As the busy holiday season begins, please remember to schedule many sessions of bridge on your planning calendar. We have a lot of exciting events coming up including our Sectional in October and Christmas Party in December. I look forward to seeing everyone take part in these fun-filled happenings.
Bill Young
Board President
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Shreveport Fall Sectional
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| October 21 - 23 at HIlton Garden Inn |
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I don't believe anything is as delightful as autumn in Shreveport; that blissful time of year when you can step outside and enjoy cool crisp air, relish in the crackle and scent of burning logs on an open fire, and reap the bounty of a fall harvest brimming with pumpkins, apples and cranberries just begging you to make a pie.
Autumn brings with it the year's most exciting happenings including the Shreveport Fall Sectional Bridge Tournament taking place Friday, October 21 through Sunday, October 23 at the Hilton Garden Inn.
The three-day tournament features events designed to attract new players as well as world champions. Tournament sessions include Stratified Single Session Open Pairs, 500 NLM Stratified Pairs and Swiss Teams. Games are scheduled for 9:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Sunday features a game for teams of four beginning at 10:00 a.m.
Players may play as often or as little as they wish and may come with or without a partner. Partnership Chairs Ardith Thompson and Jerry Bigner will match compatible players.
New players are encouraged to play in the tournament, especially those new to duplicate bridge. The public is also welcome to watch the tournament and learn more about the exciting game of bridge.
For additional information about the Fall Sectional Bridge Tournament contact Tournament Chair:
To arrange a bridge partner contact Partnership Chairs:
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Board Nominations Underway
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| Nominations due by October 15 |
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The 2016 election is everywhere: This year, there's been a press conference, town hall meeting or debate almost every day; it's hard to get through family gatherings without the candidates coming up in conversation; and you can probably tell me exactly who among your Facebook friends supports Donald Trump or is with Hillary Clinton.
Frankly I'm happy to see emotional fervor rather than political apathy. Everyone should be riled up and actively involved in the election process. Whether it's a national race that could change the direction of the country, or the local election of the Shreveport Bridge Association Board of Directors, elections allow you to decide the qualities you want in a leader and the changes that will affect your future.
Nominations are now underway for our Board of Directors. Take the time to decide what you are looking for from the board members. Consider the issues you care about and the changes that you feel are necessary for our club to grow and prosper in the coming year, then nominate the candidates that you feel will best represent your interests.
Choose leaders that can make a real difference.
Place your nominations in the "Board Nominee" envelopes hanging on the clubhouse bulletin boards, or e-mail your nominations to Pat Craig
jpatcraig1942@gmail.com
Deadline for nominations is October 15, 10:00 P.M.
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NABC Orlando: The Most Magical Bridge Tournament on Earth
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| November 24 to December 4, 2016 |
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Leave the everyday world behind and step into a world of wonder and enchantment at the 2016 Fall North American Bridge Championships, November 24 - December 4 in Orlando.
Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort provides a truly extraordinary backdrop for everything the NABC has to offer: free bridge lessons, games for all levels of bridge play, free speakers, tours, galas and much more!
The Dolphin's beautiful tropical landscaping, tranquil waterways and classic art and architecture work together to create a stunning landmark in the midst of one of the most spectacular places on earth.
Join the excitement and competition of bridge inside this magnificent Disney resort featuring 17 sumptuous restaurants, five sparkling crystal blue pools, tennis, basketball and volleyball, jogging trails, health clubs, a luxurious spa, a game room, shopping, an art gallery and countless attractions.
Bring the Kids and Grandkids
ACBL and Disney have put together a package for NABC attendees to enjoy discounted tickets pre- and post-tournament. Tickets may be purchased for the player participating in the NABC as well as their friends and family traveling with them.
These tickets offer pre-arrival savings of 10% on Full-Multi-Day (2 days or longer) Tickets to Disney World and include one (1) complimentary admission to an additional Disney Experience at any one (1) of the following: Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Water Park, Blizzard Beach Water Park, Summerland and Fantasia Gardens
Miniature Golf Courses and Disney's Oak Trail Golf Course.
NABC Child Care Services are provided during the afternoon and evening sessions for the first Friday through the second Sunday including the national and regional events on the second Sunday. Special arrangements may be made for Morning KOs and Fast Pair events. Dinner and after hour sessions are also available.
The NABC in Orlando is brimming with fun for entire family. After all, it is the "Most Magical Place on Earth."
For additional information click
HERE
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Play ACBL Tournament Bridge on Your Tablet
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The recent high-level cheating scandals have resulted in considerable discussion about the use of technology to make it harder to cheat at bridge and easier to detect those who do cheat.
While most leading players believed that a fully electronic solution with players sitting in separate rooms would be best for security purposes, there was concern that something important might be lost in the form of table presence.
Bridge Base Online (BBO) aimed to leverage the security benefits of a fully electronic environment, while dispelling the belief that table presence would be lost. In fact, they set out to prove that the comfort, ease and enjoyment of "tablet bridge" far outnumbered any minor complaints.
