May 2012
TOURNAMENT WINNERSPretty much the only tournament in April was the Gatlinburgregional, but that tournament generally makes the
club games all over the south east really tiny. Here is who
did well from middle Georgia:
Pam Earle 50.26
Andre Asbury 47.95
Emory Whitaker 42.71
Lynne Ogden, Betty Wilcox 20.53
Genny Whitaker 13.38
Nancy Colter 11.48
Jim Wall 11.26
A NOTE ON STRATIFICATION
As you know, only our Monday is game is limited by masterpoints and that is a good game to have because it allows players to get comfortable in the duplicate environment without having to play the people with thousands of masterpoints. However, we encourage everyone
to play in the open game—you will get better by playing against better players (most are very friendly and will give helpful comments if asked) and you can still win because the games are stratified. Each strat is ranked and awarded masterpoints independently. If you are a C pair, you may win points for placing in a higher strat (A or B) but your main competition is the other pairs in your strat. Roughly the top 40% in each strat will win points, often times with scores below 50%, and the masterpoint awards for the open games are more generous than in the limited masterpoint game, even for the C strat.
MINI BRIDGE TIPS: IT’S OKAY TO PASSWhen I was fairly new to bridge, a wise man once told me: “If you have a close decision between whether to bid or pass, pass is almost always right.” He rarely listened to his own advice, preempting on suits like JTxxxx and making ratty overcalls just to be a nuisance. Sometimes it work out beautifully but more frequently, it led to a bad score. That wise man is my dad. Actually I think that advice was given to him by one of him partners from decades ago.
Just because you have 10 hcp and a 5 card suit does not mean you have to bid when your RHO (right hand opponent) opens the bidding. Yes, modern style is to bid more aggressively but not to bid like a fool. Overcalling 2C after RHO has opened 1D on something like Kx, Qxx, Axx, Jxxxx is just bad bridge. The overcall doesn’t overstate your overall values by much but it gets partner off to probably a bad opening lead. You should have either a good suit or a very good hand to overcall. Move a few honors around to have xx, Qxx, xxx, AKJxx and this is a fine 2C overcall because you have a good suit. Add a few more side honors to the initial hand to have Kx, AQx, Axx, JTxxx and now you also have a decent overcall because you have a good hand.
Another situation in which I see people bidding when they should just pass is when they hold something like xx, KJxx, AQxx, Axx. It’s a 14 point hand but unless RHO opens 1S, you have no business entering the auction immediately. If RHO opens 1S, you have a solid takeout double but over any other opening bid, a takeout double is severely flawed because of the lack of spade support (and the hand isn't nearly strong enough to double and then bid a new suit). Learning to be disciplined in bidding is one of the hardest things in bridge but it will do wonders for your game by reducing the number of bottoms you get from overbidding.
April 2012
RUTH RETIRING AS CLUB MANAGER
Eight years ago, when our club was in turmoil, Ruth Suggs took over as club manager. Since then she has put her heart and soul, not to mention her time, into making our club a valuable asset to bridge players and the community as a whole. It was through the effort of Ruth and Harpe, who has been her devoted helper in all things, that we have acquired our building. They have always acted with the best interest of the club first in their hearts. Ruth has handled partnerships with an amount of phoning, juggling and rearranging that would have tried a saints patience. And she has done it with grace and tact. She has decided to step down as club manager and we can only thank her for all she has done and for being our friend. Now when we again have a need we are fortunate to have Andre Asbury who has agreed to take over from Ruth as club manager. He is already directing, editing our newsletter and showing himself to be excellent at both.
- Lana Salis, RDBC President
Many of us despise leading trumps as a defender because it seems like a wussy thing to do. I’ve even heard a few very good players say that they never lead trumps but there are times when experts overwhelmingly agree that leading trumps is right.
One such time is when you have doubled a part score. Occasionally, you will double a partscore and want to crossruff on defense. More often, you double because you have good trumps and most of the high cards. So leading trumps will prevent ruffs and get it basically to a notrump contract.
Another time a trump lead is called for is when declarer has shown 2 suits and you have a strong holding in the suit that isn’t the trump suit. If you get trumps out, you will have winners in the side suit. If you don’t get trumps out, declarer may score extra tricks by ruffing in dummy. Likewise, if you have shortness in the second suit, a trump is often right because that means partner has length (and hopefully strength) in that suit.
