Merry Christmas to all of you! I hope the holiday season treats you well and that you cope with the relative lack of opportunities to play until the New Year arrives. On that point though, a reminder that on Wednesday morning Dec 28, the Bridge Club will be having a special game celebrating the Bridge in Schools programme.

As most of you know, we had four students from Saltus go to Salsomaggiore to participate in the WBF World Youth Team Championships. The Club has arranged for all four players to be present for the Wednesday morning game. Try and attend that game if you can and show your support for the Bridge in Schools programme. As I reported earlier there will be food available after the game, so many reasons to attend! With all the Tournaments now completed, including the Player of the Year races, I thought I should provide an Honour Roll of all the 2016 Championship winners.

Ernie Owen Individual

Joyce Pearson

Open Pairs

David Sykes, Charles Hall

Men’s Pairs

Alan Douglas, Eddie Kyme

Ladies Pairs

Jane Smith, Gertie Barker

Mixed Pairs

Alan Douglas, Jane Smith

Non-Life Master Pairs

Richard Hall, James Fraser

Junior Pairs

Richard Keane, David Pickering

Novice Pairs

Heather and Michael Farrugia

Open Teams

Roman Smolski, Margie Way, Jean Johnson, Misha Novakovic

Junior Teams

Lane Martin, John Luebkermann, Sharon Shanahan, Claude Guay

The Player of the Year Races produced clear winners in both Open categories but the Junior event was close ! Here are the top players in each category :

Senior Player of the Year

Jane Smith 51.62

Alan Douglas 40.88

Gertie Barker 33.76

Diana Diel 25.91

Marge Way 25.81

6th to 10th were really close with Elizabeth McKee, Charles Hall, Rachael Gosling, John Glynn and David Sykes filling those spots in that order.

Day Player of the Year

Diana Diel 82.43

Molly Taussig 75.15

Elizabeth McKee 68.13

Pat Siddle 45.83

Marge Way 44.86

Again the next five were close – Gertie Barker, Lyn O’Neill, Julia Beach, Magda Farag and Louise Roger

Junior Player of the Year

Sharon Shanahan 11.23

Claude Guay 10.22

Richard Keane 7.51

David Pickering 7.39

Betsy Baillie 7.01

The next five – Lisa Ferrari, Carol Eastham, Jean Wolosiuk, Paul Shrubb, Nikki Boyce.

Congratulations to all these players, and if you are not on this list try and get there in 2017!

I love good bidding and I love it when hard work by a partnership in sorting out their bidding style and meanings pays off at the table – this hand is therefore one I love!

N

S AKQ87

H None

D K7

C AKJ962

E

S J3

H Q1098762

D A4

C 10 5

S

S 109652

H A54

D 8532

C Q

W

S 4

H KJ3

D QJ 1096

C 8743

North opened a strong Two Clubs , East bid three Hearts to try and disrupt the bidding and South made the bid I like, he bid three Spades … the bidding was:

North

2C

4NT (1)

7S (3)

Pass

East

3H

Pass

DBL (4)

South

3S

5C (2)

Pass

West

4H

Pass

Pass

The bidding was brilliant from all ….

(1) Blackwood

(2) One Key Card, clearly a Red Ace

(3) I like this bid … South on the bidding , is likely to have the Diamond Ace, but even if not the hand would probably make on the expected Heart lead

(4)Not so fast! East’s Double says ‘Partner, do not lead my suit!’

If East wanted a Heart lead he would just pass as partner will lead one anyway. Now West had a choice between a Diamond and a Club and chose the …… Queen of Diamonds! Down two!

Great bridge all round…..notice that 6 Spades by North is untouchable and 7 Spades makes on any lead but a Diamond!

Now you know what to work on! Happy Holidays and if you drink …don’t drive.