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It’s been a few months since Moss’ last regional write-up, and it’s good to see that some other correspondents have weighed in on the issues brought up by Moss with regards to the IP trials. But the trials are over and the IPs are not here yet. So it’s back to the grindstone of weekend tournaments for some keen players. Speaking of weekend tournaments, here are the recent results from down south – with some colour comments where they fit:

Otago Provincial Teams 2^nd June    13 Teams

1st	Kaye Wilson, Wyn Jones, Kristen Collins, Donna Ruwhiu	80.80 (19.74 in the last round)
2nd	Glenn and Sam Coutts, Vicki Bouton, Brad Johnston	79.91 (1 imp loss their worst result)
3rd	Michael Johnstone, Paula Gregory, Anne Somerville, Moss Wylie	74.81

Otago Provincial Pairs 3^rd June     25 pairs

1st	Arleen Schwartz- Murat Genc	59.27
2nd	Anne Somerville – Moss Wylie	57.39
3rd	Nik Mitchell – Brad Johnston	57.22

 

Arleen and Murat had two steady sessions and then a 65% to drive it home replacing Nik and Brad who led after two sessions but who dropped 5% per session. Moss and Anne finished with 68.56% to recover from a sub- par morning.

Taieri Pairs 10^th June.        22 pairs

1st	Anne Somerville – Geoff Eyles	56.00 surprised as anyone to win with this score
2nd	Arleen Schwartz- Frances Sheehy	55.25 including a tournament high 57.83
3rd	Ann- Maree Fox – Bernadette Van Der Lem	55.00 just 2mps different in session scores

 

Originally there was a three-way session tie for first, and second-equal in the overall placings  but that changed off of a board having been scored by N/S instead of E/W between two non-placing pairs. Please remember to check all your scores, even if it doesn’t make a difference to you!

Winton Int/Junior Pairs 23^rd June

Intermediate Pairs – 21 pairs

1st	Wendy Clark – Muriel Mathieson	58.60
2nd	Sherry and Jeff Elton	55.90
3rd	Denise Carter – Grant Walker	54.34

Junior Pairs – 12 pairs

1st	Henry Wadworth – Peter Norman	57.38
2nd	Betsy Gray – Jo Smith	57.17
3rd	Tom Wallis – Colin Laughton	55.00

 

Oamaru All Grades 1^st July     44 pairs

1st	Donna Ruwhiu – Kristen Collins	68.28 including a massive 74.21 in the morning
2nd	Nik Mitchell – Brad Johnston	62.13
3rd	Jan Davidson – Sheree Hayman	60.78

 

Otago Winter Teams 7^th July       10 teams

1.	Sam and Glenn Coutts, Brad Johnston, Graeme Stout	89.28
2.	Robert Cowan, John Sheehy, Susie Lawless, Maria Godfrey	61.66
3.	Chris Ackerley, Arleen Schwartz, Margaret Perley, Paul Freeland	56.80

                                                                        WINTER WINNERS IN OTAGO

       
Teams winners, by more than a country       Pairs winners: Margaret Perley and        Intermediate Pairs winners,
mile, Sam Coutts, Graeme Stout, Brad          Paul Freeland                                        Pam Hodgkinson and Judy Russell
Johnston and Glenn Coutts

Otago Winter Pairs 8^th July                 20 pairs

20 pairs

1st	Margaret Perley- Paul Freeland	60.72
2nd	Chris Ackerley – Arleen Schwartz	60.26
3rd	Graeme Stout – Jeff Miller	59.79

 

Otago Winter Intermediate Pairs 8^th July      12 pairs

1st	Pam Hodgkinson – Judy Russell	64.38
2nd	Barbara Hutton – Andrew Reynolds	64.17
3rd =	Paul Yates – David Larsen Marion Dent – Cushla Colquhoun	56.67

 

Additionally the VCC Congress was surprisingly well represented by Otago/Southland players. Ex-Dunedinite James Coutts won the Swiss Pairs in a canter with Australian Tony Nunn. Glenn Coutts and Moss Wylie were unlucky to finish third. For the Swiss Teams, James Coutts finished 6^th playing with a strong Australian team and Moss and Glenn enlisted John Davidson and Sam Coutts to finish a credible 8^th.

