FACTS OF BRIDGE LIFE LIBRARY CORNER When partner bids two suits and you have an equal number of cards in each suit, take partner back to the first suit even if it means increasing Slam Bidding Made Easier the level. Just do it! By Marty Bergen Eddie Kantar Most players will recognize the name Marty Bergen, prolific and award-winning au- www.kantarbridge.com thor of a host of books aimed at helping his readers improve their games. According to the book jacket, this particular book is “guaranteed to do wonders for your bridge game.” Eddie Kantar, another ac- BRIDGE ETIQUETTE claimed author of bridge books, advises the reader to begin reading the book “today” and “bid slams better tomorrow.” Coming from someone such as Rule 7 B 2 requires each player to count his Kantar, bridge players need to heed this advice. cards face down to be sure he has exactly 13. Among other things included in the book, Bergen discusses conventions that are worth playing and After that, and before making a call, he must those that are not, how to determine the actual val- inspect the faces of his cards. ue of your hand, and the right as well as the wrong time to bid 4NT. As a ten-time national champion, Bergen’s words can certainly be relied upon in any- one’s goal of improving his/her bridge game. UNIT 206 CHIT CHAT

Volume 6 Issue 4 Monthly Publication of ACBL Unit 206 April 2015

Email: [email protected]

KITCHEN CHATS WITH DAN

Hi again. Wow! Did you play in your tournament? If so, you know how well it went. In my experience, we have nev- er had to ask players to bring additional tables because the attendance was so great. As of today, I don’t have the final table count, but on Friday of last fall’s sectional we had 84 players compared to the 120 we had this Friday. Thank you all who came and to all those who contributed of your time and treasure. The volunteerism was truly un- believable. This being my first tournament as President, I was expecting to have a lot to do. I was mistaken. Every time I asked Nancy Fletcher about one thing or another that needed to be done, she would tell me that it was already handled, and she was right. Each lunch was catered and was excellent. It was so nice to not have to need people to stay up the night before preparing sandwiches. Of course, many of the deserts were prepared, and I loved them. Oh, and the Chinese food on Sunday was truly exceptional.

Permit me to recognize some of Nancy’s helpers. Kathy Ellis, Joan Talley, Joyce Feher, Mary Rhoden, Anne Johnson, Nancy Hayes, Nancy Mapel assisted Nancy with the meals and more. Suzanne Atchley handled the difficult job of partnership chair. Bob Tate and Tom Tomisek coordinated the transportation of tables and support materials. David Brown handed the coffee and supplies. Janie Hunt and others helped with other beverages. And, of course, Myra and Larry Reneau dealt all the hands supplied by the ACBL. This is a time consuming and little appreciated part of play at a tournament. Please if you see Nancy Fletcher or any of those I have mentioned, thank them for a hard job well done. If I have overlooked you, please accept my apology, but know how much your effort is appreciated.

In addition, I would like to recognize John Friedl and his team for being the master point leaders for the tournament.

Ron and Linda Smith had 67.62% and a 74.21% pair games on Friday. Harriette Hereford and Cathy Barker won their Friday morning 299 pairs game. Sandy Cervantes, Cheryl Whitfield, Don Eigenberg and Frank Hughes won the Friday night Swiss. Bob Tate and Susan Kimm won the Sat- urday morning 299 game. Allison King and Tyler Smith won the Saturday afternoon 299 game. John Friedl and his team won the Saturday bracket one knock out. Sophie Field, Pat Whitaker, Judy Kemp and Katy Wasson won the Bracket 2 knock out. Buddy Landis, Earl Rothberger, and John Felker pulled their partner through in the Sunday Swiss. We had players from all over come and play in our tournament. Isn’t it great that our local players stood up so well against this com- pletion? Of course, I have not mentioned all the 180 players who won master points and others who came out and competed. For many this was their first tournament. Congratulations!

Now for my last topic for this letter. Last year, your voted to make Chattanooga a zero tol- erance bridge club. At that time, there was much discussion about how to inforce this decision, but no action was taken. Players making other players feel uncomfortable due to arguing and lecturing of their partners is the one topic you have mentioned to me more than any other. I have had newer players tell me in confidence that they are unwilling to try our Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday games because they have heard about unpleasant behavior during the games. Your board wants our club to a fun place to come and compete. We know that many times players are unaware that their behavior is making their opponents uncomfortable and sorry they came and played.

