North Penn Bridge News

Greetings to the

North Penn Bridge Community!

Week of 08/26/2024

September 4 Is Enough

Note: The next 4 Is Enough game will be held on Wednesday, September 18. We are postponing for one week due to a conflict with another special game that will be held on the 11th.

Be sure to save the date.

Where Eagles Dare

The Eagles opening game of the 2024 season will be played on

Friday, September 6.

In honor of this special occasion, anybody who plays in the game on Friday the 6th wearing Eagles attire will receive a reduced price of $10.

Education - Fall Classes

Deb Crisfield will be teaching a Beginner Bridge class this fall if there is enough interest. If you know someone who is eager to learn bridge, please have them contact Deb at dwickcris@yahoo.com or 973-769-9619. Talk the game up among your friends! We need new players!!

Labor Day Party

Be sure to join us on Labor Day, Monday, September 2 for lunch at 11:30 and bridge at noon. And tell your bridge friends to come too!

From the Club Manager

Dave Dodgson

North American Pairs.  You can see if you qualified by checking here. The District round for Flight A is September 14-15 at the South Jersey Bridge Center; the Flight C is on September 15 at the King of Prussia Bridge Club; and the Flight B is on October 6 at North Penn Bridge Club. Check our website for more information.

September is International Fund month. Here is the game schedule:

September 5--------Handicap Swiss Team game

September 11-------ACBL-wide International Fund game

September 14------.Robot Individual

September 18------.Four is Enough game

September 20------Swiss Team 0-500 game

September 23-27--Club Championship games

Upcoming Tournaments:

September 6-8-----Wilmington Sectional

September 11-------ACBL-wide International Fund Game

September 16-21---NABC Online Games

September 26------District 4 Online Game

Education

NEW NEW NEW. Deb Crisfield will be teaching a four-lesson series titled, Bidding Help for Big Hands Monday evenings from 6-8 pm starting September 16. Click here for flyer.

Shuffle & Deal Wednesday, August 28, 9:30 - 11:30 am

Remember, our Shuffle and Deal sessions are open to all who have an interest in supervised play (not just new players.)

Partnership

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

Requests for Tuesday and Friday limited games should go directly to Mitch Snyder at bridge4all@comcast.net

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

Deal of the Week

by Bruce Schwaidelson

(bruschwade@aol.com)

Douglas Firtree Has A Fit

About 40 years ago while playing in a Unit 141 sectional, I met a man whose name I thought was “Doo-glaz,” as I was having trouble understanding his foreign accent. We became good friends and then bridge partners for several years. Doo-glaz had mentioned that his family left Eastern Europe when he was a youngster, arriving here with a plan to own a Christmas tree farm in the Lancaster area.

His parents’ scheme included changing their surname posthaste. He said it was not only longer than my last name, but much more difficult to pronounce. In keeping with their proposed occupation, they chose the name “Firtree” and appropriately re-named their oldest son “Douglas.” (I still don’t know his birth name.)

We hadn’t crossed paths for quite some time, but I ran into Douglas Firtree at the recent King of Prussia Regional, accent and all. He was excited to discuss a board he had just played in the “A-Eggs Pairs,” as he called it. He held in 2^nd seat, all white:

♠A108 ♥103 ♦AK72 ♣K965

The auction began (P) 1♦ (2♥) x; (P) and Douglas wondered what I would do next. I commented that it looked like 3♣ would be the pat answer, since partner should be showing 2 places to play, but I wouldn’t discount 2♠, as ruffing hearts in the shorter trump hand could be useful.

Before I could ask what he would do, Douglas jumped right in: “I love the 2♠ bid. That’s absolutely what I did.” Douglas reminded me that unlike a 1♥ negative double promising exactly 4 spades, the 2♥ double shows at least four, since pard could have 5+ but not be strong enough to bid a forcing 2♠. Then he added: “If she’s only got 4, well, quite frankly I am a big fan of a Firtree fit!”

It took me a few seconds, but I finally got it, accent-dentally: “Are you talking about the so-called ‘Moysian fit,’ named for Alphonse Moyse? The one where the 7-card trump suit is four opposite three?”

