Grandslam #10 Jan/Feb 2002

Message from the Convenor – Chris Wong

Hi all Bridge Section members,
On behalf of the Section committee, we would like to wish you a Happy & Prosperous New Year and hope you will achieve great success in whatever endeavours that you may have planned for this year.
Our Invitational Open-Pair tournament held on 1st December 2001 turned out to be a great success with the year 2000's defending champion pair Zain & Shamim successfully retaining their title to the Moledina Challenge Trophy. Details are given below.
The high participation rate of SRC Bridge Section members in this tournament was indeed encouraging. There were altogether 6 pairs of SRC members competing in the tournament out of a total of 18 pairs. We were also grateful to Ming Ching, who is an SRC section member, for his consent to be the Master of Ceremony for the event.
As it is always in the interest of the Bridge Section Committee to recruit more SRC members into the Bridge Section, the committee is planning a workshop session in February to create awareness of bridge amongst members. Hopefully we would be able to attract some of them to sign up for the Beginners' Bridge Course scheduled to commence in February, which we hope to subsidise for SRC members.
We are also planning on having a separate group in the weekly Monday night sessions for beginners and bridge enthusiasts who do not feel ready to compete in the main group but would like to practice the game.
We hope to be able to bring you more activities in the year ahead and look forward to your continual support. In the meantime, stay tuned for further announcements.

Results of 2nd SRC Open Pairs Tournament
Once again SRC put on a stellar performance and totally dominated the 2nd SRC Open Pairs Tournament in spite of a much stronger field this year. Out of 18 pairs, SRC’s 6 pairs came in 1st, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th and 12th. An excellent performance by any yardstick.
Zain and Shamim managed to pip Rahim and Ron into 2nd place by a slender 67.97% to 66.41% to retain the Moledina Challenge Trophy. Attractive flower-themed crystals were awarded to the top 3 pairs of each section.
OPEN SECTION
Position Overall Pair Club
1st 1st Zain & Shamim Moledina SRC
2nd 2nd Rahim Rehmat & Ron Savage Ind/PA
3rd 5th Mr & Mrs Chew CBC
4th 6th Lena & Ai Leng CSC/Ind

SRC SECTION
Position Overall Pair
1st 3rd Helen Ang & Jansie Tan
2nd 4th Dorothy Wong & Richard Lim
3rd 7th Mr & Mrs Leong
4th 8th Chris Wong & Carlton Parker

After an excellent lunch, the participants tackled the Bridge Crossword Puzzle, developed specially for the occasion by Zain. There were only 2 all-correct entries – Rahim and Ron – who were awarded prizes.
Our special thanks go to: -
Liu Ming Ching for hosting the event and tabulating the results flawlessly and efficiently
Carlton for the loan of his computer and the development of all the various customised charts and slips
Zain for coordinating the crystal prizes and being the director for the tournament
Shamim for her organising and hectic struggle to pair everyone
Dorothy for coordinating for the food
Mr. Frankie Ang for handing out the prizes
Esther Ong for the various arrangements and logistics.
And, of course, to our Convenor, Chris, for managing the whole event.

3. Serangoon Gardens Year End Pairs Tournament

This year’s event was greatly streamlined and saw 14 pairs participating and contributing to the prize fund.
Congratulations to Chris Wong and Carlton Parker for an excellent performance by taking 2nd position in the Open Section. Well done indeed!

4. SRC Bridge Results – 5th Nov to 24th Dec 2001

DATE Pairs FIRST SECOND THIRD
5 Nov 6 Helen/Jansie Carl/Chris Dorothy/Richard
19 Nov 10 Carl/Chris Ron/Rahim Stella/Michael
26 Nov 13 Lucy/Soh Hong Dorothy/Richard David/Peter Loh
3 Dec 6 Shamim/Zain Eng Choo/Veronica Dorothy/Richard
10 Dec 6 Dorothy/Richard Isabel/Lee Chin Angela/Jane
17 Dec 9 Zain/Shamim Kanan/Richard Mr/Mrs Ng
24 Dec 8 Mr/Mrs Chew Eng Choo/Ai Leng Lena/Lucy

5. Bridge Statistics

Did you know?
43.6 percent of all slam contracts fail.
62.7 percent of all bridge players are women.
97.8 percent of all bridge statistics, including these, are made up.

