THE SUN Seale Unit 446 Newsleer February / March 2016 Yarington, Etnyre Win 2015 Round Robin The 2015 Round Robin had 10 teams in Bracket A and 10 teams in Bracket B. After a hard fought regular season and excit- ing knockout stage, the finals were all set! The flight B final had the defending 2014 champion Joel Furhman team (Bill Campbell, Cliff Marx, Dex Stuberg) taking on the team captained by Bill Etnyre (Steve Estvanik, Audrey Wass, Jim Thompson, Robbie Reaber). Team Etnyre was stuck 26 IMPs at the half, but came storming back to take the victory, winning by 7 IMPs! The Bracket A final was a rematch of the 2014 finals with the team captained by the late Dick Yarington (Kevin Bolan, Bill O’Brien, Leo Schwartz, John Schermer, Kenny Scholes) facing off against the team captained by Kim Eng (John Aslin, Jeff Ford, Paul Schwaighart, David Taylor). Last year Yarington destroyed Eng 125-59. Eng knew it was going to be a different story this year, as they had a 4.3 imp carryover they had accrued from their regular season match. And…a different story it was! This year Yarington only defeated Eng by 38 imps (66-28)… In all seriousness, a HUGE congratulations to everyone on the Yarington team for their TENTH consecutive Round Robin victory. It isn’t easy making the playoffs, even harder to make the finals, but it is unheard of to win this difficult event ten years in a row. You all are to be commended! —Kim Eng Sign Up for 2016 Yarington Round Robin! If you love playing bridge but sometimes wish it were a little more social, the Round Robin is the event for you! If you have never played before, the Round Robin is a team event where you get to play competitive bridge in a friendly, social setting. Each team will be placed in a bracket (determined by number of masterpoints) and will play a handful of matches against other teams. The beauty of the Round Robin is that you get to set your own schedule! Team captains work together to find a mutual date and home location that works for both teams. It is that simple! Registration is now open for the 2016 Round Robin. If you would like to register a team (consisting of 4-6 players) or if you have any questions about this event, please send an e-mail to Kim Eng at [email protected]. You can also sign up as an individual or pair and I will make every effort to place you on a team of comparable ability. The deadline for registration is March 1st. The cost is $60 per team. —Kim Eng Mike Christensen Wins Trifecta Congratulations to Mike Christensen for winning the first ever Seattle Unit Trifecta, collecting 5.29 masterpoints along the way! The event consisted of three special games — Barometer Pairs, Fast Pairs, and Mixed Pairs. Mike won the Fast Pairs (with regular partner Mike Ring) and scratched in the Barometer and Mixed Pairs, allowing him to edge out Ole and Julie Godefroy, the silver medalists with 5.01 masterpoints. Honorable mention goes to John Krah as the only person besides Mike to win masterpoints in all three games. The Seattle Unit Board would like to thank everyone who played in these unit games and a special thanks to Roger Putnam for directing all of them! We hope to see more of you participat- ing in the 2016 Unit Trifecta — see p. 4 for the dates of this year’s games! Trifecta Mixed Pairs MPs A B C Names Score 2.77 1 Barbara Nist - Dave Grubbs 60.32% 2.08 2 1 Bryan Delfs - Shawn Abernethy 60.12% 1.56 2 Jeff Ford - Kim Eng 60.05% 1.16 1 Mike Christensen - Becky Stevens 53.97% 0.87 2 Wayne English - Judy Dubester 44.65%
16
Embed
THE SUN - seattlebridge.squarespace.com · THE SUN Seattle Unit 446 Newsletter February / March 2016 Yarington, Etnyre Win 2015 Round Robin The 2015 Round Robin had 10 teams in Bracket
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
THE SUN
Seattle Unit 446 Newsletter
February / March 2016
Yarington, Etnyre Win 2015 Round Robin
The 2015 Round Robin had 10 teams in Bracket A and 10
teams in Bracket B. After a hard fought regular season and excit-
ing knockout stage, the finals were all set! The flight B final had
the defending 2014 champion Joel Furhman team (Bill Campbell,
Cliff Marx, Dex Stuberg) taking on the team captained by Bill
Etnyre (Steve Estvanik, Audrey Wass, Jim Thompson, Robbie
Reaber). Team Etnyre was stuck 26 IMPs at the half, but came
storming back to take the victory, winning by 7 IMPs!
