Your editor asked me to pen a few words about the Seniors Congress at elegant Eastbourne, but time has rolled on through the Riviera Congress at touristy Torquay and the annual week long jamboree that is the EBU Congress in bizarre Brighton. (Please bear in mind that I am not a sun seeker and Gayle and I treat these trips as part of our holidays, but taken in small doses.) We have been playing at these events for some years, and have built up a goodly number of friends and / or teammates with whom it is fun to play, dine and drink. As to the bridge, it really is another world away from club bridge, despite there being the usual 52 cards. Would you double this hand for a Spade lead? North 86 AK7 AJT85 QJ8 AQT4 73 T54 Q963 Q762 94 64 KT732 KJ952 J82 K3 A95 North /South have 27 points – bid to 3NT , but West doubled the contract for a Spade lead. How was West able to tell East that he wanted a Spade lead? West did this because their system allowed them to use a double to call for a lead of the last suit bid by North/South. This happened to be Spades! So how do you make 3NT*, for a top or are you 1 down for a bottom. What’s the fun if we get beaten up like the above hand? We get the chance to play against top players, including England’s World and European champion ladies, and European champion Seniors men, together with a host of other professionals who earn their living from bridge. Their income is not only from lecturing, writing books and articles for magazines, but surprisingly being paid by punters to play with them or in wholly financed teams. If you have a bit of spare cash just hire a bridge pro for a tournament!! Bidding Systems At these tournaments there is a whole range of bidding systems in use. This year the Polish and the Dutch brought their different styles. There was plenty of Acol based “Three weak twos” that Gayle and I play, plus a range of Benji Acol style. Standard American is well accounted for, as is Precision. Also not many 1NT opening bids get unchallenged with players using their latest gadget to grab the contract. The top young stars are playing a sort of club and transfer system. This system usually plays 5- card majors with a strong no trump 1. So what do you think this sequence means (with no opposition bidding): 1C – 1D – 1H – 1S -- 1NT Translated as: West: 1C flat hand similar to weak 1NT East: 1D transfer to a four card heart suit West:: 1H completion of transfer East:: 1S transfer to 1NT, weakish hand partner, should play in 1NT West: 1NT complete the transfer 2. Or what about, 1C – 1D – 1H - 1NT – 2S Translated as: West: 1C as above East: 1D as above, transfer to hearts West: 1H as above complete the transfer East: 1NT I have 4 spades, but non-forcing West: 2S I have four spades as well, lets play here. The good thing is that we can sit back and ask questions before the play. The bad thing is that these transfers are bidding our suits. One defence is to bid as if you were bidding against a 1NT opener. But I am not ready for the messes that we would likely get in to. But, these guys and girls also provide us lower life (in bridge terms) with occasional stories to tell. Mixing it with The Professionals! In Brighton, at one of the expert lectures, Brian Senior was asked what chances we club players had of beating the stars. His answer was simple, the shorter the match the more likely that we could win. Over the standard 7 / 8 board match, a 40% chance but over a 48 board match, he would expect the better players to win all the time. So this summer Gayle and I have been in teams that have beaten Brian and Nevena Senior, Paul Hackett and David Burn. All professionals and each match a 7 board affair. But the story that we are dining out on comes from Eastbourne and starts with Jenny Gray. Playing in the Swiss Teams event , having lost their first match, Jenny’s team were against a financed team that included Brian Senior and Tony Forrester (the best of the best). Jenny’s team won their 8 board match with a score of 20 – nil. Meanwhile our team had also begun badly losing our first two matches. We were now drawn against the Senior / Forrester squad. We won by 18 – 2. This put the Pros bottom of the field!! A major contribution to our win came from a hand that Gayle was playing in 4 Spades. She could see no way of making the contract but halfway through the play, Tony Forrester put his cards down and had a long think about what to lead next. Gayle was quick enough to realise that if he had a problem, then she probably now saw the route to making the contract. Which she duly did. So what is different from club bridge? Same 52 cards, but the bidding is more aggressive and opponents mistakes in the play are much fewer. For example you are unlikely to get an exploratory lead of an unsupported Ace, common to club bridge. Though I have to say that I played a hand at Brighton where the lead of a low spade completely fooled me into a wrong line of play. It never occurred to me that she had led from A Q x x!! Another hand from Brighton, dealer East North 3 8654 7432 9754 A5 KQT7 KQ2 A9 A96 KQJ85 KQJ82 AT J98642 JT73 T 63 Holding 38 points would you and your partner reach one of the several making slams ? What difference would there be if South bid 2S over a 1D opening or 3S over a 2 level opening bid? Andrew Robson commented that this was a very good defensive bid to make. .