News from "Central"

Hamilton Plate

Thanks to Lynne Fegan for supplying the following:

"The Hamilton Plate was gifted by Jim and Betty Hamilton on their departure from Alexandra, many moons ago.  We know that two of their daughters were Bridge players - the late Helen Good, and Christchurch player, Joan Small.

4 clubs in Central Otago hotly contested the Hamilton Plate in the hope of wresting it away from Queenstown.  Alexandra, Cromwell, Wanaka and Queenstown Clubs contested at a very social day, under a layer of unwanted Wanaka cloud.

The end result proved to be surprising. Queenstown won the Open division;  Wanaka succeeded in the Intermediates.  But on pooling the results, both Queenstown and Wanaka gained exactly the same result - hence resulting in a ‘tie’.  Queenstown were congratulated by the Wanaka Administration  but were told that Wanaka would hold the Plate for the first 6 months after which it would be forwarded to Queenstown so that they could cover the cleaning in readiness for 2019."

                                Celebrating the joint success

      
     

A nice false-card

                                                      West                 North              East               South

                                                                               Pass                  Pass               1
                                                        2                  x                       3                 3

                                                        Pass                Pass                 4                 Pass 
                                                        4                 Pass                  5                 All Pass           

West’s 2 bid showed hearts and a minor, North showing penalty interest in at least one minor and East bidding pass/correct in the minor.

  Declarer seemed to have an unavoidable spade, heart, and club loser – which would make the contract 1 light. However if North attempts to cash two high clubs at any point then West can ruff the club and throw a spade loser on the established Q.

 After a top club on this hand, you better know what your partners' signal will be! Assuming that North leads the AC, which ‘promises’ the K. The 2 bid has earmarked Glenn with at most 3 black cards, and with the A, K, Q  and the A showing between the North/East hands, South’s attitude in clubs can’t be important. Therefore if North leads a top club South should know to give a count signal, even if it runs counter to their typical signalling methods. If South shows an even number of clubs, then West could either be 2=5=5=1, or 0=5=5=3, or possibly more extreme 0=6=6=1, although that is extremely unlikely.

If West has 0 spades and 3 clubs, then leading a spade now will not give away a trick as only one could be discarded on A. If West has 2 spades and 1 club, then continuing clubs is deadly for the defence. North must switch to a spade to set up their third defensive trick.

What happened

At the table, North chose not to lead a club but  followed the time-tested maxim of leading partner’s suit, 4.
Glenn diagnosed that the K was offside, so went up with the A and contributed the Q from his hand, hoping to show a 1=5=5=2 shape.

After drawing trumps, Glenn played a heart up and South flew with the A. Now if Glenn started with KJ,  he would have 2 discards from dummy – maybe for his two club losers?
South assumed partner must have something in clubs for the penalty interest, and so led a club to North and the moment of truth came when North tried to cash a second club instead of leading another spade.

Incorrect defence but Glenn had done well to paint a false picture.

If South was confident that North wouldn’t have any more than 2 spades for their lead of the 4 then South could have cashed the K when in with the A – but some pairs have the agreement to lead MUD from a holding like 642.

As discussed above, South should give count on the first round of clubs. This extends to the point where they lead one after winning the A. Some pairs have the agreement that playing a count card back in the middle of a hand is ‘standard present count’, and some have the agreement that the signal is ‘reverse present count’. If playing standard present count then leading a high card back would show that you currently hold an even number, while playing reverse present count then leading back a low card would show an even number.

These signals are more common as discards, to clarify holdings after giving an attitude signal in the suit – but by then both players should all be aware that the attitude of South in clubs is meaningless on this board and they should simply be giving count. These signals also come up when partner leads a suit, then you win (either the lead card or a latter trick) and return the suit partner lead. This is another spot where present count can be important, and most pairs in New Zealand play what’s called standard present count.

 

 

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