Bendigo Bridge Club
Release 2.19q
Key Messages

New Code of Good Conduct published

The club has adopted a new Code of Good Conduct that members and guests will be expected to follow. For further information, see the new 'Code of Good Conduct' news item, on the right-hand side of this page.

Afternoon Tea with the Guv (+ Report)

Every Victorian bridge club received an invitation from the Governor of Victoria to send two members (a pair) to a special Afternoon Tea and Bridge event, to be held on Wednesday, 15 November at Government House.
Your committee unanimously agreed to nominate the Goddards as our representatives.
They weren't the only BBC members attending. Our neighbours, Maine BC, nominated Ron Wescott & Louise Griffin; the Victorian Youth Team nominated Seb Wright; and  Sandhurst Bridge Acadamy nominated Denis Upsall & Faye Symons.  All five are also members of our club.
Congratulations to all - we hope you had a wonderful day! Click here to read Jennifer's entertaining match report.

Victorian Bridge Centre Congress

The VBC Summer Congress is coming up on November 25th and 26th - click on VBC Summer Congress flyer for details.

Library News

Our Librarian has been busy adding interesting new titles to the bookshelves. Check out menu Education > Library to find the latest available titles.

Tea Breaks Return

The committee has decided to reinstate 10-minute Tea Breaks into our regular Club sessions - on a 3-month trial basis - commencing Monday 25th September.  Please note that in order to ensure that sessions finish in a reasonable time, our directors will be more strictly enforcing the Round Timer clock. 

Martin Willcox Workshops at Ballarat BC

Ballarat BC are hosting a second series of Martin Willcox workshops, with the aim of fostering player advancement and social contact between clubs. The workshops are free. BYO lunch.

Where: Ballarat Bridge Club, 1001 Eyre Street, BALLARAT 3350

When & What:

Tuesday, October 3, 10:00 AM: Playing the hand
Tuesday, November 14, 10:00 AM: Playing Defence
Tuesday, December 5, 10:00 AM: TBA

2023 Australia-wide Open Pairs (Corrected)

(Apologies to Wendy & Glenda - their results were better than originally reported.)

The final results of the 2023 AWOP event are in. Congratulations to our best performed pair, Wendy Bodey & Glenda Burt (107/1477 pairs). Wendy & Glenda also managed a very creditable 41st place in the Under-300 MSP section. 

To view the results in full, click on this link: 2023 AWOP Results

Players: click your name to view your personalised results booklet

Lego Room Heating (Back on)

The heating in the Lego Room seems to be fixed. However, if you are sensitive to temperature variations, please wear layers so that you can adjust your clothing to keep yourself warm and comfortable.

Bridge Victoria

A link to the August BV bulletin can be found in the Bridge Musings panel below (scroll down). Includes a pic of Seb and his victorious Victorian Youth Team-mates.

Monthly Nosh & Natter

Our MN&N social dinners will resume in September.  These Thursday evening get-togethers are informal social events - a chance for members (and their spouses / partners) to have a friendly natter about... anything really, over some good pub food and drink. 

Need more details? Contact Eamon Dempsey on 0408 467 599.

2023 Ashes - Ballarat Win

The Ashes were contested for the 25th time on Saturday 22 April at Ballarat BC. Unfortunately (for us) the hosts were runaway winners and retained the trophy but congratulations to our best-performed Bendigo pair (with 3rd place overall) Ron Wescott & Barb Evans. Thank you to all our pairs that took part and a big thank you to our gracious and generous hosts. Full results are available on the Bridge Unlimited website in the Results > Victorian Congress Events section.

2022 Club Awards & Trophies

The winners of our various awards, trophies and prizes were announced at the Xmas Social. To view a full list of the winners, in the Menu sidebar (above) click on 'Membership & Bookings' then click on 'Club Competitions', then scroll down to '2022 Honour Board'. Congratulations to all our winners! 

 

Covid-19

As at Oct 2023, Covid-19 is still prevalent in the community. To keep your fellow members safe from infection, please…

  • Do not come to play if you have any symptoms, go and get tested.
  • Wear a mask when playing. A supply of disposable masks will be available.
  • Sanitise between rounds
  • Wear layers for comfort and warmth – where weather conditions allow we will be opening windows and doors to facilitate natural ventilation.
  • Stay vaccinated – 2023 booster shots are available for most of our members.
  • If you are at high risk of getting very sick with COVID-19, apply for access to anti-viral medicines that can help you stay well, or treat the symptoms if you contract COVID-19.

For further information, please visit the DHSS Coronavirus Victoria website.

Beginners
Beginners Corner

Opening the bidding with 1NT.

If you have 15-17 HCP and a balanced hand ALWAYS open 1NT.  If you have a second suit to rebid, you may open 1 of a suit.  If you open 1NT with a 5 card Major, learn the conventions for managing that situation.

The risk in not opening 1NT with 15-17 HCP is that you can miss a 3NT game if partner has 8-9 HCP, because when you rebid 1NT with 15 HCP but without a second suit, partner will pass.  You will be left in a 1NT contract making 9 tricks for a bottom board!

Some people think that they need to have all suits stopped, but that is wrong thinking.  When you open 1NT your partner has a complete picture of your hand in one bid. 

Remember you only need 7 tricks in 1NT.  Even if the opposition run the first 5 tricks in a long suit, you can still make your 7 tricks. 

If you can't make your 7 tricks it usually means you have stolen the contract from your opponents and should end up with a fair result anyway.

Advancing partner's overcall

If you do not have sufficient points for game over partner's minimum point overcall, consider passing as your first option.

If you must bid, a good rule of thumb is to subtract 2 from your hand value and then consider bidding as though your partner opened.

If you Advance with 1NT it should tell your partner that you have an opening hand with stoppers in the oponent's suit(s), but without a fit in partner's suit.

Only bid your own suit over partner's overcall if you have good point count, are short or void in partner's suit, and have a long suit of your own.

 

Development Tutorials

The Director / Etiquette / Laws & Code of Conduct 

What is my partner's bid telling me?  1C, 1D, 1H, 1S openings and responses

1NT opening and responses - excluding Stayman

Alerting & Announcing

Stayman

Limit Bids

Strong 2C openings and responses

Weak 2 openings & responses (pre-emptive bidding)

Stronger NT Openings (with 18-19 HCP, 20-22 HCP, 23-24 HCP, 25-26 HCP)

Overcalling and when to advance

Double - review takeout X and penalty X

Slam bidding (Blackwood/Gerber)

Sacrificial bidding

Make an opening lead against a suit contract (Ref) (for further information)

Make an opening lead against a Notrump contract (Ref.) (for further information)

The Finesse - a mini lesson

Scoring