Bal l ina Br idge Club
Newsletter — March 2015
Current Office
Holders
__________________
President
Ngaire Wills
Vice President,
Rebecca Rogers
Secretary
Sue Burns
Assistant Secretary
Judy Woodward
Treasurer
Julie Harwood
Assistant Treasurer
Jan Blay
Masterpoint Secretary
Bill Powell
Chair of Play
Judy Forsyth
Committee Members
Chery McCallum
Maureen Baker
Chris McDowell
Maintenance
Alan Sims
Congratulations to Fiona who competed in
the Open Division the recent Gold Coast
Congress. She was in the 6 person WARE
team who qualified first. They were nar-
rowly defeated in the final 113.5 to 115
which shows how close the final must have
been. She is seen opposite with fellow
team mates Tony Nunn (left) and Hugh
McGann (right).
(photo with permission Qld Bridge Association)
Congratulations to Fiona
President’s Report
Very positive feedback has been received from those who attended the Individual competition,
Sunday 8th March. 40 participants enjoyed a fun evening where each person played one board with
every other player. Despite some initial confusion, nobody got lost and all found their next table
and partner! Congratulations to the winner Helen Tootell, Henry Hirschhorn in second place, and
Howard Jeffery in third place. A big thank you to Howard for organising the movements and
keeping track of the scoring and to the House Subcommittee for providing another enjoyable
meal.
Our Maintenance team of Alan Sims, Greg Lester and Chris McDowell have had a busy few weeks.
They have pressure cleaned the front path, organised the delivery of a load of crusher dust and
filled up potholes near the driveway entrance and spread the remainder around in other lower
lying areas. They have organised a building pest inspection (no nasties found), arranged for the
carpet to be cleaned, and arranged to have the solar panels inspected and cleaned. Thank you for
your ongoing work in keeping the building and grounds in such good condition.
Marjorie Askew will be running another series of lessons in April covering more intermediate and
advanced topics. Last year’s lessons were very popular so remember to book in early this year.
We have received a letter and Certificate of Appreciation from Our House in Lismore (one of the
Club's previous Charity Day recipients) updating us on how useful the complex is for people who
need to stay in Lismore for medical treatment. Since Our House opened in December 2012, nearly
2000 guests from across the region have stayed in the complex. If you would like to read the let-
ter in full, or view the accompanying DVD, please see either Sue Burns or myself.
Just a reminder that the Ballina Swiss Pairs competition is coming up this weekend and the only
play on Saturday 21st March will be for those taking part in this competition. Country Pairs also
commences on 19th April and a Red point pairs (ANZAC pairs) on 25th April. Yamba is also hav-
ing their popular Swiss Pairs event on 2nd—3rd May.
Ngaire
In the recent Gold Coast Con-
gress, Paul and I came across
this unusual hand. With East/
West Vul, West opened 3C,
North (Paul) X and East bids 3♠
(!). Clearly he was psyching with
the intention of keeping us out
of a game or slam in ♠. Being
Non-Vul, I decided to pass and
wait for partner to double.
Note that if I bid 4♥, East will
double for a disastrous contract
for us. Paul wisely chose to pass
and take the money; if he dou-
bles, then East will bid 4 ♣ and
(possibly) escape being punished
for his psych bid. East ended up
playing in a 1-3 fit of 3♠ and made 2 tricks for 7 off -700. We ended up scoring
6 IMPS on this board when the datum come out, but it could have easily ended
up in tears :-).
Marjorie is again holding her very popular lessons on Wednesdays April
15, 22, and 29 starting at 10.15am and going for about an hour. Lessons
will be on the following subjects:
1. The joy of counting
2. End plays and throw-ins
3. The simple squeeze
These lessons are intended for intermediate to advanced players
(lessons for improving players will be run later in the year). To assist
with planning, please submit a nomination form in the Club Box. Costs
are $5 per lesson or $10 for all 3. All proceeds go towards teaching re-
sources at the Club.
