NS Vul
North
K53
KQ4
T763
T53
West East
642 QJ
9763 T8
AJ852 KQ94
J AKQ84
South
AT987
AJ52
---
9762
North East South West
Pass Pass
Pass 1NT 2D* X
XX Pass 2S X
Pass Pass Pass
*Artificial showing both majors
Opening lead J of Clubs
Result: Made 4
Score: +1070
The above hand is taken from a recent Okbridge tournament and is a good example of the problems that can occur when you stretch the basic no-trump opener too far. There wasn't much to the play. EW took the first three club tricks and then tried to cash the K of diamonds and South was able to claim the rest when the QJ of spades dropped nicely under the Ace and King. (Yes, I know a 4th club back would give EW one more trick, but a bottom is a bottom.) The opening of one no-trump on a 2-2-4-5 hand should be avoided unless most of the points are in the two doubletons and no convenient rebid is available. The East hand didn't meet criterion. The doubletons were weak and opening 1C followed either by 2D (a reverse if you think it is strong enough) or 2C (a very good 5-card suit) would be a lot better than opening 1NT. As the bidding went, East seemed to have forgotten that she had made an Off Shape 1NT and forgot to pull the 2 spade double contract to 3 diamonds. West had made a "matchpoint" double. While I don't agree with the double, it became a disaster when East passed. Before you say this could never happen to me, consider this, East is a well known teacher in our unit that most would consider a good player. If the good players have problems with this type of bid, maybe the rest of us should avoid it.
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C L U B W I N N E R S
Bergen: Open Pairs: Giancarlo Bellavita - Hans Leer; Marty Bock-Richard Rosner; John Siegfried-June Munzer; Marty Bock-Richard Rosner; Unit Wide: Joe Adamo-Rosalind Elk; Marty Bock-Richard Rosner; John Siegfried-June Munzer; Marty Bock-Richard Rosner
Maywood: Club Championship: Fred Paul-Marty Weiss; R. Conroy-Vivian Grossman; Jackie Robinson-Peck Klose; Caryll Schenker-Terry Band; Fran Cohen-Alex Conrad; Fred Paul-Jaime Roitman; Susan Leaf-Vivian Grossman; Joan McGowan-Dick Rosner; Rena Harris-Stefano Coppola; Kurt Lang-Bob Garofalo Caryll and Harris Schenker; Norma Seixas-R. Katz; Mike Gellar-Ed Merecky; Barbara Fingerhut-Mary Gianella; Edith Klinger-Mike Gellar; Debbie Alexander-Myra Lawrence; E. Delcolle-S. Prestifillipo; Jean Mazouat-Al Pagan; Ken Miles-J. Gordon Kalt; Sarah Weiner-Walter Hertzberg Charity: Joan McGowan-Dick Rosner; Sonia Spieker-Ike Eskanazi Unit Wide: Bob Vogel-Len Helfgott; Jean Mazouat-Al Pagan ACBL-Wide Seniors: Andy Lohan-Richard Hoffman ACBL-Wide Charity: Paul Nickerson-Steve Ehrenworth District Wide Charity: Jean Elkind-John Kuharetz; Betty Ann Smith-AnneTaylor; Julian Katz-Fred Weidmann International Fund Game: Julian Katz-Fred Weidmann; G. Weingarten-H. Wovsaniker
Rockland : Open Pairs: Ros Elk -Leonard Helfgott; Veronica De matolay-Eugene Barrack; ACBL Charity: Richard Kait and Mark Podgursky; Open Pairs: Eva Scatassa -Tod Thorgersen Open Pairs: Frederick Cohen-Betty King, Sally Sonne - Stuart Tarkan, Leonard Helfgott - Paul Quodomine, Burrel & Joy Humpreys
Non-Smokers: Membership: Frank Grunebaum - Betty Ann Smith: Paul Haberman - Cornel Ferat Club Championship: Jim Wolff-Frank Boroughs Xharity: Jim Wolff - Frank Boroughs
Sparta: Club Championship: Elson Blunt - Syd Gordon: Roy - James Porges;
Wyckoff : Open Pairs: Ros Elk- Keiko Yamada: Jim & Linda Conroy: Sue Handley -Linda Conroy;International Fund Game; Sandy Zellner-Sue Handley
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Milestones
In Memoriam NEW LIFE MASTERS
Thelma Fishman Dr. Leon Curman
Vivian Goldstein Anita Lind
Nancy Rubel BRONZE LIFE MASTER
Norah Osborne
Andy Muenz
SILVER LIFE MASTER
Phylis Profita
GOLD LIFE MASTER
Burrell Humphreys
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EASYBRIDGE! Update Jean Mazouat
