Happy Springtime! We have somehow survived this winter with its snow and Cold. Timing was everything, as evidenced by the snowstorm that hit us the day after our winter tournament at Guardian Angel. Even with the absence of the snowbirds, we had a very successful tournament, and once again the wonderful lunch prepared for Sunday's game by Abby Brawer and her helpers was a real high point of the weekend. Thank you, Abby.
The emphasis we continue to put on cultivating new players has taken on a new direction. At the November tournament Jean Mazouat hosted a special newcomer event on Saturday morning. In her absence Kay Roelke volunteered to host the same kind of event in February. Neale Van Delft and Martha Troxell ably assisted her. From all reports the 7 tables of newcomers all had a wonderful time. Thank you Kay and helpers.
There are many special events coming up B the first of which is the Bob Johnke team game, scheduled for Saturday, April 28. If you have not participated in this event in the past, you should consider it this year. It is a real bargain, and one of the places where Unit 106 gives back to the players B where else would you find a two-session event with a catered dinner for $15.00. For the players who have requested that we schedule more of our special events on Sunday, we can only say that we tried. Due to site and parking restrictions, we were unable to accommodate that request for this year's Johnke. On Sunday, May 6, there will be a special Life Master event at Bergen Bridge Club in Bogota. Please check elsewhere in the Newsletter for details of both these events.
Other dates to keep in mind are the Grand National Teams finals, which are in April and May, and the Regional in Saratoga in June. Details of both these are also in this Newsletter.
In January we sadly accepted the resignation of Andy Muenz, whose new responsibilities at work made it impossible for him to continue as the valuable Board Member he had been in the past. We will miss him, and hope that when the pressure at work eases, he will consider serving again.
At the tournament at Guardian Angel in June, you will have a choice of events, which is somewhat different. The World Bridge Federation International Contest is scheduled for Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. On Friday evening we will offer Stratified Open Pairs, Beginners Bridge and the WBF Contest. On Saturday afternoon, it will be Stratified IMPs Pairs, Beginners Bridge and the second session of the WBF Contest. So, whatever your preference, we hope we have the game for you.
If you think your bridge calendar seems full, it's probably because it is. All of the above are in addition to the specials at the local clubs as well as our Sectional Tournament at the Clubs (STAC), which is scheduled for June. I look forward to seeing you at the table. Remember that all up to date information can be found on our Web Page, www.bridge-njba.org.
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New Members and Transfers Kay Roelke
Kay Roelke chairs the membership committee and is assisted by Eileen Whitney, Elaine Meyers, and Abby Brawer. This committee is responsible for welcoming new members to the unit, reminding those of us who forget to renew our ACBL memberships. This is not a small job and requires many telephone calls. The continued growth of the unit is important and having willing workers to assist is helpful. If you are willing to serve on this or any other committee, contact the board member in the area of your interest.
NEW MEMBERS for December 2000 and January 2001
Frank Altamuro Donna Cole
Miriam L Cole Joan B. Fromm
Martin G. Gilbert Joan Steinhouse
Jeri L Weinstein Ann R. Chodash
Barry M. Chodash Joseph N. De Guilmo
Carol Ann Gauthier Harry Geist
Gloria M. Goemer Roselyn Peltz
Kathleen Stockhamer Nathan Streitman
Mary Weiler
TRANSFERS for December 2000 and January 2001
Ada Cascone Ruth Cooper
Patricia E. Hall Paul Shapiro
Leila Wallenstein
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THIS 'N THAT FROM YOUR
DISTRICT DIRECTOR Joan Gerard
One of the more pleasant responsibilities I have as District Director is to make annual appointments to two Honorary National Committees. The National Goodwill Committee and the National Charity Committee. Since we have seven units in our District, I try to appoint people each year from a different unit. This year, Harris Schenker was appointed to the National Goodwill Committee and Glenda Calkins to the National Charity Committee. They exemplify what it takes to be outstanding citizens of our bridge community. Harris joins many deserving people from unit 106 including Nelson Reitman, Mark Skinner, John Macchi, Eileen Brenner, Leonard Karp, Mickey Bindelglass, Janet Packer, Kathy Benjamin, Jo Ann Van Delft, Ruth Bernstein and Bob Johnke. It was only recently that the Charity appointments were permanent so there are not nearly as many. Jesse Reisman is the other appointee to this committee from your unit. All of the appointments are well deserved. Our district is lucky to continue to have the caring and dedication of these volunteers.
