League Divisions One and Four play on the Third Wednesday in the months September to March. League Divisions Two and Three play on the Second Wednesday in the months September to March.If you.are not already a member of a League team then get three more players and join. 24 board matches ensure a 10.30 p.m. finish and you can arrange to play local Derby 's privately. Contact Martyn Harris.

AMBITION REALISED by MUGGINS
The good news is that P. Brereton; D. Moir; D. Sartain. P. Cutler got through to the 5th round of the Silver Plate. The bad news is that they beat my team in the 4th round to get there. Of course they were lucky, but during the match a long held ambition was fulfilled.

CHASETOWN BRIDGE CLUB
Now play on Monday evening (7.15 p.m.) at the WINDMILL INN, GENTLESHAW, BURNTWOOD. For further details 'phone Burntwood (05436) 6622.

Progress in the Sullivan Powell (N.W. REGION) by A.C. POOLE

The following gives an account of THE ALSAGER TEAM.

The Engineer and Sportsman had only played together five times before. The Engineer usually played Blue Club and the Sportsman, Precision Club. Both systems being barred from this event so straight Acol was agreed. Unfortunately the only common features between the preferred systems were Ghestem jump overcalls and Sputnik doubles. However, these features were not allowed in this event.

The Engineer and. Sportsman felt that they owed it to their team-mates to hold a practice session, and so a date was set for the fine tuning of their system. Hand 1 saw a good auction to 4H. The contract going one off on a bad trump split. 27 hands later and many rubbers to our team-mates we decided to call it a day (night). However, we did have a few overcalls, eleven points being seen occasionally but usually partner had a balanced two count. At least we did have some defending practice. This being useful on the day of the tournament.

After that background, let's get on with the event:
After a poor start (4-16 defeat, and a 14-6 win) the Alsager team started to make headway.

Third round:
The opposition had bid to a good slam in 6NT after East had opened a weak two in Hearts. A complicated auction took place via a succession of asking bids in hearts, spades and diamonds (I did not have my word processor with me to log all of these bids and anyway I had fallen asleep????).
6NT by West:

(It is worth mentioning that the Engineer likes to play an aggressive game). The Engineer leads the QH. Dummy goes down and declarer falls into a coma for five minutes. With three more boards to play and the Director saying that we should be on our last board (the opposition had obviously been warned for slow play before), declarer wakes up and runs the 10S, losing to the Engineer's KS.

The Engineer considered his plan, what could that 3H from partner be?

1. Singleton
2. Lowest of an odd number (agreed convention), or
3. Suit preference

A club hit the deck and. declarer was down. Admitted the declarer can always make 6NT without the spade finesse, but is North leading from QJxx. If so, the spade finesse is necessary. If the spade finesse fails and there is not a club switch, the contract can still be made when the JH drops on the second round. Of course I had great faith in partner returning the club. (I only play with good players, I have to in order to stand a chance of winning).

That was a 19-1 win, and we were looking who was ahead of us. Quite a few Staffordshire teams were evident.

Round 4:

The opposition bid a speculative slam which justifiably failed; our team-mates staying in game. A 17-3 win put us in amongst the leaders; we were now at Table 4.

Round 5:

Here we were matched against the most well known team in Staffordshire.

NEW VENUE ... AGAIN!
The Crewe and Nantwich B.C. have moved to: THE LIBERAL CLUB, MILL STREET,NANTWICH.
Club night is still Monday at 7.30 p.m. The Club has doubled its average number of tables (now 11 or 12) since moving to Nantwich. This is one of the seasons major success stories and credit is due to the Club Committee for taking the bold decision to change venues twice in the past six months.
Secretary: Marian Stafford.

THE SPRING FOURSOMES by Bob Beech

Success was hard to come by for the Staffordshire team. of Rudolf, Smith, Beavon and Beech at the Spring Fours' at Leeds in February. After scraping through the first match we met the Wymer team that had just defeated the top seeds (Sowter, Lodge, Kirby, Armstrong, Forrester and Brock) and lost by 11 imps. I have to admit to dropping 18 imps in the last set when, with

As one-time losers we went into the draw with the 15 other one-time losers and drew Tony Sowter's team (the eventual winners of the competition). We lost by 27 imps, thus disappearing into the Swiss teams consolation event. However, one hand from the match sticks in the memory:

