North Penn Bridge News

Greetings to the

North Penn Bridge Community!

Week of 11/27/2023

Game Changes Effective January 1

The North Penn Board has approved the following schedule changes which will go into effect January 1, 2024.

First Thursday of each month, we will hold a “Handicapped Teams” game in place of our Open game. Handicaps will be assigned based on the average of the masterpoint totals of each team’s players. Any team may enter, but the higher the average points your team has, the more IMPs you have to give to the opponents.

Second Wednesday of each month: a “Four is Enough (4IE) Pairs” game will replace the noon Open game. Each individual player will be assigned a value of 1, 2 or 3 based on their total masterpoints. No partnership can exceed a value of ‘4’.

1 = 0-300 MPs 2 = 301-1500 MPs 3 = 1501+ MPs

Finally, in January our Friday game will change to a 0-500 format. This will allow our newer players to participate in non-life master duplicate games and provide opportunities for NLM players to qualify in the NAP C competitions leading up to NAP finals in the Fall.

If you plan to play in Handicapped Teams (1^st Thursday) or 4 is enough (2^nd Wednesday) games, please sign up in the book at the club or send an email to the club at [email protected]. If you want assistance finding partners or teammates for these events, contact [email protected].

From the Club Manager

Dave Dodgson

Board of Governors. Our club is run by our Board of Governors. There are 11 members of the board, 9 elected and two appointed. Elected members serve 3 year terms and we elect 3 members every year in December. Please let Mike Carver or me know if you wish to serve on the Board and we will put you up for election. If no more than three people are up for election, they are elected by acclimation. Elections will take place the week of 12/18.

Season of Giving. For those of you who may be considering end-of-the-year charitable donations, this is a friendly reminder that our club is a 501(c)3 charitable organization. Donations may be made via check or online here.

Volunteers Needed. We need volunteers to make the boards for our games. It takes about 15 minutes to duplicate the boards for a game. We will teach you how to do it. All our players like having pre-duplicated boards.

Toys for Tots. There is a box outside the lawyers’ office for donations to Toys for Tots. Check out the poster displayed at the club. The box will be available through Monday, Dec. 11.

Holiday Parties

Monday December 11 and Friday December 15

Upcoming Tournaments:

December 8-10 is the Wilmington Sectional
December 15-16 is the I/N Regional in Allentown
December 19-22 is the Online Regional
January 5-7, 2024 is the Sectional Tournament at North Penn and KOP.

Pairs events will take place on Friday and Saturday and Swiss Teams on Sunday with separate sections for players with no more than 500 masterpoints! All open events will be held at King of Prussia Bridge Club; all I/N events (500 Masterpoint limit) will be held at North Penn Duplicate Bridge Club. Each site is limited to 21 tables, so pre-registration is strongly recommended. You can find the tournament flyer and registration form here.

Education

Shuffle & Deal

Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m. However, please note that Tuesday Shuffle and Deal will be replaced by Linda O'Malley's 4-week series beginning November 28 (see below for more info.)
Wednesday mornings at 9:30 a.m.
Sundays at 12 noon

New Lesson Series Tuesday Nights. Beginning November 28, Linda O’Malley will teach Overcaller’s Forcing Bids. Check flyer for details.

* And we still have our Tuesday night virtual club game at 7:00 p.m. on BBO for those who want a bridge fix without venturing out at night.

King of Prussia Bridge Club Lessons. For lesson details go directly to the Latest News item on their website: https://www.bridgewebs.com/kop.

Partnership

We are in the process of re-activating our online partnership desk and will now be monitoring it on a daily basis. Please use it for requests for our Open games; partner requests for Tuesday and Friday limited games should go directly to Mitch Snyder. If you are in need of a partner for a Monday, Wednesday or Thursday Open game, please email [email protected]. We will do our best to match you up with others who are looking for someone to play with.

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.

Ask the Expert

Email your questions, or a pesky hand, or something you’d like to know about bidding or playing to Toysie at [email protected]. She will forward them to the panel, one will be chosen, and the question and answers will be printed in the following week’s newsletter.

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

“When you have opened the bidding, partner has made a two-over-one response and RHO shows a long suit, double by you is penalty and implies shortness in partner’s suit.”

