North Penn Bridge News

Greetings to the

North Penn Bridge Community!

Week of 04/01/2024

From the Club Manager

Dave Dodgson

April is Charity Month. The first two weeks feature charity games. The open game on Monday, April 1 will honor the memory of Jim Watters. Proceeds from this game will be donated to a charity specified by Jim’s wife, Elaine.

Handicap Swiss Team Game. Form a team and come play this Thursday, April 4. There will be a FREE MINI LESSON at 11:30 a.m., and John Dickenson will answer all your questions on how team scoring works.

April Events.

April 4:--------Handicap Swiss Team Game

April 10:-------Four is Enough Game

April 13:------.The Robot Individual

April 19:-------0-500 Swiss Team Game

April 22-26:--.Stardust Week...gold points awarded at the club

April 24:------.ACBL-wide Charity Game

April 24:------.0-99 Game at 9:30 a.m.

----------------.(PLEASE NOTE DATE CORRECTION!)

Upcoming Tournaments:

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.

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 Series on Forcing Bids. Linda O’Malley’s next class is April 2. 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

More on Balance of Power (BOP) Doubles

“All doubles when the opponent’s long suit is on your left are BOP doubles... They are never ‘I have a stack of their trump’ penalty doubles.”

From How You Can Play Like An Expert

by Mel Colchamiro

Deal of the Week

by Mitch Snyder

Can You Bid This Slam?

First a word about cuebids, defined here as bidding an opponent’s suit. They can have different meanings in different contexts. The bottom line is that the bid of an opponent’s suit is a cuebid.

Some cuebids show a control, usually an ace. Let’s call that a ‘control bid’. Control bids can be made in other suits as well.

Control Bids

Once a trump suit is established (assume spades) any bid above 3S and below 4S is a control bid. (For the purposes of this article it shows first round control). It’s obviously game forcing and tells partner you are interested in going beyond game. 4S in this context is a minimum.

Over the control bid partner can bid 4S with a minimum or no biddable control or make a control bid of his own, even at the 5 level if necessary. If he does, there is slam interest on that side of table too.

At this point control bidding can continue or either partner can invoke Blackwood or just bid the slam.

You may have heard the notion of ‘captaincy’ bandied about. It simply says that if one partner has limited his hand value, (by opening 1NT or raising 1S to 2S for example), the other partner is captain and can set the contract.

In an auction like this, captaincy takes a back seat and the bridge axiom, ‘he who knows, goes’ prevails.

Here’s the hand.

There’s not much to the play in 6S, but getting there requires good technique. There are three auctions below. In the first one the opponents (NS) are silent. In the other two the opponents compete.

NS silent

W------N------E------S

--.pass

1S------pass---2NT--.pass

3S-----.pass---4C----.pass

4D-----.pass---4H---..pass

5C------pass---5H---..pass

West’s 3S response to the Jacoby 2NT shows a hand worth 16+ and is asking partner to show a control. (With 14-15 you would bid 3NT and with anything less, 4S; this is a good example of bidding less with more in a game forcing auction to allow as much space as possible for slam exploration). Anyway, west accurately bid 4C which was followed by 4 more control bids. West, with no further controls to bid ended the auction at 6S. Note that the 5 level control bids in this auction show 2^nd round control. In both cases the ace had already been shown.

Either player might have bid Blackwood once they knew partner had the ace in their small doubleton suit, but control bidding can sometimes get you to a better spot. (Not the case in this hand).

S opens 3C

W------N------E------S

--3C

3S-----.pass--.4C----.pass

4D-----.pass--.4H----pass

4S-----.pass---5C----pass

3C would not be everybody’s choice, especially given the vulnerability, but some will make the bid. East’s 4C is a cuebid, forcing to game with spade support. It may or may not show a control. 4D and 4H are control bids. West had nothing else to say and bid 4S, but east wasn’t done. 5C showed first round control and continued slam interest. West accepted.

N overcalls 2D

W------N------E------S

--pass

1S-----.2D----.3D---..pass

4S----..pass---5C----.pass

5D-----pass--..5H---..pass

In this auction East’s 3D is a cuebid. It promises a limit raise or better and once again the bidder may or may not have a control. West bid 4S, accepting the invitation. Again, east wasn’t done. After 3 control bids, west bid the slam.

These three auctions demonstrate the use and flexibility of control bids. Either partner can start the process and continue it even after a suggested signoff. This slam could not be safely reached without control bidding.

In the common game 75% of east-wests scored +680 or +1430, obviously playing in 4S or higher. But only 16% of all east-wests bid the slam and got almost all the matchpoints.