This month brings us the Syracuse/Liverpool Regional on August 13-19. You can read much more in Meyer's report below about the terrific volunteers, hospitality, and special events that guarantee to make this year's event a worthwhile stop on your regional tour. For all the details and info, click here.
And a program note. Look for our excellent contributors' articles above the unit reports and available without clicking through to read the text. We hope you enjoy Marti Ronemus's reflective and inspiring article this month in the new format.
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Questions? Comments? Concerns?
Contact your District 4 board members.
PRESIDENT
Meyer Kotkin
VICE PRESIDENT
Dave Kresge
SECRETARY
Bill Bauer
TREASURER
DISTRICT DIRECTOR
Joann Glasson
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As you read this, I am at the North American Bridge Championships (NABC) in Atlanta, cheering on the D4 representatives in the four flights of the Grand National Teams. I bought a cute cheerleading outfit and some pom-poms and I have been told I cut quite a dashing figure. I hope it will bring luck and success to our District's representatives.
It is not too late to make your plans to play in the August 13 - 19 Burt Garrell Syracuse/Liverpool Regional. Tournament Chair Mary Miller (U112) and her Committee (Dan Boye (U112, Partnerships), Lynn Ackerman (U112, Registration & Prizes), Sally Hill (U112, Intermediate/Newcomer), Joann Glasson (U141, Bulletin), Nick Nelson (U112, Caddies), Sharon Paulus & Robert Simard (both U112, Hospitality) and Doug Bradley (U112, Board Duplication) have worked very hard to ensure a great tournament, fantastic player experience and over-the-top hospitality that includes free dinner in the hospitality suite on Tuesday through Saturday nights. On Aug 13 - 14, the Syracuse Regional will also be offering the new ACBL Best Practices Teacher Workshop, for teachers seeking ACBL accreditation and/or teachers interested in updating their teaching dynamics. This workshop is free for U112 members and there is a small nominal charge for attendees who are not members of U112. You can find full details
here
.
I will be at the Syracuse Regional and I look forward to seeing everyone. However, I have a favor I would like to ask of the native Syracusans. When I was in school in Ithaca (U112), Syracuse had one of the greatest bakeries in the world - the Snowflake Bakery (besides being good on an absolute scale, Snowflake was Kosher and it is much harder for Kosher bakeries to be world class). Snowflake's owner Milt Ziegler grew up in Brooklyn and he and I used to talk a lot about Brooklyn while I tried to weasel free goodies out of him - especially his black and white cookies. I know Snowflake closed and Milt passed a while back but if any Syracusan knows if his family or employees opened a successor bakery, I would love to hear from you. Better yet, if you wanted to bring some Snowflake style goodies to the tournament, I will be happy to give those treats the 45-year comparison taste test.
A couple of shout-outs. First shout-out goes to U141 President Joan Warren and the U141 Board. When neighboring U140 in District 3 suddenly found itself without any boards or a dealing machine for their upcoming Sectional in Woodbridge, the U140 Tournament Chair contacted me with an emergency request for duplicated boards. I relayed the request to Joan who unhesitatingly volunteered to loan some U141 boards and the U141 dealing machine to U140. The sighs of relief from the Woodbridge Tournament Chairs and all of U140 were palpable. As a member of the U141 Board and as D4 President, I am proud of Joan and U141 for being a good bridge neighbor and a cooperative and helping member of our bridge community. Take a bow Joan and U141 - you're an example of how we should all be cooperating throughout the ACBL to further the game we love.
The second shout out goes to the Tournament Committee of the Philadelphia Regional at Valley Forge where the Monday Charity games resulted in a donation to PhilABundance of more than $215. PhilABundance is "the Delaware Valley's largest hunger relief organization, acquiring, rescuing and distributing food to 90,000 people weekly in 9 counties in PA and NJ." More than 30% of the people that PhilAbundance serves are children. If I could have one wish granted, it would be that no child anywhere ever goes hungry. To think that there are children in the US, arguably the most well off country in the world, that live with, and die from, malnutrition and starvation is anathema to me. While $215 may not seem like a lot of money, I am reminded of what Bishop Demon Tutu said: "do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world."
