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Visitors are welcome to all events except Teams, Individual and Championship pairs

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Click  'Latest News' and 'Bridge Affairs' for all latest information.
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Duplicate Bridge Sessions

Monday afternoon 1.30 for 1.45pm
Wednesday afternoon 2.15 - 4.15 pm (Supervised Bidding & Play for all standards.  Visitors welcome.)
Thursday afternoon 1.30 pm (Improvers / Hosted / 18 - 24 Boards)
Mon through Thurs evenings 6.45 pm for 7.00
Friday evening 7.00pm (Relaxed / Hosted / Suitable for Improvers /15-18 Boards)

(Visitors welcome. See calendar for special events and changes)





Recent Updates
Home Page
7th March 2010
Club Address & Facilities
Club Address & Facilities

 


Holtom Street
Stratford-upon-Avon
Warwickshire  CV37 6DQ

01789 297313

Dedicated facilities: 20 Tables

Pre-dealt Boards
Electronic Scorepads
Instant Results
Masterpoints Awarded

VISITORS WELCOME

(Click on any item for more information)

Partner Wanted?

Looking for a partner? If so, please phone Elinor Coldron on 01789 269844 and she'll do what she can to help.

Hand of the Week
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

W
e
s
t
North
E
a
s
t
 
 
 
South
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Bidding
W N E S
. . . .
Board 12 Wed 10 Feb Submitted by Peter Randall
Dealer W, N/S vulnerable.
Bidding:
6 of the 9 tables reached the correct contract of 6NT on the N/S cards, generally by S but also by one N (I opened 1NT on the N cards).  The other 3 tables stopped in 3  – these were all played by S
The interest is in the play, both declarer and defence.  3 of the slam declarers went down, though the contract can always be made.
There are only 11 tricks on top, though 2 declarers (one in slam, one in game) were given an immediate 12th trick by a S2 lead!  (UGH! Where are your standard leads?)  3 declarers made 13 tricks, which can only be made through mis-defence. 
HOW DO YOU PLAY?

The following analysis essentially applies whichever way the hand is played, since if S is declarer the normal lead would be SQ, giving away nothing, and S would then start on the diamonds.
I got D2 lead, which exposed the position straight away.  The defensive point is that if E plays the D suit correctly, covering one low lead from the N hand but not both, N/S can’t run 5 diamond tricks.  Where is the 12th?
I won D6, cashed DQ and led a third.  Gillian correctly covered, which killed the long card in the suit, so I won DK, and started on hearts.  I ducked the first round, since if the suit’s 3-3 a long heart provides a 12th trick, and it rectifies the count for a squeeze if need be. 
The suit turns out to be 4-2, with the length with W (I don’t remember what the return was – almost certainly a spade – but it doesn’t matter).  But that automatically lead to a double squeeze (I don’t know at the time that E doesn’t have a third spade higher than the 8): E guards the diamonds, W guards the hearts, so neither can guard the spades if they hold onto the red suits.  Play DA, CAK, HAK, and spade to the K.  The remaining cards are:
                                                ♠ 9
                                                ♥ 8
                                                ♦ -
                                                ♣ Q
                        ♠ J (?)                                     ♠ ? (?)
                        ♥ Q                                          ♥ -
                        ♦ -                                            ♦ J
                        ♣ (?)                                       ♣ (?)
                                                ♠ A 8
                                                ♥ -
                                                ♦ 8
                                                ♣ -
Both E & W hold 2 black cards, which should be spades to give declarer a problem, but declarer doesn’t know how they’re distributed.  The CQ operates the double squeeze: E must discard a black card to keep DJ, so D8 goes away from S.  Similarly, when W keeps HQ (in fact, she discarded it), declarer knows each defender has at most one spade, so can cross to SA8 for the last two tricks.  In fact, because E has only two spades the potential double squeeze degenerates into a simple heart-spade squeeze on W, but declarer doesn’t know that.
An alternative line is for declarer to leave the hearts alone, and rectify the count by giving E the 5th round of diamonds.  In the end position, CQ squeezes W in the majors (there are variant endings, according to the order in which declarer plays the cards, but they’re all essentially the same).  But I think the double squeeze is prettier, and a better line, as it allows you to test the 3-3 hearts possibility along the way.  And if it turns out that E guards both hearts and diamonds, then again you can squeeze him / her in the reds.
Learn or Improve Your Bridge

Beginners and Improvers.
Tuition and Supervised Play sessions available.

SEMINAR ‘Overcalls & Responses’

Ian Thompson
Monday 22 March
Includes supervised play.
7.0 pm start.   £3.
Visitors welcome.

Results
Wed 10th Mar 2010
Tue 9th Mar 2010
Mon 8th Mar 2010
Afternoon
Mon 8th Mar 2010
Evening
Fri 5th Mar 2010
Thu 4th Mar 2010
Afternoon
Thu 4th Mar 2010
Evening
Calendar
Thu 11th Mar 2010
Handicap Pairs (Round 6/8)
19.00
Mon 22nd Mar 2010
Ian Thompson Seminar: ‘Overcalls & Responses’
7.0 pm
Tue 30th Mar 2010
Handicap and Club Teams (Round 5/8)
19.00
Tue 6th Apr 2010
Championship Pairs (Round 7/8)
19.00
Thu 8th Apr 2010
Handicap Pairs (Round 7/8)
19.00
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