Marjorie’s lessons
Please support
our sponsors
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Page 2
Avoid ing the psych trap
Dispatches from the Gold Coast Congress newsletter
Gold Coast Congress Page 3
Ballina was well represented at the recent Gold Coast Congress held at the end of February. It’s now the larg-
est Bridge event in Australia, attracting international and professional players and very well run. Fiona Brown’s
team finished first in the qualifiers (WARE team) which is an incredible achievement given the quality of the
field and were narrowly defeated in the finals by the Indonesian team. Ballina was also strongly represented in
Novice, Restricted and Seniors divisions with excellent results.
PICK team competing in Restricted Division
Ian PICK, Bob HART, Carolyn HART, Graham CARSON
HURLEY team competing in Open Division
Marjorie ASKEW, Eric HURLEY, Bill POWELL, Janet BROWN
TAYLOR team competing in Novice Division
John HARRISON, Charlotte HARRISON, Shelley TAYLOR, Leonie LOVE
TOOTELL team competing in Seniors Division
Peter TOOTELL, Gary LYNN, Helen TOOTELL, Susan LYNN
FORSYTH team competing in Open Division
Mike GILFOYLE, Judy WOODWARD, Lyn ARNETT, Judy FORSYTH
FRASER team competing in Open Division
Ellen WATSON, Mary GOODALL, John FRASER, Anne BIGG
Leads
Maureen’s Book Tip
Bridge is full of pithy truisms like “second hand plays low”, “lead
small from an honor” etc. Although there are always exceptions,
99% of the time it’s good practice to follow them. One of the
most useful and one that I should have followed, is “don’t lead
unsupported aces in a suit contract”. Defending 4♥, I was con-
fused by the bidding (another story but nevertheless no excuse)
and decided to lead the A♣. When dummy went down, declarer
(North) ruffed in hand and drew trumps finishing in dummy when
they broke 2-2. They then simply cashed the remaining high ♣s and made 13 tricks for a total top board. The safest lead is a
small ♦ which keeps the contract to 11 tricks (or anything other
than the A♣!).
If your computer screen doesn’t show all the pages in the new website you can display more of the pages
by holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the minus button. Holding down Ctrl and pressing the plus
button makes the image bigger. Thanks also to Jill and Don Cox for the provision of the set top box which will
enable us to view the Melbourne Cup on the projector screen.
Computer tip and thanks
Contributions to the newsletter
Contributions to the newsletter are always welcome. For enquiries or to submit material for upcoming editions, please con-
tact Winston on 0416 065 910 or else email to: [email protected] The newsletter is published monthly and copies are available on the BBC web-site: http://www.users.on.net/~bbclub/index.html
Finally, a written breathalyzer test… The Golden Age. Joan London. published August, 2014
Set in 1950”s Perth, “The Golden Age” by Australian author Joan London tells the story of Frank Gold,
the son of Hungarian refugees Ida and Meyer Gold. The family have escaped from brutal circumstances
in Budapest and, having hoped to take refuge in America, have arrived in Australia. Ida, who was a con-
cert pianist, finds Perth difficult and disappointing. Meyer however is stoic and adaptable. Not long after
their arrival their 12 year old son Frank is diagnosed with polio and sent to the Infectious Diseases
Branch of Royal Perth Hospital.
Here Frank meets Sullivan, an older boy who is seriously ill but who writes
beautiful poetry. The two become close companions and Frank decides that
he too will become a poet. When Sullivan dies it is thought that it would be
better to move Frank to a hospital especially for children. Here he meets
Elsa, the only other child of his age at the hospital. The novel deals with the
deep friendship, love really, between these two. It is interesting that London
takes these children so seriously; we see their strength and ability as their
sense of self develops throughout the novel.
There is warmth in this novel - a sense of calmness and hope as each charac-
ter we meet develops and grows. It is a novel which is beautifully written
and where moral judgements are never harsh and yet it keeps us reading and
thinking.