Next month, I will discuss the historic, encyclopedic, insightful and impactful report of the D4 Tournament Committee that was presented at the D4 Board Meeting in Philadelphia. You can get a head start on next month's article by reading the Tournament Committee's report (and other Committee reports) on the D4 website
here
.
As always, I welcome all comments and suggestions on any D4 matters and issues. My e-mail is
[email protected]
and my cell is 856.986.5109.
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From the District Director
I am writing this live from the Atlanta NABC and it is wonderful. Although it is warm outside, the three area hotels and a large food court are connected by a skywalk. The playing areas are spacious and well lit and the local committee is doing a great job with food and entertainment for the players.
Highlights of the Board Business
The Board passed new by-laws for the organization that include term limits for board members for the first time. Although the term limits will not apply to existing board members, it will begin a transition into an improved governance process.
The Zero Tolerance Policy was expanded to include all ACBL Sanctioned Tournaments. This regulation does not impact club games, but all ACBL events that have an ACBL director will be held to identical standards of Zero Tolerance.
Two events were eliminated from the fall NABC schedule. The Women's Board-A-Match Team and the Baze Senior KO have been removed for lack of attendance over the last few years. Any ACBL event that falls below 30 tables in attendance is subject to review and change.
The Spring NABC 0-10,000 Knockout event will be changed to a fixed three-day event, shortening the amount of time required to play.
Reno, NV was approved as the site of the Spring, 2022 NABC. The NABC will be held at "The Row" (Silver Legacy, Circus Circus and Eldorado). The hotels have been combined under new management and completely renovated.
A joint motion to clearly outline the NABC expenses funded by the ACBL and the local committee was introduced by Suzi Subeck, Chair of the NABC Committee and me, as Chair of Finance. The motion passed 25-0. This motion will provide a more sound and consistent accounting for NABCs.
In a cost-saving effort, I presented a motion, along with Finance Vice-Chair, Carlos Munoz, to end the long-standing tradition of bringing new members of the Board of Directors to the Fall board meeting prior to the beginning of their first term. The motion passed 21-3-1.
In response to a request from the Board of Governors, ACBL management will provide a Fragrance Policy for use at all ACBL events.
Any open sectional held concurrently at the same location with an I/N regional will receive credit for the tables in the I/N regional for the purpose of computing overall awards.
Masterpoint Awards for NAP and GNT have been increased. Winning the NAP Flight A (4 sessions) will pay 48 masterpoints, up from 36. Flight B awards (2 sessions) will be 22.50 masterpoints, up from 16 and Flight C awards (2 sessions) will be 15 masterpoints, up from 10 masterpoints.
GNT District Finals (all 4 session events) will pay 48 masterpoints for the Championship Flight, 40 masterpoints for Flight A, 33.50 masterpoints for Flight B and 20 masterpoints for Flight C.
NAP Conditions of Contest have been updated to allow substitutes if one partner is medically unable to play in the national final. The new partner must meet all of the eligibility requirements of the event.
Units are now permitted to schedule six one-day limited masterpoint sectional tournaments each year. The previous allocation was three.
The ACBL Board reviewed all transactions between Jay Whipple, ACBL President, his company Bridge Finesse and the ACBL and found that all were completely appropriate and no conflict of interest exists. Mr. Whipple received no financial compensation for all the work he has done for the betterment of bridge. Mr. Whipple not only contributed his time and expertise, but more than $150,000 a year of his own money to fund projects like the Common Game, Kibitz the Pros, Rank Up, Photo Library, District Partnership Desks, Thumbs Up, REACH, Club Analytics, Tournament Services, Rank Change and many others.
A complete report of the Audit Committee will be available on the ACBL website when the minutes of the meetings are posted.
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August 13-19
District 4 STaC
August 20-26
October 13
October 13-14
October 27
October 29-November 4
STaC
December 10-16
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Best Teaching Practices Workshop
During the Syracuse Regional (August 13-19), special workshops for teachers on best teaching practices will be held on August 13 and 14. There will be options for teachers who want special certification and training or wannabe certified bridge teachers who desire initial certification.
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Get Qualified for the NAPs
It's summer so it's time to get qualified for the North American Pairs. The NAPs is a grassroots event with club qualifying during June, July, and August. All club qualifying pairs earn a chance to play at the District qualifiers (in three flights) in October. Those games determine the pairs that will play in the National finals at the Spring NABC. District qualifiers earn $CASH$ subsidies!