The 35 week Easybridge program which started last September
is still bringing in new players. It is an ideal format for
students of the game to continue learning, practice and experience
the world of Duplicate. Some of our players are fresh out of Audry
Grant's Club Series classes -- not much experience but lots of
enthusiasm. We make then feel wanted and comfortable and no stress,
first of all, FUN. Teachers, send your students! FRIDAY NIGHTS -
7:30 PM at the Glen Rock Bridge Club. We have only one rule:
NO EXPERTS OR GROUCHES ALLOWED. The future of our clubs depend on
getting new players and "social bridge players" into the game.
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Interesting Hand Dick Johnson
This "interesting hand" came from a Saturday Afternoon duplicate game at the Wyckoff Bridge Center. My partner and I held the North-South hands.
S AKJ10
H 4
D 4
C AK98643
S 8 3 2 S Q
H KJ2 H Q1083
D AK109 D QJ6532
C 1043 C J8
S 97654
H A9765
D 87
C Q
Dealer: West
East - West: Vulnerable
The bidding:
W N E S
P 1C P 1S
P 4NT P 5D
P 6S P P
P
North, made an enterprising bid after his partner's one-spade response. Finding one ace in partner's hand, he bid six spades instead of the six-club bid that many players would make. Obviously, after a diamond lead and a heart switch, six spades rolled in when the Queen fell: a small slam success with only 21 high -card points between the two hands.
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BERGEN OFFERS SWISS TEAMS
Gerald Goodman
The Bergen Bridge Club continues as the only local club with a regularly scheduled Swiss Team event. For over a year the team competition has been held every Wednesday afternoon at 12:30 PM with lunch at noon. Foursomes are arranged for those arriving without a full team.
The game, which is stratified whenever possible, provides a wonderful opportunity for newer players to become familiar with IMP tactics that they will encounter as they advance to the sectional and regional level. The ease in which masterpoints are earned in the event is also appreciated.
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THIS 'N THAT FROM YOUR DISTRICT DIRECTOR
I have just returned home from spending five and one half days in Parsippany, NJ at the New York Eastern Regional. For those of you that did not know, our District Co-hosted this tournament with NYC. The Parsippany Sheraton was formerly the Sheraton Tara where we held our summer Regional many years ago. Except for Friday evening when we were a little inconvenienced because of the hotel's subsequent commitment, the playing space was wonderful, the hospitality was great and everyone had a terrific time -thanks to Jerry Goodman, who, as always, was there whenever he was needed.
Perhaps you have heard that the NABC's are returning to New York City in the Summer of 2004. It's about time -- it will be 30 years since New York has had an NABC and once again, District 24 has asked us to Co-host this NABC with them. We have agreed. Save the dates -- July 8-18-- they are magic numbers and we are going to have the greatest NABC the players have ever seen. You can take that to the bank. We need to raise lots of money for player hospitality. We started in Parsippany by adding $1.00 a player a session to the NABC Fund for 2004. We want to make certain that everyone who comes to our NABC feels welcome and special. The New York Hilton is the host hotel and all games will be there. We will need many volunteers, so make sure you sign up to help when the time comes.
Another "back to" is coming up: "back to" the old Meadowlands Hilton in Secaucus which is now THE CROWNE PLAZA. A great summer regional, July 31-August 6. Spend the morning shopping at the discount stores, and spend the rest of the day earning MPS.... what else is there in life? Shopping and playing bridge, a great vacation. Plenty of KO's, Sr. games, Newplicate games, and plenty of Gold points just out there for the taking.
