Heather’s Breaking Bad A little eggstra to pre-empt 4th Robson’s hard-boiled bidding Easter Pairs are coming up Mould’s eggstremely good leads The EBU members’ magazine – April 2017 – Issue 270 English Bridge INSIDE GUIDE © All rights reserved From the Chairman 5 n ENGLISH BRIDGE Heather’s Hints – Heather Dhondy 6 n is published every two months by the Double, Bid or Pass? – Andrew Robson 8 n ENGLISH BRIDGE UNION Bridge Fiction – David Bird 10 n Broadfields, Bicester Road, Ask Frances – Frances Hinden 12 n Aylesbury HP19 8AZ Kokish, Part 3 – David Gold 14 n ( 01296 317200 Fax: 01296 317220 Beat Today’s Experts – Bird’s questions 16 n [email protected] Traps for the Unwary – Michael Byrne 18 n Web site: www.ebu.co.uk Prize Leads Quiz – Mould’s questions 20 ________________ n Insurance Plays at Teams – Simon Cope 22 n Editor: Lou Hobhouse Sleuth’s Quiz – Ron Klinger 24 n Raggett House, Bowdens, Somerset, TA10 0DD Add One Thing – Neil Rosen 26 n ( 0790 5038575 Great Bridge Disasters – David Burn 28 n [email protected] Club Bidding Quiz – Pottage’s questions 29 ________________ n Bridge with a Twist – Simon Cochemé 30 n Editorial Board Bridge Ha Ha & Caption Competition 32 n Jeremy Dhondy (Chairman), Ask Gordon – Gordon Rainsford 34 Barry Capal, Lou Hobhouse, Peter Stockdale n Beat Today’s Experts – Bird’s answers 36 ________________ n Camrose Trophy – David Bird 40 n Advertising Manager October Prize Leads - Mould’s answers 42 n Chris Danby at Danby Advertising Junior Camrose – Kyle Lam 44 n Fir Trees, Hall Road, Hainford, Calendar and EBU news 46 Norwich NR10 3LX n Overseas Bridge in Lisbon – Veronica Petrie 48 n ( / Fax 01603 898678 News of Young Players 50 [email protected] n ________________ Letters to the Editor 52 n County News 55 Printing: Wyndeham Group n ________________ Landmark Promotions 60 n Club Bidding Quiz – Pottage’s answers 62 n English Bridge is also published online in the Members’ Area at www.ebu.co.uk ONLINE EXTRA Bridge Club Live 65 n ARTICLES IN ENGLISH BRIDGE Byrne’s 4th seat pre-empt extra quiz 66 n ARE COLOUR CODED Rosen’s Lebensohl extra quiz 66 n Instruction EBU News County Local Results 67 n In Memoriam 71 n Featuresn Laws & Ethicsn Reports click MEET OUR AUTHORS link Click the ‘link’ icon in the title and you will be n n n taken to the writer’s biography www.ebu.co.uk April 2017 English Bridge 3 4 English Bridge April 2017 www.ebu.co.uk From the Chairman Keeping bridge at the forefront by Jeremy Dhondy click link n January the EBU was denied permission by is some evidence, but not yet enough, that activities the High Court to appeal further concerning such as Bridge keep the mind working later in life Ithe matter of whether Bridge is or is not a sport. and help ward off dementia. Bridge is also an That is, realistically, the end of the road for now – activity which promotes social inclusion. These are both because it would be too expensive to go further all reasons why a government should wish to and there would be little chance of success. promote and help the game. EBED are working The campaign has produced divided opinions with academic institutions to provide robust with some saying Bridge is not a sport and others evidence that can be put before such organisations. arguing that while it may not be physical it does The end of legal action does not mean that we have some of the attributes. Perhaps a category such shouldn’t continue to campaign and seek to as ‘Mind Sports’ would help. influence people. Here, our contacts with the All The EBU Board and, I suspect, many members Party Parliamentary Group for Bridge is welcome. Among their work they invite schools to see would like to see Bridge have a higher profile. The Parliament and play Bridge against them. They are court case has seen it get some more but it is a sad visits which have been much appreciated by the fact that Bridge columns in a number of periodicals schools that have taken part. have disappeared in the last ten or so years. Gaining a higher profile means capturing the ATTEMPTS TO CUT VAT attention of the widest possible audience. And we The other strand of our legal challenge is against should start with teaching the young to play Bridge the imposition of VAT on our competition entry fees. A hearing was held in Luxembourg in early or mini-bridge, getting into schools and making March and we expect to get a preliminary recognition easier. A number of clubs