Saturday was a classic case in point. Out of the 30 boards played there were three boards that that could have been bid to slam [12 tricks] for North/South and five for East/West. A grand slam is bidding and getting all 13 tricks.

Norah Taylor and Judy Haysom navigated their way through these tricky ands to come first for North/South and Phil Cummings and Dick Ellis came first for East/West.

Advances in technology have made life so much easier. We now use a computer to generate hands and analyse what contracts are available to be bid and made for each hand.

Players may be unaware that there is a program available to do that and a default position used to ensure that at least one hand contains more than 10 points.

Some players make anthropomorphic comments about the hapless computer by attributing human qualities to it.

On a different note, anyone wishing to attend a refresher course on the basics is welcome to come to the Bridge Club on Tuesdays from 7pm-9pm or Wednesdays from 2pm-4pm.

These are run by our bridge teacher Bob Dillon who also conducts tutorials. The topics for next Monday will be leads and getting into no trumps.

There are a number of players who have expressed interest in becoming a director (bless them).

The club has a training session and workshop on directing on the first weekend in March and Sydney director John Mcllrath will conduct that program.

In the meantime we are running an introductory session each Monday this month. On Monday we covered revokes and next Monday we will look at conduct and etiquette and how to rule on major and minor penalty cards.

Don't forget the Valentine's team day this Sunday.