There were many interesting hands this week.  Marian and Tricia were one of the few pairs to bid to a good 6♠ (unfortunately against John and me!) on board 17 which could also have been played in 6NT.  There was then another 6♠ on board 18 which required a little bit more luck.  On the otherhand, there were also a number of hands where despite a partnership holding 25 high card points, game was often missed such as boards 5, 12 and 15.  There were also games which were tricky to play like boards 1, 14 and 20.

For this week's Hand of the Week I was going to pick out board 22 as there was a wide variety of different results but when I looked at the hand, I soon realised the East and South cards had been transposed fairly early on so no wonder there were so many different contracts and unfortunately this board has had to be scrapped.  Instead I have chosen board 15 which also produced a variety of results.

Welcome to four new members, Kevin and Martin and James and Kathy.

Results will be posted around 0830.

If you look at all four hands on board 15 above, you will see that despite East-West have a combined 25 points between them, making any game contract looks a poor prospect.  If they find their 4-4 spade fit, it does not play well as South may lead a singleton club, getting a ruff after partner has cashed the Ace and King.  Declarer will then lose at least the Ace of diamonds and King of hearts, making a maximum of eight tricks.  3NT is not much better due to the poor lie of the cards.

Despite all this, nobody actually bid to game at all.

The bidding at our table was slightly offbeat as I was able to open 1NT on the West hand as John and I play 10-12 in that position rather than the more normal 12-14.  Helen's 2♣ was 'natural' and John's double was not for penalties but just showed 'values'.  Brian then bid 2♥ and Helen bid 3♦.  At this stage, Brian and Helen had a likely misfit so John doubled again but this time it was for penalties and was passed out.

John led King and Ace of spades followed by a trump switch to the Queen and Ace.  Helen then played a heart towards the King.  John went up with the Ace and played another trump which I won with the King.  I played back a spade which Helen ruffed in hand.  She now played Ace of clubs and ruffed a club with dummy's last trump.  The King of hearts was played from dummy, Helen discarding a club from hand but she now had to lead another heart and ruff with her last trump.  I was left with a winning trump and one more club trick so the contract was two off.

A more typical auction would have been for South and West to pass and North to open the bidding with 1♦.  East would double, South would probably pass and West would now either jump to 2♠, bid 1NT or 2NT to show the diamond stop or perhaps even cue bid 2♦ to find out a bit more about his partner's hand.  With all these options, it's no wonder everyone ended up in different contracts and, despite having game points, no East-West got anywhere near bidding game.

The results on the scoresheet were 2♠ by West just making (this happened twice), one East was in 3♠ going one off, two Norths were in 2♦ making with an overtrick and one pair was in 3♦ doubled going two off.

The Hampshire & Isle of Wight County Pairs Championship, the Pottage Cup, will have several qualifying heats, the last one of which will be at Badger Farm on Tuesday 7 March 2017.

For those who qualify, the semi-final will then be held at Crosfield Hall, Romsey at 2.0 on Saturday 18 March with the final, also at Crosfield Hall at 2.0 on Sunday 2 April.

Last winter Alun and Eira asked me to run some 'Improve your Bridge' sessions for Badger Farm members but, for one reason or another, these didn't happen.

I am proposing to run some workshops from October.  These sessions will be informal and interactive and are primarily intended for Badger Farm members.  They will take place weekly, providing there are enough people (min 4, max 12).

The aim of these sessions is to provide an opportunity to look at slightly more challenging aspects of the game, exploring ways of improving bidding, Declarer play and defence by using prepared hands and looking at any interesting hands from the previous Tuesday's duplicate. 

These sessions will be held at my house in Broughton on Thursday mornings between 10.0 and 12.0. Cost for Badger Farm members is £5 per session.  You do not need a partner.

 If you would like to come, please send me an email to confirm at fred.hotchen@btinternet.com.