Another newsletter, how time flies when you are having fun at bridge

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• Please support
• Coming up soon
• Special General Meeting and AGM
• Membership News
• Education Update
• Club Highlights
• Learn from the expert
• Xmas Club Restricted
• Members Noticeboard
• Support Club Fundraising

Click Auckland Bridge Club October 2017 Newsletter to read it.

A SGM is being held at 10.30 am just prior to the AGM on 5 November

A quorum is required, so come along. Bring a plate for shared lunch, a complimentary glass of wine, and stay to enjoy a session of bridge.

Bingo Fundraising

A fun afternoon generously sponsored by Iconic Design. Sunday 19 November, 2 – 4 pm. Family & friends are welcome, please support this event. Details are on the notice board.

Coming up soon

Wes Dodd 5A Pairs                                   28 October

Babich NZ Wide Pairs                              3 November

Rawhiti Estate 8B Pairs                           16 November

Club Xmas Restricted                              2 December

Babich Holiday Pairs 5A                          2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th Jan

 Full meeting details on website and club noticeboard.

 The meetings will be followed by a shared lunch and an afternoon of bridge.

New Members

A very special welcome to new and returning members -   Julia Gardiner, Alan Curie, Phil Lynch, Vicki MacMIllan, Rob Skinner, Avi Shenken, Rachel Worner, Dave Page, Eddie Bijl, Rob Burton, Mila Doerr, Jenny Hunt, Angela Kelsall, Lynn Bartram, Liz Carnachan, Anne van der Straaten, Bruce van der Straaten, Pamela Clydesdale, Lynne Staub, Karen Matthews, John Young, Susan Young, Geraldine Booth, Rhonda Hall, Colleen Mellsop, Graham Mellsop, Marg Morgan, Anna Friedlander, Harrison Rose, Babs Merel de Visser, Barbara Hodson, Marie Murray 

Passed Away

Sadly, we said farewell to long time members

Alma Priest (31 Years), Frans van Oorde (36 Years), Maureen Bent (40 Years - 1976-2016), Mary and Leon Idoine (44 Years)

Well Done - New Zealand Bridge certificates

Life Master – Rosemary Matskows 2*

Master - Judith Chandler 3*

Local Master – Caryl Bottomley 2*, Jean Dodds, Jill Ferguson 2*, Mila Hill 7*, Sharon Marryatt 3*, Judy Perry 4*

Certificate of Proficiency – Sally Andrew, Vonnie Harrison, Diane Hill, Suzie Bosher, Jane Field

This month it is our computer Guru and all his work with the tablets and the new scoring software.

 Sylvester Riddell                  IT support

Welcome Back

to club for all those members who have been away unwell or have been enjoying summer/warmer weather away from NZ.

 

The Mysteries of Slam Bidding with Andy Braithwaite.

In September we were fortunate to have Andy here to give an excellent seminar. A seminar aimed at Junior and Intermediate players helping them identify the first important element which is when a slam might be on.  As we know one of the big joys of bridge is to bid and play a slam.

Thank you to Tracey Lewis who organised for Andy to come and the tasty nibbles to accompany the learning experience.

July 2017

Quiz night – A fun evening, winners were Pete/Katherine & Jeremys Team.  Great thanks to Angie & Chris. $2000 raised on 28/7/2017 

Youth Fundraiser – Thank you to Tracey does so much for youth bridge. The Individual event was won by Peer, over $3,500 was raised

 August 2017

Grace Joel 8B Thursday tournament – 1^st Glenis Palmer & Christine Wilson, 2^nd Jennifer Perkins & Anne Gelb, 3^rd Sylvester Riddell and Stephen Goodman

Papatoetoe 3A – 3^rd Patrick & Julie

Papatoetoe 5B -1^st Julia Zhu & Tony Jiang, 3^rd Candice Doyle & Bianca van Rangelrooy

September - October 2017

Billie Tohill Open 3A Pairs, 1^st Christine Wilson & Wayne Benefield

Tudor Biggs Rosebowl 1^st Chris Curreen & Tom Mulvey, 2^nd Tony Jiang & Julia Zhu, 3^rd Alan Walpole & Terri-Anne Scorer. 

