North Penn Bridge News

Greetings to the

North Penn Bridge Community!

Week of 05/15/2023

The Longest Day Is Back At NPDBC

For the fourth year in a row, North Penn Duplicate Bridge Club will again participate in the ACBL’s Longest Day Campaign in support of the Alzheimer’s Association. Our Longest Day games will take place on Wednesday, June 21 (F2F) as follows:

0-50 game at 9:30 am
Lunch at 11:30 am
Open game at Noon

Sign-ups at [email protected] or in the book at the Club will be appreciated.

Our monthly BBO Robot Individual on June 24 at 4 pm will also be a Longest Day game.

We are again encouraging our players to consider tax-deductible donations toward the Club’s $1,600 fundraising goal for Alzheimer’s. Over the past three years, our generous players have raised more than $8,000 for this worthy cause. If you wish to donate, you have three options:

Online by clicking here.
By check made out to the Alzheimer’s Association, dropped off or mailed to the Club at 298 Wissahickon Ave, North Wales, PA 19454.
By cash in the receptacle provided at the Club.

We hope you will play with us on June 21 (F2F) and June 24 (Virtual) and donate in support of this worthy cause!

From the Club Manager

Dave Dodgson

Good News. North Penn Duplicate Bridge Club is now an official IRS Charitable Organization. That means that donations to our club are deductible. The IRS approval letter can be seen here. Thanks to all those who helped make this happen, especially Pat and Toysie!

Thursday 0-299 Game at Noon. We need a minimum of three tables to run this game, so please let us know you are coming by signing up in the book at the club or by emailing [email protected]. It’s ACBL’s GrassRoots month so extra points will be awarded. This week there will be a lesson before the game at 11:00 a.m. introducing the topic of “Balancing.”

STaC Results. Congratulations to club members who did well in the STaC:

Monday

First: Bruce Schwaidelson & Dave Cohan

Seventh: Elaine Clair & Ed Leach

Tuesday

First: Kay Garrity & Rich Godshall

Second: Dick Abell & Frank Lucard

Third: Beth & Roger Milton

Wednesday

Seventh: Dave Dodgson & Dave Dresher

Ninth: John Dickenson & Mitch Snyder

Thursday

Eighth (B): Dave Silberman & Al Fitzgerald III

Third (C): Jeff Rohrbeck & Dave Willgruber

Friday

First: Beth & Roger Milton

Second: Joyce Levin & Peggy Michaud

Third: Ed Heater & Michael Carver

May 20. Game Day from 1-4 p.m. Join us at the club for an afternoon of board games. We will provide two or three interesting options, but if you have a favorite, bring it along. Family and friends are invited. Please email Beth Milton at [email protected] to let her know you will be coming.

June 26-July 2. Valley Forge Regional.

North American Pairs. NAP qualifying games occur in June, July, and August. We will host a separate Flight C only section on Thursdays if we get enough players. Check out our webpage for more information.

Stay Tuned

The North Penn Duplicate Bridge Club will be Fifty Years Old this year! Plans are underway for a very special celebration. As a pre-curser to the event, we would like to publish historical happenings and anecdotes. If you have a contribution, please contact Toysie Walker at [email protected].

Education

Shuffle and Deal. Tuesday evenings from 7-9 p.m. and Wednesday mornings from 9:30-11:30 a.m. Everyone welcome!

Joann Glasson’s Bridge Lessons. Last lesson for the month will be Monday morning, May 22. Click here for details.

Partnership

To add your name to the player list or to request a partner for a game, please send an email to [email protected].

Calendar

Click here to see a file you can enlarge.

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

Reading the Dummy continued…

“Keep in mind always how many tricks you need to put declarer down. Just knowing that number sharpens your wits and sparks your imagination. Count how many tricks you and partner have positively and look around for other possibilities. Visualize what cards partner might have that would create extra winners.

Think positively! Believe that your side has the ammunition to win the battle.

There are three types of dummy and each dictates a different defense: the dummy with a long, runnable side suit, the dummy with a short suit and ruffing power, and the dummy with neither a long suit nor ruffing power.”

From Bridge Made Easy, Book Three, How to Win More Tricks

by Carolyn Sydnor

Deal of the Week

by John Dickenson

Fourth Round Losers

Many declarers go down in cold contracts by ignoring fourth round losers. Consider the following hand which I played against the robots.

I don’t like to open two suited hands with 2C, but with 22 hcp and 9 certain tricks in my hand, that is the way to go. 2D by the bot was waiting, 2S showed my suit, and 3C was a second negative – no A, no K, no 2 Q’s. Game is still a strong possibility – all I need is the club jack or a doubleton club and game is near certainty, so I signed off in 4 spades.

Now count my losers – 2 hearts, a diamond, and a club. Of course if clubs break 3-3, I will take 10 tricks but we all know a 3-3 break is 36%. I could play for the opponents to misdefend and discard a club from a 4 card holding. Or I could play well and play to make any time the contract is makeable.

Here’s how: after the defense wins the first 2 heart tricks, ruff the third heart and pull precisely two rounds of trump. If trumps are 2-2, a 40% chance, we are home free. In this case, East shows out on the second round. Now we must play 3 rounds of clubs – if all follow to 3 rounds, pull the last trump and claim 10 tricks. Again in this case, they are 4-2, East showing out but could not ruff the club queen. Therefore we can safely ruff the club 3, ruff a heart (high!) back to hand and pull the last trump.

Note that if clubs were not 3-3, and the long trumps were with the short clubs, the contract is unmakeable. Watch for hands with fourth round losers and give yourself extra chances to make by delaying pulling all the trumps!

To follow trick by trick, click on the link:

Laughter is the Best Medicine

A contestant in a tournament suddenly slumped down in his chair. A doctor was hastily summoned. He took thestricken man's pulse and noted that it was steady and firm. Obviously it was no heart attack.

From the victim's white face and clammy hands the doctor surmised that this was a case of shock. A bridgeplayer himself, he picked up the victim's cards and studied them. He then turned to the others at the table.

"Now let me have a review of the bidding," he requested.