First Master points earned in North Penn’s new 0-49 game!  Do you remember where and when you earned your first masterpoints? This happened for a few players on May 18, 2022 at NPDBC. Congratulations to Pam Schleif & Diane Costello (1^st) and Karen Maglaty & Suzie Franks (2^nd) for their results (and first MPs) in our 1^st officially sanctioned 0-49 game! We look forward to growing this game and we welcome any and all new players to the world of duplicate bridge!

May 23-27 extra points for Club Championship week. Please note the lawyers next door are having a picnic on Thursday, May 26. They will be setting up in the area next to Church Road so the parking lot will be blocked off. Parking is available in the back of the building.

May 30 - Memorial Day Party. Not only are we playing bridge we are having a party! Please come early and join us for lunch (even if you’re not playing.) Since it’s a SUPER Club Championship, you’ll get triple points! Please sign up in advance in the sign-up book, by calling the club at 215-699-4932 or emailing the club at northpennbridge@gmail.com.

We could use some desserts so if you’d like to bring something, please contact Beth Milton at beth.milton@comcast.net.

Let us know in advance and we’ll do our best to arrange one for you. Either send us an email at northpennbridge@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail at the Club’s number 215-699-4932. Both are monitored on a regular basis. Even if it’s the day of, our directors will check for messages when they arrive at the club an hour prior to the game starting. You can also place a partner request on North Penn’s website calendar.

Do you live within 5-10 minutes of the club? Would you be willing to play at the last minute if we needed someone? Your card fee will be waived if you play!! Please contact the club by email at northpennbridge@gmail.com or by phone at 215-699-4932 so we can put you on a stand-by list.

Bridge Lessons with Joann Glasson, President of the ACBL. Joann is giving lessons on a variety of topics for intermediate players Monday mornings on Zoom at 10:00 a.m. for one hour. She is an amazing teacher and her lessons are terrific! On Sunday, Joann emails the Zoom invitation and the entire lesson along with a summary sheet, quiz and quiz answers. If you are interested, click here to review the next series.

Fundraising Results to Date:

We are happy to report that $1,150 has been raised towards our $1,600 goal.

Here are the donating options:

Click this link for a schedule of events:

https://4acbl.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/VF-Regional-Schedule-2022.pdf.

NPenn Game Schedule during the Regional week:

Monday – no game

Tuesday – no day game; Virtual game at 7:15 p.m.

Wednesday – 0-49 game at 9:30; no afternoon game

Thursday – no game

Friday – no game

The Regional organizers are looking for volunteers. If you are interested, please contact Cathy Strauss at cathy.strauss@gmail.com.

Volunteers are needed early in the week and more in the morning than afternoon but all volunteers are welcome. There will be people working as "directors" to get folks to the partnership desk or entry purchase and others checking vax cards. Volunteers are expected to be there an hour before game time.

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.

From 100 Winning Bridge Tips (new edition)

Sometimes it may indeed be very wise not to lead a singleton, even in partner’s suit. Say, for instance, partner preempted 2♦ in 2^nd seat, you hold 12 HCP and the opponents end up in 3N. Partner may not have much more than a king (and hopefully the 1098xx to go with it) for his preempt and almost certainly no outside entry. You have most of the points for the defense, which means you have most of the entries for your side. You can only lead partner’s diamonds once. It is wiser to try to set up a suit of your own. Indeed, if you do not need partner’s help to set up your suit, don’t lead your singleton diamond. Lead your suit.

My partner is on lead after I have opened 3♦ in first seat (all white) and my LHO has overcalled 3NT. Partner holds:

----♠A98742--♥93--♦10--♣K987

She doesn’t have a suit of her own that can be established without help from me. But then she only has 7 HCP, which means I could have about 7 HCP. If some of my points are outside my diamond suit, I may have an outside entry to my hand. On the other hand, if my diamonds are headed by the ♦AK, then I have two tricks and Declarer probably has his stopper. So, after a diamond lead, I can take my two diamond tricks and then I’m almost certainly done for the defense.

Meanwhile, partner does not have just any singleton, she has the ♦10. It is a great card in that if Dummy has the ♦J or the ♦Q, it may help me set up my diamonds.

Mind you, it is not straightforward for her to lead the ♦10. She has 6 spades, headed by the A987. If, for my estimated 7 HCP I hold the ♠K3, leading a spade will go a long way to setting up her spade suit. She also has a probable outside entry, her ♣K, so if 3 rounds of spades do set up her suit, she can get in again. In support of trying to set up her spades, N did not use Stayman — yes, in the auction 3♦ - 3N – p - 4♣, 4♣ is Stayman, not Gerber— meaning N may be happy to be in a NT contract even though my 3♦ announced that bad breaks probably lie ahead.

So, partner has a real choice, lead her singleton ♦10 or lead her 4^th best spade, hoping I have a useful spade card to help her set up her spade suit.

There was a third option since she had 4 decent clubs. The shortcoming of the club suit is that after my 3♦ preempt it is understandable to hope that I have a doubleton club but it is most likely I have a singleton somewhere—this happens more than 3 times as often when one has a 7-card suit— and if it is in partner’s suit, I will be no help whatsoever. Moreover, if I have, say, the ♣A2—a seemingly helpful holding for her, indeed—then we are getting only 2 club tricks. There’s nothing wrong with being realistically optimistic, but me holding the ♣A2 is less helpful to partner setting up her own suit than if I have the ♠K3.

Thus, her choice really boils down to her 4^th best spade or her ♦10. Nevertheless, she chose her 4^th best club.

As Declarer played the hand, on the 3^rd round of spades I thought I bungled the defense, but not against that declarer. Declarer knew I was being squeezed. On that play, I pitched a heart, hoping Declarer did not have the ♥AQx. That was naïve; Declarer did have those very cards, and should have on the bidding, and so won the next 4 hearts tricks, giving me my diamond winner at the end.

But if I pitch a diamond, Declarer simply leads his 2^nd diamond, giving me my diamond winner first, forcing me to win and lead away from my ♥J842.

So, double dummy, after any lead other than a diamond, the defense has lost the timing on the hand and can no longer set the contract. Had partner chosen he singleton ♦10, we would have set them at least 4 tricks.

Postscript: Even my “rule” against rules is not ironclad. Barry Crane, the greatest matchpoint player of his day, had a handful of rules he required his (top level) partners and teammates to live by. One was that, when there is a two-way finesse for a queen in a suit play that the queen is over the jack in the minors and under the jack in the majors. Another was: NEVER NEVER bid a grand slam in a Swiss team game!

-----https://bridgewinners.com/article/view/barry-crane-bidding-system/