Newsletter 3 July 2025
In our newsletter this week...
- President's Message
- BFACT Interclub Teams 2025
- Monthly Eclectic
- Name Badge Order
- Upcoming Events
- Results
- Science!
- Lighter Moments
President's Message
The President's Teams competition concluded on Tuesday evening, and I’d like to extend a big congratulations to the winners - Team Tutty! Congrats to all the teams competing in the event. The final results are listed below.
The CBC also wishes the very best of luck to all our ACT Representative Teams heading to Brisbane this weekend for the Australian National Championships. Everyone in the ACT and surrounding regions will be cheering you on every step of the way – Go ACT!
The ANC starts on Sunday, 6 July and any interested members who wish to follow their progress will be able to find the results here:
Interstate Teams - https://www.bridgeaustralia.org/resultslistbyheadevent.asp?umbid=479
Other Events - https://www.bridgeaustralia.org/resultslistbyheadevent.asp?umbid=480
Butler Pairs - https://www.bridgeaustralia.org/resultslistbyheadevent.asp?umbid=471
- Mary
BFACT 2025 INTERCLUB TEAMS
An entry to moderate level Honour Board (red-point) teams event for players in the ACT and surrounding areas
- Sunday 13 July 2025, 10:15am - 05:45pm
- Location: Whitlam Room, Belconnen Labor Club
- Cost: $150 per team or $75 per team for youth teams.
- Click here to enter
Have you seen the monthly Eclectic?
The monthly Eclectic is an ABF scheme where a partnership that plays well enough during the month can be awarded bonus masterpoints. Generally these points are the same colour as the sessions you played and will be more than the points earned for winning a single session.
Every point you earn assists in getting to the next level.
The Eclectic for Canberra Bridge Club is calculated monthly by our resident masterpoint guru John Donovan. It is published online in the Results homepage and also updated for viewing on the noticeboard.
Name Badge Order
If you would like a magnetic name badge please submit your order by emailing the office with your preferred name and abf number by the end of next week.
- Cost: $20 to be charged via myABF
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Upcoming Events
We will be pausing the Tuesday night competition on 8th and 15th July due to the ANC. Tuesday night competition will resume from the 22nd July.
- No Tuesday night competition on 8 July, 15 July
The next GNOT Qualifier Gold Masterpoint competition will be run on:
- 16 July, 23 July - Wednesday 10 am
The next RED Masterpoints TBIB Pairs will be run on:
- 14 July, 21 July and 28 July - Monday 10 am
Results
The Winners of the President's Teams are:
- BILL TUTTY - RUITIAN LANG - JODI TUTTY - SEBASTIAN YUEN
Science!
A hand came up at a recent Monday morning session that left many players guessing. The hand in question was:
♠ AQ32
♥ AKQ
♦ AK9
♣ AK3
Not Bad.
The auction (at every table) began with pass from your partner, pass on your right and Two Clubs. So far, so good. Here the auctions diverged, based on replies from responder. The modern style is to nearly always respond Two Diamonds to any Two Club opening as a waiting bid, but this presented a challenge for many players in the room. Bidding Two No Trumps after Two Diamonds is usually quite tightly defined (and possibly passable!) Nobody wants to play in Two No Trumps on this hand. Many opted for Three No Trumps. Some even bid Six No Trumps, hoping partner has “something useful” (not the recommended action!)
What would you bid?
For the record, here are the two hands:
Declarer:
♠ AQ32
♥ AKQ
♦ AK9
♣ AK3
Dummy:
♠ KT4
♥ J542
♦ J3
♣ QJ98
Thirteen tricks off the top (with decent chances for a fourteenth^).
How do you think your partnership would go? A couple of pairs managed to bid the impregnable contract of Seven No Trumps, but most didn’t and many didn’t even bid slam. These hands so rarely come up but when they do, we all hate to get them wrong! Luckily, there is a relatively easy-to-remember bit of Scientific bidding known as the Kokish Relay.
The Kokish relay occurs specifically in the uncontested auction that begins Two Clubs: Two Diamonds. A Kokish Relay bid of Two Hearts demands that partner bid Two Spades. If Opener then bids Two No Trumps this is game forcing and allows us to use all the usual gadgets of stayman and transfers. (If you follow up the Kokish Relay with anything other than Two No Trumps, it means that you really did have hearts and that the Two Spade bid was just for practise).
Introducing the Kokish relay lets you break up all the strong No Trump hands as follows:
- 2NT opening = 20-21 HCP
- 2C:2D:2NT = 22-23 HCP
- 2C:2D:2H:2S:2NT = 24+ HCP
The beauty of the Kokish Relay is that not only do you have a way of dealing with the very strong balanced hands. You can also often pass hands which are Twenty Three HCPs opposite Zero – hands unlikely to make game but where we otherwise often bid to game. It also means you can make all of your Very Strong No Trump ranges two points instead of three – this can be a significant difference; there’s quite a difference between a 20 HCP hand and a 22 HCP hand.
So going back to our original hand. How would the Kokish Relay have solved our problem?
The auction could now proceed as follows (alertable bids have asterisks):
2C*:2D*
2H*:2S* <- Kokish relay!
2N:3C*
3S:6N(!) <- My partner has 24+ HCP and a balanced hand and I have 8 HCP
7N <- My partner has bid 6NT thinking I have 24 HCP and I actually have 29!
Perhaps there’s still a little guesswork there, but way, way less than in regular, natural bidding. If you have a regular partner and hate mucking these hands up, consider adding the Kokish Relay (just remember that if you add it in this week, you’ll probably see it in 2027)
^That was a joke.
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
- Old age has come at a bad time, just as I was beginning to know everything, I'm now forgetting everything I knew.
- At the beach, if you hold a crab up to your ear you can hear what it sounds like to be attacked by a crab.
- Because I like the lighter moments to have a common theme, if an old crab forgets to attack you please let me know.
Have a great week everyone!
Elizabeth
