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Allcomers had a blast at the Bermuda Regional

Fig 1

This column will be the final wrap on what was another hugely successful 2020 Bermuda Regional which concluded last week.Attendance was up, even if the table count was pretty much the same as last year, and much of that was due to many visiting teams taking the time to explore the island and eat out at our restaurants during the sessions, all of which represents success.Sheena Rayner, tournament chairwoman, can certainly look back on her two-year tenure with great pride.She hands over the reigns to Bill Pollett, the 2021 chairman, an event that has maintained its traditions and its quality and does us all proud.The standout performer from the locals was undoubtedly Ed Betteto, whose three wins, with one in Teams and two in Pairs, propelled him to a total of 71 masterpoints for the week.Of those 71 masterpoints, 58.49 were earned in qualifying events and led to him winning the prized Norman Bach Trophy.Ed is currently president of both the Bridge Club and the local ACBL Unit 198, and he is clearly making his presence felt at and away from the table.The masterpoint list showed some impressive totals for the locals. Making up the top 10 in the Norman Bach behind Ed, in order, were David Sykes, Fabian Hupe, Gertie Barker, Jane Smith, Alan Douglas, Rachael Gosling, Bill Pollett, Misha Novakovic and Marge Way.In the Karl Hicks trophy, Duncan Silver won with 5.1 followed by Ross Cooper, Scott Gilbertson, Barbara Elkin, Jean Schilling, Kirsty Pollett, Alison Everard, Maria Wakely, Katarina Rance and Richard and Louise Neame. Well done all.Turning to this week’s hand, which was covered in the bulletin by Robert Todd, I like this hand for a couple of reasons: the bidding all around the table was good, and the hand evaluation was superb demonstrating the value of a good trump fit between two hands with some shape.On this hand (Fig 1) from the Thursday evening game of the Championship Pairs, Gail Greenberg and Jeff Hand continued their match point domination by showing the power of distribution and good hand evaluation.After a simple 1 Spade opening bid from Gail and a 1NT forcing response from Jeff, my partner (East), bid 2NT, showing the minors.I was not sure how many Diamonds to bid — 3 Diamonds, 4 Diamonds or even 5 Diamonds, seemed reasonable.Looking at so few Hearts, I decided that 4 Diamonds was out, as it would likely push them into game.I decided to go low and bid 3 Diamonds (hoping that Hearts were 5-2-4-2 around the table).Jeff then got into the action, with a nice shapely 3 Hearts call and Gail, after some consideration, decided that her minimum-HCP hand was perfect in playing strength — Spade A, Hearts Axxx, a singleton Diamond (the suit we bid), and a likely working Club K behind the unusual NT bidder, and raised to 4 Hearts.Great bids by both Jeff and Gail on this hand, reaching game on a combined 17 HCP.Unfortunately, this hand was played against me, and they put me in a lose-lose situation by bidding to such a good game.Even if we had saved in 5 Diamonds and played it perfectly, we would have received a well below average board.A nice hand and Robert picks up the finer points of the bidding really well.

<p>All of the trophy winners</p>

Bermudian-based players had a really good 2020 Bermuda Regional Bridge Tournament. Here is a complete listing of all the trophy winners, most of whom were at the final banquet.

Sunday Teams, Bracket 6

Joyce Pearson-Linda Abend-John Leubkemann-Sarah Lorimer-Turner

Sunday Teams, Bracket 5

Michael Tait-Jane Clipper-Desmond Nash-Tracy Nash

Sunday Teams, Bracket 1

Bill Souster-David Sykes-Edward Betteto-Fabian Hupe

Mon-Tues. Bermuda Gold Pairs 300 Stratum

Betsy Baillie-Lisa Ferrari

Monday to Tuesday Bermuda Gold Pairs 750 Stratum

Judy King-Stephen Cosham

Monday to Tuesday

B/C Pairs Stratum B

Gertrude Barker-Jane Smith

Monday to Tuesday A/X Pairs Stratum X

Edward Betteto-Fabian Hupe

Wednesday to Thursday Bermuda Gold Pairs 300 Stratum

Desmond Nash-Tracy Nash

Wednesday to Thursday Open Pairs Stratum C

Robert Flynn-John Rayner

Wednesday to Thursday Open Pairs Stratum B

David Sykes-Edward Betteto

Friday B/C/D Swiss Stratum D

Michael Dawson-Joann Dawson-Malcolm Moseley-Mark Stevens

Friday B/C/D Swiss Stratum C

Michael Tait-Jane Clipper-Katrina Van Pelt-Donna Leitch

Friday B/C/D Swiss Stratum B

Linda Pollett- Bill Pollett-Peter Donnellan-Lynanne Bolton

Championship Knockout BKT 3

Richard Gray-Wendy Gray-Gill Gray-Patricia Siddle

Bermuda Newcomers Masterpoint Winner (0-20 (Karl Hicks Trophy)

Duncan Silver

Bermuda Open Masterpoint Winner (Norman Bach Trophy)

Ed Betteto