North Penn Bridge News

Greetings to the

North Penn Bridge Community!

Week of 09/18/2023

50th Anniversary Celebration Week

I hope those of you who played on Monday had a good time and if you are playing Tuesday, another fun time should be had.

The festivities will continue all week with fresh fruit and our usual pretzels to snack on, on Wednesday.

Throwback Thursday will feature chips and dips as well as some old-tyme snacks that were on Bob Pollsen’s shopping list.

If you played Friday mornings at Line St you know that the standard snack was Yum Yum donut holes and if you were a Friday nighter, you probably remember the fresh pineapple. Need I say more?

So come’n out.

From the Club Manager

Dave Dodgson

September 25-29 - International Fund Month with extra points for an extra dollar.

Gomer Team Challenge. The North Penn club was ably represented by two teams but unfortunately we were badly outnumbered by the Yorktown club teams, and they won the trophy. We need to win it back at the next match. Thanks to the players who participated.

NAP Registration. Flight B pairs can still register for the Flight B match at North Penn this Saturday. Flight A and C pairs can register for next weekend.

Upcoming Tournaments:

September 23 is NAP District 4 Flight B
September 30 is NAP District 4 Flights A and C
October 6-8 is the Philadelphia Sectional in Cherry Hill
October 20-21 is the Allentown Sectional
October 30 to November 5 is the Lancaster Regional in Manheim, PA

Education

New Lesson Series - Tuesday Nights from 7-9 p.m. Beginning September 19^th. In this four-session series on Opener’s Forcing Bids, you will learn when and how to do a forcing bid as an opener and how to respond when your partner makes a forcing bid. These lessons will target those players who have completed Deb’s beginner classes. Individual lessons are $20; the four-lesson series is $75. Click here for details.

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

When:-----October 7^th through November 4^th

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

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

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

King of Prussia Bridge Club (KOP) Lessons

For details regarding the dates and times of upcoming lessons offered by John Dickenson and Dennis Shaub at KOP, please check our website.

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.

Ask the Expert

Here’s a hand from one of our players:

Jxxxx

xxxx

Bidding goes 1N-2C*-P-? (*2C shows clubs and a higher suit.) What is your bid?

Three out of four experts would bid 2D. One of our experts does not play this system. Here are some comments:

“Assuming 2C is the DON’T Convention, you bid 2D as that is the system. Hopefully partner will bid a major but if she passes who’s to say 2C would have been any better than 2D? In this case, as an unpassed hand, if you bid 2H or 2S it is natural usually 6+ in length.”

“I would bid 2D which is the system, hoping that my partner’s 2nd suit is a major but kind of suspecting that it’s not. If it’s diamonds we’re in trouble wherever we are. I just hope that my partner is disciplined.”

“If DON’T is the system, then bid 2D.”

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

“Lead trumps if declarer has shown a two-suiter and you are strong in declarer’s second suit.”

From 100 Winning Bridge Tips

by Ron Klinger

Deal of the Week

by Rex Saffer

Pulling the Strings With Low Information Puppet Stayman

Introduction

In the Notrump Opening Bids block of our ACBL Convention Card, there is a checkbox to indicate if we “commonly” open 1NT with balanced hands that include a 5–card major. Why would we do this? Suppose we pick up ♠ K 6 ♥ A Q 8 7 6 ♦ A 9 5 ♣ K 8 7 and open 1♥. What will we rebid if partner responds 1♠? Any rebid in notrump would misrepresent our HCP count, we have no lower–ranking 4–card suit, and without six hearts we should not rebid them. Opening 1NT will avoid such problems. But if there is a 5–3 Golden Fit, how will we find it? Enter Puppet Stayman.

With game–going values and at least one 3–card major, Puppet Stayman 3♣ over an opening 1NT asks if opener holds a 5– or 4–card major. The response structure is the same as after Puppet 3♣ over an opening 2NT. Opener rebids three of a major to show five of them, 3♦ to show at least one 4–card major, or 3NT with neither a 5– nor a 4–card major. Over 3♦, responder rebids three of one major to show four cards in the other major (to right side the contract), or 3NT with no 4–card major and interest only in a 5–3 major fit.

