October 2012  ♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠ Club Games at the Lima Duplicate Bridge Club are held TUESDAYS at 12:30 P.M. and THURSDAYS at 7:00 P.M., at the Council on Aging Building at 215 N. Central Avenue, Lima. The games are OPEN to the public, and ALL are welcome. $3.oo per session is the CHEAPEST duplicate game in the area, and sanctioned by the American Contract Bridge League. The Lima DBC is your venue for special ACBL events, as well. If you do not have a partner, or if you have questions, please call the Club Owner & Director, Ruth Odenweller @ HOUSE PHONE (567) 712-7629 (this is a local number for Lima) or CELL PHONE (VERIZON) (419) 303-4940, email: [email protected], or Director Elaine Altstaetter @ (419) 738-6332, (419) 204-9656, email: [email protected].

PARTNERS ARE ALWAYS GUARANTEED!!!

♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠ Oktoberfest Gold!

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Lima DBC Newsletter, www.limadbc.blogspot.com, October 2012   

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In This Month’s Newsletter 

SEPTEMBER MONTHLY RESULTS 

UPCOMING EVENTS .............................. 2  SEPTEMBER HONOR ROLL ....................... 2  Local Stars ........................................ 2  SEPTEMBER MONTHLY RESULTS ............... 2  Bridge Tips ........................................ 3  Pretend Suits ...................................... 4  GIL’S EPIC GAME ................................. 4  Sixth Session – Beauty is the Beast ............ 4 

THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 6 1. AnaKay Utrup and Elaine Altstaetter 63.54% 2. Ruth Odenweller and Ken Rexford 55.21% 3. Jeff Weaver and Sandy Brading 53.13%

 

UPCOMING EVENTS  Mark your calendars! 

Regional Tournaments

TUESDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 11 1. Dick Slonaker and AnaKay Utrup 67.59% 2. Roy Baldridge and Tom Faulkner 62.04% 3. Sandy Brading and Marlene Sigler 60.19% 4. Mike Mullen and Bob Stern 56.48%

Fort Wayne October 1-7 Farmington Hills (Detroit), MI October 8-14

Sectional Tournaments:

Columbus, October 19-21 Toledo, October 19-21 Cincinnati, October 26-28

THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 13 1. Ruth Odenweller and Bob Leonard 63.54% 2. CC Harris and Dick Slonaker 60.42% 3. AnaKay Utrup and Elaine Altstaetter 55.21%

Local Games

ACBL-Wide Instant Matchpoint Game October 4, at 7:00 PM

Gold Points!

TUESDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 18 1. Larry Coplin and Nick Forte 62.96% 2. Mike Mullen and Bob Stern 60.65% 3. AnaKay Utrup and Dick Slonaker 56.48% 4. Norma Rose and Ruth Odenweller 53.70

SEPTEMBER HONOR ROLL  Masterpoint Leaders 1st/2nd Place: Dick Slonaker 1st/2nd Place: AnaKay Utrup Third Place: Ruth Odenweller Fourth Place: Sandy Brading Fifth Place: Elaine Altstaetter

TUESDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 4 North-South 1. Frances Moeller and Sandy Brading 58.21% 2. Ralph Heitmeyer and Lucy Poeppelman 57.86% 3. Mike Mullen and Bob Stern 53.57% East-West 1. Tom Faulkner and Don Vale 62.09% 2. Elaine Altstaetter and Trella Niswander 55.84% 3. Richard Miller and Joe Worthington 50.41%

3.81 MP 3.81 MP 1.94 MP 1.91 MP 1.90 MP

Local Stars  Darrell and Linda Clay, Elaine Altstaetter and Ruth Odenweller played in Bellefontaine's Bridge in the Barn on Sept. 30th. Out of the 4 matches, they won 3 and tied 1. In the Dayton Sectional, Bob Leonard, Ruth Odenweller, Sandy Brading, and Marlene Sigler took some Silver Points home.

THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 20 1. CC Harris and Dick Slonaker 59.00% 2/3. Elaine Altstaetter and AnaKay Utrup 57.00% 2/3. Jeff Weaver and Sandy Brading 57.00% TUESDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 25 1/2. Marlene Sigler and Dick Slonaker 57.74% 1/2. Roy Baldridge and Nick Forte 57.74% 3. Ruth Odenweller and Barb Verhoff 55.95% THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 27 (INDIVIDUAL) 1. AnaKay Utrup 68.75% HIGH PERCENTAGE GAME 2/3. Dick Slonaker 60.42% 2/3. Jeff Weaver 60.42% 4. John Hoffman 52.08%

 

Lima DBC Newsletter, www.limadbc.blogspot.com, October 2012   

 

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Bridge Tips 

By Ruth Odenweller THE JOY OF DEFENSE Try and look at improving your skills when defending at the bridge table. We don't always get to play the hands as the declarer. In fact, you and your partner probably don't get to play half the hands in a duplicate session. So, we easily lose focus because we are just "defending" and maybe we really aren't paying much attention to our partner's discards, the declarer's line of play or developing a plan to set their contract. Defending is tough and your mental attitude about the challenge you have facing you is critical! If you give them one overtrick, you might have a zero for a score when compared with other defenders. If you let them set up a long suit because you don't hold up on taking a winning trick may be your demise. Some just lay down an Ace on the opening lead for no apparent reason other than to take a look at the dummy ... remember, Aces are made to take their Kings and Queens! Your opening lead may be a good one ... your partner's suit if he bid one. Or, you don't have the top of a sequence to lead so you need to look at something that won't help them much. Did you review the bidding??? Maybe there is an unbid suit that they are weak in and your partner has some power in it. If they settled on a trump and you have two or three small trump, did you consider leading one of them? No, don't say that you will finesse your partner out of a trump .... they can probably do the same thing once they get into the dummy hand. But, it just might cut down on some cross ruffing. If you lead trump, you won't be leading one of the other three suits that might give them a cheap trick. Take a good look at dummy and especially if a suit is trump. Does the dummy have a singleton or doubleton in an outside suit? If so, declarer will probably try to trump any of that

Lima DBC Newsletter, www.limadbc.blogspot.com, October 2012   

suits losers from his hand with the dummy's small trump. So, if you see shortness in dummy in a side suit, keep leading trump when you have a chance. What do you see once the dummy is displayed? At least you should pay attention to a long suit ... and especially if they have an outside entry (Ace or King) in another suit to get back to that long suit after it is set up. Can you knock out that side entry if you get in the lead before they get the long suit established? Or, let's say you have three cards with an honor in their long suit. If you hold up on playing the honor, they may never have an opportunity or transportation to play that long suit. Think! You and your partner have 26 cards between your two hands. Maybe you can picture what your partner may hold, especially since you heard the bidding from the declarer, you can now see the dummy and your own cards. Doesn't that give you a clue what might be in your partner's hand? Try counting the cards played in what you consider the most important suits. You probably aren't going to remember all four suits, but concentrate on the suit you led, what the declarer is trying to establish, trump suit if there is one and watch the discards from your partner especially when he throws off to help you get a count on suits. If they are in a No Trump contract, watch for an evenly distributed suit which breaks 3/3/3/4. Do you have the thirteenth card in that suit? Many times we won't lead to an Ace/King in the dummy. Why not? Aren't they sure tricks for the declarer? If we put declarer on the board in the dummy hand, he has to lead from one of the other three suits and maybe that is to your advantage. Wouldn't that be smarter than leading to an unknown suit in declarer's hand and giving him a free finesse or cheap trick? At your next bridge session, count how many hands you had to defend. Next, look at your

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scores on those hands. If you are below average on more than half of them, you need to work on your "defense" techniques. There are many very good articles and books on this subject. You can find all kinds of information on the internet about defending. Don't be one of those players who always has an excuse about not being able to set the contract or their making overtricks or a slam. It takes some thinking and focus to disrupt their play. Of course there will be times when they can make it easily, no matter what you do about defending. But, that won't happen all the time. Do your best to get every possible trick you can. It takes good defenders to be consistent winners! That challenging goal is your "Joy of Defense."

