NEWSLETTER NO 37 - JANUARY 2003





CONGRATULATIONS

For the 3rd time Mayfield have won the 2001/2 NICKO competition. No mean feat since this competition is open to every club in the country and has a huge entry. This time our successful players were Peter Lee, Bob Rowlands, Tony Lunn, Sean O'Neill and Margaret Lee. We are the only club in the country to have achieved such a distinction.

and

COMMISERATIONS

Sadly they will not win it for a 4th time this season as, believe it or not, they have already lost in the 2nd round of the 2002/3 event. And they really lost - by 60 imps. Bridge is a funny game, isn't it? However nothing can be taken away from their previous achievements of which the club can be so proud. Well done and better luck next season.


ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING TUESDAY - 22 APRIL 2003

The 19th Annual General Meeting of the Club will take place on the above date at St John's Church Hall starting at 7.00pm followed by bridge at 7.40pm. The format will be as usual with the Officer's reports being posted on the notice board in advance of the Meeting and hopefully taken as read at the Meeting. Please advise the Secretary, Pam Southon, of any business that you wish to be raised at the Meeting by of 22 April 2002, otherwise it may not be possible to include it in the agenda. A copy of last year's minutes has been available at the club for the past 11 months and will remain so until the Meeting. If you require an individual copy please speak to Pam Southon. The accounts will be available at the Meeting.

Members are reminded that if they wish to propose an amendment to any of the rules, It must be given to the Secretary 4 weeks before the Annual General Meeting which this year will be by 25 March 2003.

There has been a suggestion that an e-mail address list as well as the telephone list should be issued to members. At present, only the Committee has this list. Your opinion will be sought on this idea, so please be prepared with your comments.

There will be no table money to pay at the AGM - a free evening!


PARTY NIGHT

Another successful evening with a new format for the prizes. Last year Rosemary Rice was running around like a busy bee several times each round. This year she devised a system so that there was only one prize per pair of boards. This worked really well. The usual accolades go to Pam Southon for her refreshments and to John Timberlake and the bar team for their contribution to a good evening. Peter Southon was presented with 2 bottles of wine for all the tournament directing he does and oversees.


FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Norman Cup - 11 Feb(heat)/11 Mar(Final): There will be Open Pairs on the 11 March for those who do not qualify for the Final.

Mayfield Teams Cup - 25 Feb/25 Mar: Teams can have up to 6 players in them so that in the event that you can only get a team for one of the evenings you can have substitutes for the second night.

Mixed Pairs Cup - 20 May: Members should note that, in future, although unmixed pairs may turn up to play, they will be expected to pair up with other unmixed pairs where possible. Any pairs left unmixed will still be able to play but without standing.

Mens & Ladies Pairs Cups - 3 Jun

Dorothy Williamson Pts 1 & 11 - 15/29 Jul: Again you can have up to 6 players in your team.


MEMBERS SUCCESSES

National

E'bourne Senior Prs 3rd John Cruickshank, Tony Turnage
Brighton Sen Sw Tms 2nd John Cruickshank, Tony Turnage, Peggy Griffin, Peggy Moir
Guernsey Pivot Tms 1st Olivia Dawson and team
Ladies Tms 1st Round Robin stage in Gp D - Molly Slevin, Peggy Griffin & team
Year End Sw Tms B 1st Steve Bourton, Julia Brough and team

Surrey

Guildford 1-day Green-Pt Prs2nd Chris Pullan, Rolf Alexander
Golf/Bridge 2nd Tim Cook and partner
County Pairs 2nd René Price, Angela Samuelson

Club:

Committee Cup 1st Mike Stilwell, Joan Underdown
2nd= George Foot, Keith Jackson
2nd= Audrey Kolbe, Elizabeth Johnson
Liz Phillips Cup 1st Bernard Pike, Liz Phillips
R/up Roger Morton, Sean O'Neill
Pro-Am Cup 1st John Frozstega, Tony Belton
R/up Trevor Munns, Molly Slevin

ADDITIONS & AMENDMENTS FOR YOUR TELEPHONE LIST

New Members

Andrew Barnett 01737 813006
Marcus Barbor 020 86612424
Mrs Rosemary Lyttle 01737 217063
Mrs Ann McNab01342 892715
Tony Richards 01483 773116
Philip Tilbrook01737 812054
Dr Graham Walker01737 246513
John Young 01737 366920 (work - Priory School)
07817 406841 (mobile)

Amendments

John Cruickshank 01342 892715 (home)
07811 489569 (mobile)
Tony Turnage 01883 345989


The end of an Am

By Chris Pullan

At the last Pro Am at the Mayfield Club, I was not sure whether I was a Pro or an Am but after some delay and the non-arrival of 2 Ams, I found myself sitting opposite Rolf Alexander, a real Pro.