Winners of the Trudy Leitl Trophy, Best Junior Pair Julie Hawkes & Takayo Yanagisawa

15A National Swiss Pairs in Christchurch 4^th Tracey Lewis & Nick Jacob 

Edmund Hilary 8B – 1^st Michael & Vivien Cornell, 2^nd Christine Wilson & Glenis Palmer

Howick Intermediate Pairs – 3^rd Tony Jiang & Julia Zhu

Franklin 5B Pairs - 1^st Julia Zhu & Tony Jiang

Mt Albert Restricted Pairs – 1^st Jeremy Fraser-Hoskin & Andrew Tarbutt, 3^rd Susan Burslem & KC Lee 

4^th Peer Bach & Lanell Monreal

Top intermediate pair Tony Jiang & Julia Zhu

Top Junior Pair Takayo Yanagisawa & Julie Hawkes

October Thursday 8B teams won by Team Bach – Peer Bach, Carlos Pelligrini, Vivien and Michael Cornell

NATIONAL CONGRESS

Open Pairs 1^st Julie Atkinson & Patrick Carter

Congress Pairs – 5^th Hamish Brown & Johanna Perfect

Restricted Open Pairs – 4^th Julia Zhu & Tony Jiang

NZ Teams – 3^rd overall, Patrick & Julie's team won both the Cornell Trophy for best mixed team and the Evernett Trophy for best NZ team

Senior Teams – 5^th Barry Palmer, Neil Stuckey, Glenis Palmer & Linda Cartner

Intermediate Teams – 1^st Carole Joseph, Raewyn Kitching, Sharon Marryatt & Anna Powell

Intermediate Pairs – 1^st Tony Jiang & Julia Zhu

Intermediate Swiss Pairs – 1^st Tony Jiang & Julia Zhu, 2^nd Karen Smith & Sue Cohen, 3^rd Sharon Marryatt & Anna Powell

Open Restricted Swiss Pairs – 1^st Dave Garrett & Denise Mayhew, 4^th Jacob Kalma & Jeremy Hoskin-Fraser

Open Swiss Pairs – 3^rd Patrick Carter & Owen Camp

 

In Match 7 of the New Zealand teams, we sit down to play Alan Grant and Tim Schumacher.  It is the morning of the second of two days of qualifying. With only 16 teams getting to play on the third day we are sitting 14^th. 

The first Board of the set is Board 19.    We are E/W and vulnerable; N/S are non-vulnerable.

South opens 2H -  6-10 points 5 hearts and 4+ of a minor.

 

Take West’s chair where we hold

S K93
H KQ
D AKQ65
C T63

 

17 HCP and 5-3-3-2; 5 Diamonds; a hold in opponent’s suit. We could easily have a game on our way so what to bid? 

•  3D would be reasonable that shows a decent hand with a good suit. However it does not express the heart control and might make 3NT hard to reach if North can bid 3H. 

• The hand is in the range of a 2NT overcall; this is played as 16 – 18 balanced with heart holds. A third heart would make this the perfect overcall, but with only a single heart stop, 2NT is not perfect. 

• X and subsequent rebid of the diamond suit might seem appealing however the hand is quite a bit short of the strength and diamond length for that action.

  • Look at what happens if you X and North bids 3H. Now you must bid 4D to get the hand across – while this hand might be a bare minimum if you had AKQ65 in spades and able to rebid Spades at the 3 level, you need a 6^th diamond, better shape and better controls to X and rebid diamonds.
  • X without the intent to rebid typically shows 4 spades, better clubs and less in hearts. 

 

You settle for the slight mis-description of 2NT out of a desire to communicate the possibility to partner that 3NT may be the best spot.

North raises the stakes with a 4H bid.  This might show values but it can also be a 5card suit and a good shape in a weak hand – particularly when green against red and West has overcalled showing 16 – 18 points.

Now take East’s chairafter (2H) – 2NT – (4H) – ?

You hold

S T842
H 8
D 974
C AQ982 

 Do you feel like you want to do something over 4H? - You should!