Enjoy the summer. Look forward to seeing all of you in Secaucus, July 21-August 6.
Remember, you need a doctor's note if you don't attend.
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BOB JOHNKE HANDICAP SWISS INTO KOS
On Saturday June 10th 21 Teams played in the Bob Johnke. The two session event ended with the following teams qualifying for the playoff at a TBA time: The first place team included: Michael Smalline, Natalie Cohen, Elaine Meyers, Nicholas France. The second place team: Melvin Baranoff, Tod Thorgersen, Joseph Adamo, Geoffrey Manis, Eva Scatassa, Sandy Burns.
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Andy Muenz
WHEN BRIDGE IS BEAUTIFUL II
The following hand appeared in a local newspaper under the by-line of a world class expert.
(The Day South Clubbed West)
Stu Frankel
ALL VUL.
Dealer: East
NORTH
S A 9 8 7 5
H
D A K 9 8 6
C A K 5
WEST EAST
S 4 3 S K J 10 6 2
H A K J 8 6 3 2 H Q 10 7 4
D 3 D J 5 2
C Q 3 2 C 4
SOUTH
S Q
H 9 4
D Q 10 7 4
C J 10 9 8 7 6
The bidding:
East South West North
Pass Pass 3 H 4 H
5 H Pass Pass Dbl.
Pass 6 C All Pass
Opening Lead: Heart King
The commentary complimented the bidding and the line of play which was heart ruff, club Ace only (resisting the temptation try to drop the club Queen). Then spade Ace, spade ruff, heart ruff and another spade ruff and whether West overuffs or not the slam is home. TRY IT - IT WORKS. BUT!
A Club - level West holding ALL 4 trumps and sipping club soda, knew that the expert line MUST FAIL from MAYWOOD TO BOGOTA. By simply discarding a diamond (if 1-7-1-4) or hearts galore and refusing to overuff on a spade West will either Club a diamond with Queen in reserve or Queen a club and force with a heart and the slam attempt just falls apart. TRY IT - IT FAILS. BUT!
South knowing that the GAME OF BRIDGE is not just another pretty face, immediately put West in place by trumping trick 1 with the club ACE. Now spade Ace, spade ruff, heart ruff with club KING and a small club back completes the slam swing. South has 5 clubs left and that's more than 4 and West is left gasping on a club soda straw. TRY IT - IT WORKS!!
1-7 1 4, 2-6-1-4 or 2=7=0=4
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Our Members Score
Lake Harmony, PA Regional (March)
2-A Senior Prs. Marilyn Hirschhorn, Frances Cohen,
4 B Senior Prs. Lotte Elias - Kurt Elias
Cincinnati NABC Nationals (March)
2 A Senior Prs. Arnold Fisher, Fred Paul
3B Charity Prs Noriko Kobe, Saeko Hisayama
23 Nat.Wom.Prs Lynn Mackall, Milly Curman
2A Zip Swiss Sarah Wiener, John Hogan Jr.
