Newsletter - 30 July 2021

From the President

With COVID seemingly out of control in Sydney, it is very important that we all follow the Club’s COVID rules whilst on the Club premises, in particular, maintain social distancing as much as possible and remember only one person the kitchen at a time. Please also remember to sanitise your hands between rounds, and to clean the side tables and arms of the chairs, as well as the outside of the bidding boxes and the bridgemate at the end of the session.

As many of the bidding boxes are new, please remember to replace all bidding cards in the boxes, in particular, the alert cards.

Happy bridging.

Margaret

Name Badges

Missed out on ordering and paying for a snazzy magnetic name badge? No trouble we will be putting in another order down the track.  There's a plastic one we can make up in the interim. Ask the director or see one of the managers.

CBC Pay

The CBC pay initiative has greatly reduced cash handling at the club.  Congratulations to everyone participating who has mastered the basics!

CBC pay Statements are issued by email at the end of the month so members can see how much credit or otherwise they have for table money.  Please remember to put 'CBCPay' and your ABF number on any deposits so that we can link them to your account.  If we don't have a name or ABF number we have to issue a general alert that a mystery payment has been made.  Please check that any recent deposits have been accompanied by your ABF number and if not contact the office.  We want everyone to be in the black!

In-Club Session Times

Reminders for in-Club sessions:

• It is a condition of entry that you have read and agree to abide by our COVID-19 Safety Plan.
• One person ONLY in the kitchen at a time. You are welcome to gently remind others if you see they have forgotten.
• Government laws require every person to be registered through the Check-In CBR App when visiting our Club. The scan and number code for the App are on the sidetables, so you do not need to gather in the doorway or foyer to sign in.

• Monday morning 10:00am
  
• Monday evening 7:00pm (walk-in & supervised) & Monday evening 7:15pm (event)
• Tuesday afternoon 1:15pm
• Wednesday morning 10:00am
• Wednesday evening 7:15pm
• Thursday morning 10:00am (MP and Imps)
• Friday Supervised Lesson: 9:30am, then Play at 10am
  
• Friday (regular walk-in) 9:45am
  
• Friday afternoon 1:15pm
  
• Saturday afternoon 1:15pm

Upcoming Events

Teams of Three this Sunday

We wish everyone who has registered for playing this Sunday a convivial and fun time! Thank you for supporting Beyond Blue.  

Online Winter Congress hosted by North Shore Bridge Club

For those in shutdown and/or afficionados of RealBridge

• 10am Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th August
• Two Open and Two Restricted/Novice events
• Offering prize money for each event 
• $25 per player per day
• Entries close 10pm 6 August
• Brochure on events table

BFACT 2021 INTERCLUB TEAMS

An entry to moderate level Honour Board (red-point) teams event for players in the ACT and surrounding areas

• 10am Saturday 15 August at the Southern Cross Club, Woden
• $110 per team, $50 per team for youth players
• Entries close 12 August  Email  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Brochure on events table
• All enquiries contact John Donovan (email above).

Cootamundra Charity Duplicate Bridge Day

To aid Can Assist

• 9am for start of pay 9.30 on Saturday 28th August
• Open and Restricted/Novice events
• Prizes for 1st, 2nd & 3rd plus Novice under 35 MP
• $40 per head morning tea and lunch provided
• Entries close 20 August This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Brochure on events table

Upcoming Education / Lessons  

More Bridge Basics for Continuing Students (Competitive Bidding)

Barb Toohey will run two 4-week courses on Competitive Bidding and Defence. This is the next step after the beginners lessons, and suitable for Novice & Supervised Players.

To register to attend, please fill out our online entry form or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Dates          :	Tuesdays 17th August - 7th Sept
Time:	10am - 12noon
Cost:	$15 for an individual lesson or $55 for all four (4) lessons Members - Payment will be deducted from CBCPay Table Money. Visitors - Cash, cheque or bank transfer
Program:	Week 1: Doubles Week 2: Overcalls Week 3: Leads Week 4: Signals

Master the Basics

Are you aware of our weekly "Master the Basics" lessons, taught by Barb Toohey? No pre-registration necessary, except if you plan to join via Zoom and need the link.

Master the Basics, at 9:00am on Thursday mornings before the duplicate sessions, for approximately half an hour.