The Bracket A final was a rematch of the 2014 finals with
the team captained by the late Dick Yarington (Kevin Bolan, Bill
O’Brien, Leo Schwartz, John Schermer, Kenny Scholes) facing off
against the team captained by Kim Eng (John Aslin, Jeff Ford,
Paul Schwaighart, David Taylor). Last year Yarington destroyed
Eng 125-59. Eng knew it was going to be a different story this
year, as they had a 4.3 imp carryover they had accrued from their
regular season match. And…a different story it was! This year
Yarington only defeated Eng by 38 imps (66-28)…
In all seriousness, a HUGE congratulations to everyone on
the Yarington team for their TENTH consecutive Round Robin
victory. It isn’t easy making the playoffs, even harder to make the
finals, but it is unheard of to win this difficult event ten years in a
row. You all are to be commended!
—Kim Eng
Sign Up for 2016 Yarington Round Robin!
If you love playing bridge but sometimes wish it were a
little more social, the Round Robin is the event for you! If you
have never played before, the Round Robin is a team event where
you get to play competitive bridge in a friendly, social setting.
Each team will be placed in a bracket (determined by number of
masterpoints) and will play a handful of matches against other
teams. The beauty of the Round Robin is that you get to set your
own schedule! Team captains work together to find a mutual date
and home location that works for both teams. It is that simple!
Registration is now open for the 2016 Round Robin. If you
would like to register a team (consisting of 4-6 players) or if you
have any questions about this event, please send an e-mail to Kim
or pair and I will make every effort to place you on a team of
comparable ability. The deadline for registration is March 1st.
The cost is $60 per team.
—Kim Eng
Mike Christensen Wins Trifecta
Congratulations to Mike Christensen for winning the first
ever Seattle Unit Trifecta, collecting 5.29 masterpoints along the
way! The event consisted of three special
games — Barometer Pairs, Fast Pairs,
and Mixed Pairs. Mike won the Fast Pairs
(with regular partner Mike Ring) and
scratched in the Barometer and Mixed
Pairs, allowing him to edge out Ole and
Julie Godefroy, the silver medalists with
5.01 masterpoints. Honorable mention
goes to John Krah as the only person
besides Mike to win masterpoints in all three games.
The Seattle Unit Board would like to thank everyone who
played in these unit games and a special thanks to Roger Putnam
for directing all of them! We hope to see more of you participat-
ing in the 2016 Unit Trifecta — see p. 4 for the dates of this
year’s games!
Trifecta Mixed Pairs MPs A B C Names Score 2.77 1 Barbara Nist - Dave Grubbs 60.32% 2.08 2 1 Bryan Delfs - Shawn Abernethy 60.12% 1.56 2 Jeff Ford - Kim Eng 60.05% 1.16 1 Mike Christensen - Becky Stevens 53.97% 0.87 2 Wayne English - Judy Dubester 44.65%
Page 2 February / March 2016
Greetings! The Seattle Bridge Unit (SBU) would like to extend a hearty welcome to all new
members and to all members who recently transferred into our unit! All new members will receive
one free play at each of the local clubs. Be sure to check your e-mail!
Terence Block, Jonathan Cook, Rasool Doneshvar, Richard Farmer, Christine Griffith, Alice Haskin,
Dale Hultengren, Carol Loe, Kathleen Maurel, Shirley Metcalf, Muriel Murphy, Anne Nagler, Reid
Swick, Edith Whitfield
Transfers In: Bob Burke, Eveline Konig, Elana McQuade, Sally Molloy, Charles Pigott, James Spurlin
Congratulations to the following members on their rank advancements!
