BRIDGE

2015CHRISTMAS CRUISEEnjoy the summer sunshine of Cape Town –spectacular natural wonders and landscapes –and celebrate the festive season on thisremarkable bridge voyageLuderitz NamibiaRichardsBaySouthAtlanticOceanCape South AfricaTown RARYOceanDATEPORTDEC 18Depart UKARRIVEDEPARTDEC 19Arrive CAPE TOWN South AfricaEmbark Aegean OdysseyovernightDEC 20CAPE TOWN (Table Mountain)South AfricaovernightDEC 21CAPE TOWN (Stellenbosch)South AfricaovernightDEC 22CAPE TOWN South Africa7.00pmDEC 23At SeaDEC 24PORT ELIZABETH South Africa(Addo Elephant Park)DEC 25Christmas Day celebrations at seaDEC 26RICHARDS BAY South Africa(Hluhluwe Game Reserve)DEC 27RICHARDS BAY South Africa(St Lucia Nature Reserve)8.00am5.00am2.00pmovernight9.00pmDEC 28/29 At SeaDEC 308.00amMOSSEL BAY South Africa(Garden Route)6.00pmDEC 31/ New Year’s celebrations at seaJAN 1 ‘16JAN 2/3 LUDERITZ NamibiaCAPE TOWN & THE HIGHLIGHTS OFSOUTH AFRICA19 days departing December 18, 20158.00am 6.00pmJAN 4At SeaJAN 5CAPE TOWN South AfricaDisembark and transfer toCape Town Airport for flight home8.00amFares from 3,795pp* include: Scheduled economy class flights with freeregional connections from selected UK airportsJoin your Mr Bridge team on a unique Christmas and Expert guest speaker programmeNew Year’s bridge cruise. Enjoy 3 days in Cape Town Daily duplicate bridgeon board ship then sail to the highlights of South Africa – Bridge seminars when at seaSightseeingexcursions at all ports of callPort Elizabeth and the Addo Elephant Park – Richards Bay and a wildlife Safari and nature reserve – the stunning Christmas and New Year’s celebrations at seaGarden Route from Mossel Bay and the remarkable Mr Bridge drinks partylandscapes of the Skeleton Coast in Namibia. Complimentary wine with dinner on boardRESERVE YOUR Gratuities for on-board cabinCHRISTMASand restaurant staffCRUISE NOW Overseas transfers and baggage handling19 days departing December 18, 2015MR BRIDGE VALUE FARES*CALLNOW ON 01483OR VISIT www.mrbridge.co.uk489961Cabins can be held at no obligation for 7 daysStandard InsidePremium OutsideBalconyfrom 3,795ppfrom 4,895ppfrom 6,450ppSingle Cabins from only 4,495Past passengers of Aegean Odysseyreceive additional discounts1009310093*Mr Bridge fares are per person and subject to availability at time of booking. They may be withdrawn at any time without notice. †Single accommodation is available only in certain categories and is subject to availability.ABTA No.Y2206

MY SHOP WINDOW2016 FILMINGThe adjacent advertisementis self-explanatory. Itfeatures Bernard Magee’ssixth annual three-dayfilmed event. Book now toavoid disappointment.Last month saw the launchof the first issue of my newmarketing publication, MyShop Window. This shouldprovide all the informationyou might want concerningsubscriptions for BRIDGE,weekend events andcruises, DVDs and CDs.Charity bridge and playingcards will be enjoined inthe next issue, therebymaking room for evenmore bridge within thispublication.CHRISTMASTEA TOWELCLEARANCE5 for only 12.95, includingpostage and packaging.Packed singly in clearplastic display bags. Thesemake an ideal small gift orprize. Randomly selected ifyour choice is not in stock.BERNARD MAGEEat Denham Grovenear Uxbridge, Bucks, UB9 5DG.8-11 January 2016 399pp Friday – Monday 369pp Friday – Sundayfull boardLimited places for Thursday night available. 65pp single, 40pp double/twin.TopicsTROUVILLE, IOWFour nights at the TrouvilleHotel in Sandown on theIsle of Wight, hosted byBernard Magee with thecost of the ferry fareincluded, full board foronly 399 pp sharing.11-15 Feb. Singles sold out.COUNTING DEFENCEDefence is the hardest aspect of bridge, but if you can learn todefend in conjunction with your partner, it becomes the mostrewarding element at the same time.Extra TRICKS in NO-TRUMPSLong suits are an integral part of the bidding and the play –developing extra tricks from them will often be the differencebetween making or going down in your contract.SUPPORTING PARTNERMAIL ORDER FORMOn your left, you will finddetails of the 2015Christmas & New Yearcruise. In addition tobridge, the festivecelebrations and wintersun, you will also enjoythree safari days indifferent parts of southernAfrica. Still some outsidecabins left. No singlesupplement.You will find this form onthe carrier sheet.IMPROVEMENTS (1)FINESSINGThe 18 table card room onboard Balmoral, above, hashad new lighting installed.Distributional hands can be great fun to bid and to play,particularly when you find a fit. And how do you find a fit bybidding more!GREAT GOFFClive Goff’s extraordinarypostage stamp service isadvertised on page 3. WithChristmas coming soonerthan you think, thesesavings are always useful.BRIDGE November 2015Finesses come in all sorts of different varieties and come up onalmost every hand you play. Getting the most out of your honourcombinations is a crucial part of declarer play. Should you leadhigh or low, finesse to the right or to the left?BIDDING DISTRIBUTIONAL HANDSIMPROVEMENTS (2)New to us shipSpecial price for 2016 BalticCities cruise. For details seethe centrefold.When you hold support for your partner, the two hands canevaluate fully, often allowing the partnership to bid muchhigher than the high card points might suggest. We will lookat a number of conventions that can help you bid to good gamesand great slams.The provision on boardAegean Odyssey, above, ofcafetière for after-dinnercoffee drinkers will be adelight to new and oldpassengers alike.All good wishes,COPING with PRE-EMPTSHow do you defend against pre-empts and weak twos; how do youcope with weak overcalls and jump support? When your biddingspace is taken away you have to use a few extra techniques, butmost of all, you have to use your judgement. Improving yourunderstanding will allow you to collect the big penalties andbetter scores.6 seminar sessions with Bernard16 sessions of supervised play2Contact Mr Bridge to book your placeor for further details: ( 01483 489961Filmed1Not with Bernard Magee2Mr BridgePage 5

