Under new management.
So, another season ends and the most significant thing about that is that we lose Rick Hanley as captain. His shoes will be difficult to fill. Many people have already complimented Rick on what he has achieved during his time as captain leaving me with nothing further to say except that I fully agree with all the good things that have already been said and to thank him for his assistance to me personally as I try to get to grips with this new role. I have been the captain of many hockey teams over the years but never a bridge team, until now.
I thought that I had better take this opportunity to introduce myself as I am very aware that I am not very well known around the county scene. There never seems to be the time for me to play many tournaments these days and, since Ralph and I started to play for the County A team, I have concentrated on that but mainly on playing rather than on organisation. I realise that I now have to pay as much attention to all 3 teams and I am looking forward to the challenge. Perhaps I have a masochistic streak in me somewhere.
I am sure that some of you might be wondering why I was selected for this role. To be honest, it came as a surprise to me when Rick asked me if I would be willing to take over from him. However, my bridge career does have it’s ‘interesting’ points. For example, Ralph and I have qualified for both the National Pairs and the Corwen and we managed to finish in the top 3rd at our last attempt.
I started playing bridge in Yorkshire in 1971 while attending Leeds Polytechnic, where I met my wife. It was not long before I was playing with my father-in-line and, together, we manged to win the Yorkshire pairs tournament. Also, we played at Dewsbury bridge club for a short time where a number of international players would play from time to time, although few of them were actually members. However, the most famous of these was Tony Forrester, but he was only a junior international at the time. But I learned a lot from him, and from a couple of others like him, whose names I have forgotten now. It was a long time ago.
So, although I could never aspire to be anything like as good as some of the players that I rubbed shoulders with in the 1970s and 1980s, I do have some experience behind me, and I have been playing now for over 50 years. But the main thing that I bring to the table is competitiveness. I have always been a sportsman from being at school until I finally had to hang my hockey stick up shortly after my 70th birthday. I have played cricket, table-tennis, badminton and hockey to a decent standard and I used to sail racing dinghies competitively as well. That competitive spirit will never leave me and Ralph finds it irritating because I always analyse every session that we play, in an attempt to avoid making the same mistakes twice and to improve our performance. I get almost as much pleasure from the analysis as I do from playing.
But I am sure that you are more concerned about the future of Suffolk County bridge, as I am. We are all aware of the difficulties that face us. We have a very limited pool of players to select from and we have recently lost many of our most experienced players. Several initiatives have been put in place to try to improve our situation but, I believe that the one that gives us the best chance of achieving anything is for us all to try to improve our own performances. This is not as easy as it might sound for various reasons.
Unfortunately, most of us that play in the county teams are well past our best years for learning and I can understand anyone who says that improvement is now beyond them. If you feel that you are one of those, do not think that you are unappreciated and please do not retire from bridge. We need you all. Also, in a recent conversation, I was told that many players would like to improve their performance but do not know how to go about it. If you are one of these, please contact me. Our entry into the National Teams League (NTL) is just one initiative that was made to try to address this issue and it has had an effect, but I think that there are other things that could be done.
I certainly believe that we should try to make it possible for less experienced players to play with more experienced ones. I have done some of this myself recently and so, if anyone would like to play with me (and can stand constructive criticism) please contact me and we can arrange something.
Some of you will have seen my column entitled ‘Raising the bar’. I am surprised that nobody has contacted me to discuss things that either they did not understand or just disagreed with. I am more than happy to discuss any issues that it might have raised. It is only by swapping ideas and discussing things that some problems and differences of opinion can be resolved. There are a few very interesting ideas in the column that may be new to some of you that are not difficult to learn but have provided Ralph and I with some good results over the years.
I intend to use the ‘Captain’s log’ not only to provide a report on the county matches but also to comment on issues that arise during the NTL matches as well. This is with the intention of trying to improve the standard of our county players and I hope that much of what I write will give rise to discussions about the issues raised. I hope to learn something as well and I will not always be trying to supply the solution but to point out the issues and hope that we can find a solution together. My e-mail address is : whetton@btinternet.com.
By now, you must be getting fed up with my ramblings and so I will finish with a couple of hands. I have always played a fairly comprehensive, i.e complicated, Strong Club system and these 2 hands show why I feel that bidding is so important. I have often been asked why I always have to complicate things when it would seem that more ‘natural’ methods would often provide the same answer. My reply is usually to quote a couple of deals that occurred during a very tight teams of 8 match in Yorkshire about 40 years ago :-
ª 107 ª 32
© KQ98 © AJ10
¨ K76 ¨ QJ42
§ KQJ3 § A1095
At all the other tables, the bidding was quite simple, West opened 1NT, East bid 2NT and West went on to 3NT. This contract went 2 down losing 5 spade tricks and the ace of diamonds and the 3 pairs that bid this way believed that they had done nothing wrong and everyone would bid the hand in the same way. However, my partner and I bid like this :-
1NT 2§ Stayman
2© 4 hearts 2ª relay
3§ 4 clubs 3¨ relay
3© 2434 distribution 4©
It soon became obvious that 3NT would not make on a spade lead and so we bid game in the solid 4-3 heart fit. This contract made because I was able to take the spade forces in the short trump hand and, even though the trumps split 4-2, I was able to force out the ace of diamonds and draw trumps safely losing only 2 spades and the ace of diamonds. Later in the same match, this hand below turned up. We believed that we were behind in the match at this point and needed a good score :-
West East
ª 107 ª AK63
© 1043 © A6
¨ AK109 ¨ QJ87
§ KQJ3 § A109
The other 3 pairs all bid to 6NT even though they are a point or 2 short of the 33 points normally expected for 6NT, but they soon found that there were only 11 top tricks and no play for a 12th. There is a slight chance of a squeeze if one defender holds KQJ(x) of hearts and 5 spades, but that was not the case. We bid this hand like this :-
1NT 2§ Stayman
2¨ no 4-card major 3§ relay
3© 2344 distribution 3ª control ask
4§ 4 controls 4NT queen ask
5NT club queen 7¨
A king is 1 control and an ace is 2 in this system so there are 12 controls in the pack and East knows, therefore, that West holds 1 ace and 2 kings. 7¨ was a bit of a gamble as responder could not be sure which 2 kings opener held. If he held the heart king and one other, then the grand slam would depend on a finesse. However, we needed something good to win the match and, as everything else seemed good and diamonds was going to be infinitely better than no trumps, we went for the grand. We could have won the match by bidding the small slam in diamonds as it happens but, what the heck, you cannot argue with success. The grand slam made by ruffing 2 spades before drawing trumps and then discarding the heart loser on the 4th round of clubs.
I am not advocating that any of you should switch to a system like this, but I would be happy to help if anyone wants to know more, and it is not anywhere near as complicated as you might think. The system in use at the time, is not as difficult as the one that I use now but the relays after the 1NT opening bid are very much the same as they were 40 years ago, and they can easily be used in any system with any strength of 1NT opening bid. In fact, they are the easiest relay sequences that I use. However, these 2 hands are offered as an example of what can be achieved if you are prepared to work at the game and natural talent is not needed, just the capacity for a little study. Personally, I will never stop trying to improve my game until I have played my last card, but then most people that know me think I am weird. I prefer enthusiastic (or perhaps eccentric) rather than weird.
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