Junior Master (5 MPs): Anne Bruskland, Eran Erez, Janis Gonzalez, Robert Horn Jr., Nicholas Paris,
Janet Russell, Stanley Slete, Debra Taylor, Sandra Tone, Linda Whatley, Dian Williams
Club Master (20 MPs): Maritza Aubrey, Carl Berkenwald, Sally Casey, Mel Geokezas, Patti
Hulvershorn, James Horrell, Susie Kalhorn, Tony Marshall
Sectional Master (50 MPs): Joanne Kerr, Kelmar Lemaster, Jane Millar, Charlotte Riviera, Rodney
Waldbaum
Regional Master (100 MPs): Tony Alberts, Carolyn Giffin, Vincent Johnson, Sharon Riddle, Carol
Rosenthal, Keith Rosenthal, Rona Visser, Carolyn Wyman
NABC Master (200 MPs): Judith Dubester, Paul Huntress
Life Master (300/500 MPs): Donald Stark, Margaret Webb
Bronze Life Master (500 MPs): Barbara Aydelott, Diane Felure, Mary Jo Hale, Sheila Kim, Lynne
Phillips
Silver Life Master (1000 MPs): Reidun Decker, Becky Stevens, Dave Walker
Total Members: 1,414 as of January 1, 2016
If you’d like to get involved with helping the growth of bridge in our area and showing people
how fun and amazing this game is, please don’t hesitate to contact a board member. SBU is run total-
ly by volunteers who want to keep bridge in Seattle great. We would love your help! —Mike Ring
Membership report
But wait, there’s more! Beginning in 2016, the ACBL has introduced
two new masterpoint ranks: Ruby Life Master, for Life Masters with at least
1,500 masterpoints (300 silver/red/gold/platinum), sitting between the Silver
Life Master (1000 MP) and Gold Life Master (2500 MP) levels; and Sapphire
Life Master, for Life Masters with at least 3,500 masterpoints (700 silver/red/
gold/platinum), between the Gold Life Master (2500 MP) and Diamond Life
Master (5000 MP) levels.
At right (p. 3) is a list of members who were (in some cases posthu-
mously) promoted in rank with the introduction of the new titles on January 1.
Congratulations to all members on their new titles!
Page 3 SEATTLE UNIT NEWSLETTER
Ruby Life Master (1500 MPs): Kay Adams, Frank Alexandro, David Baer,
Craig Barkhouse, Richard Barnes, Doro- thy Barron, Nancy Bass, Jack Belur, Dorothy Bennett, Maxine Blumenthal, Jules Bue, Terrance Chinn, Michael Christensen, Kevin
Cline, Gil Comeau, Billie Coopwood, Dona Costello, Dianne Cox, Kathleen
Curtis, Bryan Delfs, Amy DeShaw, Elaine DeShaw, Dennis Duryea, James
Elliott, Michael Elliott, John Emmerson, Paul Wayne English, Karen Epley, Sha-ron Erwin, Laurel Ewing, Joel Fuhrman, Marian Garrett, Janet Geoffroy, Robert
Getz, Tami Gillman, Florence Goza, Nancy Grant, Fred Hagen, Jim Hamil,
Tom Hansen, Kathy Hauck, Judith Hess, Galen Hesson, Jon Hildrum, Harold
lis Mackenzie, M Mardesich, Phil Mar-riott, Michael Mays, Mark McCallum, Patti McCallum, Beth McCaslin, John
McCaslin, Delbert McClure, Gerald McDonald, Warren McGee, Barbara
McHarg, Sharon Miller, Margery Mont-gomery, Richard Morey, Doris Murdoch,
Tom Myers Jr, Marion Nelson, M Don Nudelman, Maxine Ogino, Shirley
Opstad, David Perkins, Joan Picchena, Peter Pitell, Margo Putnam, Michael Ring, John Robinson, David Roselle, James Scavone, Maureen Schroder, Eugene Schwartz, Andrew Sherrill,
Steve Skoor, Viston Smith, David Sokolow, James Spurlin, John Stafford,
Linda Stix, Paula Strand, Katherine Svarc, David Taylor, Rob Thomason, Diana Thompson, Ben Tucker, Carol
Ure, Anthony Vukov, John Weinberg, Margaret Wesselhoeft, Marcia West,
Tim White, Walt Williams, Carol Wright, Carole Yager, Brian Zaugg, Carol Zogg Sapphire Life Master (3500 MPs): Hel-
en Abbott, Sharon Bialek, David Binney, Lynn Blumenthal, Marilyn Breeze, Sis Breidenbach, Jessie Brunswig, Frank
Burke, Jackie Buroker, Steven Campau, Richard Carter, James Costello, William Flaherty, Cynthia Glad, Don Glad, David
Hildebrand, Donald Mamula, Marty McCune, Phyllis
Novak, Stan Roberts, Sandra Scholes,
Paul Schwaighart, Emery Selymes, George
Slemmons, Nada Sundermeyer, Mary Thompson, Craig Zastera
Congratulations Greg! The Herman
team will be USA2 for the Patiño Cup
competition (players under 26) at the
2016 World Youth Bridge Champion-
ships. Greg spent four days playing bridge
in Atlanta in December, at a team trials to
select two top junior teams to represent
the US.
