From the President A Reminder to Members.

We all like our club to look fresh and tidy and as we have no daily cleaners (or maids) we ask members to tidy up areas that obviously need attention. Especially around the tea and coffee area, your table

at the end of the game, glasses etc. put in the kitchen, and the washing up attended to. The club has never needed a roster system for this before, but with the increase in numbers, it may become necessary. Please do your bit and remember the old adage, "Many hands make light work". Thanks. Anne Fraser. President. Fire !! On Monday, January 31st, a small fire started in

the building and players had to be evacuated from the playing area. Some players, who were scoring poorly, were quite pleased to have the session brought to an abrupt end, whilst others regretted the loss of

good scores.

Bridge Club in The Advocate The February 10th edition featured an article on the Ballina Bridge Club’s decision to install a 9.6 W solar electricity system, which will generate thousands of dollars’ worth of solar electricity and dramatically reduce the bills of the Bridge Club. “Ballina Bridge Club is setting a great example” said Adam Tesoriero, of SolarSwitch.

Ballina Teams Congress February 13th

Congratulations to the winners – Judy Forsyth, John Paynter, Wendi Halvorsen and John Dennis. Helen & Peter Tootell, Gary & Susan Lynn came 2nd. The “B” section was won by Henry Hirschhorn, Mary Leonard, Lyn Ebert and Marie Carter. Trivia Night April 1st. Form a team and join in the fun. Help raise funds for the Ballina Bridge Club. Monthly Lessons with Eric Please note: For the month of March only. This lesson has been transferred to the 2nd Thursday of the month - March 10th, and NOT March 3rd.

Beginners Anne Bigg has fifteen students in her class. We hope to see them at the Bridge Club soon. Without beginners and new players, there would be no more bridge.

Lismore Teams Handicap Event will be held on Sunday 13th March. The event is limited to 16 teams, so get your entry in early.

Links to Bridge Sites Bob Hart has been working on our Bridge Club Web Page. The Links to other bridge sites have been upgraded, and if you follow the path you will be led to a wealth of bridge information. There’s free lessons by Mike Lawrence, Larry Cohen and other famous players. An interesting site is called “In Their Own Words” where experts comment on the value of various bridge conventions. The article on the Drury Convention starts off thus: "What, young man, is the Drury Two Clubs?" "Two clubs is an artificial one-round force by a passed hand responding to partner's third or fourth-hand major suit opening bid. Opener negatives with two diamonds." "You are out of your mind, young man. Why don't you learn to play bridge?"

NSW Mixed Pairs The 2011 NSW State Mixed Pairs Championship , will be held May 28-29 at the NSW Bridge Association, 162 Goulburn St, East Sydney. Local players, who wish to participate, may have their entry fee paid by the Ballina Bridge Club NEC Cup, Yokohama Watching BBO, two quotes from the commentators interested me. “You can’t make 3NT on a cross ruff.” “If the bidding yells for a trump lead, make it – even with Kx”. Wine Bags If you have any nice wine bags at home, please give them to Mary Leonard. They can be used for wine prizes

at future events. Recycling at work. From Judy Forsyth Thanks  John  John    Paynter  &  his  wife,  Pat,  will  be  relocating  to  Camden  to  help  their  family  from  March.  John  has  patiently  tutored  my  bridge,  adding  a  new  dimension  to  my  game.    He  has  encouraged  me  to  become  more  disciplined  in    my  bidding,  a  tool  I  now  see  as  a  vital  feature  at  the  bridge  table.    I  have  enjoyed  our  partnership  &  will  miss  John  very  much.      I  wish  Pat  &  John  well  in  their  life  ahead.    All  bridge  players  join  Judy  in  her  farewell  and  good  wishes.  John  will  be  sadly  missed  by  both  his  partners    and  opponents.      Longer Minor aka Better Minor Some players seem to be confused as to what “better Minor” means.

If your hand shape is 4♠ 3♥ 3♦ 3♣ - always open 1♣. The suit quality is irrelevant – the rule is simple - with 3♣ and 3♦ - always open 1♣. If your hand shape is 4♠ 4♥ 2♦ 3♣, you open 1♣. Easy ! (The longer Minor). We never open on a 2 card suit. And we play 5 card Majors.

