Newsletter 19 June 2025
In our newsletter this week...
- President's Message
- Message from the Committee
- Youthish Night
- New members
- Wednesday Night Pizzas
- Results
- Cardplay Technique
- Lighter Moments
President's Message
Covid & Colds
As the winter approaches, the club would like to reiterate that we ask our members to not be at the clubrooms if you are unwell, whether with Covid symptoms or other symptoms. Our membership is older and includes more individuals with chronic health conditions than the general community. Mask wearing is encouraged if you have a cough or have been in close contact with someone who has been exposed recently. Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated. We want to keep everyone safe.
Don’t forget: Youth Fundraising Event - Sunday, 22 June
Join us this Sunday at the Club for a special Youth Fundraising event in support of Alexis & Jade! There will be raffles, yummy scones, and a delicious light lunch so come along and show your support. A big thank you to those who has already signed up. If you haven’t yet, you can register here - https://www.myabf.com.au/events/congress/view/2897
Correction from last week’s newsletter:
We missed celebrating a few important winners from the Victorian Festival of Bridge - congratulations to:
Under 100 MP Development Pairs winners:
- Kate Latimer & Lyndall Kennedy
Best Seniors Teams in the VCC:
- Ian Robinson & others
The Chris Diment Memorial Congress was held in Illawarra last weekend (14-15 June) - congratulations to:
Swiss Teams
- 2nd - Hurst Team (Rob Hurst, Desmond Manderson, Rowan Corbett & Jackie Adcock)
- 3rd - Geddes Team (Steve Geddes, Elaine Pretorius, Will Jenner-O’Shea & Vanessa Brown)
Message from the Committee
- CBC By-Laws - The CBC By-Laws were approved at the April meeting and are now available on the website - https://canberrabridgeclub.com.au/files/CBC_Bylaws_April_2025.pdf
- Club Charity - Dementia Australia has been chosen as the Club’s charity for 2025-26.
Youthish Night at the Canberra Bridge Club
The CBC will be holding monthly "Youthish" Nights for all ACT Bridge Players under 40 years.
Entry is FREE and there will be a Pizza dinner!
All ages and experience levels are welcome, no partner required.
• Friday 20 June
• Session 1: 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM
• Dinner: 6:30 PM - 7:00 PM
• Session 2: 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
New Members
Canberra Bridge Club welcomes the following new and returning member to the club:
- Lorenzo Di Guglielmo
Results
The winners of the Friday afternoon GNOT Qualifier Gold point competition are:
- 1st - John Kelly - David Clarkson
- 2nd - Brenda Watts - Rosemary Matley
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.
o 25 June - 6:30pm
o $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
Cheers
Jon
A cardplay technique that comes up (nearly) every session
One often overlooked strategy is to develop our longest suits. Club players can often get bamboozled by big cards and take every finesse in sight whilst overlooking the power of playing their long suits. Experienced players will often take finesses as a last resort, recognising that after a few rounds of playing your long suit (even if you lose one or two tricks) the opponents’ holdings will be exhausted. Suddenly those little twos, fours and sevens are as good as aces!
The following hand came up in a recent duplicate session.
South opened One Heart, West doubled and North responded Two Hearts. Most openers then jumped to Four Hearts. Nearly every pair in the room was playing game in Hearts and without fail West led the King of Diamonds. Here is what Declarer saw:
Dummy:
♠ T
♥ 653
♦ T42
♣ QJT653
Lead: King of Diamonds
Declarer:
♠ KJ42
♥ KQJT98
♦ A
♣ A4
Everyone won the opening lead with the Ace of Diamonds and then drew trumps in two rounds. West took the Ace of Hearts and tried to cash the Queen of Diamonds which was ruffed.
This is what the various Declarers could see now:
Dummy:
♠ T
♥ 6
♦ T
♣ QJT653
Declarer:
♠ KJ42
♥ JT9
♦ void
♣ A4
The results on this hand varied from making four hearts to four off! And it all depends on what Declarer did next.
Many people played a Spade now, short-suiting themselves so that they could ruff a Spade in Dummy. Once they had ruffed their Spade however, they ran the Queen of Clubs and lost to West who played yet another Diamond. South’s Ace of Clubs and trumps were tricks, but they were now doomed to lose two Spades and couldn’t make their contract.
More experienced declarer’s recognised that Dummy only had one entry and that the true power in the North cards rested with the long clubs, not the high cards. Rather than crossing to dummy to take a Club Finesse, the successful declarers played the Ace and then the Four of Clubs, giving West the King of Clubs without even trying. Now West could do nothing more than score their outstanding Ace of Spades, but Declarer could ruff the second round of Spades, ending in Dummy where they could then play the Queen, Jack, Ten and Six of Clubs, throwing away all of their losers and making their contracts.
Next time you are playing a hand and need to scramble for extra tricks, give some thought to whether developing your longest suit will give you the tricks you need. Why take all those finesses, trusting to luck, when you may well be able to force your way to the tricks you need to make your contract?
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
- An old man and a 20 year old are paired together at a golf tournament. They’re playing a long par 5 that dog legs around some tall trees. As the 20 year old sets up his tee shot to hit onto the fairway the old man notes “when I was your age we used to hit over the trees - not around to the side.” So the 20 year old readjusts and tries to hit over the trees - but can’t clear them and loses his ball. He tries again and loses that one too… Then the old man says “of course, when I was your age, the trees were only 6 foot tall.”
- My grandfather says to me, he goes, "when I was a boy you could walk into a grocery store with two dollars in your pocket and walk out with a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs, even a little butter!" He says, "but now, these days, too many damn cameras."
- Why did the old man fall down the well? Cause he couldn’t see that well.
Have a great week everyone.
Elizabeth
