Ballina Bridge Club Newsletter — Feb 2015bbclub/newsletters/2015/Feb2015.pdf · Newsletter — Feb 2015 Current Office Holders _____ President Ngaire Wills Vice President Rebecca

Congratulations to the following teams in the recent Australia Day Teams event:

Bal l ina Br idge Club Newsletter — Feb 2015

Current Office

Holders

__________________

President

Ngaire Wills

Vice President

Rebecca Rogers

Secretary

Sue Burns

Assistant Secretary

Judy Woodward

Treasurer

Julie Harwood

Assistant Treasurer

Jan Blay

Masterpoint Secretary

Bill Powell

Chair of Play

Judy Forsyth

Committee Members

Chery McCallum

Maureen Baker

Chris McDowell

Maintenance

Alan Sims

A Division winners:

From left: Lyn Arnett, Mike Gilfoyle, Judy

Forsyth, Judy Woodward

A Division runners-up:

From left: Marjorie Askew, Bill Powell,

Jenny Maley, Greg Maley

B Division winners:

From left: Anne Bigg, Terry Lowe, Jean

Lowe, Lyn Graham

B Division runners-up:

From left: Marie Carter, Mary Leonard,

Colleen Spencer, Pat Preston

C Division winners:

From left: John Fletcher, Ngaire Wills

(President), Elizabeth Fletcher,

Margaret Kelly (absent), Peta

Price (absent)

C Division runners-up:

From left: Marie Thomas, Barbara Selman,

Judy Carroll, Val Audran

The Australia Day Congress

is one of our most popular

B5i events and this year was

no exception with 23 teams

competing. Thanks to all

who contributed to making

it such a successful day and

congratulations to the win-

ners and runners up in each

of the three sections.

The new Ballina Bridge Club

website is due to appear

anytime now and the first

thing you will notice is that

it will be very different in

appearance! Even though it

will have a different address,

you will not need to change

your bookmarks as the old

bookmark will automatically

take you to the new site.

As the year progresses,

more features will be added

and we will keep you updat-

ed as these appear. A big

thank you to Howard (the

club’s webmaster) who has

spent a lot of time develop-

ing the new webpages and

increasing the functionality

of the site.

The Wednesday Novice

section continues to flourish

with between 10 and 16

regulars coming to this ses-

sion, gaining confidence and

skills. They play quietly at

the northern end of the

room and, without com-

plaint, put up with the more

noisy and experienced play-

ers in the rest of the room.

Most of the Novice players

participate in at least one

other session and some

have played in congresses. It

is wonderful to see their

progression as bridge play-

ers and they are a great as-

set to our club.

It was sad to hear this week

that former member Pauline

Potter has passed away.

Pauline was a regular Thurs-

day player for many years.

A reminder that member-

ship fees are due by the end

of February - $40 for home

members and $20 for Asso-

ciate and Social Members.

Ngaire

Marty Bergen, the great American bridge player and writer authored a book called “Points Schmoints” which highlights the idea that you often don’t need many points to make a contract and that shape is more important. The hand below demon-strates this point very well. Dealer East passes and me, sitting South decided to pass; I wanted to see how the auction panned out. West opened 1S with North (Paul) passing and East raising to 3♠. With my partner passing, I decided to bid 4NT (systemic showing both minors). West bid 5♠ which North and East passed. Not having a defensive hand to 5♠, I bid 5NT asking partner to bid 6 of a minor. West then bid 6♠. Partner thought long and hard and decided to sacrifice in 7♦ which East doubled, all pass. East decided on the Ace ♠ lead which partner ruffed, drew trumps and discarded the losing hearts on the long clubs. 7♦ can only be defeated on a ♥ lead, but 6♦ is cold on any lead—an interesting 20 pt slam. The unlucky East-West pair can easily make 6 ♠ so congrat-ulations to Paul for finding the 7♦ sacrifice which, unfortunately for East-West, in this instance made.

Points Shmoints……………..

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our sponsors

_________________

Page 2

Pres ident ’s Report

Wanted — set-top box and unwanted small sound system. Could you please bring to the Club and

contact Howard Jeffrey. It will complete our capability of displaying television and sound via the projec-

tor. Thanks in advance.

