North Penn Bridge News

Greetings to the

North Penn Bridge Community!

Week of 01/22/2024

From the Club Manager

Dave Dodgson

Wednesday, January 24 Shuffle and Deal at 9:30 a.m.

Wednesday, January 31 Shuffle and Deal at 9:30 a.m.

Thursday, February 1 Handicap Team Game. Please sign up in the book at the club.

Wednesday February 7 Four is Enough Game. Please sign up and see Pat Andrews if you need a partner.

Wednesday February 14 Valentine’s Day Extravaganza.

9:30 a.m. Shuffle and Deal. If you Stay and Play in the afternoon, your card fee will only be $6.

11:30 a.m. Lunch consisting of sandwiches, sides and desserts. All are welcome.

12:00 noon Open game. This is a Royal STaC event, awarding gold, red, silver and black points. You can win big across the entire unit!

8:00 p.m. Live onstage performance of “Love Letters” featuring Susan Morse and her husband David at the Sedgwick Theater in Mt Airy. Click here for details.

Puzzle Exchange. The puzzle lending library is up and running and there are puzzles available for you to borrow. If you have some you’re willing to lend out, be sure to bring them in to add to the library.

Condolences

Some of you may have known Terry Coughlin, a past president of Unit 141. Terry recently passed away at age 88. He was well-known to the bridge players in this area and for the last several years lived in his hometown of Williamstown, MA.

Partnership

We are in the process of re-activating our online partnership desk and will now be monitoring it on a daily basis. Please use it for requests for our Open games; partner requests for Tuesday and Friday limited games should go directly to Mitch Snyder.

If you are in need of a partner for a Monday, Wednesday or Thursday Open game, please email northpennpartner@gmail.com. We will do our best to match you up with others who are looking for someone to play with.

Upcoming Tournaments

February 11 at 3:30 p.m. - District 4 Online Tournament. Half red and half black points will be awarded.

February 12 - 18 STaC week.

February 23 - 25 the Wilmington Sectional.

Education

January 24 Shuffle & Deal 9:30 a.m.

January 31 Shuffle & Deal 9:30 a.m.

Sunday Bridge Lesson:

January 28: The lesson previously scheduled has been cancelled. In it’s place will be Shuffle and Deal from 12 noon to 2 p.m.

King of Prussia Bridge Club Lessons. For lesson details go directly to the Latest News item on their website: https://www.bridgewebs.com/kop.

Calendar

Click here to see a file you can enlarge.

Ask the Expert

Email your questions, or a pesky hand, or something you’d like to know about bidding or playing to Toysie at toysiewalker@gmail.com. She will forward them to the panel, one will be chosen, and the question and answers will be printed in the following week’s newsletter.

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

“Tips to Avoid Mistake 5

(Overbidding opposite a pre-empt)

When you have a 5-card major opposite a 3C or 3D pre-empt, the odds are poor of finding a 5-3 fit.
Many players overbid opposite weak-two openings. A balanced hand of 12-14 points is unlikely to provide a game, particularly when it is loaded with queens and jacks.”

From 52 Bridge Mistakes to Avoid

by David Bird

Deal of the Week

by Mitch Snyder

Risky Business

After west opened 1D, north made a risky takeout double. The shape is near perfect but it’s a little light in HCPs. North may have overcalled 1S. The points are OK but the suit is poor. In defense of the double it does keep hearts in the picture. On the other hand, at unfavorable vulnerability maybe a pass is best.

West redoubled. This shows a hand with 10+ hcps. The understanding in this situation is that either your side declares or the opponents get doubled. Doubling the opponents, at this vulnerability is very lucrative.

With no major fit South tried 1NT instead of 2C. With only a partial stopper in diamonds this is a slight risk, but an opening bid of 1C or 1D does not always promise a long or decent suit. Be wary if the opening bid was a major.

West could have rebid diamonds, but decided to pass and see what partner had to say.

East knew that his side had 22+ HCPs but with no guaranteed game decided beating 1NT doubled for +200 was better than any partscore or beating it more than 1 was better than any game score, so he passed.

The auction:

E------S------W------N

P------.P------1D------D

RD---..1NT---.P------..P

The defense was devastating. During the run of the diamonds, east’s first discard asked for a heart switch when the diamonds were done. The 5 of hearts sends that message if playing upside down first discard or odd/even. For those who play standard discards, a low club is best as you really don’t want to pitch a spade right away. Anyway, when the dust settled EW had 11 tricks and +1400.

One final note; given the nature of his hand, north may have pulled 1NT to 2S. The logic behind this is not unlike putting your partner in 2 of a major with a weak hand after a 1NT opening. South knows north isn’t showing a big hand since EW have more than half the deck and he has 9.