and counties judgement in late June. Even if Article 50 has been do valuable work here but that number needs to invoked by the time you read this it won’t affect the expand. Many younger players learn the game and judgement! need to give up for a while as they get demanding NEW LAWS jobs and/or families but come back to the game in Once every ten years or so the World Bridge later life. It would be good to come up with ways of Federation produces a new set of laws and they sustaining their interest for the game through this intend to do so again this year. They are likely to period so as to optimise the numbers who do come into force in September 2017 and we will return. produce a summary of changes. Not many will FAST ROUTE TO LEARNING BRIDGE greatly affect players in their weekly game. There Others only decide to learn to play later on, and will also be training offered for directors. See page that number might be partly determined by the 46 for further detail. profile Bridge has. Learning to play traditionally SOFTWARE CHANGE AT AYLESBURY takes a long time, and is perceived by some to be too y the time you read this major changes, onerous, so we welcome EBED’s project to produce planned for some while will have been made a fast track product to be introduced later this year Bto the software that runs all our systems at where the game can be learnt quickly and you can Aylesbury. The most obvious effect for members get to the table playing in a shorter time than many will be the removal of the old membership area and do at present. I think the patience required to take a the enhancement of the new one that has been a lot of lessons before you actually hold cards in anger beta edition for some time. I hope the changes will is not there as much these days as it once was. There provide an improved service for our members. r www.ebu.co.uk April 2017 English Bridge 5 Heather’s Hints Discovery Plays by Heather Dhondy click link Game All. Dealer South If you simply play out the queen and king and ´ K Q 8 3 2 discover the bad break, you will be too late since the ™ Q 6 defence have diamonds to cash when inevitably they t 10 gain the lead with the jack of trumps. ® Q 5 4 3 2 Our declarer found a neat solution to the problem by running the ten of hearts at trick three. N W E He did not mind if it lost to the jack since there S would still be a trump in dummy to ruff the second ´ A J 10 diamond, should the defence take this route. In the ™ A K 10 9 8 7 event his safety play was well rewarded when West t J 7 5 turned up with four trumps. The ten held, and he ® 7 crossed to the queen, and was able to ruff a club back to hand to draw trumps, eventually ending up with an overtrick. The full deal is shown opposite. West North East South 1™ Pass 1´ Pass 3™ ADVERTISEMENTS Pass 4™ All Pass ALTHOUGH staff of English Bridge and the staff of his issue’s hand comes from a recent teams Danby Advertising (Advertising Agent for English Bridge) take reasonable precautions to protect the match. At both tables, South opened 1™ and interests of readers by ensuring as far as practicable TNorth responded 1´. What rebid would you that advertisements in the pages of English Bridge are have made? bona fide, the magazine and its publisher, the At one table South simply rebid 2 , as I confess I ™ EBU, cannot accept any undertaking in respect of would have done, and played there. At the other claims made against advertisers, whether these table South found the aggressive 3™ rebid, figuring advertisements are printed as part of the magazine, that his spade fit and shortage were worth or are in the form of inserts. Legal remedies are upgrading, and thus reached the excellent 4™ available if redress is sought, and readers who have contract. complaints should address them to the advertiser The lead was the ®J, followed by a second club, or should consult a local Trading Standards ruffed in hand. How would you plan the play? Office or a Citizens Advice Bureau or their own You have reached an great contract that is only at solicitors. Members should ensure when risk if there is a bad break in either spades or hearts. booking holidays they take suitable You should be aware that, at the other table, the precautions to protect their booking: check opposition may not have reached the contract, so the company is part of a relevant organisation you should be careful to play as safely as possible.