North Penn Bridge News

Greetings to the

North Penn Bridge Community!

Week of 03/18/2024

From the Club Manager

Dave Dodgson

Tuesday Night Online Game Ending. March 19 is the last game. Sadly, there’s not enough participation to keep it going, but it was great fun while it lasted!

Louisville NABC. Good luck to everyone playing at this national event.

March 27 - 0-99 Game.

Upcoming Tournaments:

March 13-24 NABC in Louisville, KY

March 26 District 4 Online Game

April 12-14 Sectional in Cherry Hill, NJ

April 26-27 Sectional in Allentown, PA

April 29-May 4 Regional in Rehoboth Beach, MD

Education

Shuffle & Deal - Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m.

NEW TIME FOR Sunday Shuffle and Deal. 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.

Joann Glasson’s Next Monday Zoom Classes are April 8 and 15. Click here for details.

Tuesday Evening Class. Linda O’Malley begins her series on forcing bids tonight March19. Click here for the flyer.

Partnership

If you need a partner for a Monday, Wednesday or Thursday Open game, please email northpennpartner@gmail.com. We will do our best to match you with others who are looking for someone with whom to play.

Requests for Tuesday and Friday limited games should go directly to Mitch Snyder @ bridge4all@comcast.net.

Calendar

Click here to see a file you can enlarge.

Ask the Expert

Email your questions, or a pesky hand, or something you’d like to know about bidding or playing to Toysie at toysiewalker@gmail.com. She will forward them to the panel, one will be chosen, and the question and answers will be printed in the following week’s newsletter.

We update our Facebook page regularly so be sure to check it out. It’s a great way to stay in touch with all the happenings at North Penn.

Tidbits

“Tips to Avoid Mistake 35

(Taking an unnecessary finesse)

Taking a finesse at Trick 1 can be a mistake in various ways. It if loses, your RHO may deliver or receive a ruff. He may also make a damaging switch.
When the opening lead comes through AQx in the dummy, it is rarely right to play the queen on that trick.”

From 52 Bridge Mistakes to Avoid

by David Bird

Deal of the Week

by Bucky Sydnor

(sydnoriv@yahoo.com)

First You Take a Pan

When my niece was much younger and still learning to cook, she shared her initial dish at a meal for the extended family. One of her aunts asked her how she made it. She responded, “First you take a pan.”

As much as that response brings a smile to my face whenever I think of it, it also has application for bridge. Whether on offense or defense, the attention to all the steps involved and the order in which they are executed is often of primary importance.

Here are the N & S hands from today’s Deal of the Week:

Steve Becker and I found our way to 3N from my side after I opened 1C in 1^st seat, W overcalled 2♥, and Steve (N) made a negative double. I bid 2N, Steve retreated to 3♣, showing he had no help whatsoever in hearts. I bid 3N saying I had hearts covered. I got the unsurprising ♥Q lead, which I ducked. A low heart was continued and I won perforce, pitching a spade from dummy.

Counting my winners, I counted 1 spade, 2 hearts, 1 diamond and, hopefully, 5 clubs for my 9 tricks. I started clubs by playing up to Dummy’s Ace, both opponents playing low, but on the second round W showed out, pitching a heart. This is the NS layout after I played my ♣K:

If I persist in clubs, and I must, I will be getting only 4 club tricks, reducing my total to eight. What do you think I should do next? Got your plan?

I continued clubs as I did not fear a continuation of hearts by E. That was a big mistake, as I could no longer make the contract. Do you see what I should have done?

I should have hoped W had the ♠K, especially in light of the fact he was missing the ♥A & K, and led toward dummy’s Q before playing the 3^rd club. If W wins his K and returns a heart to clear the suit, it would then be safe to play the ♣10 to establish 2 more clubs, since E is heartless. (Steve is actually a very nice guy.) The ♠Q would have been my 9^th trick.

Here’s the full deal:

If you want to play through it yourself, or see how I did, click here.

This deal was an excellent example of having to do things in the right order. Other examples are getting rid of a loser before drawing trumps or setting up an end play. Also common is a squeeze: many squeezes are straightforward once you learn the order in which you need to play the cards.

So as Declarer, before you play to the first trick, remember, “First you take a pan.” But even on defense, after the opening lead, give some thought to the order in which you need to set up your tricks. If you “first take a pan,” the rest might just fall into place.