Shantanu Rastogi's Bridge Page

issue 67 (January 31, 2000)

For your comments please e-mail tosrastogi@lw1.vsnl.net.in
Page updated on:January 31, 2000

  • Bridge Facilities in India
  • In this section I would be putting together all the information regarding bridge facilities in the various cities in India.The information may be sketchy at present but would be made comprehensive in future.

    Lucknow Allahabad Varanasi Meerut Dehradun Ghaziabad Kanpur Moradabad Delhi Chandigarh Jaipur Mumbai Pune Asansol Durgapur Bangalore Chennai Ranchi

  • Tournament News
  • 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.

    Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup concluded in Bermuda in the third week of January 2000 with USA I (Jeff Meckstroth & Eric Rodwell, Bob Hamman & Paul Soloway, Nick Nickell & Richard Freeman) winning the Bermuda Bowl and Netherlands winning the Venice Cup (by a margin of 0.5 IMP). India had representation only in the Venice Cup where Indian ladies had qualified. The ladies didn't fare too well but that only reflects lack of match practice against top teams and mode of ladies team selection which is done through pairs. I would be reproducing some interesting deals later.

    Jagdish Agarwal Memorial Oudh Bridge Championship would take place at Oudh Gymkhana , Lucknow from February 10-13, 2000.

    National Pairs at Home for Ubhayakar Trophy and Arun Swamy Trophy would take place on February 27, 2000.

    WBF World Wide Simultaneous Pairs event (formerly known as EPSON) would take place on June 2 & June 3 , 2000. The scoring of this event would be done on internet.

    WBF is organising Mind Sports Organization's Worldwide Simultaneous Pairs on August 22 and August 23, 2000. It would be on the lines of Fifth Friday Championship organised by Herman De Wael. The magnitude of the championship would be higher with about 10000 tables results being compiled together.

  • Deal of the Week
  • 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 funny.

    Dealer:North
    Vul: -
    Lead:-
    NORTH
    SA
    HA K J 10 9 8 7 6 3 2
    DA
    C4
    WEST
    S4
    H5
    DJ 10 8
    CA K Q J 10 7 6 2
    EAST
    SK 10 5 2
    HQ 4
    DQ 9 5 3 2
    C9 5
    SOUTH
    SQ J 9 8 7 6 3
    H-
    DK 7 6 4
    C8 3

    Bidding

    NorthEastSouthWest
    2 CPass2 D5 C
    6 HPass6 SPass
    PassPass

    Zia Mahmood has reported this deal in his book Bridge My Way. I'm writing about Zia's deal here as it gives excellent prologue to this week's deal of week.

    Zia Mahmood has wrtten this deal while writing about Jack Dreyfus, founder of Dreyfus Mutual Fund. Writes Zia "....(Dreyfus) Successful in everything he tried:golf,tennis,even gin-rummy, he also had his share of luck. Years ago he was confident that 3-D pictures would be thing of future.He put most of his money into Polaroid shares.3-D was a disaster, but the company invented a new camera.The stock soared and Dreyfus used his 3-D glasses to count the fortunes he made.Now retired, Dreyfus has diverted his time and wealth to his charitable medical foundation.He's also famous for somehow always dealing himself ace of Spades...." And the story about the deal shown goes like this ".... his partner was the lovable, on occasion, disaster-prone 'Fox'.Dreyfus dealt and opened 2 C. The Fox bid the negative two D.Dreyfus' RHO leapt to 5 C. Dreyfus 'closed' the auction with a bid of 6 H. Well, almost closed. He hadn't got past the Fox, who still had to show his S Q J 9 8 7 6 3. 'Six Spades!' he offered. Dreyfus gave up......."

    You can't help but have a good laugh at this deal.

    The strange coincidence happened this weekend when I was playing Rubber bridge. Look at the deal of this week.