Although our membership seems to be stabilizing and even taking a bit of an upturn my concern is that the ACBL Board of Directors was unwilling to allocate any part of the 2001 budget to our Junior Programs. This leaves us with only the Junior Games run at the clubs where $1 per player goes to the Junior Fund and whatever monies the ACBL Educational Foundation is willing to give to the Junior Program. Many programs have had to be cut - at least for the time being. I believe that the future of our game lies in getting young peopleinterested. Not that I want to neglect the baby boomers who now have more time and money to devote to bridge, nor do I want to neglect the seniors who have a great deal of leisure time but we need to interest our young people or there will be no middle aged and seniors to play in the years to come. I think a serious effort needs to be made to have bridge taught in the schools as either a part of the curriculum or as an extra-curricular activity. We need to continue to offer a junior camp and junior activities for the young people who are learning about us on the Internet and other places.
This year a 4th Flight has been added to the GNT's... a Championship Flight. Additionally, Flights have different point limits... Flight A 0-5000; Flight B -0-2000 while Flight C remains the same - 0-500 (non-LM). Flights A, B & C will be played April 21in White Plains and April 22 in Scarsdale. Everyone, including those that have played in April are eligible to play on May 19th in Woodbridge, NJ in the Championship Flight. Try your skills against the top players in our District. Look for the ad about GNT's in this issue of this Newsletter.
Thanks to Arnie Bergen, the Webmaster for District 3's site at: http://www.bridge-district 3.org, you can get up to date information about upcoming regionals and schedules. Hope to see you at the GNT's and in Saratoga Springs in June.
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The Double Flaw Principle Chapter 1: Len Helfgott
Chapter 1: When (and When Not) to Open 1NT
In the old days of contract bridge everything had to be just right to open 1NT. No flaws were allowed. Flaws included (among other things) worthless doubletons, semi-balanced 5-4-2-2 hands, 6 card minors, or 5 card majors. Nowadays we have tons of conventions and treatments over 1NT that make it a much more valuable bidding weapon, so we're willing to open 1NT with many less than perfect hands including worthless doubletons, 5-4-2-2 distributions, and long suits. And besides, opening 1NT is FUN.
The purpose of this article is to provide an easy guideline as to when to open 1NT with these flawed hands. The basic rule is that one flaw is OK but a doubly flawed hand is NOT. Let's see how this works.
One-question beginners and intermediate players frequently ask is: Should I open 1NT with a 5 card major? Good question, even world-class experts are divided on this issue, so this is just one players viewpoint. Well, even a strong proponent such as myself must admit that holding a 5 card major is a " Flaw" For a 1NT opener, but the key to the decision is whether the hand has a second flaw. Let's explore further:
GREATER NY HOLIDAY REGIONAL
GREENPOINT IMP. (22) Prs
3rd Robert Heitzman Jr, Robert Sartorius
TUES. OP(94)
6A Lee Ohliger, Beverly Tuck-Sherman
TUES. SRS PRS (37)
1A Sarah Wiener
TUES. AFT. NEWCOMERS PRS (28)
4B Alfred Delio
TUES. EVE. SIDE GAME (54) Prs
5A Sydney Gordon, Elson Blunt III
WED. AFt. NEWCOMERS (30) Prs
4A David Ryan
WED. SR PRS (65)
2A Michael Camp,
6A Sari Lipkin
3B Jean Mazouat, Al Pagan
WED. FAST PRS (52)
1A Fred Paul
3A Sidney Kanter
WED. AFT.CONT. PRS (70)
5A Sydney Gordon, Elson Blunt III,
WED-THU KO, BRACKET 1 (12)
3/4 Sarah Wiener
WED-THU EVES IMP PRS (30)
4A Leonard Helfgott, Paul Quodomine
Rye Regional Jan. 2001 Results
TUES. EVE. ED. FD (20)
3C Miriam Sedell
WED. SR PRS. (105)
8A Rosalind Elk
WED. WOM. (40) Pairs
1A Ruth Bernstein, Kathy Benjamin
4B Veronica De Matolay - Susan Colton
4C Carol Coan
WED. EVE. SIDE GAME (38)
3A Leonard Helfgott, Paul Quodomine
THURS. AFT. SIDE GAME(68)
4A Ari Eisenberg, Allan Rosenblum
3C Dave McInnis, Kenneth Jeffery
THURS. OP SWISS (40)
7A George Kramer, Tina Gordon
David Daly
9/13A Robert Heitzman Jr.