Pretend Suits In some auctions, you might find yourself in a pickle. There are times in these situations where bidding a "pretend suit" helps. A "pretend suit" is a suit that you are supposed to have for your call but that you just "pretend" to have because the auction works so much easier if you pretend. A simple example is when you have a five-card major with slam interest after partner opens 1NT. For example, if you have ♠ A K 4 3 2 ♥ Q 10 9 ♦ 10 9 ♣ A K 2 and hear partner open 1NT, you are really thinking about slam. However, if you transfer (bid 2♥) and then partner completes the transfer without super-accepting spades (bids only 2♠), what are you supposed to do? 4NT as Ace-Asking is wrong, because partner might only have two spades. If you play 4NT as quantitative, that works better, but then you still do not know whether the fit exists and cannot ask for Aces if you later do find out. The "Gerber Solution" is a hopeless attempt to delay the problem by making a lower bid than 4NT but then guessing what to do. So, what is the solution? PRETEND THAT YOU HAVE CLUBS! If you bid 3♣, "showing clubs," what can go wrong? If partner has three spades with you, he will bid 3♠, and then you have an established fit (and the ability to cuebid if you do that). If he raises clubs (silly partner!), he does not have a spade fit, so blast NT.

GIL’S EPIC GAME 

By Ken Rexford This month, we have more of Gil’s Epic Game, a continuing saga for your enjoyment.

Sixth Session – Beauty is the Beast   After a satisfying dinner, Gil and Kid arrived, eager for a great set and a possible win for their debut as partners. Gil, however, was apprehensive about playing against Tish, as Tish and he had some history. Years ago, a much younger Gil and a much younger Tish found themselves partnered up for a midnight Swiss, where first-time and perhaps one-time partnerships are often patched together, with a fair amount of alcohol serving as the substitute for concrete agreements. “We play bridge. We like beer. Let’s play!” Usually, this means little more, with expectations lightened but anticipation of fun heightened. Tish, however, had heightened expectations, not just at the table. Throughout the event, she persisted with openings, advances, and invites, none of which seemed to describe to Gil the right holding for him to show interest. At the end of the match, Gil preempted her game interest by exiting through a side door, which left Tish spurned and furious. This is not to say that Gil was never interested. When Gil first met Tish, the gods were not unkind in her allocation of beauty, at least superficially. However, Tish at that time was partnering Gil’s longtime friend, Timothy, and treated Timothy with utter contempt at the table for years. That experience left Gil with a sour taste for Tish that could not be overcome, no matter how stiff the drink. Gil was at least relieved that Tish would also be sitting North-South, as she would never suffer

Lima DBC Newsletter, www.limadbc.blogspot.com, October 2012   

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the indignity of sitting East or West and thus being mistaken as not the anchor of the team. That relief, however, was quickly shattered when he arrived at the table to find Tish sitting East, a seat she had never in memory taken in a team event. He thought briefly about switching to East himself, but then he knew that she would switch back, pretending that she had sat East just to talk, and then taking his sitting of East as a sign of interest. Better to suffer the indignity of 24 deals with Tish at the table than to risk the inference of interest. Sitting West was Tish’s latest partner, Andrew. The first few deals went without impact, as partscores of little interest followed games of little difficulty. At about the tenth deal, however, the first deal of note was reached. Gil opened second seat with a fairly light highcard hand, but great play potential, One Spade, holding ♠ A K Q 9 4 2 ♥ 9 ♦ A 10 9 3 2 ♣ 9. Andrew, sitting behind, overcalled Two Hearts, passed to Tish who bid Three Clubs as a fit-bid. Gil continued on with Three Diamonds, which was met with a forcing pass by Andrew, showing extras. Kid again passed, and Tish made a slam move by bidding Four Clubs. Andrew placed the contract at Four Hearts. The layout was quickly discovered, as Andrew claimed twelve tricks shortly after the opening lead hit the table:

