There were several very interesting hands last night, none more so than hand 7, where 6C, 6S and 6NT were makeable. Look at it on the attached file of hands from last night. A truly remarkable hand, which, ultimately, relies on instinct rather than accurate bidding only in order to reach the correct contract. Ian and I, along with input from Bill, discussed how we might have bid it in Precision. Look at it. Discuss it with your regular partner and tell us how you would have bid it, without resorting to just instinct or conducting a seance at the table. The following sequence is that which would be used by experienced Precision players, where they aren’t using transfer bids over a 1C opening.

First, here’s the hand;
North
S 942
H 4
D A
C AQJT9765

South
S AQJT83
H K7
D K763
C K

Bidding

S 1C* N 2C
2S** 3H***
4C**** 5C*****
6S

Explanation of above bidding
1C 16 Pts, not necessarily Clubs
2C Natural, at least 5 cards, 8 or more pts.
2S ‘Alpha’ bid, new suit by 1C opener, asking for support in that suit and total controls, where an Ace is 2 and a King is 1.
3H Showing support with 4 or more controls
4C Gamma bid, asking about Club suit.
5C Showing at least 6 Clubs, with 2 of top 3,
6S Natural, enough information to bid it.

Confused? Well, it’s the wonderful world of bridge, with it’s billions of hand variations, it’s vast array of bidding availability, with all the various conventions, the blood and guts of combat across the table, the play of the hands. Such bidding is what is being used by top players, it is actually not that difficult to learn, if you’re prepared to read and research a little.

Enough of that, the very capable pair of Bill and Jan won with 63.5%, followed by Paul and Bridie, then Diana and Anne. My thanks, as usual, to Tico for a very pleasant 24 boards last night.

We will be holding our annual Pairs championship on Saturday, 17th November. We have a target of at least 12 tables, and it will be an all day event, over 48 boards, with morning and afternoon tea and biscuits, lunch and great camaraderie. We will put up an entrance form and display it at all coming events, at the table where you pay your entrance fees and urge you to get your entries in as soon as possible. It will be open to non members as well, but the Championship itself can only be won by a fully paid up member of the club.We will be subsidising the cost of lunch and therefore the entry fee will comprise of the normal R25 per player per session, plus a contribution of R30 to cover some of our cost, a total of R80 per player, R160 per pair.

Goodbye for now, see most of you tomorrow.

Roy

Results

Hand Records