Play Committee Chair Report

— Ballina Bridge Club —

Newsletter

February 2018

President’s Report Hello fellow bridge tragics (and others with a more balanced

life). I am sure that one of the benefits of being a bit addicted to

our wonderful game is the chance to sit in our air-conditioned

club while it is so hot outside. Although I hear complaints, I

remain grateful that I am a member of a club with a well-air-

conditioned room where we enjoy much more comfort than

we would otherwise, in recent weather.

I don’t have any exciting news to report, or plans for any

major activities to announce. News of past and future events

will be well reported in Marjorie’s column on play matters.

While elsewhere in this newsletter you will read more details, I

must express here my thanks to the Play Committee team, and

especially Ngaire Wills, for organising a very successful Australia

Day event. It was very good to see many relatively new players

there who might otherwise not have made up a team.

I hope that by the time you read this, the new chairs will

have arrived and the old chairs will have found new homes.

Our website tells me that a new series of lessons is due to

start on Tuesday March 6th — not far away. It’s a great chance

to get friends who might be interested in our game to come and

find out. I notice a number of new players from recent teaching

programs playing regularly on various days of the week, and

doing very well. So, consider telling a non–bridge-playing friend

about this opportunity and contact Lorraine Bryant P: 6687

7832; M: 0499 333 850; E: lorraine.bryant@live.com.au

On the topic of new members, it’s great to see so many less-

experienced players being mentored by the more-experienced.

This seems to be happening more on Thursdays now than in the

past, and is becoming a big part of Mondays’ success when we

have such good numbers.

Please all NOTE: membership fees are now overdue — we

must send ABF affiliation payments for all home members in

February. If a membership renewal is not paid, we must strike

that member’s name from our Club’s database, as it is on the

basis of paid-up members that our affiliation fees are

determined. Thanks to all of those who paid early or on time.

I am conscious this newsletter will be compiled by Michael

Kuter, which involves his juggling many items and arranging

photos etc. into an attractive package. I take this opportunity to

thank Michael for his efforts. Well done Michael.

— Chris McDowell, President Play Committee Chair Report is continued on page 2

We seem to have had a busy start to the new year with the

Australia Day Teams, a first trial of a graded-pairs session, and

planning for our Congress coming up in early March.

Firstly, Rank Promotions:

Congratulations to the following players who have achieved

Masterpoint rank promotions at the end of December:

Club: Liz Marshall, Corrie Dik, Janet Holland;

*Local: Ann Griffiths; **Local: Isabel Johnstone;

Regional: Sue Fielder; State: Beverley Peart-Kuter;

*State: Sharon Carver, Phillip Ross; *National: Mark Miller,

Jenny Hurley; Silver Grand: Bill Powell.

January Events:

Australia Day Teams

The day ran very smoothly, although Event Organiser Ngaire

Wills was scrambling to find some last-minute substitutes.

Ngaire’s report of the day is on page 3, with photos, thanks to

Deb McLay who seems to have become our ‘resident

photographer’.

Bev Peart-Kuter set the day off on the ‘right note’, leading

the singing of the national anthem. Our House Committee

excelled with lamingtons and lots of other delights during the

morning, and then lovely warm damper with syrup enjoyed

during a short afternoon break. And, of course, thanks to our

Event Organiser Ngaire for a job well done.

Many inexperienced players took part and, hopefully,

welcomed the opportunity to find out more about teams

(scoring and tactics), as well as a Swiss format [see page 4],

from their more-experienced teammates.

Graded Pairs:

The first day in our trial was Monday 8 January. Feedback was

mixed and we’ll find out more over the next 2 trial days: 12

February and 12 March.

Feedback:

If you do have feedback on the changes to Australia Day and

Graded Pairs sessions, please pass it on to any member of the

Play Committee for our review of these trials. Or please email

me (marjorie.askew@gmail.com). If you wish your feedback to

be confidential, please advise.

Our current thinking is not to conduct a survey as most of

the issues are qualitative, but we do welcome your comments.

Page 2

Newsletter of the Ballina Bridge Club

Play Committee Chair Report (from page 1)

Coming up:

Harvey Norman Mixed Pairs —

Wednesdays 31 January, 7 & 14 February

22 pairs have entered, so looks set for a good competition.

As previously advised, this is a qualifying event for the

State Mixed Pairs Championships to be held at the NSWBA

on the weekend of 26 & 27 May. Every pair competing at

our Club can nominate to play in the State Finals — so not

just our winners.

As this is a state championship event, red Masterpoints are

awarded at state championship level. These do not come out

of the Club’s red point allowance. However, it will be ‘normal’

green points for those not playing in the Harvey Norman

Mixed.

There will be another opportunity for red Masterpoints at

championship level when we hold the State Open Pairs

qualifying in September. For more information about these

state events, go to: http://nswba.com.au/tourn/state/

Event Organiser is Marjorie Askew.