3/4 KO Teams John Kuharetz
Saratoga Regional (March)
3/4 Bracket 1 KO Ruth Bodden, Stefano Coppola,
Sonja Spieker -Isaac Eskenazi,
4/5 Open Swiss Gerald Goodman,
5/6 Senior Prs. Al Pagan, Jean Mazouat,
2 Bracket 1 KO Burrell & Joy Humphreys
6 Open Pairs R Barkley Calkins - Glenda Calkins,
Ft. Lauderdale Regional (April)
3-A Open Pairs Betty & Bob King
6-A Senior Pairs Betty & Bob King
3rs Bracket 1 KO Betty & Bob King
Glenda & Barkley Calkins
Parsippany Regional (May)
2A Wed. Charity Rosalind Elk, Leonard Helfgott
3C Kenneth Jeffery - Vickie Costa
3/4 Wed.Thurs Stefano Coppola - Ruth Bodden;
KO Bracket 2 Sonja Spieker - Isaac Eskenazi
3/4 Wed. Thurs. Carolyn Landi - Raffie Jenco
KO.Bracket 4
3C Cont. Pairs Anita Lind - Alice Mathes
4C Thurs. Aft. Dave McInnis - Kenneth Jeffery
A4/5 Sr.Prs.Thr. Donald Margolin - Fred Weidmann
3C Walter Stephan - Morton Smith
8A Open Prs.Thr Arnold Fisher - Fred Paul
11/12A Alan Osofsky - Alan Sonta
2B Cont.Prs. Henry Gibson - Herbert Gillies
6C Thurs Eve Lee Ohliger - Jennifer Broekman
1A Sr Prs. Fri Frances Cohen - Charlotte Davidson
5A A/X Fri. Prs Arnold Fisher - Fred Paul
6A Helen Wallach - Shirley Ladin
4X Paul Nickerson - John Hogan Jr
4B B/C Fri. Prs Satya Pabuwal - Ike Goodfriend
1A Cont. Prs. Jesse Reisman - Cheryl Angel
3A Fri. Eve. Ari Eisenberg - Allan Rosenblum
4A Barbara Deutsch - Charles Friedman
3C Edward Wilson - Paul Fagan
5A Sr Prs Sat. Elizabeth King - Robert King
4A Open Prs Sat Harris Schenker - Caryll Schenker
5C Saeko Hisayama - Miyoko Boswell
4A Cont. Prs. Vijay Ahuja - Annabella Nelken
5B Sat. Eve. Teri Howard - Allan Brody
4A A/X Swiss Cheryl Angel - Lesley Decker;
Team Sun. Stephen Lucas - Jesse Reisman
Arthur Jacobs
7A/1X Kelley Hwang - Arnold Bergen
Sandra Weil - Rhoda Paul
7B B/C Swiss Harris Schenker - Robert Ryan;
Team Sun. Anita Lind, Alices Mathes
4B Senior Swiss Joan Mc Gowan - Ann Muldoon
Team Sunday Suzanne Greer - Molly Demner
5B Robert Sterling - Lottie Tanzman;
Evelyn Burckle - Frances Goldsmith
1 Compact KO Abraham Pineles - Alexander Allen;
Bracket 1 Robert Ryder - Robert Heitzman Jr
4 Sarah Wiener - Ruth Bodden
Stan Politowski Jr - Satya Pabuwal
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WBF Worldwide Bride Contest June 2 & 3
Three pairs from the Glen Rock Bridge Center ranked very high in the
overalls: On Friday Elaine & Sheldon Berger had a 68+% game and placed
33/8814. Saturday Frances Cohen and Cheryl Porter had a 67+% game and placed
29/6419. The third pair was William Alexander and Arnold Bergen with a 63+%
game and ranked 125/6419. They are all to be complimented on their
achievement.
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District 3 Grand National Team Winners Head for
Anaheim, CA for the Summer Nationals
The finals were held in Maywood on Saturday and Sunday, June 17th and 18th
and opened the road to Anaheim.
Teams which won and will represent the district in the Nationals are:
Flight A: Luella Slaner, Marty Bergen, Joel Freidberg, Michael Rosenberg, Ethan Stein, and Steve Weinstein.
Flight B: Ruth Bodden, Andy Muenz, Stan Politowski Jr., and Bob Zehm.
Flight C: Richard Hoffman, Sanford Johnson, Waheed Din, Ejaz Qureshi.
The teams will be partially subsidized by District 3.
Good luck to all!
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F R U S T R A T I O N
Frank Grunebaum
One quiet evening at a local bridge club along came this adventure.
NORTH
S X X
H X X
D K Q 10 9 8
C A Q X X
WEST EAST
S K X X S A 10 X X X
H J 9 X X X H
D X X X D X X
C K X C J X X X X X
SOUTH
S J X
H A K Q 10 8 X
D A X X
C X
The auction:
S W N E
1H PASS 1NT*1 2S*2
3H PASS 4H PASS
PASS PASS
*1 Forcing
*2 Do not ask me -- I did not bid it.
