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In This Issue
Spring Events
Sectional Report
Annual Brunch
2012 Races
Rationalists
Table Tips
Club News
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Spring Events are Coming Soon
It might not feel like spring, but we have arrived at the first issue of the 2013 spring newsletters. The two Unit 141 winter sectionals are behind us; both were great successes, with record turnouts. Thank you for supporting our new location at Bala Golf Club!
Spring means Spring Nationals--this year in St. Louis--and a Unit 141 spring sectional in April. We are pleased to continue hosting our sectionals at Bala and look forward to seeing you all there again on April 12-14.
The District 4 Regonal in Wilkes-Barre starts this week. It is not too late to make plans to attend.
Two other April events are just around the corner. Unit 141 continues is excellent tradition of I/N sectionals on April 22. The Doylestown sectional focuses on players with 0-199 masterpoints. These tournaments have always received rave reviews, so please be sure to learn about this special opportunity if you qualify for the event. Click on the link in Upcoming Events in this newsletter for information.
The Unit 141 Annual Meeting and Brunch arrives on April 28. Please read the article below for detailed information about all of the events that make up this special day. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.
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Second Bala Sectional Is Another Huge Success
 Despite a rainy Friday and the threat of a giant snowstorm on Saturday, a wonderful crowd turned out for the Unit 141 February Sectional at Bala. There were 266.5 tables, nearly as many as the 270 in January, including a record 53 tables for the Swiss Teams on Sunday.
The games included open and NLM pairs on Friday and Saturday, plus a Knockout match on Saturday. Congratulations to the Cohen team for their win in the KOs. Sunday was a bracketed Swiss Teams--with pre-duplicated boards and hand records for all but one bracket. As always, breakfast, lunch, and snacks were served all day. Parking, including free valet parking, was free, abundant, and easy. Full results are available through the Unit 141 website.
Congratulations to everyone who earned masterpoints or a sectional win! Many thanks to all of you who supported the the tournament and to all of our directors and many volunteers who helped the event run smoothly.
 | | Tom Foerster shows off the entry and coat room. |
 | | On the Saturday NLM Pairs, Prem Premakumar and Rajiv Prasad placed first in Flights A, B, and C! |
 | | Congratulations to Faith Meyers and Maureen Chaby--first place in the Flight C NLM on Saturday morning. |
 | | Christine Matus recently became a Bronze Life Master and her partner Pieter Vanbennekom recently turned Life Master. |
 | | Barry Gorski and Al Bingaman, second overall in the Saturday morning open game and first overall in the Saturday afternoon open game, enjoy the hospitality. |
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2013 Annual Meeting & Brunch
Each year, the Unit 141 Board hosts an annual meeting in order to give an update on the state of the Unit, answer questions, hear suggestions from the members, present the new Life Masters, and give other awards. In addition, the event includes hospitality and the Sonny Jaspan Memorial game. All members in the Unit and their guests are welcome and encouraged to attend. This year, the event will be a brunch held at Bala Golf Club on April 28.
Brunch will be at 11 AM, followed immediately by the Annual Meeting, and then the Sonny Jaspan Memorial game. Brunch will include eggs, bacon, sausage, bagels, Danish, French toast, fruit, juice, coffee, and tea. There will also be a cash bar. Parking is abundant and free, including a free valet service.
The cost, subsidized by the Unit, is $30 for members ($35 for non-members), and includes the brunch and game fees. Advanced reservations and pre-payment are required and must be received by April 15, 2013. Please reserve early--space may be limited.
To register, please contact Joann Glasson at joannglasson@msn.com or call at 609-737-1805. There are three easy payment methods:
* If you register by email, we will send you back an invoice by email. You can then pay electronically with a credit card or PayPal. Credit cards accepted are Visa, Mastercard, Amex, and Discover. We use PayPal for secure online transactions but you do not need a PayPal account to use the service. Just follow the simple instructions you receive by email.