6, So True …

Bridge is a great comfort in your old age. It also helps you get there faster.

We had a partnership misunderstanding. My partner assumed I knew what I was doing.

There are three kinds of bridge players:
1. Those who can count, and
Those who can't.

7. Hands Analysis – From the SRC Pairs Tournament

In the last issue of Grandslam, I promised that the Hand Analysis column would return in this issue. Well, it has returned with a vengeance. I have selected 4 interesting hands from our annual tournament on Dec 1st. I have made South declarer on all the hands.

HAND 1 – Partial Trump Draw (6S)

S : A Q 5 4 North had a minimum opening
H : 10 6 4 and S had minimum 16 HCP
D : A K 8 for a jump and some ended in a
C : 8 6 very shaky 29 HCP 6S slam.
S : J 9 3 S: 10 8 After the DQ lead, S needs to
H : 7 5 2 H : Q J 8 3 ruff 2 clubs in dummy as well
D : Q J 10 D : 9 6 5 4 as a successful finesse in either
C : K 10 9 5 C : J 7 2 hearts or clubs to work.
S : K 7 6 2 Fortunately this was indeed the
H : A K 9 case and S managed to ruff
D : 3 2 2 losing clubs after drawing
C : A Q 4 3 exactly 2 rounds of trumps so
that East could not overruff.
A very lucky top board for one skillful optimist as most played a safe 4S or 3NT.

HAND 2 – Minor Suit Transfer (3C)

S : 9 7 2 The rarely used Minor suit
H : 7 6 4 Transfer bid came in handy as
D : 10 one S played 3C making an
W C : Q J 6 5 4 3 overtrick for 130 top. 1NT
S : K 4 S : 10 6 5 3 (90pts) just makes with 5 clubs
H : 10 9 5 2 H : A Q J 3 tricks and 2 aces. Of course,
D : K Q J 9 3 D : 8 6 5 South has to unblock his CK
C : 10 2 C : A 8 and fortunately the CA is a
S : A Q J 8 doubleton which lets S enter
H : K 8 dummy with his 3rd club.
D : A 7 4 2 Brave Wests who interfered
C : K 9 7 over S’s 1NT were duly
rewarded as 3D makes.




HAND 3 – Trump Coup (4S)

S : K 8 Those who stopped at a Spade
H : 9 4 3 part-score did well and many
D : A 6 3 2 who tried game went down.
W C : A K 4 3 After E-W cash three hearts,
S : 10 S : J 7 6 5 South does not have to be
H : K Q J 8 H : A 10 5 psychic nor peek at the
D : J 8 7 5 D : Q 10 9 opposition cards to make it.
C : J 9 7 5 C : Q 10 9 After cashing the SA and SK
S : A Q 9 4 3 2 and learning the bad news,
H : 7 6 2 South must shorten his trumps
D : K 4 to the same as East (2). DK,
C : 8 6 DA, diamond ruff, CA, and
another diamond ruff. East must not ruff as South will overruff and make the contract. Dummy is entered with the CK and another club is played. East has only the 2 trumps left and is forced to ruff and S overuffs. 4S contract made!

HAND 4 – SQUEEZE PLAY

S : K 7 6 With 34 HCP, most reached
H : K Q 7 a good 6NT contract. With 11
D : K 5 4 3 top tricks, the slam will be
W C : Q 3 2 child’s play if either minor suit
S : 9 8 S : J 10 5 4 2 breaks 3-3. On the opening
H : 9 5 2 H : J 10 9 4 lead of DQ, South might as
D : Q J 10 6 D : 9 8 well duck now. On winning
C : J 10 7 4 C : 9 8 the next trick, the careful
S : A Q 3 declarer will play off all the
H : A 6 3 major suit tricks. This costs
D : A 7 2 nothing and it might lead to
C : A K 6 5 an erroneous minor suit
discard or a genuine squeeze
against an opponent. As it happens, West is squeezed in the minors and has to make the fatal minor suit discard. Simple in hindsight,
n’est pas?