Newsletter 19 March 2026
In our newsletter this week...
- Upcoming Beginners Lessons
- Understanding Defence – The Hardest Part of the Game
- New Players
- Outdoor Working Bee - April 11th
- Wednesday Night Pizzas
- Youth News
- Support Youth Bridge
- Batemans Bay Congress Hand
- Some pics from Batemans Bay
- Results
- Upcoming Events
- Online Lesson with Will
- Four Card Major? Check! Three Card Support? Check!
- Lighter Moments
Upcoming Beginners Lessons
Question: Do you know the best form of advertising our bridge classes for beginners?
Answer: Via word of mouth. So share your love of the game with your kids, neighbours, friends, baristas, colleagues, person next to you on the light rail and let them know that the next round of Beginners Classes starts in April.
Understanding Defence – The Hardest Part of the Game
A series of workshops for the developing player
This is a practical series of workshops focussing on defending accurately. It will cover some of the well known defence aphorisms such as “Third Player Plays High”, “Always Return Your Partner’s Suit” and focus on why they are valuable and when you should ignore them!
As an experiment, we are offering these classes at our usual day time but also trialling an evening opportunity for players unavailable during the day. The Monday and Tuesday classes are repeats.
- Where is it: Canberra Bridge Club – Evening or Morning classes
- When is it:
• Monday Evenings – 6:45 pm until 9:00 pm
on 23rd, 30th March and 6th, 13th April
OR
• Tuesday Mornings – 9:45 am until 12:00 pm
on 24th, 31st March and 7th, 14th April - How much does it cost: $15 per lesson
- Who is giving it: Steve Geddes
This is a walk in event, no need to register. You can come as an individual or as a partnership. All lessons are on defence but even if you miss one, you can still attend the rest.
Further enquiries please contact:
New Players
Canberra Bridge Club welcomes the following new and returning players:
- Gary Rowbotham
- Michelle McCarthy
- Zoe McCarthy
- Jacob McCarthy
- Emma McCarthy
- Victor Portelli
Outdoor Working Bee Saturday April 11th at 9 am
A few willing workers are required to help with the following:
- Removing woody weeds
- Installing more brown irrigation piping
- Installing some stepping stones through a garden bed
- Preparing the ground for some new plantings.
We particularly need someone with a trailer for the removal of the rubbish.
If you can help, please contact Jennifer Yeats on 0412031903 or
Wednesday Night Pizzas
The Wednesday night pizzas provide the opportunity for social interaction while enjoying a pizza sampling. It provides a great opportunity to talk to and socialise with your fellow players, which is not always the case when engaged in playing bridge.
- 25th March - 6:30pm
- $5 payable on the day for half a pizza
Those wishing to partake should place their name on a list on the noticeboard or contact Jon Pike directly. His email is
Youth News
A strong Youth Bridge program can only occur with dedicated people supporting us, nurturing beginner players and mentoring. This week I'd like to say a particular thank you to Will Jenner O'Shea who had his birthday this week. He spends hours and hours giving advice to develop Youth Bridge players. You are amazing and we are very grateful that you and Vanessa give so much of your time to help so many people.
Youthish Night is on this Friday.
Entry is FREE and there will be a Pizza dinner!
All experience levels are welcome, no partner required.
Come to either session or both!
• Session 1: 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM
• Dinner: 6:30 PM - 7:00 PM
• Session 2: 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Contact CBC Youth Coordinator Suz Wilkinson
The next Youthish Nights will be held on April 24 and May 15.
Playing bridge while eating freshly baked scones is a match made in heaven. You can do this once a year at CBC at the SCONGRESS.
This is a fundraising event for ACT's International players to help pay for their flights and accommodation.
- Enter HERE
Support Youth Bridge
Buy a mug to support youth teams to attend the 2026 World Youth Transnational Championships Hefei, China 2 - 8 August
Batemans Bay Congress Hand
Several Youth players travelled down to the Batemans Bay Congress last weekend, joining a host of other Youth players from NSW.
Andrew Spooner was in the winning team and had this exciting hand which arose on the final deal of Sunday’s teams event.