The course caters for a range of abilities and each week covers a fundamental concept to an increased level of mastery. Students who have done a Beginners Course and/or some Supervised play and have limited experience are welcome to attend. With more experience you will still benefit from a deeper understanding of the concept being discussed. 

No registration is needed. Just turn up for any or all of the lessons in the schedule below. There is no requirement to stay on for the duplicate session too. Cost is $6 for CBC Members (paid via CBCPay) and $8 for Non-Members.

The lessons are also available each week on Zoom. To receive the Zoom link, please email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Download the MTB Lesson Schedule

Supervised Lessons

The supervised lessons are on Mondays 7pm and Fridays 9:30am.

Beginner Lessons in August

Our next Beginners Lessons are schedule for August 16 (Monday Evenings, 7-9pm) and August 20 (Friday Mornings, 10am-12pm).

$69 for the 6 week course, including textbook and 3 free Supervised Play vouchers post-completion.
Pay before 9 August to get a $10 early-bird discount (pay only $59).

Individuals, couples and groups welcome to book!

We will print flyers for these lessons in the upcoming month, and you can direct anyone you know to view our website page "New to Bridge?" for full information and a contact form.

 

 Results

Eclectic Results

Once each month, the best 3 performances of the first 4 weeks of the month are collated and ranked for each pair.  The leading pairs are rewarded with green points and are shown on the website results page for each walk-in duplicate session whether it's a morning, afternoon or evening session. 

The more competitive sessions rewarded with green points the club runs, the more red points events (such as competition and congress events) the club is entitled to hold.  National events are rewarded with gold points.  For a full description of points and awards, please see ABF Masterpoints. 

Results for CBC Matchpoint Pairs

1. David Hoffman & David Wawn
2. Patricia McDonald & Simon Grant
3. Roy Nixon & Emlyn Williams

Part 2: What call do you make - Bridge Hands by Richard Hills

From last week's newsletter:

South.........West.........North.........East

Pass...........1D.............4H..............Pass

Pass...........5D.............5H..............Pass

Pass...........5S.............???

What call do you (North) make? The complete deal:

Butler (pairs with teams scoring). Dlr: S, Vul: E-W

.......................S void

.......................H AKQJ8642

.......................D J

.......................C 9542

S AQJ53........................................S T8764

H void............................................H T75

D AK98732....................................D T6

C K.................................................C Q63

.......................S K92

.......................H 93

.......................D Q54

.......................C AJT87

The technically correct call by North now is Pass. Competing with 6H might push East into raising to 6S, which can make. But an unprovoked East will likely pass out West's 5S, given (apart from spade support) East's only value is merely the queen of clubs.

If hypothetically West did declare 6S, what is the best percentage line of play? A simple line is for declarer to lay down the ace of trumps, hoping for a singleton king.

But North's vigorous bidding strongly suggests a spade void (which is in fact the case). Then the winning line is to cash AK of diamonds, ruff a diamond low in dummy, followed by carefully leading the TEN of spades - permitting two finesses against South's king.

Defence: the Defenders' Plan by Joan Butt

Defenders must try to give each other as much information during the play of the hand to help beat the contract. 

This is done via the cards they choose, starting with the opening lead. 

The picture becomes clearer as each card is played. They are trying to take the tricks to which they are entitled, but, as well as that, trying to deprive declarer of all the tricks to which declarer is entitled. 

The fact that the defenders get to make the opening lead gives them an advantage, but the disadvantage is they can't see dummy until after they've made that lead!
 
The defenders develop defensive tricks in exactly the same way declarer does, but it doesn't always look the same because the defenders can't see each other's cards. The techniques they use are:
 
1. Promotion 
2. Length
3. Finesse
4. Using the Trump Suit
5. Discarding losers on winners

 

Lighter moments

 Two New Zealanders play duplicate in the morning, again in the afternoon and go to a restaurant for dinner and discuss all the hands writing all over the tablecloth and napkins.  They go back and play in the evening and return to the same restaurant and start going over the hands again.  Finally Jim says:   "Bill, don't we know anything but bridge?  Can't we discuss something else, anything else,  movies, politics sports, sex?  "Sex, says Bill, on Board 6 I had sex diamonds to the king-queen.."

Re the mathematics of bridge....... if you have a 50/50 guess you will get it wrong 90% of the time.