CBC NEWSLETTER..........JULY 2021
0-300 Game Returns August 9
Start your week off right!

Join Laura and Susan for the return of this popular game at a new day and time! Mondays at 10:00 AM

The morning begins with a mini-lesson and then a 18 board game follows.

Come and reconnect with your friends and make new partnerships. The game is relaxed, the directors are awesome and you do not need a partner for this game!

Watch your email for more details!
CBC STARDUST VIRTUAL GAMES
 
MONDAY - TUESDAY - THURSDAY :                 OPEN 1:05 PM
 
For more Stardust Games - Check out the Knoxville/SEBCC Schedule
Educational Opportunities
Check out the CBC Website for upcoming Online Classes.

Do you know someone who wants to learn to play Bridge? There is a free online beginning class starting in September as well as classes thru ACBL that are tuition based.

Kevin Wilson over in Knoxville regularly offers classes as well as a postmortem after the 1:05 PM game Monday thru Friday. Click to access past postmortem sessions.

Patty Tucker, who has taught 'Learn Bridge in a Day' at the CBC multiple times also offers online courses thru her website using Shark Bridge.

Looking for for an in-person experience? Barbara Seagram is coming to the Asheville area in August and Jerry Helms will be doing a seminar in St Simon Island in October.

We also have f2f learning at the Club -
Chris Webb has a lesson every Sunday before the Individual game, Laura and Susan will do a mini lesson before the
0-300** game Monday morning and Mike Bitonti will be hosting Supervised Play** Tuesday evening!

** Check calendar for start dates

Congratulations!
Masterpoint Milestones 
Regional Master (100+)
Patti Suggs

Club Master (20+)
Teresa Donelan

Junior Master (5+)
Debra Strayner
New Day and Time for Supervised Play


August 17 marks the return of Supervised Play on Tuesday evening at 6:00 PM, hosted by Mike Bitonti.      

The LESSON will run from 6:00 PM to 6:30 PM, and then MENTORED PLAY from
6:30 PM to 8:00 PM. Supervised Play will be held on the first and third Tuesday - Please check the monthly calendar for exceptions. 

You don't need a partner, and there are always snacks. Just $5 for the mini-lesson and play, or $3 to just play.

Experienced mentors will be there to help answer bridge questions.

Upcoming Special CBC Virtual Club Games
and Online Tournaments
Special Games and Events at the Virtual CBC
July 29 - Aug 1

August - all month

August 3
August 9

August 15


August 17


August 23-28
StarDust Week on BBO - CBC Games: Mon- Tues - Thurs

NAP Qualifier Games: f2f and BBO - Check Schedule

BBO Hi-Lo Game: +/- 500 MP Pairs 1:05 PM
First f2f Monday Game 0-300 10:00 AM

NO Lesson today
f2f Individual Game 1:30 PM

BBO Hi-Lo Game: +/- 500 MP Pairs 1:05 PM
Supervised Play 6:00 PM

STaC Week - only f2f Games - Check Schedule
All Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday games are f2f at the CBC
Virtual Regional Tournaments and Other National Events
August 6 - 8
August 12 - 15
Aug 31 - Sept 6
STaC is Back!
August 23 - 26

Earn Silver Points in the Club and then be compared with other players in Districts 7 and 10 and Unit 219 for additional awards.

Only f2f games are run as STaC games.
NAP Club Qualifier Games

The CBC will be running NAP Club qualifier games both in f2f and virtual play during the months of June, July and August.

The NAP games award upgraded points:
  • f2f games will award 200% of Standard Masterpoint rating, divided evenly between Red and Black masterpoints.
  • Virtual NAP games will have the masterpoint award reduced by 20% of the f2f game.

The strats are set by ACBL:

1. Flight A Open to any player

2. Flight B Players with < 2500 MPs as of the June 2021 masterpoint cycle*

3. Flight C Non-Life Masters with fewer than 500 MPs as of the June 2021 masterpoint cycle*


Mixed Flight Partnerships
  • Partnerships consisting of players of different flights will be entered in the flight eligible to the top player.
  • Any player who qualifies in a flight higher than his own is deemed to have also qualified in his own flight for the next level of competition.
Face to Face Event

Myrtle Beach
Non Life Master Sectional

August 6 - 8

Friday and Saturday: 10:00 & 2:00 PM Stratified Pairs
Sunday: 10:10 AM Double Session Swiss Teams

Silver Points Awarded ,,,,,,,,,,,,, Click for Details
Alerting on BBO Correctly
Why You Are Giving the Director a Headache

by Jack Self
Directing on BBO is, in a lot of ways, simpler than directing in an in-person game. I, as a game director, do not have to deal with leads out of turn, bids out of turn, revokes, or insufficient bids. I also do not have to deal with slow players. Bridgebase.com automatically handles those kinds of problems; however, there is one area that I have to continually deal with – Errors in the Alert Procedure.
 
You would think that alerting would be simple. In fact, the rule is simple. You alert and explain your own alertable bids. You announce and explain your own bids that require announcements. Your partner does not see your alert or announcement (a wonderful feature of BBO), but the opponents do.
 
Recent rule revisions and interpretations by the ACBL very plainly lay the onus of alerting on the bidder and not the opponents. Opponents are not longer obligated to ask about bids that were not alerted. They are no longer required to ask about bids that they think probably should have been alerted. 
 
