THE QBA BULLETINPublished by the Queensland Bridge Association April-June 2014 Volume 40 No2www.qldbridge.com Email: manager@qldbridge.com

Keith McDonald

From the President

Mixed Pairs

2015 Gold Coast Congress

February 21 - 28

ContentsFrom the President .......................................................................................................... 1Mixed Pairs by Joan Butts ............................................................................................... 1NOT Canberra by Andy Hung ...................................................................................... 3Cuppaidge's Column by George Cuppaidge .............................................................. 6Australian Seniors Teams Play-offs by Richard Wallis ............................................. 7Teachers' Corner by Joan Butts.................................................................................... 8Novices by Michael Fawcett .........................................................................................1025 Years Ago by Richard Ward ...................................................................................11 Manager's Travels by Kim Ellaway ...............................................................................11What Annoys Bridge Players by Peter Busch ...........................................................12Klinger's Column by Ron Klinger ................................................................................13BBC Teams by Jim Evans ...............................................................................................14Directors' Corner by Jan Peach ...................................................................................16

I DID not contest the position of President of the Australian Bridge

Federation at the recent ABF AGM. The ABF Council elected me to the position of President Emeritus. I was very pleased to propose the General Counsel, Eilis Magner, to the ABF Committee of Honour. Her contribution over 16 years has been outstanding. Queenslanders also thank the retiring ABF Secretary, Di Marler, for her wonderful service.Queenslanders will be saddened by the passing of Charlie Schwabegger.

THE thought of “mixed” pairs probably elicits, among entrants

to such a contest, a variety of emotions, ranging from anxiety to excitement. Those in the “anxiety” category are wondering whether they will get through the weekend without a sarcastic word or tone or glance. Those in the “excitement” category, (count me in here), feel a real sense of anticipation at the thought of play-ing all weekend with a partner of the opposite sex who will understand their every signal and bid, and who will stoically field their (occasional) mistake, with no hint of emotion! A perfect example of such a partner is Paul Wyer, so I had every reason to be looking forward to it. Here are some bidding and play situ-ations that arose over the weekend. There’s not always a right answer, but I’ve chosen them for discussion. Session 4 Brd 2You’re sitting East, and hold this with NS vul.

You open 1S, and it goes P, 1NT from partner, P, and you bid 2D. Next hand passes and partner bids 3C. Do you make another move? After all, you do have a good hand, with ♣Q7. Although partner is telling you they have clubs and not much else, you might make 3NT.

♠ AK1042♥ K8♦ A1076♣ Q7

Charlie, a Victorian, had a holiday home in Hervey Bay. He and his wife, Kerrin Daws, played in a considerable number of Queensland events. He was an excellent player with a friendly attitude and cheeky smile. He will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with Kerrin and his five daughters.Get Wines Direct is offering specialised deals to bridge players and clubs. The partnership includes discounts, labelling options and financial incentives. Find out more from Mark Kennedy, Business Development Manager (mark@getwinesdirect.com). Details are on the ABF Marketing page on the ABF web site.Our four teams have been selected for the 2014 ANC and we wish them every success. The arrangements for the Sydney ANC are on their website and ANC app.There are several Novice events coming up. Please review the options and make a committment to play. ■

Joan Butts

T h e Q B A B u l l e t i n A p r i l - J u n e 2 0 1 4

This is a standard (good) defensive manoeuver, found in a flash by Paul. Declarer should realise from the lead of a low heart, the 4, that, unless it’s from 4 3 doubleton, East’s overcall is a 4-carder. Declarer and dummy have 6 hearts between them. Usu-ally when you overcall a 4-card suit, it’s a good suit, so the ♥A and ♥K are very likely to be with East. Session 4 Brd 15 Dealer: S, Vul: NS You, West, hold:

Your lead?I was on lead, and tried my single-ton ♠9, declarer won the ace, and played the ♦Q, ducked, and the ♦4 to Paul’s ace.

In the end game, we had the con-tract for –2, but I made a mistake (not following the discards properly) and needlessly overtook Paul’s ♣J with my queen to cash my winning

Seven pairs played 3NT, sometimes doubled, and all but one made 9 or 10 tricks. 3C was played only twice, making 11 tricks, and a few others played spades. In 3NT, North, holding ♣K3, needs to be brave to duck the ♣Q even though they have a doubleton. Declarer will be sure to finesse again, and then you win your ♣K. With careful play in hearts, East will not be able to reach West’s club winners. Ducking with the ♣K doubleton would be a good play, but not for the faint-hearted, and not a pleasant thing to have to explain to your Mixed Pairs partner, if it went wrong. Session 4 Brd 3 Dlr S EW VulYou hold this hand as South, and are declarer in 1NT.

The ♥4 is led, East wins the ace, and returns ♥3. Which card do you play? At our table, declarer played low, West won ♥J and continued the suit. The ♥A and ♥K were on your right, and you could have won the ♥Q. Drats!

Dlr E ♠ 6 Vul NS ♥ J732 ♦ J95432

♣ K3 ♠ 53 ♠ AK1042 ♥ Q1096 ♥ K8 ♦ 8 ♦ A1076 ♣ AJ10982 ♣ Q7 ♠ QJ987 ♥ A54 ♦ KQ ♣ 654

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♠ 865♥ Q95♦ AQ96♣ J104

diamond, when in fact declarer was going to have to lead from their own hand anyway. +100 instead of +200 is a big difference at matchpoints.

You are South, and it goes pass, pass to you. 1S you say, and the next hand passes. Your partner bids 2C, pass and you try 2H. Somehow you overbid to 4S. The lead is the ♠10. You win the king, and play a club to the king which East wins with the ace and returns a club, (wrong). You pitch two diamonds on the ♣Q and ♣J, and finish drawing trumps, to lead a heart from the South hand. How should you play the heart suit? The answer should be clear from the lead. The main reason that someone leads a trump is because they have a good holding in one of the suits bid by the declaring side. SO… West must have heart values. You should play a small heart to the 10, not the king. Now, with the help of the de-fenders, you make 10 tricks! I actually played a heart to the king and went 1 down, but Paul made the good suggestion that the only rea-son West would lead a trump was because of their heart holding. Com-mon sense! Session 3 Brd 21. Dlr N NS Vul Holding this hand as East, you hear the bidding going 3S on your right. Your bid?

I said X as East, South passed, and Paul bid 4D. This was such music to my ears, when I had expected to hear some number of hearts, that I

Dlr S ♠ AKQ9 Vul EW ♥ 1072 ♦ J54

♣ A87 ♠ J1072 ♠ 43 ♥ J64 ♥ AK83 ♦ 1087 ♦ K32 ♣ K65 ♣ Q932 ♠ 865 ♥ Q95 ♦ AQ96 ♣ J104

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♠ 9♥ K842♦ 10653♣ Q654

♠ —♥ KJ4♦ KJ1032♣ KJ954

Dlr N ♠ 976 Vul EW ♥ K108 ♦ Q109

♣ KQJ2 ♠ 108 ♠ A32 ♥ AJ7 ♥ 62 ♦ A6532 ♦ J74 ♣ 1064 ♣ A9873 ♠ KQJ54 ♥ Q9543 ♦ K8 ♣ 5

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Dlr S ♠ K8532 Vul NS ♥ 6 ♦ KJ987

♣ K10 ♠ 9 ♠ QJ106 ♥ K842 ♥ J1093 ♦ 10653 ♦ A2 ♣ Q654 ♣ AJ7 ♠ A74 ♥ AQ75 ♦ Q4 ♣ 9832

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W N E S 1C P 1D X 1H P 1S P 1NT All pass

