2016 March Newsletter

Building

At the close of the AGM in November 2015, there was a short presentation from our Vice President, Mark Robertson, to discuss ‘securing the long term future of the club’. In that presentation, Mark talked about the work the committee had started, in thinking about the future options for our membership and our premises.

Mark discussed with members:    

• the future vision the committee has for the club
  
• the challenges we face from falling attendances and membership (a problem shared with many similar         organisations)
• that an unsolicited offer had been received from property developers                  
• some of the ways we might approach securing the long term future of the club.

Since the AGM, the committee have been having talks with several organisations and groups. We have also been very fortunate to have the support and advice of a professional property manager guiding us.

Mark said, “I’d like to thank everyone for the positive feedback we received following the November AGM. It’s worth mentioning that everything the committee is working on is the exploring of a wide range of ideas. We (the committee) are keen to narrow down our options and then come back to our members and get everyone’s feedback. We’ll call a meeting to do this sometime in May or June”.

Mark continues, “I know there are several members who hear about these discussions from some of the other parties we’re talking to. I find it a wee bit amusing that by the time the story has passed through several people, it can become somewhat exaggerated from the actual conversation we had”.

“But let me assure everyone, it is our members who will guide us on these options. Any important decisions will only happen with the endorsement of our members” said Mark, “creating long term value and securing our clubs and members future are the primary objectives of the current work”.

So keep an eye out for an information meeting in May or June. We’ll make sure we give everyone several weeks advance notice for that event.

Interclub 2016

Last Friday, March 18th, the first of the regions nine-session interclub series was hosted at Auckland Bridge Club.

Teams came from all over the Auckland Northland Bridge region, representing the following clubs: Auckland, Mt Albert, Howick, Franklin, Akarana, Royle Epsom, Waitemata, Waiheke, Papakura, Papatoetoe, E.C. Bays, Northshore and Franklin

There are a total of 47 teams in this years competition consisting of

9 Open teams, 3 from Auckland

18 Intermediate teams, 5 from Auckland

20 Junior teams, 3 from Auckland

S              W            N             E

2H           /              2S*         X*

/              /*           3C           3D

/              3NT        /              4S

X*           /              5H           X

/              /              /

                     9

                     QJ83

                     653

                    QJ652

KQJT                                                      A76543

KT9                                                         5

JT7                                                          AQ942

T84                                                         A

                    82

                    A7642

                    K8

                    K973

North’s holding here of long trump support few points and short spades are the ideal holding for his 2S psyche.  He knows because South opened 2H that East West have a game in spades and his 2S deception is an attempt to stop them bidding what may be the only making game.  This is a legitimate bridge tactic within the rules and although some players do not like getting deceived like this it can be useful to discuss counter measures with your regular partner.   

 South doesn’t know 2S is not natural although South should have noticed when East doubles and West passes, forcing North to run.  On the actual hand South doubles 4S on what looks like 3 tricks across from Norths spade suit.   Of course North did not have a Spade suit.  Norths 5H response to Souths double alerts South to this rather late in the auction.  Both East and West had worked out North’s hand early in the auction after Easts X 2S. 

 East West dealt with the psyche effectively.  East’s X is an example of a double intended to expose the psyche.  Generally X is take out and you should have length in the other two suits to X.  When you expect a psyche and the opposition have shown two suits (here hearts and spades) you can double one of the suits expecting if you are right partner will pass for penalties and this catches North who has been exposed and must run.  Now East West describe their hands to each other and settle on 4S as the best game.  On this hand it assists East that they have a good hand with long diamonds so that they have another bid to make if needed. 

 The reason there must be two suits for this ‘double to expose the psych’ to work is that you must be able to cue to show various strong hands after a X.  Here with two suits bid and spades a suspected psyche, East can cue hearts with a forcing hand if she doesn’t want to pass 2S for penalties.

On the following hand different tactics are needed:

If East opens 1S holding:

Q3

10954

J96

Q1074

What should South do, holding:

AJ10972

AKQ2

A7

2

It is expected by South that East has a minimum opening hand with spades, a takeout X shows short spades.  It is critical that South not break partnership agreements by doubling.  A useful agreement is that if you pass a suit and then double the same suit later in the auction it is for penalties, normally this happens when partner has shown some values.  

On this hand if East has a normal minimum opening West and North have about 10 HCP between them and 1S may get passed out.  If this happens and West has a 5 card heart suit then North South may miss a heart game – however 1S not doubled looks to be going very light and when North South don’t have a game on 1S not doubled will be OK.  On a good day you may get to penalize 2S later in the auction after all. On the actual hand, West and North have 5 more spades between them and more points than might be expected.

It may assist you to redefine PSYCH in your mind as "Too high in the wrong Suit".  The added advantage you have is that the opposition are outside their agreements and so the partner of the Psych-er may not realize they are too high in the wrong suit.  If your side sticks to its agreements you are on firm ground and will sometimes be able to take advantage.

                            North                   South

                                                          1

                             1                        2

                             2 ¹                     2NT

                             3 ²

1 4^th suit forcing

2 slam try even if 4^th suit was only a 1 round force (since any bid over 2NT should be game forcing)

Now, a 4 splinter (showing shortage) from South would be the winner.

Let’s, though, see how Inverted Minor Raises can work. They worked very well for James and Sam Coutts and for Nick Jacob and Glenn Coutts:

                             North (Sam)             South (James)

                                                                1

                             2 (inverted GF)       3   (natural)

                             3  (waiting)              3  (completes shape (usually 3154)

                             4  (requests cues)  4   ¹

                             4 ¹                         5    ¹

                             6                            Pass

¹  cue bids, first and second round shown together.

                         North (Nick)                        South (Glenn)

                                                                     1

                          2 (inverted GF)                  3 (splinter)

                          4 (slam try, no  control)  5

                          6                                        Pass

Claiming for 12 tricks would have been so much more pleasant than receiving a heart lead in 3NT.

After 8 of the 9 rounds, Ware had a handy lead:

Ware                              126.06

Coutts                           109.61

Cornell                          106.64

Hurley                            103.21

Wilson                             99.21

It looked like it was Ware’s event for the taking but a lot can happen in 14 boards..and did. Ware played Hurley and only scored 2.51 vps. Meanwhile, Coutts played Jacob (Tom Jacob-Brian Mace, Nick Jacob – Glenn Coutts) and scored 19.28. Suddenly, the maths looked very different and very good for Coutts:

Apart from Newell-Reid, all the pairs in the teams who finished in the first three places and 5^th place were “trials teams”. That was a great result especially for Sam and James Coutts which certainly helped in their being named reserve pair in this year’s Open team.

Finally, a special word of praise for all involved in the organisation where no stone was lefty unturned, including shuttling players to and from the airport, to the directors, Arie Geursen and Allan Joseph, the scorer, Sam Ward, a most efficient caddy in young player Tegan Bennick, all those behind the scenes and last and by no means least, Mindy Wu, who managed to be both caterer of excellent food and play in the team which finished 6^th, a neat double.

Editor's Note: The NZBridge Newsletter can currently be found as a News Feed on the NZBridge website, which the above links to in the smaller heading of the article.