Ballina Bridge Club March 2011

Two minute Interview

Most of us enjoyed the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice. Benjamin Whitrow

played the part of Elizabeth Bennett’s father, and received an award for this role. He is a keen bridge player. How did you start playing bridge? My parents used to play rubber bridge and I learned from them, but I became really interested as a young actor. When I worked at the National Theatre, Sir Laurence Olivier, the director, allowed us to set up a table in the wings. It was good fun to play until you heard your cue, go on stage, do your bit . . . and then come back to find that someone else had played the hand for you! How often do you play? If I am not working, two or three times a week. I play duplicate at the Wimbledon Bridge Club - I like the ambience – and the club is not far from home. What does bridge mean to you? It keeps me occupied in the evenings and gives me the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life. More importantly, I like the fact that bridge enables you to be totally absorbed for three hours and forget all about your sorrows and problems in life. If you could change one thing about bridge, what would it be? I would re-instate the re-redouble! The redouble has become almost a convention, so it would be good to have the call only for business and clock up huge scores ! (You could interview yourself or another bridge player and think about your own answers to these questions.)

Jigsaw : Mary Hoare recently lent a jigsaw to someone, and she cannot remember who it was. Peter Corlis had previously completed the jigsaw, and he returned it to Mary who, in

turn, lent it to someone else. Later, Peter found a piece of the jigsaw and returned it to Mary. The picture was an animated picture of a Zoo. Mary would like to return the piece to complete the puzzle. Please let her know if you are the missing person, and then she can match you up with the missing piece. Ron Klinger always manages to end his bridge column with a joke or a thoughtful quotation. After years of publishing, it is amazing how he still manages to find a quote. This one resonates with me:

“It’s not the skill that drops off with age. It’s the drive, the killer instinct. When a player isn’t primed to kill, that’s when mistakes follow”.

Hesitation during play In some card games it is quite legal to “pretend” you hold a vital card, in an attempt to deflect another player off the right line of play.

Challenge and bluff – all part of the fun. However, in bridge this is definitely not allowed.

Lyn Graham drew my attention to Ron Klinger’s recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald in which he addressed this issue. He retold a famous incident concerning the English player, Alfred Dormer.

Dormer was sitting East, holding the Q of Spades (Trumps) and another Spade. The KJxx was in Dummy (North). Declarer led a small Spade towards Dummy and West went into a think huddle and after some time carefully played a small Spade. Declarer played Dummy’s Jack. Dormer followed

suit with his small card !! Whereupon, Declarer drew trumps and claimed his contract. West was not pleased. “Why didn’t you take your Queen of Spades ?” he asked.

“Oh” replied Dormer smoothly, “You took so long to play – I thought you had it”.

This really put West in his place … and rightly so.

Difficult hand

♠ K J873 This hand caused players some ♥ AK54 QJ86 anxiety last Saturday. 23 points ♦ AQ93 2 ….. open 2♣…..and what’s your ♣ AK104 9865 rebid ? My partner, Eric, and I had the following sequence 2♣ 2♦ 2♦ “a waiting bid”. *2NT 3♣ 3♣ Puppet Stayman 3♦ 4♦ 3♦ shows 1or 2 four card majors 4♥ 4♦ “I have both Majors and no interest in slam”. All rebids are “wrong” in as much as 2NT promises a balanced hand – and it’s not – but a rebid of a suit promises at least a 5 card suit and you haven’t got that. 2NT is the least bad bid, and you’d have to be unlucky for your ♠ King not to score. Some brave players might open 1♦ - if partner answers, you drive on to game or slam and if partner passes, your opponents would likely keep the auction alive by bidding Spades, and then you can bid again. Wendy Halvorsen suggested to her opponents that the auction could start 2♣ 2♦ 3♣* preparing for any rebid by partner. If you read “Bidding Forum” in the Australian bridge

magazine, you can read expert opinions on interesting hands. The experts rarely agree with each other. There are many ways of bidding a bridge hand and not all roads lead happily to Rome.

50th Gold Coast Congress is next week so many of our regular players will not be at the local game. It is pleasing to see our newer players attending this great event.