♠A975432
♥AK
♦void
♣9543
With nobody vulnerable, my partner Brad Coles dealt and opened 1NT (15-17 balanced) and my RHO passed.
In our system, I have two ways to transfer to spades, either bidding 2H or 4D. The advantage of having multiple ways to transfer to spades is that it allows for more bidding sequences to exist, which can be assigned separate meanings. For instance, if I wished to transfer to spades and immediately ask for keycards, I would bid 4D and then 4NT. Therefore, a bid of 2H followed immediately by 4NT should be defined as something other than Roman Keycard Blackwood – for us it would show a slam-invitational hand with exactly 5 spades and no other suit to bid.
My first decision was which of these two routes to take. Typically, a 4D bid will show a hand which either wants to sign off in game, or which wants to ask for keycards directly in some fashion. Neither of these routes seemed appropriate with this hand, because its potential is very dependent on where my partner’s values are located, so I chose to start with 2H. My plan was to bid 4D over my partner’s expected 2S response, which would show game-forcing values with long spades and a shortage in diamonds, and to see how to proceed from there.
Surprisingly my partner bid 3S, which showed four or five spades and a minimum hand (a maximum would bid 2NT). In a situation like this it is very unlikely that we would want to play in notrumps, so we use a convention called “non-serious 3NT”, where a bid of 3NT shows a hand that is mildly interested in slam. A hand with no interest would pass or bid 4S, so a cuebid of a new suit would show strong slam interest. My hand is very powerful if partner has values in clubs, so I decided to bid 4D as a control bid (showing first-round or second-round control in diamonds, but not in clubs) and with strong interest in slam.
Brad bid 4S over 4D. We are not a practiced partnership, and were not on firm ground about what his bid of 4H would mean. My hand seemed strong enough to continue over 4S, but because I have a void in diamonds it would not be desirable to bid 4NT, as if he showed two keycards I wouldn’t know whether or not we are missing a cashing ace. Therefore I elected to bid 5D. This should show a very powerful hand with first-round control in diamonds (an ace or a void) but emphasising that I have no control in clubs, and need help in this suit for slam to be viable.
Brad now bid 6C, confirming that he had club control and leaving possible room for a grand slam. I could envision a hand like:
♠KTxx
♥xxx
♦xxxx
♣AK
Partner’s actual hand will be significantly stronger than this (it has only 10 HCP compared to the range of 15-17) but it will still suffice to make 13 tricks, so 7S is certainly possible. However, it’s very difficult to bid a grand slam with confidence in such a murky auction, and the most practical choice would be just to bid 6S. I was still interested so I chose to bid 6H, and then passed 6S with a bit of reluctance.
Partner’s actual hand was
♠QJT8
♥Q863
♦KT8
♣AK
The only interesting aspect of playing this hand is how to handle the trump suit. If you lead the queen and the next hand plays the 6, you can either play the ace from dummy, hoping that the king is on your right, or play a low card from dummy for a finesse, hoping that the king is on your left. With an 11-card fit, the suit is slightly more likely to be divided 1-1 than 2-0, so the percentage play is to reject the finesse. Knowing this, Brad simply cashed the ace of spades at trick 2 and claimed 13 tricks when the king appeared, as both of my club losers could be ruffed in his hand.
This was a flat board, with our counterparts from the other team also reaching 6S and making 13 tricks. I don’t know what their auction was, but I suspect it was less tortuous than ours!
- Andrew Spooner
Some pics from the Batemans Bay Congress
Results
The winners of the BFACT State Open Teams is team Hoffman:
- DAVID HOFFMAN - DAVID WAWN - MICHAEL SMART - - DAVID HUDSON - IAN ROBINSON (sub)
Results from Batemans Bay Congress:
Swiss Teams:
- 1st - Kozakos team: Brad Coles - Andrew Spooner - Stephen Fischer - George Kozakos
- 2nd - Carter team: Lyn Carter - Judith Tobin - Malcolm Carter - Niek Van Vucht
Swiss Pairs:
- 3rd - Vanessa Brown / Will Jenner-O'shea
- 5th - Lyn Carter / Malcolm Carter
Restricted/ Novice Pairs:
- 1st Restricted- Andrew Kettle / Deborah Milner
- 3rd Novice - Lyndall Kennedy / Kate Latimer
Upcoming Events
The next Tuesday night competition is the BFACT State Open Butler Pairs on 24th March - 7th April 2026 at 7:15pm:
The BFACT State Open Swiss Matchpoint Pairs (incl BFACT Mixed Pairs Champ) which was previously scheduled to run from April 14 to 28 has been updated to conclude on the 21st April .
