Newsletter 17 July 2025
In our newsletter this week...
- President's Message
- Travel Associates Promotion
- Workshop with Will Jenner-O'Shea
- Wednesday Night Pizzas
- New Members
- Teams of Three
- Upcoming Events
- Results
- What's Going On?
- Lighter Moments
President's Message
ANC Update – Brisbane
The ANC continues this week in Brisbane, and we’ve had some outstanding results for our members!
- ACT Seniors Team: Congratulations to Chris & Richard, Peter & Bernie, and Malcolm & Elizabeth for reaching the Finals! Although they were defeated by a very strong NSW team (“stacked” with international players), making it to the final is a fantastic achievement. Well done!
- Interstate Pairs (Friday): A big shout-out to Diya & Dev Shah, two of our rising stars, who won the Youth section and also finished 9th overall out of 64 pairs. An incredible performance against tough competition – congratulations!
- ANC Stepbridge Swiss Pairs A: Congratulations to Jodi Tutty and her partner for taking out the top spot in this event. A fantastic win!
- TBIB ANC Butler Events:
- In the Open Butler - Christy Geromboux & Sebastian Yuen have progressed to Stage 3.
- In the Mixed Butler - Marianne Bookallil & Stephen Fischer are through to Stage 2.
We are super proud of all our players and their achievements at this year’s ANC. And for those of us who have stayed behind cheering from the sidelines while you’ve been enjoying “sunny Queensland” - we just want you to know….it’s been SUPER (freezingly cold) here in Canberra!
You can follow ongoing and final results here:
🔗 https://www.bridgeaustralia.org/resultslistbyheadevent.asp?umbid=471
🔗 https://www.bridgeaustralia.org/resultslistbyheadevent.asp?umbid=480
- Mary
Travel Associates Promotion
During the month of August, two lucky players will have the opportunity to win a travel voucher each which can be used at any Travel Associates branch. As part of their August promotion, a representative from TA will be coming to our club to give a short travel talk at the beginning of the following sessions. The only requirement to be eligible to go in the draw to win one of the two travel vouchers is for the players to have played at any of the following bridge session at the club:
- Monday 18 Aug 10am
- Tue 12 Aug 1pm and 7pm
- Wed 6 Aug 10am and 7pm
- Thu 21 Aug 10am
- Friday 15 Aug 10am and 1pm
Workshop with Will Jenner-O'Shea
Defend Better By Knowing What To Do
© When to Defend Actively, And When to Be Passive
© The Forcing Defence, And How To Use IT
© Recognising From The Auction And The Dummy What to Be Trying
© Other Defence Situations
- 27-07-2025 Sunday - 10am
- $60
- click here to register
This whole day workshop includes morning tea and lunch.
Wednesday Night Pizzas
The Wednesday night pizzas provide the opportunity for social interaction while enjoying a pizza sampling. It provides a great opportunity to talk to and socialise with your fellow players, which is not always the case when engaged in playing bridge.
- 30 July - 6:30pm
- $5 payable on the day for half a pizza
Those wishing to partake should place their name on a list on the noticeboard or contact Jon Pike directly. His email is
New Members
Canberra Bridge Club welcomes the following new and returning members to our club:
- Chris Muecke
- Deb Anglim
Teams of Three
Our 2025 Teams of Three event is now open for registration!
YOU -- Gather 3 players of a similar standard, come and have fun, get tips on play.
CLUB -- Provides an experienced player as Captain to help and advise you.
THE PLAY -- Each team member plays 8 or 9 boards with the Captain, who will give tips on play.
AFTER PLAY -- Scrumptious food and fun prizes.
- Cost $20 per person (excluding Captains). The cost for entry in myABF is set to zero, this event will be charged on the day by the director.
- Date 10 August 2025 12:30 PM
- Click here to Enter
This event is limited to players who individually have fewer than 300 Masterpoints. The organisers will split the field into categories of new and not-so-new players.
We are looking for more solo players who will make up the third person in the team. If you would like to play but need to recruit team mates, please enter through the link above and put TBA as the other two entries or alternatively contact Elizabeth.
Upcoming Events
The next Tuesday night competition is the ACTBA Open Pairs Butler on 22nd July to 5th August 2025
The next GNOT Qualifier Gold Masterpoint competition will be run on:
- 1pm Tuesday - starting on 29 July to 5 August.