If you haven't yet qualified for the NAPs, check for a qualifying game at your club (or ask the manager to schedule one) so you can get out there and qualify.
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You can check ACBL Live for all the results from Atlanta. As of this date, the results of the GNTs are complete. The Open, B, and C flights survived the round robin, but all lost their first round matches in the knockout phase.
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Save the Date for ABA fun!
The Philadelphia Unit of the ABA will hosting the Chester Plummer Tournament on August 25 at the Greenbriar Apartments in Philadelphia. It's a one-day, two-session Swiss Teams that will be nothing but fun and friendliness. Card fees are $20 for the day and a boxed lunch is $12. Pre-registration is required (and pre-order is needed for lunch). For all the details, click here for the flyer.
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Our Monthly Feature
The 4Spot features fantastic contributors, on a regular rotation:
Larry's Learning Center
by Larry Cohen:
January, April, July, October
For Novices Only by Marti Ronemus:
February, May, August, November
The ABC of Bridge by Dave Wachsman:
March, June, September, December
For Novices Only
Marti Ronemus
How Much Do You REALLY Need to Know?
I was having lunch with a girlfriend and she was lamenting her youngest son's leaving for college. "I hate to see him go when I still have so much to teach him." (Yeah, like cleaning his room, I thought, but I bit my tongue.)
This got me thinking about our efforts to bring you, our newest students, into our game and get you firmly hooked. If you had any idea how complicated our game is, most of you would run screaming from the room. Fortunately, professional teachers understand that the way to eat an elephant is one tiny bite at a time.
We teachers have learned through hard experience that if we can get you to LOVE bridge, you will be willing to LEARN bridge. Can we quantify the steps to that? Yes.
First, what do you REALLY need to know to start falling in love with the game? Naturally, the mechanics of the order of bidding, who's the dummy, who makes the opening lead and that sort of "stuff."
Next, just a little bidding... the point count for honors, the three point categories for Minimum, Invitational and Game-Going hands, opener and responder. We want you to remember each bid has to be higher on the bidding ladder, and long suits and high cards take tricks.
It helps you to understand bridge is a game of TRICKS, not POINTS. You will discover this as you play. All the lectures in the world won't replace the experience.
And this brings me to the heart of what we teachers know about the philosophy of teaching bridge: The way y'all learn to play bridge is - by PLAYING bridge!
Often we are so eager and so determined to share with you all the knowledge and beauty of our game that we forget that your passion will be ignited not by what we lecture (no matter how exciting we make our talks!), but by you holding those cards in your hot little hands and playing the game.
Personally, I feel a lot like my girlfriend in that I hate to turn you loose to play until I show you just one more technique or one more bid. As the years have gone by though, I've seen how little you really need to know to enjoy the game. I've seen that if I give you just a few bites of the elephant and then LEAVE YOU ALONE to play (no hovering!), you come back to the next lesson starving for more.
For our brand new players, if we teachers keep the lessons very short, a half-hour maximum, and then let you play (preferably unsupervised), you will fall in love with the game. The teachers who don't seem to be able to hang on to their students are the ones who want you prepared for all eventualities and every hand they will encounter. (On what planet will THAT ever happen!?)
Initially, we have to let go, let you flounder and get it wrong, wrong, wrong. All that matters is if your passion is being ignited through playing with their peers. If we can get you coming back fearlessly, you will eventually get it right, right, right... because of the lessons.
Meantime, does it really matter if you don't get it right? My resolution as a bridge teacher is to remember how little you actually need to know in the beginning of your bridge career, and to remember that my role is to seduce you into LOVING bridge. Eventually, with enough table time, you'll LEARN bridge by osmosis rather than my lessons. We teachers just have to remember to keep the order of those two ideas straight.
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Master Solvers Club
Moderator: Nick Straguzzi
Bidding games at IMPs. Read on...
First,
click here to read the analysis of this month's problem.
