Muggitorial

The Leicester Invitation Teams (reported on last time) brought some criticism about the Staffs. teams selected to go. The shortage of time resulted in teams being chosen on the basis of last year's League positions; next year a qualifying event will be run, given sufficient time and interest.

The County has some beautiful honour boards ... with nothing on them. They are large, and hence, not "mobile". Anyone who has the skills to update these boards would earn the gratitude of the Committee and might even get paid too!

Three of our trophies are missing. The Staffordshire Cup, Littleford Trophy (Individual), and Davies Cup (Mixed Pairs), if you know where they can be found, please inform a Committee Member.

The County will run a simultaneous pairs contest (played at affiliated clubs) to help the EBU to stage the European Championships in l987. Hopefully we will report on this in our next issue.

The good news is that the membership is up to 355; the bad news is that the EBU are putting up the subscription by a pound, making the total £7.

This edition should contain the AGM. notification; if it doesn't, I can tell you that it is on Friday 9th May. Why not turn up, even if it is only to throw custard pies at our Chairman.

The E.B.U.'s Master Point scheme has been revised and some changes made in the ranks you can attain. The new ranking list is:

So you can now spend a happy five minutes calculating whether you are a three star Tournament Master or a four star Tournament Master. I'm just a few greens away from becoming a Two Star Premium Regional Master. I don't think I'll be able to remember a mouthful like that.

So another Bulletin appears like magic when, at one point, I despaired of even getting a couple of pages out. Don't forget to send me the results of your Clubs Championship Finals.

How do you play the following card combinations?

Cl. AK9xx opposite Q10 for 4 tricks.

C2. Jxxxx opposite l0xx for 1 trick.

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER

A FEW FAMOUS SAYINGS AND AN ADDED COMMENT IN BRACKETS

The longer you can defer judgment, the more likely it is to be accurate.. But the more sides of a question you see, the less likely you are to form any opinion at all. (And I still guess the KJ combination wrong).
The contemplation of truth is the chief occupation of wisdom. (And the truth is: if I get this KJ combination wrong I go down).
The thought of suicide is a great consolation with the help of it one has got through many a bad night. (I've had many a bad night - then gone home to contemplate KJ combinations)
Life is not a spectacle or a feast, it is a predicament. (Actually, it is a KJ combination).
A man must swallow a toad each morning if he wishes to be sure of finding nothing still more disgusting before the day is over. (One of Headmaster's pre-empts for example).
Sexual enlightenment is justified insofar as girls cannot learn too soon how children do not come into the world. (Bridge enlightenment is justified insofar as people cannot learn too soon the joy to be derived from guessing KJ combinations)

Answers
Cl. Cash the Q, run the 10.      C2. Lead small to the 10.

DEEP DECISIONS     The Sullivan Powell Challenge - Nantwich Regional Final

33 teams, of non-expert status, converged on the Alvaston Hall Hotel to vie for a coveted place in the Grand Final. Staffordshire clubs were well repres­ented with Newcastle fielding 3 teams, one of them being my mob.

The competition was of 6 six board matches on the Swiss format; imps converted to Victory Points on a 0 - 20 scale.

Opening lead ♦Q and there are ♠K9xx offside, plan the play. (a clue: that double is a deep decision). If you ran the diamond to the ace, you are 2 off. If you took the king and subsequently ran the 10 to pin the 9, the lead being from Q9 doubleton, you can play in my team anytime. C.T. perpetrated the double and diabolical lead which helped towards a 20 - 0 victory.

With the spades behaving H. mustered 12 tricks and 10 imps when our opponent's finished in 3NT. A 14 - 6 win and you can decide if there is a deep decision here.

A deep decision by Muggins to pass 4H and an optimistic view by my opposite number on the other table. With the trump Q onside and doubleton. 13 tricks and 13 imps resulted. This win gave them an excellent chance of winning, but they only managed a draw in the last match and came second overall.

A succession of unsuccessful 'deep decision' bids had sapped my spirit, hence the 5C cue-bid over partner's sign-off. C.T. took the plunge and the contract depends on guessing the KJ position. I, of course, would have got it wrong. C.T. received a heart lead - also 'of course'! A disappointing finish, but a very enjoyable contest overall. The best news was that a Newcastle team won the event and will take part in the London final in May. The team was: Peter Jones (W.P.), Dave Patterson, Dave Marshall, Arnold Moss.

Congratulations lads - I'm real jealous.
P.S. Don't forget to win the Final and write a report for the Bulletin.

COMPETITIVE BIDDING

WHERE'S THE 10 OF CLUBS?

This is a variation of the game of 'Find the Lady'.

Option 3. can surely be discounted as East is unlikely to encourage on the heart switch and then discard his only honour, the Queen, so early in the end game.

Who are the E/W players you ask? David Beavon (West) and Bob Beech (East) - two more honest and trustworthy opponents you are never likely to come across#.

So what is it to be? Option 1. the finesse or Option 2, the drop?

The answer can be found at the end of this Bulletin)

(#this is true - you are never likely to come across an honest and trustworthy Beech and Beavon at the bridge table. Ed).

BUXTON WITHOUT MUGGINS - Captain Turf

"I've got some good news and some bad news," said Muggins upon my return from holiday. "The bad news is that if you were thinking of putting a team in for the B.B.L. Congress you will be one player short. The good news is that I'd be the missing player. I've been invited to play with the Welsh Pedlar and that's an offer I couldn't refuse".

I sought out the W.P. to buy him a thank you drink and inquire about his mental stability, and then obtained the services of Blue Stocking whose I.Q. has to be at least four times greater than Muggins's.