THURS. WOM. SWISS (14)
5A Ruth Bernstein, Faith Eckberg
Glenda Calkins, Kathy Benjamin
THURS. AFT. SIDE GAME(76)
5A James Jensen,; Ralph Meyer
6C Kuniko Kusumoto
FRI. OP PRS (112)
1A Edward Landau, Martin Steinberg
6A Irina Levitina
7/8 Rosalind Elk, Leonard Helfgott
1B R Barkley Calkins, Glenda Calkins
FRI. WOM. (18)
4B Rebecca Schwartz, Ann Shor
FRI. EVE, SIDE GAME(50)
2B Robert Sterling, Adel Eryan
FRI-SAT KO, BRACKET 1 (9)
¾ Michael Lipkin
FRI-SAT KO, BRACKET 3 (11)
3/4 Robert & Elizabeth Broadfoot
SAT. FL. A/X (92)
4A Alan Osofsky
11A Fred Paul
13A Sonja Spieker, Isaac Eskenazi
SAT. FL B/C (82)
5B Tom Tomsa, Sidney Kanter
SAT. SR PRS (88)
5B Veronica De Matolay, Abe Jakob
SAT. EVE. NEWCOMERS (12)
1/2A Lewis Howard
SUN. AFT. NEW. SWISS(14)
5/6A Annette Graubart, Daniel Graubart
Ann Distler, Aaron Distler
SUN. FL. A/X SWISS (56)
10/11A Michael Lipkin
14/17A Paul Quodomine
1B Steven Wheeler
3B Harris Schenker, Caryll Schenker
Stan Politowski Jr, Roger Nortman
SUN. FL. B/C SWISS(68)
7B Edward Wilson, Paul Fagan
SUN. SR SWISS (44)
2B Neale & Jo Ann Van Delft
Katherine & Wayne Roelke
7/9A John Kuharetz, Andrew Lohan
Fred Weidmann, Franklin Grunebaum
5B Sheldon Schneider, Rebecca
Schwartz, Ann Shor
6B Myra Bachman, Renee Blank
Phyllis Profita, Stanley Fink
2C Barbara Dorfman, Irene Fink
Pearl Ehrlich
SUN. LATE NITE SIDE GAME (10)
1A Andrew Lohan
4A Phyllis Resnik
MON. AFT. SIDE GAME (46)
5A Harris Schenker, Burrell Humphreys
COMP. KO, BR. 4 (13)
1ST Marilyn Marion, James Jensen
Ken. Jeffery, Dorothy Van Dalinda
MON. OP. PRS (62)
8A Ilya Levitina, Irina Levitina
MON. SRS PRS (56)
1A David Weisman
MON. EVE. SIDE GAME (22)
4A Ari Eisenberg
Winter Feb. 2001 Sect Woodbridge
Fri Aft Open Pairs (34)
3A Helen Raleigh, Robert Heitzman Jr.
Fri Aft Open Pairs (9)
1C Edward Wilson, Paul Fagan
3C James Jensen, Ralph Meyer
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It is often essential to delay drawing trumps when dummy's trumps are needed to ruff losers from your own hand. Consider the following with South declaring an aggressive four spades:
North
S Q7
East H 7 West
S 92 D 96432 S 843
H KQJ10 C A8542 H 9852
D K105 D AJ8
C 10976 South C KQJ
S AKJ1065
H A643
D Q7
C 3
After the opening lead of the heart king, BEFORE PLAYING TO THE FIRST TRICK, South follows the general rule for planning the play of the hand in a suit contract by counting potential losers in his own hand, one spade, three hearts, two diamonds and one club. He then looks to dummy and notes that the queen of spades and ace of clubs will take care of the potential losers in those suits; however, three heart and two diamond losers remain, two too many.If declarer mindlessly bows to his early training and promptly draws trumps, "to keep opponents from winning tricks by ruffing" he will indeed go down two. However, if he notes the heart shortness in dummy, the key to making the hand becomes clear. Declarer should win the ace of hearts and immediately lead a heart to ruff in dummy, play ace of clubs and ruff a club, the only way to return to hand WITHOUT LEADING A TRUMP, play a second heart to ruff, and ruff another club to return to hand. Only now, having used both of dummy's trumps to ruff losers from his hand, is he finally ready to draw opponents trumps, and concede one heart and two diamonds, four spades bid and made.