♠ -♥AQ8643 ♦K765 ♣K53

♠7653 ♥ J 10 7 ♦QJ ♣ 10 7 6 4

♠AKQ942 ♥9 ♦ A 10 9 3 2 ♣9

♠ J 10 8 ♥K52 ♦84 ♣AQJ82

Lima DBC Newsletter, www.limadbc.blogspot.com, October 2012   

“What the Heck are you doing bidding only Four Hearts?!?!” Tish exploded. “Well, I only had 12 high-card points. And, with Gil opening and then rebidding at the threelevel, I could not imagine making a slam. In fact, we only had 23 HCP combined, as it was. A fairly good game to reach, it seems.” Why Andrew offered an explanation remains a mystery to all who have heard this tale. “High card points?!?!? Are you a complete idiot? What good were Gil’s values with your void? Anyone should know that your void will swallow up and devour most of Gil’s assets! You end up dealing with a 30-point deck!” Kid, who had heard the tales, decided to interject his two cents worth. “Yeah, Andrew! Tish would love to have her void devour Gil’s assets.” Oh, no he didn’t, thought Gil. Tish flashed a quick dagger eye at Gil and then continued, “And, besides, what on earth do you think I had for my cue of clubs? I had already shown great clubs, so why cuebid these twice? Obviously, I was showing inferentially the King of hearts. What else?” Gil sensed Tish crumbling and decided to make a little prod himself. “I would have known what you meant, Tish. Very good bid.” Compliments in the midst of a good beat-down are fuel to the fire. Of course, the carrier of gasoline can get burned himself if too close. “Well, if this idiot Gil, who cannot spot a good and sure thing right in front of him, would bid this slam, then any common idiot would have bid this, but not my partner. Next deal!” Andrew sat there shaking somewhat, knowing that any more words would simply induce more abuse, and pulled the cards out of the board for the next deal. On this very next deal, Tish

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again made a slam invite during the auction with a Bluhmer, and Andrew was damned if he would decline. Kid, reading the situation well, doubled on general principles. Gil’s opening lead was a trump. Andrew won this and played his stiff in the suit Tish jumped in as a Bluhmer to show no wasted values. Gil won this and returned another trump. As a result, the roadmap bidding and resulting defense deprived Andrew of the twelfth trick needed to make the contract. In desperation, Andrew took a remote (actually hopeless) line for a twotrick set and 300 to Gil and Kid. Tish was inconsolable and went nearly catatonic. At the half, Gil and Kid were up 30 IMPs. After a series of random and mostly pointless further deals, where no possible IMP exchange could have transpired, with only three deals remaining, Tish sat there staring at her cards, her turn to bid, nothing coming out of her mouth and no bidding box card on the table. “Your turn, dear.” Gil just could not keep well enough alone. Tish exploded. Gil was called every name in the book. When Kid intervened, he was thoroughly lashed with insults to his manhood and, worse, to his ability as a bridge player. Andrew, whitefaced, was relieved to have the attention going elsewhere.

Kid intervened by noting that he thought that Gil had the option of accepting the bid, which actually made Andrew chuckle, ever so slightly to avoid being caught. Tish glared at Kid, but then she turned back to the director, actually finding the comment somewhat humorous herself, and consistent with her thinking at the time, anyway. The director nervously fumbled through the laws book as the silence became louder. Eventually, a resolution was reached. “I cannot find anything dealing with the offending side asking for a zero tolerance penalty, so I must rule that your request to be penalized, Tish, is denied. You can appeal this to a committee, if you want, but the deposit is $50 today. OK, everyone play on, and have fun!” Tish sat there speechless. She then passed out the last three hands, left to compare, yelled mercilessly at her teammates for letting a Two Clubs contract make an overtrick, reported the 45-IMP loss, and went to drink. In the end, then, Gil and Kid and their team had won the big event, landing a boatload of masterpoints and all the due respect that they deserved. (Continued next month!)

Eventually, one shaking director showed up at the table and asked if everything was OK. Tish then unleashed on the director, asking for a zero tolerance penalty because, “Everyone else has kicked the shit out of me, so why not a zero tolerance penalty, also?” The director, who was unsure of the ruling when the offender asks for the adjustment herself, started flipping through her laws book, asking Tish to hold on while he checked on the ruling. Tish responded by noting that the director probably had the option of sticking the law book up his ass, depending upon whose lead it was.

Lima DBC Newsletter, www.limadbc.blogspot.com, October 2012   

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