In our newsletter this week...
President's Message
AGM 2026
Workshop with Will Jenner-O'Shea
Canberra in Bloom Volunteers Needed
Teams League Competition at the Club!
RealBridge Volunteers Wanted
New Players
Online Lessons
Upcoming Events
Fundamental Lessons
Youth News
Results
Lighter Moments
President’s message
Congratulations, Beginners!
A very special congratulations to our latest group of Beginners, who have graduated this week! We hope you have enjoyed your introduction to bridge and are excited to continue your journey with us. Your next step is Fundamentals, running for the next eight weeks, where you can build on what you have learned and gain confidence at the table.
This is also a particularly special graduation as it is Barb Toohey’s final Beginner class after more than 15 plus years of welcoming new players to the wonderful world of bridge. Barb has been a much-loved and very important part of our Club, and we are enormously grateful for the patience, encouragement and enthusiasm she has shared with so many new players over the years. As Barb heads north to begin her next adventure, we wish her every happiness!
To our newest members - welcome to Canberra Bridge Club! We look forward to seeing you around the tables and sharing many enjoyable bridge moments with you in the years ahead.
- Mary
AGM 2026
The Canberra Bridge Club AGM will be held on Tuesday 13 October (subject as always to the audit being available) and the meeting will start at 5.30pm.
In accordance with the Club’s Constitution, the nomination period for the Committee commences on 15 September and closes at 2.00pm on 28 September. The time and date for receipt of proxies will be 2.00 pm on Monday 12 October 2026. Nomination and Proxy forms can be found on the website or copies can be obtained from the Manager. There will be 2 boxes located in the Manager’s Office, one for nominations and one for proxies.
Nomination forms will only be accepted as emails to the Manager if they have been scanned and included as an attachment as they must be completed in full including four actual signatures. Proxies can be emailed without the authorising member’s signature if the email is being sent by the authorising member to the Manager and all other relevant details as required on the form are provided.
Please note that nomination forms cannot be submitted earlier than 15 September nor later than 2.00pm on 28 September. If you are unable to submit your completed nomination form at the clubrooms in the 15-28 September period please arrange for a third party to submit the form on your behalf within the 15-28 September period or, if convenient, you have the option to scan and email your completed form with the four signatures within that time.
Workshop with Will Jenner-O'Shea
Will's next workshop will be held at CBC on Sunday 20th September.
The workshop is on "Forcing Or Not- Which Bids Can You Pass, and Not" focusing on:
♥ Which bids are Forcing for each player.
♥ When do you need to jump or change suit.
♥ How to show a good hand in a competitive auction
Details:
- $60 per player including a delicious morning tea, a light lunch, and a booklet of notes.
- $20 for players under 30. (A portion of entry fees and book sales goes towards Youth Bridge in the ACT)
- Sunday 20th Sep 10am to 3pm.
To make a booking click on the link below or with any enquiries email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Canberra in Bloom - Help Needed
2nd to 5th October 2026
House reserves
Are you able to reserve for any of the events at Canberra in Bloom? We are looking for players at all levels to fill in if needed. If you are called on at short notice, you will play for free! If you can help out as a reserve please email Jenny Bell at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Volunteers
We also need volunteers to assist with a range of tasks during the Congress (eg, with setting up for the day, assisting with morning and afternoon teas). Some of these tasks can be done by people who are playing the events (eg work needed to be done following completion of play). If you can help out, even for just an hour or two, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.and include "Volunteer" in the subject line and include in the email when you would be able to help out.
Alternatively please sign in the volunteers list at the CBC or let Elizabeth at the office know.
The tasks are not difficult and many hands make light work!
Teams League Competition at the Club!
As we head towards Christmas, we are trialling a new competition at the Club – a regular Teams Event designed for players of all skill levels, from beginners to expert!
The Club will be hosting regular teams events – open to teams of four, five or six held over two sessions a fortnight apart.
You do not need to have experience playing teams before entering. All you need to do is to have two pairs available for both the second and fourth Monday evening of the month.
Teams is an extremely rewarding form of playing bridge where you are not competing against the entire room, but are rather playing head-to-head against another team.
Your results are not scored against the whole room but are rather only compared to the results at the other table. If your pairs do better with the cards you are dealt than the pairs of the opposing team, you will win, regardless of where you are ranked across the room. The scoring rewards bidding games and making one’s contracts. Overtricks and obsessively bidding No Trumps instead of the minors are not rewarded as highly as in regular pairs game.
This makes it ideal for regular club players from B-grade, C-grade or the supervised sessions.
When is it?
The first season is Monday 14th September and Monday 28th September.
Each session starts at 6-30 PM at the Club and will conclude at 9-00 PM
Players should aim to arrive by 6-20PM at the latest!
Does the team have to come to both weeks?
Yes. At least one pair must play both weeks. The teammates can be a different pair each week if your team has six players
How much does it cost?
Regular table fees will be charged on the night via MyABF
Who is it for?
