Manchester Bridge Club
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Road Works on Palatine RoadRoad works are taking place to re-surface Palatine Road for 4 weeks from Monday 10th October.  At the moment there is only one way traffic allowed along Palatine Road from the Lapwing Lane end to the junction with Wilmslow Road.  Palatine Road is currently closed at the Wilmslow Road/Palatine Road junction with no traffic allowed to travel down Palatine Road from this junction towards Lapwing Lane.....so currently you have to turn left when you leave the club!

 
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SUSAN TARR
SUSAN TARR

It is with great sadness that I must inform members of the untimely death of Susan Tarr who lost her battle with cancer on October 23rd.

Details of arrangements will be posted when known.

Jeff Morris

North Wales Swiss Pairs

Congratulations to Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield who won at Shotton on Sunday 9th October, John Holland and Tony Coley were third.
Full results are here.

Northern League Final Round - Manchester win A and B Divisions

The final round of Northern league matches took place on Saturday 8th October.
In the A division at Bolton, Manchester, fielding their Tollemache team, won on the day and increased their overall lead to finish nine VPs ahead of Yorkshire 2.  The team was Alan Mould/Ollie Burgess, Alec Smalley/Tom Slater, John Holland/Gary Hyett, Michael Byrne/Michael Newman.  Tom and Alec were our best pair on the cross IMPs.  The A2 team of Kath & Alan Nelson, Royce Alexander/John Currie, Sylvia Massey/Herbert Potts, Raymond Semp/Peter Jones finished fifth on the day and sixth overall.  Peter and Raymond were the best of our A2 pairs.

The B division was played at Bradford where our team of Pete Foster/John Roberts, Gillian McMullan/Neil Thomas, Eve Lighthill/Ken Hassell, Robert & Joyce Jones had an excellent day, winning the day's event and overtaking Cumbria to take the division title.  Special congratulations to Neil and Gillian who were the best pair in the division on the cross IMPs with 1.5 IMPs per board and to Eve and Ken who were second with 1.07 IMPs per board.

The C division was played at Manchester where our team of Irene Davies/Karen Reissmann, Ann Thornton/Paul Murray, Joan Lewis/Roy Higginbottom, Liz and Stephen Halstead finished seventh on the day and overall.  Irene and Karen were our best pair on cross IMPs.

Detailed results
are here

Current Competitions

2016 Cheadle Royal Cup

This Monday Evening Pairs Contest runs from

Monday 5th September to Monday 19th December

Your best 8 results count.

 

2016 Merton Cantor Cup

This Thursday Evening Individual Contest runs from

Thursday 6th October to Thursday 22nd December

Your best 7 results count.

Good Luck!

The Manchester Congress
Jan 7- 8th 2017
at The Victoria and Albert Hotel, Water Street M3 4JQ

Pairs Saturday, Teams Sunday

and non-expert events on both days.
Click here for more details and entry form
Click here for travel and car parking information
Click here for non-expert events and entry form

MBC Members excel in the EBU Player of the Year Competition

Jason Hackett      3rd

Justin Hackett     =4th

John Holland       15th

.......Brilliant!

Mossop team wins Crockfords Cup

The team of David Mossop, Alex Hydes (London), Jason Hackett, Justin Hackett (both Staffs & Shrops), David Price (Suffolk) & Colin Simpson (Berks & Bucks) have won the 2015-16 Crockfords Cup. All the team have won this competition three times or more, with Alex retaining the trophy he won last year with different teammates; the other five all won the 2013-14 competition together.

Tollemache Qualifying

The MCBA (county) selection committee has chosen the following team to represent Manchester in the qualifying round of the inter county teams of eight on 19-20th November.
 

Michael Newman & Michael Byrne
John Holland & Gary Hyett
Alec Smalley & Tom Slater
Alan Mould & Ollie Burgess

npc Rhona Goldenfield

...recognise any MBC member names in this list?!!

MCBA EXPERT PLAYER OF THE YEAR
MCBA EXPERT PLAYER OF THE YEAR

We are proud to announce that

MICHAEL NEWMAN

has won the

2016 EXPERT PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD

......his second win in this MCBA competition

having previously won in 2011!

CONGRATULATIONS!

