ropey slam. You sure need some luck. You Championships of Bridge in Wuhan. How cash the Ace. You need the King to be wonderful a facility is BBO, that you can watch singleton with lefty (in which case you now each card being played by your favourite lead low towards the Q976 in your hand – players and have technicalities explained by twice, or you need the King to be onside (with the expert commentators (or sometimes not Rightey), and you need the suit to break 3-2 quite so expert). (either way). Your total chances of making this

slam works out at almost 50% (49.17). I have Australia had representatives playing in the been in worse slams! Open, Women, Senior, and Mixed categories.

Teams had to finish in the top 8 in their VBA Bulletin October 2019 Page 7

§§§ KNAVE OF CLUBS §§§ On the last club, East and South discard hearts and West is in trouble. If he discards a spade, GUARD ABANDONS HIS POST! the ª9 becomes a trick. If West discards a

heart, three rounds of spades will squeeze In pairs, there is relentless pressure on East in the red suits. declarer to find overtricks. On the hand shown, Deep Finesse suggests declarer can Dlr: South only make 5NT but that assumes optimal ª AK92 defence and needs a diamond lead. Vul: All © - ¨ 8 In practice, West will lead a heart since it is § 6 his partner’s suit. East will (probably) win the N ace and return the ©7. ª 10854 ª J7 © J © 109 W E Declarer has six clubs, three spades, one heart ¨ K ¨ Q4 and one diamond which is eleven winners in § - S § - the last twelve tricks. When you can make all Q6 but one of the remaining tricks it is time to ª look for a squeeze for the extra trick. Possible © 85 threat cards are the ª9, the ©8 and either the ¨ A10 ¨J or the ¨10. Can you spot the squeeze § - here? Do you want a little hint? Lastly, if West discards the ¨K, declarer can When you run the long clubs, the only entry to play 3 rounds of spades and then take the the red suit threats is the ¨A and it will free diamond finesse since the ¨K has gone AWOL up the diamond position if you discard the ¨J from his guardpost! This is an example of on the ©K. Now club the defenders to death! what classified as a non-material squeeze which forces a defender to discard an Dlr: South ª AK92 important card which is not itself a potential Vul: All winner. © Q ¨ J8 If one could guarantee the heart lead, one § AKQ1076 would actually prefer to be in 6§ which makes ª 108543 N ª J7 easily!

© J42 © A10976 W E ¨ K65 ¨ Q43 § 85 S § 942 ª Q6

© K853 Solution to Mini #9 (Page 4) ¨ A10972

§ J3 South plays a heart to dummy (that’s one trick!), then ruffs the §A with the ª5! West

can overruff with the ªJ or ªQ but then The Bidding: Norths ªK9 will force a second trick W N E S - - - Pass Pass 1§ 1© 1NT Pass 3NT All Pass

Lead: ©2

After declarer runs all but one of the clubs, the position is as shown in the second diagram. Page 8 VBA Bulletin October 2019

THE SECRET SHOPPER…NO MORE endeavoured to put on a big spread of continuous, mostly home-made goodies, for The exigencies of daily life are such that the morning and afternoon tea, and a light supper secret shopper has decided to retire from at the close of each day’s play for players who publishing articles for the VBA bulletin. I am have further to travel home. Our Director, aware that many people, on receiving the Graham Hill, did a wonderful job again this bulletin turn straight to the back page to get year, at running a very professional congress. their monthly dose of entertainment as Our Congress Convenor checks the toilets provided by our secret shopper. The Shoppers before the start of the congress and several dazzling rhetoric and spirited articles have in times during each day. They are perfectly turn delighted us and entertained us. It is of adequate. course impossible to please everyone. The shopper’s style occasionally causes umbrage As Editor of the VBA Bulletin we believe that rather than delight. you should be encouraging smaller bridge clubs rather than being derisive. We hope that Witness this response to last month’s article: this disdain for smaller clubs is not widespread at the VBA!

We were very disappointed when we read your We would like this email and an apology to be comments about our club, Knox Bridge Club, included in the next edition of the VBA in your editorial “The Secret Shopper, A Month Bulletin. of being the Bridesmaid…” on the back page of the VBA Bulletin of September. We appreciate Kind regards that the whole article, about attending congresses, was written in a light-hearted Jenni Turner, President vein, but we found the comments about our Stella Hammond, Secretary club derogatory and demeaning apart from Clare Stratton, Congress Convenor being inaccurate in parts.

To put the record straight, we are proud at Knox Bridge Club that we are a friendly and caring club with an 8-strong committee with If I don’t have any more contributions from aims to improve all aspects of the club and to the Secret Shopper, I would like to remind the grow the club. Our club membership is now at clubs in Victoria that this is your bulletin, and an all-time high of 74. We have a day session I will be happy to print any contributions you and a night session of with may have to offer. between 6-8 tables at each session, not the 3- 4 tables as you wrote in your article! You may have attended our congresses over the years, but you have never attended a club session at Knox Bridge Club. We are one of only nine Solution to Tricky Play problem #1 Victorian Clubs with an ABF-teaching (Page 2) accreditation. South Wins the A§ , unblocks the ©A and then plays a small diamond from both hands. Win Our Congress Convenor and her team of the return (whatever it is!) and play a diamond helpers work very hard every year to put on a to the Ace. If both opponents follow, then you successful 2-day congress at Bayswater will make 5 diamond tricks, 2 hearts (you can Senior Citizens Club, which is an ideal venue cash your ©K safely now) 4 clubs and the Aª. for us as it is very conveniently, centrally You have the added bonus that if the located for all our local clubs, with ample free diamonds broke badly you are still in with a parking, and situated near to food shops and chance if the ©Q comes down doubleton and a hotel where players can purchase their even if it was singleton, you now have the lunch. It is not easy to find large venues for option of the spade finesse for your 12th trick. congresses at affordable prices located close to our home club. Over the years, we have