On Day 1 there was a round robin
to choose the top four teams to play for
the USA1 spot. After the round robin,
Greg’s team was
seeded 2 and
Ben Bomber’s
team was seed-
ed 3, and thus
would face each
other in the
USA1 semifi-
nals. You may
remember that
Ben and Greg were partners on the UW
team that won the Collegiate Champion-
ships in 2013.
Day 2 was the semifinal knockout
for USA1. After three segments Greg’s
team was up by 20 IMPs. Greg had sat out
the third segment and could have played
the fourth segment. He decided to let his
teammates play. The Bomber team scored
36 IMPs on the first 5 boards. It was tough
to watch. The Herman team came back
and was up by 2.6 IMPs with one board to
go. On the final board his team gave up 7
IMPs and lost the match.
The event was being conducted in a
“repechage” format where teams who lost
in the USA1 event dropped into a second-
ary competition for the USA2 spot, so the
Herman team would now play in a round
robin in the USA2 event, while the Bomb-
er team moved on to the USA1 final.
On Day 3, the Herman team won
their round robin. Meanwhile, the Bomb-
er team lost the USA1 final. Their teams
would play a rematch on Day 4 for the
USA2 finals. It was a good day for the
Herman team as they won all four seg-
ments. The segment Ben sat out was deci-
sive as Greg’s
team picked up
43 IMPs, taking
a 50 IMP lead at
lunch. Greg sat
out the third
segment, but his
team held Ben’s
team at bay by a
42 to 41 IMP
margin. After seeing the 36 point assault
on Monday, Greg was back in for the final
round and brought the win home.
As you all know, bridge is a big
deal with Greg. He has been practicing
online every week with US Bridge Federa-
tion coaches for about five years now.
Many of you were instrumental in foster-
ing Greg’s passion for bridge and taught
him a few things along the way. Thanks to
all of you who have supported Greg. A
shout out to the players at the Meyden-
bauer Bay Yacht Club (Greg’s first bridge
experience), the Eastside Bridge Center,
and the especially the UW Bridge Club.
