2025 JULY NEWSLETTER
The Winter Congress was followed by a couple of quieter weeks at WABC before the month of June finished with the GNOT Heat, the Novice Pairs Championship, and Super Saturday.
Some late donations to the Youth Team Fund Raiser saw a total of $2070 raised at WABC. Quite a lot of the raffle prizes were won by WABC members and Deirdre Doepel kindly brought most of these back to the club.
In July & August, there will be a duty partner available for the Friday Afternoon session and lots of lessons and workshops to take advantage of.
SUPER SATURDAY
Sponsored by Aspire2Wealth, Super Saturday started with a short talk by Martin Doran, followed by a session of bridge using preset hands. These hands certainly caused some mayhem around the room and gave most of the field a chance to put into practice some of the ideas espoused in the earlier talk about coping with a bad result on a board. There was a prize for the worst result, a -1700, some musings about bidding slams and going off, or not bidding slams and making twelve tricks. Hopefully everyone has recovered. For those who missed the talk, the two play problems and solutions are given at the end of the newsletter.
Nibbles & prizes (thank you Veronica) in the social area and another of John Nelson’s quizzes rounded off the afternoon.
Talking of John Nelson (pictured on the right) was he the best dressed? Whether he was or not, he played well with Kath Negus and they won their section.
PLANNING AHEAD
Friday Afternoon Duty Partner (July & August) Trial
An excellent opportunity to play on Friday afternoon if your regular partner is away. The usual rules, two singles get to play together, one single gets to play with the duty partner.
Red Point Week
From Monday 7 July to Saturday 12 July. Banish those winter blues with red points at WABC. Play as many sessions or as few as you want. Visitors welcome.
WABC Open Gala Day
Want to know what bridge is? Or you used to play but haven’t for a while? Come along, or just send your friends to a special free ($0) two-hour session at WABC to learn about the card game that we love or play some hands. Wednesday 30 July from 3pm to 5pm.
Daytime Pairs Championship
Two Friday Afternoons: 8 & 15 August at 1:15pm. For WABC members. There will be a normal duplicate session as well.
BAWA Joan Prince Swan River Swiss Pairs
A weekend of bridge on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 August at WABC. Gold points. Enter on myABF. Please note that there is NO CLUB DUPLICATE ON SATURDAY 23 AUGUST.
WINNERS – NOVICE PAIRS CHAMPIONSHIP
Congratulations to Lyn Cox & David Egan who won from Amanda Bracewell & Diane Lambert. The winners got off to a very good start with 65% in the first session and followed up with 63% in the second session to win quite comfortably.
WINNERS & PLACINGS – ELSEWHERE
BAWA Masters In Teams of 3: saw WABC’s Viv Wood helping her three players from South Perth & Melville to victory.
Nedlands Ranjit Gauba Swiss Pairs: won by David Matthews & Geoff Holman on the last round from Louise & Terry Collins. Third were Jonathan Free & Joann Theriault.
BAWA Youth Fund Raiser: won by Therese Garbutt & Viv Zotti from Pauline Collett & Cathy Hood in second place.
NEW MEMBERS
Welcome to the following new members: Pennie Bulloch; Vicky McKinney; Jane Simpson; Bill Taylor; Bill & Carole Temple.
LESSONS & WORKSHOPS
CONVENTIONS
Come along on Mondays in July (7, 14, 21 & 28) from 5:00 pm until 6:30 pm for $20 per session to join a small group and learn about and practice some new conventions. Aimed at those starting out in Club Duplicate or Supervised players who want to learn more. The first evening will be looking at “Reverses”. This is an area of bidding that even good players can mess up quite easily and for which there is an easy solution.
DEFENCE (Intermediate Workshop)
On Saturday July 12 from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm, Cost $15. Come along and find out why Martin Doran loves to defend. Focusing on the type of dummy expected from the bidding; what the defenders plan should be; signals; and practice hands.
COMPETITIVE BIDDING (Intermediate Workshop)
On Saturday July 19 from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm, Cost $15. When to bid, when to pass. Do we have a fit? The Total Number of Trumps (TNT) and the ubiquitous Law of Total Tricks. Why some doubles are for penalties and much more. Play some practice hands and hear some of what Martin Doran has learned over the years.
CARD PLAY
Four weeks, Thursday mornings, July 24 & 31, August 7 & 14 from 9:30 am to 11:30 am; $15 per session. Run by Martin Doran. Aimed at those who have finished the second beginner’s course, or a previous Rookies course, or anyone who wants to start taking more tricks as declarer.
BEGINNERS Part 1
Starts Monday 4 August with a choice of morning or evening classes. Ten weeks, cost $150. Run by Jodie Basham. Suitable for completely new players. Tell your friends and neighbours and get them to learn how to play our favourite game.
BEGINNERS Part 2
Starts Monday 20 October with a choice of morning or evening classes. Eight weeks, cost $120. Run by Jodie Basham. Suitable for those who have completed Part 1.
FRIDAY SUPERVISED TOPICS - JULY
4 July: Opening Leads in Suit Contracts
11 July: Opening Leads in No Trump Contracts
18 July: Two club Openings & Responses
25 July: Blackwood for Slams
PUBLICATIONS
BAWA Focus: the latest edition is coming soon…..
SUPER SATURDAY PLAY PROBLEMS
4S Solution:
What’s your plan? That heart suit doesn’t look good. What if trumps are 3-2?
Win the diamond. Draw trumps, cash your clubs. Ignore the diamond finesse and play the other top diamond followed by the jack. Whoever wins will have to lead a heart or give you a ruff and sluff. Either way, ten tricks.
6S Solution:
A much harder hand. It looks like there are two inescapable club losers but can the opponents get their tricks? Perhaps not! The bidding and the lead suggests that clubs are 6-1. If you draw trumps, East had two & West one, and play two diamonds with both defenders following then you know East has at most 3 hearts and therefore West has at least four hearts. How does this help? Well if you play three rounds of hearts ruffing the third one, cross back to dummy in trumps, lead the last heart ... and …
Pitch a club!! West will win and have to give you a ruff (in dummy) and sluff (your last club). Making twelve tricks with a bit of bridge magic. Go on, deal the cards and try it.