Lesson sessions are a boon for Bridge Club

Royal Gazette Staff

Created: Oct 31, 2009 11:00 AM

The Junior Open Teams concluded at the Bridge Club last week and congratulations to the winning team of Lorna Anderson, Margaret Kirk and James and Marsha Fraser who accumulated 113 victory points. Five teams entered the competition and in second place were Diana Downs, Jane Hulse, Wilena White and Kath Bell on 90 VPs. It was close for third with the team of Steve Trumper, Sandra Curtis, Mark and Alex Crampton just pipping Lesley Mackay, Liz O'Mahoney and Tim and Sue Molineux.

Team Anderson was leading at halfway from team Downs by a 22 VP margin and comfortably held on for a fine win. Fully half the field was comprised of new players who had completed the spring lessons, with the Trumper team coming out top of the newbies. These lessons, organised and taught by Deb Randall and Greg Carey, are proving to be the lifeblood of the club and we are looking forward to welcoming another batch of newcomers to Wednesday evenings following the current lessons that they are receiving. Enquire at the Club for the next set of lessons if you want to introduce a newcomer to this great game of ours.

Also taking place at the moment is the Open Teams which will have concluded last night, so results in next weeks column. After the first session on Monday night the Douglas team ( Douglas, Tucker, Cordon, Burville) are in the lead with 59 vp's from Bussell(Bussell, Kyme, Gray, Gray, Rayner, Rayner) who are just behind on 55. Lurking in joint third on 48 are two other strong teams Wakefield (Wakefield, Johnson, Saunders, Hall ) and Petty (Petty, Smolski, Sykes, Sykes) so it is all to play for in Friday's second session.

This week's hand features one of my favourite coups , the Morton's Fork, where a defender is left with two options, both of them losing ones !

N/S Vul. Dealer South

ªA8

&Copy;K764

¨A5

§AJ1053

ªJ103 ªQ9652

&Copy;AJ109832 &Copy;-

¨106 ¨ J982

§7 §9842

ªK74

&Copy;Q5

¨KQ743

§KQ6

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

- - - INT (15-17)

3H 6NT P P

So how does declarer make 12 tricks on a hand where the bidding tells you that the diamond suit is unlikely to break well, as West has shown long hearts? There are 11 tricks available counting one heart trick, but where will the 12th come from?

Declarer found a neat solution …winning the spade lead in hand he led the 5 of hearts – West is immediately caught in the Fork! If he wins, Declarer has two heart tricks and his contract – if he doesn't, declarer now reverts to diamonds giving East the lead with the fourth diamond knowing very well that he has no hearts left to get to West's Ace! The hand is made with 2 spades , 1 heart, 4 diamonds and 5 clubs … easy!

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Lesson sessions are a boon for Bridge Club