Greetings to the
North Penn Bridge Community!
Week of 11/15/2021
Director Appreciation Month


Brendan O’Malley grew up in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia where he learned to play Hearts from his parents. He is a 1990 graduate of Princeton University where he participated in Crew and ROTC. After graduation, he served in the 1st Armored Division in Germany where he and other officers played Spades to pass the time on long deployments. Brendan is qualified as a Parachutist, Pathfinder, and an Army Ranger. He left the army as a Captain in 1996 and joined Pricewaterhouse as an IT consultant, working on a variety of IT projects until moving to Tastykake in 2003 where he was the Chief Information Officer and VP of Sales until the acquisition of the company in 2013 by Flowers Foods. Since that time, he has worked in a variety of IT and consulting positions until his retirement in 2020.

Sportswise, Brendan completed more than 20 Triathlons from Sprint Distance through Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run), but has slowed down and now focuses on golf, skiing, and racquet sports (pickleball, paddle tennis, etc). 

Brendan began learning bridge in 2017 at the urging of his wife, Linda, and got hooked playing at the Philadelphia NABC in 2018. As a result, he took the club director’s course in 2021 to learn more about the game and to be able to direct face-to-face games. Brendan has recently begun directing at North Penn and we welcome him to the club!
From the Club Manager
Dave Dodgson


Masking Policy. If you didn’t receive the email update regarding our mask policy that I sent on November 13, please review it on our homepage.

Scents. The club requests that no one come to play wearing cologne, perfume and/or scented lotion. Some people have an extreme sensitivity to fragrances, and this issue can be more serious than simply disliking a particular smell - it can be a real health problem. Thank you for honoring this request.
 
Schedule. All games at the club this week are STaC. Pick up silver points in competition with everyone in the district. 

Robot Individual. Just a reminder that the Robot Individual is this Saturday, November 20 at 4:00.
 
Proof of vaccination and face masks will remain a requirement at our F2F games until further notice.

Calendar (click here to see a file you can enlarge):
Non-Life Master December Sectional
(0-750 Stratified Pairs)


There will be a Non-Life Master sectional at the King of Prussia bridge club on Saturday, December 4, 2021.

See the flyer for this event here.
Education


Shuffle & Deal for Newer Players. Thursday evenings beginning November 4 at 7:00 pm. Learn as you play. Drop ins welcome - no partner needed. A mentor will be available to answer whatever questions might arise as you play. $5 per person per session. No scoring, no pressure!

Last three Beginner Lessons: Wednesday November 17; December 8 and 15 from 9:30 am to 11:30 am.
Facebook


Be sure to check out our Facebook page. It’s a great way to stay in touch with all the happenings at North Penn.
Tidbits


“If you raise partner's overcall, you should not bid again uninvited unless you have a maximum raise, beginning with four trumps. Do not compete again when you have only three trumps. If you have three trumps, your defensive potential will be greater than if you have four.”



From Bridge Tips
by Mike Lawrence
Deal of the Week
by Bruce Schwaidelson



Q-Bids Italiano


Several months ago I wrote a DOTW column entitled “Slam Bidding Italian Style”, discussing both Roman Keycard Blackwood (RKC) and Italian Q-bids. Believe it or not, a few weeks later I received the following e-mail:

Dear Smart Guy,
So I discussed your column with my wonderful wife & since we are 100% full-blooded Italians and already using RKC, we decided to add your Q-bidding suggestions to our repertoire -- except we have been calling them “Q-bids Italiano”, if that’s OK with you. We play a basic 2 over 1 with strong NT & Bergen raises. On the matchpoint deal below (all white, opponents quiet), here was our bidding:
As you can see, a grand slam in diamonds, hearts, or NT would be a laydown, yet we couldn’t decide what went wrong. Thought we should ask for your sage advice, Smart Guy. Grazie e arrivederci.
-- Frederico Fellini

Before deciding how to answer the great Fellini, I confirmed with Wikipedia that the director of “La Dolce Vita” was no longer in fact having la dolce vita, as he had died a few decades ago. Regardless, I played along and corresponded with him several times about the auction.

After the game-forcing 2call, FF’s 2NT rebid confirmed either (1) a balanced minimum (almost always 5332 shape) or (2) as in this case, a balanced hand with 18-19 HCP. If responder raises 2NT to 3NT, for example, a re-raise to 4NT would have shown the stronger version.