His somewhat annoyed response: “That’s exactly what I just said, Brooz, a fir-tree fit!”, as he held up fir fingers in one hand and tree in the other. He continued: “You know, I really enjoy the challenge. If I remain calm, I can often score better in a fir-tree major fit rather than in notrump or a minor suit contract, especially if the hand with 3 trumps has shortness in the opponents’ suit.”

I next learned that Douglas’s partner, Olivia (she prefers to be called “O”) Tannenbaum, jumped to 4♠, ending the auction. West led the ♥K and here is the full deal – our Deal of the Week:

Since Dummy has the longer trump suit, it’s helpful to consider North to be the “master hand.” Douglas’s plan was to lose 0 or 1 spade trick, depending how they break, plus 1 heart, and hopefully just 1 club. He would of course be able to pitch a club on a high diamond, if need be. To follow the play, you can click here and then repeatedly hit the “Next” button.

Douglas assumed West held exactly six hearts, so he ducked the opening lead. The ♥J to the Ace was next and Douglas continued with a 3^rd heart. East pitched the ♦3 while my friend ruffed. He took note of the ♦3, a surprising pitch, since Douglas had opened 1♦. Perhaps East held 5 or more.

The ♠A was next (all following), and then the ♠10 collected the Jack, Dummy’s King and the 6. Douglas admitted he got another surprise when he called for the ♠Q: it was East, not West, who showed out, taking some time before pitching her lowest club. My comrade also pitched a club.

Douglas resumed: “By the way, you should have seen the surprised look on O’s face when I showed out. I now had the complete count, Brooz. West had 10 major suit cards, so only 3 in the minors. That meant East held 10 minor cards and she had been staring at Dummy’s 4-card club suit, while also knowing I had at least 4 diamonds for my opening bid. Surely her 1^st pitch would have been a club if she held at least 5 of them, but she pitched a diamond and then a club. I was almost certain she began with 5 diamonds and 4 clubs, leaving West 2 diamonds and a single club.”

“But now you are facing a bad trump break, Doo-glaz.”

His reply: “As I already told you, you must stay calm and not panic in a fir-tree fit. I cashed the ♣A in Dummy and West’s singleton Jack appeared.” Here was the position, Dummy to lead (NS with 6 tricks, EW 1):

“I now had several ways to make my contact. For example, I could duck a club to East and no matter what she did next, I could play winners in clubs and diamonds until West ruffed and then I could ruff his heart return with my remaining trump and claim. My only losers would be a club, a heart and the high trump, making four.”

“That’s nice card reading, Doo-glaz. Nicely done!”

“But, Brooz, you didn’t let me finish. I said I could do those things, but that’s not how I played it. I decided to set a trap for a possible overtrick.

“Instead of ducking a club or playing to the ♣K, I cashed the ♦Q-A, both defenders following as expected. When I ‘tried’ to cash my ♦K, West saw no harm in ruffing with his good spade in order to play another heart. It didn’t dawn on him that he was about to squeeze his lovely partner.

“Dummy ruffed West’s heart lead and East was doomed. Whatever she pitched, I would discard from the other suit. When she actually let go of her ♣10, I played the ♦7 and claimed 2 club tricks, making +450. Had she pitched the ♦J instead, that would have promoted my ♦7. Notice that keeping the ♣K in my hand allowed the squeeze to develop.”

I congratulated my old friend on his clever plan, but then added: “West’s play was like an early Christmas present under the Firtree fir tree.” (He liked that!) To prevent the squeeze and the overtrick, all West had to do was pitch a heart on the ♦K, but that was not easy to realize. Perhaps we (non-expert) mortals would have all made that mistake.

On this deal, all the 3NT-ers made their contract, occasionally with an overtrick. There were only two pairs in 4♠, one making it on the nose for an average plus, while Douglas earned the top score.

Douglas’s final comment: Don’t be afraid of fir-tree fits… they can be fun Moyse of the time, but not always. Often the key is for the 3-card trump holder to be the one with the shortness in the opponents’ suit. But above all else: Don’t Panic!