The Welcome Pairs is the first event of the 2026 ANC which starts today at the Labour Club in Belconnen ACT. 54 pairs are competing in the Open event with 7 Tasmanian entries. IMP scored pairs converted to VPs with a Swiss draw.

This is a good opportunity to warm up for the Interstate events to come.

The Tasmanian pairs are:

Hugh Grosvenor & Tania Lloyd, Julie Rhodes & Hilton Francis, Mardi Grosvenor & Annie Bartlett, Pamela Lidl & Fiona Hickey, Catherine Elliott & Felicity Wivell, Maggie Crawford & Julia Corr and David Marshall & Merryl Darby.

Full entries and results can be found here.

After 3 matches Catherine & Felicity are the leading Tasmanian pair in 3rd place. Tania & I are next in 5th place followed by Annie & Mardi in 19th, Julie & Hilton in 27th, Pamela & Fiona in 38th, Maggie & Julia in 41st and David & Merryl in 45th.

In our first match Board 2 was tricky.

Tania's double of the 2D Multi opening shows either 13-15 balanced or any good hand. It's not quite clear to me which of these she thought she had. What do you think West's pass of this double should show?

I am not a big fan of the 2D multi opening but if you are going to play it you need to have good agreements about what the continuations mean. Pass here should show a willingness to play in 2DX. If it does not mean this North has a free option to pass since the opener is always going to have to bid their major. With this West hand I would be bidding 2S, pass or correct. If the opener has spades I want to play 2S, if they have hearts I want to play at least 3H.

Anyway over Pass I wanted to Pass but was worried that Tania would interpret this as liking diamonds so I chose to bid 2H. East sensibly passed this and Tania was in a tricky spot. She chose 3D. I presumed that this showed a good hand with diamonds so tried 3NT. A couple of things were unclear to me - which suit the opener had and where 9 tricks were going to come from in 3NT. However a wise old man of bridge once told me that if 3N is one of your choices, you should choose it.

East could have beaten 3N by leading a low S or a heart. However on the SJ lead 9 tricks were easy and 10 made on a defensive slip. 5C was the best contract but 630 had the distinction of being the biggest NS score, for 9 IMPs.

We went positive on all the hands in this match. The boards were a little flat but this converted to 20-0 IMPs and 16.9 VPs.

The second match did nnot start well when we bid too high on Board 9.

I pushed a little to bid 4H and it was hard to fault Tania for bidding over this. Alternatively she could have doubled then bid 4H herself. Anyway my 'values' were largely useless and I could not avoid losing 2 spades and a diamond. 12 IMPs away.

Board 10 was another difficult hand.

3D asked for a stopper. Over 3S maybe I should bid 4C. I did not expect Tania to have 6 spades so thought that she was likely to have more diamonds. Even with 2 or 3 small diamonds, 3NT may be the best contract.

The defence blocked the diamond suit so we survived the adventure. A lucky 8 IMPs.

Board 11 Tania opened 2H and Janet overcalled 2S. I tried a sporting penalty double. Despite the bad trump break, the rest of the cards were fairly friendly and the declarer could actually have made the contract if she picked the club Q and the diamond position. When she ducked the opening H lead everything went wrong and we emerged with +500 for 3 down and 10 IMPs.

Board 13 The declarer survived the heart lead when the suit broke 4-4. He now had 9 tricks when the clubs broke 3-3 however he did not spot this and went down when the diamonds split 4-1. A gift that you need in these sorts of events!

A 10 IMP win after we had a few bad boards was a lucky result.

Match 3 was the last match of a short day.

Board 20 was the first one that we played. We bid to 4H and the opponents bid 4S. We should have taken 4 tricks to beat this - DA, D ruff, HA, D ruff. Somehow we didn't manage to do this. 12 IMPs away.

Board 24 Alison and Ken did well to bid 6S and Alison played well to make it. Another 9 IMPs away.

Fortunately the traffic went our way on most of the other boards. A 2 IMP loss almost felt like a win!

Tomorrow is another day. 6 matches to go.

