May 2020 Edition Published 3 times a year for our Unit 430 members and available on the web at: www.vancouverbridge.com Edie Bonnell Trophy: Katrin Litwin Henry Smilie Mixed Board-a-Match Teams Trophy: Cindy Oisho, Rhoda Tafler, missing: James Lenobel, Michael Dimich Unit 430 Trophy (MUG): Ben Takemori Phil Wood Under 200 and Mary Clarke Flight B Swiss Teams: Qiang Hua, missing: Jack Qi, Lucy Zhong, Qiang Hua, Morris Chen 1 Rocket Rookie Race: Qing Hua IMP League Flight B Neil McAllister, Maureen McAllister, Harold McAllister, Linda Morgan, Lesley Laudan Gordie Davis Memorial Trophy - IMP League Open Flight Ben Takemori, Gray McMullin, missing: IMP League Flight X Joel Martineau, Bryan Maksymetz Shelley Burns, missing: Kelvin Raywood, Greg Morse, Sam Krikler 2 Adrian and June Budd Hicks Trophy: Contents Aidan Ballantyne, Katrin Litwin Trophy Sectional Photos ......................................3 President’s Message .............................................3 Eschew the Bromide .............................................4 R-R-Restricted Choice .........................................5 Signalling: A Cautionary Tale .............................6 Signalling Systems You Should Know About ........8 Lie To Me ...........................................................11 Notable Results ..................................................12 Trophy Sectional .......................................12 Imp League Winners ..................................13 2020 CNTC & CBF ............................................13 Use the Online Partnership Desk ......................13 Unit 430 Board of Directors ............................13 Bridge Clubs ......................................................14 Calendar of Events .............................................15 President’s Message from Larry Pocock, President, ACBL Unit 430 President’s Message - May 2020 I sincerely hope that every member of our Unit is well Trophy Sectional and staying safe. It doesn’t seem real that this Covid- 19 Pandemic has so swiftly descended upon us, forc- Photos ing us to change our lives in such a drastic manner. Photos on these pages were taken at the Trophy Turning on the News every day in order to hear the Sectional to celebrate the yearly achievements of some grim numbers; finding empty shelves at the grocery of our players in 2019. Absent and/or camera shy store as we tried to avoid the other shoppers; giving were the following winners: special thanks, every day, to the frontline health care workers as they put their own lives at risk to help oth- Cam Doner - Phil Wood Trophy, Leo Steil Memorial ers; our world just kept getting scarier and scarier. Trophy, Willie Weinstein Trophy with teammates Dan Now, it seems, the numbers have started to improve. Jacob, Michael Dimich, Larry Hicks. The people of B.C. appear to be making social dis- tancing work and we are talking and planning how to Thomas Anderson, Ryley Breiddal - Ev Hodge reopen and get things back to some kind of normal. So Charity Pairs. how does Bridge fit in here? Easy, we will be last! Older people, gathering in groups, are not going to Wolf Fiedler, Marlene Powell - Jean Turnbull Mixed get the green light until everything else seems to be Pairs. “working”. At this point, we just don’t know when that will be. So for now: Debbie Hargreaves, Mike Hargreaves, Gordon Bridge is online. McOrmond, Don Sache - Ben Lapidus Memorial The local clubs are now holding online ACBL games. Knockout Teams. On almost every day of the week, one or more of our local Clubs has a game on BBO. (Bridge Base 3 Online). the 4 and dummy hits as I look at my hand: I urge every member to support their respective K 10 6 4 club(s) by participating in these Club Games. The J 9 7 5 revenue goes to the clubs, and the players get the usual K Masterpoints. Also, most games are only 18 boards, so A J 10 7 time to finish is about 2 1/4 hours. If you need more J 7 3 2 info on how to play, the VBC web site gives easy to K 4 understand instructions (thanks to Bruce). J 9 7 6 5 3 I would especially urge regulars (and others) of the K Vancouver Bridge Centre to support this club. Unlike the other clubs, Ken still has a monthly rent (lease) Against a game contract partner is trying to build payment to make. We really don’t want to lose our quick defensive tricks with his lead. His diamond only dedicated site in the Unit. holding