On 28th April we will NOT be holding a Tuesday night competition. A reminder that this event will be the first Tuesday night competition which will now be starting early at 7:00pm.
Graded Butler Pairs Saturday inc ANC Country Team Selection
- Where: CBC
- When: Saturday 18 April from 9:45 to 5:15pm
- Director: Steve Geddes
- Cost: $24 for full members, $20 for concessional members and $30 for non-members
- Click here to register - you will be charged on the day of the event, registration is free
Online Lesson with Will
Will is running regular Online Lessons that are suitable for Club players of all levels.
There is a LIVE ZOOM on Thursday Mornings at 9:30am, or you can sign up for the lessons and receive the Recording, Hands, Notes, and a way to Replay the hands later. The full list of lessons and topics can be found on our website.
Next lesson is on "Checkback Part 1 - Simple Checkback". Purchase through the link below.
Four Card Major? Check! Three Card Support? Check!
One of the most common uncontested auctions we see at the bridge table begins with one partner opening One of a Minor, their partner responding One of a Major and the opener then rebidding One No Trump. Responder now knows a lot about opener’s hand but doesn’t necessarily know everything they need in order to decide on the final contract.
What do we know about Opener’s Hand?
1. They are balanced (since they just rebid No Trumps)
2. They have 12-14 HCPs (since they didn’t open No Trumps they must have less than 15-17)
3. They do not have four card support for our major (since they didn’t raise)
What might we want to know?
A. Does opener have THREE card support for my major?
B. Does opener have four of the other major?
C. Does opener have a five card minor (perhaps we might be interested in slam in the minor)?
Is there a way to learn these facts whilst also ensuring we can get to game when it is right? The answer is yes – we can use a neat little bidding agreement known as Two Way Checkback. Recall, our auction has started:
One Minor : One Major
One No Trump : ?
Game Force Checkback : bidding Two Diamonds in this sequence is artificial and says nothing about Diamonds (irrespective of which minor was opened). It says “We are going to bid game. Do not pass until we have bid game”. Opener will then show features of their hand they have not yet revealed in the following priorities:
1. Three card support – if Opener has three card support for responder’s major they now raise the major
2. Four card unbid major – if Opener has four of the unbid major (and NOT three card support for their partner) they bid that
3. Five card minor – If Opener has a five card minor (and NOT three card support for their partner – ie specifically a 5332 with doubleton in their partner’s suit) they repeat their minor
4. With none of the above they bid Two No Trumps (they must be 4432 now – can you see why?)
Invitational Checkback : bidding Two Clubs (no matter which minor was opened) is also artificial and says nothing about Clubs. It tells partner to bid Two Diamonds. Opener has no choice – they must bid Diamonds no matter their hand. Responder then shows what features they may be interested in and by going through Two Clubs checkback is showing an invitational hand (with one exception, see priority three below). Going forward, Opener should bid game with a maximum but can pass with a minimum. Responder continues as follows:
One Minor : One Major
One No Trump : Two Clubs
Two Diamonds : ?
1. With five of their major, they repeat them.
2. With four of the unbid major, they can bid that.
3. With a long diamond suit and a very weak hand they can pass! (surprising their partner)
Responder can also just bid Three No Trumps, if they know that is the best game.
Responder can also bid Two No Trumps invitational directly if they don’t want their partner to describe too much about their hand but are not sure if game is right.
Let’s look at a few example hands to see how this would look. Opener is on the left, Responder is on the right. The auction is beneath the hand.