W N E S P P 1C 1H 1NT All pass

Welcome The Fassifern Bridge

Club, located near Boonah, has just

become affiliated with the QBA

2

T h e Q B A B u l l e t i n A p r i l - J u n e 2 0 1 4

raised to 5D. Paul, imagining from his holding in spades, that I would be void, decided to bid one more. 6D proved to be perfect, bid only twice in the field. ■

Dlr N ♠ AKJ10875 Vul NS ♥ 63 ♦ Q

♣ 863 ♠ 9632 ♠ — ♥ A5 ♥ KJ4 ♦ A9765 ♦ KJ1032 ♣ Q10 ♣ KJ954 ♠ Q4 ♥ Q109872 ♦ 84 ♣ A72

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TWO years ago, Queensland resi-dents Nathan van Jole and Andy

Braithwaite and their team had tri-umphed in the 2012 National Open Teams (NOT) over in Canberra. This year, it was another Queenslander, Andy Hung, and his team to claim victory in the 2014 National Open Teams. The MILNE team (Liam Milne, Nye Griffiths, Andy Hung,

Adam Edgtton, Peter Hollands, and Ishmael Del’Monte) defeated the LORENTZ team (Gabby Lorentz, Stephen Burgess, Pablo Lambardi, Matthew Thomson, Ashley Bach, and Paul Marston) in the 2014 NOT Finals 161 to 139 IMPs. The MILNE team had been runners up of the NOT for two consecutive years in 2010 and 2011, and with the team dismantled for the next two years, they came back this year with a vengeance. Here were some interesting hands from the event:

East passed as dealer and I was faced with an unusual problem. A 1H opening would be the normal action (even with the singleton ♣K) but the extreme hand distribution, especially with the singleton spade, enticed me to open the hand with 4H! Holding a singleton spade, the opponents would usually have a spade fit, and by pre-empting with 4H at such a high level, this would put the oppo-nents under maximum pressure. This would be an even more at-tractive opening bid if we were vul-nerable against not! At favourable vulnerability, the opponents would likely find a potential 4S sacrifice (if one exists) and by giving them as little bidding space as possible, the 4H opening might steal the pot - and here, it did! Look at West’s cards, what would you do over 4H? With partner (East) as a passed hand, and when everyone is vulnerable, West chose to pass, which is certainly not unreasonable. West surely couldn't overcall 4S on that filthy suit, and making a takeout double might run into trouble if East had removed it to 5D (of course, we can see that on this hand East would

NOT Canberra

Dlr E ♠ K105 Vul Both ♥ 43 ♦ J109

♣ 109853 ♠ A9632 ♠ QJ87 ♥ KQ ♥ 86 ♦ 75 ♦ AQ42 ♣ AQ42 ♣ J75 ♠ 4 ♥ AJ109752 ♦ K863 ♣ K

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Dlr N ♠ Q108 Vul EW ♥ A10652 ♦ Q762

♣ K ♠ 63 ♠ AJ2 ♥ QJ98 ♥ 3 ♦ J74 ♦ A3 ♣ 10862 ♣ AJ97543 ♠ K9754 ♥ K74 ♦ K985 ♣ Q

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W N E S P 1C1 1S P 2C2 3C 3S All pass

have removed it to 4S - but imagine if East did not have a 4-card spade suit, or if North-East’s cards were switched around!). West led the ♦7 and I was able to play the hand for one off! At the other table, my counterpart opened 1H with my hand and this allowed a simple 1S overcall from West and my teammates ended up in 4S making ten tricks for +620, and 11 IMPs in.This next hand, the opponents’ unu-sual system allowed me to take full advantage of the information avail-able to me - I was South.

1 Forcing - 2+ clubs; 14+ pts.2 Invitational with spade support

West led the ♥Q which I won with my king (keeping the A 10 tenace in dummy). With 11 points each in my hand as well as dummy’s, the op-ponents were left with 18 points. As West was marked with the ♥Q J, this left 15 points outstanding. As East had promised at least 14 points, this placed East with all of the remaining high cards except possibly a jack. At trick 2, I played a spade to the queen and ace and East, looking for a way to defeat the contract, switched to the ♣A, ♦A followed by another di-amond to West’s jack and dummy’s queen. With the ♦J revealed, this left every other honour with East. As a re-sult, I could next take a spade finesse followed by the heart finesse. +140 combined with +130 (as my teammates bought the contract in 3C) meant 7 IMPs for us.

The winners: Paul Wyer and Joan Butts

Andy Hung

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T h e Q B A B u l l e t i n A p r i l - J u n e 2 0 1 4

Bridge Lessons with Andy Hung- Winner of the 2014 National Open Teams- 2014 Australian Open Team Representative for Com-

monwealth Bridge Games- Winner of the 2012 Gold Coast Teams Championships- Coach of the Australian U25, U20, and Girls U25

teams- Vice-coordinator and coach of QLD Youth Bridge

• Lesson courses currently taught at Queensland Contract Bridge Club and Kenmore Bridge Club consisting of a presentation, playing boards, and lesson notes.

• Private coaching lessons (as a pair or in small groups) - even for beginners.• Advanced seminars about any topic(s) of choice in Brisbane (or any-

where in QLD), consisting of a presentation, playing boards, and de-tailed well-structured seminar notes.

More Information/Contact: Email: hung.andyp@gmail.com Phone: 0425 101 094

This next hand from the Quarter- Final was quite instructive.

My partner bid 4H hoping I had 5 hearts. Nevertheless, the 4-3 fit played wonderfully. West led the ♠A followed by the king as East followed with the 7 then the 10, indicating an even number. This suggested that spades were 7-2 (supported by the auction). West now switched to the ♥7 as I won with the ♥A, and drew two more rounds of trumps with the ♥Q and ♥K, West discarding a spade on the third round. With the 4-2 heart split, there was an una-voidable heart loser and my aim now was to play the diamonds for no los-er. Three possible plays in the dia-mond suit come to mind. (1) low to queen, and assuming that wins, lay down the ace, (2) low to the queen, cross back to hand and run the jack, and (3) run the jack and assuming it goes J-K-A-x, finesse to the 9 next.The solution was deceptively sim-ple. I played a club to the jack, and a club back to my king. As West fol-lowed to both rounds of clubs, West was marked with a 7-2-??-2(+) dis-tribution. No matter whether West had two or three clubs, West can-not have more than two diamonds! This means West must either have a singleton or a doubleton king of dia-monds, so I played a diamond to the queen and when that won, cashed the ace dropping the king. The play was now just a matter of cashing my side-suit winners, waiting for East to ruff in with the boss trump.The hands weren’t all that dull – check this one out which my team-

mates faced in the last set of the Fi-nals against Lorentz:

Open Room

Milne and Griffith saved in 6S against the making vulnerable slam of 6C. Saving in 6D would have been better as it would be two off, but as it is 6SX was three off when the de-fence tapped dummy with hearts and eventually the ♠10 was promoted to a trick.The action was even hotter in the Closed Room.