To deal with this, your board has adopted the following measures. When next you come to the club, you will find a yellow card in each . These cards have a large Z T for zero toler- ance printed on them. If there is behavior at your table which you feel is inappropriate, remove the card from your bidding box and show it to your opponents. If he, she or they do not stop the behavior, raise the card over your head and ask for the director. There will be an immediate pen- alty of ¼ of a board for this first offense. If the director is called to the table of those accessed the first penalty a second time, they will be asked to leave. This may sound severe at first reading, but please understand this is for the good of all of our players. It helps those who are making others uncomfortable when they may not be aware of their behavior, and it will increase our participa- tion and enjoyment. Further, for this to work, you must use this yellow card.

Again, I do not believe anyone intentionally acts in a malicious way towards their partners or op- ponents. In fact, I believe that most of the time, the offender will appreciate your making them aware that you are uncomfortable. If you have concerns about this policy, please let me know. In the meantime, please use the yellow card, if necessary, when you come to enjoy playing and com- peting in our great game.

Dan Chandler, 423-400-6999 [email protected]

RULE OF RESTRICTED CHOICE

I love rules in bridge. You just follow the rule – no guesswork. The Rule of Restricted Choice is one of those rules. Restricted choice simply means your opponent plays a card in which his choice was restricted.

There are many card combinations which fall under this rule, but we will stick to this very common example. It does not matter whether you are in a suit contract or no .

Dummy (North) K10982

(West) (East)

Declarer (South) A765

Declarer leads the Ace, West follows low and East plays either the queen or jack (it does NOT matter which one). You now lead a low card towards the dummy and West plays low. What should you do? Should you play the king and hope East started with QJ or the 10? You should finesse! Two out of three times you will be right. Trust us. This works.

Why is that? The mathematician in the family knows. Just be aware that when you are missing the queen, jack and 2 low cards, and an honor drops on the first round, it is likely a singleton.

Now let’s suppose your left-hand opponent has preempted. Using the same example above, here you should play to the king first. Why? If one of your opponents has a singleton honor, it is more likely the opponent who preempted, since we already know about 6 or more of their cards. Good luck with your new rule!

Ron and Linda

Bridge as Social Media By Pat Whitaker I met them when I spent a week with Ann Keown last March at her Tops’l condo in Destin, Florida. Hilda and Andy Fairweather are a delightful Scottish couple who make their home in Niagara Falls in the Canadian province of Ontario. Ann introduced us during my visit and arranged for me to play with Hilda one evening. Much to my delight and pleasant surprise, we had a 66% game. So, when Ann called me recently to tell me that they would be driving through Chattanooga on their way back to Niagara Falls and asked me if I could play with Hilda at our Tuesday game, I jumped at the chance. Hilda and I played together on St. Patrick’s Day, and, even though we did not score a 66% game again, we did manage to place second over all. Needless to say, we’d like to play together again sometime and hope to do so next winter when all of the “snow birds” head to the beach. The moral of this story to me is that bridge is a universal language. You can play almost anywhere in the world wher- ever you can find a game. I love the game, the challenges it offers, and the wonderful people I have met along the way.

FLANNERY TWO DIAMONDS

A is used on good hands - upwards of 16 points, but not meeting the criteria for an opening no trump bid: it is unbalanced, might have a singleton, etc. It is forcing for one round.

A reverse is not a convention, but merely a part of a standard bidding sequence.

A reverse occurs when opening bidder bids a second suit at the two level -without jumping- which is higher ranking than his first suit. It is easily recognizable, as it forces responder to bid at the next level to show a preference for opener's first bid suit. One guideline for reverses is that the first suit must be longer than the second suit.

It is common to pick up a hand which contains 4 spades and 5 hearts, and 11 to 15 points. If this hand were stronger, you would open one heart and intend to bid 2 spades next - a reverse. Since it is not, the Convention was invented, to handle this holding which is in a hand too weak for a reverse.

