North Penn Bridge Bulletin

Greetings to the

North Penn Bridge Community!

Week of 01/16/2023

From the Club Manager

Dave Dodgson



January 21 Special Event Saturday. 1-4 p.m. Bring a friend and join us for Euro style board games at the club. Please contact Beth Milton at beth.milton@comcast.net with questions or suggestions.


New 0-299 Game. Starting in February, we are going to add a separate section on Thursdays limited to players with 0-299 master points. This is your chance to play duplicate without competing against the experts. We will run two sections, one open and one limited at noon. Come early and attend the Free Mini Lesson before the game at 11 a.m.

 

Grand National Teams. Now is the time to put together your team for the GNT’s next July in Chicago. You have to register by January 30 if you want to play in flight B (0-2500). The match is online, so you can play from anywhere. Click on this link for the flyer.

 

Online Bridge. For those of you with questions about playing online, there is information on our website. Click on the “Online Bridge” link in the upper left menu.

Education



Joann Glasson’s Bridge Lessons. Last class for the month will be Monday January 30. Click on this link for the details.


Advanced Beginner Lessons start January 17th. Time: 7-9 p.m. Drop-ins welcome. $20 person. Schedule as follows:


  • 01/17--The Takeout Double
  • 01/24-.Transfers and Stayman
  • 01/31--.Practicing Transfers and Stayman
  • 02/07-.Recognizing bids (i.e., noticing the takeout double or Stayman or preemptive bids, etc. when they come up randomly and not in a lesson)


Shuffle & Deal continues Tuesday evenings and Wednesday mornings.

In Memoriam




Diana Currie passed away suddenly at home

on January 10, 2023.


Her obituary can be viewed here.


Our deepest condolences go to Ross

and the family.

Partnership



To add your name to the player list or to request a partner for a game, please send an email to northpennpartner@gmail.com.

Calendar


Click here to see a file you can enlarge.



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



“When declarer unwittingly attacks your strongest suit, you have several deceptive ploys at your disposal:


(1) Taking the trick with a higher card than necessary to make declarer think things are going well.


(2) Ducking the trick altogether encouraging declarer to lead the suit again in which case the roof will cave in.”






From Defensive Tips

by Edwin B. Kantar

Deal of the Week

by Rex Saffer




Her Hand Was Forced



Natural bids and rebids in notrump are among the most useful in any bridge auction. They are highly descriptive, constraining the strength of balanced opening or responding hands to well defined ranges. They also constrain the notrump bidder’s rebid options, transferring “captaincy” to partner, whose responsibility it is to guide the auction to an appropriate level and strain. For example, in common “I ask, you answer” transfer auctions such as 1NT – 2 – 2 – 2NT, responder asks opener to stop in a partscore with a minimum or bid game with a maximum, and to choose between hearts and notrump. One finds similar sequences in Stayman auctions.


In other common sequences like 1♣/1 – 1♠ – 1NT, opener is showing a balanced 12–14 HCP while denying 4–card support for responder’s major. Responder often would like to make a low–level forcing bid to obtain additional information. Responder raises in notrump are natural and nonforcing, as are raises of opener’s minor suit. Rebidding a previously bid suit (even a jump rebid) is also nonforcing. What about bidding a new suit? Most modern partnerships play the New Minor Forcing (NMF) convention with an invitational responding hand and a 5–card major, where responder rebids the unbid minor at the 2–level.


The literature is rife with expert guidance on this topic, so we will only briefly discuss opener’s rebid options in this week’s Deal, where NMF was used to find a 4–4 heart fit.


The Deal of the Week


Our Deal is constructed from a recent set of Common Game boards:  

The Auction


After North’s initial Pass, E/W conducted a routine auction through West’s 2 rebid, alerted as New Minor Forcing. Note that opener was unable to show the 4–card heart suit on the first rebid, as that would have been a reverse. Responder wants to know if opener has 3–card support in spades, but here, West also holds a 4–card heart suit. Opinions vary, but when there is a double major suit fit, some partnerships prefer to play in the 4–4 fit, expecting to discard side suit losers on long suit winners in the 5–3 fit. So after West’s 2, what should East show first, the 3–card spade support, or the 4–card heart suit?


This is very much a matter of Partnership Agreement. Some teaching authorities make showing 3–card support for responder’s 5–card major the top priority, or failing that, to show four cards in the unbid major. Others reverse this and advise that opener first show the unbid 4–card major, even if also holding 3–card support in responder’s major. Our E/W pair had the latter agreement, and East duly responded 2 to West’s NMF rebid. That was all that West needed to hear to jump to the heart game.


The Play


The outcome of the Deal depends on which major is trumps, and on South’s opening lead. With the K onside, there are 11 top tricks in either major suit game. In spades, declarer has no way to get rid of diamond losers, and N/S must always score two defensive tricks. But in hearts, if N/S do not take their two diamond tricks right away, they never will. After winning the opening lead and drawing three rounds of trumps, declarer can discard both diamond losers in the closed hand on dummy’s long spades and will score a twelfth trick with a club ruff in dummy.


Dear Reader, let us put ourselves in South’s seat. Would any of us have led the A or a low diamond at trick one? Teachers frequently advise their students not to lead aces or to underlead them when defending against suit contracts. Your author would never have been able to do it, and any other lead gives up the second overtrick.


Closing Thoughts


New Minor Forcing is one of those useful conventions that makes a relatively frequent appearance at the table. Just as for any convention we might consider adopting, partnerships should thoroughly discuss the meaning of subsequent opener and responder rebids after invoking NMF. In particular, it’s a good idea to come to agreement on what is opener’s first responsibility, to show 3–card support for responder’s 5–card major, or to show four cards in the unbid major.


All the best,

Rex

Laughter is the Best Medicine



More Patrick Jourdain: Again he is called over to a table and this time a lady tells him that she has opened 1H and there have been three passes back to her so this time she bid 2H. Again there were three passes back to her, but this time she wants to know if she is worth 3H?




Bridge humor from

Eddie Kantar





Watch this space for future big game scorers.

It could be you and your partner!

Play often to improve the odds!

January Birthdays



Blickman, Linda

Bresler, Gina

Clemens, Jon

Dougherty, Lauren

Drake, Lucille

Goldsman, Ronald

Harrington, Jeanne

Hurgunow, Susan

Leach, Edward

McGready, Mary

Mita, Lisa

Morse, Susan

O'Brien, Dennis

O'Connor, Priscilla

Roden, Carol

Sgro, Christine

Tyson, Nancy

Young, Winnie

North Penn Duplicate Bridge Club
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