Teams of 3: Monday 5 February

Looks like we have 20 teams for this ever-popular event.

Teams are allocated to ensure all teams are of mixed abilities,

with a Captain assigned. Event Organiser is Linda Maslen.

Ballina Bridge Club Congress: March 10 & 11

Flyers and brochures have gone out to over 30 clubs from

Brisbane in the North to Grafton in the South; these are posted

on our noticeboard. Details are also available on the NSWBA

website and, of course, on our website.

Our House Committee has offered to provide lunch on

both days, with vegetarian and gluten-free options. We hope

this will appeal to visitors and members. Entry fee is $40 pp per

day, which of course includes lunch and nibbles/drinks at

presentations. This year we are also offering billets if any

visitors wish to stay overnight. Liz Jeffery is coordinating this.

The format is Swiss Matchpoint Pairs on Saturday and

Swiss Teams on Sunday. We expect to divide the field into

three divisions (by Masterpoints) with prizes for each division.

Please put your entries in ASAP. Rumour has it the Gold

Coast Bridge Club will be sending a good number of entries,

probably because we are good supporters of their events.

Event Organisers: Chery McCallum and Marjorie Askew.

Entries to Club Events: We are trying to streamline our

processes of handling entries (i.e. between Treasury,

Secretariat and Event Organiser). However, in the short term, if

you pay by direct bank transfer, can you please fill in a hard

copy entry slip confirming your entry and place it in the box at

the Club. Or, if you are away and so not at the Club, could you

please send me an email confirming your entry.

Programme Book Oops: Please note the starting time for

Social Bridge on Mondays is 9am – not 9.30am as on Page 1.

Information on our website is correct.

As always, lots of bridge to enjoy.

— Marjorie Askew, Chair, Play Committee ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

2 Hearts Story

— By Anne Jackson

Playing a teams congress recently, I was sitting E and opened

the bidding with 1H. S passed and my partner responded 2H

(6–9), then N interjected with 3C. I had 12 HCPs with a

disappointing 4 diamonds to the 10, and a singleton club, so

decided to pass. S passed and, to my delight, my partner went

3D. “Well”, I thought, “partner has 4 hearts and possibly 5

diamonds”, so I flew into 4H.

S led a small club and dummy went down!!!! My jaw

dropped, I was speechless, until N broke the silence with “You

went 2H on that?!” Partner instantly replied, “No I didn’t”, and

S added, “Yes you did.”

All this time I had said not a word; I was still in shock as

partner had 1 Heart, 6 Diamonds and 11 HCPs. I pulled myself

together and went 1 down in 4H.

To make matters worse, when we got back to the table to

score up, our team mates said, “How could you possibly go

down in that?” I replied “We weren’t in that.”

P.S. 6D makes.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

The way we were Take a last look at the clubhouse as it was on Australia Day

2018. Ngaire Wills, who sent the photo, explained:

On Friday (Australia Day) morning, when Chris [McDowell]

and I were the only people at the Club, I took this photo of a

clean and tidy clubhouse, appropriately decorated for the day.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

Page 3

Newsletter of the Ballina Bridge Club

Australia Day Teams – By Ngaire Wills, Event Organiser

Despite some initial complaints about the change in format for

this year’s event, twenty-two teams registered to play. Grafton,

Yamba, Lismore, Lennox, Byron and Brunswick Clubs were

represented, with a large contingent from Ballina. In line with

the change of format — teams were drawn up so that all teams

were of mixed abilities — prizes were awarded to first and

second placegetters; as well, there was a lucky table prize.

In first place was the Hocking Team — Stephen Doherty,

Paul Smith, Carol Hocking, Karyn Scanlan.

In second place was the Askew team — Ian Peter, Marjorie

Askew, Carol Garcia, Bill Powell.

The lucky table prize was won by the Leonard team —

Mary Leonard, John Harrison, Jenny Wardley

and Kay Pearson (absent).

Beverley Peart-Kuter (at rear, with microphone) leading

members in singing the national anthem.

The House Committee did a commendable job in ensuring

there was plenty of food available for snacking during the day,

as well as keeping up with the washing of cups and glasses.

They also prepared a small plate of nibbles for each table at

the end of the day. I would also like to thank them for

decorating the room beforehand, and for the removal of the

decorations at the end of the day. In usual fashion, many of

our playing members also helped out with catering, cleaning

and tidying activities during and at the end of the day.

The day ran smoothly under Director Howard Jeffery.