* Mail a check, made out to PCBA, to Joann Glasson, 130 King George Rd., Pennington, NJ 08534. Please include your name and the name of any guests for whom you are paying.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Joann Glasson ( joann.glasson@msn.com) or Mike Giesler ( mgiesler@comcast.net). You may also register or ask questions by writing to the PCBA email address: |
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Unit 141 Mini-McKenney and Ace of Clubs Winners
 Each year, ACBL members compete in the Mini-McKenney and Ace of Clubs races. Top finishers in the Mini-McKenney have earned the most masterpoints in their masterpoint bracket for the year. The Ace of Clubs award acknowledges the players who have earned the most points during the year at clubs. Congratulations the top masterpoint-earners in Unit 141. Players who have earned a top-3 finish nationally will be recognized in a future issue of the Bridge Bulletin.
Mini-McKenney
0 to 5 Mini-McKenney Masterpoint Race Bruce Lang Charles S Goldman Kathy R Fisher 5 to 20 Mini-McKenney Masterpoint Race John J Pino Kathleen Catrambone Sandy Tilney 20 to 50 Mini-McKenney Masterpoint Race Myrna M Shervin Joyce M James James F Marino 50 to 100 Mini-McKenney Masterpoint Race Richard Rosenfeld Frederick Holdsworth Judy Earl 100 to 200 Mini-McKenney Masterpoint Race Nancy L Chorpita Hank Stern Susan Bailey 200 to 300 Mini-McKenney Masterpoint Race Hollis T Rosenthal Gerrie Stern Art Goldfarb 300 to 500 Mini-McKenney Masterpoint Race Christina van Leeuwen Barbara Gordon Ralph R Collins 500 to 1000 Mini-McKenney Masterpoint Race Alan B Gross Carl D Perchonock Karen Hoffner 1000 to 2500 Mini-McKenney Masterpoint Race Elaine E Clair David L Legrow John B Dickenson 2500 to 5000 Mini-McKenney Masterpoint Race Corey Krantz Barbara B Kepple Neal R Satten 5000 to 7500 Mini-McKenney Masterpoint Race Carl Berenbaum Meyer Kotkin Arnold G Selig 7500 to 10,000 Mini-McKenney Masterpoint Race David Hoffner Craig Robinson Jane Segal Over 10,000 Mini-McKenney Masterpoint Race Ken Cohen Eric A Greco Arnold H Fisher Ace of Clubs 0 to 5 Ace of Clubs Masterpoint Race Bruce Lang Charles S Goldman Burton Mass 5 to 20 Ace of Clubs Masterpoint Race John J Pino Sandy Tilney Kathleen Catrambone 20 to 50 Ace of Clubs Masterpoint Race Myrna M Shervin Sara B Rose C D Lubeck 50 to 100 Ace of Clubs Masterpoint Race Richard Rosenfeld Mita B Roy Frederick Holdsworth 100 to 200 Ace of Clubs Masterpoint Race Kathy M Kutschera Nancy L Chorpita Joseph Bellwoar 200 to 300 Ace of Clubs Masterpoint Race Art Goldfarb Hollis T Rosenthal Theron Abrams 300 to 500 Ace of Clubs Masterpoint Race Barbara Gordon Christina van Leeuwen Ralph R Collins 500 to 1000 Ace of Clubs Masterpoint Race John Villari Ernest S Gore Sandra T Salasin 1000 to 2500 Ace of Clubs Masterpoint Race Elaine E Clair Susan Kestenbaum Frank Lipniski 2500 to 5000 Ace of Clubs Masterpoint Race Margaret A Coe Jeremiah Williams Rose-Marie Loughnane 5000 to 7500 Ace of Clubs Masterpoint Race Arnold G Selig Jack R Mendelsohn Claire Kern 7500 to 10,000 Ace of Clubs Masterpoint Race Rhoda Kauffman Jane Segal Bobbie Gomer Over 10,000 Ace of Clubs Masterpoint Race Ken Cohen Charles Gray Arnold H Fisher |
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Aggressive Rationalists
 Edward McPherson, author of the wonderful book The Backwash Squeeze and Other Improbable Feats, has written again about bridge on the blog Tin House. It includes, among other stories, the best description we've read of the game: lyrical, accurate, enthralling, and succinct. Click the link above to read the entire posting, but read on for the excerpt of the summary. Pass it on to friends who might want to pick up the game. Who wouldn't want to play a game that encourages you be an aggressive rationalist?
