Newsletter 20 May 2022

In this week’s newsletter...

• Vale Sally Barber
• Introducing our RealBridge Troubleshooter
• Australian National Congress Territory/State finals Seniors this weekend 
• Southern Tablelands Restricted Butler Pairs - 23 June
• Results 
• Bridge Tips by Joan Butts
• The Mirror of Galadriel by Hilda Hills
• Card Play with Ian Morison
• Lighter Moments

From the President

I was very sad to hear of the death this week of Sally Barber. Sally was one of our club’s long-term and most popular directors and teachers, and a fine bridge player. Sally also directed bridge at the Ainslie Football Club and at the Commonwealth Club.

Please see the obituary for Sally in this newsletter. I know Sally will be sorely missed by her many friends at the Canberra Bridge Club.

Margaret

 

Vale Sally Barber

It is with deep sadness that we share that Sally passed away on the morning of Thursday 19 May at Clare Holland House, surrounded by her loving family.

Sally has been such a vibrant and much-loved member of our CBC community over many years. Known to all as a fun yet serious player, she was a enthusiastic teacher, director and a committee member. Sally directed both in the club and on RealBridge. She also brought considerable energy to her involvement with South Canberra, Grand Slam, Ainslie and her many events at the Commonwealth Club.

A highly capable person, Sally was a woman of many talents and could simultaneously play bridge, direct and listen to a podcast. She was a warm and generous host, and many of us were privileged to be welcomed by Sally into her beloved Australian Filipino community, of which she was a dedicated supporter.

Sally lived a full and joyous life, bringing so much colour and laughter into the lives of all those she touched. She will be profoundly missed by all at the club, particularly those of us fortunate enough to call her a friend. We extend our deepest sympathies to Sally's husband Mark, daughter Laura and granddaughter Ariana.

A donation to any Cancer Research Foundation would mean so much to Sally's family.

Thanks to Kerry Butcher for these words.  

 

 RealBridge Troubleshooter

We welcome our new RealBridge Troubleshooter Rob Hurst!  Ably credentialled to patiently help where all other sources fail!  Many of you will have met Rob at the table, virtually or in person. If you need help to get onto RealBridge, please email Rob on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. outside of session times and he'll generally get back to you within 24 hours with practical assistance.  

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 low balance reminders went out this week.  If you did not receive one then you are in the black!    

 

May 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. The last May lessons are as follows:

• 25 & 27 May: Higher level opening bids

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 Transfers - Super Accepts.  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

• The plan will tell you whether to draw trumps first or not
• Draw trumps if you have the top trumps, or no extra losers to dispose of
• Delay drawing trumps if the opponents make a lead which exposes you to losers
• Discard those losers first, and draw trumps after that
• Don’t draw trumps (two at a time) in the beginning if you need to use them separately for cross-trumping
• Look for side suit shortages in dummy, with losers in that suit in declarer's hand
• Trumping those losers in dummy gives you extra tricks
• Often trump shortages in dummy before drawing trumps 

The Mirror of Galadriel (part 1 of 3) by Hilda Hills

[initially published in Australian Bridge, April 1988]

The finest card play ever seen,

Opponents' faces red and green.

His leads like thunder. Golden showers

At rubber testified his powers.

Gandalf had fallen and to commemorate his passing the elves of the Lorien forest organised the Mithrandir Memorial Pairs. Frodo and Sam upheld the honour of the Hobbits, as their Forcing Pass system allowed them to overtake their hosts. But Gimli the Dwarf and his partner Legolas the Elf had a spectacular finish. They were playing TWO systems - Acol and Standard Middle-Earthian - and were therefore twice as likely to find the right bid.

All boards were played simultaneously with Astrolabe scoring. With one deal to play, the Astrolabe showed Frodo-Sam and Gimli-Legolas tied for the lead, but no other pair within range.

DLR: East

VUL: North-South

------------------------------------Gimli

------------------------------------S Q8765432

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

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

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

Celeborn---------------------------------------------------Galadriel

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

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

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

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

-------------------------------------Legolas

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

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

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

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

Legolas opened a Standard Middle-Earthian 2C (game force with 5+ clubs) and Gimli gave the Acol reply of 2D (negative). But the Standard Middle-Earthian negative was 2NT. Therefore Legolas picked Gimli for a positive response with diamonds, so passed no bucks with an immediate raise to 7D.

After all passed, Celeborn led the jack of spades out of turn. Following Gandalf's ancient proverb, "They who lead out of turn are too wooden to find a good lead," Gimli accepted the lead. Furthermore, to keep the many honours of Legolas concealed, Gimli cunningly decided to switch to being dummy.

The once and future declarer, Legolas, twitched when he saw Gimli's dummy. However, the Elf realised that IF clubs broke 4-3 (with the queen tripleton) and IF the heart finesse worked, THEN 7D would make IF trumps broke 4-4. So Legolas beat Galadriel's singleton king of spades with the ace, cashed the ace and king of clubs (tossing a spade from dummy) and then ruffed a club. Although the queen of clubs had appeared, the Grand Slam seemed doomed when Galadriel discarded a heart on the third round of clubs.