Overall, comments were favourable and it seems most people

enjoyed the trial format. I would like to thank two members,

Sharon Carver and Mary Hoare, who kindly gave up half of their

day to fill in when we received a very late (Friday morning)

withdrawal; the ‘Maleys’ and ‘Burfords’ were also late fill-ins.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

Page 4

Newsletter of the Ballina Bridge Club

Battling the Poms on

Australia Day

26/1/2018

Board 6,

4SX S

— By Paul Smith

You draw to play against the Club Champions in the

Australia Day teams. You hold a fairly uninteresting eight-

point hand — two Aces. Partner opens 1♥; your right-hand

Pom overcalls 1♠. You have five Hearts in support and raise

Hearts; left-hand Pom bids 4♠, passed back to you. You are

vulnerable, they are not; looks like they are sacrificing. Your

two Aces give you a good defensive hand, but no more

strength than you have

already shown.

Double from you ends the

auction.

The opening lead is always

the hardest. With at least 10 Hearts between

you, the ♥A lead is a safe way to look at

dummy. What is going on here? Dummy has

14 points! You have 8. Assume partner has 12 for opening —

total 34. South overcalled with about six points! No wonder

he has been transported to the colonies!

OK, it must have been a lead-directing overcall. Place

South with all the other high trumps: ♠K, ♠J; that is four of his

points. Therefore he has, at most, ♥Q or two Jacks. Putting it

together, partner must have ♥K, ♦A, ♣K, and maybe the ♥Q

or the ♣J. There is obviously only one trick in Hearts because

dummy has a singleton; only one trick in Diamonds. What

about Clubs? If partner has ♣K and ♣J, you can take your ♣A

and lead a small one through ♣Q in dummy. If three rounds

of Clubs get around, then Declarer is two off — 300.

If partner does not have ♣J, the best hope for three tricks

in Clubs is if partner has ♣K doubleton, in which case you

need to lead small to their ♣K; they lead small back to your

♣A, then you give a ruff. Two off again — 300.

If partner has ♣K and ♣J, leading small first works the

same as leading ♣A and then small. If partner has the ♣K

doubleton, then leading ♣A and a small one leaves you with

no way to get the lead to give the ruff.

With ‘never underlead an Ace’ ringing in your ears, you

underlead your ♣A. Dummy plays small and partner the ♣K,

which wins. Partner now knows where the ♣A is, so returns a

small Club to you. You lead a third Club, which partner ruffs.

They take the ♦A: two off for +300.

At the other table, EW were allowed to play in 4♥ for 620

— you lose 8 IMPs. If you don't Double, and don't underlead

♣A, you lose 11 IMPs. In the complete 9 boards, only 4 IMPs

separated the teams. Saving three was very important.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

Ballina Bridge Club is at 13 North Creek Road

Ballina NSW 2478

Contributions welcome; please email them before CoB

on the last Wednesday of the month to

the Editor, Michael Kuter: kuteredit@gmail.com

— By Marjorie Askew

Swiss events are very popular in tournaments and

congresses when it is not possible for every team to play

against all other teams as in a ‘round-robin’ event. The

concept was first adopted in chess tournaments and is now

commonplace in bridge.

Opponents for the first round are determined by either:

i) a random draw, or ii) based on the seedings of the teams.

For the latter, if for example there are 100 teams in the

event, divide the number of teams by 2 (= 50); then, for the

top 50 teams, add 50 to their number to find their

opponents. So Team 1 (seeded 1) plays Team 51 (seeded

51) … and Team 50 plays Team 100.

After scoring up after each round, the draw for all

subsequent rounds is determined by placing – so 1st v 2nd;

3rd v 4th… As the event continues, if you win you move up

the field, and are thus likely to play against stronger teams;

if you lose, you move down.

One of the key advantages of ‘Swiss’ is: The longer the

event, the more likely the field will settle down and you

should find yourselves playing against teams of a similar

level to you. Although there may always be a ‘good’ team

having a poor day, or a weaker team having a ‘blinder’.

Furthermore, in a Swiss event, you play against another

team only once. There are Danish/Italian teams where you

can play the same team twice, but this is unusual in bridge.

There are also Swiss Pairs events conducted in the same

way.

Postscript: If you are concerned you may draw a ‘tough’

team in Round 1 of a Swiss Teams event, Janet Brown tells a

good story. Her team was playing in the Open Teams event

in Canberra. Their seeding was 91 and there were 180

teams in the field. So for Round 1: Yes they drew Team 1

who were the Italian World Champions. But what an

opportunity — when would they ever get the chance to play

against the world’s best? You’ll have to ask Janet, next time

you see her, to find out how they went…

Our Congress in March is Swiss Pairs on Saturday, Swiss

Teams on Sunday. Whatever your bridge level, please enjoy

taking part.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

Why ‘Swiss’ Teams?

♠ A Q 5 2

♥ 6

♦ K Q J 4 2

♣ Q 8 2 ♠ 7 4

♥ A 9 8 7 2

♦ 8 5

♣ A 7 6 4