The result: a device which does just that. A hybrid between playing bridge with traditional screens and playing bridge electronically. The Bridge Base Online hybrid consists of 2 basic components: a screen component and a tablet/software component.
Tampa Hi-Tech Regional
On Jun 6, 2016 , District 9 Tampa Regional joined forces with 5 clubs from along the eastern coast in an introduction into what the future holds for duplicate bridge. Instead of playing at a real table versus three opponents, partners played against two virtual opponents who could be anywhere in the country.
Using the popular Bridge Base Online platform, 56 participants at the regional and online from their clubs were able to earn regionally rated red points in the first collaborative Regional Club event. Clubs participating included Honors BC (NYC), Sagamore (Long Island), Asheville Bridge Room (NC), Villages Bridge Club (FL), St Pete BC (FL). Interestingly one partnership had a player in Tampa playing with her partner in NYC.
The consensus: Love at first bid!
Over the next few years local bridge clubs will be transformed into comfortable lounge-like spaces without tables, chairs, cards, boards, dealing machines, or the other physical assets we have grown used to in order to play bridge.
We'll go to our favorite "Club" to play local club games, as well as tournament games being held across the country, using our personal tablet or smart phone. The games will be monitored by a Director present in the room.
Imagine....
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"This was a truly amazing way to play bridge."
" I love to be able to play with my partner in NYC."
"Where are the down comforters? This was fun!"
"Nice to sit in one spot, get comfortable and not have to move. Easier to keep time limits. Exciting to be able to play with players in different locations."
"Was fun ... loved my opponents!"
"I love playing on-line but I'm very experienced. Some players were brand new or relatively new to online play. I am ready to play tournaments like this for sure. Trisha (the BBO Director) did a great job"
"I think this is a success. When more people hear about it they will participate. It is really a great idea."
"Can we have a monthly event?"
"Didn't think we would like it but it was very good"
"Fun and no traveling - what can be better!"
"What a great way to entice young people to play tournament bridge!"
"Members at the St Pete Bridge Club appreciated this opportunity to be at the forefront of the future of bridge."
"I think having several clubs offer online participation will increase tournament participation significantly and bring a whole new focus to bridge. Super job. Thanks!"
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So Long, Farewell,
Auf Wiedersehen Goodbye...
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Parting is such sweet sorrow..." It was true for Juliet in Shakespeare's Romeo and Julie, and it is true for me as sadly, this is my last issue as editor of The Trumpet newsletter. After two rewarding and productive years as your Editor, I am moving on to other exciting ventures. I have been given the opportunity to host bridge cruises and vacations around the world, beginning with a 15-day Transatlantic Cruise from Florida to London in 2017. The cruise features relaxing bridge days at sea, exciting ports of call and a whirlwind tour of London. I'm already packing!
I have also taken on the challenge of launching a Youth Bridge program in Shreveport/Bossier. Watch for details on Summer Bridge Camp at Sci-Port and Family Bridge Camp at DeGray Lake in 2017.
Looking back, I am very proud of how far this newsletter has progressed. Our online edition reaches 156 members and non-members, and has a readership rate of 86%. Each quarterly issue is posted on our Facebook page, resulting in additional readership, exposure and wide-spread recognition.
I hope our bridge club continues to embrace new technologies, as they are quickly becoming the norm in all aspects of duplicate bridge. From celebrity bridge lessons via Citrix, to playing bridge in ACBL tournaments across the United States using your iPad ...technology dominates the bridge scene.
So in closing, I wish to thank everyone for supporting the online edition of The Trumpet and our Facebook page. My hope is that you will keep both of them moving forward. As Socrates said, "The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new."
So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen Goodbye...
Marianne Archibald, Editor
The Trumpet
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Omar Sharif Bridge Circus
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Women Flocked to Watch Him Play
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The Omar Sharif Bridge Circus was a fascinating phenomenon born in the late 1960s. Sharif collected some of the world's best players, including members of the Blue Team, and traveled around the world playing bridge exhibition matches against local teams.
The handsome Sharif had a star-studded celebrity following and woman everywhere flocked to watch him play.
Wheeling through Europe, the Circus attracted thousands of spectators who watched the matches via BRIDGE-O-RAMA, a newfangled technology that displayed bidding and card play on television monitors.
With Sharif playing the Blue Team Club bidding system with his expert teammates, the Circus won multiple matches against local experts in multiple cities. After their European tour, the Circus barnstormed through Canada and the United States.
The Lancia sports car company put up four cars as prizes for any team who could beat them (they paid out once, to a bunch of upstart New Yorkers who included a couple of promising youngsters named Matt Granovetter and Alan Sontag). Then the format changed: the Sharif squad would play matches against the new world bridge powerhouse, the Dallas Aces (Hamman, Jacoby, Wolff, Goldman, Eisenberg and Lawrence).
This is a deal from one of their four exhibition matches in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1970.
