Grandslam #4

THE GRANDSLAM
SRC BRIDGE SECTION NEWSLETTER

JAN/FEB 2001 ISSUE #4

Message from the Convenor
The highlight was, without doubt, our Inaugural Inter-Club Bridge Tournament where SRC managed to win the Challenge Trophy. Moreover, 3 of the top 6 positions went to SRC Pairs. A superb achievement for our “infant” bridge section. Mr. and Mrs Chew (CBC), who had just completed the Intermediate Bridge Course, came in a credible 3rd. It was also satisfying to note that that 11yr old Sean Lee (SGCC) came in 4th and 85yr old Mrs. Wong (SGCC) managed 10th. This can truly be an inspiration to us all. Details and results are given below.

We have purchased a cabinet for our use and have stocked it with 4 Bridge Books. “The Mammoth Book of Bridge” spans from Beginner to Intermediate and also has the history of the world championships – Bermuda Bowl and the Olympiad. Another book covers the latest Conventions and there is one on Defense. We also have a Quiz book to test yourself. The library is open Monday evenings and Adelene has kindly agreed to be the Librarian. Members can borrow free of charge for 2 weeks. Overdue books are $1/week.

Adelene, Dorothy, Carl, Shamim and Zain participated in the Serangoon Gardens CC Tournament on 17 December. It was a big event with almost 40 Pairs and divided into 2 sessions. Zain (partnering Leonardo) managed 5th place overall and won a prize for winning the afternoon session.

Rather than passively being entertained on New Year’s eve, several members ushered in 2001 playing bridge and snacking at CBC. At 11.30pm, we went to the beach with sparklers, poppers and (imitation) champagne to welcome the year.

Happy Solar and Lunar New Year to all and may all your diamonds be real.

SRC Inaugural Inter-Club Tournament
The afternoon started off with a turkey lunch, but the delicious mushroom soup really stole the show. 30 excited players from Serangoon Gardens CC, Changi Beach Club, Keppel Club, People’s Association and SRC quickly settled down to tackle the Bridge Crossword Puzzle. There were several all-correct entries and the lucky winners were Lau Lee Chin (PA) and Ron Savage (Asst Director).

Tokens of appreciation were given to Tan Peng Huat who had helped us start off our first Bridge Course over 2 years ago and Robert Phua for his tireless on-going effort and support. Robert’s prize was collected on his behalf by his son, Leslie. Robert is currently in hospital recovering from a stroke. Mr. Benny Ng, our new GM, kindly consented to give away the prizes.

OPEN SECTION RESULTS

POSITION CLUB PAIR

1ST SRC SHAMIM/ZAIN MOLEDINA

2ND Keppel Club TAN PENG HUAT/ CONNIE WONG

3RD Changi Beach Mr. CHEW/ SUSAN CHEW

4TH Serangoon Gardens NG KONG/SEAN LEE

SRC SECTION RESULTS

POSITION OVERALL POS PAIR

1ST 5TH RICHARD/JULIAN LIM

2ND 6TH DOROTHY WONG/CHIA KIM SER

3RD 13TH LEUNG NGAI WENG/PATRICIA

SRC Monday Bridge Results – 20th Nov to 18th Dec 2000
DATE PAIRS FIRST SECOND THIRD
20 Nov 7 Eng Choo/Veronica Shamim/Zain Carl/Rahim

27 Nov 7 Shamim/Zain Jason/Jansie Mr/Mrs Leung

4 Dec 10 Richard/Julian Carl/Ron Shamim/Zain

11 Dec 10 Eng Choo/Veronica Regina S/Lau CT Shamim/Rahim

18 Dec 8 Carl/Ron Richard/Julian Shamim/Stella

2 Jan 5 Shamin/Jansie Eng Choo/Veronica Mr/Mrs Leung

Bridge Hands
Gutsy Duck : This hand occurred on Board #3 during the SRC Tournament


NORTH

S : A Q J 9 6 2

H : 4 3
WEST D : 4 2 EAST

S : 8 7 4 C : 9 6 3 S : K 10

H : J 10 8 H : K 7 6 2

D : J 3 D : A Q 8 7 6

C : J 10 8 7 5 C : Q 2

SOUTH

S : 5 3 After some poor bidding, S became

H : A Q 9 5 declarer at 3NT instead of 4S. Maybe

D : K 10 9 5 S felt that that he had no ruffing power

C : A K 4 and hoped for a 3NT+1 for a top board.

To make the contract, South has to run the Spades. He finesses the JS and EAST DUCKS! Thinking that the SK is with West, South enters his hand with Heart finesse and finesses Spades again … and loses to the bare KS. The contract now has to go down as there is no entry to N – all due to a gutsy duck by East.

Think First : This hand occurred on Board #12 during the same tournament.
NORTH

S : A 8 7 6

H : K 9 2
WEST D : K 8 5 4 EAST

S : K Q J 9 3 C : A 3 S : 10

H : Q 7 6 4 H : J 8 3

D : - D : J 10 9 7 6 3 2

C : 8 7 6 4 C : 10 5

SOUTH

S : 5 4 2 After interference from East and West

H : A 10 5 in Diamonds and Spades, South became

D : A Q declarer in a shaky 6NT contract. The

C : K Q J 9 2 opening lead was SK.

With only 11 top tricks and holes in the Heart suit, prospects looked dim. What was absolutely clear was that East had to guard Diamonds and West had to guard Spades and therefore nobody could guard Hearts. A double squeeze was possible so South had to duck the opening SK to rectify the count. W now played SQ.

NORTH

S : 8

H : K 9
WEST D : 8 EAST

S : J C : S :

H : Q 7 6 H : J 8 3

D : D : J

C : C :

SOUTH After nine tricks, this was the

S : position. When the C2 was led,

H : A 10 5 West had to discard H6 otherwise

D : North’s S8 becomes good. Now the

C : 2 S8 was discarded having done its

job. Now it was East’s turn to suffer. He could not discard DJ as that will make the D8 good, so he too had to discard hearts. South now confidently cashed in all his 3 hearts to make a well-played contract.

It is interesting to note that West could have disrupted the squeeze by switching to Hearts at the 2nd trick. But now South can make his contract by playing low from dummy and capturing East’s HJ and later finessing West’s HQ.

Editor : Zain Moledina

1st Jan 2001