Vol.42 No 8 March 2016 – May 2016 New South Wales Bridge Association ♠ ♥ Newsletter ♦ ♣ Editor: Steve Hurley Chairman’s corner and is particularly keen on supporting clubs around the State. Watch out for more communications After the Gold Coast Congress, the bridge season from her! Work commitments also mean that Steve tends to quieten down a little but we are now into Hurley is stepping down as Newsletter editor. I qualifying events for assorted State and National thank him for his work over the last 2 years. We do competitions. The 2016 NSW State Teams have all not as yet have a direct replacement but we are been selected and will soon be heading to the ANC considering a revamp of the publication, possibly in Brisbane - we wish them all well. with a move to a more electronic format, perhaps alongside eCongress News. We will keep you NSWBA continues to provide financial assistance to informed. various bridge support activities around NSW. Tony Howes has run director training in Tamworth and Happy bridging Sydney and Joan Butts has run teacher training in Orange. Cath Whiddon is now going to be assisting Julian Foster Joan which should enable more of these teacher training courses to be delivered. A marketing workshop by Sandra Mulcahy is coming up on June Just bid it 3rd in Sydney and Sandra will then be providing a summary to our Regional Representatives meeting Far too many of my opponents these days seem to the next day with a view to running similar play a system best described as "don't worry, just workshops in regional areas. bid it". And they do, and either their contract was cold anyway or they get away with it, time and time I recently attended the ABF annual general meeting again. Here are several examples from recent Swiss in Canberra which, in addition to the normal Pairs events at the NSWBA. formalities of an AGM, was a good opportunity to discuss In the SITS Swiss Pairs in May, there was firstly this issues of common interest to hand: all States. Director training was one such item - especially Board 14 AT7 availability of technology Dealer E A432 support (Bridgemates, scoring Vul None AT programs etc). This is an area K843 the ABF is putting resources J5 KQ84 into at a National level and the NSWBA will be supporting this in whatever way we can. Q7 K965 K65432 QJ7 Finally a note on some staffing changes. In the Q95 A6 NSWBA office Liz Fanos has now reduced her 9632 working hours to 2 days a week. She is joined by JT8 Wing Roberts (also working 2 days a week). Wing 98 has a professional design and marketing background JT72 Page 1 NSWBA Newsletter Makeable contracts Board 20 85 NT Dealer W T54 15 N - - - - - Vul Both QT87543 8 15 S - - - - - 2 2 E - 3 1 1 2 AQJ72 K643 62 AQJ83 W 1 4 2 2 2 KJ62 A9 65 A7 East opened a normal but minimum 1NT and our T9 West decided to raise directly to 3NT. Only 7 of 17 K97 EW pairs were so courageous. The contract turns out to be very hard to beat -- South predictably leads KQJT9843 J, covered; North takes the ace and returns a heart; and West ducks. Now unless South switches immediately to the J, it's all over … Makeable contracts NT 2 Then on the very next board, after North opened a N 1 - - - - 11 18 weak 2H showing 5 hearts and a 4+ minor, East S 1 - - - - 9 doubled and in response to West's bid of 2S, jumped E - 2 4 6 4 directly to 6S! W - 2 4 5 4 Board 15 5 Dealer S J9865 West opened 1S, East bid 2H and then went slam- Vul N-S AKT hunting despite South's vigorous pre-empt in clubs. T743 While 3 pairs stopped in 5S, 7 reached 6S. However, only 2 made the slam. After the lead of the club 2, J982 AKT743 surely a singleton, you draw trumps and find that 42 AQ7 they break 2-2. But there's still a possible heart QJ873 loser, so what should you do next? K6 AQ82 Q6 While looking for inspiration, you might cash a KT3 diamond or two. The solution should then be 96542 obvious, as South has only clubs and hearts J95 remaining. You can throw him/her in with a club, Makeable contracts and the long suit becomes a burden. The heart loser evaporates as South has choice of giving a ruff-and- NT 8 discard or of leading a heart from the king into N - - - - - 7 19 declarer’s AQ. S - - - - - 6 E 4 2 1 6 4 Of course 6S would always go off if North could be W 4 2 1 6 4 persuaded to lead a diamond. The hand