North Penn Bridge News

Greetings to the

North Penn Bridge Community!

Week of 02/21/2022

From the Club Manager

Dave Dodgson

February Schedule:

TIME CHANGE: Beginning February 22, the 0-750 online game will start at 10:00 am. Previously this game started at 12:50 pm.

February 22 - both online games are Education Fund games awarding double points.

February 25 - 0-750 Swiss team.

Convention Charts. We use the Basic chart for the 0-750 game and the Open chart for the open games. The charts are posted at the club and available online at: http://web2.acbl.org/documentLibrary/about/CONVENTIONCHARTS2_2020.pdf.

Proof of vaccination and face masks will remain a requirement at our F2F games until further notice.

Calendar

Click here to see a file you can enlarge.

Education

Shuffle and Deal Wednesday, February 23 at 9:30 am. Open to players at any level who want to ask questions as they play. Led by Deb Crisfield.

Beginner Bridge Classes with Deb Crisfield this Spring.

SPREAD THE WORD! Bring a friend…nothing to lose because the FIRST THREE LESSONS ARE FREE!! Recruitment is the key to growing and sustaining our club.

Here’s how it works: Deb will teach brand-new beginners on Thursday mornings from 9:30 to 11:30 am beginning April 21st. Classes will run through June 9th. NO COMMITMENT REQUIRED UNTIL THE FOURTH CLASS.

Recognition

February ACBL Rank Achievements:

Marian Brescia - Life Master

Jim Miller - NABC Master

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

Ron Klinger calls this tip the Rule of 3-over-3:

“If the bidding has reached the 3-level on a competitive part-score deal, choose to defend unless you know your side has at least a 9-card fit.”

From 100 Winning Bridge Tips

by Ron Klinger

Deal of the Week

by Mitch Snyder

Twosday

February 22, 2022 or 2/22/22. A palindromic date, but unlike 10/1/01 or 12/3/21 the digits are all the same. The last 2 times this occurred were 2/2/22 and 11/11/11 and the next occurrence will be 3/3/33. After that there won’t be another uni-number date for nearly 80 years on 1/1/(21)11.

What were you doing at 2:22 on 2/22/22? How about at 22:22?

February 22^nd is a National Margarita Day. That pairs well with Taco Twosday, but you better have 2 of each.

February 22^nd is also:

World Thinking Day
National Cook a Sweet Potato Day
World Yoga Day
Be Humble Day
National Walking the Dog Day
Digital Learning Day

Single Tasking Day is also celebrated(?) on 2/22. That seems like an oxymoron to me.

In recognition of today’s date, this hand features two hands each with two doubletons, two hands with a void, another doubleton and an Unusual 2NT bid.

The Auction:

Just because you have 7 hearts and only 10 hcps, don’t even think about opening 3 hearts. This hand is way too good.

East’s 2NT was ‘unusual’ showing the minors. I’m a strong proponent of having at least 5-5 for the Unusual NT and Michaels cuebids. In this case east chose to make the bid with a 4-5 because of the suit quality and favorable vulnerability. Had diamonds been the longer suit he may have started with 2D planning to bid clubs later if warranted.

South’s 3D was conventional, known as ‘unusual over unusual’. After an Unusual Notrump, cuebids in the overcaller’s suits show values in the other suits. In this case, south bid 3D (the higher suit) to show spades (5+) and game interest. Had south bid 3C (lower suit) it would be a limit+ raise of hearts.

The next 3 bids were natural. East’s 5C bid is a sacrifice at favorable vulnerability. East expects to score -300 or -500, better than letting NS make 620 or more in spades.

The play:

There was nothing to play, EW were down 2, for -500. This only netted them 30% of the matchpoints as only one NS pair played in game. No slams were bid nor did any pairs play in spades. (This was not a common game or BBO hand, so no further analysis is available).

The ‘could have been’ auction:

Since NS bid to game voluntarily, they must either double 5C or bid on, it’s their hand. South’s pass was forcing!

South has an offensively oriented hand. There’s the 6^th spade and club void. Hearts are placed well with partner’s long suit behind the likely opponent with hearts if the suit breaks poorly. Diamonds are a little worrisome, but partner should be short and your Q offers some protection. As much as you would like to cuebid diamonds or support hearts, 5S is the only call.

North, knows that south is short in clubs and probably has an extra spade or two. Since there was no red suit bid over 5C, north also knows that south does not have a wasted diamond ace. I think north has an easy 6S bid here.