The TBA Committee met on June 9th from 2.45pm. Present were Julie Rhodes (P), John Grosvenor (VP), Leigh Blizzard (T), Trish Colles (S), Sue Falkingham, Pam Murphy, Paul Fredheim, Hugh Grosvenor and Laura Bauermeister. The following matters were discussed:

Coming Up – Eastcoaster Weekend in Orford

On August 29th and 30th we’ll be running our fourth Eastcoaster Swiss Pairs event. As the name suggests, it is held at the Eastcoaster Resort near Orford. It is a great opportunity for a different weekend of bridge set on the beautiful East Coast of Tasmania. The entry fee includes morning tea and lunch on the first day as well as three sessions of bridge. We also hold a three course dinner on the Saturday night which can be entered as a separate event on MyABF. Play kicks off at 10.00am on the Saturday and is all over by around 1.00pm on Sunday. There are prizes awarded in all categories subject to the number of entries. There is generally also a lucky door prize donated by the Eastcoaster Resort.

A range of accommodation options are available at the resort from single rooms to 3 bedroom cabins so you can stay with your friends, family or partner if you like. Mention bridge when you are booking with the resort and they will give you a good rate.

Building Extension

As many of you know, we have been working on a plan for many years to improve our club facilities by adding an extension at the rear which will include an office/utility room, a member’s recreation area and a better kitchen. In addition, the Vera Houdek room and existing kitchen will be combined and extended to provide an additional teaching/playing room to provide greater flexibility with scheduling of Beginners Classes or additional playing sessions.

This was costed at approximately $ 800,000 a couple of years ago, and the TBA has (unsuccessfully) applied for several types of government assistance to enable us to progress the work. We have approximately $ 500,000 set aside for the extensions including a bequest of the late Ron Spencer for $ 200,000.

We have recently discovered than an alternative building approach by Tasbuilt involving off site manufacturing may provide an affordable solution for us and are currently investigating this.

If the quote and design from Tasbuilt offers us a viable solution, we will call a special meeting of Club Members to approve the project, as there will be inconvenience from pile driving, and we will need to close the club whilst the new extension is joined to our existing club. We will post the amended design and quote as soon as it is available.

ABF Online Club Knockout event

This event is scheduled to commence in July and the TBA has been quite successful in it in the past. Teams are categorised according to the Masterpoint level of their most experienced member and can participate in the Open, Under 750, Under 300, Under 150 and Under 50 category.

Events are run monthly at night via Real Bridge, and the TBA pays for the team entry fees. Consequently, any winnings are retained by the TBA to go towards the entry fees for next year.

If you would like to participate in this event, please register you interest with Sue Falkingham.

Suggestion Box

There were several suggestions from Members this month and we are responding to each of them :

• We won’t be welcoming puppies/dogs to the TBA unless they are designated companion animals.
• We now have 5 of the specially requested black chairs.
• We will purchase two chairs with arms for people that need assistance in this way
• The TBA has a sophisticated air conditioning system. We should all recognise that it is impossible to provide a temperature which suits everyone You will all realise that some people are wearing a T Shirt at the table whilst others are rugged up! Rather than nag the Director, or complain about the temperature, please ensure your own personal comfort by wearing layers of clothes which you can add or remove as appropriate. This is the Tassie way.

Free Coffee for Dealers

As a thank you for our dealing team, we have decided that if they wish, they can request a coffee machine token from the Director on duty which will be provided free of charge.

A reminder that you can purchase coffee machine tokens if you don’t have a $ 2 coin in your pocket!

Youth Bridge

We are going to establish a Youth Bridge program over the next 12 months, leading up to the ANC in July 2027 which will be held in Hobart. If you have a young person in your life who you think would like to learn bridge, please contact myself, or Sue Falkingham, and we will endeavour to include them in this program.

New Members

We welcome the following new and reactivated members to our club and wish them all the best on their bridge journey : Mel Croft, Liam Croft (Youth), William Keyte and Jan Sheen.

Bridge Etiquette – Kindness (Again!)

Just a brief reminder to be kind and respectful to everyone at the table. We want people to enjoy their visits to the club and to tell their friends how fantastic bridge is as both as a brain stimulating hobby and as a family.

Julie Rhodes
President