The 2015 Special Events program commenced on Sunday 10th with the very successful Mystery

Teams event. 11 teams participated and the Spencer team (Colleen Spencer, Peter Forsyth, Lyn

Ebert, Jan Blay) were the winners, followed by the Leonard team (Mary Leonard, June Perry, Jenny

and Greg Maley). Thank you to the House subcommittee members for once again displaying their

great catering skills and providing a beautiful meal. Special thanks to Barbara Meaney who relieved

players of kitchen duties.

The Committee has recently had several grab rails installed in the disability toilet. These will help

those with mobility difficulties and we would encourage members to make use of them. Sloping rails

have also been installed in each of the women’s and men’s cubicles.

Did you know it is possible to pay entry fees for congresses and other special events by direct debit?

Instructions for doing so are provided on the club website by selecting the relevant Congress/Special

Event poster displayed under the “Special Events” icon.

Congratulations to Eric Hurley and Gary Lynn who came a very creditable 16th in the TBIB National

Open Swiss Pairs Championships at Canberra Summer Festival of Bridge. They were competing

against 201 other pairs! Marjorie Askew and Bill Powell also finished in the top third of the field.

Many of our members will be playing in the Gold Coast Congress later in February and we wish these

players all the best in their events.

Another round of Bridge lessons is about to get underway with 14 new players enrolling. Who

knows how many future champions will emerge from these classes? Thanks to all the teachers for

the effort you put into running these classes and the follow-up sessions each year.

Ngaire

On the lighter side…..

In the 1960’s there was a US TV game show called Hollywood Squares where contestants (usually celebri-ties) were asked a question by the host and the audience then had to guess whether their answer was correct or not. The real interest of the show was the one-liners that stars answered the question with

before giving their real answer. Some of the best responses are below:

Q “Do Female frogs croak?”

A Paul Lynde: “If you hold their little heads under water long enough they will”

Q “You’ve been having trouble going to sleep. Are you probably a man or a woman?”

A Don Knotts: “That’s what’s been keeping me awake”

Q In Hawaiian, does it take more than 3 words to say “I love you”?

A Vincent Price: “No, you can say it with a pineapple and a $20”

Q “According to Ann Landers, what’s wrong with getting into the habit of kissing a lot of people?”

A Charles Weaver: “It got me out of the army”

Q “Back in the old days, when Great Grandpa put horseradish on his head, what was he trying to do”

A Paul Lynde: “Get it in his mouth”

Bal l ina Br idge Club Newsletter — Jan 2015

Current Office

Holders

__________________

Ngaire Wills

President

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

other pair bid the Grand with others opting for 6NT

and 6♥, the latter being a good score for their oppo-nents; 10 MPs making all the difference between a good and bad score. Thanks to Jim Roche for supplying this interesting hand.

South opens 1♣ and North bids 1♥ . South’s re-bid of 2NT promises 18-19 so North should aim to bid slam (and possibly grand slam on points alone). Af-

ter 2NT, North bid 4♣ (ace ask) which South re-

sponds 4♠ (showing 2). With all Aces accounted for and North having 8 sure tricks in his hand alone, he bid 7NT. One

Bidding the Grand—7NT

A (very) unlikely slam

North assumed that West’s double indicated the ♥ A which meant that my key card was the ♦ A. Paul then bid 6♠

which is cold on any lead but nevertheless difficult to find. Congratulations to him on finding it.

Sitting South, with EW vul, I decided to open an aggressive 4S which is perhaps not the best bid given the absence of honours in spades. North bid 5♣ (exclusion Blackwood — agreeing ♠ and asking partner to ignore the ♣ suit). I an-swered 5♥ (systemic — 1 or 4 key cards in ♠) which West doubled.

Please support

our sponsors

_________________

Page 2

Photo compet i t ion

This photo of a current member was taken on

the Gold Coast in the 1950’s. Can you guess

who it is?

If you can, place your name on an envelope

with your answer on the back for your chance

to win either a bromeliad/orchid from Winston

or a free game of bridge.—your choice (Entries

can be placed in the box near the systems

cards).

First correct answer drawn from the list of

entries wins with the winner announced in the

February newsletter.