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News from Around the Units
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Unit 112: Central New York
Unit 112 Sectional
September 8-9: Cicero
Unit 112 Sectional
September 29-30: Utica
Unit 112 Sectional
October 20-21: Binghamton
Unit 112 Sectional
November 10-11: Waterloo
Congratulations to our
Rochester Summer Sectional Winners
Open Pairs
19.5 tables based on 20 tables
Flight A - 1st Sam Maitra, Rochester - Douglas Ross, Pittsford 64.46%
Flight A - 2nd David Hunt, East Rochester - Mary Miller, Canandaigua 57.62%
Flight B - 1st Barbara Mehnert, Fairport - Christina Ambra, New Chesterfield, VA 55.57%
Flight B - 2nd Kathy Creveling, Rochester - Duncan Jones, Newark 55.36%
Flight C - 1st David Waterman, South Harpswell, ME - William Tondat, Fairport 52.74%
Flight C - 2nd Stephen Mast - Holli Mast, Corning 52.74%
299er Pairs Sat Morning
- 12.5 tables
Flight A&B 1st Elizabeth Patton - James Patton, Pittsford 64.58%
Flight A 2nd Thomas Rusling, Pittsford, Mac Beckwith, Fairport 57.58%
Flight C 1st Richard Portland - Sue Portland, Victor 55.68%
Flight C 2nd Stephen Perry - Brenda Perry, Napa, CA 55.07%
299er Pairs Sat Afternoon
- 5 tables
Flight A&B&C 1st Elizabeth Patton - James Patton, Pittsford 64.50%
Flight A&B&C 2nd Gay Williams - Susan Fettes, Sterling 57.85%
Sunday Open Swiss Teams
- 20 Tables
Flight A&B - William Port, Geneva - James Carroll, Lyons
David Waterman, South Harpswell, ME - Dick Wilson, Delray Beach, FL
Flight C - Thomas Rusling, Pittsford - William Wooster, Fairport
John Nelson - Priscilla Brown, Rochester
Sunday 299er Swiss Teams
- 6 Tables
Flight A&B&C - John Nicholson, Henrietta - Joseph Nicholson, Endwell
Janelle Tauer - Ann Schissel, Ithaca
Coming August 13th
Burt Garrell Regional Liverpool
(Syracuse), New York
August 13-19, 2018
Tournament Chair
Mary Miller
585-746-9478
Partnerships
Dan Boye
315-884-6057
Intermediate/Novice Chair
Sally Hill
585-259-6964
Workshop to be offered in Syracuse in August in conjunction with the Regional -
The Best Practices Teacher Workshop
helps participants teach bridge more effectively. Centerpiece of the new Teacher Accreditation Program, the Workshop implements the best practices validated by over 400 teachers in the recent ACBL teacher survey. Fast-paced and highly participative, the Workshop features demonstrations of teaching tactics, "how to" exercises and small group simulations of interactive lessons.
There will be no charge for Unit 112 members; the cost is $50 for others, which includes the workshop, materials, dinner on Monday and a continental breakfast on Tuesday. For further information, contact
Mary Miller, 585-394-7899 or
[email protected]
.
Unit 112 Congratulates
their player achievements -
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New Junior Masters
- Andrew Gilbert, Potsdam
- Constance Patterson, Ithaca
- Michael Wade, Oswego
New Club Masters
- Anita Weiss, Ithaca
- Doris Ernest, New Hartford
- Michael Olmsted, Fayetteville
- Judith Salzman, Adams
- Marilyn Smith, Syracuse
- Angela Van Derhoff, Utica
New Sectional Masters
- Rev James Austin, Tully
- Anne Dewell, Cooperstown
- Ishwar Mathur, Pittsford
- James Patton, Pittsford
- Susan Rice, Rochester
- Judith Stoikov, Ithaca
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New Regional Masters
- Alan Bergerson, Rochester
- Debbie Carpenter, Ithaca
- Dr Susan Fettes, Sterling
- Peter Pollock, Lake Pleasant
New NABC Masters
- Jim Baxter, Pittsford
- Dr Padmanabh Kamath, Rochester
- Stephen Snell, Rochester
- Stephen Younger, Ithaca
New Life Masters
- Gary Conners, Pittsford
- Holli Mast, Corning
New Ruby Life Masters
- Shirley Weiermiller, Elmira
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Unit 120: Northeastern Pennsylvania
Unit 120 Sectional
October 5-7
The Architzel Memorial Game will be held in Beach Lake on September 9th this year and we will also hold the Annual Unit meeting before the game - so plan to come a bit early. Game time is 12 noon and the meeting will start around 11:30 am. The cost for the dinner and games will be $25.00 as this party will be subsidized by the Unit. We will have our normal Salad, Turkey, Ham, Mashed Potatoes, stuffing and deserts. You can sign up for the event by signing up at the Honesdale club or emailing me at [email protected].
