opponents were in a game-forcing auction, I
decided that a jump to 7´ had a certain
(mischievous) appeal. I was doubled with some
alacrity and received the lead of the ®A. The full
(somewhat suspicious) deal can be seen below.
46 English Bridge February 2016 www.ebu.co.uk
N/S Game. Dealer West.
´ 7 4
™ 8 4
t K Q J 9 3
® 10 5 4 2
´ - ´ 9 8 6 5 3 2
™ 9 6 5 2 ™ A K Q J 10 7 3
t - t -
® A K Q J 9 8 7 6 3 ® -
´ A K Q J 10
™ -
t A 10 8 7 6 5 4 2
® - N
W E
S
DEREK Patterson is a well known figure in English
bridge circles. He is one of our leading players and
a much admired teacher with his own successful
local club. To cap it all he was NPC of the English
Ladies on their medal-winning Venice Cup outing
to India. I understand that he has emerged
unscathed from this last experience.
Why bridge and how did you get started?
I was introduced to bridge at school and
immediately became fascinated by the various facets
of the game and I still am!
How about triumphs and disasters?
My bridge club (Chislehurst) is my greatest
triumph and it is still going strong after more than
twenty years! It sets the scene for one of my greatest
disasters too - although I got away with it.
One evening, having asked a friend to direct in
my absence, I returned half-way through to find
that I recognised the board being played at table one
in the beginner's section. I looked at table two and
there it was again. I realised that they were using my
teaching boards, without re-dealing them. It turned
out that there were six identical copies in
circulation. On the penultimate round, one of the
players asked, somewhat tentatively, 'Has something
gone wrong with the movement? I've a feeling that
I've played this hand before.' In an attempt to be
diplomatic, I thanked him for his concern but
assured him that there was no problem with the
movement. Accepting this, play continued and
nobody else seemed to notice at all (even for
beginners, I found this quite worrying . . . especially
given that I had been teaching many of them).
In terms of disastrous bidding decisions, consider
this hand. I picked up:
´ A K Q J 10 ™ - t A 10 8 7 6 5 4 2 ® -
My LHO opened a precision 1® (advertising 16+
HCP). My partner overcalled 2t which was
showing a weak hand, either three-suited with short
diamonds or single-suited with long diamonds. My
belief that partner had the former seemed to be
confirmed when RHO continued with 2NT. As the
Derek Patterson
People in Bridge
People in Bridge
Eight off!
After everybody had stopped laughing, I asked
what the 2NT bid meant - '8-10 HCP'. Ah, the
wonders of precision.
Do you use psychic bids?
Psyches are risky and so I have tended to use them
very rarely and only if behind in a match. With the
odd exception, most of these manoeuvres end in
tears. Although not exactly a psyche, a memorable
result was when my team bid and made 3NT in
both rooms on the same deal. On my table partner
opened 2®, propelling us into game. Dummy went
down and there was a certain surprise at the distinct
lack of high-cards. It transpired he had used his
favourite defence to a 1NT opening that had, in fact,
been made at an adjoining table - no bidding boxes
in those days! Somewhat disconcerted, the
opponents lost their way and despite being severely
short of high-cards, I emerged with nine tricks. r