Lambardi reasonably chose to over-call in his better 5-card (diamond) suit and Thomson was then able to jump to 5D. Ishmael competed to 6C and this was passed around to Lambardi who now saved in 6D. Ish-mael was still more than determined and continued with 7C and Lambardi continued the save with 7D! Still not wanting to give up, Ishmael now made a forcing pass to which Pete was more than happy to ac-cept with 7H with such important cards (i.e. the ♠K, ♥AJ, and ♣AQ). Lambardi now was able to make a Lightner double, suggesting a void in a suit that his partner should lead to. Thomson must have thought that Lambardi had doubled with the ♠A (i.e. the opponents have bid a grand slam missing a vital ace) and led the ♠Q. Del'Monte won the lead, played a heart to the ace (noting the ♥10 on his left), cashed the ♠K, and led dummy’s ♥6 to his … king! Ishmael worked out that if West had either a 4-1-6-2 or a 5-1-5-2 shape (or other unbalanced shapes in-cluding a singleton heart), he would have bid 6D himself. Therefore, it only made sense if West had a 4-2-5-2 shape giving East a 5-2-6-0 shape.Although this board swung 30 IMPs(!), our team was still able to shake that board off and win the match. This was my first NOT win and I am proud to have won it as a Queenslander! ■

Dlr W ♠ 86 Vul Both ♥ AQ2 ♦ AQ93

♣ AJ85 ♠ AKQJ542 ♠ 107 ♥ 76 ♥ J1093 ♦ K2 ♦ 1085 ♣ 73 ♣ 10942 ♠ 93 ♥ K854 ♦ J764 ♣ KQ6

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W N E S 1S X P 3H 3S 4H All pass

Dlr W ♠ K108 Vul NS ♥ AJ76 ♦ 54

♣ AQ92 ♠ QJ62 ♠ 97543 ♥ 10 ♥ Q53 ♦ A109876 ♦ KQJ32 ♣ 43 ♣ — ♠ A ♥ K9842 ♦ — ♣ KJ108765

NW E S

W N E S Milne Bach Griffith Marston P 1NT 2S 6C 6S X All pass

W N E S Thomson Hollands Lambardi Del'Monte 1C 1D 1H 5D P P 6C P P 6D 7C P P 7D P P 7H X All pass

T h e Q B A B u l l e t i n A p r i l - J u n e 2 0 1 4

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Bridge Travel

Trevor Strickland

The Very First Bridge Cruise

In October 1925 as the SS Finland sailed through the Panama Canal, four card players hatched a new game.

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T h e Q B A B u l l e t i n A p r i l - J u n e 2 0 1 4

5

This was my hand.

I realised, when I passed 2S that there might be some doubt in my partner’s mind whether or not my bid was forcing. But I felt quite sure that no one could possibly allow the bid-ding to subside with the opponents settling comfortably in a freely bid 2S following my redouble. When my partner bid hearts for the third time, I felt reasonably confident that he could be relied upon to hold the ♥KQ and the ♣A. That is, after all, only 9 points and he has shown no spade strength. If he did not hold the ♦Q, the bidding surely placed it with North. My partner would hold at most two spades, but did he hold just one? My 5H meant exactly what my three correspondents thought it meant; “I am satisfied that we can make twelve tricks if you have sec-ond round control of the opponents’ suit.”My BBO partner was not so trusting, his slightly flawed analysis was this, as he told me, “Your pass of 2S was not forcing, so you could not possi-bly hold enough to make your bid.” A little deeper thought and he would have realised that whatever he may have thought about my pass, and my correspondents also, I considered it unlimited and forcing and now was satisfied that I had enough to make my bid.Is the pass forcing or isn’t it? That is the key question and your own part-nership is seriously handicapped if you are not in total agreement as to the answer. If a bid is forcing it is unlimited in strength. If it can be passed, it is limited. There is no such thing as the commonly mis-used de-scription of a bid, “semi-forcing.” This simple definition encapsulates the essence of standard bidding the-ory in this situation. Few have actu-ally sat down and worked it through. I will do it for them.“Following a redouble, when part-ner’s bid of one of a suit is doubled, passes are forcing and doubles are for penalty.” It follows that our side will play the

Making “Redouble” Work for You

THIS is the hand that launched the writing of this article.

You open 1H as West and the bidding proceeds

First consider your own action then read on.I polled three of Australia’s most highly regarded players, two who happen to be New Zealanders, Paul Marston and Ashley Bach and a Mc-Cutcheon trophy winner Ralph Park-er, a South Australian long-time resi-dent of Queensland. There was a remarkable similarity in their replies.All three stated that they hated the way the auction had developed. Two said simply that they hated redouble auctions. All appeared to accuse their then unknown partner, me, of subjecting them to torture but all reached the same conclusion. What-ever partner’s earlier actions may have meant, and they did not specu-late, the question was clear, “Do you have a spade control? If you do, bid 6H.” They unanimously did and they were right. In a well tuned partner-ship, to bid 7H with a void would be a very reasonable action. Make the opponents pay for bidding in your auction.

W N E S 1H X XX 1S 2H 2S P P 3H P 5H P ?

Cuppaidge’s Column

George Cuppaidge

hand or the opponents will play dou-bled. It also follows, that redouble is not a bid to be lightly made. The “standard” requirement of 10+ high card points is barely sufficient, par-ticularly as the minimum high-card strength requirement for an opening bid is gradually diminishing across the bridge playing community. Any-thing less than 10 high-card points is not enough. As well, this definition makes for great economy of bidding space. You do not have to, at a later turn, make a space-consuming and essentially meaningless cue bid just to be sure partner bids again. The most economical action of all, pass, does so. There can be no doubt that when the redoubler doubles at his next turn, this is not for take-out. Pass is for take-out.Adoption of this definition will pro-vide certainty.Standard requirement is 10+ points but my own preference is this. There is a correlation to the choice of play-ing two over one as an unequivocal game force or playing a number of continuations as not forcing. I opt for simplicity. To redouble shows 12+ high-card points with any shape. Include as well the 10-12 point three-card of partner’s major, opener can pass a simple raise at the next turn. If you drop “Better Minor” in favour of opening 1C on the dead balanced shapes, these point ranges apply opposite 1D as well. Opposite 1C, or a Better Minor 1D, the requirement is 12+ with the redoubler free to sign off in a part score, only if the rebid is 1NT. This style accommodates light-er opening bids. Clearly if your part-nership’s opening bids are sound, 12+ is an absolute game-force.Regardless of what minimum point count requirement you choose to adopt for your redouble, new suit bids, even at the one-level, are lim-ited and not forcing. As when mak-ing a new-suit response as a passed hand, the usual entreaty applies, be careful when making a new-suit bid with support for partner’s suit. You may be left to play there. A raise denies five, but not four, cards in a higher ranking suit.There are some additional consid-erations.

♠ 9♥ KQ10763♦ Q109♣ A107

♠ J82♥ AJ5♦ AKJ73♣ Q6

George's Jorj Club bidding system is available on the QBA website. Go to 'Newsletters' and then 'Articles'.

T h e Q B A B u l l e t i n A p r i l - J u n e 2 0 1 4

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• A redouble does not promise or deny a fit, but should deny a 4+ card fit. With a big fit it is better not to let the opponents get together.

• With 4+ card support, use 2NT to show a 4+ card balanced raise to three or better. With an unbal-anced hand, jump to four with a maximum of one ace or two kings, with more, splinter.

