HE ULLETIN TPublished by the QueenslandQBA Bridge Association BJuly-September 2014 Volume 40 No www.qldbridge.com Email: [email protected] 3 fence. Annette can assist you in From the obtaining a copy of the book ANC President (0423 121 643). Please support the authors by buying one. Joan Butts has published two volumes; Play Bridge: A Workbook for the Absolute Beginner and Play Bridge 2: A Workbook for Help with Play. Richard Wallis Keith Both books are clearly set out and McDonald cover the essentials for playing a basic game of bridge. You can Open Teams HE sign of a vibrant organisation read more by going to www. HE ANC is usually a good Tis the publication of books related joanbuttsbridge.com or email Joan Tevent, and this year, held at the to the goals of that organisation. I at [email protected] or Canterbury Racetrack in Sydney, am pleased to promote several new phone 0413 772 650. was no exception. Queensland publications. I could not let the opportunity pass fielded a team in each of the Open, Annette Corkhill and Bill Hunt have without reminding players about Womens, Seniors and Youth, and all published Mabel and Mary's Light Better Bidding for Improving Players played to the best of their ability and Bulb Bridge: Constructive Bridge by Ross Dick. Published by the QBA in good spirits, and were a credit to for the Advancing Player. This light- this is an excellent book to assist the QLD colours. hearted satire is a fun read, though improving and intermediate players The Youth, with a largely in- its intent is serious. It teaches who are keen to advance their experienced line-up, struggled early, constructive bidding, play and de- bidding skills. ■ losing all of the opening 7 matches, but then they hit their straps, and won 5 in a row, including 2 blitzes, to at one stage rise to 3rd, before 2015 losing 2 of the final 3 matches to drop back to 4th. Jessica Brake, Gold Coast Andrew Gosney, Chris Larter, Michael Gearing, Josh Davis and Angus Gray can hold their heads Congress up after that great come-back, and they would have all benefitted February 21 - 28 greatly from the experience. The Seniors and Womens teams were always in the hunt, each just falling out of the race for the finals in Contents the last or second last match. Before From the President .......................................................................................................... 1 ANC by Richard Wallis................................................................................................... 1 the final match, any of the top 4 in The Youth by Andy Hung ............................................................................................... 4 the Womens event could have made ANC Antics with the Amigos by Jim Evans ................................................................ 6 the final, but both WA and QLD lost, What Annoys Bridge Players by Peter Busch ............................................................ 7 keeping the top 2 in the final, but Killarney Congress by Richard Wallis ......................................................................... 8 with positions reversed. Novices by Michael Fawcett .........................................................................................10 This year Therese Tully and I played Barrier Reef Congress by Richard Wallis ..................................................................12 in the Open Team, along with Charlie Teachers' Corner by Joan Butts...................................................................................13 Howard/Kerry Wood and Neville Manager's Travels by Kim Ellaway ...............................................................................15 25 Years Ago by Paul Lavings .......................................................................................15 Francis/Kevin Steffenson, with Jim Coffs Harbour Super Congress by Malcolm Carter ...............................................17 Evans as non-playing captain. We Directors' Corner by Jan Peach ...................................................................................20 started out with a shocker on BBOL against South Australia, where our The QBA Bulletin July - September 2014 2 inexperience against the wild system The first disappointment was when At the other table, a different line played by our opponents made it East showed out on the second enabled North to escape for 1 off very difficult for me to get anything round of spades, which meant I was and 2 Imps away. If I had taken the right, and this was followed by a now down to only 12 tricks, and I had diamond finesse by leading the ♦Q good win (by the other 4) against to get rid of my losing clubs quickly, and East had covered, I could have Tasmania, before another loss to so the marked (sic) heart finesse was drawn trumps and exited with the ♣J, ACT dropped us back to near the now taken! 