This Day saw four RAC teams join 26 more at 1015 am for this annual Hurlingham event. Six x 6 board matches 20 VP for a maximum win. Imp scoring. The winners from Roehampton got off to a flyer scoring 85% from the first four and despite two marginal losing score draws could not be caught.

My team Marina, Terry, Isabelle. Tony after a 62% start at the same stage were lying 8^th. A couple of heavy fingers (no undos) by us were costly but they doubled me in an easy  4S+ 2 to return the favour later. The fireworks were reserved for the pen ultimate board. We were EW Vulnerable, South deals and passes.    

Tony.        S.AQ                        S.K                Isabelle

                 H.Q107                   H. AK8542

                 D.AQ1087              D9

                 C.985                      C.AKJ104

We bid 1D – 1H – 1NT (12-14) – 3C (two suiter, game force) 3H – 4NT – 5S (Key card, two +QH) – 6H. On the lead of 6C Isabelle know that 12 tricks were now secure, relaxed and played immediately to the QH discovering JXXX in South. Quick to point out her own error she knew that the routine safety play of AH from the double honour would yield all 13.

The small slam was bid just 6 times and 7H three times once doubled and of course made! Our opponents also bid 7H in R2 and on the same lead missed the safety play. +1530 and gave us 19 VP and 3^RD place. The final triumph came from Michael and David M who bid the Grand (should not, against the odds) on a spade lead Michael got the safety play and admitting to sweating, the club Finesse.

Well organised as always by the hospitable H.club. There was one warning halfway through about ethical conduct, but I know no more.

Many members today prefer to have the top three suit bids available as “weak” leaving 2C as the all - purpose game force. Unfortunately, they tend not to agree the criteria accurately or the responses. They use the 2D relay too freely and this often leaves them at the3 level yet to make a natural bid. It is for this reason that Benjamin developed his two bids differentiating between the Acol 8 playing tricks (2C) and the 23 point + (2D). The key question if you are playing the all - purpose bid is, game force or not? If so, what are the parameters for 2C. B36 of the Championship pairs produced a fair quota of chaos! Five different contracts. Look first at the South hand only. West deals at Game All.

I am not sure what Ros and Bob Bowman would have thought about  a virtual Championship Pairs event in their names but if they were looking down on us on Sunday they would have smiled at the outcome. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let us congratulate Malcolm Bricknell and Peter Hardyman for coming top of the list on 59.5%. I have not retained detailed records but I would guess that this is possibly the lowest ever score to win the RAC annual Pairs Championship. As my partner and I vied for bottom place in the field of 40 pairs I can personally testify to some serious competitive playing throughout. There are a number of recognised star bridge players in the RAC, most of whom competed on Sunday, stars recognisable from the many many  cup and plaques, which they have won in recent years. None of them finished higher than halfway! So let us praise those members who did, starting with John Craggs and Pascale Hakim who came a close second on 58.6%, Andrea Geser and her partner Malcolm McIvor who came 6^th on 55%, Martin Langdon and David Wilson 9^th on 53%, John Kemball and Chris Morris 10^th on 53% and Sally and Paul Found 15th on 51%. An excellent turnout and no high tea. A few prizes to distribute which Howard Salter is organising and Sally will no doubt share with us in her next bridge news bulletin.

Michael Bailey 

The RAC was pleased to register its first ever victory against the MCC. Maybe the secret to the RAC success was to play at a neutral venue (BBO) or might it be that the team remained sober! In the past we have been unable to benefit from the Pall Mall Home advantage and at Lord’s we have been undone by the treacherous slope...

The RAC team was captained by Lester who was partnered by Robin and making up their foursome were Michael Bailey and David Mannooch. The other half of the team was Marina and Terry and Isabelle and Tony. The two halves of the team compared scores via text at the half way stage after the first two innings to find the RAC were 31 Imps up. Runs on the board help and although the MCC rallied in the 3rd and 4th innings  it was only to reduce the final margin of victory to 29 Imps. We are grateful to our good friends at the MCC who have agreed that we organise these bilateral friendlies once a quarter during the current period of social distancing. We look forward to our next match with the MCC and live in hope that it may even be in person.