Somewhat to my surprise, I found that this definition is not widely adopted. Paul Marston, who actively does not like it, conducted his own poll of seven local pros. Unanimously they agreed that my pass of 2S was not forcing. Sadly none presented a supporting argument. My key point is this, it will be extremely rare that the best spot for your side, having redoubled, is to al-low the opponents to play undoubled in their chosen spot. So it is (far) better to adopt the space-economical agree-ment that pass is forcing. If you can-not double, pass, and if your partner’s hand is quite unsuitable for a double, he will bid on. No one should ever be making a low-level double with 0, 1 or 2 trumps. You both have an input into the final decision. A specific meaning can be attached to the presently al-most meaningless cue-bid, and there can be no doubt whatsoever that when your partner doubles the op-ponent’s bid, it is penalty. There are many who play it as take-out.If any reader chooses to mount a counter argument, please let me hear it. Readers can contact George on this or any other matter at jorj41@gmail.com

Think Ahead

1 AKAK, worth an upgrade, surely?2 A “free” 3H is a little pushy.3 If you are confident of your agree-ments, a take-out double is better. It says, “I have 5 hearts, and points as well.”North leads the ♦J. How do you play?Solution.Is it likely that North holds ♦KJ in diamonds? With a spade bid from partner and a show of strength from both opponents, surely this lead is from ♦J109 (x) (x). Unless the leader holds at least one of those xs, you will not make. You must play South for the ♦K singleton or doubleton. But is that enough? You can pitch a

♠ K762 ♠ A ♥ A83 ♥ K10765 ♦ A82 ♦ Q543 ♣ K104 ♣ Q32

W N E S 1NT1 P 2D 2S P2 P 3NT3 P 4H All pass

Dlr W ♠ J54 ♥ J4 ♦ J1097

♣ J765 ♠ K762 ♠ A ♥ A83 ♥ K10765 ♦ A82 ♦ Q543 ♣ K104 ♣ Q32 ♠ Q10983 ♥ Q92 ♦ K6 ♣ A98

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Aust. Seniors' Teams Playoffs

IT has been my desire to participate in the playoffs for the Australian

Seniors’ team for a few years now, and in April 2014 it finally happened. Therese Tully and I earned our playoff points at the ANC Seniors’ Teams and Butler in Adelaide in 2013, thus we were qualified to enter. 2014 is not a World championship year, so a few of the fancied pairs did not enter, and there were some new partnerships, but 14 pairs fronted up at Coogee Beach in Sydney on 4th April to contest the 10 places for stage 2, and a chance for this Year’s Australian Seniors’ team for the Asian Championships, Australia’s only major event for 2014.As expected, the field was pretty tough, with no easy-beats, and we had a see-saw stage 1, coming home with 2 small losses followed by 2 good wins in the last 4 rounds to qualify in 9th place. However, our best win, in round 13, was against a pair who then dropped from 9th to 11th and thus were eliminated, so we started stage 2 in last place, about 40 VPs behind the leaders, Peter Buchen and Henry Christie, who maintained that position until the end. The other 2 place-getters were Richard Brightling and David

club on the ♠K but you must be able to ruff a fourth round of diamonds in hand with a small trump. Timing is the key. It is important not to put the defenders in a position where they can draw a third round of trumps. This is a good sequence of plays. Play low from dummy and win in hand. Cross to dummy’s ♠A and play the ♣Q. If North happens to win you are laughing. When South does, and returns a club, you go up with the ♣K, discard a club on the ♠K. Now you duck a diamond to the bare ♦K that South must hold. Win any re-turn, and only now, play the ♥AK. ■

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Richard Wallis

T h e Q B A B u l l e t i n A p r i l - J u n e 2 0 1 4

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doomed the contract to 1 off and –200.This was not the start we wanted, but we were not alone, as the av-erage was –310, so we still lost 11 IMPs, and the match by just 2 IMPs, or 8.92 under the new VP scale.

On this board in the second match Therese opened a natural weak 2H, and South made a sporting double, which tempted me to be conserva-tive and only raise to 3H! Now North got into the act and made a responsive double, over which South had no choice except to bid 4C. At least they found their 4-4 fit, but everything was wrong for them!I led the ♠K, followed by the ♥10, and Therese overtook with the ♥J and followed with the ♠10, which allowed me to give her a spade ruff with the ♠2, asking for a diamond return.Now a diamond ruff completed the rout, and we had taken the first 8 tricks for 5 off and +500.This was not necessarily a major pick-up for us, as the good lie of the cards that enabled us to take 4C 5 off also would have enabled Therese to make 4H, and also 3NT was cold, so only a potential 2 IMPs. However the average was only +180, so actually 8 IMPs in.

M 3/1 ♠ QJ972 Bd 30 ♥ 6 Dlr E ♦ 95

Vul None ♣ AQJ85 ♠ 6543 ♠ AK108 ♥ Q74 ♥ A32 ♦ AQ32 ♦ J6 ♣ 109 ♣ 7642 ♠ — ♥ KJ9875 ♦ K10874 ♣ K3

NW E S

W N E S 1C 2NT! P 3D All pass

M 2/1 ♠ Q75 Bd 18 ♥ K74 Dlr E ♦ 873

Vul NS ♣ KQ106 ♠ AKJ3 ♠ 102 ♥ 109 ♥ AQJ862 ♦ AQ954 ♦ 106 ♣ 87 ♣ J92 ♠ 9864 ♥ 53 ♦ KJ2 ♣ A543

NW E S

W N E S 2H X 3H X P 4C All pass

M 1/1 ♠ 92 Bd 3 ♥ AQ87 Dlr S ♦ AK6

Vul EW ♣ 9864 ♠ 874 ♠ AKQ53 ♥ 9 ♥ 54 ♦ 1098753 ♦ — ♣ J72 ♣ AKQ1053 ♠ J106 ♥ KJ10632 ♦ QJ42 ♣ —

NW E S

W N E S 2D! P 2S! X 4C! P P 6S X All pass

Hoffman, and Bruce Neill and Arjuna De Livera. Bruce and Arjuna loomed up from 10th place in Stage 1 to come 3rd overall, a great result for them.Stage 2 proved to be an even tougher event, and we made too many mistakes due to waning concentration to progress up the ladder to any great extent. The only results of merit in Stage 2 were good wins against the pairs who finished second and third. A loss on the last round to fellow Queenslanders, David and Paula McLeish, dropped us back to last place. In spite of the result, it was still a very enjoyable event and I look forward to playing again another year.

On board 3 of the first match South opened with a Multi-2D, and North’s 2S response showed a preference for hearts, hence South’s splinter bid of 4C, agreeing hearts!Therese had heard enough, and thought that slam was a strong possi-bility, and with North not liking spades, and South having 6 hearts, thus likely less than 4 spades, it was virtually cer-tain that I had at least 3 spades, and the suit would break, so she bid 6S, rather than the more obvious 6C.After such strong heart support, she thought that the non-vulnerable op-ponents would bid 6H over 6C any-way, and then she would bid 6S, thus skipped to what she thought she could make. When South dou-bled and led the ♥2, the writing was on the wall, and North’s club return

My 2NT overcall showed the red suits, and Therese was left in no-man’s land, with only 3 red cards!She obviously chose diamonds, and East led the ♠A, presumably to have a look at dummy before deciding on his next move, but dummy ruffed!Two top clubs followed, and Therese next led a heart towards dummy and East ducked! Setting up the ♥K for a trick was no good to her, so she rose with the ♥K and ruffed a heart to hand to lead the ♠Q.The ♠K was ruffed in dummy and an-other heart ruffed to hand to lead the ♠J. Then the final spade ruff com-pleted the first 9 tricks for our side, with a 10th trick looming.However, EW were able to negotiate the diamond pips to take the last 4 tricks and limit our score to +110. This was a modest 3 IMPs in a losing match, as the board average was 0. ■

The full article is on the website.