—Bill and Michele Herman
Greg Herman To Represent US
at Junior World Championships
From left: Christian Jolly, Julie Arbit, Greg Herman, Anam Tebha, Jordan Kaye, Oren Kriegel
Our website is having problems, so until we make further arrangements, special events will be posted with the game results at the ACBL Club Results page. NO SUNDAY GAME UN-TIL MARCH — Wayne English and Nick Tipton will be directing all games during February. Mark and Patti are in Mexico until March so until then there will not be a Sunday game. I am so sorry for the inconvenience to those who have loyally supported this session. I hope you will come join us again in March. TUESDAY EVENING from 7:00 to 10:00 SBC is open for no charge Drop-in-bridge. Anyone who would like to come play hands and talk about the bidding or play is welcome. This is a great opportunity for players to practice using bidding boxes and update their bidding systems and play of the hand. Thank you Da-vid Dailey for making this possi-ble. A NEW SERIES OF BEGIN-NING BRIDGE LESSONS is be-ing taught by Mark on Tuesdays from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. These lessons will resume in March. For more information please call or e-mail the club. SBC will be closed Friday, February 26 and Saturday 27 for the sectional tournament at Vasa Park in Bellevue. Nick Tipton continues to teach a class on Monday
evenings from 7:00 to 9:30 for beginners and Saturday from 9 to 11:30 for more advanced players. All games are open and stratified. We have plenty of parking available with handicap access. OCTOBER MASTERPOINT LEADERS were Krish-na Rustagi, Joe Ulrich, Yat Sing Ma, and Allen Custer. NOVEMBER MASTERPOINT LEADERS were Peg-gy Moen, Vivian Camandona, Cindy Glad, and Terry
Chinn. DECEMBER MASTER-POINT LEADERS were Mary McCune, Cindy Glad, Tommy Bailey, and Sue Chen. TOP MASTERPOINT WINNERS FOR 2015 were Cor-rine Joinette, Joe Ulrich, Cindy Glad, and Terry Chinn. Corrine will be honored with the Lorraine Leach memorial trophy for the second time.
Believe it or not, Alki’s games averaged over 17.5 tables in 2015. Thank you all for coming to our little corner of Seattle! Alki features all of the modern conveniences: pre-dealt hands with hand records every game, Bridgemates for immediate
and accurate scoring, and a non-playing director to keep the game moving. We have an excellent facility in West Seattle with a spacious and bright room and a full service
deli provides excellent soup, salads, and sandwiches for lunch. We play every Monday and Wednesday at 10:30 am with a break at noon for lunch. Every game is Open and the first Monday and Wednesday of every month is a special game! Get there early to ensure seating! We look forward to seeing all of you! Cost is $8 for all games, plus $1 for some special games. Our monthly Swiss Team game will NOT be on the first Friday in March due to a conflict with the Everett Sectional. It is rescheduled for the third Friday night. All tables will have duplicated boards every game. Check out our website for a schedule of games and results as well as a virtual Partnership Desk. Congratulations to our final masterpoint leaders for 2015: Ron Tracy (91.77), Paul Schwaighart (87.90), Wayne English (63.21), Diane Felure (62.46), and Ken Fox (59.95). February 1 and 3 are Club Championship games ($8). February 5 at 7:00 pm is a Club Championship Swiss ($8). March 2 and 7 are Charity Games ($9). March 18 (3rd Friday!) at 7:00 pm is our final GNT Qualifier Swiss ($9). CANCELLED GAME — Alki will not be holding a game on Monday, February 15 (President’s Day). The West Seattle Senior Center is unavailable then.
—Nick Tipton
Rainbow Bridge Club (RBC)
http://www.rainbowbridgeclub.org
RBC now calls Seattle Bridge Center home. We hold a weekly game on Saturday nights at 6:00. Every game is a special game of some sort, generally $7. We would love to see some new faces, or old ones as the case may be! Check our website for exact games as well as updates on our new facility. Questions? Caught in traffic? Call Nick at (206) 484-3303 to reserve your spot in the game. February 20 will be an Open Charity Swiss. March 19 will be a GNT Qualifier Swiss. We will be closed on
February 27 for the Seattle sectional and March 5 for the Everett Sectional.
Greetings! Please join us Sunday evenings for a friendly game of duplicate with a mix of college students, people returning to the game, and seasoned vets. We have supervised play at 5:15, the game starts at 6:00 and we’re done usually by 9:30, leaving time for a rousing postmortem. If you need a partner, let me know. We will not have a game on February 28 due to the Vasa Park sectional. Let me know if to receive notices on the game via e-mail. Come play!
Whether you are old or new, we always love to see people for bridge on Tuesday nights. We pride ourselves on our hospitality and our friendliness. All games are stratified, so there is good competition for all levels. Every week the hands are pre-made, hand records are available, and full results including the contracts on all the hands are available online a few minutes after the end of the game. The latest results are available at:
http://www.bridgeinseattle.org/mercercrest/results/ We will be having a Life Master party for John Krah and Daniel Poore in February. To get information about that game and other special games, please join our an-nouncement list by sending a note to [email protected].
