State Wide Pairs

2005

Week One:

13. The vast majority will reach 4S and make eleven tricks when West gets a club ruff. Twelve tricks in spades, however, are easy if West does not find the singleton club lead. 6S or 6C are very good contracts, needing only normal breaks, but good bidding will be punished here. Diagnosing the double fit and the fact that there are no wasted values in the red suits to get to 6S is good enough to get you listed on the Roll of Honour on the FABC pages of the NSWBA web site: http://www.nswba.com.au/fabc/index.html.
A small compensation for getting to the right contract and getting the wrong score.

The following partnerships bid the excellent but frequently unsuccessful slam in spades on a combined 26 high card count on deal 13 of session one of the 2005 State Wide Pairs:

S. & G. Lynn Ballina Bridge Club

J. Plasto & J. Manion Dubbo Bridge Club

T. Horder & A. Eastaugh Griffiths Bridge Club

I. Porter & T. Marchant Illawarra Bridge Club

A. Harmos & E. Karay Orange Bridge Club

R. Dobson & P. Hardy Penrith Bridge Club

E. Leermakers & T. Wolf Penrith Bridge Club

R. Lock & D. Monohan Newcastle Bridge Club

Week Two:

30. Most Souths will treat this hand as a force to game and may have an uninterrupted auction to 4H. Should EW get to 4S then NS can double the contract to collect +500 rather than bidding on to 5H, worth only 450. This kind of judgment is critical to success at matchpoint events and deserves to get you listed on the Roll of Honour on the FABC pages of the NSWBA web site: http://www.nswba.com.au/fabc/index.html

Many EW pairs drove on with varied success to 5 on board 30 of session two of the 2005 State Wide Pairs but the following four partnerships showed excellent judgment to double 4 for much better scores:

M. Wilson & G. Dawson Glen Bridge Club

G. Ditton & M. Mather Inverell Bridge Club

I. & T. Giles Narrabeen Bridge Club

R. Wallace & J. Saunders Taree Bridge Club

Week Three:

28. A huge hand with North will be open with a force to game by most players. South will bid whatever the system uses for yuck and North will rebid 2S. South now has something to boast- namely three trumps and a singleton diamond which might well be handy for partner. 4D here shows a singleton diamond and spade support. Knowing about the singleton in the South hand will allay North’s concern about losing diamonds and should be enough to propel the partnership to the small slam. Getting there will also get you listed on the Roll of Honour on the FABC pages of the NSWBA web site: http://www.nswba.com.au/fabc/index.html.

Naturally I cannot tell to what degree the auction was scientific and creditable but the following pairs were all good enough to reach the slam in spades on deal 28, session three, of the 2005 State Wide Pairs:

M. Carter & P. Besseling BallinaBridge Club

J. Hurley & L. Burford Ballina Bridge Club

J. & M. Roche Ballina Seniors Bridge Club

M. Craig & R. Smallwood Bathurst Bridge Club

A. Townley & A. Hunter Bathurst Bridge Club

J. Hector & M. Simes Bathurst Bridge Club

M. Dunlop & P. Bennett Camden HavenBridge Club

C. & M. Payne Glen Bridge Club

M. Miller & V. Stevenson Glen Bridge Club

M. Robertson & M. Eggins Maitland Bridge Club

E. Battista & B. Hunter Muswellbrook Bridge Club

M. Blackham & G. Rummey Newcastle Bridge Club