A Chance for Teachers to Shine THE ABF Star Teacher Accreditation Program was launched in Canberra in January this year. It’s a follow-on from the Teacher Training

Teachers' Corner

QBA Mailing ListIf you wish to be put on the mailing list for news which is sent out about once a month, please email the manager.

manager@qldbridge.com

Joan Butts

T h e Q B A B u l l e t i n A p r i l - J u n e 2 0 1 4

8

Programmes that have been running in Queensland for 10 years. It was designed to help developing teachers who are using best practice, and recognises the important contribution the club teacher makes in a student’s bridge life, resulting in a growth of ABF and QBA members. Information about the Program is available on the ABF website at www.abf.com.au/teaching-and-learning/abf-accreditation-program/About the ProgramTo achieve Star Teacher Accredita-tion status a teacher must have com-pleted an ABF Teacher Training Pro-gram (ie the how to teach) and then accrue a minimum of 50 accredita-tion points in every 24 month period. The ABF will create and maintain an up-to-date online directory of ac-credited teachers. Points may be accrued in any of the following ways:1.Attendance at a Professional De-velopment Workshop for teachers – an ABF workshop to upskill par-ticipants on course content manage-ment - what to teach - and to im-prove their own bridge skills, using modern technology and materials in the classroom (1 day): 10 points 2.Implementation of an accepted be-ginners course at their club (no more than 6 weeks), and, as a follow up, conducting structured Help with Play sessions. Provision of evaluation data about course structure and stu-dent retention to the ABF: 10 points3.Successfully undertaking an in-novative teaching idea, along with feedback. 10 points4.Host a question and answer forum on the ABF website for a 2 week period.5.Conduct intermediate to advanced classes using modern teaching techniques and equipment. Provision of feedback about numbers attending, course content, materials used, and student evaluations: 10 points6.Attendance at a Celebrity Speaker event: 5 pointsThe next QBA/ABF Teacher Training Programme (9 hours) will be offered in Brisbane (QCBC) on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 October 2014. You

don’t need to be actually teaching to do this free course in modern teach-ing techniques, you just need to be interested in bridge education in your club. A Professional Development Day will be offered in Brisbane later in the year. Date to be announced. Good luck with your teaching, and please contact me with any queries.

Joan Butts, the Australian Bridge Federation’s National Teaching Coordinator, has just released an exciting and innovative series of books, materials and online options for both players and teachers.

– Joan Butts’ play bridge Series

Play Bridge: A Workbook for the Absolute Beginner The Mechanics The Bidding No Trumps

24 hands from the book may be practiced online, Deal records, bri files, hand records, and individual travellers also available.

Play Bridge 2 : A Workbook for Help with Play This new 6 chapter book is unique and fills a gap in the market – for that important time after beginner lessons, supervised sessions and lessons on play.

Making a Plan Promotion Length

The 24 hands from the book may be practised online. Deal records, bri files, hand records and travellers available. Teacher’s Manual : Emailed free of charge with books.

Finesse Trumping Discarding and Combining Techniques

Responding Opener’s 2nd Bid Responder’s 2nd Bid

A Guide By Your Side : Joan Butts & Kathy Johnson A summary of the basics - for at the table.

$20

$20

$15

To Order: Go to www.joanbuttsbridge.com/books or phone 0413 772 650. Play Bridge Online Go to joanbuttsbridge.com to play all lessons hands, access videos, lessons, play competitive hands and interact with people all over the world.

$16

Set of Deal Files

ONLINE RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS

(ABF Teaching & Learning page, and joanbuttsbridge.com) (1) Four short videos, (approximately 6 minutes each) owned by the ABF, and covering a beginners course in bridge. Useful for:

•Students to view after each lesson •Open days to show interested parties what bridge is about (via projector, or computer) •Anyone enquiring about bridge courses•Anyone wanting to refresh and re-vise the fundamentals•Teachers for suggested course content (2) A list of online sites that have recommended information useful for notes after lessons, and general information (3) A collection of letter templates in Club Resources, useful for •Advertising for bridge lessons•Congratulating students at the end of a course•Welcoming new members•A basic system •Tips for new players

T h e Q B A B u l l e t i n A p r i l - J u n e 2 0 1 4

9

Novices

The QBA Novice Pairs Congress - Toowoomba

THIS was held on April 27 at Toowoomba Bridge Club on a glorious day with players coming from local clubs as well as many from further afield. Some players arranged to stay with friends or relatives for a more relaxing weekend.Convenor Hugh Robinson and Director Chris Snook put tense nerves at ease ready for a full day of bridge, and between each round the kitchen staff made sure there was plenty of delicious food available. Congratulations to all involved in the management and running of the competition at Toowoomba Bridge Club; the day ran smoothly and was a very enjoyable occasion indeed.The day was contested by 44 pairs, an excellent field of players, which gave the clubroom a great atmosphere and time to move around between each round. It was absolutely fantastic that rookie players with very few master-points entered, including some with-out masterpoint ranking. Having now played in their first congress, it would be great to see these players entering many more congresses to come.

The overall winners, Rebecca Knight and Naureen Gearon were deserved champions: they were leading at lunch and their position never really looked to be threatened. The B category win-ners were Grace Ireland and Ruth Sar-gent finishing 6TH overall, C category winners were Lyn Tracey and Renuka Mahadevan finishing 13TH overall. A special mention goes to C category players Philip Atkinson and Bronwyn Hamilton who were placed 44TH at the start of the competition and fin-ished 21ST, players with graduate and club master rankings! Congratula-tions to the winners and top placings, and well done to all who contributed to making the event a great success.Next year, the QBA Novice Pairs Congress will be held at Yeppoon Bridge Club.Survey – Teams of ThreeA snapshot survey was conducted at the Teams of Three in December.One question, asking how players had heard of the competition, found that word of mouth was the best ad-vertisement, followed by information available at their home club.Another question asked how many congresses the players had entered. 40% said, 'None' but the attendances escalated the more they entered.Therefore, encouraging rookies and novices to play in their first congress is vital and it is something every bridge player can do.

'C' winners: Renuka Mahadevan and Lyn Tracey with Mick Fawcett

STOP PRESS!!! Teams of Three – Northern Suburbs Bridge ClubFrom the survey, one of the most popular requests of the rookies and novices was to hold more Teams of Three events, and following the successful events held at Kenmore Bridge Club in June last year and QCBC in December, Northern Sub-urbs Bridge Club has kindly agreed to hold a Teams of Three on July 5, starting at 12 noon for players under 50 MPs. This is an excellent opportunity for rookies and novices to learn from an experienced cap-tain who makes up the fourth mem-ber of their team. Players can enter as a team of three players, pairs or individuals. Either way, rook-ies and novices will gain a wealth of learning and confidence to take away. Watch out for more informa-tion at your club or visit the Northern Suburbs Bridge Club www.north-ernsuburbs.bridgeaustralia.org about this event.Coming Events A full list of coming events for players of all ranks, including novices, can be found on page 15 and the QBA website at www.qldbridge.com.QuestionsIf any novices have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Mick Fawcett at novicecoordinator @qldbridge.com or via the Novice tab on the QBA website. ■

Rebecca Knight and Naureen Gearon

Michael Fawcett

T h e Q B A B u l l e t i n A p r i l - J u n e 2 0 1 4

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11

Cairns Easter CongressJEAN and Stan Bowker of Townsville were the star performers of the congress with comfortable wins in both the Pairs Championship and the Swiss Teams Championship with Barry Kempthorne and Agnes Brown. The Bowkers are ex-New Zealanders who have chosen to retire in Townsville. They play a consistent, aggressive game with skill and flair, which always puts their opponents under pressure. This was a critical hand during the Swiss Teams (against two of the Seven Dwarfs).

Sleepy tried the spade queen to the ace and then ducked when a heart was led to the queen. A good pres-sure bid by East and Sleepy was caught napping In the play. Never take your eye off the ball In teams!

