Newsletter 27 May 2022

In this week’s newsletter...

• Volunteer Appreciation
• Swiss Matchpoint Pairs 
• Winter Butler Pairs
• Southern Tablelands Restricted Butler Pairs - 25 June - Details!
• Results 
• Bridge Tips by Joan Butts
• The Mirror of Galadriel part 2 by Hilda Hills
• Card Play with Ian Morison
• Lighter Moments
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Vale Fifine Hutton
• Film Finale

From the President

With colds, flu and COVID widely circulating in the community, while at the Club and as an extra precaution, please wear a face mask which covers your mouth and nose.

Please also remember to enter the Southern Tablelands Teams & Pairs, on Saturday 25 June. Entries are available for  Open Teams, and Restricted Pairs( <300 masterpoints) and Novice Pairs ( <100 masterpoints) events.

Good luck to all entries.

Stay safe and enjoy your bridge.

Margaret

 

 A Word on Governance

The Australian Bridge Federation recently held their AGM and Board Meeting.  Major decisions are outlined here.  

Volunteers - In Appreciation

"The whole is greater than the sum of the parts" - Aristotle.  This quote is relevant to CBC and club life generally.

At the close of Volunteer Week, CBC again expresses thanks to all the volunteers who help at the club whether it's filling in, filling up bottles of sanitiser or cleanser, washing chux, tea towels, and tablecloths, watering, Committee and Sub Committee members, computer backups, building maintenance, scoring, mentoring, helping people onto RealBridge, kitchen duties, working bees, library, sorting bidding boxes, unwrapping cards, we appreciate you!  And any other activity and helper inadvertently not included.  

 

Sessions in the Club and on RealBridge are outlined below

Upcoming Sessions

Our weekly sessions

• Monday morning 10.00am at the club
• Monday 2.00 pm (24 boards) RealBridge
• Monday 7.00 pm RealBridge
• Tuesday afternoon 1.00pm at the club
• Tuesday 7.15pm event RealBridge
• Wednesday morning 10.00am at the club
• Wednesday morning 10.15am RealBridge
• Wednesday evening supervised at the club 7pm (18 boards following lesson) 
• Wednesday evening 7.15pm at the club
• Thursday morning 10.00am at the club - Butler and walk in duplicate
• Thursday afternoon 2.00pm (24 boards) RealBridge
• Friday morning supervised 9.30am at the club (18 boards following lesson) 
  
• Friday morning walk-in session 9.30am
• Friday afternoon 1.00pm at the club
• Friday afternoon 1.15pm RealBridge
• Saturday afternoon 1.15pm RealBridge

Watch the newsletters and website for advice on face-to-face sessions at the club, and RealBridge sessions as these are fluid, depending on COVID developments and demand.  At this stage it is intended that the Monday and Thursday afternoon RealBridge sessions will continue indefinitely.  

Member table money will be deducted from players CBCPay accounts. Visitors' fees will be paid for by their member-partner, or via prior arrangement by emailing the office.

Cost: face-to-face $10 members/ $13 visitors, concession $9.  RealBridge $8 members and $7 concession (including event) $10 visitors

Links to sessions are on our RealBridge page.

 CBC Pay monthly statements for May will be issued by email next week.  

 

June Supervised Sessions happening Wednesday nights and Friday Mornings at the Club

We run supervised duplicates on Wednesday evenings starting at 7.00pm and Friday mornings starting at 9.30 am.  

Each duplicate is preceded by a short lesson. 

Supervised lessons in June

• 1 and 3 June:  doubles and overcalls
• 8 and 10 June: opening leads and signals
• 15 and 17 June:  Planning your play
• 22 and 24 June:  Responses and Rebids
• 29 June and 1 July:  Rule of 20

If you are interested please come along.  There is no need to book.  If you want to know more get in touch with Morag Lokan.  Morag’s email address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Master the Basics

 Master the Basics virtual lessons are onThursdays at 9.00am. The topic next week is Bidding - Extended Stayman.  Please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you want to be added to the Zoom class. $6 for members and $8 for non-members.  

The lessons run for 30 minutes.  

