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 March 2014

TIPS FOR IMPROVERS

 

Points of interest from the March 2014 duplicates

 

1       Extreme care needed

 

Board 8 Thursday 20 March – Vulnerability White – Dealer West

 

 

K

AQ9xxx

9x

KQxx

 

xx

x

KQJ10xxx

Axx

 

10xxxx

KJx

8x

J10x

 

AQJ9x

10xx

Ax

9xx

 

 

North

East

South

West

 

1 Heart

4 Hearts

 

1 Spade

Pass

 

2 Diamonds

Pass

1 Diamond

Pass

Pass

 

Four pairs bid to a contract of 4 Hearts on the above hand but none of the four were successful in making the contract.  West opens 1 Diamond as he is far too strong for a pre-emptive opening especially not vulnerable.  North overcalls 1 Heart and East bids 1 Spade showing a five card suit.  South makes an unassuming cue-bid showing at least nine points with Heart support and North should now jump to game with his strong 6-4 shape and only five losers.

 

The opening lead is a Diamond.  Declarer’s priority is clearly to discard the Diamond loser on a Spade winner in the Dummy.  Accordingly the Ace of Diamonds is played at trick one followed by the Ace of Spades unavoidably crashing the King, followed by the Queen of Spades discarding the second Diamond. 

 

With the Diamond loser now attended to Declarer has to keep the losers in the rounded suits (Hearts and Clubs) to three.  In such situations it is nearly always correct to play the side suit (Clubs) before the trump suit (Hearts) as it may be necessary to trump a Club in the Dummy.

 

Accordingly at trick four a low Club is played to the King which wins.  This is very illuminating because now if Declarer takes the trouble to count the points outstanding he knows that the Heart finesse must be wrong !  Why is this?  Well as East bid 1 Spade he is likely to have five points and yet it looks as if he has no points in Diamonds and only the Jack of Clubs.  Therefore he must have the King of Hearts in order to begin to justify his 1 Spade bid.  Therefore at trick five Declarer plays the Queen of Hearts from hand (just in case West has the singleton Jack).  East must win with the King and he continues with a second Diamond which is trumped.  Now at trick seven Declarer plays a second Heart towards the 10 in the Dummy.  East can win the Jack but the 10 of Hearts is now a crucial entry in order to cash the Jack of Spades and then play a second Club from the Dummy and thus lose just only one Club trick and two trump tricks. 

 

The moral is that it is absolutely essential to plan the play on the basis of the bidding (or lack of it) as it will often indicate that a key finesse cannot possibly be working.

 

 

2       Asking for third round control

 

Board 5 Tuesday 25 March – Vulnerability North South – Dealer North

 

 

J9x

KJxx

x

Q109xx

 

Axxx

A

KJ10xxx

Jx

 

x

xx

AQxxx

AKxxx

 

KQ10xx

Q109xxx

x

x

 

 

After North passes and East opens 1 Diamond some Souths overcalled 2 Diamonds as a Michaels cuebid showing at least 5-5 in the major suits.  As North South were vulnerable and North was already a passed hand the words of the great Terence Reese come to mind with his oft used expression “Careless talk costs lives”.  The chances of North South buying the contract were extremely low and by making a Michaels cuebid it is actually much easier for East West to reach the Grand Slam in Diamonds.

 

The most descriptive bid for West to make over 2 Diamonds is to jump to 4 Hearts.  This cannot possibly be natural after South has advertised at least five cards in Hearts but is a splinter bid suggesting a void or singleton Ace of Hearts.  As East has control of Spades he can go straight to 4NT RKCB.  West now bids 5 Diamonds (0 or 3 keycards) clearly 3 in this instance.  East knowing that all the keycards are present is now only interested in whether West has third round control of Clubs.  Accordingly be bids 6 Clubs which says to West “Please bid a Grand Slam if you have third round control of Clubs”.  Third round control can either be the Queen or a doubleton.  West is happy to oblige and jumps to the Grand Slam with the play presenting no problems.

 

Without the overcall of 2 Diamonds it is much harder to reach the Grand Slam since a jump to 4 Hearts opposite a 1 Diamond opener would be natural if South does not advertise having both majors and East West might well settle for reaching 6 Diamonds.

 

 

3       Slam in three suits

 

Board 30 Thursday 27 March – Vulnerability White – Dealer East

 

 

xxx

K109xxxx

Q

xx

 

Kxx

None

A98xx

AQ8xx

 

AQJ9

Qx

KJx

J9xx

 

xxx

AJxx

10xxx

K10

 

 

North

East

South

West

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

1 Spade

2NT

3 Diamonds

4 Clubs

6 Clubs

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

2 Diamonds

3 Clubs

3 Spades

5NT

Pass

 

East opens 1 Spade playing strong notrump.  West having 5-5 in the minors should first of all bid his higher ranking suit 2 Diamonds.  East rebids 2NT showing 12 to 14 and now West has a choice between showing his second suit Clubs and bidding 3 Spades to show three card Spade support.  It is better to show the second suit as the Spade support can be shown later.  Over 3 Clubs East clearly cannot bid 3NT as he has no Heart stop but equally he does not want to raise to 4 Clubs because it takes the bidding beyond 3NT if partner has half a stop in Hearts so he should temporize with a bid of 3 Diamonds.  Now West introduces his three card Spade support and East can now support the Clubs.  The West hand has now become incredibly powerful.  As  East does not have a Heart stop and has shown support for both Diamonds and Clubs a Small Slam is likely to be a very good bet.  However West has no idea whether the slam should be in Spades, Diamonds or Clubs.  In such circumstances a jump to 5NT without going through 4NT says to partner “We are going to slam but I am not sure in which denomination it should be played.  Our previous bidding has suggested playing in more than one denomination.  Please pick a slam”  On this occasion East should bid the slam in Clubs which is the safest proposition although at pairs there is also a case for gambling on playing in Spades on the 4-3 fit.  Happily the fortunate lie of the North South cards means that all thirteen tricks are made whether playing in Spades, Diamonds or Clubs.  I have calculated the probability of 6 Clubs making as being approximately 68 per cent and would be even higher if the 10 of Clubs were present in the East hand.