CANNOCK FIRST ALL SWISS CONGRESS November 8th and 9th, 1986
Venue is: Roman Way Hotel, Watling St., Cannock
Saturday: Swiss Pairs (£8), Sunday: Swiss Teams (£5), Full Congress: £12
Further details: Mrs. J.S. Crawford. Burntwood Road, Norton Canes, Cannock, Staffs.
or contact J. Riley, G. Derry, E. Watterson

THE SULLIVAN POWELL by Peter Jones

On the same weekend as Liverpool completed the double, and most of the bridge world was trying to qualify for the National Swiss Teams, the final of the Sullivan Powell was being played at the Grafton Hotel in London. For those who may not be aware this is a sponsored event which is restricted to players below the rank of National Master. Regional heats are staged up and down the country and the ten winners are invited to an all expenses paid trip to London to contest the final. My team, Dave Patterson, Arnold Moss, Dave Marshall and myself took part in the North-West heat staged at an hotel at Nantwich in February, and were fortunate enough to pip Alsager out of first place by one Victory Point. Normally a Manchester based team represents the North West so Staffordshire did well to take first and second place.
The Sullivan Powell, under the direction of Jeremy Flint, has two main objectives in addition to the ranking restriction- First that the game is played in a compet­itive, but friendly, atmosphere and, secondly, that natural bidding methods only are allowed. Even Negative/Sputnik doubles are barred which I found somewhat strange.
When we arrived in London we found that a second Staffs. team would also be contesting the final, as Tettenhall had won the Birmingham qualifying heat. Their team was Roger Steel, Alan Hatrick, Roy Biddlecombe and Mike Boulton.
The format of the final was multiple teams; each team playing a total of 8 boards against every other team. Two by three board rounds to be played on the Saturday, and one two board round on the Sunday - starting at 9.30 a.m.! The scoring was by imps converted to VP's on a 0 to 20 scale. The prizes were presented at noon, to the top four teams, the winners receiving a portable colour T.V. each; the event concluded with an excellent Sunday lunch of smoked salmon with all the trimmings.

A COMMENT ON PSYCHIC BIDDING by Arthur Bloxham (County Captain)
I consider psychic bids to be the parallel of the cricket bumper. They are legitimate weapons used in moderation at County level and higher. At minor Club level they are ridiculous, can only spoil player's enjoyment and bring the game into disrepute.
A psyche is a bid which is totally inconsistent with the hand held (not to be confused with rather optimistic or pessimistic evaluations of a hand), and the bid should be as much as a surprise to partner as to the opponents.
If, in the course of 10,000 bids in a year, I psyche twice against reasonable standard opponents in County matches or National events, then this is legitimate. If, however, I psyche 100 times playing with the same partner this is a deliberate attempt to cheat. Also, if partner 'fields' the psyche i.e. bids in such a way as to allow for the possibility of a psyche, and not consistent with his hand in relation to the true meaning of the original bid, then this is outright cheating. If you are victims of such bids it is your responsibility to report the situation to the Tournament Director.
The number of bridge players in the County is growing rapidly. I wish this to be reflected in an increasing standard of play, at Club and County level, as well as giving a wealth of pleasure from playing against opponents of all standards. Work hard at improving your game, but whatever standard you achieve make sure your ethics and manners are beyond approach.

ALSAGER B. C. RESULTS AND REPORT

Unfortunately the most significant event this season occurred away from Bridge table when International Computers Ltd. decided to move Mainframe Systems Division from (in Stoke-on-Trent) to West Gorton (in Manchester). Bridge players affected by this move are Ted Hartley, Alec Robbins, Tony Poole, Ian Pendlebury, Jane Searles, Barbara Kitchenham and Chris Barnard.
The Club also the lost the services of its senior player when Charlie Edwards moved to the Wirral.

1985/86, was a successful year for many Alsager players: Dennis and Elsie Brookes won the Staffs County Flitch, and went on to finish second in the Midlands Flitch at Leicester. In the Staffs County Leagues, 10 teams out of 31 had one or more Alsager players. The most successful teams were Joyce Maddock (Beryl Lawton, Ron West, Angus Maddy), who won Division Four; Ian Pendlebury (Dave Smith, Chris Barnard, Dave Patterson) who won Division Three. The Pendlebury team also reached the fourth round of the Gold Cup, and were finalists in the Staffs Cup losing by 7 imps to Peter Jones' team.

