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 February 2015

TIPS FOR IMPROVERS

 

Points of interest from the February 2015 duplicates

 

1       Splinter bid paints the perfect picture

 

Board 18 Monday 16 February – Vulnerability North South – Dealer East

 

 

xxxxxx

xx

xxx

xx

 

K10x

Jx

Jxx

Q9xxx

 

AJx

AKxxx

x

AK10x

 

Q

Q10xx

AKQ10xx

Jx

 

 

North

East

South

West

 

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

1 Heart

Double

4 Diamonds

6 Clubs

2 Diamonds

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

3 Clubs

4 Spades

Pass

 

None of the East Wests covered themselves in glory on this hand from the Monday duplicate.  Not a single pair managed to reach the excellent 6 Club contract and half the field failed even to reach game !

 

East opens 1 Heart and South’s 2 Diamond overcall is passed back to him.  At this stage the correct bid is Double because East has a shortage in Diamonds and support for both unbid suits.  East would be happy whatever West bids even if West had strong Diamonds and chose to pass for penalties.  West bids 3 Clubs and now the East hand has become hugely powerful.  While West’s 3 Club bid does not promise more than four cards there is a high probability that he has five given that he has denied either four cards in Spades or three cards in Hearts.  Accordingly East should now jump to 4 Diamonds as a splinter bid agreeing Clubs and suggesting the possibility of a slam.  West is delighted to co-operate as he has a fifth trump and the King of Spades is a key card.  Accordingly he cue-bids 4 Spades showing either the Ace or King and this is all the encouragement which East needs to jump to 6 Clubs.  There are no problems in the play as after drawing trumps declarer should seek to establish the fifth Heart rather than having to worry about the whereabouts of the Queen of Spades.  Result +920 to East West.

 

 

2       When a partnership has bid and supported two suits in an uncontested auction then 4NT is Roman Key Card in both suits – ie there are six keycards and two Queens

 

Board 13 Monday 16 February – Vulnerability Amber – Dealer North

 

 

AJx

KQ10x

K10xxx

x

 

10x

Jxx

x

QJ10xxxx

 

K9xx

xxx

xxx

Kxx

 

Q8xx

Axx

AQJx

Ax

 

 

North

East

South

West

1 Diamond

2 Spades

3 Hearts

5 Hearts

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

1 Spade

3 Diamonds

4NT

6 Diamonds

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

 

 

North opens 1 Diamond in and South responds 1 Spade.  A rebid of 2 Diamonds by North would guarantee a six card suit (because if North has say a 2=4=5=2 distribution he would rebid 1NT).  Therefore North’s correct bid is 2 Spades.  Note that although the North hand is close to a 3 Spade bid in terms of losers you cannot give a double raise when holding only three trumps.

 

South now bids 3 Diamonds forcing.  At this stage North should now bid 3 Hearts.  This conveys two messages.  Firstly that North has only three card Spade support and also strongly suggests that his shape is 3=4=5=1.  Now South knowing of the likely singleton Club opposite is very close to slam.  However because the partnership have bid and supported two suits it is logical that a jump to 4NT Roman Key Card should include the keycards in both Diamonds and Spades.  Thus the King of Diamonds and the King of Spades are included in the responses:-

 

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

 

 

3       Asking for a Diamond control

 

Board 4 Thursday 19 February – Vulnerability Amber – Dealer West

 

 

AJ

AKJ

J9x

AJ9xx

 

Q1098

10xx

AQ10xx

x

 

xxxxx

x

Kxxx

xxx

 

Kx

Qxxxxx

x

KQ10x

 

 

 

North

East

South

West

 

1 Club

2NT

3 Spades

5 Hearts

Pass

 

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

 

1 Heart

3 Hearts

4 Clubs

6 Hearts

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

Pass

 

North jumps to 2NT showing 18-19 over South’s response of 1 Heart.  South now rebids 3 Hearts forcing (as in the modern style if South had a weak hand and wanted to sign off in 3 Hearts he would bid 3 Clubs as prelude to signing off).  North now cue-bids 3 Spades and South co-operates in a possible slam venture by cue-bidding 4 Clubs.  At this stage all that North is worried about is the Diamond position.  Clearly he cannot bid Roman Key Card as if South shows zero keycards North will be none the wiser as to whether the defence can cash the first two tricks in Diamonds (even the first three tricks on a bad day).  Accordingly North jumps to 5 Hearts.  This asks partner to bid the slam if he has a Diamond control ie either a singleton, the King or the Ace.  South is happy to oblige and West has to lead the Ace of Diamonds to prevent the overtrick.

 

This may be put down in the form of a rule:-

 

IN AN UNCONTESTED AUCTION AFTER A MAJOR SUIT HAS BEEN AGREED AS TRUMPS AND CUE-BIDS EXCHANGED IN TWO OF THE NON-TRUMP SUITS A JUMP TO THE FIVE LEVEL OF THE TRUMP SUIT ASKS PARTNER TO BID A SLAM IF HE CAN PREVENT THE OPPOSITION FROM TAKING THE FIRST TWO TRICKS IN THE FOURTH SUIT.