North Penn Bridge News

Greetings to the

North Penn Bridge Community!

Week of 07/29/2024

Win A Free Game

Anyone who appears at the club wearing authentic Scottish

tartan apparel for any game to be directed by Roger Milton

will be awarded a free play on the first occasion.

There will be lunch and a game on Labor Day!!

Details to follow.

Handicap Swiss

The next handicap Swiss Team game will be held

this Thursday, August 1.

Form a team and come out to play.

August Four Is Enough

Please note: this game, which is usually scheduled for the second Wednesday of the month, will be held on

the first Wednesday in August, the 7th.

From the Club Manager

Dave Dodgson

Check Your Score . Incorrect scores are being entered far too often in the Bridgemates. If you are the checker for your pair, please be sure the score is entered in the right direction, i.e., N/S or E/W. Too many checkers note the accuracy of the score, but not the accuracy of the direction. North/South scores are shown on the left side of the screen, and East/West on the right.

Toronto NABC. Congratulations to the following members* who brought home master points:

Lisa Mita-----------21.08

John Dickenson----12.23 

Andy Kaufman------.9.68

Toysie Walker------.7.66

Jane Pelullo---------.5.81

Tom Salter----------4.90

Susan Morse-------..4.90

*The above list does not include the final weekend.

The Longest Day. We’ve reached the end of July and the last opportunity to donate to Longest Day. If you wish to donate, you have three options:

Online by clicking here: North Penn Longest Day 2024 Contributions
By check made out to the Alzheimer’s Association. Checks may be dropped off or mailed to the Club at 298 Wissahickon Ave, North Wales, PA 19454.
Cash donations and checks can be placed in the Purple Alzheimer’s Association Box at the Club.

Thanks again to all who have donated, helping us to exceed our goal.

August Events

Aug 5-9-----NAP Qualifying. Half red points.

Aug 7-------.Four is enough game

Aug 12-16---NAP Qualifying. Half red points.

Aug 16------.0-500 Swiss

Aug 17------.Robot individual

Aug 19------.ACBL-wide Junior Fund

Aug 26-30-..Club Championship games

Upcoming Tournaments:

Aug 14------.D4 Online

Aug 19------.ACBL-wide Junior Fund game

Aug 19-25---Regional Baltimore

Education

Shuffle & Deal Wednesday, July 31, 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.

You are in 3rd seat, all white, holding AJxx K A8xxx QJx. The auction proceeds as follows:

1C - 1H - 2D - 2H

3C - Pass - ?

It's your call.

Bill Bauer. I cue bid 3H asking my partner to do something intelligent (for the first time in his life.) Well, you say, not a fair assessment as you do not even know the identity of your partner. I respond: "Have you ever played with a partner who does not make mistakes?"

Elaine Clair. With the bidding as shown, I would also bid 3H asking partner for a heart stopper. However, I’m not crazy about responder’s first bid. I would prefer to make a negative double to show the spade suit as well as implying diamonds. After opener’s second bid (assuming it’s not spades) I would then use the western cue bid to show a good hand and ask for a heart stopper.

Dennis O’Brien. I would bid 3H asking partner to bid 3NT with a heart stopper.

Mitch Snyder. This hand could belong in 3NT or 5/6 clubs. I wish I had doubled then I might have more options now or later on. I'll bid 3H for now and if partner bids anything other than 3NT we're going slamming in clubs.

John Dickenson. I think Mitch brings up an important point - think about the endpoint during the auction. The object of an auction is to arrive at the right level and strain, not to "tell your partner something you find interesting about your hand." After 1C-1H, I have a better than opening hand so we belong in game - most likely games at this point are 3N or 4S. The bid of 2D on A8xxx does nothing to help us answer "where and how high?" That is why I favor the negative double so partner can support spades, our most likely strain for game - but I was forced to bid 2D by the problem. Now when hearts are raised and partner shows extra values and extra length in clubs, 5 or 6 clubs are possible contracts but I have to give 3N one more try at matchpoints. But I still fear we may have lost a 4-4 spade fit and there is no going back.

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

Special Edition

by Bucky Sydnor

(sydnoriv@yahoo.com)

Do You Read Your Bridge Bulletin?

While we are waiting for a fifth bridge columnist to join the other four —and it would be so good if we could get a female perspective to begin to balance out all the testosterone—let me fill in the 5^th-week “hiatus” with a bridge love of mine, The Bridge Bulletin.

I’ve been reading it since I joined the ACBL back in the early 1990s, when the Bulletin was on newsprint and was the size of a paperback mystery. Even then I had my favorite columns.

