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In This Issue
February
Jordan/Gough
Masters' Points
Bridge Online
Table Tips
Club News
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Hearts and Spades
 February is a busy time for bridge players in the Unit 141 area, with two sectionals, a regional, and a STaC available this month. Make plans now for the Glenside Sectional and Valley Forge Regional. Note, too, that our neighbor Unit 190 hosts both a STaC and a sectional in Wilmington this month. See the Upcoming Events section in this newsletter for dates, links, and more information.
It's not to early to mark your calendar for the 2012 Philadelphia Summer Nationals, July 12-22. The months will fly by and this exciting event will arrive before you know it. If you have never participated in a Nationals, it's the perfect opportunity to start--you get all the thrills without the travel hassle.
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2011 Jordan and Gough Results
 Each year, Unit 141 offers awards to the players in the unit who earn the most masterpoints in its six sectionals. The award is presented in two categories.
The Jordan Trophy is presented to the player who earns the most masterpoints in sectionals while a resident in the unit. The Gough Trophy is presented to the non-life master who earns the most masterpoints at sectionals, but started the year with fewer than 500 masterpoints.
Congratulations to the 2011 winners:
Jordan Trophy
1 Ken Cohen
2 Meyer Kotkin
3 Martin Rabinowitz
Gough Trophy
1 Nancy Chorpita
2 Kim Guinan
3 Marianne Bruni
For a complete list of results or additional information about the competition and its awards, click this link to the Jordan and Gough page of the Unit 141 website. |
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Masters' Points
Our conversations with the Unit's top players
The Unit 141 Newsletter continues its regular feature interviewing the very best players in our unit. This month, we have the great pleasure of talking to Arnie Fisher. Arnie has achieved the highest rank a player can attain--Grand Life Master--and has won 7 National titles, 5 seconds, and earned over 18,000 masterpoints. He is a professional player and teacher who lives in Clementon, NJ.
 | | Arnie Fisher (left) with Zeke Jabbour, Mike Levine, Allan Siebert, Randy Pettit & P.O. Sundelin |
141: How did you start playing bridge?
AF: I grew up as a card player, but never played bridge. My dad played it, but I wasn't interested because it seemed like too quiet of a game. Then when I was in Vienna as a graduate student, I saw people playing it in the coffeehouses and I started there. These really nice coffeehouses were filled with students from all over, so my first bridge group was me, a Pole, and Frenchman, and an Italian.
141: What is your favorite bridge book, or the one that influenced you the most?
AF: There are two--Bridge with the Blue Team and Terence Reese's Play Bridge with Reese. I was a big fan of the Blue Team and I learned a lot by reading about the hands in that book. I later met and became a friend and partner to Benito Garozzo so that was great. I thought that reading how Terence Reese thought through the play of a hand was also highly informative.
141: You have had a lot of important wins. Which one was most memorable?
AF: They are all memorable in their own way. It's a good question. [thinks] Of the Nationals, I would say the North American Swiss in San Francisco in 1996 because we had such a makeshift team. Because of the way the rules and schedule were then, we lost most of our team on the morning the event, including Zeke Jabbour as my partner, and had to put together a team at the last minute. But we led all the way and I remember that celebration well.
141: Based on your experience, how much of success at bridge would you say is based on skill, experience, luck, or table feel? AF: Skill, experience, and table feel are all important, but I would add concentration to your list. Luck isn't really part of it because experience gives you an attitude for winning that gives you the best of the luck. The best players seem to get the most luck. Haven't you noticed that? Actually, now that I think about it the most important thing is a great partner.
141: Who has been your favorite tournament partner?
AF: Fred Hamilton, P.O. Sundelin, and Zeke Jabbour. I have had a lot of wins with Fred and P.O. Zeke and I have been good friends and partners for years.
141: Let's talk a bit about bidding. What's your favorite convention? AF: I actually like Flannery, though I know it's not popular with everybody today. But I would say that my favorite convention is BART. It's very helpful for part-score bidding. 141: What is your least favorite convention? What won't you play? AF: I'm not a big fan of Puppet Stayman, but I really don't like McCabe. I dislike conventions that you play in anticipation of a hand that almost never comes up or assumes that the opponents will just sit there and let you bid without inserting themselves into the auction. McCabe presupposes that both opponents have died at the table. They are just not going to sit quietly and let you bid that way. 141: What one piece of advice would you give to an advancing player? AF: Learn how to play well with your partner and trust him or her. Develop that relationship. Often, people don't stick with partners long enough. Flitting around, getting scattered and contradictory opinions from a variety of partners isn't as valuable in the long run as developing a few good partnerships. The truth is that you always have to learn to live with your own mistakes as well your partner's, so you shouldn't give up just because your partner makes a few errors or decisions you don't like. 141: How would try to improve the game for the future? AF: It's not that I would try to improve it as much as save it. We need more really serious clubs, that also promote night games. I understand that aging population and economics make it tough, but we need for working people to be able to play. We also need younger people to get interested in the game. And not just online. You see these changes in Europe, where younger people are picking up the game and clubs are taking the game more seriously.