During congresses and other tournaments it would be appreciated if partners not discuss systems during play and particularly

when cards are picked up. The following from the Head Directors in Canberra provides some guidance on this problem:

“During a match a system can be discussed only whilst the cards are still in the folder/board. Once the cards are out, the

hand is underway and no discussion is allowed. You can’t even say, ‘partner did you forget we play xxx’. However, between

hands that is different, but there should be no delay in taking out the cards to allow a discussion”.

I hope that this is of assistance.

Lexie Teakle is in St Vincent’s Rehab centre recovering well after her leg was amputated below the knee in early December. Lexie will be fitted with a prosthesis before discharge. Ever optimistic she still hopes to return to

Bridge and thanks everyone for their continued support.

Helen Pearce is recovering from shoulder surgery on 22nd December and is now back at Bridge.

Dorothy Brumley is still in Epworth Rehab Centre (Melbourne) after a fall during the Christmas period in which

she broke her arm and injured her hip. Dorothy hopes to be transferred to Ballina in the near future.

Marie Carter is also recovering well and it’s good to see her back playing bridge.

A gentle reminder

Upcoming events:

Monday 26th January — Australia Day Teams ($15/person). Pre-entry required, BYO lunch. 9.30am start.

Wednesday 4th February — Harvey Norman Mens and Womens pairs (Round 1)

For Sale/Donation

Col Gale kindly donated 2 Gift cards for Internet streaming of movies & TV shows. You can also get DVD's mailed to your home.

Each voucher is worth approximately 2 months subscription with Quickflix. The 2 cards are valued at $100 total. They will go to

the highest bidder on the events Noticeboard, ending 31st January. Add your name & bid. Any proceeds go to your club.

Royal Mail Delivery from England

A recent package arrived at Ballina Bridge Club, delivered by British Royal Mail with no return address. Was it from a royal family

member? It was addressed to Mary Hoare. With Mary's heritage, maybe the Queen was sending her a tiara? Confused, upon open-

ing, there were some packets of Spearmint chewing Gum. Mary likes this gum which is unavailable in Australia, and had asked Re-

becca Rogers to bring some home with her. Perhaps Rebecca thought it would be excess baggage for them! Mary says thanks Re-

becca.

Bridge Lessons. Commencing Tuesday 3rd February and run twice weekly, finishing Friday 27th March, 2015. Lessons commence at

9am and finish around 11am with a break for morning tea. Please encourage people to come along as it’s important to foster new

players to the bridge club. The total cost for all lessons is $60 which includes an introductory folder. For further information, please

contact Anne Bigg on 6686 2374 or Jean Lowe 6686 9284. Dates are as follows:

February 2015 March 2015

Tuesdays Fridays Tuesdays Fridays

3rd 6th 3rd 6th

10th 13th 10th 13th

17th 20th 17th 20th

24th 27th 24th 27th

Page 3

Play Committee Report

Our members

In a pairs tournament competing for a part score, a score of –200 is

called the Kiss of Death; it’s unlikely that the opponents can achieve

200 in a part score so it’s usually an outright top when you give them

this score! This is highlighted from the following deal from the Pairs

Championship. Paul (West) opened 2♥ (8-11, 5♥ ). I should have

passed but thought I’d take the chance of a better trump fit and bid

3C. The result was 2 off for –200 and a complete bottom. 2♥ has a

chance of making but even 1 off is a positive board for East-West.

-200 — the “kiss of death”

Squeeze plays

I don’t know about everyone else, but I find squeeze and end-plays the most difficult aspect of bridge; not only executing them successfully, but identifying them early enough in the play to be able to plan the hand. Here is an interesting example that

I came across recently.

Defending 6NTx, west leads the singleton diamond. Given the x from west, declarer can deduce that the ♥AQ and ♠K are off-side with west. Declarer wins the diamond lead with the Ace and continues to unblock diamonds. After the ♦Q, declarer plays a spade to the Jack which holds. Declarer then plays the remaining diamonds, pitching 2 hearts from hand and then cashing three clubs tricks. This leaves the cards as shown on the right. On playing the ♣A, west is squeezed in hearts and spades. If west pitches the ♥Q, south leads the ♥K and west must lead away from the ♠K. If west pitches a spade, then declarer must win 2 spade tricks.