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 August 2016

TIPS FOR IMPROVERS

 

Points of interest from the August 2016 duplicates

 

1        Grand Slam universally missed

 

Board 20 Monday 8 August – Vulnerability Amber – Dealer West

 

 

K98xx

AKx

AQ

Kxx

 

10x

xxxx

J109xx

xx

 

Qxx

QJ109xx

Kxxx

None

 

AJx

None

xx

AQJ109xxx

 

 

 

North

East

South

West

 

 

1 Spade

3NT

4 Diamonds

4NT

7 Clubs

 

2 Hearts

Pass

Pass

Pass

 

3 Clubs

4 Clubs

4 Hearts

5 Spades

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

 

Not a single one of the twelve North South pairs managed to reach the laydown Grand Slam 7 Club contract on this hand.

 

I have assumed in the above auction that East overcalls on his shapely 3=6=4=0 shape despite the low point count.  Should East instead Pass then South bids Clubs at a lower level.

 

When North jumps to 3NT South knows that a slam is almost certain.  He bids 4 Clubs showing at least a six card suit.  North then cuebids 4 Diamonds and South return cuebids with 4 Hearts.  Now when North discovers that all the keycards are present he knows that there is no danger of a third round Spade loser because in view of South’s cuebid in Hearts which must show a singleton or void that the King of Hearts will provide a parking place for any losing Spade should South’s distribution be a less extreme 3=1=3=6.  Accordingly North can bid the Grand Slam in Clubs with confidence.

 

2        What is the difference between 1NT – 4 Diamonds – 4 Hearts and 1NT – 2 Diamonds – 2 Hearts – 4 Hearts ?

 

Board 5 Monday 15 August – Vulnerability North South – Dealer North

 

 

KQ10

Q10x

AQ10x

Axx

 

xx

x

KJxxxx

K10xx

 

Jxxxx

Kxx

x

xxxx

 

Axx

AJxxxx

xx

QJ

 

 

Not a single one of the eight North South pairs managed to reach the excellent contract of 6 Hearts on the above hand.

 

The key to reaching slam is to have an understanding of the difference between the sequence:-

 

1NT              4 Diamonds

4 Hearts

 

and

 

1NT              2 Diamonds

2 Hearts       4 Hearts

 

By going down the slow route the transferor is showing a mild interest in slam while by transferring directly at the four level the transferor will usually then pass the correction to 4 Hearts.

 

The South hand is an excellent example of a hand which wishes to show a mild interest in slam having six Hearts, two Aces and 12 points without driving directly to it.  North is delighted to advance having 5 controls and three good trumps.

 

The odds of the contract making are very high.  On a Club or Diamond lead the contract has approximately a 75% chance of success because North is the Declarer.  On a neutral Spade lead then 12 tricks are certain if the Heart finesse works.  (Note that if the Heart finesse works then Declarer would then take the Club finesse and not the Diamond finesse because this guarantees to set up a second Club trick to deal with the Diamond loser even if the Club finesse loses)   Here with all three finesses working 13 tricks roll in.

 

3        Upgrade to 2 Club opener on 22 points

 

Board 19 Monday 29 August – Vulnerability East West – Dealer South

 

 

KJ98

Jx

98xx

KQ9

 

Axxx

A10

AKQxx

AJ

 

Qx

xxxxxx

Jx

xxx

 

10xx

KQx

10x

10xxxx

 

 

North

East

South

West

 

 

Pass

Pass

Pass

 

 

2 Diamonds

4 Diamonds

Pass

 

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

2 Clubs

2NT

4 Hearts

 

From studying the results of the above hand I noted that only three pairs out of eight bid to 4 Hearts.  Three other pairs ended in 3 Hearts while one pair was passed out in 1 Diamond and the final pair played in 2 Spades.

 

While West does have 22 points his hand is simply too powerful for an opening 2NT bid.  Holding a huge nine controls (Ace = two, King = one) plus a very strong five card suit this is a good example of a 22 point hand which must be upgraded to a 2 Club opener.  West then rebids 2NT showing 23-24 over the 2 Diamond response.  East should then transfer into Hearts at the four level.  The reason why you should transfer into Hearts at the four level is because in a similar vein to Tip 2 above when we discovered that 1NT – 2 Diamonds – 2 Hearts – 4 Hearts is a mild slam try this applies equally to 2NT – 3 Diamonds – 3 Hearts – 4 Hearts which should also be played as a mild slam try.  4 Hearts is certain to make at least 10 tricks on a 3-2 trump break.  It will make 11 on a Spade lead while on a neutral Diamond lead it is essential for South to switch to a Club when he wins the second round of Hearts to prevent the overtrick.

 

Those pairs who ended up in 3 Hearts must have failed to recognize the need to upgrade and after opening 2NT on the West hand the bidding then died at the three level when East transferred into Hearts and then passed the conversion to 3 Hearts.