Unit parties are not scheduled to be held in the future as your current Board of Directors voted to do away with the parties as they were costing the Unit too much money. I was very disappointed to see the Board vote to discontinue the parties as I have been attending unit parties for over 20 years and am very sorry to have the BOD vote to not hold them anymore. When I was a beginning novice player a unit game was a big event to me - they are two session events, however you can play one session if you prefer - they are tournament quality with more masterpoints than club games - they normally pull more players than a regular club party. It can introduce a player to a test run before going to a real tournament.
If you also are disappointed to see the unit parties vanish, you might tell a BOD member or two so they bring it to the attention of the BOD at their next meeting.
Our current BOD consists of: Bill Orth, President, Walter Mitchell, Vice-President, Steve Mansour, Treasurer, Sara Eisner, George Mansour, William Haynes, Ellen Preece, Mary Zabresky, Helen Tanski, Doreese Torrey, Christopher Stephens, Joe Distini, Jim Mazeika, Joan Winters, JoAnn Mauger, Fay Pacchioli, Kate Shumaker, David Forth, Bill Burns, Fran Hofherr and Anne Pelak.
There is a new Club in town - Chris Stephens has started the CS Bridge Club on Friday afternoons at 12:30 pm. In Clarks Summt. Chris is the Director and Manager and hopes you all will come out and try his game in the near future. They are using bridge mates and although it looks small from the front, there is enough room to hold a unit party there. The game is being held in the new location that Jack Burns has for his Sunday and Thursday game. The location is in Clarks Summit in a Strip Mall. Coming into Clarks Summit on State Street, continue past the old turn to Jacks game, and turn left on Winola Road (a CVS is at the turn) - go a short distance and the strip mall is on your right on Lackawanna Trail. You can't miss the building with the big sign on the overhead NEPABRIDGE. Hope to see you there.
HawlHHHHH
PLAYER ADVANCEMENTS
JUNIOR MASTER
- Edel Hofstetter, Equinunk
SECTIONAL MASTER
- Joann Freeman, Dallas
Kathleen Burns, Throop
James Post, HanoverTwp.
BRONZE LIFE MASTER
- Ellen Preece
2018 CALENDAR - September 9 - ARCHITZEL MEMORIAL GAME, Beach Lake
October 5 - 7 - NEPA Sectional Tournament, WilkesBarre
October 13 - North American Pairs - Flight C
October 27 - North American Pairs - Flight B
October 31 - ACBL Instant Matchpoint Game - Gold pts
December 10 - Honesdale Holiday Party
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Unit 121: Berks Montgomery
Brian C Snyder
484-838-0977
December 21
Sue Wessner is hosting an Atlantic City trip October 17 - 19. The Trip includes two sanctioned bridge games.
CLICK HERE
for more information.
Sue Wessner is hosting a bridge cruise May 9-18, 2019.
CLICK HERE
for more information.
Link to the unit website
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Unit 133 Sectional
October 19-21
Check back next month for a Unit 133 report.
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Unit 141 Sectional (Germantown Cricket Club)
September 21-23
Unit 141 congratulates its New Life Masters and all those who reached new designation levels.
New Life Masters
James Koss
Barbara Patterson
Bharat Rao
Ruby Life Master
Judy Satzberg
Silver Life Master
J E Brill
Larry Plotkin
Andrew Rosenberg
April Uhlenburg
Bronze Life Master
Mark Bolotin
Ellen Preece
Bharat Bao
Happy to see several younger players joining the Valley Forge Regional. Please remember that they deserve encouragement and kindness so they will love the game and continue to play.
Table tip: Lead or place dummy before you write in your convention card.