 

Upcoming Events

Quick Tips When your partner (the person making the opening lead) or dummy has won the first trick, it is now your turn to signal your “attitude” to their lead The card you play as the third player should be as clear an indication as possible to ask partner to continue that suit or not Low to encourage is popular, and that means the lower the card you play, the more you want partner to continue that suit High to encourage is the opposite "carding" The first discard is another opportunity to encourage or discourage a suit

The Mirror of Galadriel (part 2 of 3) by Hilda Hills

The Mirror of Galadriel (part 2 of 3) by Hilda Hills

[originally published in Australian Bridge, April 1988]

-----------------------–------Sam

----–------------------–------S Q8765432

------------------------------H JT9

------------------------------D T

------------------------------C 7

Boromir----------------------------------------------Aragorn

S JT9------------------------------------------------S K

H K------------–-----------------–-------------------H 865432

D 9764----------------------------------------------D 8532

C 98653---------------------------------------------C QT

-------------------------------Frodo

-------------------------------S A

-------------------------------H AQ7

-------------------------------D AKQJ

-------------------------------C AKJ42

Meanwhile the bidding was equally bizarre at the Hobbits' table. Aragorn opened with a natural pass, followed by Frodo with a Forcing Pass. Boromir unsportingly psyched a 1S overcall (even though the only prize his partnership had a chance of winning was the wooden spoon). Now Sam could do no more than give preference to hearts when Frodo started bidding out his shape.

Since he would be playing the contract, Frodo decided on 7H! Boromir again showed his lack of moral fibre by avoiding the killing textbook lead of the king of trumps, instead choosing a pusillanimous jack of spades.

Expecting at least four trumps in dummy, Frodo faded when he saw that he was playing in a sub-Morian fit. But his Ring of confidence returned when the ace of spades, the four top diamonds, and the ace and king of clubs were all successfully cashed.

Now Frodo scored the outstanding six tricks by cross-ruffing clubs and spades. Aragorn under-ruffed three times and was over-ruffed the other three. Boromir suffered the humiliation of being forced to follow suit, then having to under-ruff with the king of trumps at trick thirteen.

Frodo made the obvious remark, "I wouldn't have bid 7H without the seven OF hearts," unaware that Boromir was looking at him with unconcealed fury.

TO BE CONTINUED

 

How High Should You Bid? with Ian Morison

 Here is an interesting Hand from last week

Dealer S, Nil Vul

                                      AKJ10963

                                                  742

                                                 Q53

                                                    -                        

 82                                                                          Q54

A1093                                                                    KQ6

J10876                                                                    A9

54                                                                            AQJ92

                                         7

                                       J85

                                       K42

                                    K108763

The Bidding

South passes, West passes.  What should North bid? She has a good 7 card Spade suit and a void. It is a 6-loser hand

The options seem to be Pass, 1S, 2S, 3S or 4S. The hand is a bit too strong for 2S and (just) a bit too weak for 4S (esp. after Partner has passed). Passing is wrong

I would open 1S, rather than 3S. I prefer it as there is plenty of time to bid later, even 4S if the opponents bid to 4H (remembering West has passed). 3S is not a bad choice, though

Over 1S, East with 18 points should Double, bid 1NT or bid 2C

I would Double, asking Partner to bid. I also like 1NT (even with just SQ as a stopper). 2C is a weak bid given the 18 points in East’s hand

If East Doubles or bids 1NT, there is no harm in South bidding 2C – she has 7 points, and partner has opened, so they have about half the available points

If South bids, West should bid 2D. If South passes, West can bid 2D or pass it around to partner to bid

Irrespective of what West does, North then bids 2S

If South has not bid 2C, then East will probably bid 3C

If East bids 2C, South salivates over defending against 3C with 6 Clubs.

But it is not to be – North will bid 3S, East decides to Double and the contract is set

The Play

East must find a lead. First, count the potential defensive tricks. Spades probably 1, Hearts 1, Diamonds 1, and Clubs 2 = 5 – 1 down. Partner may add to this as well

As Spades are a strong trick possibility, do not lead them. Clubs could gift North a trick if he has CK and another. If Partner has bid Diamonds, then DA followed by D9 may be good (trouble with this, is if North has DK and another, that gifts a trick)

I would start with HK and see what is in Dummy. When West signals to continue with Hearts, that’s the first 3 Tricks, with a Spade and DA to follow later – down 1, doubled

At our table, East began with DA, then CA (trumped), and it was soon all over – AK of Spades, Diamond to the King, Club King, throwing a Heart loser, and 9 tricks made for 530 and a top

The Moral  of the Story

East must take care not to give the Contract away with the lead

North will only go down in 3S if East is patient, and selects the right lead – HK

Footnote

An interesting Contract is 3NT by East – expect S7 lead. Can it make with an end play of South in Clubs? It should not make, but North/South will not prevail unless they are counting carefully and watching the cards fall, retaining DQ in North as an entry to the long Spades

 

Lighter Moments

I'm reading a book on anti-gravity. I can't put it down

The past, the present and the future all walk into a bar at the same time.  It was tense...

A neutron walks into a bar and orders a drink.  When the bartender gives it to her, she asks, "how much?" The bartender replies, "For you - no charge."

I have a new theory on inertia but it doesn't seem to be gaining momentum...

