Tuesday night, 22nd August, amongst the building activities, the new entrance, the new passage way, the new look hall, the Bridge!

Those of us that were there can attest to the fact that there are exciting vibes running through the club at the moment. And, I can tell you all that there are exciting developments in the pipeline. It’s too soon to give you more details, but suffice it to say that our little sub-section will be growing somewhat, along with the new winds of change blowing through the Club. The future of bridge at Northerns is secure and forward looking.

And now to last night. There were some startled looks on some faces regarding the hands that surfaced at regular intervals. They were not just ordinary bread and butter, one club, one heart, three no-trump editions of the same type we’re so used to playing.

Oh no ! There were three slams on offer, but you had to be able to sniff them out, grind away at your bidding and come up with the correct contract. Not easy, but then, who is looking for easy? We play this game because we enjoy the cut and thrust, the edginess of the combat, the mental exercise. If it was easy, there would be no point to it. We were one of the culprits, because on hand 12, for instance, we were in 3NT, where 7C or 6D can be made.

Forgive me for saying it again, but we all need to improve our standards of play, by reading, researching new ideas about bidding and moving to a higher standard. One of my pet hates is the kind of sneering comment that arises regularly, particularly when someone observes that they have a lower score than someone else because of poor defense or bad bidding. The comment that get’s my hackles rising is ” that’s because it’s Benoni “.

We can do something about it, and therefore, I am going to charge  our committee with the task of putting a plan in place to get us into the 21st Century of bridge. It can be done.

Watch this space.

Enough sermonising. Last night Anne and Diana did it with style, finishing just one match point above Lisa and Trish. And then came the rest of us, with one lucky pair on 50%. Enough money in the jackpot to retire? I don’t think so.

I cannot attach the hand records, because of a glitch in the Dealmaster program, but the full session results are attached.

Until tomorrow,

Roy the sermoniser. Is there such a word? The spellcheck doesn’t seem to like it.

Results