Signora Fellini’s 3bid confirmed 3-card heart support, but because she did not bid 4 (“fast arrival”), she was indicating that she had at least mild slam interest. Frederico of course knew a slam was in the offing, but only if his wife had a club control. 3♠ and 4♣ were indeed Q-bids Italiano, indicating 1st round control (A or void) or at least 2nd round control (K or singleton) in those suits. Since he had rebid 2NT, FF’s 3♠ bid could not be a singleton or void, so he clearly held the ♠A or K.

FF could not tell whether his wife’s club Q-bid was shortness or one of the top honors, but that’s what RKC is all about. He immediately launched into 4NT and discovered that Signora did in fact hold the 2 missing keycards -- both minor suit aces. He next trotted out 5NT, which they play as “specific kings”. This call advised his wife that their side held all 6 keycards, including the trump Q and asked the following question: “Bellissima, do you have any Kings you want to tell me about, or just maybe, do you have a hand with such fine undisclosed assets that you can immediately bid the grand yourself?”

Signora Fellini had not yet disclosed the stiff spade and her 6th diamond, but she could not guarantee 13 tricks -- nor could she see the lovely K sitting in her husband’s hand. She therefore called 6 denying the ♣K and K. (She could still hold the ♠K and have decided not to show it, since she would have to bypass 6 to bid 6♠.) Frederico knew it was time to sign off and did so. After he quickly claimed all 13 tricks, their heated but loving discussion ensued.

Signora Fellini “suggested” that the grand would have been much easier to reach if FF had bid 4 over her 4♣ call -- “isn’t that the reason we are playing Q-bids Italiano, Carissima?”. She would have known that it had to be the K, since she held the A and his 2NT bid promised a balanced hand.

Agreeing with the Signora, I pointed out to Frederico that Q-bidding 4 might have allowed his wife to take control of the auction with RKC. In fact, once she discovers your partnership holds all 6 keycards as well as the all-important K, she should be able to envision the grand.

Frederico had two objections: first of all, “why would my wife bid RKC when she doesn’t yet know I have more than 14 pts?”, and secondly, at the table he rejected bidding 4 since “I don’t like giving the opponents TMI, if you know what I mean.”

Yes, FF, I know TMI means “too much information”, but if you want to bid a grand slam, you must share what you know with your spouse, just like in a good marriage! Since Signora’s hand was still unlimited, she may in fact be in a better position to bid the grand than you are. FYI, Frederico, the husband does not always have to take charge!

If in fact Signora had been unwilling to go past 4, I suggested this auction:
------1 – 2; 2NT – 3;
------3♠ – 4♣; 4- 4;
------4NT – 5; 5NT – 7 (or 7NT);
------All Pass

The auction is very similar to the couple’s original one, except this time Signora Fellini knows about the K. When Frederico bids 5NT -- confirming all the keycards -- Signora can count 13 tricks (♠A, 5, 6, ♣A), assuming hearts and diamonds behave. She would also know that her husband has 18-19 HCP since 5NT confirms the AKQ and ♠A and he had previously Q-bid the K. If his hand also included the J, then 7NT is a virtual laydown. If not, 7 could have play even if the FF held Kx and the diamonds broke 4-1, as long as he held the ♣K or Q. Her next call should be one of the grands.

Frederico liked this version and at long last agreed with his beloved that “I should have definitely shown my diamond control”. The acclaimed director then confided about a rather caustic comment his wife made during their heated discourse: “Amore mio, do you recall your wonderful film ‘8½’? On this board we can make about 8½NT, so why in the Oscar-winning world are we are only in 6!?”

That’s when FF decided to email me… 
Laughter is the Best Medicine


It's not the handling of difficult hands that makes the winning player. There aren't enough of them. It's the ability to avoid messing up the easy ones.


S. J. Simon

Watch this space for future big game scorers.
It could be you and your partner!
Play often to improve the odds!
November Birthdays



Adelman, Nancy
Bauer III, Bill
Bickel, Barbara
Dowling, Christina
Fryman, Maribeth
Garrity, Kay
Gewirtzman, Steve
Goldman, Bill
Goldman, Ellie
Marino, Elaine
Meyers, Alan
Murphy, L. Irish
Resnick, Mary Ann
Salasin, Sandy
Serfass, Rob
Stanley, Lee
Teates, Mike

North Penn Duplicate Bridge Club
(215) 699-4932