Newsletter - 27 August 2021

From the President

From what the Chief Minister said today, I think that Covid restrictions will remain in place in some form or another until early December. With this in mind, I think that we are lucky that we can still play bridge, can see and talk to our partners and the opposition. RealBridge certainly maintains the social aspect of bridge. So if you haven’t yet tried RB, do have a go. The Club is offering another RB Taster session on Monday afternoon, eight sessions of RB per week, plus two supervised sessions on Wednesday night and Friday morning.  The sessions are listed in this newsletter and also on the CBC website.

Stay safe and enjoy your bridge.

Margaret

 

Unknown Bank Deposit

We are still seeking to find out who made a deposit to our Club bank account on 20 July in-person at a bank branch.

If you make bank transfers to us in-person at a Bank, please check if you made one on the 20th July or in the few days preceeding. If you did, please check your August CBCPay statement (emailed on 3 August) to see if it was recorded into CBCPay. If it has not, please email us with the amount and receipt/deposit number so we can confirm your deposit.

It is important that we find the correct person for this deposit, so if you know your partner pays in-person at the Bank but does not receive (or read) our Newsletters, please pass on our message to them in case it could be their money.

If it's not you, then that's because you've correctly cited your ABF number in the reference field when you've make a payment. Well done and thank you!

Committee Meeting Minutes

The minutes from the July Committee Meeting is available for download on the Committee webpage (scroll down past the list of committee members).

We had an anonymous inquiry in the Club Suggestion Box about the potential for getting pinned name tags.  This has almost been overtaken by events and on realbridge, everyone's name is shown on the screen.  There are free pinned cardboard and plastic name tags. These can damage  delicate materials and come people opt to buy snazzy magnetic nametages costing $15 each.  At this point that is all we can offer.  

CBC Annual General Meeting

The Canberra Bridge Club's Annual General Meeting will be held on Monday October 11, at 5:30pm. Full details for nominations and proxies to be provided in due course, as well as relevant tabled documents.

Please submit any questions in advance, if possible, by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

CBCPay Statements next week

CBCPay Statements for August will be emailed out next Wednesday Evening 1st September. Please check your statement each month to make sure you have been billed the correct price (especially for New Members), and all your deposits have been credited to your account.

Note: The More Bridge Basics for Continuing Students (Competitive Bidding & Defense) course fees will be taken out in September, due to the pricing stucture allowing a discount for attending all 4 dates.

If you believe there is an error, please email the office with your Name, ABF Number, and the details of the billing error, so that we can investigate and correct your account.

If you do not see it in your email please check your Spam/Junk box (and mark it as "not spam" for the future). If you still cannot find it, please email the office requesting for it to be resent to you. Note: If you have a Grapevine, iiNet or other related email address we have problems sending emails to you. If you have not already provided an alternative email address, please do so when requesting your statement so that we can email it to you.

Instructions for how to get back in the black and top-up your prepaid CBCPay credit are in the body text of the email (including bank account details).

Online RealBridge Taster

Missing all the fun of being at the club?  Want to play online but think it will be too much? Try a short Taster session next Monday 2.30 for 3.00pm start. 

Go to our Website, then click on Realbridge Square, check out your equipment (PC, laptop or ipad) for camera and microphone (although some players play without) and the Taster link at 2.30pm on Monday. Any issues - email the club and we'll try and help.

 Members without partners can log onto a RealBridge session or taster and send a chat message to the director (from the lobby) asking for a partner.  We will do our best to find you one.

Online RealBridge Session Times - New Saturday Session

Table money will be deducted from players CBCPay accounts. Visitors fees will be paid for by their member-partner.

Cost: $8 members/visitors, $7 concession members (including event).

• Monday morning 10:00am
  
• Monday evening 7:15pm Swiss Butler Pairs (week 2 of a 3 week competition)
• Tuesday afternoon 1:15pm
• Wednesday morning 10:00am
• Wednesday Supervised Lesson: 6.30pm (via Zoom), then Play at 7.15 on Realbridge
• Wednesday evening 7:15pm
• Thursday morning 10:00am - Duplicate (MP)
• Thursday morning 10:10am - Butler (IMPs)
• Friday Supervised Lesson: 9:30am (via Zoom), then Play at 10.15am on RealBridge Supervised Only
• Friday afternoon 1:15pm
  
• Saturday afternoon 1:15pm

Links to sessions are on our RealBridge page.