Probably my favorite column is “It’s Your Call” (IYC). The current moderator, Sue Munday, has made it fun. Admittedly, my first ten years of reading it as a non-Life Master, I didn’t follow much of what was said. Even then, however, I learned that if my partner opens 1♥ or 1♠ and I have 3-card support and an outside ace—and especially if I have a ruffing value—I’m making a single raise. All the panelists were in agreement about that. Sure, I can get into trouble if partner bids on, since my “support” may not be enough for partner to make his contract. But it has been a profitable bid for me more times than not over the years. I owe that to IYC.

Recently, Zach Grossack has joined the panel. We are lucky to have such a fine bridge bidding teacher. He takes the trouble to explain what he thinks is going on in the bidding and why he believes he should make the bid he does. (Jeff Meckstroth will give much briefer answers, like, “3NT, the value bid.” But he does have 100,000+ masterpoints, so one ignores what he bids at one’s own risk, especially if the problem is in IMPs.)

Four things are of particular interest to me as I read ITC’s five problems. First, the 14 panelists frequently agree with each other as to what is going on in the bidding. That unanimity is impressive.

The second is that, after such agreement, the diverse ways of responding to the auction as it stands teach me that there is not always one right answer to a bidding problem. I need to be very, very careful about what a bid means and be very, very gracious with my partner when he does not get what I meant. Problem #2 in the June issue is illustrative:

Notice 5 out of 14 panelists—the largest number for any bid in this problem—bid 4♦ because they think it is so important to get their partner off to a diamond lead against a presumed final contract by the opponents of 4♥. However, if you read the comments of the 4♦ bidders, you will see that they do not agree in their analysis of what is going on (contrary to what I said earlier). That is especially relevant to me when I find myself saying, “But partner, my bid must be the right bid.” Well, maybe it might, but it doesn’t have to be so.

Colchamiro, 4♦: “I just gotta get partner off to a diamond lead. I presume that partner doesn’t have much more than long clubs and I hope that if we have to, we can buy the contract at a reasonable level in the right suit. Because I passed the first time around, I should have some clubs, too. Partner can bid 4NT to find out, if he has the hand to bid with.”

“4♦ is my advance save/lead director,” says Sanborn.

Donn bids 4♦. “This shows a club fit on the side. This is my chance to get a diamond lead and I’m jumping at it.”

4♦ by Becker. “As a passed hand, I can’t want to introduce diamonds at the four level ... so this shows the ability to compete to 5c while directing the lead.”

Cohen, 4♦. “I am desperate for a diamond lead. Worst case, they double and I bid 5c – which maybe we should be getting to anyway.”

Three of the panelists—the second largest number for any bid—bid 4♣ because they feel that a 4♦ bid commits their side to bidding on to 5♣, and they are not willing to do that.

Korbel raises to 4♣. “Partner probably has seven clubs to come in here . We could even have a making 5♣ game: ♠x ♥xxxx ♦x ♣AKJxxxx, for example, if they don’t lead trumps in time.”

4♣ by Molson. “Partner probably has diamond shortness and I assume two+ spades and two+ hearts, so my initial feeling bidding is that 4♦ commits our side to 5♣ and tips my hand. I think I will bid 4♣, which also feels wrong, but ...”

“Partner got in there red versus white and I have this hand?” ponders Grossack. “4♣. Maybe I should bid five. Who knows what’s going on, but I’ll offer partner some support here.”

Simply re-reading Problem #2, slowly, and pondering what is said, will broaden your understanding of bidding. Click here for a link to the complete column of IYC for June 2024.

The third thing of special interest is that during the bidding the panelists are imagining how the play of the hand will go. That, to me was revelatory. It is fun to watch them do it for many of the problems.

The fourth thing of special interest, and something I find fascinating (and affirming), is how many times these experts express uncertainty. Of course, that is what IYC is all about: problem hands and how to bid them in a difficult auction.

Moving on, while I read almost all of the news articles in each Bulletin, my interests remain with the columns. Here are three additional favorites and an advertisement for two others.

Josh Donn has turned “The Bidding Box” from what I found pure drudgery to a delightful look at different bidding systems and different judgments using the same bidding system.
I always read “Reasoning with Robert”, as Robert Todd is so good at explaining bidding conventions clearly.
I love Jerry Helms’ “Ask Jerry” because he always offers a clear explanation of what he bids in a specific situation or why he plays a certain convention.
Eddie Kantar’s “Chalk Talk” will sharpen any Intermediate level player’s declarer play.
Larry Cohen’s “Defensive Basics,” as well as his previous series on opening bids, are excellent reviews to help anyone fill in gaps in their knowledge of those basics.

None of these recommendations is meant as criticism of columns I have not mentioned. I am simply giving you a taste of what has impacted my bridge game.

Finally, for much lighter reading, it is good to finish with “George’s World.” Whether George Jacobs is making noteworthy bridge observations or discussing his exploits and foibles, the column is pure fun.

I do hope you sample your Bridge Bulletin regularly, if for no other reason than to read the columns or articles that bring you joy. If you do that, you can even skip the rest.

Happy Reading.