TIPS FOR IMPROVERS
TIPS FOR IMPROVERS

***NEW MONTH.....

CHECK OUT MICHAEL NEWMAN'S NEW TIPS FROM HANDS PLAYED IN SEPTEMBER...........

(See the yellow tab above top left)

Every month Michael Newman selects three hands played at the Club during that month and comments on the bidding and play offering invaluable hints and tips on how they should have been played!

You can check out not only the current month but also the archive of all previous editions.

He's done it again.....again!!
He's done it again.....again!!

John Holland tops National Master Point list for the fifth time!

Congratulations to John Holland, who has topped the annual Master Points list for the fifth time (the last four years in succession!) and has claimed the Sunday Telegraph Salver.

John Holland's good year has seen him reclaim the top spot in the Gold Point rankings. He moved marginally ahead of the 2014 leader, David Gold, holding 98.92 to David's 98.02. Andrew Robson, Tony Forrester and Alexander Allfrey complete the top five.

John, who also won this award in 2009, 2012 and 2013 & 2014 gained a total of 29,397 points in 2015.

AMAZING!

(Full details are on the EBU website www.ebu.co.uk )

About Manchester Bridge Club
About Manchester Bridge Club

Welcome to

Manchester Bridge Club. 

We are at 30 Palatine Road, Didsbury, M20 3JJ.

Ring us on 0161 445 3712

or email jeff@manchesterbridge.co.uk

For directions on how to find

us please click on the 

yellow 'Club Information' tab

top left of this page.

FUNCTION ROOMS FOR HIRE
FUNCTION ROOMS FOR HIRE

MANCHESTER BRIDGE CLUB

has a number of rooms

which can be hired

 for celebrations and functions. 

Suitable for special occasions such as

BIRTHDAY PARTIES,  RECEPTIONS,

CHRISTENINGS and BARMITZVAHS.

Please ring Jeff or David on

0161 445 3712

or email jeff@manchesterbridge.co.uk

DO YOU RECEIVE OUR E-MAIL NEWSLETTER?
DO YOU RECEIVE OUR E-MAIL NEWSLETTER?

Are you receiving the Bridge Club Newsletter?

If not - please let Jeff know so he can make sure you are included.

Tel: 0161 445 3712 or jeff@manchesterbridge.co.uk

Thankyou.

 
Tips for January 2016

TIPS FOR IMPROVERS

 

Points of interest from the January 2016 duplicates

 

1       Dubious balancing severely punished

 

Manchester Congress Teams – Session Two

Board 11 Sunday 3 January – Vulnerability White – Dealer South

 

 

xx

AKxxx

xx

J10xx

 

QJ10x

10x

9xx

AQxx

 

Axx

Q9x

K10xx

Kxx

 

K9xx

Jxx

AQJx

xx

 

 

North

East

South

West

 

2 Hearts

 

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

?

 

After two passes my partner in the Congress Teams Final opened a slightly off centre weak 2 Hearts.  While this might seem rather dangerous it is a common tactic third in hand at Green or White and is also attractive when holding two cards or fewer in the unbid major.  When this came back to West he rather unwisely chose to balance with a takeout double.  I consider this unwise because holding 10x in Hearts it was extremely unlikely that East held a penalty double of 2 Hearts in which case he would be able to convert the takeout double to penalty by passing.

 

East decided to bid his four card Diamond suit and as South I smelt blood.  While it would be possible to construct hands where 3 Diamonds is making I expected that on at least four out of five occasions I would get a penalty of 300 or more by doubling.   It was quite likely that my partner was not minimum 5 or 6 points in view of West having already passed.   According I doubled for penalty.  After a low Heart lead partner won with the King and immediately switched to his doubleton Spade.  I won with the King and continued Spades.  This resulted in partner being subsequently able to trump the third round of Spades.  Declarer could have escaped for three down -500 but no doubt flustered by the turn of events he lost a further trick and went four down -800 giving our team a gain of 12 IMPS on the deal.

 

Note that East holding such a flat hand would have been much better advised to bid 2 Spades on Axx rather than 3 Diamonds in response to the balancing double.  This is because West by doubling as a passed hand was guaranteeing four cards in Spades.  Had East chosen 2 Spades rather than 3 Diamonds this would have been passed out and the contract would have gone a quiet one down for 50 to North South.