While leaving opponents trumps out did put declarer at risk of being over ruffed, the key points are 1) those heart ruffs in dummy were essential to making the hand, and 2) would not have been possible had trumps been drawn. MORAL Delay drawing trumps when you need to use dummy's trumps to ruff losers from your hand.
P.S. Note that the hand must always go down if East's opening lead is a trump, since declarer can then only ruff one heart loser in dummy. Trump leads by defenders are indicated anytime the bidding or play leads you to believe declarer needs ruffs to make a contract.
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Negative Doubles Andy Lohan
After a partner opens the bidding and an opponent bids a suit, a double is for takeout rather than for penalty. At the one level it shows at least 6 points and four-card support for the unbid majors. At a higher level the point count should be greater. If you have a five-card suit but not enough points, you double and then bid your suit.
Example
S J 10 9 x x
H K x x x
D x
C A J x
Bidding has been 1§, 2¨ Your bid B You have 5ª s, but not enough for a free bid.
Make a negative double and your partner will bid a Major if he has one. Don't take a free bid if you have fewer points than normally promised in your system. A Two over One Game force requires an opening bid to be made to go to a new level. Standard bidding requires ten points.
Remember when you bid you are telling your partner what your hand looks like, not what you think you can make.
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Beginner and Novice Game at Allendale Sectional
Kay Roelke ran a special introductory free game for beginners and novices on Saturday morning, February 3rd. Attendance was good and there were seven tables in play. The players enjoyed the game. Martha Troxell helped run the gameand Neale Van Delft did the scoring.
The results:
1 Jonathan Ohliger, Ryan Humphreys
2 Ann Scott, Hazel King Molzan
3/4 William Pamm - Helga Pamm
3/4 Anne Rossetti - Richard Morris
5/6 Milton Reicher - Mildred Reicher
5/6 Anne Rosenberg - Berthold Kuerer
Players were given the unit newsletter including the schedule for the clubs, which includes times for the lessons and games for novices.
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NJBA Unit 106 Balance Sheet Frank Grunebaum
NJBA Unit 106 Balance Sheet
As of December 31, 2000
Assests
Cash in Bank $5982.76
Accounts Receivables 2821.82
Investments 18000.00
Furniture & Fixtures 7555.48
Allowance of Depreciation 5550.14 2205.34
Total Assets $28809.92
Liabilities 228.80
Surplus 28586.12
Total Liabilities & Surplus $28809.92
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2000 MINI-MCKENNEY STANDINGS in Unit 106
Beverly F. Kaufman 36.19
Jean Goll 33.88
Allan S. Greenberg 32.37
Mark Koenigsberg 54.93
Susan R. Leaf 31.72
Alfred F. Delio 29.70
Kenneth J. Jeffrey 119.95
Dave McInnis 93.17
Donna Devine 92.10
Michael Cheny 105.96
Stuart Tarkan 98.03
Sheldon Schneider 86.29
Miyoko M. Boswell 191.16
Stefano Coppola 181.20
Michael A. Gellar 119.79
Life Master of the Year
Dr. T. Seng Tjoa 178.17
Saeko Hisayama 139.93
Andy C. Muenz 121.61
Bronze Life Master of the Year
Ruth F. Bodden 188.84
Stan Politowski Jr 179.23
Janis Rush 158.56
Silver Life Master of the Year
Fred E. Paul 367.94
Jesse I Reisman 276.77
Robert E. Heitzman Jr. 235.31
Gold Life Master of the Year
Irina Levitina 494.23
Sara R. Wiener 337.56
Cheryl L. Angel 331.15
Diamond Life Master of the Year
Rosalind Elk 360.45
Stasha W. Cohen 209.85
Leonard Karp 75.81
Grand Life Master of the Year
Kerri Sanborn 310.05
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Honor Your Partner Mark Horton
Consider your partner to be a friend. Treat your partner well, even (especially) if you are playing for the first time. Always offer your partner a drinkCtea or coffee is a good starting point. This will lead to a relaxed atmosphere, enabling you both to play your best. By the way, always be a pleasant and courteous opponent.