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Unit 168: Central Pennsylvania
August 12
UNIT 168 NEWS
:
The week of August 20-26 is STaC week! All games will pay silver
points. In addition to our regular schedule that week (Monday 11:30 and 6:30; Tuesday 12:15 and 7:00; Thursday 12:15), we'll also be having these additional games that week:
- Wednesday (8/22) evening monthly Swiss - dinner at 5:45; game at 6:30; $10; pre-registration required
- Thursday (8/23) Junior Mentor Game 6:30 pm; $9; pre-registration required
- Friday (8/24) evening - 3 course dinner and bridge; appetizers at 5; game at 5:45; $20; reservations required
- Saturday (8/25) Continental breakfast -10:30; game time 11; $10 Sign ups encouraged
- Sunday (8/26) - Ladies' Swiss Teams; light lunch at 12:30; game at 1; $10; sign ups encouraged
Dates for other special games include:
- Thursday, August 2 - Senior Mentor Game
- Saturday August 4 - Brunch and Bridge
- Tuesday, August 7 - ACBL-Wide Junior Fund Game (open to all)
- Wednesday, August 8 - Wine and Cheese
Special games at Maple Grove in August include:
- August 6-10 ALL GAMES are CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
- August 20-24 STaC Week - ALL GAMES pay Silver points
August special games and workshops at the Bridge Boardroom are as follows:
- Tuesday, 8/7 - 9:30-11:30 - Workshop: Overcalls
- Wednesday, 8/8, 9:30 - Mentor Game
- Friday, 8/10, 9:30-11:30 - Workshop: Is My Partner's Bid Forcing?
- Week of 8/20: STAC Games all week, $1 extra
- Tuesday, 8/21, 9:30-11:30 - Workshop: Takeout Doubles
- Wednesday, 8/22, 9:30 - Mentor Game
- Saturday, 8/25, 6:00 - Saturday Night Special
- Tuesday, 8/28, 9:30-11:30 - Workshop: Rebids
CONGRATULATIONS
to these Unit 168 members on their new master point rank achievements:
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Club Master:
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Bonnie Lundy, Debbie Rosen, Judith Shulley, Karen Strine
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Sectional Master:
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Barbara Fortney, Karen Gayman, Paul Sekula
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NABC Master:
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Barbara Droz, Joyce Franz, Jill Greiner, Sally Patterson
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Life Master:
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John Ferranti, Jeanne Lantzy, Matt Sherman
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Bronze Life Master:
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Fred Long
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Ruby Life Master:
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Barbara Beard, Karen Diffenbach, John Leonard
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Gold Life Master:
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Tim Trissler
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Wacky Hands & Gadgets -
by Dave Bort
Transfer Lebensohl and Responses to Keycard with a Void
In the 7th set of the recent World-Wide Bridge Contest, Board 4 was red-on-red (both vulnerable), and partner's and my hands were:
West:
AK93 Q73 K95 K42 East: JT AK98652 AJT2 None
while our opponents held:
North: Q852 JT4 4 AQJ85 South: 764 None Q8763 T9763
In the actual bidding, North failed to compete, and partner and I reached 6H, making 7. But if, say, North had acted, the bidding might have proceeded:
West
North East(me) South
1N(1) 2S(2) 3D(3) Pass
3H(4) Pass 4D(5) Pass
4S(6) Pass 6C(7) Pass
6H(8) Pass Pass(9) Pass
Notes:
(1) 15-17
(2) Cappelletti, Spades and a minor, at least 5-4 or 4-5
(3) Transfer Lebensohl: transfer to Hearts, invitational or better
(4) Accepting the transfer
(5) Concentration of values in Diamonds
(6) Kickback (Roman Keycard Blackwood for Hearts) - Ooh, I have Diamond support, let's see if we may have a slam, partner
(7) Odd number of keycards with a Club void [besides normal keycard responses, whether 0314 or 1430, responses with a void are from among: 5S (raising the asking suit) = even number of keycards (almost always 2) with an unspecified, but useful void (i.e., not a suit partner has bid); 5N = odd # KCs with a useful void in the asking suit (Spades, in this case); 6m = odd # KCs with a useful void in the indicated minor]
(8) I can't count 13 tricks, partner, so I'm stopping here
(9) Whatever you think, partner
Result: Making 7 (as at the table, after inferring the Diamonds correctly)!
