PLAY AND LEARN BRIDGE IN A WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT

ALERT – July 13, 2020

Top Online Master Point Earners at our Club Contributed by Allen Pengelly

This table lists the individuals who earned the most master points at our club in each of these three master point bands since June 1.

Open Players 499er Players 99er Players Name MP Name MP Name MP 1 David Baker 30.19 1 Sandy Graham 14.45 1 Suzanne Edwards 12.15 2 Margot Stockie 18.94 2 Sandy Lee 9.79 2 Brian Silva 11.25 3 Mike Peng 17.35 3 John Hanemaayer 9.56 3 Shelley Metcalfe 9.78 4 Robert Griffiths 16.92 4 Keith Prosser 9.32 4 Al Pengelly 8.30 5 Edith Ferber 14.61 5 Kathy Russell 9.17 5 Stephen Nantes 8.16 6 Cindy Mahn 14.44 6 Lori Cole 8.90 6 Robert Giilck 8.12 7 Liz McDowell 14.17 7 Jim Dalgliesh 7.62 7 Brian Kirkconnell 7.90 8 Colin Harrington 14.00 8 Cheryl Kip 7.30 8 Sue Peterson 7.62 9 Moira Hollingsworth 11.21 9 Jack Cole 6.54 9 Nanci Phelan 7.51 10 Bruce Roberts 9.23 10 Donna Angst 6.44 10 Joan Slover 6.45 11 Ted Boyd 8.15 11 Grant Roberts 6.31 11 Marion Allan 6.23 12 Tom Ramsay 8.08 11 Sue Moses 6.31 11 John Kip 6.78 13 Stephen Young 7.69 13 Paul Latimer 6.27 13 Ron Lawrence 5.54 14 Stephen Carpenter 7.63 14 Cheryl White 6.17 14 Barbara Arthur 5.52 15 Neil Jeffrey 6.89 15 Sandra Levman 6.15 14 Jim Veitch 5.46 16 Susan Lawton 6.80 16 Brenda Semple 6.02 16 Judy Bailey 4.43 17 Pat McMillan 6.53 17 Janet Howell 5.94 17 Marlene Dopko 4.34 18 Dianne Aves 6.48 18 Judy Widdecombe 5.65 17 Isabel Hetherington 4.34 19 Diane Bourdeau 6.43 18 Vivian McLellan 5.65 19 Edward Murphy 4.33 20 William Christian 6.40 20 David Dennis 5.64 20 Joan Lawson 3.79 21 David Longstaff 6.21 21 Adriaan Kempe 5.01 21 Robert Somerville 3.75 22 Peggy Pearson 5.83 21 Nancy Millward 5.01 22 Angie Bateman 3.58 23 Jim Burgess 4.80 23 Lynda Burnett 4.45 22 Sherry Benenati 3.58 24 Thea Davis 4.56 24 Mary McClelland 4.33 24 Virginia Alviano 3.00 25 Malkin Howes 4.41 25 Martin Levman 4.23 25 Jim Fox 2.91

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A Generous Benefactress Thumbs up to Maike Zinabou who has gifted our club with $1200 to cover the cost of register- ing 30 of her closest friends and relations for one of our Learn Bridge in a Day sessions. As you know, in order to grow and thrive bridge clubs need a steady influx of new players. Maike’s gift will ensure that our club will stay strong and healthy even in the face of our current challenges. The next Learn Bridge in a Day session will take place virtually on Saturday, September 12, and it will cost $25. More information will be available soon. Please spread the word among your non bridge-playing friends and encourage them to come get a taste of the world’s greatest card game. They won’t be sorry! ------

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Playing with the BBO Bots Contributed by Mircea Giurgeu The robots used on BBO are called GIB (Ginsberg's Intelligent Bridgeplayer.) GIB is widely considered to be one of the best programs ever created. It is also available as a stand-alone program (for Windows only), but its development is far behind that of robots on BBO. The robots on BBO are occasionally capable of brilliance. They are also occasionally ca- pable of some really poor bids and plays (just like all human players). Some players may find it frustrating if a particular robot partner plays especially poorly (or if a particular robot opponent plays especially well) on a given hand, but, these things will even themselves over time. Sometimes the robot does something totally crazy (don't we all?). But everyone has the same robot as partner and opponents, so everyone is on a level playing field. The robots on BBO are constantly being improved.

