Zeb Stocken

We are delighted to give advance notice that Zeb Stocken will be returning to Suffolk for a one day teaching event at Hintlesham Hall on June 13.

More details and the opportunity to book your place will be posted nearer the time, but tickets are expected to sell out quickly, so keep an eye on the website.

RAISING THE BAR
RAISING THE BAR

 

Paul Whetton has been appointed Suffolk captain elect and is using his new role to offer a series of articles aimed at players who represent the county, or aspire to do so - but should help us all improve our game.

Paul's aim is to raise the level of performance by Suffolk players and he explains the thinking behind his approach in his first article. Click on BAR to read it.

All Paul's columns are available by clicking on Raising the Bar in the menu above. The latest one is entitled Planning.

RICK STANDING DOWN

Rick Hanley is standing down as Suffolk captain at the end of the current Eastern Counties League season. As announced previously, he will be succeeded by Paul Whetton.

Despite have a small pool of players to call on compared to other counties, and with some top Suffolk players choosing not to represent the county, his tenure has been marked by an overall improvement in results, notably by the B and C teams.

Richard Evans, chairman of Suffolk bridge, said: "Rick has been an excellent captain whose enthusiasm, leadership and ideas have inspired the county squad and underpinned its improved performance. He has also shown great courage at a time when he has not enjoyed good health."

 

Rick (L) & Paul (R)

SUFFOLK CHAMPIONSHIP PAIRS

 The format for this year's competition is as follows:

1. Heats to be held in Clubs during October/November. The heats will be F2F. There will be an online open heat in January 2024 for anyone who has missed their club heat.

2. All players who achieve 50% or more in a heat will be eligible to take part in the Final at Elmswell (IP30 9UH) on Sunday April 21, 2024.

3. Players may attempt qualification once - please ask players before play starts if they wish to attempt qualification.

4. Any out-of-county players who achieve more than 50% in a heat will not be eligible to play in the Final since the top three pairs in the Final will be invited to represent Suffolk in the Corwen Trophy to be held F2F on June 1/2, 2024.

LEARNING BRIDGE

Suffolk bridge is offering an unprecedented number of venues and sessions where players new to bridge can learn the game or improve their skills this autumn. Click on LEARN to see the range of courses and sessions on offer across the county.

If you - or a friend - is interested in attending any of the courses and requires more information click on ENQUIRIES and let us have your details.

MARMITE

No trump contracts are like Marmite. You either love or hate them.

Players who fall into the latter (not to mention former) category might just wish to have a look at a fascinating article packed with loads of different hands produced by Marc Chawner, one of Essex’s very best players, on their county website. It kicks off with some relatively straight forward examples before featuring some crackers which will test the best.

Click on NO TRUMPS to read.

MORE MARMITE!

In a sequel to Marc Chawner's popular compilation of no-trump hands and how to play them, click on SUIT PLAY BY DECLARER, and  BBO, to see how BBO robots played these hands (clever!) To complete the trilogy, Marc has produced a comprehensive article on defence. Click on DEFENCE to read.

There is plenty for players of all abilities in the above. Thanks once again to Marc.

LEARNING BRIDGE
LEARNING BRIDGE

If you have friends who would like to learn bridge but are not sure how to go about it or where to go, ask them to email learnbridge@suffolkbridge.co.uk

To find a teacher in your area click on BRIDGE TEACHERS

LOCAL BRIDGE

With more clubs opening their doors, and some also offering teaching and learn & play classes, click on BRIDGE IN SUFFOLK to find out what is available.

While every attempt has been made to ensure the information is accurate, please let us know of any omissions or corrections by clicking EmailSuffolk

FACEBOOK

HERE - AT LAST!

It's been long overdue, but Suffolk Bridge now has its own Facebook  page.

The social networking site offers another way to advertise events and, in particullar, to reach non-bridge players who might be interested in learning the game.

To find the page, go to Facebook and search for Suffolk Bridge.

BRIDGE ARCHIVE

Suffolk Bridge now has a dedicated website for archive mateiral collected over more than 40 years, including winners of the county's main competitions.

Many thanks to Jill Tattersfield for compiling all the material and to Peter Bushby for makiing it publicly available by setting up the website. Click on ARCHIVE to see everything.

WEBMASTERS
 

Paul Rickard and Tony Pearson are the webmasters running Suffolk's dedicated bridge website.

If you would like to publicise a forthcoming event or submit a news item for this website click Paul or Tony

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June 2019

In all the boards below, N and S Pass, unless stated otherwise.

With hands 5, 6, and 7 click on 'Show Detail' to reveal the hands.