Real simple: You alert YOUR OWN bids. Always. Every time. Without fail.
 
So why am I getting a headache? Because many players are NOT alerting their bids when they should. Just this past Wednesday, I dealt with three instances of bidders who made bids that should have been alerted but were not. One was a Bergen raise. One was a Splinter Bid. One was a Jacoby 2NT response.
 
You may be thinking, “Everybody knows when a Bergen raise has been bid and everyone knows when a Splinter bid has been made.” NO, THEY DON’T. Contrary to what some people think, not everyone keeps up with all the gadgets there are in duplicate bridge bidding. Besides, it is the RESPONSIBILITY and OBLIGATION of the bidder to let the opponents know what their alertable bids mean without their having to ask.
 
When you alert a bid (by clicking on the Alert box), you must explain what the bid means. You cannot just say the name of the convention, no matter how common the convention is. If your partner opens 1 and you make a Bergen limit raise of 3, it is improper to type “Bergen” in the Alert box Instead you type in the alert box “4 card limit raise of spades.” It is okay to abbreviate as long as it is clear. You can say “4 cd lim raise of sp.” 
 
 If you open 1 and your partner makes a Jacoby raise of 2NT, she should not just type in “Jacoby.” She should type in “4 card heart raise” If you play the version of Jacoby where the 2NT bid denies shortness, type in “ 4 cd hrt raise, no shortness” If you now bid 3 after the 2NT to show a singleton or void in Clubs, you type in “club shortness.” If you fail to do that, the opponents have every right to assume that you are showing values in Clubs
 
Announcements work the same way except you do not click on the Alert box; you just fill in the blank beside the word ALERT. For instance, if your partner opens 1 and you bid 1NT forcing, then you type in the word “Forcing” without clicking on the Alert box (You need to do this before you make your bid). If your partner opens 1NT and you make a Texas Transfer bid of 4 (showing Hearts), you type in the word “Hearts” in the blank without clicking on the Alert box.
 
One further type of announcement. If you respond to a 4NT Ace Asking bid (whether it is Key Card or not), you are obligated to tell what your response means. Say your partner bids 4NT Key Card Blackwood and you respond 5, you must announce that as “Two Key Cards with Queen.” Remember that you are obligated to give that information without their having to ask.
 
So why does all this give me a director headache? If you fail to alert or announce a bid that you should have alerted or announce and the opponents argue that your failure to alert cause them to misdefend, then I, as the director, have to decide whether the opponents are damaged. Keep in mind that you cannot argue that they should have known. As stated earlier, the onus of alerting lies with the bidder. It is not always easy to determine damages and, regardless of the director’s decision, there are going to be two people who are not pleased. If there is any doubt about damages, the director will give the benefit of the doubt to the non-offending side.
 
It would be so much easier if all players alerted or announced when they are supposed to and gave a clear and proper explanation. The rules of BBO bridge would be followed and my ibuprofen bottle would get a rest.

To review the new ACBL Alert procedure - Click Here
Support the CBC - So Many Ways to Play!!

Daily ACBL - SYC Games

ACBL has partnered with Bridge Base Online (BBO) and The Common Game to give you chances each day to earn black masterpoints online. Additionally, the majority of the game fees you pay will be given to your local club to support them during this difficult time.

Support Your Club ACBL Black Point Games are pair events. Games are held on BBO three times a day:
10:00 am, 5:10 pm and 7:30 pm.
Registration opens two hours before game time. You can play with any other ACBL member who has a BBO account.

NEW! Daylong Tournaments are solo events played with robots. In this game, you have up to 24 hours to complete your game, and it doesn’t have to be played all at once. You can even pause in the middle of a hand.
Play a few of the 18 total boards in the morning, some more after lunch and the rest in the evening. Or, play them all in one sitting! Register anytime, and you’ll have until midnight Eastern time to finish the boards.

Both events use matchpoint scoring, and masterpoints earned in these games will count toward District and Unit races.
99'er Virtual Game - Every Night 7:00 PM

Play with your friends from the CBC, or make some new ones in Districts 9 & 7 & 24 !!
Play 12 relaxed boards at approximately 7½ minutes a board.
This game pays back to the players' home clubs; the CBC will receive $3.00 every time you play in this game. Lesson before the game and Hand Analysis after. Great way to improve your game and support your club!
Southeastern Bridge Club Consortium

The CBC has joined with the Southeast Bridge Club Consortium (based in Knoxville, TN) along with more than 30 regional bridge clubs! The SEBCC Mission is to keep bridge players of all levels engaged and excited about bridge.

SEBCC offers games four times each day: 9:30 AM, 1:00 PM, 4:00 PM, and 7:00 PM. Every session has both Limited and Open games available (Open games are awarded extra Masterpoints when there are also Limited games at the same time).

They also offer free weekly lessons and Live Postmortems.

The best way to understand their offerings is via the SEBCC online schedule
Have a comment or an article you would like to submit? Reply to this email or send to cbc.news.sc@gmail.com. This is your Club newsletter and all suggestions or submissions for future articles are welcome! Please submit articles by the 3rd of the month. All articles are subject to editorial approval and edit. 

The CBC Newsletter is published monthly by the Columbia Bridge Club - Columbia, SC
www.bridgewebs.com/columbiabridgeclub/