The GIBs used on BBO play a relatively simple and natural 2/1 . You can find out the meaning of any bid by clicking on that bid as it appears in the bidding diagram. Further- more, when it is your turn to bid moving your mouse over the buttons for the various possible bids will cause an explanation of the bid you are considering (as your GIB partner will under- stand it) to be displayed. These explanations can be somewhat cryptic, but reading them care- fully before you bid will help you to avoid misunderstandings with your GIB partner. System Note Explanations You can review the GIB System notes here. As with all bidding systems, the GIB bidding explanations disclose the partnership understand- ing of what a bid means, as opposed to what’s in the player’s hand. A bidding explanation of "4-H" means four OR fewer hearts. This does not guarantee your GIB partner or opponent has four hearts. A bidding explanation of "4+H" means four OR more hearts. This does not guarantee your GIB partner or opponent has exactly four hearts. Playing with the Robots on BBO You can play with robots free or you can pay to play with robots on BBO. When playing at an open table they are sometimes used automatically by BBO to fill in seats vacated prematurely. You can purchase robots and use them as your partner or as opponents. Robots used at prac- tice tables are always free. The robots come in two flavours: basic robots, which play very fast but not so well, and advanced robots which play a bit slower but much better. BBO also has many robot free and paid tournaments. In addition, there are ACBL-sanctioned robot tourna- ments. For all of these, advanced robots are used. On all BBO robot tournaments, every human player plays with three robots at his or her table. Most robot tournaments are “best hand” games where the human player is always dealt at least the most HCP at the table. This makes it way more interesting! Robot Strategies Robots are machines. They are very polite, very patient, and usually very fast. They don’t “think”. They are programmed to bid and play in a specific way. GIB simulates hands con- sistent with the auction and plays on a double dummy basis. Therefore, overbidding when playing with a robot partner is extremely dangerous, as they will often hang you. They will never forget a card played and that tends to make them really good towards the end of each hand. On defense, they don’t , but rather play spot cards randomly so that there’s no in- ference to be drawn from any signals they make. In closing, playing with robots can be really fun - although, at least initially, it can be a bit frus- trating. There are many aspects about playing with robots not discussed here but easy to find on the web. I strongly encourage you to give the robots a chance. You will be impressed! ------

ACBL Races At the halfway point in the year, it seems like a good time to look at how local players are doing in the ACBL’s masterpoint races. It turns out that we are stacking up extremely well compared to the other 23 clubs in our unit!

The Ace of Clubs Race ranks players in terms of their accumulated derived solely from club play. 0-5 Masterpoints 5. Patrick Kennedy 6. Joe Blake 10. Steve Allen 5-20 Masterpoints 1. Brian Silva 2. Robert Giilck 3. Shelley Metcalfe 4. Suzanne Edwards 10. Martin Jones 20-50 Masterpoints 1. Brian Kirkconnell 2. Stephen Nantes 5. Nanci Phelan 9. Barbara Arthur 10. Marlene Dopko 50-100 Masterpoints 2. Grant Roberts 4. Al Pengelly 100-200 Masterpoints 7. Roy Dandyk 10. Jim Hardy 200-300 Masterpoints 1. John Hanemaayer 9. Paul Latimer 300-500 Masterpoints 5. Sharon Boyd 6. Roz Shortt 7. Sandy Graham 500-1000 Masterpoints 3. Scott Hills 6. Neil Coburn 10. Neil Jeffrey 1000 – 1500 Masterpoints 10. David Wilson 1500-2500 Masterpoints 1. Malkin Howes 2. Mike Peng 5. Ted Boyd 6. Peggy Pearson 10. Bruce Roberts 2500-3500 Masterpoints 1. Bob Griffiths 3. Margot Stockie

5. Adrian Record 7. Diane Bourdeau 9. Moira Hollingsworth 3500-5000 Masterpoints 1. Stephen Young 2. Edith Ferber 7. Milos Polak 8. Joan Viidik 8. Tony Viidik 5000-7500 Masterpoints 1. Cindy Mahn 2. Tom Ramsay 3. Liz McDowell 7500-10,000 Masterpoints 1. Colin Harrington Over 10,000 Masterpoints 1. David Baker

The Mini-McKenney Race ranks players in terms of their accumulated masterpoints derived from both club and tournament play. 0-5 Masterpoints 6. Patrick Kennedy 9. Joe Blake 5-20 Masterpoints 1. Brian Silva 2. Bob Giilck 3. Shelley Metcalfe 5. Suzanne Edwards 20-50 Masterpoints 1. Brian Kirkconnell 2. Stephen Nantes 8. Nanci Phelan 50-100 Masterpoints 3. Grant Roberts 6. Al Pengelly 100-200 Masterpoints 9. Lori Cole 10. Roy Dandyk 200-300 Masterpoints 1. John Hanemaayer 3. Paul Latimer 300-500 Masterpoints 4. Sandy Graham 6. Mary McClelland 10. Roz Shortt 500-1000 Masterpoints 3. Stephen Carpenter 5. Scott Hills 1000-1500 Masterpoints 1. David Wilson

1500-2500 Masterpoints 1. Mike Peng 2. Dianne Aves 3. Colin Lafferty 4. Malkin Howes 5. Peggy Pearson 6. Ted Boyd 7. Thea Davis 9. Bruce Roberts 2500-3500 Masterpoints 1. Bob Griffiths 3. Margot Stockie 4. Adrian Record 5. David Longstaff 6. Diane Bourdeau 8. Moira Hollingsworth 3500-5000 Masterpoints 1. Edith Ferber 2. Joan Viidik 2. Tony Viidik 4. Stephen Young 10. Milos Polak 5000-7500 Masterpoints 1. Cindy Mahn 2. Tom Ramsay 6. Liz McDowell 7500 – 10,000 Masterpoints 1. Colin Harrington Over 10,000 Masterpoints 2. David Baker ------

I’ll tell you a coronavirus joke now,

but you’ll have to wait two weeks to see if you got it.

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Bestie Update – The Fruits of His Labour Contributed by Kathy Russel Bestie likes to get some exercise by walking outside. It’s been so hot outside lately that Bestie decided to give the treadmill a try. I told him he should wear the safety stop until he got the hang of it. He told me “What is it about testosterone that you don’t understand?” I understand that Bestie should have used the safety stop. Does he?

Another Tough Trick 1 Decision (, Anyone?) Contributed by Robert Griffiths You are playing South and have had an awkward auction to arrive at 3NT.

North East South West

1♥ P 2♦ P

2♠ P 3♣ P

3♥ P 3NT AP

West leads what looks like a fourth-best ♠4 and as declarer you need a plan for nine tricks. You have seven top tricks and if, like any self-respecting fourth-best leader West has the ♠K, then you can use plan A. Win the first trick with the ♠J, cash the diamond king and queen, cross to your hand with the ♣A, run two - or more likely three - more diamond tricks and then finish up with a flurry by finessing the spades again for nine or ten tricks, depending on how the diamonds have split. What could possibly go wrong? Well, if West doesn't have the ♠K the hand falls to pieces. East will win Trick 1 and switch to the ♣Q. There goes your only useable hand (the ♣A) and you will end up with only one club, three diamonds, one heart, and two spades for down two. Another fine mess! You have two weak suits and should be thankful that neither of them was led. So you can con- sider plan B. If you play the ♠A at Trick 1, cash the top diamond cards in the dummy, and then lead the ♠Q, you will have nine easy tricks - as long as the diamonds are no worse than 4-2 (one club, five diamonds, one heart, and two spades). Of course, there is always the off chance that West's hand was: ♠-K8542 ♥-K764 ♦-9 ♣-KT8, in which case you should ignore my advice. Plan A makes 3NT, while plan B goes down. The odds of the 5-1 or 6-0 diamond split that would ruin Plan B are about 16%. The odds of East's having the ♠K of course start at 50%, but the fact that West led them changes that. The rule of 11 tells us that there are 11 - 4 = 7 spades higher than the 4 in the North, East, and South hands. Declarer can see five higher spades in his and Dummy's hands, meaning that East must have two higher spades and West must have three higher spades - giving East a 40% chance of having the King. That's assuming that the spade lead was fourth best.

When the declaring side bids all four suits before landing in a NT contract, the chances of an “honest” fourth best lead usually diminish because the defenders are frequently trying to avoid giving anything away. I stole this hand from Kary Lobb from her excellent series called "Stay Warmed Up". In appre- ciation, I will donate half of my royalties from this blurb to Kary.  Frequently, the first card you play from dummy seals your fate.

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Congratulations, Brian! Brian Silva would like you to know that he has officially become a sectional master! ------

Flowers Who Are Born to Blush Unseen Contributed by Louise Dawdy and Kathy Chandler In this issue, we will be highlighting volunteer Dave Baker. Over the years, Dave has worn many volunteer hats at Grand River Bridge Club. Most recently, he has helped to make our vir- tual games possible by acting as lead director. Dave grew up in Windsor, Ontario. Like many of us, he grew up playing a variety of games: euchre, cribbage, and gin rummy among them. His older brother relished any opportunity to relieve Dave of what little pocket change he happened to have. Revenge was sweet many years later when after learning to play bridge Dave drubbed his big brother unmercifully. As ex- pected in such situations, Dave’s brother has never played bridge with him again! Dave moved to Waterloo in 1972 to attend the University of Waterloo. Being somewhat ill-pre- pared as well as short on pocket change, Dave’s university career lasted a brief four months. It was at U of W where, after seeing a small blurb in the campus newspaper about a bridge club, Dave ventured out to see what bridge was all about. Like many of us, he had always wondered about the bridge column on the comics page. After 20 minutes of observation, Dave was in- vited to play his first game. At the end of the night, despite not having had a clue about how to play, Dave discovered that he and his partner had won. This came as quite a surprise to him,