is probably Q 10 x x or Q 10 x and de- We hope to have a Monthly Unit Game online for the clarer has either A x or A x x. Declarer wins the end of May. It’s possible that other online ‘Tourna- stiff King and leads a spade from dummy to the Ace ments’ may be developed by the ACBL as they seek in his hand. He now leads a low heart towards dummy. innovative ways to keep the game going. This play by declarer means he doesn’t hold 5 hearts The last time my hair was this long, I was in Univer- or A 10 x x in his hand. Thus partner must hold sity and it was shoulder length. I have cooked more Q 10 x. Much to my surprise, partner wins the meals in the last 6 weeks than in the last 6 years. My Q and switches to the 8. Declarer ducks in yard is in the best shape it has ever been in. Enough! dummy and my stiff K wins. Declarer is marked Please bring back normal. I miss going to Bridge. with either the 9 or Q. Partner’s play is strange. He knows I have the K so the normal play is to duck his Q so I can win with my K to get two natural trump tricks. You don’t Eschew the Bromide give an IMP to an opposing team unless you have a by Michael Dimich good reason. Partner rose with the Q in the hope that I could win the next trick (with a club void or the It’s a good thing to be playing on a Swiss Team with King). I am sure now that the 8 is a suit preference people you like. They may occasionally roll their eyes signal for a spade return. I duly return my lowest at one of your results but they never become vitupera- spade and partner and I crossruff to beat the game tive. contract by two tricks. We win our first four matches to score 52 VPs (out The whole hand: of 80). After our dinner break we meet a formidable team that has scored 54 VPs. “What happened to you K 10 6 4 guys?” I ask. (I was hoping not to meet this team until J 9 7 5 the final round). “The last team we played needed to K play A J 9 6 4 opposite 7 5 3 for one loser – the de- A J 10 7 clarer led low to the Jack which held and then played 5 J 7 3 2 the Ace dropping a high honour and the doubleton ten Q 10 8 K 4 offside”. The telling of this is so matter of fact with Q 10 4 J 9 7 6 5 3 no trace of resentment, that it’s a sure sign of a bloody Q 8 6 5 4 3 K good player. A Q 9 8 Pleasantries done with, we start our battle. Our oppo- A 6 3 2 nents bid to 4 on this auction: A 8 2 9 2 S W N E 1NT* P 2 P * 14-16 Benito Garozzo once gave this piece of advice to the 2 P 4 All pass general bridge public: “When in doubt lead a singleton.” My partner, West, is an excellent defender. He leads Luckily, partner had no doubts. 4 Partner has lost three tricks and needs the rest. He R-R-Restricted Choice leads the 3, 4 from West and now its decision time. by Greg Morse Ace or 7? You don’t need to know much math to be a very good There isn’t much to go on, in terms of HCP or shape bridge player but sometimes a bit of esoterica comes shown by the defenders. In cases like this you have in handy. two approaches, Table Feel, or the a-priori odds. Playing in a club game you pick up If you play the Ace you are essentially playing for 3-3 diamonds, a 36% chance. If you play the 7 you are 9 7 playing for 4-2 diamonds a 24% chance. The diamond Q J 8 7 3 2 Ace would seem to be the better bet. There is however A 7 6 5 West’s play in the diamond suit. She seems to want to 5 force you to guess. What does your table feel tell you about that? Partner opens 1NT (15-17) in first seat and RHO If you have been paying attention to the diamond spots passes. You don’t have much in HCP, but you have however there is a stronger inference available. Quick, good shape and only 7 losers. Since a strong NT usu- without re-reading, what spots did East play on the ally has 6 losers and sometimes only 5 you decide to first two diamond tricks? take a shot at game. You bid 4 (Texas) and partner If you were watching you saw that he played the 10 bids 4 which ends the auction. The lead is the 10. then the 9. If you play the Ace you are playing him for Lets go over to partner’s side of the table now and this an original holding of T-9-8. Most players know that is what we see: if you are missing two critical cards, say the Queen 9 7 and the Jack, and one of them falls on the first round Q J 8 7 3 2 when you play your Ace, the Rule of Restricted choice A 7 6 5 says that the odds are 2-1 that the other defender has 5 the other honor.