From How You Can Play Like An Expert

by Mel Colchamiro

Deal of the Week

by Rex Saffer

A Tricky Way to Count Losers

Introduction

When holding a balanced hand and a 5–card minor, then with adequate side suit stoppers we frequently prefer a 9–trick notrump game to five of the minor. Lacking those stoppers, we need extra high card or playing strength to get to eleven tricks. With unbalanced hands, additional trick–taking potential depends on the nature of distributional features and the quality of the fit. These can be difficult to assess with standard evaluation methods, and it is useful to have an auxiliary approach.

The Deal of the Week

Our Deal was played in a recent F2F game at a nearby Club. The bidding at our table is shown, but what motivated this route to the diamond game?

The Auction

After two passes, East opened the unbalanced 16 HCP hand 1♥, South had insufficient strength for a 2–level overcall, and West responded 1♠. East could not make a reverse or splinter raise, so the only other forcing bid available would be a jump shift, and some if not many will consider the hand not quite good enough for that. With a silent sigh, East rebid 2♦ and hoped that would not end the auction.

With dead minimum responding values, West would have been relieved to pass, but its modest values and a fit make the hand worth further attention. A stiff in partner’s first suit usually dampens our enthusiasm, but it is after all the ace, and the remaining honors are working. Knowing East held at least four diamonds, West upgraded the hand to invitational playing strength and raised to 3♦.

Without a club stopper, how will East judge whether the combined assets are enough for the 11–trick minor suit game? Enter Losing Trick Count (LTC), which seems to have originated around 1910 in Elwell on Auction Bridge by Joseph Bowne Elwell, one of the most well–known and successful high–stakes money players of his time. In 1920, the flamboyant expert was found murdered in the locked living room of his sumptuous New York City residence. The shocking case was never solved.

Elwell’s original approach has undergone continuous commentary and refinement since then, with Ron Klinger’s fifteenth (2001) reprint of Modern Losing Trick Count a popular favorite. Among other authors, Robert Todd’s Adventures in Bridge site has this good article. LTC is most effective for distributional hands with good fits, where conventional hand evaluation methods can break down. It is not appropriate for use in notrump auctions.

To a first approximation, a Losing Trick or “loser” is a missing ace, king, or queen. Three–card or longer suits may have up to three losers, doubletons no more than two losers, and singletons just one. On average, what LTC can we expect from hands in various playing strength ranges?

For opening hands,

Minimum (12–14): 7 losers

Intermediate (15–17): 6 losers

Strong (18+): 5 or fewer losers

For responding hands,

Minimum (6–9): 9 losers

Invitational (10–12): 8 losers

Game–going: (13+): 7 losers

This is at best a bare bones outline. After determining the combined LTC, subtract it from 24 to obtain an estimate of how many tricks can be taken in a suit contract. Another approach is to use “Losers and Covers” as described in the Todd article. Applying this to our Deal above, there are 4 losers in the East hand, and assuming invitational values in the West, East can anticipate another 8 losers there for a total of 12. Then with 24 – 12 = 12 potential tricks, game in the minor should have a good chance, and slam may not be out of reach. On this reasoning, East raised to 5♦.

The Play

South tabled the ♣K, and declarer saw that two spades, one heart, five diamonds in the closed hand, and three heart ruffs in dummy would bring the contract home. In addition, the ♥Q might furnish a twelfth trick if hearts broke favorably. Transportation is the main concern, since four entries to the closed hand will be required.

Declarer ruffed the club continuation and immediately unblocked the ♥A. A diamond to the ace was followed by a heart ruff, and a second diamond to the king cleared trumps. After a second heart ruff, the ♠A and a second club ruff in the closed hand supplied the necessary entries to ruff a third heart and return to the established ♥Q. Click here to view or play the deal in the BBO Handviewer. Use the Next button to advance trick by trick or the Play button to choose your own cards and explore alternate lines of play.

Declarer succeeds against any opening lead, even a trump. But if declarer reflexively draws two rounds of trump before unblocking the ♥A, the third heart ruff will take place at trick twelve, declarer will have no remaining entry, and the defense will win the last trick. Insult on top of injury is bad enough without resulting from a self–inflicted wound. Click here to see this oversight unfold.

All the best,

Rex