North Penn Bridge News

Greetings to the

North Penn Bridge Community!

Week of 09/09/2024

North American Pairs

The Flight A and Flight C District qualifying games will be held next weekend. The flight C game is at the King of Prussia Bridge Club and the flight A game is at the Bridge Club in Cherry Hill, NJ. Please sign up in advance.

You can see if you qualified by checking here. Check our website for more information.

ACBL-wide International

Fund Game

Wednesday, September 11. Your scores will be compared across the whole ACBL. Analyses of all hands will be provided.

NOTE: The 4 is Enough game is postponed to Wednesday, September 18 to make room for this game.

I/N Sectional

Monday, October 14, 2024 at King of Prussia Bridge Club. Click here for flyer.

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!!

Rank Achievements

Congratulations to the following members who have advanced in rank:

Marc Topaz---------Bronze Life Master

David Ellison--------Junior Master

From the Club Manager

Dave Dodgson

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

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 11

September 16-21

September 2

September 27-29

October 14

ACBL-wide International Fund Game

NABC Online Games

District 4 Online Game

Cherry Hill Sectional

I/N game at KoP Bridge Club. Flyer.

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, September 11, 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

Dealer is north, vulnerable, with this hand: J63 865 AK8 AQ84.

The bidding goes: 1C 2S X Pass

------?

What do you bid?

Bill Bauer. I bid 2NT. The bid describes my shape (square) and strength (minimum for opener.) It does overstate my spade strength. But as I've told people before, I tend to mix up J's & K's. Blame it on my bifocals (with apologies to Victor Mollo for plagiarizing.)

Elaine Clair. This is a toughie! I’m really stuck for a bid. I can’t bid notrump without a stopper against a preemptive overcall. I’m afraid to leave the double in against a preempt. Partner doesn’t guarantee a 4 card heart suit and I don’t have a rebiddable suit. You have to figure out the best lie. I think I would bid three hearts as the lesser of the evils and hope for the best.

Mitch Snyder. My first thought was to bid 2NT as I recalled a series of articles or such many years ago, the theme of which was 'real men don't need stoppers.' But then I thought better of it and considered 3S as a Western cuebid. Upon further consideration, the hand is too weak to force to game and a long running suit is unlikely, so 2NT it is.

Dennis O’Brien. Tough hand. Which lie do I tell? Presumably partner doesn't have a weak five card diamond or heart suit or he would have passed and then bid his suit over my double. I think(?) I have four tricks so I'm going to pass and hope partner has two.

John Dickenson. I do not bid at all!

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 Bucky Sydnor

(sydnoriv@yahoo.com)

For several decades I had not been getting much satisfaction from winning at a club game because my opponents were making numerous mistakes. Rather I wanted to beat them as David Berkowitz beat his opponents on this deal reported in August’s Bulletin (p 19):

In the WOLFSON versus CAPPELLI quarterfinal, David Berkowitz bamboozled declarer:

At the other table, Michael Kamil opened 1NT and [his partner] Mike Becker passed; making three for plus 150, so it looked like a vulnerable game swing was in the cards for CAPPELLI. Steve Garner led his fourth-best heart; declarer, Mark Aquino, put up dummy’s ace and Berkowitz followed with the queen. Declarer took the diamond finesse, losing to the king. Garner led a low heart to Berkowitz’s jack, who, attempting to unblock and perhaps signal for spades, led back the ♥9: 10, K, and a spade discard from dummy. South continued with the ♥5 which North had to win with the 7. Berkowitz now exited with the ♣J!

Declarer won in dummy, cashed the diamonds and dummy’s top club, and led the ♣8. When Berkowitz followed with the 6, Aquino put in the 9! Garner won with the 10 and led a spade for two off, plus 200 and 8 IMP’s to WOLFSON.

Many years ago I wrote the Bridge Bulletin to inquire why its reports of major events did not delve more deeply into why one team beat another (besides the fact that they got more points). Their answer was not what I was expecting. Winning in top level events, I learned, is usually the result of one or two things: either one player or another simply makes a mistake or they make different opening leads. I have come to see that’s often how one wins even at the club level.

Today’s deal illustrates the significant difference the opening lead can make:

At our table I was sitting E and opened 1♦. The auction proceeded:

P – 1♦ – P – 1♥

P – 3♦¹ – Dbl – 3NT

All pass

Note 1: I valued my 11 HCP and a 5-loser hand (using Losing Trick

-.Count) to be at least worth a 3D bid, which normally shows -.16-18 HCP and 6 or more diamonds. If nothing else, I may -.have undervalued it.

N, one of the top players at the club, tanked while debating between leading his heart suit or one of his partner’s black suits, as suggested by her second-round double.

He settled on a low spade, Declarer (my partner) played Dummy’s ♠8, S played her ♠10 and Declarer won with his ♠A (concealing the location of the ♠K).

He then attacked diamonds; N ducked the first round and won his ♦A on the second round. He then led a second spade, Declarer played dummy’s ♠9 and S covered with the Q. My partner not only took his K, but the ♠J was now established. It was all over, with Declarer making 11 tricks (3 spades, 1 heart and 7 diamonds).

As you can see, if N’s opening lead had been a club, S should win it and shift to a heart in an effort to “kill” dummy’s entry. N would cover whatever Declarer played, and force out Dummy’s ♥A. Then on the run of the diamonds, N could win either the first or second round, and now 3NT can’t be made.

It all depended on the opening lead.

Meanwhile, my passing 3NT was a tad risky. On the one hand, partner may have held a lot less than he did (but he should be showing stoppers in the black suits) and not converting to 5♦ could be a big mistake. On the other hand, maybe partner pard held the ♥K (instead of the Q) or the ♦Ax. It was matchpoints, where risking 3NT, with the strong possibility of making more than 9 tricks (i.e., scoring 630 or more) is worth it, since even 5♦ making 6 would only score 620. So, I held my breath and passed.

As for the results, three other pairs (out of 7) were in 3NT, one making 12 tricks when N lead the ♥J, two of us making 11 tricks and one making 9. The other 3 pairs were in 3♦ or 4♦, making 10 or 11 tricks. So, 5♦, if I had made it, would have been an average.

Bridge - what a game! This time the risk paid off – perhaps next time a different lead will bury us.