Online Education / Lessons 

More Bridge Basics for Continuing Students (Competitive Bidding and Defense)

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 24th August - 14th Sept, online via Zoom
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 - Bank transfer (email us for details)
Program:	Week 1: Doubles Week 2: Overcalls Week 3: Leads Week 4: Signals

Master the Basics

Master the Basics, at 9:00am on Thursday mornings before the duplicate sessions, for approximately half an hour. 
The lessons are available throughout the lockdown on Zoom. To receive the Zoom link, please email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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.
Cost is $6 for CBC Members (paid via CBCPay) and $8 for Non-Members.

Download the MTB Lesson Schedule

CBC charity Beyond Blue

Want to make a difference during challenging times? Were you aware CBC has its own donation page on the Beyond Blue website - See https://fundraise.beyondblue.org.au/canberra-bridge-club-club-charity-2020-2021.  If you wish to make a tax-deductible donation to Beyond Blue and have your donation included in CBC's fundraising amount, please donate via this link. Beyond Blue is CBC's charity until June 2022.

Results

There are no Eclectics results for August as it is technically difficult to compare Club sessions with RealBridge. 

Coffs Harbour Bridge Congress (online)

1. Niek Van Vucht, Graham Wakefield, Pam Crichton & Ross Crichton

North Shore Bridge Club Lindfield Congress (online)

1. Julia Hoffman, Chris Quail, Richard Brightling & David Hoffman

Covering Honours by Joan Butts

• The reason for covering an honour led from dummy or declarer’s hand, when you are next to play, is to turn one of your cards (or partner’s) into a winner
• If you see that this is impossible, DON’T cover! It will only help declarer!
• Declarer wants you to cover, and often that’s why they play the honour
• If you’re trying to promote a secondary card for partner, his length in that suit is important - sometimes you can see that he can’t hold more than one or two cards
• You can usually work out how many cards partner will have in a suit, from your own holding, what’s in dummy, and from working out how many are in declarer’s hand
• When you see two honours in dummy, declarer calls for one of them, and you hold a higher honour, don’t cover the first honour, but wait until the second honour is played to cover with your higher honour

Lighter moments

There is a deeper Philosophy than just merely "Playing Cards".

♠ ️ ♥ ️ ♦ ️ ♣ ️

The Chinese invented playing cards in AD 1000.

Some interesting facts and observations about "Playing Cards"

Did you know that the Traditional Deck of the Playing Cards are a strikingly coherent form of a Calendar?

• There are 52 weeks in the year and there are 52 Playing Cards in a Deck.
• There are 13 weeks in each Season and there are 13 cards in each suit.
• There are 4 Seasons in a Year and 4 Suits in the Deck.
• There are 12 Months in a Year so there are 12 Court Cards (Those with faces namely Jack, Queen, King in each suit)
• The Red Cards represent Day, while Black Cards represent the Night.
• If you let Jacks = 11, Queens = 12, and the Kings = 13, then add up all the sums of 1 + 2 + 3 +... to 13 = 91. Multiply this by 4, for the 4 Suits, therefore 91 x 4 = 364, Add 1 that is the Joker and you will arrive at the number 365 being the Days in a Year.

Is that a mere coincidence or a greater intelligence?

• Of interest is the sum of the letters in all the names of the cards, e.g., add up the letters in "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, Jack, Queen, King" = 52!
• The Spades indicate ploughing or working.
• The Hearts indicates Love thy crops.
• The Clubs indicates flourishing and growth (much like Canberra Bridge Club?).
• The Diamonds indicate reaping the wealth.

Also, in some card games 2 Jokers are used; Indicating the Leap year.

There is a deeper Philosophy than just merely Playing Cards.
The Mathematical perfection is stunning...