Better Bridge in Barry County: Learn Bridge in a Day? Flyer

LEARN BRIDGE IN A DAY? ™

 

Have all your friends started playing bridge?

Do you want to learn to play bridge?

Do you want to update the bridge you learned in college?

Do you want to learn bridge before you go to college?

Are you too busy to squeeze in time for six weeks of class?

Have you answered “YES!” to any of these questions?

 

Get Up to New Tricks!   

Come and learn the basics of bridge in a

concise, concentrated five-hour class.

 

Where: Hastings Community Education and Recreation Center

 

When: 9:30 AM to 2:30 PM on Saturday, March 1st, 2014

 

Cost: $30.00 (includes instructional booklet and lunch!)

 

Registration: Please register in person at the Hastings Community Education and Recreation Center.

Payment is due at the time of Registration

 

Instructor: Gerald Stein, ACBL Bridge Instructor

269-795-3713. Email: gastein@sbcglobal.net

 

Better Bridge in Barry County February 20 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

Learn Bridge in a Day? How is that possible? Many of you know and will acknowledge that it has taken you years to learn how to play bridge. The key, of course, is that no, you will not learn everything there is to know about playing bridge in a one-day class.  You will, however, learn in a five-hour seminar the basics about the three aspects of bridge: the bidding, the play of the hand, and the scoring. Once you have the basic building blocks of bridge and you can see the overall view of one of the most exciting and challenging of card games, you will know whether you want to continue playing and learning more about this wonderful game of bridge.

“Learn Bridge in a Day?” is a program for beginning bridge players, players who have never played bridge before, but who  have heard of bridge from others and would like to learn more before taking classes. They may have seen couples playing bridge on cruise ships, at home parties, online, or bridge columns in newspapers. They may know people who play and who have encouraged them to learn this fascinating game. Others who may have learned bridge many years ago may be interested in a refresher course, and “Learn Bridge in a Day?” is the perfect way to discover the new methods, terms, and innovations that have developed since those college days when students would rather play bridge than do homework or go to classes.

Whatever your status, beginner or experienced player, a one-day seminar of “Learn Bridge in a Day?” is coming to the Hastings area on March 1^st, 2014. This class was developed by two Atlanta, Georgia, bridge players, Patty Tucker and Melissa Bernhardt, in April of 2010. They formed a limited partnership called Whirlwind Bridge, an apt name for the intensity and the amount of information students gain after just a few hours of instruction. Both bridge instructors saw the need to introduce bridge to new players who had never played bridge before, players who needed or wanted refresher information, and young people in the Atlanta area who could benefit from the social as well as the mental aspects of this game we call bridge.

Since April 2010, numerous classes have been held in large and small cities around America. The first class had a total of 149 participants during the Labor Day weekend in Atlanta. Georgia. Memphis, Tennessee hosted a class with twenty school teachers to take bridge to their classrooms as an after-school program. Over 300 students signed up for their classes. On college campuses, in late January 2012, an extension of “Learn Bridge in a Day?” was presented to 20 college students. Closer to Hastings and Barry County, the “Learn Bridge in a Day?” program has been offered three times in the past year and a half with over 50 participants, both students and adults, learning and enjoying this challenging game. Students have taken these classes in Kalamazoo at the Kalamazoo Bridge Club and have enjoyed the fun, the amount of information, and a solid introduction to bridge.

Barry County has long been a bridge-playing community. Meeting new friends, hosting bridge parties, and enjoying the game has brought our community together over the years. Encouraging new players to begin playing bridge is something that we who have played bridge and enjoyed it for years can give back to others. Encouraging students and retirees, working adults --- all are invited to come and learn some new card tricks at the Hastings Community Education and Recreation Center on March 1^st, 2014. This Saturday program will begin at 9:30 AM and finish at 2:30 PM in the afternoon. A lunch and instructional materials will be included in the $30 fee for those registering for the class. Sign up now by calling the office of the Hastings Community Education and Recreation Center at 948-4414? to be sure that you will be ready to learn a wonderful, new, and exciting card game. You will have fun as you learn. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, March 1^st, 2014.