Mackay CongressAFTER weeks and weeks of rain all over Queensland, the clouds went west and Mackay turned on its best North Queensland autumn weather; just the kind of climate that Japa-nese tourists pay thousands of dol-lars to experience.

25 Years Ago For a mere $40 per player, 34 tables of players turned up for six solid sessions of bridge - three sessions of Barometer Pairs and three sessions of Swiss Teams. The North Queensland Congress has been held in the club's spacious, well-appointed club rooms ever since the extensions were completed a few years ago. Nowadays, the Mackay Contract Bridge Club is doing very well indeed with an active membership running six sessions, weekly plus various lessons. Long-time President, Eric Parsons, will be retiring from that position this year, and even longer-time Secretary Mary Barfield, is also planning a well-earned rest from administration.Beth Whebell and Laurie Kelso cruised along to an easy win in the pairs from another Townsville pair, Jean and Stan Bowker. No doubt there were many brilliancies but Laurie’s renowned modesty pre-vailed and so I have no details. (PS. Beth told me of a hand In which Laurie tried a speculative double of 3NT which required Beth to lead a singleton which she did not do, and which would not have defeated the contract anyway - but I won't men-tion that in case of litigation).In fact the only hand of Interest oc-curred early In the Swiss Teams when two Mackay teams BARRY and BALDRY were engaged in not-so-mortal combat somewhere down the end of the third row - not, inciden-tally, a nice place to be after dark. It's a jungle out there.

Dlr S ♠ 765 Vul EW ♥ 1098 ♦ KQ632

♣ 62 ♠ 94 ♠ AK2 ♥ Q76 ♥ K432 ♦ 94 ♦ J10 ♣ AQJ874 ♣ K1093 ♠ QJ1083 ♥ AJ5 ♦ A875 ♣ 5

NW E S

W N E S 1S 2C P 3NT All pass

Dlr N ♠ 104 Vul EW ♥ K10853 ♦ KJ10

♣ Q82 ♠ AK8753 ♠ Q92 ♥ J96 ♥ Q ♦ A97 ♦ Q65 ♣ 10 ♣ J76543 ♠ J6 ♥ A742 ♦ 8432 ♣ AK9

NW E S

W N E S P P 1D 1S 1H 1S 2H 3S 3H 3S All pass

This Innovative sequence brings a whole new dimension to the game, especially for East who twice got to raise her partner's overcall without raising the level of the bidding - just another flat board. ■

Manager's Travels

WE played in the Arana Teams with Toni Bardon and Mum

and lo and behold when the music stopped, we were second - how clever were we. Ray and Hari Baumanis played in the Open Trials, however they did not shine but will be back again next year they tell me. Of course we played in the Bridge for Brains at QCBC - I have proudly played in this event every year - this year they interviewed me as well. Queensland did the event proud with half of the clubs either playing in it or donating money to the cause.The Barrier Reef event will be over by the time you are reading this and it seems to be a very strong field. The weekend of June 13/16 I will be travelling to Sydney to attend an ABF Marketing Seminar - the QBA Management obviously doesn’t read how much I love to travel. Whilst in Sydney I am taking the opportunity in seeing where the Bridge for Brains money goes, as I have been invited for a coffee and to this I have accepted. However, it's after the flight so I will have to sober up before I make the visit to the Institute. The next couple of months sees me driving to Coffs, flying to Darwin and then believe it or not I am going back to my birthland to see family, and have worked out that’s about 20 Valium for the 44-hour return flight - 22 hours just to get there. I can remember when we emigrated that it took over 26 hours so now just under a day. At least the duty free is cheaper. ■

Richard Ward

Kim Ellaway

T h e Q B A B u l l e t i n A p r i l - J u n e 2 0 1 4

This article first appeared in two parts in the Sunshine Coast Tri-Club Newsletter “Bridge Matters” in March and June 2014.

Part 1I am becoming a grumpy old man. There are things that really annoy me at the bridge table. However, I know I am not alone – I bet that eve-ryone reading this will share at least one of my pet hates and some may share them all. I’ve listed them in order most annoying first – your pri-orities may differ. Or you may agree that I’m just a grumpy old man.Thanking opponents for doubling or pushing you to game when you make it: No matter how much you mean it in jest, your opponents will feel uncomfortable and maybe annoyed at themselves if they’ve doubled a making contract or pushed you into a making game when you weren’t going there yourself. Making a gratuitous comment at this point will add fuel to the fire. If this happens to you, consider yourself lucky but say nothing.Making gratuitous comments after seeing you achieved a good result: It is the nature of bridge that a good result by one pair at the table equals a bad result for the other pair. So when you get a top board and announce “top board, partner”, it is equivalent to telling the opponents they got a bottom. Say nothing. If you like, just pass the Bridgemate to your partner or opponents if they seem interested.Fiddling with the Bridgemate or scor-ing sheet before making the opening lead: After the auction period, the whole table is waiting for the player on opening lead to make that lead. If you have other duties, like entering the details to the Bridgemate or writ-ing on your personal scorer, make

Sessions: Mon 10.30 am 7.30 pm Tue 10.00 am 7.30 pm Wed 10.30 am 7.30 pm Thur 10.30 am Fri 10.00 am 7.30 pm Sat 1.00 pmSupervised: Mon 7.30 pm Fri 9.30 am

67 Ipswich Rd WoolloongabbaPh: 3391 3241 Email: qcbc1@optusnet.com.au

www.qcbc.org.au

QCBC

What AnnoysBridge Players

your lead first. When you have two tasks to do and people are waiting for one of them, it’s just good man-ners to do that one first. Same ap-plies to dummy if they are on Bridge-mate duty – spread dummy before fiddling with the Bridgemate.Not claiming as declarer when the outcome is obvious: If you are nearing the end of play of a hand and it’s quite clear that you have all the remaining tricks, it’s bad manners (and in fact contrary to the laws) to continue to play. The opponents are often squirming, wondering what cards they should keep, and it can be a difficult decision. It’s very annoying for them when they later find that anything they did made no difference. Of course, don’t claim if you’re in doubt, and when you do claim, state what you are going to do “e.g. drawing trumps and the table is high”. Similarly if you’re in dummy and can’t get back to hand and there’s a potential loser on the table, the opponents won’t be silly enough to throw out the winning card when they can see what’s on the table, so saying “I’ll give you the last trick” saves everyone time.Asking questions during the auction when you have no intention to bid: The laws allow players to ask questions about the bidding at their turn to call. But when you don’t intend to bid regardless of what the meaning might be, then don’t ask. It just slows the auction down. You will be entitled to a full explanation of the bidding at the completion of the auction so your rights are protected. In fact, asking questions needlessly can have a downside –

firstly, the bidder’s partner will hear the answer and will know whether they’re on the sane page, and secondly, expressing interest about particular bids, especially alerted ones, suggests to your partner that you have an interest in that suit and under the laws of Unauthorised Information, this may limit their options when they get on lead. Saying “having none” when you trump an opponent’s trick: This happens typically when you are trumping when the opponents aren’t expecting it. The opponents won’t be happy about this, and saying “having none” is simply unnecessary, and sometimes seems like tightening the thumbscrews. Of course the partner of the player who is trumping can (and should) ask “No spades, partner?”, as this serves a purpose.Saying “thank you” gratuitously: It gets my shackles up when declarer has dropped a singleton king, or extracts a queen they successfully finessed, and says “thank you”. Unnecessary, and irksome to the defenders.Putting pen to the bidding pad without knowing what you want to bid: Bidding often requires thought. While you’re thinking, the other players will be looking at their cards and thinking about their next move. When you move your hand to the table, all players instinctively look across to the bidding pad waiting to see what you do, and tend to stay focussed till you make your bid. It can be annoying if you then retract your hand without doing anything, especially if you do it a number of

Peter Busch

T h e Q B A B u l l e t i n A p r i l - J u n e 2 0 1 4

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your contract play a spade to the king and the ♣Q. This will remove the ♣A and leave the ♣J high.