3 off and 12 IMPs out. end-playing West for at least 7 tricks. bottom of the field again. While things were partially bad for M 1 ♠ 1083 We started to improve, but the horse me in a diamond contract, 2CX would Bd 3 ♥ 2 had bolted, and we were never in have gone badly for West, with him Dlr S ♦ QJ43 the hunt after that, holding our own losing 4 clubs and 3 diamonds, for 2 Vul EW ♣ J10876 against the top teams (except ACT off and +500 to us. ♠ AQ ♠ J742 belted us again), but never getting ♥ A9 N ♥ QJ543 W E M 1 ♠ Q4 into the top 4. Our only claim to fame ♦ 432 ♦ K96 S Bd 4 ♥ A10 was beating WA both times, and ♣ 2Q9543 ♣ K Dlr W ♦ AKQ752 a small win against VIC in the last ♠ K965 Vul Both ♣ A84 match gave us an overall positive ♥ K10876 result against them, and kept them ♠ 52 ♠ AKJ876 ♦ A108 ♥ 87 N ♥ QJ2 out of the finals, allowing ACT to ♣ A W E sneak in. In a see-sawing Final, ACT ♦ 643 S ♦ J109 was too good in the end and beat ♣ Q109632 ♣ 7 NSW by a small margin to claim the ♠ 1093 W N E S ♥ K96543 Open Teams Championship. 1H C 2 P P X ♦ 8 M 1 ♠ AJ1032 P 2D All pass ♣ KJ5 Bd 1 ♥ K3 Dlr N ♦ AK8 I missed my chance to extract some Vul None ♣ A106 revenge for an earlier board, when W N E S ♠ Q986 ♠ 7 I wimped out of passing Therese’s 1D 1S P ♥ Q8 N ♥ 976542 take-out double of 2C, preferring to P 2S X 3H W E P 3S X P ♦ J754 S ♦ 32 bid my 4-card suit. P 4D! All pass ♣ K53 ♣ QJ98 I won the ♣A and pulled the ♥6 from ♠ K54 the table, but West won and led a On this board I should have made an ♥ AJ10 trump, East wisely refusing to play easy trial bid that would have saved ♦ Q1096 his ♦K. the board, instead of losing 10 IMPs. ♣ 742 Now I could ruff clubs and hearts, but Anxious to have Therese bid 3NT East was able to discard his hearts with a spade stop, and expecting to while I ruffed clubs on the table, and have 8 tricks in my hand, I forced W N E S then over-ruff my ♦Q at the end with with 2S when the 1S overcall came 1S 2H! 3H P 4NT P 5H his carefully preserved ♦K for 2 off. back to me. P 6S All pass The Open Team On the first board of the competition, on Viewgraph against SA, East overcalled 2H, which was not alerted, so I did not realize it could be made on such a weak hand (who would?). Therese bid 3H, which showed at least at least a limit raise with 3-card support, so with what seemed like the knowledge of where everything was likely to be, I bid the slam when we had the 5 Key cards, thinking I could finesse East for the missing ♠Q. East led the ♣Q, and I should have been suspicious, as this placed the ♣K with West, and meant that East only had 8 points at most for his 2-level overcall, but the finesses still Jim Evans (npc), Neville Francis, Kevin Steffenson, Kerry Wood, meant I could make 12 or 13 tricks! Therese Tully, Richard Wallis and Charlie Howard The QBA Bulletin July - September 2014 3 Now Therese made a free-bid of 3H I won the ♣K and led back a diamond, over the double, so I went looking and after a lot of thought, North rose for Jxx in her hand with a second with the ♦A, ruffed a club, and pitched cue-bid, but her pass of the double 2 diamonds on top hearts, before indicated she did not have it, so I ruffing a diamond back to hand to lazily signed off in 4D. ruff another club. The fall of the ♣A She would have known that my 2S allowed North to claim 12 tricks. and 3S bids were based on a solid At the other table, the contract was diamond suit, and after her 3H bid, 1 down when the diamond finesse certainly a 5-card suit, I could have failed, which was a straight-forward Bev Stacey and Connie Schoutrop shown her my useful heart doubleton 50% chance. ■ who came third in the Women's by bidding 4H, not the wishy-washy The full article is available on Butler Pairs - the highest placed 4D bid which allowed her to pass. the website. Queenslanders Since she did have a 6-card suit, pass- ing 4H would have been automatic, but The Seniors even with a 5-2 fit, 4H has a play, and 5D was cold anyway, so either way we would have reached a makeable game. At the other table better bidding got them to 4H and we lost 10 IMPs. M 3 ♠ AK1083 Bd 16 ♥ 3 Dlr W ♦ 6AQ Vul EW ♣ QJ84 ♠ 2 ♠ J54 ♥ 86542 N ♥ 1097 W E ♦ 10875 S ♦ K2 ♣ AK9 ♣ 107632 ♠ Q976 ♥ AKQJ ♦ J943 ♣ 5 Larry Moses, Paul Collins, Alan Gibson (npc), Robert Milward, Agnes Kempthorne, Ian Afflick and Barry Kempthorne W N E S P 1S P 2NT The Women P 3H P 3S P 4C P 4S P 5D P 6S All pass On board 16 in match 3 against ACT, North got lucky in the play of the hand, and we lost 14 IMPs.