Season 2008-9 / December 08
Programme
The Monday Programme for December is:
- 1st League 1
- 8th Swiss Pairs 4
- 15th Swiss Teams 4
- 22nd League 5
- 29th Individual
Bridge Story
Four bridge players died and went to heaven. They were met by St Peter. ‘Do enjoy your game here’, he said, ‘but remember, there is one misdemeanour that cannot be forgiven. You must never trump your partner’s ace. Time went by: one of them indeed trumped his partner’s ace. His punishment was dreadful: he was sentenced to partner the worst player there for eternity. The same happened to the second and third player. Now the fourth player, desperate not to offend, was without a partner. St Peter approached him, with Omar Sharif. He was to partner Omar Sharif for eternity! He asked aloud what he had done to deserve this wonderful reward. ‘Well, I don’t know about you’ said Sharif, ‘but I trumped my partner’s ace ...’
World Mind Sports Games
Silver medal for Dan
Many of us will know that Dan McIntosh went to Beijing as part of the six player England Under-21 team for the world mind sports games. Two other fairly local juniors were also part of that team: Tom and Ben Paske from Herefordshire. They have played on some Monday nights at Cheltenham. The team started by winning the round robin phase, where the 18 teams all played each other. The top eight qualified for the quarter finals, where England easily beat the Netherlands. The semi final was a much closer affair, with England just edging out the hosts, China. The final was between the two teams who had dominated the round robin phase: England and France. Predictably it was close, but this time France edged England out by 24 IMPs. This was the first time an England Under 21 team had ever reached the final.
GCBA Results
The GCBA held a simultaneous pairs, played in clubs across the county. The scoring was in IMPs: you scored up against the average scores of the experts who had originally played the boards. 47 pairs took part, the top four being: 1st: Alison Pritchard & David Hauser (Stroud), 2nd: Robert MaCrae & Lesley Mitchell (Tewkesbury), 3rd: Mike Gander & Beryl Stanley (Newent) and 4th: John Councer and Nicky Ferguson (Stroud). These four pairs were invited to play in the Everett Cup with the four selected Gloucestershire Tollemache pairs as teammates. Other entrants made up their own teams, including a Wiltshire team. The winners of the Everett Cup were: Joe & Wendy Angseesing, Jim Simons and Peter Waggett.
The winners of the Bredon Vale Cup were the Thribb bridge club team of John Councer, Nicky Ferguson, Keith Patterson and Chris Smith
ProblemHand When space permits in future newsletters I will give you a defensive problem like this:
North ♠ K 4 ♥ K 3 ♦ Q J T 9 7 6 ♣ A J 2
West
♠ J 9 6
♥ A 5 4 2
♦ 4
♣ 9 8 7 6 3
South West North East
4♥
4♠ 5♥ 5♠end
Your ♦4 lead strikes gold when partner cashes ♦A K, declarer following suit twice with ♦3 and ♦2. How do youintend to beat this contract? Please turn overfor answer.
Answer to Problem hand You know that a third diamond will guarantee defeat, promoting your trump holding of ♠J 9 6 into the third defensive trick. Unfortunately partner may not know that and a switch to ♥Q would allow declarer to ruff, draw trumps and claim. Remove any such ideas from your partner’s head by discarding your ♥A on the second diamond. Partner now has no practical choice but to persevere with a third diamond.
Understanding The Lawbook
Recently I was made aware of a hand where the following bidding sequence occurred:
South West North East
1NT 2♣ P 2♥
P 3♣ All Pass
Before his first pass North enquired about the 2♣ and was told ‘Landy’ The convention card said the same: no explanation, just ‘Landy’. Landy means: ‘2♣ shows the majors’. It turned out that West had clubs and when he repeated clubs it no longer showed the majors.
North had 10 points including 4 hearts: South also had four hearts. North was frozen out of the auction by the misinformation. 4♥ was laydown.
The director’s ruling was a weighted score: 50% of 4♥ making: 50% of 3♥ + 1. Assuming the facts I have been given are correct and complete, I would have given North/South 100% of 4♥ making.
Let me list the infractions of East/West.
1)At level 3 and above any defence to 1NT is permitted so the treatment described is no longer illegal. However there is gross and culpable misinformation. 2♣ doesn’t show the majors: it shows either the majors or clubs.
2)A convention card that says just Landy is sloppy. It should state what the partnership’s calls mean (see Orange Book P12 4C2) In 4C4 it is stressed that particular care must be taken with defences to 1NT, especially with agreements that are either two-suiters or the suit bid. It states that ‘Such agreements should be described in full’. The reason this treatment was banned for many years was precisely because it so often resulted in opponents being misinformed, effectively making a bridge result for the hand impossible.
Suppose you have a difficult decision to make: You hesitate, partner tries his best to ignore it but the director decides the score needs adjusting. There can be no blame attached: these things happen: the players can only do their best and accept the TD’s decision (or maybe exercise a right of appeal).
However I do not believe the above ruling comes under this category. I am told East/West were reasonably experienced. They are playing a game with laws that are there to protect everybody’s interests but they really are making insufficient attempt to understand these laws. If you choose to play complex treatments that your opponents might not understand you have a duty to understand your legal responsibilities. North/South were deprived of the opportunity to bid and make 4♥ because of the sloppiness of East/West. Why should they be left worse off?
EBU clubs’ committee
The EBU has convened a new 'clubs' sub-committee. Each committee member is responsible for a 'region' of clubs. The committee member responsible for Glos is Tom Garrett of Berks & Bucks. Tom has agreed to come to Cheltenham at 2-30 on Sunday7th Dec to meet club reps and answer questions about what the EBU is offering them - and to report back on their questions and needs. Clubs:Please come and take part!
/ Board : Dealer:
Vul: /
-
/ Board : Dealer:
Vul: /
-
Page 1
Contributions welcome - to Andrew Kambites 01453 827929
Check out the GCBA web site at
GCBA NEWSLETTERMONDAY COMPETITIONS / Season 2008-9 / December 2008
/ Board : Dealer:
Vul: /
-
Page 1
Contributions welcome - to Andrew Kambites 01453 827929
Check out the GCBA web site at