Argon walks into a bar. The bartender says, "We don't serve noble gasses here!"  Argon doesn't react.

Two atoms are walking along.  One of them says: "Oh no! I think I lost an electron."  "Are you sure?"  "Yes, I'm positive."

An infectious disease walks into a bar. The bartender says "We don't serve your type here."  The bartender replies "Well you're not a very good host."

There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those that understand binary and those who don't.

A photon checks into a hotel.  The bellhop asks if they can help with the luggage.  The photon replies "I don't have any, I'm travelling light."

What does a subatomic duck say? Quark.  

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 Can I get the Pianola Results from the Tuesday arvo session?  They did not appear in my emails.  

• Sometimes events conspire and the directors cannot upload the Compscore to Pianola. When this occurs there is a generic system error that declares to the director "Phone London and we will fix".  Due to time differences and a general  disinclination to phone internationally the results will not be posted to Pianola.  We apologise for the inconvenience and request that members look for the results online on the CBC Results page. 

What is the most frequently left behind lost item at the club?  

• Water bottles - stored initally under the television set before being moved to the Dealers Room in an old plastic lug.  

 What is the policy on sanitising hands and wearing masks?

• Please refresh your memory on our COVID plan and checklist wherein we highly recommend sanitising hands after each round and wearing masks. 

What is the club policy on System cards left behind in the clubrooms?

• The club stores system cards left behind in a yellow tray underneath the television screen, next to the Member Suggestion box. People can recover system cards there. 
• It is very interesting to flick through this pile to see who the serial offenders leaving their cards behind are.  For instance there were 6 system cards for the partnership of Rob Hurst and Desmond Manderson.  It was not possible to see if one person was more forgetful than the other, as Jackie Adcock (with Des) and Rowan Corbett  (with Rob) also featured with them on other system cards. 
• Bob Cox and Sue La Peyre had 5 system cards on hand with another one for Bob and Denis. Hope you two haven't lost anything overseas in your travels!  
• Bill Tutty (8 cards) and Tim Davis (7 cards) also featured on many cards with other partners.  Margaret Kyburz also featured on 5 cards with various partners and Roger Curnow on 4 cards with Gita and other partners.  
• Poignant to see an old system card with my old partner Jim Murray (passed away just before COVID) and interestingly it was one of  the rare system cards with a date on it (18/1/2018).  It's good practice to date cards so you can ensure it's the latest one at any point in time.  Jim leaves a lasting legacy with the artwork in the club.  He would have been 90 tomorrow.  
• The longest system card was a 23 page printed manifesto between GK and AS dated Sept 16 2019.  Perhaps George Kozakos and Andrew Spooner, top qualifiers for the ACT Open?  Is so then it would seem that length does really matter... food for thought.  Accepting best offers in a silent auction for this manifesto....
• Perhaps being forgetful isn't such a bad sign for aspiring bridge players. Andrew Spooner has 6 other system cards on hand here.  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree with Judith Tobin also having 4 and John Spooner 1.  

Vale Fifine Hutton

Fifine Hutton easily surpassed Bradman's average passing away this week at the grand age of a tonne plus one!   Many of our longer-term members may be interested to learn Fifine travelled the world playing bridge at 94. She still had a driving license and was driving for some time after. Our thoughts are with her daughter Wendy and extended family.  

 

Film Finale

The two ANU Film Group films next week are:

1. Repentance from Georgia: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/327680841217

• A classic, remastered film from 1984 which has been rated on one website as the best ever to come out of Georgia.

2. Dreyfus Drei.

The ANU Film Group and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany warmly invites you to attend a pre-screening reception at Badger & Co followed by the screening of Dreyfus Drei on Wednesday 1 June. This is a short documentary by Jewish artist and academic Ella Dreyfus, from the National Art School in Sydney. The film will be followed by a Q&A led by Dr Keren Hammerschlag, Senior Lecturer in Art History and Curatorship, Centre for Art History & Theory, ANU.

Dreyfus Drei follows Ella's search for her family's history, through the eyes of three generations of her family. Her uncle George, age 94, is the last remaining German-born Dreyfus, who escaped Nazi Germany by Kindertransport in 1939. She interviewed George in Melbourne and his son Jonathan, age 34, in Berlin, where the film was produced with a grant from the German Government for the national event 1700 Years of Jewish Life in Germany, and supported by the Goethe-Institut. It  premiered in Berlin last October, and recently screened in Sydney and Melbourne. Here is the trailer: https://vimeo.com/635293716

For details of the venue and time and to register, click: https://www.anu.edu.au/events/dreyfus-drei-film-screening-reception-and-qa

 

Be kind to each other.    

 

Tamara (for Kerry and Tamara)