"Bridge is arguably the deepest, most beautiful game humans have come up with. It is a trick-taking game, like hearts or spades, played by a pair of partners. After the deck is dealt, you and your partner bid against your opponents on whether a particular suit will be trump and how many tricks you might take. There are only fifteen legal words you can use to form exactly 38 bids, which must be used to discuss the 635,013,559,600 possible hands a player might be dealt. All this before a single card is played.
Once the play of the hand begins, each player can see the location of half the cards in the deck. Even beginners are expected to be able to count all fifty-two cards, which means-armed with such a wealth of information-you forever feel you're on the verge of figuring out the game, but you never do. Bridge is an exercise in intuition, linguistics, math, and mystery. The name might conjure flocks of little old ladies, but the play is cutthroat, a stylized form of intellectual aggression. Bridge players are self-sufficient super-rationalists, lone wolves who might prefer to tackle the world with their wits alone, but they can't-by design, they must rely on a partner-and therein lies the brilliance of the game. It's about mindsmeeting (to crush other minds). The partnership is all. Thus, there is something innately human about bridge. While computers can humiliate us at chess, they're miserable at bridge, partly because there are still too many unknowns (they are blinded by the field of imperfect information) and partly because playing bridge requires, among other qualities, empathy. It is a game of the brain that lives in the blood."
-- from Edward McPherson's Tin House blog on bridge
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Table Tips: Play in Turn
 Consider two scenarios:
1. You're the dummy and looking at a singleton club on the board. Your partner, the declarer, puts a club on the table and before her LHO follows to the trick you pull dummy's club.
2. Now change the scene a bit. You are defending and again have a singleton club. Declarer, on your left, puts a club on the table. You don't have anything to think about so you detach the club from your hand and hold it above the rest of your cards waiting impatiently for your partner and dummy to play.
Do you see anything wrong with either of these situations?
In the first case, you should remember that it's dummy's job to follow declarer's instructions. Declarer hasn't yet called for a card (and always should even if there's only one in the dummy). Although it might not seem like a big deal, it's a courtesy to the defenders to play the cards in turn. With so much to think about as defenders, it's easily possible to look up from your own cards and not see that "pre-pulled" club. It can also throw off the defenders thinking and tempo to have cards pulled out of turn.
The second scenario can actually hurt you and your partner. When you detach a card early, it tells declarer that you have nothing to think about and probably have a useless singleton. Declarer might now take a finesse, perhaps a really deep one, that he or she would not have considered otherwise. (Don't get any ideas--it would be unethical to detach a card early hoping to trick declarer into taking such a finesse.)
So, be patient. Play your cards in turn.
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Club News
 Last month, we reported on some I/N games in our Unit. Please be sure to check with your local club to make sure that there have been no schedule changes. Mitch Snyder reports that the schedule reported in last month's newsletter contains information not reflected in the current schedule for the North Penn Duplicate Bridge Club. Please check their website for the most up-to-date information: www.northpennbridge.com
Joelyn Shilliday writes that George Dougherty, a long time member of The South Jersey Bridge Club, lost his battle with lung cancer on January 20, 2013. George played daily and was a favorite partner of many, including Bob Lazar and Joelyn. Although he achieved the rank of Silver Life Master, he was kind to newcomers and would often play with them. At the end, he donated all his bridge library to the club. There will be a George Dougherty Memorial Game on Thursday, March 7, 2013. All are welcome to the potluck, about 11:30 AM, and the game at 12 PM.
Last month, we wrote about changes at BCDC. Tom O'Brien writes this month with more information: Tom O'Brien, of Drexel Hill, PA has taken over as owner/manager of the Bridge Center of Delaware County, succeeding Paula Oldfather of Bryn Mawr, PA. The Center offers daily weekday open games starting at noon and a Wednesday evening novice/intermediate (< 100 MPs) game, beginning at 7 PM. Boards are preduplicated and hand records are available. Group beginner lessons are also offered. For further details, visit the club's website at
Local clubs are encouraged to send announcements, schedules, updates, and special games for placement in upcoming newsletters.
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