David Stevenson answers your questions on Laws and EthicsIs a Player Allowedto Change a Call?QAt our club theother evening,North bid 2 (strong). I was East andpassed, South bid 3 and my partner Westpassed and put hergreen card on thetable. At that point,South realised she’dmade an error – shehad meant to bid 3 .She called the director,who said she could justchange the bid to 3 .Was that fair? Iwasn’t at all strong butI had lots of hearts.Pat Trickett by email.AIf you intend to makea call and by mistaketake a different callout of the box, then you maychange it without penaltyso long as your partnerhas not called subsequentlyand so long as you changeit, or attempt to change it,without pause for thoughtfrom the realisation of themistake. In effect, callingthe director to say she hadmade a mistake counts asan attempt to change it.Note that she is notallowed to change it if shehas merely decided that shenow prefers a different call,only if she always intendeda different call. The directorhas to decide that, basedPage 6on what he is told. If shebid 3 without a stop card,that is an indication shenever meant to bid 3 .Is it fair? Well, we playa game according to therules, and some mistakesare allowed to be changed.The rules allow this particularmistake to be changed, so Ireckon that counts as fair. QMy partner and Iplay a weak notrump openingof 12-14. However,using Ron Klinger’sadvice to deductone point for queendoubleton whenopening, I will frequentlydowngrade my handaccordingly. This meansI may open 1NT with a15-point hand containinga Q-x. Naturally mypartner announces, ‘1214,’ after I have opened1NT, when, in fact, Imay have 15 HCPs (thesame announcementwould be given if I wereto upgrade the handby adding values forlength cards and yethave only 11 HCPs).How and when shouldI or my partner informour opponents ofthis variation, or is itaccepted as partand parcel of the12-14 announcement?Graham Fry by email.AI would expectmore experiencedplayers to acceptslight variations withoutworrying or comment.Unfortunately, some lessexperienced players havea habit of thinking thepoint count is gospel andget upset if opponents areone point out of range.I believe the solution toyour problem is to announce,‘Good eleven to a poorfifteen,’ and write somethingsimilar on your system card.If someone asks what is agood eleven or what is apoor fifteen, then you cantell them how you adjust.Someone is sure to tellyou that you cannot playa five point range but thisis not true and is based onrules of thirty years ago. QDuring the playof the hand,when declarerthought he had wonthe trick with a trump,dummy said, ‘That wasnot a trump.’ Whenreprimanded forthis, dummy attemptedto justify the remarkby pointing out thatdummy was entitled totell declarer his trickwas incorrectly pointed.Rather than apologisingfor this infraction, heargued that it wasmuch the same ascorrecting the pointingof the quitted trick.In my view, hedeserves somethingmore serious than arap over the knucklesas it is unauthorisedinformation to declarerabout the trump suit.How would you rule?Roger Grimsdick,Bawburgh BC.ADummies alwayswant to get involvedand they are notallowed to. Yes, he is allowedto tell declarer he has atrick pointed the wrongway and he should do sowithout further comment.So, saying that it wasnot a trump is clearly aninfraction, but a rap overthe knuckles is perfectlyappropriate, nothing more,unless he makes a habitof this sort of thing.Mind you, if he startsarguing the toss with thedirector, then he should bepenalised 20% of a topas a disciplinaryBRIDGE November 2015

Ask David continuedchange are unauthorisedinformation to South. penalty for arguing withthe director, which is amuch worse infraction. QSouth has madean opening bid,West passes.North removes thepass card from thebidding box andplaces it on the table.Some seconds later,but before East bids,he says, ‘I didn’t seethat my partner hadbid,’ and proceeds toremove his pass cardand replace it with aresponding bid. Shouldthis have been all

BRIDGE Number One Hundred and Fifty-Five November 2015 Bernard Magee’s Acol Bidding Quiz You are West in the auctions below, playing ‘Standard Acol’ with a weak no-trump (12-14 points) and 4-card majors. N W E S 1. Dealer West. Game All. A 10 6 4 A 10 9 2 W WA 9 8 4 2 WestNorth EastSouth ? N W E S 2. Dealer West. Game All. A K Q A K 4 3 A K 4 J 6 5 .