Any playing ability will be accommodated
The field will be split into multiple “Divisions” and players will only play other teams within their division
At the conclusion of each month, the winning teams in each division will be promoted to a higher division and the bottom teams will be relegated to a lower division
What is the format?
Each night teams will play two twelve board teams matches
There will be an overall winner within each division after the two nights
How do we enter a Team?
Via the following link on MyABF:
• https://www.myabf.com.au/events/congress/view/4641
Can you help us find team-mates?
There are no guarantees but we are always prepared to assist. If you need help securing team-mates, please contact Elizabeth or Steve.
What if I have further questions?
If you have any questions, you can speak to Steve at the club or via email:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Alternatively, you can speak to Elizabeth or email her on:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
RealBridge Volunteers Wanted
From time to time volunteers are needed at RealBridge sessions to help fill in with someone without a partner or to help fill in a table.
Volunteers are generally contacted at short notice to log in and play. They get to meet and play with new people and are generally not charged for the sesssion.
If you are free and like RealBridge please and would be happy volunteering at RB sessions please let me or our RB coordinator know with preferred session times.
This will help RB directors look after singles who want to play but don’t have a partner and make everyone feel feel wanted and supported as members. It is a member benefit to get a game when you log on to play.
RealBridge sessions are Monday 2pm and 7pm, Thursdays at 2pm and Saturday at 1.15pm.
For anyone wanting to try the RealBridge platform out, there are tips for checking out your camera and audio here. https://realbridge.online/camera-and-microphone-tests.html
Laptops are better than iPads for playing RealBridge.
If you call the director once you’re at the table, you can let them know this is your first trial game, and you won’t be charged.
Those needing a partner need to log on at least 20 minutes early to enable the director to find them a partner.
New Players
Canberra Bridge Club welcomes the following new and returning players:
- Catherine Slaughter
- Prudence Slaughter
- Angela Bowes
- Donna Growcock
- Trish Lentfer
Online Lessons
The next online lesson with Will Jenner-O'Shea is on Thursday 10th September at 9:30am.
This lesson is on How to Handle 1NT Overcalls.
•Click here to buy
Upcoming Events
The next Tuesday night competition is the Butler Pairs incorporating CBC Mixed Pairs Championship. This is an Honour Board event.
Fundamentals Course
If you know the basics of bridge but are not yet ready to play a social game of bridge, we recommend this course as your next step.
This is a set of 8 lessons that will consolidate what you learnt in your beginner classes.
In this course we will:
- introduce you to competitive bidding
- teach you some new commonly used systems
- discuss the etiquette of duplicate play and teach you how to use Bridge mates
- help you consolidate your bidding system
By the end of this course, you will be able to play a social game of bridge and be ready to try supervised play.
Next course starts September 9th on Wednesday mornings at 10:30 am and evenings at 7:30pm.
Youth News
YOUTH EVENTS At a glance
September 18: Youthish Night
September 25: RealBridge Youthish Night
September 27 - October 1: Youth Triathlon
Saturday November 7: Trivia FUNdraiser
December 5 - 6: NSW State Youth Championships
CBC Trivia FUNdraiser
Saturday November 7, 2pm - 5pm
Start assembling friends and family for a FUNdraising Trivia Afternoon.
Money raised from the Trivia Day will be used to help Youth players travel to events further afield such as country congresses.
Youthish Night - September 18
Do you know someone 30 or under who would enjoy playing bridge? Bring them along to Youthish Night, it’s free and there are plenty of snacks and a pizza dinner and you can stay too!
Entry is FREE and there will be a Pizza dinner!
All experience levels are welcome, no partner required.
Come to either session or both!
- • Session 1: 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM
- • Dinner: 6:30 PM - 7:00 PM
- • Session 2: 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Contact CBC Youth Coordinator Suz Wilkinson This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any questions
Cootamundra Congress
Here’s a great hand played by Max Ashurst in Match 5 against the second placed Holman team from Wagga Wagga. Dealer is W, all vul.
West opened 1C, Max overcalled 1S and ended up in 4S. East led 9C.
Max (North)
♠ KJT82
♥ T
♦ KQ82
♣ QT3
Josh (South)
♠ A93
♥ KQ42
♦ T95
♣ A54
Given the club opening on his right, this looked suspiciously like a lead from shortage. It also looked like West who opened, had both red aces. Max saw that it was too risky to set up his queen. He rose AC and drew trumps starting with Ace, then leading up to the KJT. Happily he saw QS drop. He then drew the final trump.
Max wasn’t out of the woods, as he needed to limit his losers to one in each other suit (two aces and the king of clubs). He led up to the KH which was taken by the ace. West led back a heart, and Max pitched a diamond winning with the QH in dummy. Now he has to decide what to do with the diamonds. This is the position after 5 tricks:
Max (North)
♠ 82
♥
♦ KQ8
♣ QT
Josh (South)
♠
♥ 42
♦ T95
♣ 54
This is the last time Max can lead from dummy. He could have finessed the J, but instead he chose to lead up to the K diamonds which won. For his final flourish, he exited a small diamond hoping that opener started with Ax diamond - which they did, setting up the queen! +620.
The full hand was
