Lucknow Bridge Association conducts bridge regular bridge tournaments in Lucknow.There are two regular pair events every week, on Tuesdays and Fridays.On Tuesday matchpoint pair event takes place and on Friday IMP pair event takes place. The entry fee is nominal Rs. 15 per person or Rs. 30 per pair for members. All bridge enthusiast all welcome. The membership of Lucknow Bridge Association is nominal Rs. 350 per annum and all regular players are expected to become members of the association. The venue for these tournaments is Oudh Gymkhana The address is: Oudh Gymkhana,Kaiserbagh, Lucknow.The timings are 6:30 pm onwards in the evening.
Lucknow club where the event used to take place earlier has closed down. Lucknow club was an old building which couldn't sustain the rains this year and the roof of its Badminton court, which was adjacent to the lobby where bridge used to take place, fell. Oudh Gymakhana charges Rs. 2000/- per month for making its hall available for bridge, part of which is being paid by raising the entry fee and by increasing the annual subscription.
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For Indian bridge players,lovers & enthusiasts the good news is that the convention card designed by Bridge Federation of India (BFI) appears on this convention card editor. So for those of you who have computers the convention card filling in India is a lot more easier job now.
Lee has been constantly updating the software. The latest version he informs is 6.0.1 with enhanced printing features.The software now supports 21 formats and the convention cards of Germany and South Africa are in offing.
In this section I would cover tournaments happening in India and more so the tournaments happening in Northern part of India and in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
Winter Nationals started in Delhi on 7th November.There were widespread protests against the organizers on first playing day. Participants complained of lack of food & water and were unhappy with the lodging arrangements. The play was heldup for about three hours.Though the organizers have pooled in Four Square Sports Gear as sponsors for the event the organization was decidedly poor.
The Jagdish Agarwal Memorial Oudh Bridge Championship would be held in Lucknow from January 14 -17. The event is being accorded national status by the BFI.
In this section I would cover one good deal which appeared in the Weekly Bridge Tournaments at Lucknow or in a recent tournament with explanations.
This week's deal is on bidding.
Dealer: North
Vul : None
Lead : H 3
| S | A Q J 9 4 | |||||||||||
| H | A J 10 | |||||||||||
| D | 10 | |||||||||||
| C | Q 10 7 6 | |||||||||||
| S | 10 5 3 | S | 8 7 | |||||||||
| H | 3 2 | H | 8 7 6 4 | |||||||||
| D | Q 5 4 3 2 | D | A 9 8 6 | |||||||||
| C | J 8 3 | C | K 9 2 | |||||||||
| S | K 6 2 | |||||||||||
| H | K Q 9 5 | |||||||||||
| D | K J 7 | |||||||||||
| C | A 5 4 |
Bidding
| North | East | South | West |
| 1 NT | Pass | 2 D | Pass |
| 2 H | Pass | 2 S | Pass |
| 2 NT | Pass | 3 C | Pass |
| 3 S | Pass | 4 H | Pass |
| 4 NT | Pass | 5 H | Pass |
| 5 NT | Pass | 6 C | Pass |
| 6 H | Pass | Pass | Pass |
This week's deal shows which contract should normally be played.
When you have 4-4 fit and a longer suit of more than 5 cards also it pays to play in 4-4 fit as longer suit can provide valuble discards. The same holds true when you hold a 4-3 fit also which this weeks deal shows.
North opened strong 1 NT indicating 15-16 hcp South responded 2 Diamonds which was forcing Stayman. North continued with 2 Hearts indicating lower 4 card Major. South then continues with 2 Spades which showed 4 card Spades suit ,unlike SAYC 3 NT bid which would show 4 cards in Spades, North bids 2 NT and South further clarifies his cards by bidding 3 Clubs which also shows a high likely hood of 5 card Spades with South and slam interest. North now supports Spades with 3 Spade bid and South very smartly bids 4 Hearts , which is not a cue bid, indicating at least 3 good cards support. Some bidding methods may have different ways of describing the same cards. For example those playing transfers would bid 4 Diamonds as splinter after the transfer sequence. This however does not show quality of Heart support. North now asks Aces via simple Blackwood and on South's indicating 2 Aces asks for kings. Logically with three aces there is no need for King asking bid. But here King asking bid serves a very useful purpose, if South has Club King 6 Spades should then be played as that would be a safer contract. But if South doesn't have Club King then 6 Hearts should be played which would make on good Diamond guess on a Heart lead also.
So six Heart is a very good contract to play ,as 6 Spades doesn't make, and can perhaps fetch a swing.
This deal was played in a local pairs event. The same concept is explained in another deal which was bid by Larry Cohen and David Berkowitz in the recently concluded 1998 North American bridge champioship at Orlando. This deal was reported in ACBL daily bulletin.
| S | K 10 8 7 3 | |||||||||||
| H | A K 6 2 | |||||||||||
| D | J 3 | |||||||||||
| C | A 2 | |||||||||||
| S | J 9 | S | 5 2 | |||||||||
| H | J 7 | H | 9 5 | |||||||||
| D | K 10 9 5 4 2 | D | A Q 7 6 | |||||||||
| C | K Q J | C | 10 9 8 6 5 | |||||||||
| S | A Q 6 4 | |||||||||||
| H | Q 10 8 4 3 | |||||||||||
| D | 8 | |||||||||||
| C | 7 4 3 |
Bidding
| East | South | West | North |
| Pass | Pass | Pass | 1 S |
| Pass | 2 C | Pass | 2 H |
| Pass | 4 D | Pass | 5 C |
| Pass | 6 S | Pass | Pass |
| Pass | |||
Larry was sitting North in this deal and opened 1 Spade after three passes. David's 2 Club was showing Drury fit in Spades and over Larry's 2 H his 4 Diamond was splinter showing 5 Card in hearts and slam interest. Explained Larry that if David didn't have slam interest he would not disclose his cards just like that only. Larry now cue bids his Club Ace and David puts him in 6 Spades and Not six Hearts as his Heart suit would provide useful discards where as Spade suit would not be useful discard for him.
An excellently bid slam with only 23 hcp.
Following very good bridge sites are available for any bridge enthusiast:
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