North Penn Bridge News

Greetings to the

North Penn Bridge Community!

Week of 05/21/2024

From the Club Manager

Dave Dodgson

North American Pairs (NAP.) Qualifying begins in June. There will be two weeks of qualifying at the clubs in each of June, July, and August. The three qualifying flights are: Non-life Masters below 500; 500-2500; 2500 and above. For those qualifying in flight B (500-2500,) the first round will be here at North Penn on October 6.

The Longest Day . This year we will hold our Longest Day Event in support of the Alzheimer’s Association on Wednesday, June 19. Lunch at 11:30. Check our webpage for more information and to make donations.

Club Manager Wanted. After five years as your Club Manager, I am retiring. Accordingly, we are actively seeking someone who would like to step in to schedule the games and make sure the club keeps running. This is a wonderful chance to make a contribution to the club and your fellow players. Please feel free to talk to me to get more information and to Roger Milton to apply for the job.

June Events

June 6 Handicap Swiss
June 3-14 NAP Qualifying games
June 12 Four is Enough Game. Elaine Clair and Mitch Snyder will be in charge. Please contact Elaine at eeclair37@comcast.net or Mitch at msofearl@comcast.net if you need a partner, if you are already partnered or if you have questions. You can also sign up in the book at the club
June 17-21 Club Championship week; extra points at no extra cost
June 19 Longest Day: 0-99 game at 9:30 a.m.; open game at noon; Lunch at 11:30
June 21 0-500 Swiss
June 24-28 CLUB CLOSED for the open games on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday due to King of Prussia Regional. The Tuesday and Friday Limited Games will be held as usual.

Upcoming Tournaments:

June 1 & 2 - I/N Sectional at the club. Click here for details.
June 24-30 - King of Prussia Regional. Click here for details.

Education

Shuffle & Deal Wednesday, May 29, 9:30 - 11:30 am

Remember, our Shuffle and Deal sessions are open to all who have an interest in supervised play (not just new players.)

Partnership

If you need a partner for a Monday, Wednesday or Thursday Open game, please email northpennbridge@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 at bridge4all@comcast.net

Calendar

Click here to see a file you can enlarge.

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

Deal of the Week

by Bucky Sydnor

(sydnoriv@yahoo.com)

The Last Guess

I’ve been re-reading Kit Woolsey’s 1982 Matchpoints, a classic. It is very slow going for me, and I am not recommending it to my readers. [It has been updated, with the help of Adam Parrish, and re-issued in 2015.] But a recent hand on BBO allowed me to apply one of its principles, namely, if there is going to be some guessing on the last round of the auction, make sure it’s the opponents who have to do the guessing.

All white, I am 3^rd seat, holding

♠J ♥AJ106 ♦Q962 ♣A432

After 2 passes I open 1♦, and the auction goes

P – P – 1♦ – 1♠

2♥ – 2♠ - ?

Partner’s 2♥ bid was a stretch, as he held

♠A93 ♥K8754 ♦J75 ♣107

He has 8 useful HCP, as the tripleton jack is in the suit I opened with, and a ruffing value in clubs, not the 9+ to 12- his passed-hand two-level response in competition suggested. (The full deal is below.) But the fact that he stretched turned out well for us.

As we have located a 9-card fit, using Losing Trick Count (LTC) my hand was maybe almost good as 6 losers but, conservatively, it is 7 losers. A 6-loser hand translates, sort of, to a 16-18 point hand, while 7 losers translate to an opening hand with nothing extra. What is clear from LTC is that we do not have game unless everything goes our way, and then some.

Since I know we have a 9-card fit, I am willing to go to 3♥. But if the opponents bid 3♠ and it is passed around to me, what will I do—will I compete to 4♥, hoping we will only be down 1, or pass it out, hoping we will set them one?

The fact is that if I bid 3♥ and they bid 3♠, they will have put me to the last guess, namely, whether to bid on to 4♥ or pass. However, if I bid 4♥ right now, I put them to the last guess: should they pass, double, or save at 4♠? Moreover, by bidding 4♥ immediately and with confidence, it sounds as though we have a cold game. The opponents may well save, as they have no way of knowing that we do not have one.

I bid 4♥, E took a save at 4♠ and I doubled believing that we might not even make 10 tricks in 4♥, but they are definitely not making 10 tricks in 4♠.

Here’s the full deal:

My partner (North) led the ♥5 and Declarer played Dummy’s ♥9. Holding ♥AJ106, I should play the ♥10, but I decided to rise with my ♥A. If Declarer held the ♥Kx (or the stiff K), he was always getting a heart trick and I wanted to get ours first. When I returned my ♥6, my original 4^th best, my partner won his ♥K and returned the ♦5, the first suit I had bid. Declarer played Dummy’s ♦8 and I put in the ♦9, hoping Declarer did not have the ♦J.

Wanting to reach Dummy to lead spades, Declarer led the ♣5, towards his KQ9. Partner played his ♣7, as we play upside down count signals. It was not yet clear to me if the ♣7 was from 3 clubs, and the 7 was his middle one, indicating an odd number, or perhaps it was his lowest one, showing an even number (probably 2, maybe 4). When Declarer played Dummy’s ♣K, I took my ♣A and led the ♦2.

Declarer won his ♦K and led a low club to Dummy’s ♣Q, partner playing the ♣10. I should have realized that partner held 2 clubs, but I failed to register this information.

In Dummy, Declarer called for the ♠2, going to my ♠J, her ♠Q and partner’s ♠A. My partner exited the ♦J and I was asleep at the switch, as I let it ride. I should have overtaken it and led a club for partner to ruff. That would have put them down 3 doubled for 500 and a top for us. As it was putting them down 2 for 300, was a second for us, as only one pair bid and made 4♥.

In fact, five pairs were in 2♥ or 3♥, making 10 or 11 tricks (because the opponents never got their club trick, which is hard to do). Six pairs were also in 2 or 3♠, four of them making 140 and two of them down.

What helped us was putting E, especially, to the last guess. It seems he thought that 4♥ was cold and so 4♠, even doubled down 2, would be a good board. The problem was that bidding to 4♥ was not clear-cut and only one other pair did so.

Putting your opponents to the last guess, rather than letting them put you to the last guess, is another way to win at bridge. It does not come up often, but when it does, the success will taste so sweet.

Postmortem: We were fortunate on this deal, and our opponents were not. First, my partner stretched to bid 2♥ and it worked out well. A negative double of 1♠ would have been more appropriate. Then, East, who had originally raised his partner to 2♠, decided to save in 4♠, a “last guess” that was poorly judged. He would have done better to show his hand in one bid by pre-empting with 3♠ initially, leaving the rest of the auction to his partner. Finally, we failed to beat their doubled contract by 3 tricks, but still got an excellent score when most NS’s stopped short of game. I was glad I jumped to 4♥.