Declarer makes 3 spades, 1 heart, 2 diamonds and a club, seven tricks. At the table (Australian Seniors Play-offs 2014), declarer won the ♥K and played ♦A, ♦K and a third diamond. The defenders could now take 2 dia-monds, three hearts and two clubs for one down. Declarer could have survived by playing on diamonds if he had played the ♦A at trick 3 and then a low diamond to the jack and queen. West can unblock the ♥A and cross to the ♣A for East to cash two more hearts, but South has the rest.

New Player Problems

Contract: 1NT by SouthWest leads the ♣9: ten – king – five and East switches to the ♥Q: three – five – king. Plan the play.Solution: After winning with the ♥K you have six tricks. One more is all you need and so to make sure of

Klinger’s Column

♠ A104♥ K962♦ AK973♣ 10

♠ KQ9♥ 873♦ J86♣ QJ65

times. It can also result in your left hand opponent thinking you’ve passed and making their call, which would be an infraction if you didn’t actually write anything.Hmmm… that’s quite a list. Maybe I am getting too grumpy. Anyhow, I’m sure everyone agrees with at least some of these. It all comes down to players being aware of how their ac-tions affect others - a good policy at the bridge table, and in life generally. More next issue. ■

Dlr E ♠ A104 Vul None ♥ K962 ♦ AK973

♣ 10 ♠ J3 ♠ 87652 ♥ A5 ♥ QJ104 ♦ Q1042 ♦ 5 ♣ 98742 ♣ AK3 ♠ KQ9 ♥ 873 ♦ J86 ♣ QJ65

NW E S

Dlr S ♠ KJ86 Vul None ♥ 64 ♦ Q42

♣ KJ64 ♠ 53 ♠ 2 ♥ KJ832 ♥ A10975 ♦ J973 ♦ K86 ♣ 87 ♣ Q1093 ♠ AQ10974 ♥ Q ♦ A105 ♣ A52

NW E S

W N E S 1S P 3S P 4S All pass

IBPA Column Service

Dealer West : Nil vulnerable

What should West do with:1. 2.

Solution:1. Double. This is a takeout double showing shortage in spades and asking partner to bid. It does not promises extra strength.2. Bid 1NT. If you have opened and partner could not rake up a response then opener’s 1NT rebid shows 18-20 points. Here it also promises at least one stopper in spades. If part-ner had responded 1S, you would rebid with a jump to 2NT. Over a 2C or 2D response, you would rebid 3NT. ■

Courtesy: ronklingerbridge.com

West led a low trump. Declarer won the trick in hand with the queen and then drew the remaining trump with his ace. Next, he played the king and ace of clubs followed by his remain-ing club towards dummy’s jack.While this was the best play in clubs, it did not work here as East was able to take the trick with the ten and con-tinue with the queen of clubs. De-clarer ruffed this and led a diamond to the queen which lost to East’s king. Declarer’s last chance to make the contract was the finesse of the ten of diamonds and when that failed he had to concede defeat.“That was really unlucky,” said South. “My line had better than a 90% chance of making ten tricks.”“Luck had nothing to do with the matter,” said North. “There was a 100% line available. You started well by drawing trumps and cashing

the ace and king of clubs. However, instead of playing a club at trick five you should have led the queen of hearts next. The defender who wins this cannot touch either minor with-out giving you a trick. So, he has to play a second round of hearts and, instead of ruffing, you discard the last club from your hand.”“After this, if East had been on lead and he had exited with a low club, you’d have discarded a diamond (intending to discard your remain-ing diamond on the jack of clubs if West were to win the trick with the queen). On the other hand, if it had been West who’d been on lead after the second heart as the cards lay, he would have had to play a diamond or give you a ruff-and-discard. (If West could have exited with a low club, you would cover the card with the jack and either win the trick, or East would have won and clubs would have been 3-3. If West had instead played the queen of clubs it would be a simple matter from there. So, no matter how the cards lay, you would have made ten tricks.”

Tim Bourke

W N E S 1H 1S P P ?

♠ AK9♥ AQ982♦ J85♣ AK

♠ 4♥ AQ982♦ J85♣ AK32

Ron Klinger

T h e Q B A B u l l e t i n A p r i l - J u n e 2 0 1 4

13

Kevin Steffensen, Neville Francis, Richard Wallis, Kerry Wood, Theresa Tully and Charlie Howard

Meta Goodman, Maureen Jakes, Pele Rankin, Janeen Solomon, Greer Tucker and Eileen Li

Paul Collins, Ian Afflick, Robert Milward, Agnes Kempthorne, Larry Moses and Barry Kempthorne

OpenCaptain - Jim EvansNeville Francis & Kevin SteffensonRichard Wallis & Therese TullyCharlie Howard & Kerry WoodWomensCaptain - Sue O'BrienEileen Li & Greer TuckerMaureen Jakes & Meta GoodmanJaneen Solomon & Pele Rankin

SeniorsCaptain - Alan GibsonPaul Collins & Ian AfflickLarry Moses & Robert MilwardAgnes & Barry KempthorneYouthCaptain - Andy HungJessica Brake & Michael GearingJosh Davis & Angus GrayAndrew Gosney & Chris Larter

Queensland's Teams for the ANC

TWENTY-TWO clubs participated in Bridge for Brains - Best Results from Queensland were 2nd East West and 5th Overall - Larsen and Spinks from the Darling Downs Club

Session and 7th East West, and 7th Overall were Gough and Moses from Toowong Bridge Club session.A Club Director exam is being held on June 28th - nominations to Jan Peach or contact Kim for more information.

News

BBC Teams

AT BBC on Easter Monday this hand came up in the last round.

1 Strong 2 Asking for a stop

West led the ♦8, Pamela won in hand and played the ♥A, West discarding a spade. Pamela now made the crucial play of the ♣10 covered by the jack with East playing the singleton 9 and declarer ducking the jack. West had nothing better to lead and continued with the ♦10 won in hand by declarer.Now, three rounds of hearts were played with West throwing two clubs and a spade. Declarer continued with the ♣Q covered by the king and ace, a club back to the 8 and then a diamond to dummy’s king for the last club. It did not matter that West discarded two clubs and two spades as he would have been squeezed on the third diamond to dummy. Perfect timing and play ensured she made.This demonstrates the folly of bid-ding with a weak hand after a strong bid, it told declarer where the miss-ing points were and the shape of the hand. Very few declarers made 12 without a black card lead. ■

Dlr E ♠ 985 Vul Both ♥ Q74 ♦ K43

♣ A542 ♠ Q10753 ♠ 42 ♥ — ♥ J98652 ♦ 1086 ♦ J975 ♣ KJ763 ♣ 9 ♠ AKJ ♥ AK103 ♦ AQ2 ♣ Q108

NW E S

W N E S 2C1

X P 2H P P X P P 2S 3S2 P 3NT P 6NT All pass

Jim Evans

T h e Q B A B u l l e t i n A p r i l - J u n e 2 0 1 4

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Surfers ParadiseCheck out the new chairs

Gold CoastBeginners Courses for under 25s are free.

