Newsletter - Central Carolina Bridge Association

Central Carolina Bridge Association
Around The Bridge Table
Winter 2014
MENTOR PROGRAM BEGINS
IN FIRST QUARTER
The Central Carolina Bridge Association once again
is sponsoring the Mentoring program, in which
more experienced Life Masters are paired with less
experienced players to provide individual guidance.
Generally, pairs play two to three times, although
there is no set rule. Players cannot have the same
mentor for two years and should not be mentored
by someone with whom they already play.
The program ends with the Mentor game in
Winston-Salem on Saturday, April 5, 2014.
Debbie Monroe, Bill Peabody and Avery Lloyd are
managing the program. If you wish to have a mentor or be a mentor, please contact one of them or
ask the person directly to be your mentor.
Longest Day games scheduled
Our unit will mark The Longest Day with a day of games,
part of the ACBL’s commitment to helping the Alzheimer’s
Association and honor the strength and courage displayed
by people with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers.
The June 21 event asks participants to complete approximately 16 hours of a consecutive activity, such as playing
bridge. Our unit’s games will be held in High Point, directed by Jim Corey.
The first game will begin at 9 a.m. and run to about 12:30
p.m. A sandwich lunch with drink will be available for purchase. The second game will begin at 2 p.m. and run to
about 5:45 p.m. Participants can have dinner at the club
starting at 6 p.m. The final game will begin at 7 p.m. and
should finish by 10:30 p.m. or so.
All games will be played in the Guilford Room at High
Point Country Club. The room will accommodate 12 tables, first come, first served. If we have more than 12 tables of players, Corey said he will try to fit everyone in, but
the room is size- limited.
ACBL Changes Alert Procedures
The ACBL has made two changes in the official Alert
Chart.
A weak jump shift by advancer is not alertable.
“Advancer” is defined as the partner of an over
caller.
All 2♦ responses to a strong 2♣ opening are nonalertable.
The changes this year are generally because the alert is
often more helpful to the side doing the alert providing
unauthorized information than to the opponents, who
generally are staying out of the auction.
It is unlikely that a 2D response to a 2C opening is a natural response and the meaning of the bid – bust, game
force, waiting, showing no aces, whatever – is also unlikely to influence the bidding of the next player.
If new partnerships or newer players misread their partner’s bid, it is not the purpose of the Alert to clarify the
meaning.
A jump shift by advancer is fairly rare. An example would
be 1D-1S-x-3C.
As Andre Asbury explains in the current District bulletin:
“I’m not actually sure what standard is here, but I know
many expert partnerships play this as fit-showing: a fivecard suit with support for partner’s suit and at least values willing to compete to the three level. Many play it
natural and forcing with 2C being natural and non-forcing
and many play that 2C is forcing and 3C non-forcing, the
case relevant in the non-alert. This makes alerting consistent with jump shifts by responder in competition. If
the jump shift is natural, whether weak or strong, it is not
alertable. If it shows another suit, possibly in addition to
the one bid, it is alertable.”
WORDS OF WISDOM
By Bill Wisdom
One of the most unbelievable hands I’ve seen in over 40
years of duplicate bridge came up in a recent regional. This
was a fairly close KO match.
My RHO opened 1C (precision).
My hand was:
Ax
x
AQxxx
K109xx
I bid 1NT, showing the minors. LHO bid 2H and my partner
chipped in 3D. RHO now cuebid 4D and I bid 5D. My LHO
doubled, partner passed and RHO bid 6H. The auction continued Pass by me, Pass by LHO and my partner contributed
7D. RHO now bid 7H, having heard his partner double diamonds at the five level. Having passed over 6H, I felt justified doubling 7H. I assume most people would.
SHOUT OUT YOUR NAME....
Well, don’t shout it out at the
table, but wear it proudly.
Claudia Hale will order unit name
tags the first week of every quarter: February,
May, August and November. Name tags are black
with 3 lines of white lettering and are magnetic.
The cost is $5 each, including shipping, and delivery is approximately 3 weeks.
Persons wishing to order can do so by signing up at
their local games or by contacting Claudia at
[email protected]. Checks should be made out
to Central Carolina Bridge Association. Money may
be submitted to either Claudia or Bob Hale or
mailed to Claudia at 3504 Willow Grove Court,
Greensboro NC 27410.
My partner led ??? – the Ace of Clubs!!
This was the dummy:
KQJxxxxx
AKxxx
void
void
Donʼs Corner
by Don Gardner
You are playing in a club game and have bid to
a good six diamond slam with these
cards:
His partner’s hand was:
void
QJxxx
Kxx
QJxxx
7H doubled, making 7 missing 3 aces. The score was -2470.
Unbelievably, our team mates could have pushed the
board. That contract was 6H doubled. Had they redoubled
and made 7, that score is also 2470.
What a way to push a board.
Partner
 AQ1097
 AJ5
K109
A5
You
 82
K2
 AQ8653
 KJ6
Your partner has opened one spade, you responded two diamonds and eventually arrived
at six diamonds with no opposition bidding.
You receive an opening lead of the three of
spades. What is your plan? (Hopefully, you will
play better than the original declarer who went
down one!)
The solution will be found elsewhere in the
Newsletter.
CHEERS FOR ACHIEVMENT
It’s been a busy quarter for our club members as many of them have achieved new ranks in the master races.
Please take a moment to celebrate their successes when you meet them at the table.
Junior Master (5 points): Lorraine Allen, Anna Kathryn Reece, Eric Peffer, John Bridgforth, Phyllis Seiler
Club Master (20 points): Jean Carter, Linda Lincoln, Bill Shropshire, Eve Bacon, Dewitt Kierstead, Jan Ritz,
Sectional Master (50 points): Wayne Sykes, Jud Bricker, Elizabeth Pierce, James Brackett
Regional Master (100 points): Betty Jane Desrosiers, Jace Ralls, Susan Wesley, Cecelia Ray, Jack Miller
NABC Master (200 points): Martin Benjamin, Edward Swenson, Anne Dick, Bene Hendrix Ralls, John Bredenberg
Life Master (300 points): Elizabeth Crockett, Nancy Fitzgerald, John Alford
Bronze Life Master (500 points): Emily Lambeth, Rebecca Santago, Thomas Webb
Gold Life Master (2500 points): Peter J Boyd-Bowman
Don’s Solution:
The slam virtually plays itself if you are careful about two things: 1) the
opening lead, and 2) the play of the trump suit.
The opening lead looks suspiciously like a singleton and you cannot
afford to finesse for the king (It was and guess what the original declarer did). It may not matter where the king is.....if it is on your left, it will
still be there later. So play the ace at trick one.
The first play of the trump suit is critical. If trumps are no worse than 3
-1, it will not matter how you draw trumps. However, if they are 4-0,
you can pick them up in either hand only if you play a high honor from
your hand first. In our layout if you play the K of diamonds first, you go
down.
After the A of diamonds finds the bad split, finesse the 10 of diamonds,
play the K of diamonds, come to your hand with the K of hearts and
draw the last trump.
The wonderful spade spots offer you a great chance of finding a home
for your third club. Play the 8 of spades and if LHO plays low, play the
queen. He would probably play the king if he had it (he did lead the 3
of spades perhaps indicating an honor). When LHO shows out, let the 8
of spades ride. Now you have enough entries in dummy to ruff out the
last spade honor for the club discard. QED!!
HERE IS THE FULL LAYOUT
Dummy
 AQ1097
 AJ5
West
 K109
 A5
East
 3
 KJ654
10873
Q964
J742
Declarer
D—-
Q983
82
10742
K2
AQ8653
KJ6
Play Nice
Say hello to everyone.
Respect the directors.
You might make someone’s day.
They are here for you.