After you have worked out how you would bid the board, click on ‘Show Answer’ and compare your bidding with that of the experts!

Click on CONVENTION CARD to see bidding system

Good luck!

BOARD 1

West

East

1  2 
3♣  5  
Pass  

5 is a very good spot. Can we get there? And can we get there other than we can tell from looking at the two hands we want to be in it? (this will be a perennial problem for the way this feature is done!). I think we can get to 5. If we use Losing Trick Count (LTC) we will respond 3 to West's 1. That should be enough to get West excited.

If we bid 2 as East then the question moves to West as to whether its worth a move or not. If West makes game try of 3♣ then East should recognise that her hand has just got a whole lot better. Five trumps, AQJx of partner's second suit and a singleton. The auction I have given has East jumping to 5 which I think is the right valuation but if you are confident you and partner are on the same wavelength East should bid 4 (over 3♣) which would be a splinter bid.

BOARD 2

West

East

  1 
2♣  2 
3  3 
4  Pass

I think the key moment is what does East rebid over 3? Show the 6th Heart or the Spade stop? I'm sure at the table I would bid 3NT. As one of expert panel explains this could well be wrong as over 3, West could bid 3♠ (fourth suit forcing) if she was worried about Spades and wanted to play in 3NT. I have been persuaded of the logic of this so have been converted to the idea of showing the 6th heart. 

BOARD 3

West

East

1♣  1 
4  Pass

Over 1♥ how many Hearts are we worth? I'm forcing all the way to 4. You could try 3♠ as a splinter and agrees Hearts. If you don't play this or not sure how partner would take it then bid 4 (and then have the discussion with partner as to what 3♠ should mean). This is a hand where it probably depends on whether you are playing pairs or teams. This theme will come up again and again - at Teams there is a premium for bidding your games so when decisions are close you stretch to bid game.

At Pairs there is no real upside to being in thin games. You will find that I come very much from a teams background so will always err on stretching to thin games. I will try and be clear when I think I have done this. In short - West should probably rebid 3 at Pairs and force to game at Teams.

BOARD 4

West

East

1NT 2♣ 
2  Pass

I have had a lot of conversation with my class about the point count requirements for Stayman. Somehow they were of the belief (which I'm claiming very strongly they did not get from me!) that you need 11+ points to use Stayman. I don't believe this is true and is not how it is taught on the EBU course. Most of my expert panel thought this was a good hand for Stayman and landed into 2.

BOARD 5

West

East

1  2 
Pass  

So we have 25 points and want to play in 2?! Playing losing trick count (LTC) we have a chance as both East and West will have their feet on the brakes using LTC. I have given the auction driven by LTC. If people are unfamiliar with LTC they can email me and I'll try and find some stuff which explains it. If you play much teams bridge - a version of the game which pays a premium  for bidding games - you will not win very often if you play hands with 25 points in part scores. Given what I said on hand 3 I  can't imagine I would end up in 2 if this happened at the table rather than in a quiz.

BOARD 6

West

East

1  1NT
2  3 
Pass  

Another hand where some partnership discussion would be useful. I got some interesting comments from the experts. Some were passing 2, some were raising to 3 - which is what I prefer. I'm the camp of knowing that 2 is not forcing but I'm not going to pass very often as 2 can be quite wide ranging in strength. And therefore I'm certainly not passing with five card Diamond support. If partner has a weaker hand and I passed 2 there must be a real chance that the oppenents would back into the auction and find their Spade or Club fit.

BOARD 7

West

East

  1NT
3  3♠ 
4♣  4 
6  Pass

According to our System card 3 is Game Forcing and a Slam invite in Hearts to seems like the right start if that's how you play it. If you are not sure how you get things on a Slam footing after partner has opened 1NT this is a discussion worth  having. The other discussion that is worth having is what is your cue bidding style once you start to Cue Bid. I had six submissions from my expert panel and they found six different ways to bid the slam. Shows that it’s a tough game but they can smell a slam and find a way to bid it. In the auction I have given 3♠, 4♣ and 4 are all cue bids and after 4 West thinks she's heard enough to bid the Slam

BOARD 8

North will overcall 2♠ (weak)

West

East

  Pass
1♣  (2♠) Pass
X 3 
4  Pass

North will overcall 2♠ (weak). Hopefully everybody plays West's Double as Takeout. What should East bid over the Double? This is where its useful for partnerships to have some discussion and life is easier of you have a bit of system here. Many  people play something called Lebensohl in these sorts of situations. This means in the auction given 3 shows some values.  Even playing Lebensohl. East's is marginal but the 5th Heart makes it worth (I think) the constructive bid of 3.