is a perfect opportunity for a Lightner double of 6S by South, asking partner to lead something other than a club. Even though the K turned out not to be in the It should be pretty clear to North that this is a North hand as West might have expected, the slam request for a diamond lead, which South will ruff. was absolutely cold. Only 5 of 17 were in it though… Remarkably, however, the sole West declarer who was doubled also made the contract, as partner Both these hands suggest that suit length is what it's wasn't on the same wavelength. But with most East- all about. Of course, just having a long suit isn't West pairs in 6S going down, the datum was only enough, and sometimes it doesn't work in your favor +330 EW, so the poor soul who bid 5C over 4S and to have too much length. Witness this hand from got doubled suffered a double-digit adverse swing. the WITS Swiss Pairs in April: That was me … Page 2 NSWBA Newsletter The punishment didn't stop after these two events, Board 22 KJ92 as the opponents kept getting hands with long suits Dealer E AQJ5 and just kept on bidding games against me. The next Vul E-W J643 example is from the ANC Butler Pairs in May: 4 T8643 K832 6 Board 10 T3 A KQT982 Dealer E KT9 T96 KQJ753 Vul Both KJ7 AQ75 JT632 T974 K84 AJ62 75 QJ76542 3 A82 Q8 T942 8 AKQ9 Q975 Makeable contracts NT A8 12 A653 N - - 3 4 3 7 11 754 S - - 3 4 3 10 Makeable contracts E 5 4 - - - NT W 5 4 - - - 8 N 1 - - - - 8 14 S 1 - - - - 10 E - 1 2 2 1 If you don't have a 4NT opening bid at your disposal, showing 5+/5+ minors in a 3-loser hand, then it W - 1 2 1 1 seems that a 1D opening and a 5C rebid ought to do the job. In reality, however, game was bid at only 7 The bidding commenced 1D-1H-1S and West then of 22 tables. jumped to 4H. Unsurprisingly, North didn't lead a diamond. The J allowed declarer to quickly pitch two losing diamonds, then play a heart to the queen Anyway, having got a bit weary of all the "just bid it" and king. North exited with a top club, declarer tactics of my opponents, I decided that I too should ruffed and played a small heart to South's ace. Now try bidding a random game or two just based on the remaining high trump was drawn with J and length. Opportunities duly turned up, including this while declarer subsequently lost a spade, the game hand in the last round: was made. Board 29 75 Did you see my error as South? As partner gently Dealer N Q9862 pointed out, if I ruff the club with the A, partner Vul Both Q73 still has a heart trick to come … but I couldn't/didn't visualize that possibility. (Ed. You are still safe – KT5 declarer can discard their losing spade.) 9 K86 AKJT753 4 AJT K9842 By the time the Autumn Swiss Pairs came around in QJ 7643 the latter part of May, I was beginning to think the AQJT432 "long-suit game bid" had become a systemic agreement! It certainly happened a few more times, 65 but not always. Here was a hand where we could A982 have/should have lost quite a few IMPs, but East subsided in a partscore. Page 3 NSWBA Newsletter Makeable contracts Welcome! And we wish you the best of luck, prosperity, and enjoyment for years to come. NT 7 N 2 - - 5 2 16 6 S 2 - - 5 2 11 E - 2 2 - - W - 2 2 - - Pyrotechnics in Poland (This was reported in the Canberra Bridge Bulletin After 2 passes, as South I opened 1S. West and has been reproduced for your entertainment.) overcalled 4H and when it came back to me, in the spirit of the forthcoming election I decided that Lesley Gunson has passed on to us an extraordinary there had never been a more exciting time to hold a hand reported by Susanna Gross in The Spectator. long spade suit. So I bid 4S and West doubled me. I ruffed the opening lead of the K, but it looked very It occurred during the final of the Polish Teams much as if I was going to lose 2 diamonds, at least Championships in the match between the two top one club, and a trump. However, when I crossed to teams of Martens and Vitas. dummy via the K to finesse in trumps, fully expecting it to fail, West played J and then the Dealer: West spade finesse worked! Hmm … I laid down the A but of course trumps didn't break, so I did indeed ♠ 87 Brd: -- have a trump loser, and no entry to dummy to do ♥ 5 Dlr: N anything about the clubs if they were breaking 5-1 ♦ T62 Vul: NS with East holding the queen.