 

Gerald Stein

February 10, 2014

Number of words: 700

Better Bridge in Barry County February 13 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

	North ♠  8 7 3 2 ♥  Q J 9 8 7    ♦  6 4   ♣  10 9
West ♠  A K Q J 10 9 ♥  10 6 ♦  J    ♣  7 6 3 2		East ♠  5 ♥  4 2   ♦  A Q 10 9 8 7 5 3 2 ♣  4
	South ♠  6 4 ♥  A K 5 3   ♦  K   ♣  A K Q J 8 5

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

West Both A♣

 

North   Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass	East   1NT 3♦ Pass 4♦ Rdbl	South   3♣ 4♣ Rdbl Dbl Pass	West 1♠ Pass Dbl Pass Pass Pass

In last week’s column, we took a look at contracts that are doubled and then redoubled for penalty. Today’s interesting hand takes the doubling and redoubling to a new height: two contracts doubled and redoubled. Let’s see what really happened with today’s hand.

With all hands extremely distributional, it was West who opened with a 1♠ bid. While she had strong spades, there was very little more in her hand, and she would be lucky to bid a second time. North had little in her hand. East, however, had nine diamonds in her hand, and South had a strong hand in clubs and hearts. This hand provided a most aggressive sequence of bidding choices.

It takes courage as a bridge player to use the redouble card, and there are warning signs when there is fierce competition in the bidding. The warning should be obvious to all: these cards are highly distributional with long suits and singletons and voids pretty much taken for granted. South was quite ambitious bidding to the 4♣ level and then after being doubled pulled out the redouble card and plunked it down on the table. The funny thing is that South with the powerful clubs and the strong hearts that fit nicely with partner North’s hand would have indeed made a 4♣ doubled contract for a plus score for the North/South team. There was no need for South to redouble the 4♣ contract. All it did was to open the door for East to bid again.

This time, however, East, taking advantage of South’s hasty redouble bid, with nine diamonds and a partner who had bid her spades twice was ready to bid her diamonds again. When South doubled that 4♦ contract, East promptly redoubled 4♦. With both sides vulnerable, it was a battle of wills on this hand. With diamonds being a bit higher on the bidding scale, East made a great bridge call by daring to redouble the 4♦ bid. The final contract was East playing 4♦ doubled and redoubled.

No matter what lead was chosen, South would only take the A♣, the A♥, and the K♥. East would surely pull trumps by leading the A♦ finding the K♦ in the South hand, and the lone 5♠ in her hand would find a safe place with West’s A♠. East could claim all of the remaining tricks, taking ten tricks and losing only the three tricks that South was able to take immediately.

While South was a daring bridge player, East was even more so. Making 4♦ doubled and redoubled gave the East/West team a fine score of 920 points on their side of the score sheet. It is not very often that a doubled and redoubled contract shows up in a round of bridge. But to see two examples of doubling and redoubling is extraordinary. Looking at the South hand, it is easy to see that South would have lost two spade tricks and one diamond trick and would have taken the rest for ten tricks for the South declarer. On the bidding ladder, however, the diamond suit is one rung up and on this hand, East picked the right time to bid to 4♦ doubled and redoubled and make her contract. Well done, East and West, on aggressive bidding and heads-up bridge playing.

 

Gerald Stein

February 5, 2014

Number of words: 776

Bridge Notes: Are you tired of winter and feel the need to get out and do something new and fun? Consider taking a bridge class offered at the Hastings Community Education and Recreation Center on March 1, 2014. It will be just the way to chase away the winter blahs and begin a new challenge. “Learn Bridge in a Day?” is a five-hour seminar on learning the basics of bridge so that you can see if this is a card game that you would like to pursue. Give the Hastings Community Education office a call at 948-4414. You will be ready to spring into action!

 

 

 

Better Bridge in Barry County February 6 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

	North ♠  2  ♥  J 3  ♦  J 5 4 2   ♣  A J 8 6 4 2
West ♠  10 ♥  A Q 10 8 2 ♦  A K Q 6    ♣  10 7 5		East ♠  Q 6 3 ♥  K 5 4 ♦  10 9 8 7 3 ♣  9 3
	South ♠  A K J 9 8 7 5 4 ♥  9 7 6 ♦  --- ♣  K Q

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

North East/West 8♥

 

North Pass Pass Pass	East Pass Pass Pass	South 4♠! Rdbl!	West Dbl Pass

A redouble bid is a bid that is not used very often in a bridge game. Can you remember the last time you redoubled an opponent who had dared to double your first bid? It does not happen often, but it happened in today’s hand. Let’s see how things worked out.