The Flannery Two Diamond convention: Opener bids 2 diamonds holding 4 spades, 5 hearts and 11 to 15 points. Assuming opponents stay quiet, responder is now "captain of the ship" and decides the final contract. If responder has a minimum hand - below game going values - but with a major suit fit, he bids two of the major to play. If he does have sufficient points for game, he can ask partner to describe his hand exactly - i.e., "What is your distribution?" He does this by bidding 2 no trump. Opener then answers as follows: With 11 to 13 points and small doubletons in the minors, he answers 3 hearts. With 14 or 15 points and small doubletons in the minors, he answers 3 spades. With honors in his minor suit doubletons, he answers 3NT. Holding 3 or 4 of a certain minor, he bids 3 (or 4) of that suit, which shows exactly 4531 distribution, or 4540 shape, etc. The very cool thing about defending against a declarer who used the Flannery convention in this manner (describing his exact holding) is that, as soon as dummy comes down, you can figure out your partner's exact distribution and also his point count. So although the convention allows the declaring side to arrive at the appropriate contract pretty easily, the defenders have much more information available to them that they would had a standard auction taken place.

One more factor to consider: If the opener becomes declarer at, say, a spade contract, a trump lead is often indicated, because declarer will probably be planning to hearts in the dummy. However, trump leads as a general rule should be done very sparingly. The old saying, "When in doubt, lead trumps" is an awful reason to do it, and the should be thought out very carefully while the auction is going on. Standard leads, always based on the auction, usually work out the best. Which is why they ARE standard leads.

The Flannery 2 Diamond opening bid, and its subsequent action, must be alerted to the opponents, who have a right to know what's going on, and to ask the alerter, when it is their turn, for an explanation.

Marcia Lanphear MARCH HIGH GAMES

SAVE THE DATE

Chattanooga The final GNT on Thursday night, April 30th. This is your LAST opportunity to qualify this year for the GNT so be sure to get your team together for this 6:30 PM Open game. Claude Walker/David Vine 68.75

The next Mentee-Mentor Game will be on NLM Friday, May 15. More details will be available soon. Keith Honnold/Robert Berghel 69.99

99er

Robert Tate/Tate Conlon 68.75 Ailin’ List Robert Greenleaf had surgery on his other foot last week. He will not be out and about for 8 weeks. This surgery was Senior Pairs a little more complicated this time, thus the additional Cheryl Whitfield/Suzanne Atchley 66.67 recovery time. He is in no pain and enjoys spending time with his computer and books.

Chattanooga Storms Callaway Gardens

Fourteen members of the Chattanooga Bridge Club went to the Callaway Gardens Regional in search of gold. Richard Weems, Charise Ovalle, Jack Gillispie, Eliot Gillispie, Robert Berghel, Keith Honnold, M.J. Levine, Jane McCurdy, Robert Greenleaf, Alice Greenleaf, Winnell Goodner, Nancy Mapel, Nancy Fletcher, and Kathleen Ellis made a valiant attempt bring home the gold. Richard Weems and Charise Ovalle with teammates from Rome, GA were successful in accumulating a few gold points. Jack and Eliot Gillispie along with teammates Rob Berghel and Keith Honnold also won gold points. While the remainder of our group did not come home with gold, everyone came home with some points and new memories. I know that my team had a blast and looks forward to more opportunities to get together soon! Chattanooga Spring Sectional

Thanks to the Chattanooga Bridge Center for hosting what I believe was a very successful Spring Sec- tional Tournament held the last weekend in March. This success was due to the hard work by all of the members, some who volunteered to help where needed, and others who worked in official capaci- ties: Suzanne Atchley, the Partnership Chair; Frank Hughes, the Chair; Tom Tomisek, Bob Tate and Bert Shramko, who moved and set up the bridge tables; the Hospitality Committee of Joyce Feher, Nancy Hayes, Nancy Mapel, Kathy Ellis, JoAnn Talley, Mary Rhoden and Anne Johnson, who arranged for and served our three delicious meals, and to Anne Johnson for decorating the tables and David Brown for providing the coffee service. Lastly I need to thank club members for their very gen- erous cash donations, totaling $1,350 this year, for the delicious snacks and desserts our club always provides. It was my pleasure to work with you all.