Lester Pereira

This years Cotton Cup final was played on 14 Dec 

The less well known to us pairing of Jeremy Bard and Robert Woodbridge put in a particularly strong showing to beat several established partnerships on their way to the finals - Colin and Howard, and Michael Bailey and David Manooch in the semis. Jeremy and Robert have played occasionally at both clubhouses but certainly the pairing was this years X factor.

Pitted against them in the finals was Lester Pereira and Pralab Barua, a pair with a fair bit of rubber bridge experience to fall back on. 

Experience and a good deal of Lady Luck ultimately prevailed in a match played in great spirit, with Lester and Pralab lifting the trophy. 

No doubt we will encounter Jeremy and Robert more often, as we have done on BBO, and hope to see more of them when the regular bridge resumes at Pall Mall.

We are delighted to confirm that our new start date for face-to-face bridge is confirmed as Thursday 2 September with refreshments at 6.30pm and with bridge starting 7.00pm.

On that night we will have complimentary wine and canapés available from 6.30pm and start bridge at 7.00pm and go straight through playing 24 boards and finishing around 10.00pm.

The buffet has restarted in the Long Bar so there will be time to eat supper on Thursdays there before bridge starts.

We will be cashless and payments for members will be through membership account and guests will be able to pay with a debit or credit card. The fee for Thursday or Sunday face-to-face sessions is £5.00 per member and £15.00 per guest. 

We will be using the Brian bridge app to score and hand sanitiser will be available. Communal nuts and crisps will not be allowed. Further details about new arrangements on return will be available soon on bridgewebs.

As previously, invited guests are very welcome at all face-to-face sessions if they are playing with a Club member or at the fourth Thursday of the month if they wish to play with another guest. If you are receiving this email you are invited! 

In the meantime we will continue on Bridge Base Online (BBO) and I am grateful to Nicole and all her team for their hard work. Please remember to pay Nicole £5.00 per session or £35.00 for all sessions in a month. The link to pay is  here.  

The revised BBO timetable is below:
 

Swiss Teams: Wednesday 29 September, 6.45pm to continue on BBO from September, none in August.

Please register as a team from 5.00pm and well before 6.30pm. Then be back online by 6.30pm ready for the start. The joining instructions are the same as last time and are on  bridgewebs. Please fill in your team names in advance on the list on bridgewebs.

We hope to run Swiss Teams on the last Wednesday of every month from Wednesday 29 September.

Sunday 26 September, instead of BBO we will have a monthly last Sunday face-to-face Bridge at Pall Mall clubhouse at 2.30pm. Sunday lunch is available in the Brooklands Room and again we hope we might get bridge players together beforehand over lunch. Further details will be available nearer the time but please note the date now. This is a session which is suitable for all levels of bridge players so give it a go. Guests receiving this email playing with another guest are very welcome to attend as well. 

Dates for your diary 

Saturday 25 September and Sunday 26 September: Beginners Bridge Course. Once again run by our terrific teacher Anne Catchpole. Booking is now open only a few spaces left so book quickly if you are interested in starting to play bridge and tell your friends about it. Click here to book.

Sunday 31 October: Ros and Bob Bowman Championship Pairs. All day flagship event. More details to follow.

Monday 15 November: Centenary Cup and Dinner. This is an annual invitation event to various clubs.

Thursday 9 December: Christmas Dinner. More details to follow but please keep the date free. This promises to be a lovely evening.

January-March 2022: The Devonshire Cup. We had to cancel this for 2021 but are running it at its normal time in 2022.

Thursday 17 March 2022: The Ross Cope Memorial Swiss Teams.