especially given that he hadn’t even known that anyone was keeping score. That night made Dave “the proverbial fish who delightedly jumped into the fishing boat”. At the time, Dave didn’t realize that some of the finest players in Canada were playing in the U of W club - Many of them still play to this day. Also of note, back then there were no flighted games: you came in as a minnow and hoped the sharks wouldn’t eat you alive! Dave is now a Platinum Life Master with almost 12,000 masterpoints! Dave worked at B. F. Goodrich as a shift worker for 33 years, retiring in 2006. Throughout all of those years, Dave played bridge at every opportunity. Vacation time was for bridge, warm weather, and warm water. Dave would often find himself in Mexico with Fran Chivers. When asked for anecdotes, Dave kindly came up with the following three stories, all of them involving George Rosenkrantz, then the highest-ranking bridge player in Mexico. • We were playing in a tournament when I alerted my partner's bid. When asked for an explanation, I said it was Rosenkrantz (a double of the opponent's bid showing at least one of the top three honours in partner's suit). Some rude person at the next table loudly remarked that I was probably playing it wrong. Of course, the rude person was Rosenkrantz himself! • A different year, we sat down to play against George and Mike Passell (who currently has about 90,00 masterpoints). They confidently spanked us on the first two boards. On the third , I enticed them to double me and then tricked them into thinking the wrong thing on defense, allowing me to make my doubled partial. I basked in the subse- quent recriminations which they hurled at each other. Neither was willing to admit I had outsmarted them. • Finally, George was playing with Eddie Wold, another world-class bridge player and col- umnist with a zillion masterpoints. My partner and I took about eight bids apiece to ar- rive at 7NT. I knew that if our nine-card spade fit came home, the contract was cold, plus I also realized we probably had 13 tricks even if it didn't. Eddie stared daggers at me, thinking I must be cheating (we finished at 73% and they were 47% (heh heh), but later George asked me in the hallway about our bidding (he seemed impressed). A few months later, I saw the hand in the Bridge Bulletin (a column ghostwritten under George's byline) in which he referred to us as "relatively-inexperienced opponents". My outrage eventually abated and I was able to enjoy the irony by embracing it. As far as advice goes, Dave cautions that it’s impossible to give one piece of advice that will change someone’s game forever, but here are three important tips. • There’s a chapter in a bridge book is called "In and Out Valuation" (which I summarize as - count your high-card points and then forget them). Points have nothing to do with good bidding. Shape, combinations, bidding, opponent's demeanour, vulnerability, ob- jectives, etc. are much more important. In other words, evaluate your assets - don't count them. • Watch your nine children (10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2) carefully. They are often your most pre- cious possessions. • Finally, when you have a sound plan, proceed with alacrity. Do not continually second guess your plan. Use the time you have saved to sit there for two minutes and think about current problems and problems that may occur later in the hand. You build a gar- den shed by making a plan on how the pieces go together, dealing with unexpected ob- stacles during construction and shingling the roof at the end. If you start randomly nail- ing boards together, you won't be happy with the result. Make a plan (but be adaptable). Thanks, Dave, for your volunteerism and sharing your great bridge history with us. ------

Good News! Contributed by Mark Obermeyer Proceeding on the assumption that Stage 3 will be in effect by then in Ontario, Fern Resort in Orillia is planning a bridge weekend on October 2-4, 2020. Martin Hunter is to be one of the hosts along with his wife Danielle. This event will be more of a social and a teaching event.

Virtual Games at our club this coming week…. • Friday, July 10, 12:45 pm – 4:00 pm, 499er game • Friday, July 10, 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm, open game • Saturday, July 11, 12:45 pm – 4:00 pm, 199er game • Monday, July 13, 12:45 pm - 4:00 pm, open game • Monday, July 13, 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm, 499er game • Tuesday, July 14, 12:30 pm – 3:00 pm, 99er game • Tuesday, July 14, 12:45 – 4:00 pm, open game • Wednesday, July 15, 12:45 pm – 4:00 pm, 499er game • Wednesday, July 15, 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm, open game • Thursday, July 16, 9:30 am – noon, 99er game • Thursday, July 16, 12:45 pm – 4:00 pm, open game

We have fun in spades. We play with all our hearts. We treat our members like diamonds. We are grateful to Maike Z at our club.

The Covid-19 jokes are courtesy of far too many people to acknowledge…..