North Penn Bridge News

Greetings to the

North Penn Bridge Community!

Week of 07/24/2023

From the Club Manager

Dave Dodgson

Chicago NABC. Congratulations to the following players who did well:

Lisa Mita-------------.50.37
Estelle Ronderos-----45.97
Al Ronderos---------..45.97
Dave Dresher--------.28.01
Dave Dodgson--------.28.01
Susan Morse---------.26.89
Jeff Rohrbeck------..22.50
Dave Willgruber-----.22.50
Jack Willgruber-----.22.50
Andy Kaufman--------21.86
John Dickenson------.19.45
Linda O’Malley---------9.98
Brendan O’Malley-----.9.98
Steve Binnick----------9.72
Marc Topaz------------9.72
Mark Cohen------------7.53
Deb Crisfield---------..5.21
Alison Shoemaker-----4.96
Anne Marie Corner----1.07

The Bobbie Gomer Challenge. August 23 cancelled due to a conflict with the Baltimore Regional. Stay tuned for details and September date.

NAP Flight B Pre-Registration. North Penn is one of the hosts for the NAP Flight B District 4 game on Saturday, September 23. Players are required to register with the club where they plan to play. Early registration is $64; last minute registration is $80. Registration can be made online (see details on our website) or by check made out to the North Penn Bridge Club placed in the red box at the club. Be sure to list your names and ACBL numbers. Many of you have already qualified, so now is the time to register. If you aren’t sure whether you have qualified, you can click here to find out.

Schedule for the remainder of July:

July 24-28: NAP Qualifying games
July 27-30: The online regional, Virtual Vacation. Click here for details.

August Schedule:

The first week is STaC
Club Championship games are the week of 8/7
The Tuesday Evening and Robot Individual games this week are Silver Linings games and award extra points
The week of 8/14 is a promotional week for the summer 2025 NABC in Philadelphia. These promotional games award substantial extra points.
The last two weeks are NAP Qualifying games

Upcoming Tournaments:

The online regional, Virtual Vacation, is July 27-30. Click here for details
The Baltimore Regional is August 21-27.

Memorial Service

A Memorial Service for Peggy Butera will be held on Saturday, July 29, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. at Central Schwenkfelder Church, 2111 S. Valley Forge Road, Lansdale, PA 19446. Phone: 610-584-4480. The doors will open at 10:00 a.m. and light refreshments will be served afterwards.

Education

Shuffle & Deal--.Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m.

Tuesday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m.

2/1 Saturday Class with Lisa Mita at North Penn Bridge Club.

When:-----September 30^th through October 28^th

Time:------9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Cost:-----..$125 for five lessons.

------------Or sign up at the club.

New Fall Sunday Beginner Class with Deb Crisfield.

When:-----September 10^th through October 15^th

Time:------12 noon to 2:00 p.m.

Cost:------.First two lessons FREE! $150 for the last four lessons

------------Cell: 973-769-9619.

Spread the word! If you know of someone who is interested, please have them contact Deb by email at or by phone.

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 there is a short side suit in dummy and declarer draws all of dummy’s trumps, the inference is that declarer doesn’t have any losers in that suit to trump. Translation: It is safe to discard that suit.”

From 60 Facts Of Bridge Life (Good Advice to Give Your Partner)

by Eddie Kantar

Deal of the Week

by John Dickenson

The Gambling 3NT Opener (and some suggested defenses)

Beginning players are taught to open 3NT with a balanced 25-27. But that is an inefficient use of the bid, as one can show the same hand by opening 2C and rebidding 3NT over a 2D response – further, responder might show a positive response to 2C and there will be room for exploration of slam and correct strain. Therefore most modern players use an opening bid of 3NT to show a solid 7 card minor suit and no outside entry (no A, no K).

The Gambling 3NT has several advantages – first, when partner opens 3 minor, she does NOT have a solid suit. Secondly, it preempts the entire 3 level and makes it very difficult for the opponents to enter the auction. Finally, many opponents have not discussed a defense to an opening 3NT bid.

Here is a hand I played at the recent regional at King of Prussia:

I opened 3NT and all passed. Now responder is supposed to pass 3NT only with stoppers in the other 3 suits AND at least one card in my suit (for obvious reasons). Here my partner met one of those two absolutes – on the lead of the heart ace she placed dummy and proudly announced she had the other 3 suits stopped. Down 2, as I could not enter my hand with a crowbar, while the hand is cold for 4D.

At another table of 4 friends, South also opened 3NT and West doubled. Then things got crazy and West ended up bidding 5S which North was happy to double holding KQJxx – down 800.

From the above discussion it is evident that both partnerships should have agreements on what to do after a gambling 3NT opener, lest disaster strike.

Responder’s actions are easy. Pass with 3 suits stopped and an entry to the long minor. Bid 4C or 5C or 6C or 7C with suitable hands, opener corrects to diamonds as appropriate. Advanced partnerships can use a bid of 4D to ask shortness to look for slam, 4H=short H, 4S=short S, 4N=short other minor.

As to defense – I like the ability to show two suited hands and suggest Woolsey:

4C – both majors, 4D by advancer says “you choose”, 4H or 4S to play
4D – one 6 card major, 4H by advancer is pass/correct, 4S says have good hand for H, bad hand for S
4H – hearts and a minor, 4N asks minor
4S – spades and a minor, 4N asks minor
4N – both minors

And here is another defense I found on the web:

Defence (sic) against the Gambling 3NT: