HE ULLETIN TPublished by the QueenslandQBA Bridge Association B April-June 2017 Volume 43 No www.qldbridge.com Email: [email protected] 2 On May 7 the QBA had a second Club well presented event, with nothing From the Presidents' meeting, and this time all left out. President Queensland Club Presidents were in- Next year's BRC is being held in vited and most accepted. The meet- Townsville, from May 15-18, and ing was convened in Brisbane, at the the high cost of a suitable venue QCBC premises in Wooloongabba, has forced the organisers to ask the and thus far has received only positive QBA to play the event from Monday feedback, both at the meeting and in to Friday. ■ subsequent correspondence. Richard Wallis The Commonwealth Games are being held on the Gold Coast in 2018 and, Barrier Reef ELL, the circle has fully turned! following usual practice, a Common- Congress WIn March 1985 I assumed the wealth Nations Bridge Congress is Presidency of the QBA, only to relin- being organised by the QBA to be run quish it later in the year when busi- as a lead-in to the 2019 Gold Coast ness interests prompted me to move Congress. The full details including to WA for a couple of years. Keith Mc- participants are not finalised at the Donald took over and after 31 years time of writing, and any Queensland at the helm, stood down this March participation will depend upon interna- Richard and here I am again. He also held tional and ABF responses. Ward the Presidency of the ABF for about The Barrier Reef Congress has 16 years during this time, standing HE host club for the Gold Point previously been confined to Mackay, down a couple of years ago and be- Barrier Reef Congress has Townsville and Cairns on a rotation T ing replaced by Bruce Neill, originally for many years rotated between a Queenslander. basis, but Yeppoon has joined Cairns, Townsville and Mackay Keith did a great job during the 31 the group to make a quartet, and so it was a courageous decision years of his Presidency, and in ap- this year was their first congress. to trial the BRC at Yeppoon which preciation of this, the QBA made him Unfortunately for me the only is on the Queensland coast 40 km a QBA life member at our AGM in premises available at Yepppon could north-east of Rockhampton. The March. The full impact of his depar- accommodate just 70 tables, and Yeppoon Bridge Club was affiliated ture has yet to hit as yet, as our next the Congress filled up in January/ in 2013 and has a membership of Council Meeting is not until late June, February while I was on a cruise, so only 57 so it was a daunting task and our first Management Committee I was not able to play. However, all for their sub-committee (Campbell Meeting is scheduled for June 1. who did attend said that it was a very McRae, Dick Metcalf, Alan Archer, Lesley Heap, Denise O’Regan, Joan Contents Tucker and Chi Chi Murray) to put From the President..............................................................................................1 together the infrastructure required Barrier Reef Congress by Richard Ward .......................................................1 for the event. With the support GCC Open Team Trials by Richard Wallis ...................................................2 and advice of the northern clubs - by Nikolas Moore ..................................................4 Rockhampton, Cairns, Mackay and Cuppaidge's Column by George Cuppaidge ..................................................4 Townsville, plus the QBA Manager Manager's Travels by Kim Ellaway ...................................................................5 Kim Ellaway - they dealt with matters BBC Graded Butler Pairs by Richard Wallis .................................................6 such as: finding 70 bridge tables; Killarney Congress by Richard Ward .............................................................8 arranging transport to Yeppoon for Novices by Helen Blair .......................................................................................8 40 visiting players thus saving them Teachers' Corner by Joan Butts ..................................................................... 10 the $100 taxi fare; liaising with St High-level Bidding by Nikolas Moore ............................................................ 11 Ursula’s College for the playing 25 Years Ago by Denise Dodd and Khokan Bagchi ................................... 11 Arana Swiss Teams by Richard Wallis .......................................................... 12 area and much of the catering; and Klinger's Column ............................................................................................... 13 rostering club members who cooked Directors' Corner by Jan Peach ..................................................................... 