Good morning

A little bit of housekeeping

The club's house elves have asked us to mention two things with regard to housekeeping:

Firstly, please could all used mugs be placed in the box on the stacked chairs at the end of the refreshments area, rather than somewhere on the refreshments table (or in random places elsewhere in the room). This makes it easier at the end of a session for the house elves to work out which mugs are clean - so that only the dirty ones get taken home and washed.

Secondly, we are very grateful to those of you who bring biscuits. Please could you place these on the top shelf of our cupboard in the Bridge office, rather than opening the packet and adding them to the refreshments table. The house elves will only put them out when any biscuits already there have been eaten up. This avoids large numbers of  biscuits being left uneaten at the end of a session - and thus wasted!

Possible forum for discussing hands after a duplicate session

Some of you may remember how, in the dim and distant past, a small group of us would descend on a local hostelry after Bridge on a Monday to discuss a few of that evening's more interesting hands. We are wondering if there might be any mileage in reviving this tradition - either on a Monday night or on a Wednesday afternoon. Let us know what you think!

At the the table: the Directors' Cut

So ... when can you ask your opponents about their system, conventions and partnership agreements:

1. During the auction when it is your turn to call, e.g. you could ask an opponent what she understands by one of her partner's bids; however, if the answer to the question is unlikely to make any difference to whether you bid (or what you bid), if is probably better to wait until the review period at the end of the auction to ask such questions.

2. At the end of the auction before the opening lead is faced, e.g. you could ask opponents to explain one or more of the bids made by their partners during the auction; at this point it is perfectly OK to, in effect, ask for a full review of the bidding.

3. When it is your turn to play a card during the play of the hand, e.g. Declarer could ask an opponent what signals and discards they are using.

Last week at the club

There were five full tables at the Lindum on Monday evening. Congratulations to Alan & John who finished top with 65.1% and to Mike & Phil who came second with 63.5%.

At Bridge School on Tuesday, Improvers started a two-week module on refreshing their overcalling skills.  Beginners continued work on their second module - opening one-of-a-suit and responding when partner has opened one-of-a-suit.

There were eight full tables at the Lindum on Wednesday afternoon. Well done to Chris & Ann who finished top with 58.0% and to Bill & Colin who came second with 57.4%.

This week‘s calendar

Monday 10th March: normal duplicate session at the Lindum; please be seated by 6.20 pm, ready to start play at 6.30 pm.

Tuesday 11th March: Bridge School in Saxilby, starting at 4.15 pm; this week Improvers will be completing their second "In a Nutshell" module, which is on overcalling. Beginners will be continuing with their second module - on opening one-of-a-suit and responding when partner has opened one-of-a-suit.

Wednesday 12th March: This week's duplicate session at the Lindum is the ECats Sim Pairs in aid of Mind & Macmillan Cancer support, which means that table money will be £5; please be seated by 1.05 pm, ready to start play at 1.15 pm.

Thursday 13th March: Bridge Practice online at 6.30 pm (please let Rob know by at least the day before if you will be able to join us).

County events

Results:

Our club entered two teams into the Garden Cities Trophy qualifier yesterday: Lincoln (Phil & Sue, Janet & Andy, Chris & Ann and Alan & John) and Eastgate (Maurice & Jenny, Alison & Andrew, Roger & Margaret and Bill & Colin). Out of the six teams present, Eastgate came fourth and Lincoln came fifth. Well done to everyone for taking part. The winners of the event were a team from Louth.

Forthcoming county events:

Please see the Lincolnshire Contract Bridge Association website for more details.