North Penn Bridge News

Greetings to the

North Penn Bridge Community!

Week of 11/29/2021

Happy Hanukkah

Director Appreciation Month

Roger Milton. Roger began playing duplicate bridge 20 years ago with his wife, Beth. They earned their first master points at North Penn Bridge Club on May 31, 2002 and became Life Masters in 2018.

Professionally, Roger worked in the computer field for almost 50 years primarily as an integrator which is a fancy way to say new age plumber and professional student.

In 1989, Roger and Beth migrated from the Memphis area and settled in Blue Bell. Happily their children and granddaughters are also in the neighborhood.

In addition to bridge, Roger has been involved in scouting for over thirty years and has received the highest levels of recognition available as a scouter at the council level. In July, he completed a major backpacking trip after a thousand hours of preparation at CrossFit. Roger is currently seeking a leadership position which will enable him to take a troop to the next World Scout Jamboree in South Korea in 2023.

Roger became a director in 2018 and has been directing at North Penn ever since. Both he and Beth have been active members of the North Penn Bridge club for many years and are currently serving on the Board of Directors.

From the Club Manager

Dave Dodgson

Mask Policy. I realize that everyone is tired of dealing with COVID, but the fact remains that not only is it still with us, but on the uptick. Please conform to our mask policy, covering both your mouth and nose. Unfortunately, some people are not covering their nose, or are frequently pulling down their mask. This puts the directors in the position of enforcing the policy. You will be warned if you are not conforming, and will be assessed a procedural penalty if the warning is not heeded.

Membership. It’s the time of year to pay your 2022 $10 membership dues. You can put it in the red container (envelopes are beside the box) in the club, mail a check, or pay online with either a credit card or PayPal. The second week of December is Club Membership week. All members who have paid their dues will only be charged $5 to play. See the Membership item at the bottom of our homepage for details.

December Events. The first full week of December is Super Club Championships, triple points at no extra cost. The second week is Club Membership week, extra points for only a $5 card fee for members.

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. Shuffle & Deal has moved to Thursday mornings from 9:30 to 11:30 am. There will be three more sessions this year: 12/2, 12/9 and 12/16. In the new year, S&D will move to Wednesday mornings. Everyone is 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!

2021 Beginner Lessons: The last two beginner lessons with Deb Crisfield will be December 8 and 15 from 9:30 am to 11:30 am. Contact Deb at: [email protected]

2022 Beginner Lessons: Starting January 3rd, 2022, North Penn Duplicate Bridge Club will be offering beginner bridge lessons on Monday mornings from 9-11 am.

A fee of $100 covers the 5 lessons and the textbook is $15.

We all enjoy bridge and probably have friends who would too! Please pass this email (or information) on to them so that they can register for this fun class with teacher John Dickenson. Contact John at: [email protected]

You can view the lesson flyer on our website.

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 make a takeout double with minimum strength, you should not bid again unless partner insists. If he makes a simple response, you should pass. If he makes an invitational jump, you should pass. If he bids two suits, you may take a preference if appropriate.”

From Bridge Tips

by Mike Lawrence

Deal of the Week

by Bucky Sydnor

Where There Are 12 Tricks, There Are 13

- an adage about squeezes

In September I wrote about a two suited squeeze. Today’s deal involves what would have been a “show up squeeze,” if the opponents hadn’t helped out declarer. Nevertheless, I will walk you through the squeeze variations of the deal, not to teach you show up squeezes, but just for the fun of watching a show up squeeze unfold.

When I read about squeezes I came across the adage “Where there are 8 tricks, there are 9.” That is, squeezes create a trick. The corollary is, Where there are 12 tricks, there are 13. My partner for the deal, Craig Robinson, could count 12 sure tricks during the bidding. He was counting on my having a helpful queen (or a better hand than a flat 12 count) or that he could squeeze the opponents for his 13^th trick.

North choose to lead the ♠8, a safe lead when the opponents are in 7N, having shown a spade fit which includes the AKQ. Declarer then ran all his spades on which north threw his five clubs, thinking they were worthless. To declarer they weren’t, since that revealed there were only 2 clubs outstanding, including the Q. Thus, declarer eventually cashed his two high clubs dropping the Q. The ♣J became his 13^th trick.

Generally speaking, it is not good defense to simply look for the easy discards when declarer runs a long suit. Rather you need to think about the whole hand and try not to help declarer, all the while working with partner to try to determine who is protecting what suit.

North’s discarding error at the table notwithstanding, there is no winning defense as the cards lie. Here, even if north, as a good partner (and bridge player) tries to protect partner’s ♣Q10 by exposing as little as possible of his ♣98653 to declarer, declarer can still come to 13 tricks. Let me walk you through two scenarios to show you why. As part of the scenarios, I am going to let north/south defend double dummy, knowing all the cards in all the hands to avoid the significant problem of how north/south could communicate with each other sufficiently to execute the options.

The defenders already know that declarer has one of the minor suit kings for his jump to 7NT, thereby giving him 12 top tricks (7 spades, 2 hearts, plus 2 minor suit A’s and a K). North of course knows which one it is whereas south does not. North also knows south must hold the ♣Q and south knows that north must hold the ♥Q, since otherwise declarer could claim all 13 tricks.

Here are the scenarios:

SCENARIO 1: North protects hearts, conceals club length

Declarer will always run his 7 spades, pitching all 4 of dummy’s diamonds. North, on declarer’s run of his spades, needs 5 discards to go with his 2 spades. So, protecting hearts requires him to keep three, and he can discard 1. South has to protect diamonds, so north can pitch his 2 diamonds, while south pitches 3 hearts and 3 diamonds. North’s final 2 discards are low clubs. Here is the deal after 7 spades have been played.

Declarer will play off his 2 heart winners, come to his hand with the ♣K and play his ♦A, which is the card that executes the squeeze.

North then simply follows to declarer’s play of dummy’s 2 hearts winners, as well as dummy’s low club to declarer’s king. But on declarer’s play of the ♦A, north must hold his ♥Q to guard against dummy’s ♥3 becoming a winner, so he pitches a club. Declarer knows north is down to 1 heart and 1 club. At the 12^th trick declarer leads a club towards dummy and either the ♣Q “shows up” in the north hand or declarer plays the Ace dropping the Q offside.

SCENARIO 2: North protects diamonds, conceals club length

Declarer will always run his 7 spades, pitching all 4 of dummy’s diamonds. He will then play off his 2 heart winners, come to his hand with the ♣K and play his ♦A.

North, for his 5 discards on declarer’s run of the spades, will pitch 4 hearts and 1 low club while his partner pitches 2 hearts and 4 diamonds. Here are the hands after 7 spades have been played.

North makes 2 club discards when dummy’s 2 heart winners are cashed, and follows to dummy’s low club to declarer’s King. He also follows on declarer’s play of the ♦A. He is down to the ♦K and 1 club.

Again, at trick 12 declarer leads a club and either the ♣Q “shows up” in the north hand or declarer plays the Ace dropping the Q offside.

The funny thing is that to make 7S, the play would need to be similar.

Bridge is full of wonders.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

I'm not sure whether glory or masterpoints is first on the list of beginning tournament players, but I know learning to play better is definitely last.

Moi