We are so looking forward to seeing everyone again and not having to always sit in front of a computer screen to play!

Best wishes

Sally
Bridge Activity Committee, Pall Mall
bridge-pmcommittee@royalautomobileclub.co.uk

Last week we published “First at the Reform” on HOW, this featured a Grand Slam available in NT, H & D. Marina and I were the only pair to bid 7D, only three others bid the 6H. It lead to an instructive debate between partners not about who was right or wrong but the fundamental approach to the hand. Missing the optimum result neither of us thought much of our auction.

The Circle has a serious weakness in Slam bidding costing us matches regularly. In IMP scoring Slams enjoy greater importance because one board can cost the outcome. Particularly at Swiss Teams. Look for example at 15July on the site. There were three hands where slams were predicted. Collectively just three pairs bid them on the day.

I wrote a series of articles on HOW about the approach to 2C openers. Look, at them, beginning with “The Gods laughed.”* In that hand responder to a 2C opener held two  Kings putting him mentally in the slam zone. He failed to recognise that only one of his Ks was valuable. Which one? He did not get there and missed the slam. The great Blue team geared their system to the big hands, they made responses about “controls” A=2 K=1 they also recognised that once P is known to be big the weak hand assumes great importance. How weak?

I think the weak hand’s attitude of mind should be “what in my hand will opener want to know about?” He will not want to know (initially at least) about bad suits. Controls first. Many pairs use a 2D response as a relay. I think this is wrong – it should deny a positive. Responding with a positive should be in the controls suit. There is no reason why a 2S response must be five**. Try to keep the bidding as low a possible to open space to describe both hands. The big hand will need most space. Avoid jump bids that use space. There must be a good reason. Example 2C - 3S should show a solid suit AKQJ10*** or extended length. Like the man with two Ks do not leap to an early conclusion. If there is a sure six – you must be on the edge of seven. Once one Partner bids Blackwood they are in charge.  Answer truthfully.  

*The Gods Laughed. **Grand First at the Reform. *** The All Purpose 2C.

We will be following National, EBU and Club guidelines hence:

• We will not be able to have nuts and crisps or sandwiches at Bridge in the future hence so as to let people have time to eat beforehand we will be starting sharp at 7.00pm and going straight through with no break aiming to finish at 10.00pm. Complimentary tea and coffee will be  available at the start. The price /session remains at £5.00 per member and £15.00 for a guest
• The Long Bar is now open and is a great option for a quick meal before hand.
• We will be replacing all the playing cards so that they are new
• Hand sanitiser will be available 
• We will not be using bridgemates for scoring and will use the BriAn appwhich many of you have already downloaded to your phones and previously used. If you have not please do so but so as to keep things a bit shorter and clearer this month a fuller explanation of how this app works will be available in July 
• Assuming we are allowed to, we plan to return to face-to-face bridge on Thursdays from 2 September. This first one will have a welcome back event beforehand with a glass of complimentary wine available from 6.30pm. This will be the start date for both main Thursday Bridge and Anne’s Intermediate Bridge and all players are welcome for a chat and drink beforehand in the Mountbatten Room. We would also like to extend this invitation to join us for Bridge in July and August to other St James's and like club members who have supported us in this last year
• We plan to currently continue with Sunday Bridge online on BBO at 11.00am. However from Sunday 26 September, instead of BBO we will have a monthly last Sunday face-to-face Bridge at Pall Mall clubhouse at 2.30pm. Sunday lunch is available in the Brooklands Room and again we hope we might get bridge players together beforehand over lunch. Further details will be available nearer the time but please note the date now.

We are so looking forward to seeing everyone back. Obviously if the Government guidelines change we will have to change our dates but everything crossed we will be able to continue with the plan as outlined above. We will have more details as we move forward with plans but wanted to let you all know where we are so far.  

When you double an opponent, you should be aware that you are giving him information that will assist his play. Since a penalty of any kind will surely result in a bad score serious risk must be taken to land the contract. B13 at the Dutch C 28/9. Love All North deals.