Pauline Rudolf's team. (John Rudolf, John Smith, Barbara Kitchenham, A.N. Other) reached the fifth round of the Gold Cup and finished Sixth in the National Swiss Teams Congress. John Smith and John Rudolf also represented the County in the Tollemache.

Tony Poole and John Aspden successfully defended their Mid-Cheshire Congress Title. Ian Pendlebury and Dave Smith finished second in the North West Pairs Final (the NW Bearn) and fifth in the NW green pointed pairs.

The best result of the season occurred in the National Masters Pairs with Pauline Rudolf and Ian Pendlebury winning and John Rudolf with John Smith finishing second.

THE STAFFORDSHIRE MULTI-PARTNER CHAMPIONSHIP

So you don't like Individuals. Your strange partners always insist on agreeing detailed responses to a 2C opening, and then play like they learned the game yesterday. How about playing with just three individuals all of whom you have chosen yourself. One will. probably be your favourite partner, no need to discuss system with him/her. The other two you may have played with before, even if not you can decide your system details at leisure. Possibly get in a practice, session or two at your local club or a Rubber bridge session at your place. A multi-partner event is one in which four players enter as a unit. The idea is that you play three sessions of matchpointed pairs and the four players make up a different partnership for each session i.e. you play once with each player in your unit. The player with the highest combined percentage over the three sessions is the winner of the event.

Simple, enjoyable and ten times better than an individual. Try it and see. It will take place on Sunday 22nd of February. Just put your four names on the notice board in your club.

Muggitorial

I've hardly written anything for this Bulletin and I've also got a few things in hand. I like it. But more is needed because some of my feature writers are either leaving the County or giving up bridge - somewhat extreme reactions to my Editorship, don't you think? Also after 6 ego boosting appearances on the front page, someone has relegated me to the back page - I shall write a letter of protest (or, at least I will if you don't supply me with sufficient material).

25 or so people turned up to the A.G.M.; nobody threw anything at the Chairman; Elaine Watterson presented the prizes: it was decided not to introduce seeding into the Staffs Cup. Nobody wants to buy a house in Salt, so Arthur Bloxham has paid his subscription for another year and we allowed him to keep all his jobs too....

Bob Beech has decided to have 12 months away from bridge (I once went 12 days without bridge it nearly killed me). While we won't miss being battered at the bridge table by him, we will miss his services to the County.

Some stupid computer company is moving its software dept. up north; among the bridge players affected is Ian Pendlebury. He expects to be with us this season but is likely to go missing thereafter - once again, it is the County's loss.

New members on the Committee are John Barrett and Neil Morley. John has taken over the post of Treasurer he paid my expenses without any quibble, so he must be good. Neil is an E.B.U. Tournament Director and those who have seen him in action, along with his computer, will have appreciated his expertise. He has volunteered to be a delegate to the E.B.U., to provide a trophy to be presented to the Fourth Division winners, persuaded us to appoint an Appeals Referee, set up a psyche recording procedure and offered to direct a one-day Staffs Congress if we can set it up. Phew! I just hope we can keep up with him. Welcome to you both.

We have not held an Individual competition for some years now so we have given it the order of the boot. In its place is a new competition called The Multi-Partner Championship and Arthur has kindly donated a trophy. You will find some details about this competition elsewhere in the Bulletin.

John Hudson will be disappointed to learn of the demise of the County Winter Pairs., He started this competition and in its early days was quite successful; but it has lost its popularity and must make way for the new.

One of the 'new' has arisen out of an E.B.U competition for Club Teams of Eight. Each County is, invited to send a Club team to play in this event, and so we will run a competition to decide our entry. All Clubs should look out for, details and enter a team.

As mentioned last time we have lost some of our trophies and two of them will now be replaced. using County funds. They are the Staffs Cup and the Mixed Pairs Trophy.

The Club entry entitlement for the Bearn Final has been formalised to: "One quarter of the total club entry, rounded up". It was also decided that all clubs must send the initial entry fees (£1.40 per pair) to the Treasurer by the First of January. Obviously this is vital now so as to be able to plan the format of the Final.

For our Sunday competitions the cost will be £3.50 per person, which includes refreshments, and play will start at 2.00 p.m. to facilitate an earlier finish.

TOP COUNTY MASTERPOINT WINNERS

Editor, Roy Martin 1, Baron. St., Fenton, ST4 3PH