DLR: West
VUL: All |
North
♠ 7654
♥
A83
♦ J32
♣ KQ5
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West
♠ KJ92
♥ QJT6
♦
854
♣ 86
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East
♠ 83
♥ 92
♦ 9
♣ AJT97432
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South
♠ AQT
♥ K754
♦
AKQT76
♣
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Bidding:
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West
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North
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East
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South
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| Pass |
Pass |
4
♣
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5
♣
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| Pass |
5
♠
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Pass |
6
♦
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| Pass |
Pass |
Pass |
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On the opening lead of the eight of clubs Giorgio Belladonna played the club king, covered by the ace and ruffed. Now Giorgio pondered the problem. The Closed Room was small but had been provided with a side table for water and coffee. Giorgio stood up, went over to that table and lit a cigarette. He walked back and forth with his head in his hand, puffing furiously.
He finally went back to the table and played the ace of diamonds and a diamond to the jack. He cashed the queen of clubs, discarding the ten of spades. He ruffed the last club high and began running trumps. During his walkabout, he had concluded that the spade king must be offside. When he found an eight-card club suit on his right, he was also convinced that the hearts were not breaking.
When Giorgio led his last diamond, Billy Eisenberg was in trouble. If he threw a heart, Giorgio would play ace, king and another heart to endplay Billy and force a spade lead into the A-Q while setting up the heart seven. If Billy discarded his spade nine, Giorgio would simply discard the heart three and then play the ace and queen of spades to set up the spade seven and six for the eleventh and twelfth tricks.
Jacoby-Wolff also arrived in six diamonds, but it was over very quickly. Jacoby ruffed the club lead and after playing the diamond ace and a diamond to the jack he led a spade to the ten and jack. Eventually he lost two hearts in the end position for two down.
To this day, Billy Eisenberg says that this was the greatest hand ever played against him. How clearly Giorgio saw this game of ours.
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Eisenhower's Love for the Game of Bridge is Legendary
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Dwight D. Eisenhower learned to play bridge in 1913 at West Point and indulged his passion as he moved up the military ranks. He was dubbed the "bridge wizard of Manila" while he was stationed in the Philippines, where he played regularly with President Manuel Quezon.
During WWII, an unwritten qualification for service on Eisenhower's staff was an officer's ability to play a decent game of bridge. His favorite partner was General Alfred Gruenther, regarded as the best bridge player in the U.S. Army, and they both took the game seriously. After one particularly disastrous result, they discussed the play of the hand in an exchange of letters that went on for two year
His love for the game of bridge is legendary. In November 1942, the invasion of North Africa was all in readiness but some 800 Allied ships were fogbound off the African coast. "What'll we do now?" the other ranking officers asked. "Let's have a game of bridge," Eisenhower replied. So they did. Eisenhower, Gruenther, General Mark Clark and Commander Harry Butcher, Ike's Naval Aide, played bridge until the fog lifted and the invasion could begin.
During his years as President, Eisenhower held regular Saturday-night games at the White House. The games were serious competitions, as Ike considered it a "sacrilege" to play bridge with anything less than total concentration. He was calm and thoughtful during the auction, but could become quite animated during the play of the hand. An old bridge friend described Ike's gusto when taking the setting trick: "The card rises vertically in the President's hand, then describes a 90-degree arc. It hits the table with a thump, upsetting ash trays and opponents."
Mamie Eisenhower loved the game, too. She and Ike rarely played together because he yelled at her when she made mistakes, but bridge was always the featured entertainment at her parties. When someone suggested that she invite Vice-President Nixon and his wife Pat to one of the weekend parties at the Eisenhower's' Gettysburg farm, Mamie rejected the idea. "What on earth would we talk about?" said Mamie. "She doesn't play bridge!"
Eisenhower showed his knowledge of bridge odds as declarer on this deal, which was the first bridge hand ever published in
Time magazine. The hand was played in 1953 in a White House game. Eisenhower's partner was bridge expert Oswald Jacoby and their opponents were U.S. Chief Justice Fred Vinson and Air Force Secretary Harold Talbott.
DLR: North
VUL: All |
North
♠ K98
♥
AKJ53
♦ QJT
♣ 83
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West
♠ 52
♦
9873
♣ K7542
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East
♠ 64
♥ QT94
♦ A62
♣JT96
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South
♠ AQJT73
♦
K54
♣ AQ
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Bidding:
| North |
East |
South |
West |
| Jacoby |
Vinson |
Eisenhower |
Talbott |
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1
♥
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Pass |
2♠ |
Pass |
| 3♠ |
Pass |
4NT |
Pass |
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5
♦
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Pass |
6♠ |
All Pass |
The auction was straightforward, with Ike choosing a strong jump-shift response, then using Blackwood. The opening lead was the
♦3 to East's
♦A. Eisenhower saw that he could avoid the club finesse if he could set up an extra heart trick, but that there could be problems with dummy entries if the trumps broke poorly. He thoughtfully unblocked his
♦K under East's
♦A.
East shifted to the
♣J, but Ike knew that setting up three heart tricks was a better bet than the club finesse, so he won his
♣A. After drawing trumps, he used dummy's diamond honors as entries to trump two hearts in his hand and then discard his
♣Q on the established
♥J.
Ike loved the game of bridge almost as much as he loved our country. He continued to actively play bridge until his death in 1969.
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