ALTRINCHAM BRIDGE CLUB

NEWSLETTER ISSUE 25 --- July 2002

1. SIMULTANEOUS PAIRS.

We had seven tables at the last simultaneous pair competition held on a Wednesday. As you know, Wednesday is not a normal club evening and it is very pleasing that such a respectable number of members chose to support the event. I would not wish us to have to discontinue the event because of lack of support, as some local clubs have done.

Congratulations go to Ram Pandey and his partner, who produced an excellent result nationwide with 68% and came 2nd out of 2200 pairs.

2. DATES FOR YOUR DIARY.

A club diary will be produced and circulated as usual, covering the events from August 2002 to August 2003. In the meanwhile, you may like to book all or some of the following in your diary :-

29th July, 2002, Monday, Simultaneous Pairs

25th September, 2002, Wednesday Beginners' Course starts

10th October, 2002, Thursday, Simultaneous Pairs

28th October, 2002, Monday, Club AGM

11th November, 2002, Monday, Lytham Rose Bowl heat

19th December 2002, Thursday, Last bridge before Xmas

8th January, 2003, Wednesday. Simultaneous pairs event

NB. I am hoping to have the Diary printed and, if all goes well, sent out with this newsletter!

3. CHRISTMAS PARTY.

Lindsey Barnes, who was elected to the committee at the last AGM, has kindly agreed to look into organising a Christmas party. It may well be that we will use an outside caterer and the party will be held in January, but this will become clearer when Lindsey has had more time to investigate the costs etc. More about this at a later date.

4. MEMO FROM DAVID OLLIVER.

Over the last 2 years, I have issued several memos on alerting – when to do it; when to ask for an explanation etc. Some of these memos can be found on our club web site and in the carousel at the club. I was pleased to receive an article which David asked me to publish. Keen players on a Monday & a Thursday will often produce a lot of alerts in their bidding and David has a special word to cover this. ( Because of lack of space, I have taken the liberty of missing out a few short sentences from the original article ). David writes :-

I would just like to make some additional comments following on the recent article of Peter Dawson's specifying a list of EBU alertable bids.

Several members, after a bid has been alerted, immediately jump in and start asking questions; and for two reasons, this is not to be recommended.

Firstly, it is only permissible for the player to ask for an explanation if it is their turn to bid; otherwise, the Director, if called, could construe this as an attempt to pass illegal information to your partner. For the same reason, even if it is your turn to bid, you should only ask for an immediate explanation if you are likely to make a bid. You are always entitled to a full explanation at the end of the auction.

Secondly, you may by your request for information, alert your opponents that they have made a misunderstanding in their bidding. Consider the following example:

The bidding starts: 1S Pass 4C* and the 4C bid is alerted.

It is now your turn to bid, so you ask for an explanation and your left hand opponent says that it is Gerber (asking for aces). It turns out that your right hand opponent intended it as a Splinter bid (showing a specific distribution and strength). You have now alerted them to a situation which might have caused them a high degree of confusion for the rest of the bidding.

My general advice is to wait until the end of the auction to ask for any explanations. If it is not your turn to bid, this is especially applicable. Any enquiry about the strength and range of an opening 1NT bid should be made either before the auction starts, or when the auction has finished.

 

5. THE DIRECTOR'S CORNER

(The answers are at the end of this newsletter).

a) When three tricks remain to be played, your partner speaks up & says that his side will concede all the three tricks. You, his partner, immediately object and request play to continue. Declarer says that all three tricks are now his & that play is finished. You call the Director. How does he rule?

b) It is Declarer's turn to lead, but before he leads, he accidentally drops the ace of spades face up on the table. The opponents insist that he must now play this card or leave it on the table as a penalty card. How does the Director rule?

6. PLAYING CONDITIONS IN OUR BRIDGE HALL.

The Committee has been aware for some time that the temperature conditions in our bridge hall need to be capable of more flexible adjustment. In warm weather, the far end of the hall gets very hot and stuffy.

After much dialogue with St Peter's Hall committee and bearing in mind the cost, we have come to the conclusion that either we must have the option of opening windows at the sides of the hall or we must have two silent extractor fans fitted on the wall. St Peter's committee is considering our views & we hope to have a speedy reply in order to do something before the hot summer weather starts.

(members may not be aware that all the main windows in the hall have been sealed with countless previous applications of paint & it has been the policy of St Peter's not to allow them to be opened because of potential burglary. We are pressing St Peter's to allow the side windows to be opened & we have said that we are willing to place some iron bars across them on the outside.)

7. HALE CONSERVATIVE CLUB.

In the last six months, we have had several approaches from Hale Conservative Club asking us to consider a move back to their premises. Your committee does not consider that such a move would be in the best interests of our Club and we have made this decision known, both to Hale Conservative club and to St Peter's (our landlords).

8. CAR PARKING - ENTRY and EXIT.

Please may I remind all car drivers that there is a specific signposted exit from our car park and it is not the same as the entry route. Should you exit via the same route as you enter and have the misfortune to hit a pedestrian, cyclist or another car, it could well be that you would have trouble with an insurance claim. When you consider that third party claims are sometimes in the region of half a million pounds and upwards, it surely makes sense to take the proper exit from the car park.

9. There is not enough news for me to continue with a three-monthly newsletter, so I propose to start issuing the newsletter twice a year in future – probably in June and December each year.

10. Jim Morris, our Chairperson, writes as follows:-

After many years & at the grand old age of 93, Lilian Drinkwater has decided that it is time for the youngsters to take over her duties on the Wednesday & Tuesday games. It is with the greatest gratitude that I thank Lilian on behalf of all our Club members for all she has done for us & I wish her many "Grand Slams" in her retirement. Louise Entwistle, supported by Jackie Wade has agreed to run future Tuesday evenings & Sue Bloor has accepted the Wednesday duties. On a sadder note, no-one was able to commit themselves to running duplicate bridge on the first Tuesday of each month & as a result this is suspended for the moment. But not to worry, there is always duplicate bridge every Monday & Thursday at the club & we look forward to seeing you there.

11. I will start my next Beginners' Course on Wednesday, 25th September 2002. Publicity will precede it but, if you know of anyone interested, please give them advance notice.

ANSWERS TO THE DIRECTOR'S CORNER:

a) Providing that you have spoken immediately, then no concession has occurred. If you have a winning trick left in your hand, then neither the opponents nor partner may stop you winning this trick. Play continues & neither defender may make use of any unauthorised information. Law68B

b) Declarer is not subject to a penalty for exposing a card & no card in Declarer's or Dummy's hand ever becomes a penalty card. Declarer is not required to lead the accidentally faced card & he may pick it up without penalty & replace it in his hand if he so wishes. He may then lead any card he wishes

Just before this letter goes to print, I have sadly heard the news that Arthur David has died. Arthur has been a member for many years, playing every Tuesday evening. On your behalf, I send our condolences to his wife, Margaret Eileen, and family.

Peter Dawson ( July 2002 )