ToowoombaOne hundred bridge players con-tested the Butler Pairs Bridge Con-gress at Toowoomba Bridge Club on Sunday (March 30). Players were from Toowoomba, Dalby, Warwick, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast. Coming Events

Jun 14-15 Sunshine Coast Butler Pairs and TeamsJun 15 Toowong Swiss Butler Pairs with Rest Sec < 150 MPsJun 21-22 Gold Coast Butler Pairs and TeamsJun 21 Townsville TeamsJun 22 BBC Novice PairsJun 28 ANC Teams DayJun 29 QBA Graded Teams - QCBCJul 6 Lockyer Swiss PairsJul 6 Noosa TeamsJul 12-24 Australian National Championships - SydneyJul 12-13 Goondiwindi PairsJul 12-13 Bundaberg Pairs and TeamsJul 13 Redlands Novice PairsJul 18-19 Cairns Show CongressJul 19-20 Moreton Bribie Pairs and TeamsJul 20 Darling Downs PairsJul 26 Mackay Novice PairsJul 26-27 Surfers Paradise Butler Pairs & TeamsJul 26-27 Maryborough Butler Pairs and TeamsJul 27 BBC Graded TeamsAug 3 Sunshine Coast TeamsAug 3 Sunnybank TeamsAug 3 Toowoomba Novice TeamsAug 9-10 Proserpine TeamsAug 9-10 QBA Butler Pairs - QCBCAug 15-17 Tully PairsAug 17 Redcliffe PairsAug 17 Hervey Bay Novice PairsAug 23-24 QBA Open Teams - ToowongAug 24 Cairns Novice PairsAug 24 Noosa Novice PairsAug 29 QBA Mixed Teams - Round 1Aug 30-31 Yeppoon Butler Pairs and TeamsAug 30 Cleveland Bay TeamsAug 30-31 Surfers Paradise Swiss Pairs and TeamsAug 31 Caloundra Butler PairsSep 7 QBA Graded Pairs - QCBCSep 12 QBA Mixed Teams - Round 2Sep 13-14 Mackay Barometer PairsSep 13-14 Dalby Pairs and Swiss TeamsSep 14 Noosa TeamsSep 19-21 Magnetic Teams TownsvilleSep 19 QBA Mixed Teams Round 3Sep 21 Sunshine Coast Graded Matchpoint PairsSep 21 Sanctuary Cove Graded PairsSep 28 Redlands Graded PairsSep 28 Cairns Pairs

Winners: Joan Jenkins and Linda Norman

Brisbane Bridge Centre104 Frederick St, Annerley. Ph: 3392 7933

bbridgecentre@bigpond.com - www.bbc.bridgeaustralia.orgPlay Sessions Tuesday 9.30 am Duplicate 7.30 pm Duplicate Wednesday 10.00 am Duplicate Saturday 1.00 pm DuplicateCoaching Sessions & Monday 9.30 amBeginners’ Classes Tuesday 7.30 pm Friday 10.00 amEnquiries for coaching & beginners’ classes: 3392 7933

Gold Coast Congress 2014Thank you to all the administrative staff, directing staff, scoring staff and clubs that make the Congress the success it is. We employ/use over 120 persons to make the event suc-cessful. Some interesting statistics - A DECADE ON In 2004 the Queensland Bridge As-sociation owned 350 sets of boards – 20% of these were non-barcoded and had to be dealt by hand. All 350 sets were pre-dealt prior to the event and during the week a further 218 sets were pre-dealt. In 2014 QBA the Queensland Bridge Associa-tion owns 1,000 sets of boards - all sets owned are pre-dealt prior to the event and during the week a further 200 sets will be dealt. Actual number of boards that will be dealt for 20 14 Gold Coast Congress will be 31,674!

Club News

15

T h e Q B A B u l l e t i n A p r i l - J u n e 2 0 1 4

Directors' Corner

Q B AEmail: manager@qldbridge.comPhone: 07 3351 8602Mobile: 0412 064 903Fax: 07 3103 4799 Website: www. qldbridge.com

SEPT 8 (noon)Contributions to:

33 Royal Pde Ashgrove 4060

Ph: 07 3366 1292Email: psquire@

lindabackceramics.com

D E A D

L I N E

PLAYERS who partner frequent psychers often hold the mistaken

belief that it is OK to suspect partner has psyched providing they continue to bid their hands according to their system. Consider the sequences P (P) 1S and 1H (X) 1S in which 1S is a psyche. These are sometimes called Baby Psyches which is anoth-er myth. There is no such animal. When there is an awareness that partner may have psyched there is a partnership understanding and therefore a systemic agreement, even though tacit, that must be dis-closed to the opponents. If a play-er thinks, “I wonder if partner has psyched again,” then the opponents are also entitled to this information.In the 1H (X) 1S situation it is easy enough to alert and say, “Our agree-ment is that this shows 4+spades and 6+ points however partner has been known to bid 1S without 4 spades and/or without 6 points.”This doesn’t work with the P (P) 1S sequence as the awareness makes the system Yellow and most likely il-legal for the event. In both situations failure to alert means there is a se-cret partnership understanding.It is no defence to say, “I thought he might have psyched but it was OK because I didn’t field it.” The bottom line is that if it crosses a player’s mind that partner may have psyched again (before it has become obvious from the legal auction) then he may not keep quiet. The opponents are entitled to know that the possibility of partner’s call being a psyche is real enough for it to have occurred to the player.

A substitute is a player who replaces a contestant because of some prob-lem that arises after entries close. QBA pairs regulations say, “for ill-ness or personal emergency, not for convenience”. Law 4 in part says, “… and retain the same partnerships throughout a session (except in the case of substi-tutions authorised by the Director)”. Suppose a regulating authority is

running an event over 3 weeks. Players ought to be available to play in all sessions to enter the event. If someone can’t play because ses-sion 2 coincides with Granny’s 100th birthday party then that player is not available for the event. He knows before entries close that he cannot play. He has an availability problem not a substitution problem.For a team event, availability is not as much a problem as for pairs as teams may usually augment to six players with a substitution on top of that. Over the decades, common usage of substitution has come to include a player who replaces a contest-ant for convenience, even though the regulations specifically exclude convenience. With today’s busy life-styles, clubs quite reasonably have tried to optimise entries by allowing substitutes for convenience. Ideally, a replacement player who solves an availability problem ought to be called something other than a substitute so that the laws and regu-lations may be correctly applied. “In-terchange” comes to mind or even just “replacement player” so the conditions might say “one substitute or one replacement player permit-ted for no more than one session”. The quality of a replacement player would need to satisfy the substitution requirements.

QLD GRADED TEAMS

Sunday June 29DIRECTOR: Jan PeachENTRY FEE: $120 per team

QLD BUTLER PAIRS

Saturday & Sunday August 9 & 10

Incorporating the QBA Open Butler Pairs, the QBA Women's Pairs and the QBA Men's Pairs

DIRECTOR: Alan GibsonENTRY FEE: $120 per pair

QLD GRADED PAIRS

Sunday September 7DIRECTOR: Alan GibsonENTRY FEE: $60 per pairGRADE 1: OPENGRADE 2: 150 – 399mp GRADE 3: 0 – 149mpAll enquires and entries to QCBC: 3391 3241 - qcbc1@optusnet.com.au Details on the website: www.qcbc.org.auEntries can be found on the QBA website. Payment on the day is acceptable.

Positions VacantQBA Marketing Officer

Small yearly paymentJob description available from Kim Ellaway

QBA Historian (voluntary)to archive the QBA history

Expressions of interest to KimApplications close 31st May

A director’s ruling to allow a sub-stitute as well as the quality of the substitute may be appealed like any other ruling.

Jan PeachQBA Accreditation

T h e Q B A B u l l e t i n A p r i l - J u n e 2 0 1 4

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