After North and East had both passed, South with seven strong spades, a void in diamonds, three weak hearts and a doubleton king-queen club combination, and sitting in third seat knew just the bid to shut out the opponents. South bid 4♠ as recommended by one of the top bridge players on the Bridge Base Online website. Leo LaSota has accumulated over 10,000 master points by playing bridge online in bridge tournaments. His recommendation when sitting in third seat, a long major suit, and two passes before your bid? Bid four of the major and see what happens. That is what South did today.

Not content to sit back silently, West, with a strong hand, elected to double, probably for penalty but possibly for a takeout double with the strong hearts. Why West with the heart suit and knowing that South had at least seven or eight spades did not bid the heart suit herself is a mystery. Bidding 5♥ would have definitely been a sacrifice, and even doubled down a trick would have been only a minus 200. At any rate, North and East passed with East probably thinking that East/West were playing the double as a penalty. They need to talk about the double at the four level: is it takeout or is it penalty?

South must have eaten his Wheaties for breakfast that morning, as he sat up straight in his chair and promptly redoubled the bid. West had time to bail out of the bid, but she passed and so did the rest of the table. The contract was 4♠ in the South, doubled and redoubled.

West led the 8♥, a questionable lead for any good bridge defender. Underleading an ace when in a trump contract defies logic. While this is perfectly legitimate when in a no trump contract, there are two opponents who might have the missing king, and only one partner. If you need to lead your suit, do not underlead the ace. Lead the ace and expect to see low cards drop all around. Aces and kings were meant to take high cards, not low spots.

This time it worked for the East/West pair when East provided the K♥ for their first trick. A heart return would surely win after that lead, but East elected to lead a small spade to remove the opportunity for South to trump a heart with the lowly 2♠. South won the trick with the A♠ with all following. South played the K♠ next and was not surprised to see that West was out and that the Q♠ would be a winner for the East/West team.

Knowing that giving up the lead would result in two more heart losers and one spade loser for down one doubled and redoubled, South had to find a way to make one heart loser go away. Here is how South continued the play of the hand: South played the K♣ first and all followed. Then South played the Q♣ from his hand, and when he reached the dummy hand, he called for the A♣ to overtake the Q♣. East had to play her final club. South then played the J♣ from the dummy. East needed to do something and used the Q♠ to trump the good J♣. South smoothly pitched a losing heart on the losing trick achieving what is called in bridge parlance “a loser-on-a-loser” situation. Both of South’s losers, the Q♠ and the losing heart, disappeared on the same trick. East returned a heart to West winning their third and final trick.

With only trump left in his hand, South claimed the last six tricks. The score for making a game contract doubled and redoubled? How about a hefty 880 points to the North/South team?  In the replay with another team playing the exact same cards, West wisely passed, and North/South accomplished the same results as today’s South with this exception. The second pair received 420 points for making their major game in spades without any interruption from the opponents. West’s double of 4♠ and the subsequent redouble by South resulted in a 460 point gain with exactly the same cards. Could or should East/West have sacrificed at the five level when the redouble showed up? Let’s see what that would look like.

It appeared as if a spade were led by North, and won by South, a continuation of the spade would result in an overtrump by North. A diamond lead would result in a trump by South and two club tricks for down three, vulnerable. Down three vulnerable is still a minus 800 points for East/West, almost the same score as the redoubled contract of minus 880.What was the best solution for East/West? Pass smoothly and play the hand at 4♠ and hope that the next hand will be an East/West hand.

 

Gerald Stein

January 28, 2014

Number of words: 1000

 

Bridge notes: Interested in finding out about Leo LaSota’s great success on Bridge Base Online? Go to www.bridgebase.com for online bridge tournaments. Some games are free, so look around and see what you can discover.