As ever when adding a new convention – make sure that you and your partner are both on the same page! There are two essential things to remember: first that game forcing hands go through Two Diamonds, invitational hands go through Two Clubs (forcing a Two Diamond response from their partner). After that we tend to show Three card support for our partner’s major or bid four card majors we have not yet had a chance to show. If we don’t have either of them, we can bid a five card minor or go back to No Trumps.
Try the following. Imagine our partner has opened One Club. We responded One Heart and our partner rebid One No Trump. What would you bid with the following hands? How do you expect the auction to go after that – plan out your responses.
Answers below – I can’t really spell out the entire auction because often my further bids will depend on partner’s responses. Nonetheless, these are what I’d be thinking when I commenced the checkback part of the auction.
Remember, it has begun:
1C:1H
1N:?
HAND ONE
I would begin with Two Diamonds. This is gameforce checkback and lets partner know we are definitely going to bid game somewhere! If she now rebids Two Hearts I will know she has three card support and I will bid game in Hearts. If they bid a four card Spade suit, I will bid Three No Trumps and if they happened to repeat their Clubs I would bid at least Five Clubs (on punchy days, I may even go there via a splinter bid of Four Spades, showing Club support, interest in slam and a singleton or void in Spades)
HAND TWO
I would start with Two Clubs. Partner would respond Two Diamonds and I would then bid Two Spades. Partner now knows I have an invitational hand with four cards in each major. They can bid game in Spades or No Trumps, or they can pass Two Spades. If they now bid Two No Trumps I would pass (they’ve shown no fit and a minimum).
HAND THREE
I would begin the Checkback auction with Two Clubs and partner would dutifully respond Two Diamonds. Although she is likely expecting me to now show an invitational hand I would pass and Two Diamonds would likely be the contract (it’s a free feature of Two Way Checkback that you inherit a weak transfer to Diamonds for free!)
- HAND FOUR
I would begin with Two Diamonds – game force checkback. If partner responds Two Hearts showing three card support then I will bid game in Hearts. If my partner instead shows a four card Spade suit or bids Two No Trumps, I will bid Three Diamonds to show a shapely hand (and confident that my partner won’t pass since Two Diamonds was Game Forcing!)
HAND FIVE
Two No Trumps. (A trick question). I wouldn’t use checkback on this hand because I don’t care about three card support, an unbid for card spade suit or a fifth Club. All I care about is whether my partner is a maximum or a minimum. She will pass with a minimum and bid game with a maximum.
This is a useful tip in any auction – don’t ask your partner a question if you don’t care what the answer is. All you are doing is telling the OPPONENTS information.
HAND SIX
I would start with a quiet Two Diamonds. This is game forcing checkback. Partner will now show three card support for Hearts, an unbid four card Spade suit or potentially even a five card Club suit with a 3235 shape. If I hear any of those suits I will likely ask for aces and bid at least six of that suit. If my partner responded Two No Trumps I would imagine them to have a 3244 hand. I’d be very keen to bid slam in No Trumps now (the exact method for investigating Six No Trumps depending on my partner).
Adding in Two Way Checkback is something a serious, regular partnership should do. It lets you probe your partner’s One No Trump rebids and determine when game is right and crucially, which game that is. It takes seeing it a few times before it becomes straightforward, but it is a bidding gadget worth investing some time into.
If you have any interesting hands that come up (or hands you wish you’d known how to play) we would love to hear about them at:
- Steve Geddes
Lighter Moments
- Breaking News: A man who took an Airline company to court after his luggage went missing has lost his case.
I am going on a holiday!!!
Leaving on Saturday for Sydney, the plan for the next three weeks is to get to Seoul, Taipei, Osaka and Pusan in that order.
As always, please be nice to all our directors, they will be doing extra work opening up, answering phone calls, tidying up after sessions, checking for milk, etc. I am sure they will appreciate all the help they can get.
Be especially nice to Steve who is once again in charge of the office, he is also running the "Understanding Defence" course and directing multiple sessions during this period.
Any newsletter articles please send to
Thanks to everyone who have volunteered to look after various tasks during my absence. I know I have been running around like a headless chook the last few days so apologies in advance if I've missed something, which undoubtedly I have and will most likely pop back into my mind the minute I switch my phone to airplane mode.
See you on April 13th!
Elizabeth