Introduce yourself to
people you don’t know.
Help those with less experience.
They may be your next good friends.


Look forward to the next deal.
Be punctual.
Dwelling on the last hand wastes time.
If you’re late, you make others late, too.


Value your partner.
Acknowledge good
play by the opponents.
He’s the only one in the room on your side
An appreciative nod lets them know
their skill has not gone unnoticed.
Keep your priorities straight.


Diamonds are great, but hearts
are much more valuable.
Smile often.

You will brighten the room considerably.
Grace is good.

Nobody likes a boastful winner.
Be understanding.

Everybody makes mistakes.

Be kind.
You will never like everybody,
but you can be cordial to all.

Nobody likes to lose.
Practice grace under fire.
BRIDGE APHORISMS




We all were beginners at some point.
Save your analysis and
lessons for the postmortem.
It would be a shame to have
nothing to talk about after the game.

Enjoy!
You can’t win all the time,
but you can always have fun.
Collected by Rosalie Blowe
The ninth trump is the most underrated concept in bridge.
Not only are voids rare, they are precious.
Before overcalling at the two level, ask yourself. “Would I have opened this hand?”
When you’re missing the AK of a suit, and one of these cards isn’t led against your suit contract, LHO does not
have both of them.
 Lead partner’s suit. If you don’t, it hurts the partnership. If you do and it’s wrong, it’s not your fault.
 5332 is a balanced hand and should always be opened 1NT with 15-17 points.
 When you find a major suit fit, stop looking.
 The more points your partnership has, the slower you should bid.
 Open all 12 HCP hands.
If you need an explanation about these aphorisms, ask fellow bridge players or email: [email protected]

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