November masterpoint leaders were Ray Miller (4.94), Jennifer Chalfan (4.01), Chris Moore (3.94), Cornel Galer (3.57), and Bryan Delfs (3.31). December winners were Stan Christie (5.34), Jingsong Liu (4.41), Kevin Cline (3.00), David Hankins (3.00), and David Walker (2.66). We also have year end results! The top masterpoint winner in 2015 was Ray Miller with 30.79 points. Others winning at least twenty points were Jeff Ford (29.19), Mike Christensen (27.13), Cornel Galer (26.69), Jennifer Chalfan (22.68), Daniel Poore (22.20), John Krah (22.20), Stan Christie (21.26), Chris Jarvis (21.25), Dave Setterholm (20.76), and Kim Eng (20.35). Congratula-tions to all our winners! If you’d like to come play and don’t have a partner, call us or e-mail us a day or two before the game. We are almost always able to make arrangements, and we’d love to have you join us.
We have a great group that comes to play bridge at the DesMoines Bridge Club. Our regular game costs $6, making it the best deal in town. Scores are posted at the club results section of the ACBL website. Thanks to eve-ryone that came to our Christmas Party, we had delicious food and a great time. We will have a Membership game which will award extra points on February 26, and a Club Championship for extra points on March 25. Check the ACBL Club Re-sults for other special games we may have in the future. My prayer is that everyone that comes to the club has fun and does their very best — hope to see you.
Happy New Year to all. I sincerely hope you had a glorious holiday season and are ready to play some serious bridge in the new year. January presented us with an opportunity to award bonus masterpoints and continue to support our junior bridge department. Education and especially the young players have always been close to our hearts. Don Stark became a New Life Master, really in De-cember, but we partied with him in January. MIBC continues to run games Monday evening at 7:00 pm and Tuesday at 11:00 am. Our games are low key and a very friendly environment. We encourage sin-gles and always provide partners for our singles. While Barbara is away playing bridge, Craig Mills, Craig Ruden, and Moises Saul will continue to serve our players. We always have the Pizza Pairs event the last Monday of each month which includes all the pizza you can eat. If you haven’t tried it, maybe this month you should try it
(Continued from page 5)
(Continued on page 7)
Unit Board News
The Seattle Unit Board had its first meeting of 2016
on January 11, and elections were held for unit officers. The
new unit president is Tim White. The new vice-president is
Susan Cothern. John Weinberg and Jennifer Chalfan retain
their roles from last year as treasurer and secretary, respec-
tively.
Ann Romeo, JC Chupack, and Larry Holdren are
joining the board in 2016. Jeff Ford, Aaron Mohrman, and
2015 stats are in, and some familiar names top the masterpoint winners: Greg Ho (191.24), Yoko Barnett (177.42), Dave Hildebrand (129.50), and Harry Steiner (117.95). Jim Scavone, Jim Aitken, Mike Christensen, Maurice Blustein, Mike Bovarnick, and Stan Roberts round out the top ten. Top winners in the under-500 race are Ben Drajpuch (48.80), Jack Yuan (39.30), Larry Braun (31.57), and Bill Hirt (26.91). Virginia Holte, Mary Greeniaus, Mort Lat-ta, Will Fox, Mary Blanchett, and Marilyn Helbig also made the top ten. Eastside Bridge Center is looking forward to some new games and special events in the upcoming months. We will be holding a Swiss Team game on the second Fri-day of each month. Beginning in February, another new event, Fast Pairs, will be held on the first Thursday of each month. The game will start at 7:30 pm and be done by 10:00. On Saturday, February 6, the afternoon game will be an ACBL International Fund game, and we will celebrate Valentine’s Day with special treats on Saturday, February 13. On Monday, March 7, our 10:30 game will move to 12:00 noon for an ACBL Senior Game. The week of March 14-19 will bring Club Championship games — extra points all week! We look forward to seeing you for any or all of these fun events!
