Manchester Bridge Club
Full Screen Print Page Latest Enhancements Web Administration Help and Guide
Release 2.19j
 
 
 
Bulletin

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!

 
Recent Updates
Home Page
24th Oct 2016 23:49 BST
Bulletin
16th Oct 2016 17:33 BST
NEW Tips for September 2016
14th Oct 2016 12:42 BST
Intermediate Players events
12th Oct 2016 18:39 BST
 
Pages viewed in 2016
 
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 June 2014

TIPS FOR IMPROVERS

 

Points of interest from the June 2014 duplicates

 

1       When after a 2NT opener responder transfers into a major and then bids a second suit at the four level the lowest off suit by opener is Roman Key Card for BOTH of responder’s suits.

 

Board 7 Thursday 12 June – Vulnerability Amber – Dealer South

 

 

Axx

10x

xx

xxxxxx

 

KJ9xx

xxx

AJxx

x

 

Qxx

AKJx

K10x

AKQ

 

10x

Qxxx

Q9xx

Jxx

 

 

North

East

South

West

 

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

 

2NT

3 Spades

4 Hearts

6 Spades

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

3 Hearts

4 Diamonds

5 Clubs

Pass

 

When West bids 4 Diamonds he is making a slam try showing five cards in Spades and at least four cards in Diamonds.  Over four-of-a-minor, opener needs to be able to sign-off, support responder’s major, bid keycard for responder’s major and bid keycard for responder’s minor.  There is only one method to accomplish all of the above.  After responder bids four-of-a-minor, opener with a minimum, bids four of responder’s major to show three or four-card support or bids five of responder’s minor with support for the minor.  Opener bids 4NT to deny a fit for either of responder’s suits.  Opener bids the lower off-suit (non-trump suit) as keycard for BOTH of responder’s suits.  Since there are two trump suits, there are six keycards, four Aces and two Kings.  There are also two Queens.

 

The responses are:-

 

 

1st step                       1 or 4 keycards

2nd step                      0 or 3 keycards

3rd step                       2 keycards no Queen of Diamonds or Spades

4th step                       2 keycards plus one Queen

5th step                       2 keycards plus two Queens

 

Thus in the example West responds to the keycard bid of 4 Hearts by bidding 5 Clubs the third step to show 2 keycards and no Queen.  This is sufficient for East to bid 6 Spades.

 

In the play let us assume that the opening lead is a low Club to the Queen.  Declarer plays a low Spade to the Jack and Ace at trick two and North returns a trump at trick three.  The last trump is drawn at trick four.  Declarer should then seek to combine his chances in the red suits by trying to ruff out the Queen of Hearts.  Accordingly at trick five he plays a low Heart to the King and cashes the Ace of Hearts at trick six.  At tricks seven and eight the King and Ace of Clubs are cashed discarding one Heart and one Diamond from the Dummy.  At trick nine the third round of Hearts is ruffed in the Dummy but the Queen has not yet appeared.  Now the last trump is cashed at trick ten on which Declarer discards his low Diamond.  This actually squeezes South who in order to keep the Queen of Hearts is forced to come down to only two Diamonds.  In the three card ending the Dummy has AJx in Diamonds while Declarer has K10 of Diamonds and the Jack of Hearts.  A low Diamond to the King at trick eleven and a second Diamond at trick twelve then shows up the Queen.  However note that even if South had started off with 9xxx in Diamonds rather than Q9xx then Declarer would drop the Queen of Diamonds offside at trick twelve because he knows that South’s last card is the Queen of Hearts.

 

 

2       Using Dummy’s long suit as a substitute for drawing trumps

 

Board 11 Thursday 26 June – Vulnerability White – Dealer South

 

 

K109xxx

xx

Jxx

Jx

 

xxx

KQJx

K10xxx

Q

 

None

Axxxxxx

AQxx

Kx

 

AQJx

None

x

A10xxxxxx

 

 

North

East

South

West

 

1 Spade

Pass

Pass

 

3 Hearts

6 Hearts

Pass

1 Club

4 Spades

6 Spades

Double

1 Diamond

5 Hearts

Pass

 

East’s bid of 3 Hearts is a “fit jump” showing four card Diamond support and at least five Hearts.  While South might be tempted to double 6 Hearts holding two Aces he should respect the fact that East has bid 6 Hearts freely and almost certainly has a void to bid the slam.  East opens with the Ace of Diamonds and continues with a second Diamond reducing the Dummy to three trumps.  At tricks three and four Declarer plays Ace and another Club to establish the long suit in the Dummy.  At trick five East plays the Ace of Hearts which is ruffed with the Jack of Spades in the Dummy.  At trick six the Queen of Spades is cashed.  On this trick the three nil trump break is disclosed.  South is left with only the Ace of trumps while West still has two trumps.  However Declarer now uses the now established Clubs as a means of drawing trumps.  As soon as West trumps one of the established Club winners North will overtrump and then draw the last trump by playing a low Spade to the Ace in the Dummy to then enjoy the remaining Club winners.  Alternatively if West refuses to trump the winning Clubs then all of Declarer’s losers in the red suits will be discarded.  Thus the contract goes just one down for minus 100 which is a terrific result against 6 Hearts making.

 

 

3       Slam universally missed

 

Board 27 Monday 30 June – Vulnerability White – Dealer South

 

 

Axxx

A10x

AK9xx

x

 

Q109xx

Kxx

xxx

Qx

 

Kxx

xxxx

Jx

109xx

 

J

QJx

Q10x

AKJxxx

 

 

 

 

North

East

South

West

 

1 Diamond

2 Spades

3 Hearts

4 Diamonds

4NT

6 Diamonds

 

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

1 Club

2 Clubs

3 Diamonds

3NT

4 Spades

5 Clubs

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

 

Not a single North South pair out of the ten tables managed to bid to a slam in Diamonds on this hand.  In fact a Grand Slam is makeable but I doubt that the odds would justify bidding the Grand.

 

South rebids 2 Clubs guaranteeing a six carder and North shows his second suit Spades.  At this point I can only guess that all the Souths in question foolishly bid No trumps at this stage.  However as North has shown a strong hand with at least five Diamonds and four Spades it is much more important for South to show the excellent Diamond support holding two honours in the suit.  North now bids the 4th suit and now South bids No trumps to admit to a Heart stop.  North is still interested in a slam and takes 3NT out  to 4 Diamonds.  Now South cuebids four Spades showing either the King or a singleton.  Over 4 Spades North could probably jump to 6 Diamonds but he goes through the motions of RKCB to check that partner has one keycard before doing so.