The annual Café Bridge took place under the auspices of the Naval & Military club over 30 boards on 27/9

Won by Sami and Ruth Masri with a commanding 67%, from Howard Salter and Anthony Simmonds (RAC) with an excellent 61%. Ruth & Sam are well known to us as stalwarts of the Hurlingham for many years congrats and no surprise. They always play “old fashioned” Acol, keeping it simple and it makes them steady and reliable. They reached the good 6D on B 29.

I do not know the actual bidding but with their methods I think it would have gone:*

                  S.J2                           S.AK1093

   Dealer    H.3                            H.KQ10

                  D.KQJ643                 D.A1075

                  C.A753                      C.3      *rotated for convenience

1D – 2S – (game force good suit) – 3C – 3D – 4NT – 5H (two keys) 6D . It looks easy but only three others bid it. Well done.

On 11th October the RAC was entertained by the Athenaeum to an enjoyable and successful evening. The RAC won by a comfortable  margin  of 26 IMPs but not so high that they felt knocked out. It was as friendly and hospitable as always and the regulars like Charito and Pauli were in their element.

Howard Salter

On 13th October Woodcote Park entertained Pall Mall to bridge and tea. First thanks toPauline who dealt 24 amazing boards. Then to Robert , bullied into playing so the match would not be postponed . The result could not have been much closer with WP just holding on to a first half lead of 19 IMPs to eventually win by just 3 IMPs. 
We look forward to meeting our friends in Pall Mall next year.

Michael Bailey

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Sunday 31st October saw a triumphant return of the club's flagship event, when 40 players came to play Swiss pairs in the Mountbatten Room for the Ros and Bob Bowman trophy.

Play started at 1pm, and 24 boards later, Marina and Terry were 17 VPs clear. They had two bottles of champagne for their session prize, and a in a strong position for the championship. 

When play resumed at 5pm, a new pair was in the ascendancy - fuelled by cake and sandwiches, Robin and Amanda rocketed to victory in session two with 85 VPs, narrowly pipping Michael and Emma on 84 and Nisha and Kiran on 77.   

Meanwhile Marina and Terry had suffered from food coma and plummeted. Ultimately it was the steady performance of Gary and Paul that delivered them the trophy with a final total of 150 VPs. Honorable mentions go to 

 - Marina and Terry - 145 VPs

 - Michael and Emma - 142 VPs

 - Nisha and Kiran, Shiv and Pralab - 135 VPs

Thanks to all the players for your participation - we look forward to seeing you at forthcoming events!

Victor Lesk - Tournament Director

On Monday 15 November, an otherwise quiet clubhouse became buzzing with bridge players, as teams of eight from clubs all over flocked to Pall Mall for the Centenary Cup. 

After a close-fought six round Swiss competition, the RAC's own Blue team prevailed with 88 IMPs. The Red team were second with 59. Roehampton put in a valiant effort to pip Woodcote Park for third place, by a single IMP.

The club was delighted to welcome players from The Athenæum, Hurlingham, The In and Out, The Lansdowne, the MCC, Roehampton and the The Savile to join the two RAC Pall Mall teams and Woodcote Park in the best-attended competition at the RAC since 2017. The bridge was played - in the atmosphere of lively competition and fine sportsmanship for which the club is renowned - in the two wings of the Mountbatten Room, with East-Wests traversing a sea of dinner table settings each round to find their next opponents. The event, ably organised by Brigitte Kisiel, was concluded with a tasty supper of smoked salmon followed by chicken, with Michael Bailey MCing.

Thanks to all the teams for helping to make the Centenary Cup competition so enjoyable -  we look forward to seeing you at our Thursday evening duplicates and other future events!

Victor Lesk - Tournament Director with Gitte Hecht-Johansen

Photo by Faye Lucas: Centenary Cup Winners RAC Blue