16 hundreds of biscuits and cakes and also acted as caddies. To their The QBA Bulletin April - June 2017 2 delighted surprise, the congress was right way. Alternatively, he simply Before the final match 3 pairs had over-subscribed weeks in advance relied on the old adage that the forged ahead, and at the end of the and, despite managing to find some queen always lies over the jack! Our last match Therese Tully and Pele additional space, there was still a team mates also reached slam, but Rankin were first, Jill Magee and number of players who missed out. in hearts which sadly had no play. Terry Strong were second and Paul And to top it all off, Cyclone Debbie All the results are on the website. Hooykaas and Ralph Parker were chose this month to move down the third, with all other pairs over a full The next Barrier Reef Congress Queensland coast so that, with only match away. This is success at the will be held in Townsville in 2018 a few weeks to go, the Rockhampton first attempt for Jill and Terry, and from Monday to Friday starting on floods closed their airport. But, the team will go to Canberra with the May 14. ■ undaunted, the Yeppoon Club stuck potential to succeed. with the motto: ‘the difficult we do This board was a harbinger of things immediately. The impossible takes Qld Open to come when I got it completely just a bit longer'. wrong after a favourable lead. And the verdict? - a resounding Teams Trials success in every respect. Congrat- M 1 ♠ 102 ulations to all involved, including Bd 12 ♥ ─ directors Laurie Kelso and Peter Dlr W ♦ AQ83 Busch, and a reminder to enter early Vul NS ♣ AQJ6542 for 2021 when next the BRC goes to ♠ J84 ♠ K7653 ♥ KJ10942 N ♥ Q86 Yeppoon. Richard W E ♦ 10 ♦ K642 In our losing match against the Wallis S ♣ 1083 ♣ K winning team the biggest swing was ♠ 9AQ 16 IMPs on this board when our HIS year's ANC is in Canberra, ♥ A753 opponents excelled in the bidding and the trials for the Open Teams T ♦ J975 and play. ended on April 1, but there were no ♣ 97 Tony Hutton (East) and Malcolm April Fools present! Carter (West) bid as follows using The trials were beset with setbacks their Fantunes system: from the start, 17 pairs being W N E S reduced to just 16 due to illness on 2H 3C 3H 3NT Dlr W ♠ AQ10 the Friday before, and then another All pass Vul Both ♥ Q962 withdrawal due to illness after just ♦ 98 9 of the 15 matches, and finally a The bidding was natural and I took a ♣ 10842 3rd withdrawal on the final day due chance with 3NT when Tim showed ♠ K6 ♠ J to being flood-bound following the his clubs, and at least with the ♥A I ♥ 5AJ107 N ♥ K83 can hold up as long as I want. W E torrential and widespread rain from ♦ AKQ6 S ♦ J7543 ex-Cyclone Debbie. In 3NT on a heart lead, win the 3rd ♣ 53 ♣ AKJ7 The first withdrawal eliminated the round and take the club finesse into ♠ 9875432 sit-out and reduced the trials down to the safe hand and claim 9 tricks ♥ 4 just 5 days, so no problem, but the safely by way of 3 aces and 6 clubs. ♦ 102 second withdrawal was before 2/3 of I got the lead of the ♠8, and now I ♣ Q96 the matches had been completed, can take the ♣A as a safety play and and thus according to the current in fact make 12 tricks, but I woodenly regulations, the director had to re- still took the club finesse and was W N E S 1 score all of the previous matches with devastated when I cashed the ♣A 1H P 2C P the withdrawn pair replaced by a sit- 2S2 P 4D3 P next and found out the safety play 4S4 P 4NT5 P out. This was good news for those would have paid off. 5S6 P 6D All pass that lost to the pair, but bad news to I was so devastated that I mis- those that had beaten them, which counted the clubs and thought I 1 Balanced 10+ or natural unbalanced included Tim Runting and myself, needed the second ‘marked’ spade 10+ or forcing raise when we lost our best win to that time. 2 14+ HCP with diamonds finesse to succeed and thus went 3 Minorwood Tim and I were never in contention, 3 off to lose 11 IMPs instead of 4 0 or 3 key cards in diamonds being on the wrong side of 3 slam gaining 8 for +690. 5 Trump queen ask swings in the first match did not help, 6 Yes + ♠K but too many lapses of concentration I'm not sure whether glory or After an opening spade lead from by both of us were very costly, and masterpoints is first on the South declarer deduced that this we could not get above halfway at list of beginning tournament was from length and with trumps any time. Sometimes it seemed like players, but I know learning to 2-2 it was more likely that North had I was playing in the Seniors, such play better is definitely last. longer hearts and so finessed the were my mindless bids and plays. The QBA Bulletin April - June 2017 3 finesse saw the roof cave in and I AJ976 M 1 ♠ finished 3 off for ‒300 and ‒12 IMPs.