Tolerate errors. Never go on about partner's mistakesCjust forget about them and move on to the next deal. You may be able to make a constructive comment at the end of the session. Your partner will surely show you the same consideration.
Be encouraging. Always be prepared to support your partnerC"well played" always goes down well and a "thank you" for the dummy does not go amiss. In one of my partnerships, if dummy were exactly what was needed, "mille grazie" would let partner in on the good news!
Keep a straight face. Never make the mistake of pulling a face or raising an eyebrow. Apart from hurting your partner's feelings, being deadpan does not let your opponents know that something may have gone wrong.
Win or loose, always stay calm at the end of the session and thank partner for the game. This is especially important if things have not gone so well. In my most successful international partnership, the first time we played together was absolutely hopeless but we stuck with it.
Coping with disaster: The best way to cope with the inevitable disasters is to laugh them off. This tends to disconcert even the best opponents who are used to seeing the opponents argue.
Conventions: Stick to the ones you both feel comfortable with. A player trying to remember some convention he is not familiar with will make errors in other departments.
I recently played in a tournament in the Netherlands with a strange partner. We would have won but for a couple of expensive mistakes when I forgot a couple of things because we were playing conventions I was not familiar with.
Who's the boss? In most partnerships, one player tends to be regarded as the boss. If you are the stronger player, go out of your way to make life easy for your partner: make easy-to-understand bids, leads and signals. Don't land your partner in a tough contract. CH well, not on purpose.
Have fun! You are both out to enjoy yourselves. If your partner leaves the table feeling happy, you have done your job. Of course you want to win but that objective should not mean spoiling the game for your partner or the opponents.
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New Course at Bridge Center at Wyckoff
The Bridge Center at Wyckoff is offering a new course for beginning lessons. This class is to be taught by Amy Nellissen, a certified TAP teacher. She can be reached at (201) 818-0141. The class is for 8 weeks starting in April on Tuesdays 12:30 PM B 2:30 PM. One should call Amy for details and for pre registration.
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FAITH IN ONE'S PARTNER Stan Fink
I was sitting east with my usual awesome hand of three high-card points so I passed at each turn during the following auction: The bidding:
E S W N
P 1C 1S X
P 1NT P 3NT
P P P
With little to offer in the way of defense, I was prepared to nap through the play of the hand when my partner surprised me by leading the ace of clubs. Dummy's hand and mine were:
Dummy's Hand My Hand
S Q3 84
H KQ862 T9543
D AK86 T932
C 97 K5
Unless we were playing with two club kings, partner's lead was especially puzzling. We never start with an unsupported ace. In addition, the club suit was the one that the declarer had bid. Why hadn't partner led a spade? I thought it was most inconsiderate of her to make me do all of this thinking. I studied the cards in my hand carefully because on occasion I have placed a spade together with my club holding. Not this time. I was definitely staring at the king of clubs not the king of spades.
It was decision time and I could see little advantage in blocking the suit so I reluctantly dropped the king on the ace. When I returned the five, the floodgates opened and we took the first six tricks as the declarer was forced to painfully discard a succession of potential winners.
The West and South hands were:
S JT965 AK72
H AJ7
D Q7 J54
C AQJ863 T42
Had I blocked the suit by playing the five on the ace, I would have not only permitted the declarer to make his contract, but an overtrick as well. My partner later explained that she had intended to open the auction 1 club, but declarer bid the suit first. Furthermore, she didn't want to lead her fourth-best club because she thought that if I won with the king, I would switch to a spade. (A safe assumption because all of my partners know what an astute defender I am.)Before anyone starts to sympathize with our opponents, I should add that they only had themselves to blame for their hapless predicament. Had north bid 2 hearts instead of making a negative double, our foes would have likely reached a contract of 4 hearts. Even though they would have encountered a rare 5-0 trump split, they probably would have received a much more favorable score.