141: So let's shift gears. Besides bridge, what else do you enjoy? AF: I came to bridge fairly late in life so I developed a lot of other interests before I started playing. I spend a lot of time away from the game and go for periods when I don't touch a card. My interests include a passion for music, travel, and sports. I used the play the piano, poorly, and still spend a lot of time in Italy. 141: What are your thoughts about the Nationals coming to Philly in July? AF: I love that I won't have to travel and can commute to the events! I think that Philly is one of the better spots for Nationals. It's a great venue with great restaurants. The last two that were here were terrific and we received great reviews from the out-of-towners, particularly the Europeans. Our district volunteers work hard and do a great job, so I'm looking forward to it. 141: Thanks so much for your time. We really enjoyed talking to you. AF: You're welcome.
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Wealth of Bridge Information Available Online
Many excellent resources exist on the Internet to help improve your bridge game. Most of the top teaching pros, like Eddie Kantar and Mike Lawrence, have their own sites. There are also general sites that offer bridge tips, discussion, and instruction. Here are a few of the better ones. Find out if you like them by just giving them a try; you'll probably be bookmarking a few of them before you know it.
Bridge Winners (bridgewinners.com) - Bridge Winners is a  new site started by four of the younger top players. It offers great articles with discussion posts by some of the best players around the world. The site also has a nice convention card service where you can create and maintain various convention cards and email them to your partners. The lesson videos by Gavin Wolpert are outstanding.
Bridge Clues (www.bridgeclues.com) - Bridge Clues is a  second site by the inimitable Mike Lawrence. Every day, Mike posts three bidding and three playing hands. The hands are rated on three different levels: new players, level 1, and level 2. You get a chance to bid or state your line of play and then Mike gives you his answers, which are very instructional and full of insight into the thinking process involved.
Vu-Bridge (www.vubridge.com) - Remember Autobridge?  Many of us learned to play bridge using this mechanical device that allowed us to bid and play hands, but forced us to eventually make the correct play. It came with a booklet by Alfred Sheinwold with excellent explanations. Vu-Bridge is the same idea, but now you bid and play on a website. The online system gives feedback and offers plenty of advice. Many types of hands are available, including instructional hands, hands played by top players in major tournaments, and hands from major tournaments that have been presented on the BBO Vugraph.
Bridge Base Online (www.bridgebase.com) - Last but not  least is BBO, Bridge Base Online. Created by Fred Gitelman ten years ago, it has become the premier online playing site. You can play matchpoints, Imps, rubber bridge - pairs or team games. Play with your friends or find new partners. There is a Main playing room and a Relaxed playing room for more casual games. BBO offers many tournaments, including ACBL sanctioned games that award full-valued masterpoints equivalent to club black points. Any hands you play on BBO, including tournaments, are saved so you can review your and others' play. Many top players (often designated with a "star") play on BBO so you can almost always kibitz a great match. The Jimmy Cayne team matches have become renowned. One of the interesting features is that you can play with or against robots. While the robots sometimes make a quirky bid, in general they are better than the average player and provide great practice. BBO is also the service that brings us the terrific matches presented on the BBO Vugraph.
There are many more sites with great information. If you have a bridge related question, just type the question into Google and you are bound to get several links to useful answers.
Next month, we will talk about bridge discussion forums on the Internet. There are several sites where you can post specific questions and get knowledgeable players from around the world to respond. You may not like all the answers, but you are bound to get some lively discussion.
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Table Tips: Efficient Use of the Clock
 Do you get frustrated when an opponent thinks a while at the table because you worry it will make you late for the next round? The great Eric Rodwell believes it's not thinking time that slows down the game. Rather, we all need to be more efficient during other aspects of the game. He wrote, "I think we need to develop a culture of 'not wasting the table's time' that will solve much of this slow play problem."
Here are things you can do and should do:
1. Think when it's your turn to bid or play. Manage tasks like writing down scores or reorganizing your bidding box when you are dummy or it's not your turn.
2. Think while others are thinking. While declarer is deciding whether to finesse for the queen, for example, you should be thinking about what you will play to the following trick should he or she take a losing finesse.
3. Avoid table talk about previous boards. It's distracting to your partner and everyone else at the table, which slows down the start of the next board.
4. Flip the boards as soon as possible after the last hand. Experts do not obsess over the fact that North/South has this responsibility, so everyone can pitch in to help.
5. Pass boards efficiently to the next table so the other table can start play quickly.
6. East/West pairs should vacate their table as soon as they finish, even before the round is called, so a new pair can begin play right away.
7. Go to bathroom when you are dummy.
[Our thanks to bridgewinners.com for these helpful tips.]
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Club News
 The Old York Road Bridge Club will run a few special games in February. The February 6 game will be a charity Swiss to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. On February 23, the game will be an ACBL Membership game which offers extra masterpoints at no extra charge. Please note that the club will be closed on February 20 for Presidents' Day.
The Philadelphia Bridge Club has had to cancel the February 2 game, but will run its regular Thursday night game every other week in February. For more information, see the Philadelphia Bridge Club website.
Local clubs are encouraged to send announcements, schedules, updates, and special games for placement in upcoming newsletters.
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