    Dealer:North
    Vul:None
    Lead:D K
    NORTH
    S10 2
    HA K Q J 9 8 6
    DA 10 9 4
    C-
    WEST
    SK 7 6 3
    H10 4 2
    D7 5
    CK 10 6 3
    EAST
    S4
    H7 3
    DK Q 8 6 3 2
    CQ J 7 5
    SOUTH
    SA Q J 9 8 5
    H5
    DJ
    CA 9 6 4 2

    Bidding

    NorthEastSouthWest
    4 NTPass5 HPass
    5 NTPass6 CPass
    6 HPass6 S!!Pass
    6 NTXXXPass
    PassPass

    I'm no Jack Dreyfus. Five years back I had invested some of my earnings into shares of IDBI at Rs. 130 per share. The share now a days trades at around Rs. 40. But still.

    I opened 4 NT with my cards. Don't ask me why. When playing rubber bridge I believe in doing anything. I might be missing a huge D fit but then what's the fun of rubber bridge. My partner showed me two Aces and no Kings. I settled the contract in 6 H.

    My partner the wily Fox , who was not able to show his Ss now came in with a bid of 6 S!!

    I didn't give up and tried 6 NT which was doubled and redoubled. I went two down

    Beauty of this deal is that 6 H makes on any lead but 6 S isn't. The best lead could be trump. Upon which you remove trumps and play them for six rounds discarding 4 Cs and a S from dummy. Now finesse S 10. If this is taken contract always scores as your Dlosers go on Ss. If S 10 is ducked , then play on Ss winning ace in dummy and you must have noticed East's discards -East's likely realistic pattern is 1255 or 1264 and the only chance of making the contract is where East can be end played. If East has discarded 3 Ds don't cash C Ace, if East has discarded two Ds only realistic chance of making the contract is by cashing the C Ace. Now end play East in Diamonds after ruffing outS King and score your contract. On any other lead the contract always scores by ruffing a D in dummy.

    Are you able to have a good laugh or not!!

  • Bridge Links
  • You would like to visit these sites frequently.

  • ACBL Website-Federation (American)
  • CBF Website-Federation (Canadian)
  • WBF Website-Federation (World)
  • The Internet Bridge Archive-Archive
  • Floater-Online Bridge (Free)
  • BridgeWorld Website-Magazine > Puzzles
  • BridgeBase Website-Personal (Canada) > Software,Deals,Tournament Reports
  • Bridge Arkade-Personal (Norway) > Bidding Contest,Bridge Stories (humour),Puzzles
  • Anna Gudge's Website-Personal (England) > Database (Federation)
  • Richard Pavlicek's Page-Personal (USA) > Puzzles,Deals
  • History of Bridge-History
  • Tournaments Around the World-Personal (Denmark) > Tournament Reports
  • OKbridge-Online Bridge (Payment) > World Internet Bridge Championship
  • Demicoma Bridge Academy-Personal (India) > Puzzles
  • PlayBridge-Deal Generator
  • BridgeSpace Website-Personal (Israel) > Bidding Contest
  • Bridge Companion-Magazine > Puzzles
  • Bridge Today-Magazine > Bidding Contest,Bridge Lessons (Payment) from University
  • Jeff Goldsmith's Page-Personal (USA) > Software, Puzzles
  • Bridge Forum-Personal (USA) > Bidding Contest,Bridge Lessons (Payment)
  • Bridge In India-Personal (India) > Tournament Reports
  • Bridge Card-Convention Card Editor
  • GBL-Bridge Links
  • Jim Loy's Review-Personal (USA) > Software
  • BridgePlaza-Personal (Canada) > Software,Deals,Tournament Reports
  • Alex Wagner's Page-Personal (Canada) > Bridge Stories (humour)
  • BFI Website-Federation (Indian)
  • Fifth Friday Simultaneous Pairs Championship-Personal (Belgium) > Contest
  • Mind Sport Organization-Personal (England) > Contest
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