Bristol Bridge Club

Bristol Bridge Club aims to provide facilities and opportunities for all its members to enjoy playing and learning bridge, no matter at what level. Beginner or international.

We are a large club and are able to offer playing sessions that suit all levels of ability. Non-members are always welcome.

The club has its own premises and we are situated near the centre of Bristol in Hotwells. The club consists of a large playing room with a smaller area for classes and a licensed bar that also offers light refreshments.

The club plays duplicate bridge on most days of the week, usually with a qualified director.

The club is affiliated to the English Bridge Union (EBU), via the Avon Contract Bridge Association (ACBA).

BRISTOL BRIDGE CLUB is a charity and it has been entered onto the Register of Charities with the Registered Charity Number 1167959.

There is car parking close by.

For directions and map, click here.

Week 58

Slam bidding is a difficult area requiring as it does method, trust and confidence as a partnership. There are broadly two types of situation in this area. First hands where it is simply a matter of ascertaining how many key cards (aces) you hold in order to be sure all the key players are in place.

You hold 

KQxxx

x

AKQxx

Ax

if partner opens 1s you know you are going to at least 6s so Blackwood is correct and if partner shows two aces we will bid 7s since it would be very unlucky if partner turned up with 5 clubs and we had to lose a 2nd round trick in the suit.

More difficult are hands which warrant a try for slam rather than just bidding it if we hold enough key cards.

So

AKQxx

x

AKxxx

Qx

Say the bidding goes 1s -3s? Slam may be cold or may have two losers so what to do easy we bid 4d (control) and if partner can bid 4h ( control ) we continue with 5d pin pointing the club weakness (with CK we could bid 5c over 4h). Here we are making a try for slam prepared to stop if the response from partner is unsatisfactory.

Two other points about slam bidding and controls (or lack of): Never use Blackwood holding a void for obvious reasons the ace of that suit is worthless in a suit contract and also never use it with two losers in a side suit (e.g. the hand above which has two club losers lacking any control).

There are many other slam try situations.

Partner opens 2nt and we hold 

x

Kxx

AQTxxx

Jxx

bid 4d showing a 6 card or longer suit with slam interest but being prepared to stop if partner shows a lack of interest.

A tip which is very useful in the slam area is if the partnership holds a minimum of 30 points between the two hands and a trump fit then always make at least one try above game.

One from a recent match 

x

xxx

AQJTxxx

Ax

 you hear 1c from partner you respond 1d (1s overcall) 3nt from partner? A 4d bid looks good since we have 7 1/2 tricks facing a hand of around 18/19 points. 4d of course cannot be passed and shows 6+ cards and a hand interested in a slam.

Good methods are of course important in the area of slam bidding and if I could recommend just two they would be the Jacoby 2nt response to 1M and splinter bids pinpointing shortage and agreeing partner's suit.

Week 57

This week I thought I would talk about an aspect of bridge which is not especially well understood by some club players the subjects of Unauthorised Information and Misinformation. During both the bidding and the play players may only use information derived from the legal calls  and plays of the board being played and which  is unaffected by unauthorised information from another source (Law 16) .

Thus players MAY NOT USE erroneous information that may suggest a call or play for example a remark, a question, a reply to a question, an unexpected alert or failure to alert or unmistakable hesitation, unwanted speed, special emphasis, tone or gesture, movement or mannerism. In such a situation a player may not choose from among logical alternatives one which could have been demonstrably suggested over another by the extraneous information.

An example of such a situation would be the following. Imagine you hold 

x

KJxx

Axxx

xxxx

and the bidding goes 2s ( weak ) on your left pass -pass to you ? For many players a double now would be clear cut since it has 2 clear advantages, first it caters for partner holding a hand which wishes to penalise 2s and secondly it enables your side to compete the hand.

Now imagine that partner had paused for a period before passing. That period of thought by partner suggests they have a reason to take some time and that can only be because they hold some reasonable values so it now becomes much safer for 4th hand to double. The slowness by partner followed by a pass is Unauthorised Information to partner who may not choose a bid demonstrably suggested by that pause so a TD would most probably disallow a double in this situation.

This used to be called the 70% test so if 7 players out of 10 made a bid then the TD would allow otherwise they would cancel. (Bristol has one highly ethical player who applies his own 98 % test so woe betide any of his partners who think for periods and then pass but it is unusual to see such high principles and active ethics)

It is also not well known that the same issue applies in the card play so imagine dummy holds a side suit of KQxx playing with a different suit as trumps and declarer leads low toward the above holding and sat over dummy the defender takes some time to play low. By thinking he has indicated possession of the ace which is again unauthorised information to their partner in the later defence. Adjustments for Unauthorised Information in card play are very rare (I have seen three in 30 years).

The other tricky judgment situation for directors is Misinformation. This covers situations in the bidding where a bid is not alerted which should have been, or an incorrect explanation is provided with regard to a given bid. In order for the director to award an adjustment in such circumstances the non offending side must have suffered damage as a consequence of the infraction which led to them receiving a poor score which would not otherwise have occurred had they be properly provided with the correct information.

The process in such situations is to call the director, explain the facts clearly and dispassionately to him or her and the TD will then provide a ruling and explain their reasons. The TD should also add that their decision is subject to a right of appeal.

Remember that calling the Director in either of the above situations is not a criticism of your opponents nor a thing to be avoided since the TD is an arbiter of fact and bridge law like a cricket umpire or referee in football or rugby. Playing bridge according to the laws is the proper way to conduct the game and a strongly ethical approach is the correct way to play bridge.

Week 56

Week 55 53 and 53

Week 52 51 and 50

 Week 49 and 48

Week 47 46 and 45

Week 44 and 43

Week 42 and 41

week40 and 39

Week 38 and 37

Week 36 and 35

Week 34 and 33

Week32 and 31

Week 30 and 29 

 Week 28 and 27

Week 26 and 25 

Week 24, 23 and  22

Week 21, 20 and 19

Week 18 and 19

Week 16 and 15

Week 14 and 13

 Week 12 and 11

Week 10 and 9

Week 8 and 7

Week 6 and 5

Week 4 and week 3

Weeks 2 and 1

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/TinyFileManager/resources/files/48///week 38 & 37

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April

Tuesday 16th - ACBA Championship Pairs Final

Saturday 27th - Garden Cities Regional Final

Tuesday 30th  - Everett Cup Final

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