North Penn Bridge News

Greetings to the

North Penn Bridge Community!

Week of 06/03/2024

From the Club Manager

Dave Dodgson

Handicap Swiss. Thursday June 6 is the monthly Handicap Swiss Team Game. Hope you can form a team and join the fun.

KOP Regional. Cathy Strauss is looking for volunteers to help with the following: greeting people as they arrive; directing them to the right area; other miscellaneous tasks. Please email Cathy at cathy.strauss@gmail.com if you are available.

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 Master below 500; 500-2500; 2500 and above. All games award 50% red points. 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 12 IS 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 3-14 NAP Qualifying games

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

June 21 0-500 Swiss

June 24-28 Club closed for the Open Games due to King of Prussia Regional. The Limited Games on Tuesday and Friday will be held as usual.

Upcoming Tournaments:

June 10 - District 4 Online Tournament. 7 p.m. All silver points.
June 24-30 - King of Prussia Regional. Click here for details.
July 8-12 - STaC Week
July 16 - District 4 Online Tournament. 7 p.m.
July 18-28 - NABC in Toronto, Canada

Education

Shuffle & Deal Wednesday, June 5, 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.)

Joann Glasson Zoom Classes. Mondays June 10 and 17 at 10 a.m. Click here for details.

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 John Dickenson

Don't Mess With Mel

Mel Colchamiro of Long Island, NY is a professional player and the author of the excellent “How to Play Like an Expert Without Being One”. In his book he espouses many “rules” which aim to give the non expert player the good judgment of experts.

One of my favorite rules is Mel’s Rule of 2. It teaches that when it goes 1N and two passes to you, you must act when you have 2 or more Shortness Points. We count 2 shortness points for a singleton or void, and 1 for a doubleton. Effectively this means we will act in the pass out seat with a singleton or void, or two doubletons.

Brevity does not permit me to go into all the theory behind this rule. Suffice it to say your partner is marked with values but is relatively balanced so could not act in the direct seat. For more detail, read the book or come to my lesson series I am giving in the fall.

The following board 15 was played at King of Prussia Bridge Club and at North Penn Bridge Club so we have a fair amount of data to evaluate.

At my table I sat West and South opened a 15-17 NT. Pass by me, pass by responder, and Susan Morse had to decide what to do. She has a singleton club, and being both an actress and a disciple of Mel, she acted. We play Woolsey, also known as Multi Landy, so her bid was 2C, Landy, showing both majors. This bid to my mind is one of the most powerful bids in Woolsey, as it allows advancer to bid 2H or 2S with a clear preference or bid 2D with equal length in both majors to ask partner to choose. With a clear preference for spades, I bid 2S which made 8 tricks even with the opponents scoring a heart ruff.

One lucky East West pair at KOP even made 9 tricks at 2S when they got a friendly defense.

This board was played 7 times at KOP and 4 times at NP. Those Easts who acted scored an average of 5 on a 6 top at KOP (83%) and 2.5 on a 3 top at NP (also 83%). Those Easts who sat on their hands scored an average of 25% at KOP and 17% at NP.

Note that Mel’s rule of 2 does not say anything about high card points. This is a balancing action and East is bidding the combined assets of both hands in the partnership. West must not get excited and bury his partner, “But partner I had an opening hand”. It is also a good idea for the partnership to have a way to show both one suited and two suited hands – DONT, Cappelletti, Meckwell, Woolsey all work and all have their strengths and weaknesses. The Rule of 2 tells you when to come in, the choice of what call to make depends on the system you choose to play over the opponent’s strong NT opener.