Opening lead spade K followed by East cashing his Ace.
Back came a diamond. My heart play revealed the 5-0 split.
I already lost 2 spade tricks with an excellent opportunity to
surrender 2 trump losers. However, I know the encyclopedia of
bridge has esoteric titles that cover a situation like this:
Devils Coup, Merrimac Coup, Vienna Coup, Scissors Coup, etc.--
whatever the name I need a coup.
At trick five, I trumped my spade Queen.
At six, I played the club Ace
At seven, I trumped a club.
At eight and nine, two rounds of diamonds left the
following situation:
North
S
H
D J 10
C X X
West East
S S
H J 9 X X H
D D
C C J X X X
SOUTH
S
H K Q 10 X
D
C
A club required my low trump, overtrumped by W and a successful end play. This success achieved 3 out of 8 match points. Most teams were in 3 no trump scoring 430 and 460 to my 420.
All I can do is remember this an old refrain:
It matters not 'how you play the game
Lady Luck is a fickle dame.
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New Members Kaye Roelke
The total membership of Unit 106 shows 1,192 current members. New Members & transfers for the year 2000 shows
the total stands at 86. This number is good but is less than
our lost due to moves, etc. New Members and Transfers for the
months of February, March and April are listed below:
NEW MEMBERS
Marion Austrian Allan Greenberg Ilona Ontell
Evelyn Ball Judith Greenfield Ron Richardson
Joseph Ball Rosa Gutierrez Eva Ryan
Edward Bair Leslie Haynes Rita Sloohower
Morrill Cole Barbara Infeld Linda Tafet
Karen Dellavechia Robert Kanter Faye Sloan
Doris Dopf Murray Kerkowitz Stuart Stickler
Dr. Saurav Dutta Doris Levine Jayne Vadyak
Egon Fromm Michael Noonan Henry Wetstein
Nancy Goshin Denise O'Connor Gail White
Jeanne Gray Daniel Wolf
TRANSFERS
Phyllis Baker Shirley Gralla Eva Rubach
Richard Baker Mary Ellen Heitzman Paul Schwartz, M.D.
Kenneth Cadematori Selma Herzog Fred Shubert
Marie Cadematori Judith Hyman Susan Simon
Ruth Chester Karl Lens Georgette Souaid
Harry Cooper Melvin Liberman Irwin Stein
Ruth Cooper Eva King Claire Stevens
Larry Ehrlich Paul Kluger Erick Stern
Lila Fine Viviane Newman A.S. Weissenberg
Ike Goolden Mary O'Donnell Roslyn Zimmerman
Milton Gralla Joan Ribbiner
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PRESIDENT'S LETTER Glenda Calkins
We had a busy Spring with one event after another. It started with the
sectional at Guardian Angel, on to the Grand National Teams, and then came
the Regional at Parsippany, hosted by our District 3 and New York District
24. June came and brought the Bob Johnke Team event and the Sectional
tournament at the clubs.
This Summer we will have a District 3 Tournament here in our own Unit 106. It's the first tournament here in several years, and I hope everyone will make every effort to attend. It begins July 31 and goes through August 6 at the Crowne Plaza Meadowlands in Secaucus.
Our Web Page continues to be a source of information about the happenings in our Unit. In an exciting new initiative, Nick France will develop a "problem hand" and ask some of our experienced local players to comment on how they would bid it. It will be interesting to see how the different local "experts" treat these problem hands. Sign on at our web site http://www.bridge-njba.org. Look for Nick's "Hand of the Month." As always, you can find results of recently played events at the same address.
It's that time of the year when we form the Nominating Committee and ask that you consider whether or not you might want to serve on the NJBA Board of Directors. Andy Lohan will chair the Nominating Committee and will be happy to tell you how the nomination process works. I know all of us enjoy what the game of bridge gives us; maybe it's time to think of giving something back. If you agree, give Andy a call at 201-327-1951.
Have a wonderful Summer! I look forward to seeing you at the tables! Back to newsletter index