During a fairly successful evening, when we came fourth, Rolf asked me whether I was free to play at the Surrey/Hampshire Swiss Pairs the following Saturday. Because my wife was attending an Old Girls' Reunion, I was able to say yes.

This is a big event with an entry of 222 pairs and consists of 6 x 8 board matches. In round 1, my reluctance to bid a cold 3 NT in spite of stopping the fourth suit meant one off in 5 Diamonds and a 12-8 win. This may have been a blessing in disguise as it meant we were not too high up the leader board. Two further wins gave us 41 VPs out of 60 at half time.

Our fourth opponents overbid twice to unmakeable games and we had secured a fourth win at 18-2. Round 5 saw us making three sound part scores while the opponents missed an easy game resulting in a 20-0 win. And so to Round 6 and our strongest opponents to date (Tim Pike and Alan Wilson), sometime team mates of Rolf.

Rolf got us off to a good start by making a tenth trick in 3 NT but a well bid 7 Diamonds and conceding an overtrick in 4 Spades set us back. Two well judged 4 Heart contracts improved our score. Our sixth win was sealed by a misjudgement from our opponents who used Astro over our 1 NT with two four card suits. The final contract of 2 Diamonds with a poor 4-3 fit was two off for 200. A 14-6 win brought us to 93 VPs out of 120 and a nervous wait followed. When the result finally went up we had finished second out of 222. Many thanks, Rolf, it could not have gone better.

And the reason for the title, well, the 5.5 green points took me well past 25 and the end of my Am status!

My failure to bid 3 NT in Round 1

Dealer South
Both Vulnerable

NORTH
ª 6 5 4
© A 5 4 3
¨ A 8
§ J 7 5 2
WESTEAST
ª A K J 8 2 ª Q
© 10 8 © Q J 2
¨ K 10 7 2 ¨ Q J 4 3
§ 8 6 § A K 9 4 3
SOUTH
ª 10 9 7 3
© K 9 7 6
¨ 9 6 5
§ Q 10


CUPS & SAUCERS

Members are reminded that your cups and saucers have to be washed up and put away by YOU. All too often it is left to the Committee to do this chore. It is appreciated that new members may not have realised their duty in this capacity.


OH DEAR! POOR EAST!

It couldn't happen twice surely! The bidding goes - All Vul

NorthEastSouthWest
Pass1¨2§
Double *3§3¨Pass
3NT **PassPassPass

* Negative showing an interest in the majors
**A very long pause before bidding 3NT



East is on lead and spends an equally long time deciding what to lead. He doesn't lead a club away from his Ace to 5 as he assumes that North holds at the very least the King. North proceeds to wrap up 3NT + 2 and the opposition lick their wounds. North has a worthless doubleton and South an equally worthless singleton. So a top was turned into a near bottom. During the play East had to discard and played the KC at which stage his partner realised his faux pas in not leading his partners suit. .

But what can happen when you do lead your partner's suit? Read on.

A few boards later East bid a diamond and South overcalled 1NT with 15 points and that ends the auction. West is on lead and dutifully leads his partner's suit. It is the 2 of diamonds. Dummy's hand goes down with J, 10, x, x of diamonds and East is holding K,Q, 8, x, x. It seems obvious to East that this must be a singleton and North must hold the A, 9, x for his No Trump overcall. So, as there is little point in playing the Q, he puts in the 8D and guess what - IT LOSES TO THE SINGLETON 9. Poor East it just wasn't his night! The only consolation was that this time it didn't cost as South made 1 NT + 1 and always will as the cards lie. So you see, it doesn't always pay to lead your partner's suit!

But what are our members doing bidding no trumps without a sniff of a stop? You really can't blame East for his assessment of the situation.


DUPLICATION OF BOARDS

Members might be interested to know that, on the occasions that a volunteer is sought to duplicate boards (eg for the EBU Simultaneous Pairs), a fee of £10 is paid as it is an irksome task and takes a very long time. So far there has never been a problem getting a volunteer but perhaps there would be some members who would like to be considered for the job the next time that it arises. Do let Peter Southon know if you are interested.


EBU NUMBERS

Some of you were sceptical as to why the Committee should need to know your EBU number. Shortly, the EBU are going to give to Clubs a program for scoring and submitting master points direct. It is therefore possible that the scorers will need to know your numbers and we were getting prepared. You will be asked again when the subscription form is given/sent out.



© Copyright Mayfield Duplicate Bridge Club 2003