Ann Kuperberg
Happy New Year!
As we reflect on the past year, some of us can be very pleased with our success.
The American Contract Bridge League Nationals in Phoenix, from the end of November through the first week in December, gave players a chance to compete with people from all over the world. SaddleBrooke players Julie and Mike Shelton came home with 24.68 master points, scoring in the top one-third of the entire field. Wow! Others who scored well were Gayle Covey and Steve Devico with 21.77, Greg West with 20.08, Al Spaet and his team with 14.55, Peter Godfrey with 10.70, and Barbara Starrett and JoAnn Ellison with 9.81. The Mayfields scratched, too. The experience was certainly worthwhile for those players.
Remember, the MountainView Bridge Club welcomes all duplicate bridge players, whatever their level of play. Games are every Tuesday afternoon from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Catalina Room, except the second Tuesday of the month. If you need a partner or further information, contact JoAnn Aiken at [email protected] or phone 520-256-2702. Our website is www.bridgewebs.com/mountainview.
More advice from Robert S. Todd: He discussed having a long suit in dummy as a source of tricks. For example, dummy has AK976 and you have 832. He says play the honors and give up 1 loser; you then have another trick.
Lynn Berg reminded players when you have a “fast arrival,” that shows a weak hand. As an example, partner opens 1 spade, you jump to 4 spades. In this case, fast arrival says, “We have a lot of our trump suit, but my hand isn’t so great otherwise.”
Inverted Minor bidding also describes responder’s hand. Partner opens 1 club, you jump to 3 clubs = I don’t have a 4-card major and less than 10 high card points but 5 clubs. If you have more, you bid 2 clubs, looking for no-trump.
These two experts wrote their columns in a recent Bridge Bulletin.
The new year will bring more players advancing in the ranks, proving the more we play, the better we should become.