 

 

Better Bridge in Barry County January 30 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

	North ♠  10 5 3  ♥  A J 5 4 3    ♦  6    ♣  J 9 6 2
West ♠  Q 2 ♥  K 10 7 6 ♦  Q 8 7 5   ♣  K 7 5		East ♠  9 8 6 4 ♥  Q 9   ♦  K 9 4 2 ♣  10 4 3
	South ♠  A K J 7 ♥  8 2   ♦  A J 10 3   ♣  A Q 8

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

North North/South 5♦

 

North Pass 3♦ (1) 3NT   (1)   Transfer to Hearts	East Pass Pass Pass	South 2NT 3♥ Pass	West Pass Pass Pass

In most online bridge tournaments, there are many, many tables of bridge players, vying for the top scores. On today’s hand, there was an unusually small number of tables. Only five tables signed up to play this particular tournament. To do well in this kind of situation, you need to make your best bridge moves. Let’s see how South fared against four strong contenders.

Today’s South opened the bidding with a 2NT bid even though their partnership agreement required at least 20 high-card points for that particular bid. With 19 high-card points, three suits stopped and good cards in the three suits, South chose the 2NT opening bid. While not a forcing bid in most players’ agreement, North chose the Jacoby Transfer Convention as his way of showing five hearts for partner South. Bidding 3♦ would force South to bid 3♥. The advantage is that the South player has the hand with the most points as the closed hand, and he can be the declarer instead of North with the weaker hand. North then gave South a choice: 3NT or 4♥? South easily chose the 3NT contract as he had stoppers in the other three suits, North had promised five hearts, and nine tricks in no trump is easier than ten tricks in a major suit. South passed, and the contract was 3NT.

West tabled the 5♦ as the lead. Down came the dummy, and South surveyed his partner’s cards. Grateful as always, South prepared his plan; he had five sure tricks: A♥, A♠, K♠, A♦, and A♣. Four more tricks would need to be promoted to make the 3NT contract. Nodding that he was ready, South called for the 6♦, the K♦ came from East, and South took the first trick with the A♦. Next, South led the A♣ with all playing low. South was preparing to unblock the club suit and secure another entry to the dummy. South on the third trick played the Q♣ from his hand. West took the trick with the K♣; South played low from the dummy, and East played the 4♣. South had just succeeded in setting up two club tricks in the dummy, and he still had a small club in his hand to get to them.

West continued with a diamond lead, the 8♦, with South discarding a small heart from the board, East played a small diamond, and South won with the J♦. With no time like the present, South led his small club to the waiting two club winners on the board. South discarded a small heart on the second club winner. The A♥ was South’s next play, and all played a heart.

Leading the 10♠ from the board, South let it ride all the way to West. West won with the Q♠, took the K♥ and the Q♦, but at that point, South was in control. The J♥ on the board was good once the Q♥ had dropped from the East hand. West chose to lead a final diamond, the 7♦, but South won with the 10♦. The final two tricks needed to make the 3NT contract were the top spades in the South hand.

All in all, South took three diamond tricks, three club tricks, one heart trick, and two spade tricks for his nine tricks. The other four tournament players all went set by one trick with one player in 3NT, one in 4♥, and two in 4♠ contracts. Only today’s South found the winning combination in no trump by carefully setting up the diamonds and the clubs. True, if South had played the top spades from the top, he might have made an overtrick, but that is a moot point. Beating the other four players with a top score of 600 points gave him a commanding lead in the tournament.

The takeaway for today? When given a choice by your partner as to the choice of games, in this case, either 3NT or four of a major, look carefully at your hand. If your hand is a balanced hand, you might want to consider staying in no trump where you need only take nine tricks to make game as opposed to needing ten tricks in a major. Some bridge players do not like to play in no trump, but, the fact is, it is sometimes the easiest way to make a game. Do not say, “No more no trump.”  Say instead, “Try no trump more in Two Thousand One Four!”

 

Gerald Stein

January 22, 2014

Number of words: 919

 

Bridge Notes: Interested in the “Learn Bridge in a Day?” seminar to be held on March 1^st at Hastings Community Education and Recreation Center? Wondering about the question mark at the end of the title? Watch for a future bridge column that will address some of these thoughts. Meanwhile, sign up at the Community Education office at 948-4414.