—Susan Johnson
(Continued from page 6)
Hospitality Corner
Greetings from Hospitality! Here is a reminder
that we need treats for our unit’s upcoming events: the
Sweetheart Sectional at Vasa Park, February 26-28, and
the Non-Life Master sectional, April 16-17. I could also
use some help with lunch during the Swiss at Vasa Park.
Why not donate a batch of these delicious treats, or a favorite recipe of your own, for our next sectional? Just bring them to the tournament, or arrange to deliver them to Ann Romeo.
1 c. sugar ¾ c. shortening ¼ c. molasses 1 egg, beaten 2 c. flour 2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. cinnamon ½ tsp. ground cloves ½ tsp. ground ginger Mix shortening and sugar. Stir in molasses and egg.
Sift together dry ingredients, then add to wet mixture
and mix thoroughly.
Take small spoonfuls of dough, shape into ball, roll
in granulated sugar, and place on cookie sheet. Press flat
with heavy-bottomed water glass. Bake 10-12 minutes
at 350°, until slightly crisp. Loosen cookies from sheet
Special thanks to all who have volunteered and sup-
ported us this school year.
School Days
by Anne Farmer
SNGB volunteers were recognized at a luncheon. (Standing) Wayne English, Daniel Poore, Hailey Thomassen, John Givins,
Carol Schroeder, Anne Farmer, Shirley Johnson; (seated) Victor Bremson, Bill Campbell, Bill Bumpas, Melanie Doren, Jim Rush
Page 11 SEATTLE UNIT NEWSLETTER
articles
Artificial bidding conventions can be fun to learn and
play, and useful on many hands. However, if you like to
play without many conventions, don’t be ashamed! Hand
evaluation and bidding judgment, independent of system,
are far more important than conventions. Having a strong
natural base may help if you later come to adopt some
conventions – if you understand what “problem” a con-
vention is intended to solve (i.e., what hand types are dif-
ficult to bid in a natural system), it will help you under-
stand when it applies and how to use it, and remember
when it comes up.
If you are adopting a new convention, make sure you
and your partner are on the same page about certain ques-
tions. Playing a convention means more than remember-
ing the bid itself and any immediate responses to it. Does
it have the same meaning by a passed hand, or in competi-
tion? If the conventional bid displaces a natural bid, what
do you do instead with a hand that would have made the
now-unavailable natural bid? If you previously showed the
conventional hand type in some other way, what does the
old bid or sequence now show?
I believe you should ask yourself one other question
before adopting a convention: do you have the discipline
NOT to use it “because it’s there” on inappropriate hands?
From a psychological standpoint, there seems to be a sub-
conscious pressure to use conventions or rare specialized
bids once one adopts them. (The psychology can arise ei-
ther when the convention creates an opportunity to bid
where none previously existed, or when it creates a choice
between a conventional bid and a natural bid or other
course of action, including in constructive sequences.) No
matter how loose or strict a partnership’s parameters for a
bid are, there seems to be a temptation to relax them
when a hand just outside the parameters comes up, partic-
ularly with conventions for rare hand types. Thus one sees
the gambling 3N (showing a solid minor) opened on
AKJ10xxx or AKQxxx, or Michaels on 5-4 in the majors,
etc. If you find yourself unable to resist such temptations,
perhaps it would be better (for partnership harmony, if
nothing else) to remove them from your path in advance.
The impulse can afflict even top experts. A European
world champion playing in an international event picked
up ♠Qxxx ♥QJxxxxx ♦xx ♣—. Besides opening however
many hearts he wanted, or passing, he had a conventional
opening bid showing a weak hand with both majors, and
used it on this hand. The opponents jammed the auction,
he was unable to clarify the three-card discrepancy be-
tween his suits, and his partner eventually corrected 6H
(which was cold) to 6S (which went down three). Bridge
author David Bird, reporting the hand in Bridge Hands to
Make You Laugh…and Cry, noted that “players who use
these obstructive openings tend to stretch them to the
limits or even, as here, well beyond the limits.”