In our first match, admittedly against quite strong opponents, nothing seemed to be going well until this hand came along:

After our sophisticated and highly, inaccurate auction a spade was led and I played the queen from table and seven from hand, to try to encourage a continuation after I next ran the ♥10, which was taken by South's king. Thankfully another spade appeared and by the time I had run them all North had decided he was being squeezed in clubs and diamonds and came down to the doubleton king in clubs. Twelve tricks and 13 Imps and a good set from Headmaster and Austrian Princess enabled us to sneak an 11 - 9 win in V.P.'s.

Our second opponents were one of those tiresomely arrogant young teams playing Precision accompanied by lots of sneers. We had a gratifying 16 - 4 win against them- which brought us up against a London team. B.S. and I were playing a married couple and on the first two boards they made a couple of thinnish games, accompanied by lots of "Well bid Darling, Well played Darling, etcs". Then came this board with E/W vul.

Two more good wins and a final total of 79 V.P. put us into joint 12th out of 130 teams, with oodles of greenpoints and prize money. The Welsh Pedlar's team were 4th with 89 V.P. which has made Muggins unbearably smug*, though I suspect his team-mates, played out of their skins. Congratulations to them anyway.

Editorial Comment: Me! Smug! Never! Only joint 12th then?

NORTH VERSUS SOUTH IN FINAL

Just to prove that anything the North of the County can do the South of the County can do too, here is a report on another regional final.

Tettenhall Bridge Club, represented by Roy Biddlecombe, Mike Boulton, Alan Hattrick and Roger Steel, snatched a final round victory to win the Midlands Area Final of the Sullivan Powell Bridge Challenge at the Belfry Hotel, Sutton Coldfield, on Sunday 9th February.

After five rounds of play a team from the Nottingham Club looked certain to win the competition; however, they lost badly (4-16) in the final round of play giving the Tettenhall Team their chance - they took it and won their last match (20 - 0) and the competition with a 75% score. The Tettenhall Team will now go forward to represent the Midlands in the grand final in London for the second time in 3 years. It's almost an "instant replay" for half the team - Alan and Roger have played in the final before with Ken and Mary Slyde as teammates.

Congratulations to them; don't forget to come second in the Grand Final and send me a report of your adventures.

BUXTON CONGRESS

The Swiss Teams, Sunday 2nd of March

My team has never played in this event, so when The Welsh Pedlar asked me to make up a four with him, Fiery Rabbit and March Hair, I was happy to oblige. As soon as my regular teammates found out they quickly roped in Blue Stocking and, entered .............

Board 1 in our first match saw us misdefend 2C doubled for minus 180; I always say there is nothing like a good start.

With the opponent on lead having 6 clubs I went one off. The misunderstanding arose because of difference of style; do I have 4 hearts in this auction, or long clubs and a spade guard? After a two level overcall the Sputnik double may not guarantee the other major, Just the values and distribution to cope with any reasonable continuation of the auction. After a one level overcall I thought the other major was guaranteed. A good area to discuss fully with your partner. Clearly 4H has excellent chances.

Overall this match looked to be a 20 - 0 beating of the good guys, but our partners were still in there. On board 1 they beat 3NT by 2 so we lose just 2 imps. On board. 5 their opponents bid to 3NT and lost the same 6 tricks, gain 3imps. The bad news on the last board is that our opposite numbers played the hand from the other side so avoiding an early club guess. Subsequently Declarer rose with the ace of clubs, but he could see 10 tricks at that point so it was not so hard. We won the match by 8 imps and after three matches had mustered 42 Victory Points.

Starting the second session against last year's winners didn't seem calculated to help our cause; but, we played well and they indifferently to give us a 17 - 3 win. The penultimate match was going well when:

Partner has all the right cards for 7C, but even if you start a cue-bidding sequence with clubs agreed, will you learn enough to confidently bid the Grand? I didn't think so, neither did they on the other table. A 19 - 1 win left us with a chance of a top three place with one match remaining.

We put up the best defence to collect 1100, and were left to wonder if our partners would find the good sacrifice. They didn't ... because there was no need, their opponents subsided in 4H and they wisely decided there was no need to disturb this. We won 11 - 9 in V.P's which gave us 4th place out of 130 teams.

And where were Captain Turf and company, you may ask? Were they decimated by the absence of my bridge skills, demoralised by the loss of my brilliant captaincy? No, they came in a very creditable 12th, drat them.

TONY MALLETT

Stafford Bridge Club members will wish to join with their County colleagues in offering condolences to the family of Tony who died of a heart attack on 22nd January, aged 43.He had been a member of both club and County for over 20 years and his kindness and natural courtesy at the bridge table will be long remembered by all who came into contact with him. The high incidence of his name on the Club honour boards bears testimony to the bridge ability that has gone. We shall equally miss his knowledge that was built up when serving as Club Secretary and County Delegate for over ten years. His numerous friends will agree when I say that Staffordshire will not see his like again in many a long year.

R.G.B.

NEW VENUE

T'he Crewe and Nantwich Bridge Club are now at:
RED COW,
BEAM STREET,
NANTWICH
The Club meets on Mondays at 7.30 p.m.: For for further information contact: Marian Stafford

Anytime things appear to be going better you have overlooked something. (Usually an outstanding trump).
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. (Any contract has hope if Muggins is defending.

Answer to "Where Is the Ten of Clubs?"

The Warwickshire declarer finessed and went two down, so if you went for option 1 you were in good company.
If you went for option 2. your County has need of good card readers like you.

Editor: Roy Martin Baron St., Fenton, ST4 3PH.