Desperately Seeking

Partner opens with a 1 level bid and RHO overcalls 1NT. What to do?

RHO is in the “sandwich position” and a good opportunity for a penalty double is now on offer. SANTA (Same Against No Trump) is a bid to use for all other hands. The

responses are:

1 2♣ = 9 major suit cards (5-5 or 5-4) 2 2♦ = transfer to 2♥ 2♥ = transfer to 2♠ 2♠ = transfer to 3♣ 3♣ = transfer to 3♦ 3 2NT = at least 5-5 in the minors 4 With a major-minor 2 suiter, transfer to your major and

then bid your minor. Opener can pass or correct. A few weeks ago, Janet watched Fiona in an international match on BBO. Her partner opened 1♣ , RHO overcalled 1NT and Fiona, with a good holding in both majors, bid 2♣ . Her partner passed and they played in a 3-1 ♣ fit and missed 4S Vul. On Sat 17 Jan in Ballina the board opposite occurred with North opening 1♣, RHO overcalled 1NT and with South’s holding, South bid 2♣ . North passed and played in a 3-3 fit. Although North played well to make, 4♠ makes 10 tricks vulnerable. The only difference is that they did not have 500 kibitzters [people watching]. Thanks to Janet for passing this information on and letting me publish the bidding :-).

Page 3

Santa’s coming to town

Call the Director! - A gentle reminder :-)

When something goes wrong at the table: an insufficient bid, a lead out of turn etc. you should al-

ways call the director. It’s wrong in law not to call the director and failure to call a director can

result in penalties for all players at the table. It’s also unfair to other players in the room. Incor-

rect decisions often lead to artificially high or low results which means that other players are ei-

ther unfairly disadvantaged or get a leg up they don’t deserve. So, please, when an infraction oc-

curs, call a Director.

Photo competition - and the winner is……...

Congratulations to Anne Jackson who was the first correct entry drawn. She correctly guessed that

the photo was of Margaret Wilcox who very kindly agreed to have her photo in the first Photo Com-

petition. For those who guessed it was Paul Cruickshank, I regret that there are no second prizes.

Our members

Play committee report

Many of you will remember Pauline Potter, a prior member of our Club. Pauline passed away early this week and a sympathy card was sent to her son and family on behalf of the Ballina Bridge Club. Dorothy Brumley was discharged last Tuesday from Ballina Rehab. and is doing well. Physio continues at home and it shouldn't be too long before she is back with us. George Clarke, now at home and ready for bridge, had a successful stint at St Vincent’s Hospital with significant pain relief and healing of his leg ulcer. Lexie Teake’s wound is healing and she hopes to be fitted for a prosthesis in a couple of weeks. Lexie is amazed and uplifted by the continued support she receives from the Bridge Club.

Regulations, developed by the Play Sub-committee and approved by the Management Committee are available for your information on the Ballina BC website as well as the Play Noticeboard. Did you know? - If you wish to pay for an event by direct deposit, this is now available. Please complete an en-try form and indicate your direct deposit payment. The Club’s banking details are:

BSB: 062-502 A/C: 1011 8981 It is advisable to follow up with an email to BBC to advise of your payment. Up-coming events: Sunday 8th March Individual bridge and tea. 4pm start. Enter as an individual with $10 payment. Come

along for a fun night where you play with a number of randomly selected partners. Re-sults for the night are based on your individual performance.

Monday 16th March Teams of Three. Enter as an individual on the Noticeboard and pay on the day. Experi-

enced players wanted for assistance with newer members. Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd March Ballina Swiss Matchpoint Pairs congress. $75/person which includes 2 lunches as well as

snacks and drinks after the conclusion on Sunday. Enter via club post box with money and entry in the envelope.

Congratulations to the following who competed in the recent Summer Festival in Canberra. Open Swiss Pairs (202 entries) 18—Gary Lynn and Eric Hurley 64—Marjorie Askew and Bill Powell Open Teams (134 entries) 39—Gary Lynn, Eric Hurley, Marjorie Askew and Bill Powell