The next RealBridge GNOT Qualifier Gold Masterpoint competition will be run on:
- 2 pm Thursday - starting on 24 July to 31 July
Results
The winners of the 2025 BFACT Interclub Teams are:
Capital Seniors
- LYNNE MOSS - SHANE WOODBURN - TERRY HEMING - BRIAN THORP - BEN RUSHFORTH
Canberra Intermediate
- GWENDOLYN GRAY JAMIESON - TAMARA CUTCLIFFE - DEBRA BIRKBY - PAUL BIRKBY
Intermediate Canberra Team
- KERRY FLANAGAN - KATE WARD - KATHLEEN KENNY - DAVID KENNY
Novice Canberra Team
- BELINDA MOSS - JENNY BELL - JOYANNE GOUGH - JAYNE FRANCIS
What’s Going On?
Early in our bridge careers we tend to focus on remembering the rules. Bid our long suits first. Two Clubs is Stayman. Eight-Ever-Nine-Never. Always return my partner’s suit – I don’t want him glowering at me again…
As we progress however, it becomes more and more important to use our imagination; to try to piece together where the missing cards are around the table or where the missing cards might be. One very important area in which this skill is useful is on the opening lead. So often, trick one flies past in a blaze of following suit, with very little thinking, but by pausing at trick one (both as declarer and as defender) we can sometimes glean an enormous amount.
Consider the following hand, for example. Suppose we hold this rather insignificant seven-count:
♠ 93
♥ K6
♦ AT96
♣ T9864
Everyone is vulnerable and our Left Hand Opponent deals and passes. Our partner opens Three Hearts. Right Hand Opponent doubles and we pass (opposite a pre-empt we should only bid with a good fit or a good hand and this is neither). Our Left Hand Opponent bids Three Spades, our partner passes and Right Hand Opponent bids Four Spades. This is passed out and our partner leads the Two of Diamonds.
Here’s what we see in Dummy:
♠ AKJ8
♥ 4
♦ KQJ83
♣ AK5
And our hand again:
♠ 93
♥ K6
♦ AT96
♣ T9864
What do we know? First of all, Dummy has 21 HCPs, we have 7, our partner has 6-10 and that means Declarer has a very, very weak hand (6 HCPs at the most and possibly as low as 2!) However, they may well be able to cobble together ten tricks. We can see they have a Diamond loser, a probably Heart loser and possibly one more trick to lose (our partner could have the Queen of Clubs or three Spades to the Queen which will prove awkward for declarer). Can we see any way to improve our chances of defeating them?
Yes! If we consider the question – what has our partner led from? It can’t be a doubleton (she would have led her highest, not the two) it can’t be three or four small cards (we would lead a middlish card then or a high card), it might be from an honour….except that I can see the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten. It must be a singleton! My partner is likely to have 2 Spades, 7 Hearts, 1 Diamond and 3 Clubs.
By doing this thinking, I can now see a way for us to net four tricks for the defence. I’m going to win this Diamond lead and play the ten of diamonds back to my partner. This says “I know I’m giving you a ruff. If you want to get me in to play another diamond for you, you can play the highest ranked suit out of Hearts and Clubs”. My plan is that she will ruff the Diamond, lead a small Heart to my King (underleading her Ace!) and then I will play another Diamond for her to ruff.
The above defence is straightforward if you stop and take the time to think at trick one. But how many would win the Diamond and then switch to a Heart? (Returning our partner’s suit before she starts glowering again!)
Would you have found the right play? Would you have been confident in the defence? There are a few key points to take away from hands like this. Firstly, it is important that you and your partner have good agreements about what cards you will lead and that you will stick to them all the time! I was confident that my partner had led a singleton, because we would always lead a higher card from two, three or four small Diamonds. If my partner leads randomly from these holdings then I will never be able to understand what’s going on.
The second takeaway, useful both as Declarer and Defender, is that when someone pre-empts and then leads a different suit, nine times out of ten they are leading a singleton. Finally, my partner needs to trust my Ten of Diamonds. I am sending a clear signal that I have an entry in Hearts (and if my partner doesn’t have the Ace of Hearts it will be my turn to glower at him for his crummy, vulnerable pre empts!) With nothing so say, I will lead my lowest Diamond when I am giving her a ruff – if I didn’t have a likely entry in Hearts, I would give her a ruff with the Six of Diamonds.
If you have any interesting hands that come up (or hands you wish you’d known how to play) we would love to hear about them at:
- Steve Geddes
Lighter Moments
Have a great week everyone!
Elizabeth