Nancy Fletcher Tournament Chairman

Nancy Fletcher and Kathy Ellis

Friday’s hospitality crew left to right Dan and Pat Poteralski, Nancy Mapel, Nancy Hayes, and Mary Rhoden

Corrine Madden and John Sughrue came down from Cleveland Suzanne Nichols, David Vine, and Grady Nichols

Non Life Masters Suzzette Hunt, Daniel Peebles of AL, and Barbara Henderson

Tournament Director Nancy Watkins and Pat Whitaker

Bill Adams and Dan Chandler move out the tables. A former unit president and the current unit presi- dent...the job is never done and it even requires manual labor!

Polly Sullivan and Jean Watkins came from Cleveland to join us CLEVELAND NEWS

MARCH HIGH GAMES

APRIL BIRTHDAYS Cleveland

Open Charles Fletcher April 1, 1922 Barbara Creagan/Richard Mellor 77.40 Maryl Elliott April 2, 1944

Fairyland Pete Emerson April 6, 1946 Teresa Moore April 22, 1952 Open

Dan Chandler/John Felker 69.79

SAVE THE DATE

Friday April 10th Pairs Game (last chance to practice for the Gatlinburg Regional April 13-19)

Cleveland at Callaway Gardens

Johnny and Linda Burns and John and Marilyn Murphy represented the Cleveland Bridge Club at the Callaway Gardens Regional Tournament during the first week of March. While their quest for gold was unsuccessful, as Marilyn says "the play was not pointless". It sounded like the Murphys had a more enjoyable trip home, stopping in Plains, GA to attend former President Carter’s Sunday School lesson. The Burns, on the other hand, discov- ered yet “another” Mexican restaurant.

MEET THE GILLISPIES, ELIOT AND HIS SON JACK

My wife Nicole and I began dating while attending Elkins High School. We later married in 1995, while we were still undergradu- ate students at West Virginia University. I studied Industrial Engi- neering, and Nicole studied English and Biology. We both graduat- ed in 1998.

My first job after graduating was in Jamestown, NY. Jack (16) and Catherine (13) were both born here. This was a safe community with wonderful older homes, excellent parks and schools, an out- standing library, and friendly people.

A change in employment led us to Chambersburg, PA. I coached two seasons of soccer here, often holding practice in our yard. Charlie (9) was born here. I fished for trout when time allowed.

Four years later we relocated to Elizabethtown, PA. Great schools, neighborhoods with sidewalks, and proximity to Harrisburg and Lancaster made it a good place to live. During this time, at age 12, Jack read the book “” by Sachar, which I subsequently read. Our bridge learning began after he asked me if I knew how to play bridge.

After a few months of book and online reading, we finally played our first evening duplicate game in Lancaster. We later found a Monday evening Teachers game in Camp Hill, PA. (This is the oldest member owned club in the U.S.) This format of playing / learning was the most important part of our early development. We could apply the systems we read about during a real game, and we could raise our hand and ask questions in tough bidding situations.

During these initial eight months at the Teacher game, we read about and began playing basic SAYC. We also devel- oped a four step limit raise system (alerted), similar to Bergen. Jack and I learned some of the principles around the rules of the duplicate game. Jack was particularly interested in and playing fair. He regularly noticed how inconsistent duplicate players were in their knowledge of the rules of the game. He passed his Director’s test in 2013 and directed several evening games at HBC.

At the Philadelphia NABC in 2012, we competed in a 0-100 game. At a table halfway through the movement, we found an exciting way to break even. On the first board, we reached 7 Diamonds, vul making 2140. The very next hand, we bid a small slam that the opponents doubled. We were in the wrong strain, going down eight tricks vulnera- ble for -2300.

In 2013, we focused several months towards improving our defense. We already had decent bidding systems, and new conventions did not improve our game. This focus on defense really paid off, as a +200 or +500 is usually a top board. Another wonderful side effect of improved defense was becoming more disciplined and conservative in our bidding.

During one auction at HBC, an opponent doubled our 4 Spade bid, and I promptly redoubled. She asked Jack, “What does your dad’s bid mean?” He promptly replied, “He’s mad”. (His answer was 100% correct) Jack later joked that he should hide the redouble cards in my bid box.

Our move to Georgia has allowed us to meet many new bridge players at both the Chattanooga Bridge Club and the Dalton Bridge Club. We look forward to competing at the club, Sectional, and Regional level events. I do hope to play in at least one NABC with Jack before he graduates. `