 

• Partner has a strong hand and can have 4 spades or a 5 card minor
• you have a singleton in opponent’s suit
• That club suit looks like it might be a decent source of tricks
• Maybe South has 5 hearts and 4 diamonds. 

 

East chooses to X.  This is takeout. 

Look at what happens if you cannot show a 4 card spade suit and singleton heart with a X. You have to bid 4S (which should show 5 good ones) or 5C (which might be South’s second suit). 

The normal expert treatment is that X of a 4 level pre-emptive bid or any bid below 4S is takeout because when opponents bid 4H you are most likely to have a hand like you have here; your holding 4 cards in hearts is completely impossible after partner has shown 2+ with a 2NT bid and highly unlikely when partner has passed. 

So X for take-out which feels slightly too aggressive but passing when partner has shown such a good hand seems more likely to be wrong with this shape. If partner has 4 spades then your hand is worth 9 points rather than 6 making it clear to bid.

South passes so now back we go to West’s hand

(2H) – 2NT – (4H) – X
( P ) – ?

S K93
H KQ
D AKQ65
C T63

As you contemplate you realise your 2NT bid has not worked out well.  Suddenly the hand has taken a serious turn, now it looks like you might get a normal result if you do the right thing but risk a hugely negative result if you go wrong – slightly off beat bidding can be like that! 

• If only partner had been able to pass or bid 4 spades
• if only North had been unable to bid over 2NT. 

 Well here you are – anything you do could be wrong!

 What do you know?

•  Partner has at most 2 hearts but much more likely she has 1 or 0 heats.
• It is possible that South holds a 3514 shape (making the spades 4333 around the table) but 1534 is at least as likely,
• we do know partner has exactly 4 spades leaving 6 unaccounted for.  

 So what do you bid?

•  4NT would be to play but your hearts are too shaky for that - when they lead hearts you have to be able to run 10 tricks without losing the lead – maybe 4NT would be OK if you had a 3^rdheart making it likely you have 2 holds since the Ace might be with South.
• 5D seems unlikely - that’s only 2 losers and you already know you have 1 heart loser. All those high cards points in the 2-card heart suit suddenly seem like a terrible liability.
• 4S might be OK even though it’s a 4 – 3 fit; you might be able to ruff a 3^rd heart in the short hand and 10 tricks is easier than 11. If East does hold AQJX of spades then 4S can probably be made. 
• OK  4S it is.

 

Why is it so hard to think of pass as an option?  Sure, if we have a game our way passing 4HX for penalties to take it 1 light is not a great result – however no game seems very likely in the pass out seat and maybe that is a very good reason to pass and collect 100 or maybe 300, at least that is a plus. 

4H undoubled was played at 26 out of 110 tables, 8 played 4HX with many more playing 3H for +140, 14 went -400 or more in spades clubs or diamonds by East West. 

That 4H raise was a challenging bid and many good players made it.

Our team mates bid 4H and went 1 light. We went -400 in 4S so overall, we were 10 IMPs out.  It was not the best outcome on the first Board of the day.  

 This hand does highlight the extent to which a player has to be able to go from slightly over-describing their hand to hating it all in the space of 1 round of bidding.

 

Imagine holding either of these two hands on the same auction:

 (2H) – 2NT – (4H) – X

( P ) – ?

S K93                      S K93
H KQ5                     H KQ3
D AKQ6                   D AKQ65
C T63                      C T6

 On the first hand passing the X really stands out and on the second 4NT or 5D both look playable. 

 But then again at the New Zealand teams both of those hands would produce a flat result. 

by Hamish Brown

Xmas Club Restricted

To be held on 2 December

NO two open players can enter as a pair but in trying to foster fun and socialisation across the club consider asking someone you have never partnered before.

Available January 2018 to mid-February

(or part of that time)

• Are you going away from early January to mid-February 2018?
• Need house sitters and your pets looked after?

My grandson Joel and his girlfriend Lane are working in Auckland for the summer and are available to housesit from early January to mid-February 2018. 

They both have full time jobs and are totally reliable and responsible.  References available from employer.

HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS

RING CHRISTINE WILSON – 021 0365503

Support Club fundraising

19th November, 2 pm

Sponsored by iconic Design