Grandslam #13 Jul/Aug 2002

Message from the Convenor – Chris Wong

Hi Bridge Section Members
Time seems to fly. It has been a year since I took on the role as the Convenor of the SRC Bridge Section.

At the forthcoming AGM on 27th July, the current committee members will be stepping down and you are encouraged to participate in the election of a new committee to lead the Bridge Section. On behalf of the section, I urge you to attend the AGM to give your continual support. If you wish to be actively involved as a committee member, we gladly welcome you too.

Although we have one of the largest Bridge sections (25) when compared with other private clubs in Singapore, we are small in size relative to the other social sections in SRC. However, with your regular support, we have been able to hold our bridge practices on virtually every Monday evening, often at full capacity.

Over the past year, we held three successful activities: the mid-year Club Teams tournament, the year-end Open Pairs tournament as well as a trip to Genting Highlands. Similar activities are planned for this year and we hope that this Bridge Section would be able to bring you more activities in the future.

The recent Bridge courses for beginners conducted by our new bridge instructor Rahim have been encouraging in that a good number of the recent graduates are attending our Monday night practice sessions. We will continue to run such courses whenever we gather enough interested participants to start a class.

Thank you all for your support over the past year.

2. Bridge Section AGM

All of you should have received your official invitation to our Lunch cum Bridge AGM, which is scheduled for noon on Saturday, 27 July 2002 in the 1883 Lounge. If you have not seen it, please approach any committee member.

3. Some Rules at SRC Bridge Games

We at SRC would like to keep rules to a minimum, so that there is always a friendly interaction between players of all levels. Nevertheless, to ensure some degree of consistency and transparency, we are summarizing a few of our INTERNAL rules (which may differ from international rules) for your information.

No psychic bids are allowed in SRC. A psychic bid is defined as an artificial bid that is not alerted by partner. All artificial bids except Stayman must be alerted using the “Alert Card” and the alerter must explain the bid to the opposition if asked. If the Director has determined that a Psychic Bid has occurred, the opponents of the psychic bidder have the option to let the result stand or take an “average” score. In the latter case, the psychic bidder partnership will be given a “average minus 2”.

Players must check the score before leaving the table. Errors (NS-EW mix up, wrong numbers etc), if corrected before the end of the session, will not incur any penalty. However, both parties must be present to make the correction. Errors spotted while overall scoring is taking place will incur a “minus 1” for both sides.

Count your cards before looking at them. After the hand is played, they should be recounted, reshuffled and put back in the slot. If an error occurs, the director must be called. The previous pairs who played the cards will be given an opportunity to correct the error. If this is done to the satisfaction of the director, a “minus 1” will be given to the offending side or sides. If the damage is difficult to rectify, the director may scrap the hand or allow a redeal or switch the N-S/E-W positions. In all cases, the penalty will be “average minus 2” to the offending side(s) and/or awarding of “average” score to non-offending parties where appropriate.

Under no circumstances should any direct or indirect verbal bridge information or bidding clarification be conveyed during the game. The director should be called to assess the damage and the penalty.

In the next issue, I will try to discuss the issue of “revoke”.

4. Huh?

A well-balanced player makes up for his inadequacy in the bidding with his ineptitude in the play.
Library Books

We have several bridge books, magazines and even Videotape in our SRC library. Feel free to borrow them by letting any committee member know and signing the loan book.

You can also borrow books from other clubs and our National Library has a decent selection as well.
Because of variations in the bidding systems, it is better for beginners to stick to the system they have been taught and focus on the playing tactics and methodology.
If you would like to donate bridge books or magazines to our library (originals only), please see any committee member.

