North Penn Bridge News

Greetings to the

North Penn Bridge Community!

Week of 09/12/2022

THANK YOU doesn’t seem like enough! But it’s a start...all of us on the Board want to say a big thanks to so many of you for your help as we work to recover from the challenges of the last couple of Covid years. Donations from more than two dozen individuals have brought in over $5,000. Quite a few of you have come forward to volunteer to make boards and provide “goodies” for players to enjoy during our games. And our wonderful teachers are donating 20% of their fees to the club. All these efforts have given us a little breathing room to focus on growing our games...which ultimately will be the true ticket to our longevity as a club.

If you are considering donating or volunteering, we continue to welcome your help. Encourage your friends to take our beginner classes--Monday nights from 7-9 p.m. starting October 17. And if you really want to make an impact on North Penn’s future, come out and play bridge with us! As we have been reminded by the return of players to our tables, our club is a special family of people who love the game of bridge and enjoy sharing the experience with each other. See you at the tables!!

Dave, Pat & the Board of Directors

From the Club Manager

Dave Dodgson

Thanks to everyone who helped run our Labor Day party. We had 9.5 tables, the most we’ve had on a Monday in a long time. I hear that the chocolate cake was especially good.

September Schedule. There are plenty of opportunities to earn extra points this month.

September 12-16 - Club Championships. Extra points at no extra cost.

September 15-18 - The ACBL Fall online tournament. Check out the schedule here.

September 19-23 - Royal STaC. Red, silver and gold points.

September 26-30 - Super Club Championships. Triple points at no extra cost.

Special Events.

September 17 - Saturday Robot Individual at 4:00 p.m.

September 21 - Pro/Am Game at Noon. If you are a Life Master you are a Pro! If you are a Non Life Master you are an Am! This is a wonderful opportunity for those of you with few or no points to savor the taste of a duplicate game. You will be in good hands with one of our capable Pros! And, since this is also a Royal STaC game, you will have a chance to win gold, red, and silver points while playing. Please sign up at the club or email Toysie at hcpwalker@verizon.net if you would like to participate and indicate whether you are a Pro or an Am.

North American Pairs (NAP). North Penn is hosting Flights A, B, and C right here at the club in October so there is no excuse not to play. We will host Flight C if we get at least 5 tables. Details can be found on the District 4 website or on our website where we have a link to the District website.

In Memoriam

Preston Kuptsow passed away on September 6, 2022. Preston was a loyal North Penn player and lover of the game. Here is a link to his obituary.

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.

Education

Fall Lessons:

Defensive Carding - September 12, 19, 26 and October 3, 9-11 a.m., in person at the club. Teacher: John Dickenson. Click this link for details.

Overcalls and Declarer Play Deception - September 12 and 19. Teacher: Joann Glasson. Classes are at 10 a.m. on Zoom. For details contact Joann at joannglasson@gmail.com.

New Beginner Bridge Classes - October 17 for seven consecutive Monday evenings from 7-9 p.m. Teacher: Deb Crisfield. Please contact Deb at dwickcris@yahoo.com or 973-769-9619 to sign up. Click here for flyer.

Recognition

Estelle Ronderos – Diamond Life Master

Sherry Scena – Advanced NACB 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

“When dummy on your right has a Jack-high suit, it is risky to lead low from the Queen.”

From How You Can Play Like An Expert

by Mel Colchamiro

Deal of the Week

by John Dickenson

It Pays To Discover

At a club duplicate, you pick up:

-------------♠ KJ2

-------------♥ K9864

-------------♦ AK2

-------------♣ 63

All vulnerable, partner deals and passes and RHO opens 3C. You optimistically overcall 3H, LHO passes and partner raises to 4H.

West leads the club queen and you take a look at dummy (North):

You count your losers from the perspective of the long hand (South): the trump ace, two clubs, and a spade unless you can find the queen.

East overtakes his partner’s club queen with the king and continues with the club ace, you and dummy following and West shedding a low diamond. Now East continues with the club jack and you ruff with the king (the 9 or 8 would be equally effective but less dramatic – drama sometimes throws off the opponents), East throwing the spade 4. You lead a low heart toward dummy’s QJT2 and West hops with the ace and exits with a small trump, both opponents following.

Let’s take stock of what we know. East is known to have started with 7 clubs for his preempt – could possibly have been 6 but must be 7 since West showed out on the second round. Trumps have been drawn, each opponent following to two rounds. So we know 9 cards in the East hand. A principle known as the Law of Vacant Spaces aids declarer in finding the spade queen – East has 9 known cards so has 4 unaccounted for (or Vacant Spaces). West on the other hand is known to hold precisely 1 club, precisely 2 hearts, and has discarded a spade and a diamond, so has 5 known cards and has 8 unknown cards or “Vacant Spaces” which could hold spades. So the odds are 8 to 4 (or 2:1) that the spade queen lies with West. But on this hand there is the opportunity for a Discovery Play. Declarer cashes the diamond ace and king, and ruffs his low diamond in dummy, noting that both opponents follow to all three rounds of diamonds. Now East is known to hold 7 clubs, 2 hearts and at least 3 diamonds so can have at most one spade. A spade to the king confirms that East started with the stiff 7 of spades and now the spade finesse can be taken against West with 100% chance of success, which beats 2:1 odds immensely. Here is the full deal:

So there you have it – a Discovery Play allows one to determine the location of the spade queen with certainty.

P. S. Note that East faced a defensive problem at trick three. Should he have led a third round of clubs, hoping to promote a singleton king of hearts in his partner’s hand, or should he have switched to his singleton spade, hoping partner has the ace of hearts and can give him a ruff?

This is a difficult problem. Declarer is known to have at least 5 or 6 hearts. If he has 7, partner has no trumps and this case is immaterial.

If West held the singleton or doubleton heart ace, a spade switch would have always beaten the contract.

If West held the singleton heart king, he was likely to always score it after declarer takes a losing finesse, UNLESS East switched to a spade (declarer would have then likely spurned the trump finesse and played ace and another heart to guarantee the contract, having feared a ruff).

If West held the doubleton heart king, he will always score it, but we would not get a ruff as declarer will play ace and another trump.

So the third round of clubs only wins in one case, partner held the stiff heart king AND declarer would play for the drop holding only 10 trumps (unlikely), whereas the switch to a spade wins when partner held A or Ax of trumps and potentially loses if partner holds the stiff king.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

A lady asks me what I think of the "Island 2C Convention"? I tell her I never heard of it. She says her group likes to open 2C with 18-20 HCP. I tell her it sounds like a regional perversion. She says: "Tell me what you think anyway, I play with a bunch of perverts.".