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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July 2019
July 2019

In all the boards below, N and S Pass, unless stated otherwise. If necessary, click on 'Show Detail' to see 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!

HAND 1
WEST EAST
1♠  2 
3  3 
4♣  4 
4♠  6 
Pass  

In the June set we had a slam hand which involved some cue-bidding and the number of different auctions from the panel equalled the number of suggested auctions I got. This hand is the same. 

All but one of the panel bid the slam. Everyone realised after 1♠– 2 that the West hand has become huge and started pushing towards a slam. As last time the key for any regular partnership is to be on solid ground as to what various auctions mean. So in the auction I have given is 4♣ a Cue Bid or a Splinter or either? Can you cue bid suits with a second round control (as I have done)? Does 4 show “extras”, i.e. slam interest or am I obliged to cue bid if I can? Nobody bid a grand slam which clearly as the cards “only” requires declarer to find Q. I think a good rule of thumb about bidding grand slams is that you should only bid them when you can count thirteen tricks and I don’t think there is really a way of being certain as either East or West that you have thirteen tricks.

 

HAND 2

North opens 3♠ 

WEST EAST
  (3♠) 4 
4  Pass

This hand is a lot easier if you have a particular piece of system in your armoury. Over major suit pre-empts – bids of four of a minor show the minor and the other major – on the basis who wants to play in four of a minor – so in the example East can bid 4♦ knowing that it is effectively giving partner a choice between Diamonds and Hearts. I like this piece of system which is why I have chosen this auction as a way of encouraging more to use it.

Without that bit of system East is very close to bidding 4 anyway and if she doesn’t (and passes) then I think West needs to get involved and this hand illustrates why. North / South may well make 3♠ and you want to be in 4 . So if it is passed to West I think the choices are 4 or DBLE and neither is ideal – you’d like more Hearts to bid 4 and you don’t really want a singleton Diamond when Doubling. If the partnership has spent some discussing these sorts of auctions and this is an acceptable hand for a Take Out Double then that wins. If not I think she has to close her eyes and bid 4 as a Double may get a 5 response from partner.

So the other question regardless of whether East or West is the first to climb in the auction as how to make sure partner doesn’t get over-excited. The answer is that the partner should realise that partner has strained to get into the auction and not to punish her for doing so. There is clearly a very limited amount of space to find out much more about partner’s hand. This is hand which illustrates this point rather well as you don’t want to be any higher than 4.

 

HAND 3
WEST EAST
1NT 2 
2  2NT
4  Pass

A hand where I thought you might do different things dependent on whether its pairs or teams. However, with one exception where one of the panel rested in 2 (at pairs) – everybody else finished in 4 – most via an invitational 2NT rebid by East. 

I have a lot of sympathy with the idea of resting at 2♥ at pairs (it's not a great 11 count and it’s a poor Heart suit) as by bidding again you are going to be one level higher than may be comfortable  a lot of the time when partner has 12 or 13 points. In the example, 4♥ is a good contract but certainly not guaranteed – a play problem I might save for the time when I need to set a hand for the experts to play.

 

HAND 4
WEST EAST
  2 
2NT 3 
3NT Pass

So what is West worth after East opens a weak 2? We do have 2NT asking in our system. 3♦ says weak points (2♦ shows 7 to 10 points at this vulnerability) , good suit and then its decision time for West. I’m bidding 3NT – I come from a teams background which encourages bidding marginal game contracts. If you are saying that “it's off on a Heart lead” – well that’s true but they haven’t led one yet. Most of the panel are with me in bidding 3NT. 

The more I have looked at this hand and read the comments from the panel the less convinced I am that driving to 3NT is the right answer at pairs.

I’m sure you will discover, if you become a regular reader of this feature, that I use “teams” as the main excuse when I get too high 

 

HAND 5
WEST EAST
1NT 2 
2  Pass

I think the panel wondered why I included this one. All but one of the panel transferred to 2. The reason for its inclusion was to confirm that you need to be consistent in these sorts of auctions and not to be affected by the results on individual hands – this was the main message from the panel (even from the person who passed 1NT). 

With the benefit of seeing both hands you’d probably rather be in 1NT although that’s not certain. Far too many conversations at the table are driven by what works on a given hand rather than what works best over the long term. Therefore, if you have agreed you will always transfer when holding a five card major (even when the shape is 5332) you should always do exactly that accepting that sometimes it will lead to a bad result.

 

HAND 6
WEST EAST
1NT 2♣ 
2  Pass

This is the one hand of the set where the panel was unanimous. Another opportunity to use Stayman with a weak hand. As I mentioned last month - and am ramming home the point this month – Stayman is not only to be used for hands which are game invitational or better. It can and should be used on weak hands such as this one. On this hand the 2♣ bidder will pass 2or 2♠ but convert to 2 over 2

 

HAND 7

South opens 1♠ 

WEST EAST
1♠ (X) 3 
4  Pass

Everybody started 1♠ – DBLE. The majority then bid 3. I’m with the majority. Although in principle you should have eight plus points for 3 – I do have a chunky five card suit and a singleton.

 

HAND 8
WEST EAST
1  3 
4  Pass

You may not need any persuading that bridge is a tough game. On board 5 of the June set – holding 

♠ Q82  5432  AQ10 ♣ Q103

the majority of the panel chose to bid 2 in response to 1♥. On this hand the vast majority bid 3 in response to 1. Both are 9 loser hands with 10 points. So what’s the difference? This month’s hand is slightly better because the shape is better – we prefer 4432 to 4333, we have better trump support and having an Ace and King is better than Ace and three queens. Is that enough of a difference to bid 3 rather than 2? The answer for the majority of the panel is yes (there was one vote for 2). Tough game!