 

 

2       Well judged by North

 

Manchester Congress Teams – Session Two

Board 26 Sunday 3 January – Vulnerability Amber – Dealer East

 

 

Qx

AKxx

10xx

AJxx

 

J108x

J10

AJ9xx

xx

 

K9xx

xxx

KQxx

Kx

 

Axx

Qxxx

x

Q10xxx

 

 

North

East

South

West

 

 

1 Club

2 Hearts

4 Hearts

Pass

Double

2 Spades

Pass

1 Heart

3 Clubs

Pass

1 Spade

Pass

 

My partner in the Congress Teams Final judged the bidding very well on this hand to accept my game try.

 

Playing 5 card majors North opened 1 Club fourth in hand.  East having already passed now made a takeout double showing 9-11 points.  I bid 1 Heart and West bid 1 Spade.  North raised to 2 Hearts which guaranteed four card support as with only three Hearts North would have made a Support Double (invented by Eric Rodwell in the early 1990’s).  East bid 2 Spades and now I made a game try of 3 Clubs.

 

In deciding whether to accept my game try my partner attempted to build up a picture of my distribution.  It was almost certain that the opposition only held an eight card Spade fit since if West held five Spades he would have jumped to 2 Spades to crowd the auction.  Furthermore in order to make a game try as a passed hand I must have an unbalanced hand with either five Hearts and four Clubs or four Hearts and five Clubs.  Accordingly my distribution must be either 3=5=1=4 or 3=4=1=5.  In either case as my partner held no wasted Diamond honours opposite my likely singleton the hands were fitting extremely well together and thus the game try was accepted by jumping to 4 Hearts.

 

In the play West opened with the Jack of Spades which was covered with the Queen and King.  I let the opposition win the first trick and they switched to Diamonds and I ruffed the second round of Diamonds.  It was important to establish the side suit Clubs before drawing trumps and so I ran the Queen of Clubs which lost to the King at trick four.  Now I was home whatever East did at trick five provided that the trumps split 3-2 since even on a  trump return I could draw three rounds of trumps and Dummy’s third Diamond will eventually be discarded on the fifth Club.

 

The reason why it is important for the Ace of Spades to be held up at trick one is that suppose East held a 4=3=5=1 distribution with the singleton King of Clubs he would be able to reach his partner’s hand with the 10 of Spades and obtain a Club ruff had I won the first trick.  By holding up the Ace of Spades this possibility was avoided.

 

My partner’s good judgment in the bidding won our team 10 IMPS.

 

 

3       Minor suit game missed

 

Board 1 Thursday 28 January – Vulnerability White – Dealer North

 

 

Axx

A10xxx

10x

J7x

 

Qxx

xxx

AJ8xx

xx

 

K108xx

QJx

K9xx

x

 

Jx

Kx

Qx

AKQ10xxx

 

 

 

North

East

South

West

 

Pass

1 Heart

3 Spades

5 Clubs

Pass

Pass

Pass

1 Club

3 Clubs

4 Clubs

Pass

Pass

Pass

 

Only one pair out of nine managed to reach game in Clubs on this hand.

 

With seven and a half tricks South is obliged to jump to 3 Clubs following North’s response of 1 Heart to his opening bid.  What should North say over that?  He cannot rebid the Hearts because that would promise a six carder and it would be a gamble to bid 3NT with no Diamond stop.  Accordingly North should rebid 3 Spades even though he only has three cards in the suit.  By bidding 3 Spades North is showing that he has a stop in Spades and more often than not it implies five cards in Hearts.  (Note that there is no danger of South raising Spades since he has denied holding four cards by bidding 3 Clubs over 1 Heart).  South then knows that 3NT is not sensible because he only holds Qx in Diamonds.  Accordingly he signs off in 4 Clubs.  However North holding two Aces plus Jxx in Clubs has enough to believe that 5 Clubs will have a play.  The Defence should start off with Ace of Diamonds and another Diamond (the correct defence because the bidding has told the world that North South do not have a Diamond stop).  Assuming a trump switch at trick three Declarer then draws trumps in two rounds leaving the Jack in the Dummy.  He can then establish the Hearts even assuming the most likely 4-2 break.  Should the defence switch to a Spade at trick three then Declarer should only draw one round of trumps before establishing the Hearts (because if he draws two rounds he will lack the entries to reach the long Heart on the likely 4-2 break in Hearts).