Undaunted, Legolas returned to hand with a low heart to the ACE, dropping Celeborn's offside singleton king. Legolas then drew trumps and claimed, as the jack of hearts was now an entry to discard his remaining losing club on the queen of spades.

Celeborn glared at Legolas as he ostentatiously moved back his chair. He muttered, "I should never have permitted a Mirkwood Elf to play." But his wife Galadriel replied, "Legolas used logic, not peeking, in playing the heart suit. I had shown up with one spade and two clubs, so I therefore had six hearts (assuming trumps broke four-four). Unless your singleton heart was the king, 7D would be two down."

Celeborn groaned, "So it was my fault for leading out of turn. You would have found the killing trump lead." Galadriel consoled him, "On a trump lead by East 7D is still cold. Gimli draws trumps (discarding low spades from his hand). Then he performs a Minas Tirith Coup by cashing the ace of spades. Finally he cashes the ace and queen of hearts, followed by a heart to the jack:

------------------------------------Gimli

------------------------------------S Q876

------------------------------------H J

------------------------------------D void

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

Celeborn-----------------–----------------------------------Galadriel

S JT------------------------------–--------------------------S void

H void-------------------------------------------------------H 8654

D void-------------------------------------------------------D void

C 9865------------------------------------------------------C QT

-------------------------------------Legolas

-----------------––------------------S void

-------------------------------------H 7

-------------------------------------D void

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

squeezing you in spades and clubs." Gimli looked at Galadriel with awe. Had he finally found a Mixed Pairs partner?

TO BE CONTINUED

 

How High Should You Bid? with Ian Morison

 Sacrificing is a big part of bridge. Knowing when to sacrifice is imperative. Vulnerability is very important in making a decision to sacrifice. So, how high do you bid this hand as East/West?

Dealer S, all Vul

                                       AK85

                                       J107

                                    K6532

                                           10

 642                                                               93

8532                                                               Q

QJ84                                                              9

K6                                                                  AQJ875432

 

                                      QJ107

                                       AK964

                                         A107

                                           9

Bidding

1. South opens 1H, West passes, North bids 3H

2. What should East bid? East has a 5 loser hand. Partner has passed, but it is not unreasonable to expect partner to have 1 winner, or the CK to be singleton with N or S. 9 tricks. So, bid 5C
3. The logic is if NS can make 4H, that’s a 620 score and 5Cx should only go down 2 = -500

4. But, then South bids 5H

5. So, what should West now do? West knows partner will be hoping for a trick from him (which happens to be CK here), so bidding 5C is in the high danger zone = -800 if 3 off. So, West should Pass

6. There is also the hope that NS have bid too high and may go off in 5H

7. As it turned out at the game last week, 5H made, and 5Cx would cost – 800, so the Pass was correct

8. But what if EW were not Vul (NS only Vul)?

9. Going down doubled:

                1 = - 100;             2 = - 300;             3 = -500;              4 = - 800,             5 = - 1100

10. If Not Vul, West should bid 6C over South’s 5H. He has a trick (CK) and a half (Diamond QJ)

11. If West does not bid, East should bid 6C, even though partner passed – the 9 card suit and the odds on chances of partner helping by 1 trick, make this sensible

CONCLUSION

12. All of us do not sacrifice enough. We all see going down as the mark of a loser, so it is easier to Pass than bid

13. Sacrifice bidding is important with shapely hands, but always look at the vulnerability and hence the penalties to flow for going down vulnerable

14. When EW make a sacrifice bid – NS must have the courage to double

THE MORAL OF THE STORY

15. Sacrifices and doubles of sacrifices should be a bigger part of our game

 

Lighter Moments

Uncanny how some things work out.

Words  - rearrange the letters

• Dormitory - Dirty room
• Presbyterian - Best in prayer
• Astronomer - Moon starer
• Desperation -  A rope ends it
• The eyes - They see
• George Bush - He bugs Gore
• The Morse code - Here comes dots 
• Slot machines  - cash lost in me
• Animosity - is no amity
• Election results - lies let's recount
• Mother-in-law - Woman Hitler
• Snooze alarms - Alas no more 'Z's
• A decimal point - I'm a dot in place
• The earthquakes - That queer shake
• Eleven plus two - Twelve plus one

Film Finale

We have received offers of free tickets to two films at the ANU Film Group.

The Embassy of the Republic of Korea is offering seats to Escape From Mogadishu next Friday night:

“It is 1991, Mogadishu, capital city and most populous city of Somalia was torn by civil war. The personnel and the families of the South Korean embassy, isolated with no communication were enduring hail of bullets and shells. Then one night, personnel from the North Korean embassy knocked on the door asking for help. People of both embassies have one goal, to escape from Mogadishu”.

A true story, this film was nominated for this year’s Best International Film Oscar (but it didn’t win).

For more details (venue, time) here is the Eventbrite invitation: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/327159451727

The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany warmly invites you to attend the reception and film 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 here.

 

Be kind to each other.    

 

Tamara (for Kerry and Tamara)