 Welcome |
Welcome to the Student News page on our site where you will find the information your require to get you started on your online course and all the latest news regarding your course.
Please check back for the latest news and enjoy your course!
|
|
|
|
| Mentored Novice Pivot Teams - What is it? |
The Mentored Novice Pivot Teams event run annually by WCBA is an opportunity to take part in a slightly different format of the game against players of similar experience. As the name suggests it is teams event instead of a pairs event - each team is made up of 4 players - 2 pairs
Teams of four has each pair teamed up with another pair and they play the same boards in opposite directions to their team-mates against the same opposing team. They score up by simply adding the scores of the two pairs for each board. Usually this is then converted to IMPs and sometimes the overall score is then converted to Victory Points. Don't worry about this now. I can explain later.
How does it work? Suppose you are in 4S making 10 tricks, scoring 420. Your team-mates will be playing the opposite cards against your opponent's team-mates who might also be in 4S making 10 tricks, in which case your team-mates score -420 giving your team a score of 0. However your team mates may be defending 3NT which makes 9 tricks, so they score -400, which gives your team an overall score of +20. However they may defeat 3NT by a trick scoring 50, giving your team a score of +470. This score is converted into IMPs and IMPs are summed to give a match winner.
Why pivot? Normally in a teams game you play with the same partner throughout. In pivot teams you swap partners so that you partner each of your team-mates a third of the boards.
Mentored means that an experienced play is part of your team - so you can blame them when it all goes wrong!
If you are interested in playing please sign up on this page. The club will pay the entrance fee.
|
|
|
|
 Mentored Novice Pivot Teams 2026 |
Click the title for details
To enter please fill in your name.
Entries cannot be deleted so if want to delete your entry, fill in the name as before, tick the "Delete Name" box and then click "Submit"
|
|
|
|
|
| Hand1 |
Show Detail |
North is playing the hand in clubs. East starts with the ♠A which wins then switches to ♥Q which West wins with the ♥A and leads another ♥ which North wins with the ♥K. Plan the play to win the remaining tricks.
|
| Show Answer |
Lead a small ♣ to ♣A . East will show out. It is easy then then to finesse the ♣Q - Lead a ♣ If West plays the ♣10 , you play the ♣J and the ♣Q falls on your ♣K . If West play ♣Q, you play ♣K and the ♣10 falls on your ♣J . If you start with ♣K then you will lose a trick to the ♣Q.
With the opponents trumps removed, play a small ♦ to ♦Q, then a small ♦ back to ♦A , followed by ♦K . North's fourth ♦ can now be ruffed in dummy. If you start with ♦A, followed by ♦K then ♦Q you will be in the wrong hand. In this instance all is not lost as you can get back to your hand by ruffing a spade. If you try to get back to North using a club then you won't have a trump left in dummy so will lose a trick to the ♦J.
|
|
|
|
|
| Hand2 |
Show Detail |
East is playing in No Trumps. South leads the ♦ 2. How many tricks can east make?
|
| Show Answer |
On a diamond lead, there is a way for east to make all 13 tricks. East can count only 10 immediate winners (6 clubs, 2 diamonds and 2 spades) and so should be careful not just to play out all the top tricks (the defence will eventually win and then have winning diamonds). The goal is to make as many tricks as possible…. not just enough for game!
The best chance is to win the lead with ♦ K and play the spades immediately. Start with the ♠ K to avoid blocking the suit and then play the ♠ 9 towards ♠ AJ, planning to play the Jack so as to take a “finesse”. If the missing ♠ Q is in the south hand then the Jack will win the trick and then the Ace can take the Queen. East will now have 5 spade , 2 diamond and 6 club tricks, making all 13 without having to play the heart suit! |
|
|
|
|