So You Want to Play a Convention
by David Wright
MORE DATES
2016 SEATTLE SECTIONALS
February 26-28: Sweetheart Sectional Vasa Park
April 16-17: Non-Life Master Sectional North Seattle College
May 27-30: Knockout Sectional Bothell Union Hall
July 15-17: Suntan Sectional
Forest Ridge School (Bellevue)
September 16-18: Fall Sectional Vasa Park
FE
BR
UA
RY
2
01
6
Sun
Mo
n
Tue
We
d
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
AB
C C
lub
Cha
mpi
onsh
ip
2
3
AB
C C
lub
Cha
mpi
onsh
ip
4
5
AB
C C
lub
Cha
mp.
Sw
iss
6
SB
C In
t’l F
und
Gam
e
ES
BC
Int’l
Fun
d G
ame
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
AB
C C
lose
d
16
17
18
19
20
RB
C C
harit
y S
wis
s
21
22
23
24
25
26
DM
BC
Mem
bers
hip
Gam
e
27
28
UW
BC
Clo
sed
29
WIN
TE
R S
EC
TIO
NA
L (
SB
C, R
BC
clo
sed
)
SE
CT
ION
AL
, co
nt.
SW
EE
TH
EA
RT
SE
CT
ION
AL
(S
BC
, RB
C c
lose
d)
MA
RC
H 2
01
6
Sun
Mo
n
Tue
We
d
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
DE
AD
LIN
E T
O R
EG
IST
ER
F
OR
201
6 R
OU
ND
RO
BIN
2
AB
C C
harit
y G
ame
3
4
5
RB
C C
lose
d
6
7
AB
C C
harit
y G
ame
E
SB
C A
CB
L S
enio
r G
ame
(12
:00)
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
AB
C G
NT
Qua
lifie
r S
wis
s
19
RB
C G
NT
Qua
lifie
r S
wis
s
20
21
22
23
24
25
DM
BC
Clu
b C
ham
pion
ship
26
27
28
29
30
31
ES
BC
— C
lub
Ch
amp
ion
ship
s (a
ll se
ssio
ns,
3/1
4-3
/19)
Page 15 SEATTLE UNIT NEWSLETTER
Club Schedules and Locations
Locations: Emerald Bridge Club Fife Community Center, 2111 54th Ave E, Fife Dennie Dye, (253) 939-0733 Ronald Methodist Church 17839 Aurora Ave N (entrance on Linden, not Aurora) Margaret Marshall, (206) 363-5484/(206) 972-1941 (cell) LeEtta King Bridge Club Central Area Senior Center, 500 30th Ave S (206) 226-9732 Vashon Bridge Club Location varies, call for details James Dam, (206) 567-5279/[email protected] See “Club News” starting on p. 2 for other club information.
Sunday 1:00 pm Seattle Bridge Center (starting in March) 6:00 pm UW Bridge Club Monday 10:30 am Eastside Bridge Center Open/0-750 Alki Bridge Club Seattle Bridge Center 7:00 pm Mercer Island Bridge Club Eastside Bridge Center 0-2000 Seattle Bridge Center Lessons + Play Tuesday 10:00 am Eastside Bridge Center Emerald Bridge Club 11:00 am Mercer Island Bridge Club 7:00 pm Mercercrest Bridge Club Eastside Bridge Center 0-200 Seattle Bridge Center “Drop-In Bridge” Wednesday 10:30 am Alki Bridge Club Noon Ronald Methodist Church Senior, 0-2000 Eastside Bridge Center Light Lunch 7:00 pm Eastside Bridge Center 0-750
Thursday 10:00 am Eastside Bridge Center Emerald Bridge Club 10:30 am Seattle Bridge Center Free Lunch 6:30 pm LeEtta King Bridge Club 7:00 pm Eastside Bridge Center Friday 10:00 am Eastside Bridge Center Open/0-200 10:30 am Des Moines Bridge Club Seattle Bridge Center 6:30 pm Vashon Bridge Club (except first Fridays;
time varies, call first) Saturday 9:00 am Seattle Bridge Center Lessons + Play 9:30 am Eastside Bridge Center 0-20 “Fun Bridge” Noon Seattle Bridge Center 1:00 pm Eastside Bridge Center Open/0-750 6:00 pm Rainbow Bridge Club