As with other conventional offensive bidding sequences, the opponents are listening carefully for clues to guide the defense. We believe the first mention of a tactic to address this issue was in a September 2017 World Youth Bridge article by the late phenom Justin Lall, who in 2012 became the youngest Grand Life Master at the age of 25. Justin passed away in 2020 from liver disease.

In his article, Justin introduced what is sometimes called Low Information Puppet Stayman (LIPS). With 4–4 in the majors responder will use “regular” Stayman 2♣, and a 4–4 or 5–4 major suit fit will always be found if one exists. This frees opener to rebid 3♦ over Puppet 3♣ with any hand lacking a 5–card major. Holding 3=4 or 4=3 in the majors, responder can still show a 4–card major by bidding the other major. With no fit in responder’s major, opener can directly rebid 3NT and conceal the presence or lack of the other major. Having less information to guide the opening lead and subsequent play, the defense may be less likely to get off to a good start.

The Deal of the Week

Our Deal is taken from a recent, lightly attended Sunday game at a nearby F2F Club.

The Auction

West opened the balanced 16 HCP hand with a routine 1NT, and holding game–going values and 4=3 in the majors, East responded with Puppet 3♣. West rebid 3♦ to deny a 5–card major, and East rebid 3♥ to show the 4–card spade suit. Now, in “standard” Puppet opener’s 3♦ rebid would promise one or both majors, and after East’s 3♥ rebid opener’s 3NT would both deny a spade fit and implicitly reveal the 4–card heart suit. As it was, E/W were playing LIPS. Opener’s 3♦ rebid was duly alerted, and when North asked for an explanation, East replied that while it did deny a 5–card major, opener did not necessarily hold a 4–card major.

The Play

After a “standard” Puppet auction, a North defender might have been discouraged from leading a heart. A diamond lead would not have hurt the defense, and even with the ♥Q onside, declarer would have been held to three tricks in the suit. On the actual auction, our North elected to lead a heart, declarer ducked in dummy, and the ♥8 won the trick! Declarer then ran the ♦J to establish two diamond tricks, and in desperation North returned the ♠Q.

South ducked to avoid setting up two offensive spade tricks immediately. Declarer won the ♠K, finessed the ♥J and unblocked the ♥K, then returned to hand with a diamond and continued the ♠10 to set up the ♠J. South won, but that was the last trick for the defense. Declarer won the diamond return, cashed the ♥A, and claimed. Three clubs, two diamonds, four hearts, and two spades brought eleven tricks home and +460 for a cold, cold top.

Closing Thoughts

Dear Reader, we use “regular” Stayman 2♣ over an opening 1NT if we hold 4–4 in the majors. This is why it is safe for opener’s 3♦ rebid over a Puppet 3♣ response to deny a 5–card major without revealing whether or not there also is at least one 4–card major. This is not the case over an opening 2NT, where 2♣ is not available. So while we may fruitfully adopt LIPS over an opening 1NT, over 2NT we revert to “standard” Puppet, where opener’s 3♦ rebid both denies a 5–card major and promises at least one 4–card major.

Finally, in this February 2020 Bridge Winners article, Richard Granville remarks that if responder uses LIPS instead of “regular” Stayman 2♣ for hands with 4=2 or 2=4 in the majors, then “… the auction 1NT – 2♣ – 2♦ – 3NT can only be based upon 4–4 in the majors. Although this information is of no interest to opener, it's very useful for the opponents, who would therefore have to be alerted. Thus, if the opening leader had a close choice (under normal circumstances) between leading a major suit or a minor, he would tend to choose the minor suit.” There is a vigorous discussion in the article’s Comments section (39 of them!) for those with interest in further arcane details.

All the best,

Rex