SRC Bridge Results – 29th Apr to June 24th

DATE FIRST SECOND THIRD
29 April Dr/Mrs Siak Mr/Mrs Ng Jane/Lucy
1 May Rahim/Zain Molly/Lucy Richard/Ron
6 May Shamim/Zain Dr/Mrs Siak Mr/Mrs Leong
13 May Adelene/Dorothy Kanan/Greg Richard/Koh 20 May Rahim/Ron Kanan/Gee Helen/Pauline 27 May Dr/Mrs Siak Rahim/Ron Richard/Lucy 3 Jun Pauline/Jing Carl/Chris Rahim/Ron 10 June Carl/Chris Shamim/Zain Peter/Anna Arnett 17 June Eng Choo/Veron Shamim/Zain Richard/LyeMeng 24 June Rahim/Ron Carl/Chris Dorothy/Richard
Special mention time goes to 9 year-old Jing for topping 3 Jun and to Kanan for his 2nd place finishes with beginner Gee and Greg

7. Bridge Escapade II to Genting

31 bridge players and friends have signed up for this year’s trip to the hill resort of Genting Highlands. Registration is closed, as the capacity is full. More in the next Grandslam issue.

New Bridge Venue for Monday Practice?

We are currently under discussion with the MC on our future space requirements for our Monday practice sessions. We will keep you informed.
Double Teams Inter Club Invitational

Our AGM on 27th July will be followed by the Double Teams Inter Club Invitational tournament. We are fielding almost the same team that easily won last year. However, we expect the contest to be very much tougher and closer this year. Our representatives are Chris, Carl, Dorothy, Richard, Mr/Mrs Leong, Shamim and Zain. Good Luck all.

10. Memory School
Two elderly gentlemen were playing Bridge on Saturday evening, as they have for the past 35 years. Max, the older, is having problems
remembering which cards were which, and he usually needs help from his wife.

At the end of the card game, Ed says to Max, "You did very good tonight. You didn't need any help at all. Why is that?"

Max replies, "Ever since my wife sent me to that memory school, I
haven't had any problems at all."

"Memory school? What memory school?" Ed asks.

Max thinks for a moment. "Oh, what's that flower that's red with thorns? A really pretty flower?"

"A rose?"

"Yeah, that's it!" Max says. He then turns to his wife and mumbles,
"Hey, Rose! What's the name of that memory school you sent me to?"

11. Bridge Puzzle – 3 Spades both ways

Can you create a bridge hand that 3S can be made by either N-S or E-W against any lead and against the best play by both sides?
The answer will be given in the next issue.

12, Hands Analysis -- THE POWER OF 4

It may be difficult for some to believe, but a 4-4 trump fit is often better than a 5-3. At first glance it is difficult to see why until one realises that in the 4-4 case, ruffing in either hand gains a trick while the latter only gains if the ruff is in the shorter hand. It is also less likely that the hand with the shorter trumps is also short in a side suit. Another reason is that the declarer usually has to draw 3 rounds of trumps to exhaust the opponent’s trumps. Unfortunately, this also exhausts dummy’s trumps as well. Yet another reason is that the long suit can often become a useful source for discards. All these advantages can be seen in the hand below.

On the downside, a 4-4 trump fit is very dangerous if the trumps split 4-1, as it will be difficult to draw trumps without losing control. Also, declarer has one less natural trump trick.

Below is an actual hand from Board 13 on 10th April at SRC.

S : A 8 7 4 N E S W
H : A K 8 7 4 2 2C P 2NT P
D : 3H P 3S P
C : A Q 3 6S P P P
S: J 9 S : 10 5 2
H : Q J 6 3 H : 10 9 OPENING LEAD : DQ
D : Q J 5 2 D : K 9 8 6 3
C : 8 5 2 C : K 9 6 N’s 2C shows a strong
S : K Q 6 3 hand usually with a 5+
H : 5 card suit, S reluctantly
D : A 10 7 4 replies 2NT even with a
C : J 9 7 4 singleton. This shows 8+
points. When S later shows his 4-card spade, N correctly abandons pushing his hearts in favor of a superior 4-4 spade fit.

South wins with the DA (discarding a club from dummy) and goes about setting up the long Heart suit. HA, HK and H2. Although the suit did not break 3-3, luck was still on S’s side as he could over trump East without establishing a trump trick for the defense. In the actual case, East discarded. Back to dummy with the CA and another heart ruff established the suit, again East discarding. SK and SQ were played, dummy entered by a diamond ruff and the SA drew the last trump. Hearts were run and the opposition was given the CK on the 13th trick.

Both 6NT and 6H are doomed, even if the hearts had split 3-3. The ability to establish the Hearts by ruffing made S’s day.