And the countdown begins...
Unit 141 Newsletter: February 2018
So much to look forward to!
Upcoming Events

Mark your calendar!

March 8-18
Philadelphia Downtown Marriott and Pennsylvania Convention Center
1201 Market St
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Bala Sectional (stay tuned for flyer)
April 13-15
2200 Belmont Av
Philadelphia, PA, 19131

April 29 
Brunch at 10:30 followed by meeting and game 
Green Valley Country Club
201 Ridge Pike
Lafayette Hill, PA 

April 30-May 6
Crowne Plaza Wilmington
630 Naamans Road
Claymont, DE 19703

Grand National Team Qualifiers

Rubber Bridge and more at NABC! 

The stars are signing up as we speak (Meckstroth, Rodwell, Cohler, Mahmood, Passell, Hamman, Berkowitz, Sontag, Shi, and Helms, oh my!) to play and discuss hands with YOU!

The Philly NABC has organized a new, fun opportunity to enjoy relaxed, informal bridge with top experts from around the world, local experts, and members of Philadelphia's own Hamilton Club, one of the longest-running and most prestigious rubber bridge clubs in the United States. 

The Rubber Bridge Room is located in Room 403 on the 4th floor of the Marriott Hotel. Drop in anytime between 10-2 Monday-Friday March 12-16.  Play is Chicago-style with cut-ins after 4 deals, no partners needed. Bidding will be Standard American Yellow Card (rules posted in room) unless a variation can be quickly decided on at the table. Rubber Bridge rules posted on ACBL website.  Cost is free for ACBL members, and $8 will cover non-members for the entire week. The pros will be there every day from 10-12 (they do have National events to play in, after all). Don't miss this amazing opportunity!

And, new players: Once you've had all that coaching from the stars, why not dip your toe in some games at the national? Did you know that every day at nationals there are multiple events designed for players just at your level? Check out the schedule here and look at the little box the upper right hand corner. Games for Intermediates and Newcomers are listed in red, meaning only players with less than 300 master points can participate. In blue are the Gold Rushes, which are stratified to make it possible for people with 200 points or less to earn points by measuring up against their peers. 

Check out the NABC website and you'll find all kinds of other ways to learn and improve, even if you've never played bridge before. Bring a newbie friend and drop them off at Learn Bridge in a Day on Saturday, March 10 from 1-6 pm (pre-registration required). Celebrity speakers, free 2-hour classes from world class teachers (Audrey Grant will be there!), and entertainment for the whole family!


Club News

Valley Forge Bridge Club  is having a not-to-be-missed tutorial for new players on Sunday February 25 at 10:30 am where you can learn what to expect at the NABC.  Free lunch, door prizes, explanation of convention card and director interactions, IMP scoring and strategy, and a Q&A with experienced tournament players. Pre-registration form here . Email Joan and Bill Goldstein with questions.

Welcome, Rui!

Unit 141 welcomes Rui Marques  of Setúbal, Portugal - international tournament director, management consultant for individuals and public organizations. Rui started playing bridge in 1989, and became a tournament director in 1990. In 1993, at the EBL TD Course in Amsterdam, he was rated at the top level "A" and has been directing at the top level since the 1993 European Community Bridge Championships held in Montechoro, Portugal. He was appointed as Chief Tournament Director for both the EBL (since 2015) and WBF  (since 2017). He is frequently a member of the teaching staff at the international tournament director´s courses held by the European Bridge League. At the national level he managed a number of bridge clubs on the Lisbon area, held managing positions within the Portuguese Bridge Federation for two terms, was Chief Tournament Director for the Estoril Grand Prix for more than a decade and has been the Chief Tournament Director for the Madeira International Tournament since the first edition held in 1998. He is the owner and manager   www.lusobridge.org  since its inception in 2004.

Fun fact: During the 90´s Rui was a "whiz kid" on TV quiz shows on national  television. He  is currently living in Philadelphia (USA) with his wife, international bridge player Connie Goldberg, and has been pitching in directing at our local club Raffles, and tournaments far and wide, including the upcoming NABC. We are very grateful for the following article he has provided us on a topic which comes up often at the table. 

Unauthorized Information?

Bridge is a game of information exchange. When a player calls or plays, he is sending information across the table. The fact that the player made a certain call or play, and all the positive and negative inferences deriving from it, is authorized. When he hesitates, alerts, explains, makes a comment, bids too fast, questions the opponent, or the like, any information that might derive from that is unauthorized for his partner (and authorized for the opponents).

In practical terms, a player has to imagine that his partner is on a black box, and the only things that come out of the box are the calls and plays.  Often we find it hard to understand this concept and abstract ourselves from "knowing", for example, that partner thinks that we are playing Lebensohl when we are playing something else and he completely forgot. And sometimes even if we try hard to ignore the unauthorized information, we end up taking some questionable action.

For example, we open 1H on H AQJ98 S KQ2 D 2 C J9876 and partner bids 4D on H K765 S JT9876 D - C AKQ. We bid 4H. Partner takes another bite of the cherry and bids 4S. We bid 4NT and partner bids 5H (two key cards without the queen). Two key cards are missing, so we pass. Now imagine that partner hesitated for a while before bidding 5H. What does it show, or suggest? How long does it take to count your key cards?... The only possible explanation for the break in tempo is that partner is void in diamonds! Either that, or he was thinking of where to go for a walk on the weekend! We might be itching to play a slam, and think of a million excuses to continue the bidding, but we can't. Partner told us that two key cards are missing. Bidding on is not justifiable from the bidding, and even if in all honesty it was not based on partner's hesitation, it might have been, and the opponents are well entitled to call the TD, and the TD should roll it back to 5H. This is not an evaluation of whether we did something unethical or not. It's just a decision that states that our call might have been based on unauthorized information. And this situation is so frequent that it was named "Hesitation Blackwood"...

Another example: Partner opens 2NT. We think that we play Stayman, and we bid 3C. Partner alerts as "Puppet Stayman". We have to ignore what we heard. For us, it is still Stayman. When partner bids 3D, showing at least a major of 4 cards in his mind, we must ignore it. For us it denies any major. (We think it is Stayman, remember?)

And one more example: Partner lead the 3 against NT (4 th best for us). Opponent asks, and we explain. Partner blushes and looks surprised. We "know" that he got it wrong somehow, but that is something that we cannot know. The grimaces, the blushing, the "oops factor" is unauthorized information.

When called to a table because of a possible issue of unauthorized information from partner, the TD should establish that there was UI, that the action from the player could have demonstrably been suggested by UI, and that there are other less successful logical alternatives to the action that the player took. If these three conditions are verified, the TD usually adjusts the score. This is normal in bridge. Getting a score adjusted is not cause for shame, or an ethical indictment. It's part of the game. We may think that we did not use UI, but the TD may think that we might have done so, and the standard of proof is just that we "might have done so".

One common mistake that TDs do is to say that a player that potentially received UI should "ignore that information". The correct explanation of what a player can do is "to not select an action that could demonstrably be suggested by the UI that was made available". Sometimes the action suggested is the majority action (the action that most people would choose), but if there are logical alternatives the player should stray from the beaten path and not select the suggested action.

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PCBA Unit 141 Newsletter | Volume 8 Issue 1 | Editor: Susan Morse
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