In Ron Carter's legendary book on Lebensohl, he barely mentions the transfer version, but the advantages of having an invitational or better bid for all suits is significant, as are the advantages for using transfers over interference - after all, isn't that why we use transfers after partner's NT at all? Here's a helpful rendition of the approach from Larry Cohen, with the caution that it does indeed require some memory effort:
https://www.larryco.com/bridge-articles/transfer-lebensohl
As for the responses to keycard with a void, there are very many versions, depending on whether you play Roman Keycard Blackwood (0314 or 1430), or Kickback, or Redwood, or Minorwood, or Qualitative Keycard, or more exotic versions, but they all make sense, after you understand the basic approach. And, something of this type is very helpful with such hands, whether to avoid missing slams, or to avoid winding up in terrible slam contracts - after all, you don't show voids after a keycard ask by counting them as Aces, do you?
Losing Trick Count/Cover Cards
In a local club game, no one vulnerable, partner's and my hands were:
North
:
KQ853 AJ84 A52 3 South: 72 KT973 KJT6 64
while our opponents held:
West: AJT 65 987 KJ872 East: 964 Q2 Q43 AQT95
The actual bidding proceeded (opponents silent throughout):
North South (me)
Pass
1S
1N 2H
3H Pass
Result: Making 6! I was concerned at the time, thinking everyone else was likely in game, but it turned out to be a top. Why did no one bid the game (including my partner)? In such cases, partners may not understand what their bidding conversation is telling them. For example, my partner and I were playing a Losing Trick Count (LTC)/Cover Card (CC) style. This differs from the traditional LTC approach, where both partners estimate their losers and subtract the total from 24 to yield the number of winners they expect.
With LTC/CC, opener still estimates losers, but responder looks for cover cards, or winning tricks that can cover one of partner's losers. Cover cards include an Ace, King (probably, although it still may be poorly placed), QJ combinations, and in particular, shortness, when responder has two more trumps than the length of the shortness. So, 3 trumps provides a CC for a stiff (a singleton), but not for a doubleton, for which you need 4 trumps to count the shortness as a CC. But, if you have a stiff and 4 trumps, you can count it as 2 cover cards.
With that in mind for this hand, partner's opening bid is assumed to show no worse than a 7-loser hand. Responder's 1N denies a game-forcing hand, but is, as yet, otherwise non-committal. Then, after opener bids 2H, responder's bid of 3H commits them to taking 9 tricks. But, since opener only suggested a 7-loser hand, responder's commitment to taking 9 tricks must be showing 3 cover cards. On that logic, opener can then look at his actual hand, which has only 6 losers, recognize that responder's indicated 3 cover cards leave him with only 3 losers, and bid their resulting 21-point game with reasonable confidence.
Tune in again next month, for more wacky hands & gadgets.
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September 14-16
Unit 190 Dave Treadwell Sectional
December 27-31
BRIDGE AT THE BEACH SECTIONAL
:
Bridge at the Beach was terrific! There was an excellent turnout, with players coming from PA, NJ, NY, MD, and throughout DE, for one of the best summer locations on the East coast. Many of the region's top players participated.
The hospitality and food were both abundant and outstanding. Many thanks to Barbara Saulsbury and Mickey DeBellis for again hosting this year, and also to the hardworking Tourney Chair Kim Holm and his assistants.
The three day event was capped off with a final day Swiss event with the team of Linda Szilagyi, Peter Wise, Peter Harris and Paula Varrassi winning both the A and X competitions, while Ginger Lewis, Cindy Brown, Kathy Wiblin and Virginia Ward swept the B/C/D event. The smiles captured on the faces of the players showed that Historic Lewes, in Lower, Slower, Delaware, was the place to be last weekend.
PLAYER ADVANCEMENTS
JUNIOR MASTER
:
Elayne Davidson
CLUB MASTER
:
Peter R. Hartogensis
SECTIONAL MASTER
:
Deborah A. Flayhart, Michaele S. Hardy, William B. Herdle, and Jonathan Lawler
REGIONAL MASTER
:
Sugi Hayes
LIFE MASTER
:
John L. Flanagan and Don Steiner
BRONZE LIFE MASTER
:
Kay F. Brown
GOLD LIFE MASTER
:
Terry Patton
I ate a box of Thin Mints. They didn't work.
For news and results from around Unit 190, check out the Unit 190 website and click on the links below:
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Unit 217 Sectional
September 21-23
Check back next month for a Unit 217 report.
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