October is such a fun month, especially at the club.   We start out welcoming Royalty and end it with a costume party!  The middle it is sprinkled with GOLD and our Twenty Table Saturday Game.   Find out what I am talking about by visiting the website and looking at our monthly calendar.  I am so proud of Judy Cupps and Marsha Boyer for all of the hard work they do to make the calendar each month.  There is an opportunity for a mini vacation in Galveston at the Unit Halloween Sectional on October 25-27.  If your spouse doesn't play bridge, there are a lot of interesting things to do while you pursue your passion.   I hope you have enjoyed the big screen TV and the slide shows we are putting on.  Hopefully all of the directors will learn the mechanics of displaying the results, so you don't have to crowd around the director's chair anymore, at least that is the goal.  It will also be used for mini lessons and other teaching opportunities, so stay tuned.   Moving on to some good news. The table count in the Saturday 299er is steadily increasing thanks to the hard work of Marilyn Knatz and Kas Rangan.  We have had days when the game in the "little room" was larger than the open game in the "big room"!  Some of the players are graduates of recent beginner classes from Joyce Ryan and our BCOH teachers:  Sam Khayatt,  Susan Banks-Johnson and Andy Remson.  This game is a safe place to practice and learn the game we all love!  Also, thank you goes out to Kas, Susan and Bob Domasala.  Their hard work made our 499er tournament a wonderful success!  On a sad note, the bridge community lost two members in September, Ray Ramer and Virginia Zilic, wife of John Zilic.  I hope they are up in heaven bidding grand slam hands!   See you next month... Janice Rush

Corbin Shouse is taking the bridge cruise out of Galveston October 27-Nov 3, 2024.  If you are also going, live near the club and would like to carpool to the ship, please let Corbin know!  His phone number is 713-248-0202.

OOPS!!!

Recently at a game, the Declarer thought he was the dummy and laid down his hand after the correct defender's lead!   Brain freeze?  Of course, "Director Please!"  What to do?? 

According to Law 48, Declarer is not subject to restrictions for exposing a card(s) unless it is deemed to be a played trick (touching or nearly touching the table with intent to play). 

The director must decide, based on discussions at the table, if this was intended and not intended to be a claim (Law 54).  (If Declarer does this after a lead out of turn, he is now dummy,
and partner must play the hand; he no longer has the 5 choices for leads out of turn.)   In this instance, the correct defender made the lead.

After looking at the situation, the director told the Declarer to pick up his cards and pay attention!  Of course, defenders now have full knowledge of Declarer's hand!

Evaluate your hand correctly and think about your second bid before making your first bid.

When you see that your defensive tricks are going to disappear you must play active defense and take your tricks quickly.

S 1NT (Yes, 1C would be a popular opening.  But this hand is worth at least 16 points = 14 hcp + 1 for the 5th club in a decent suit+ the AQ of diamonds is worth at least 1/2 a point, and I have 2 useful 10's for another 1/2 point.  Marty Bergen teaches counting a point when having 3 aces.  So, this might be a 17-point hand with aggressive counting, and a 16-point hand with conservative counting.

If I had opened this 1C and partner, then bid 1 of a major.  I would be stuck for a rebid.  Too strong to rebid 1NT, bidding 2NT would be a stretch and so would reversing into a 3-card diamond suit. 2C shows a minimal opener with 6 clubs, that's not what I have. 3C shows 6 clubs and a better suit than this. 

W P

N P (This is a perfect garbage Stayman hand.  But the robots don't play that.  Sad.  I would have bid 2C and then passed whatever South bid)

E 2C (Cappelletti, showing a one suited hand - not necessarily clubs.  Alertable)

S P

W 2D (Forced, allowing East to show its suit)

E 3C

S P (I'm having to defend against clubs, and don't double as partner has shown nothing)

Not wanting to lead from an ace, and not looking to lead from my trumps into declarer's.  I lead a heart won by partner's king. On defense, tricks are won with the lower of touching honors.  So, the King of hearts denies the Queen of hearts.  (1st defensive trick)Since declarer has the Queen of hearts, I can see that I must take my diamond trick before it disappears on the hearts. Partner returns the Jack of clubs, covered by the King and ace.  I then cash my 2 aces and lead a diamond to partner's King.  (2nd-5th defensive tricks). I stillhave 2 club tricks coming giving our side 7 tricks, for down 3.

If I don't take the diamonds right away, I will lose them!

Third Hand High? (Part One)
Thomas Rush
PlayBridgeWithThomas@gmail.com

Last month we looked at an exception to the 'second hand low' rule.  What about 'third hand high'?  Does that have exceptions, too? Yes there are common exceptions to that rule, and we will discuss one of them here, plus more on the same subject next month.  

This situation comes up pretty often: suppose partner leads a low Spade against a no trump and the layout is like this...

Dummy

♠Q75

You

♠KT4

When declarer calls a low card from dummy, if you have blindly incorporated 'third hand high!' into your principles, you will probably play the King.  You'll be disappointed when, as often happens, declarer takes your King with the Ace and runs off enough tricks to make his contract (and overtricks?) when partner has led from Jxxxx.  

Experience shows that you are far better off overall to play the Ten and keep your King positioned over dummy's Queen, and this leads to the more perfect rule of 'third hand high', at least against No Trump contracts: 'Third hand high unless you have a tenace position over dummy's honor, in which case play the next highest card that makes sense.'

'But what if declarer wins a cheap trick with his Jack?', you might be wondering.  Let's look at the situation for a moment.  Suppose declarer started with the singleton or doubleton Jack of Spades in the example above. Sure, your King wins the first trick, maybe even drops the singleton Jack...but then when you lead back a Spade, declarer's Queen will still be a stopper (declarer plays dummy's Queen (or not) after partner has played or ducked his Ace).  So, the result is, you get the AK, and declarer gets his spade trick.  Declarer always is entitled to one spade trick. It is the same result if declarer started with Jxx.

But what if your partner has under-led the Spade Jack, or even the J9?  Now going up with the King in third seat gives declarer two certain spade stoppers, while playing the Ten on the first round means that he may only get the one trick (Ace) he started with, as you retain your King to beat dummy's Queen when it is played.

Your side seriously profits when you play the Ten one the hands where partner has under-led the AJxx(x) of Spades. Your Ten wins trick 1, and if you can determine that partner has in fact under-led his AJ, you can now cash the King and lead your spot card to partner's AJ, taking the first four or five Spade tricks instead of giving declarer an undeserved stopper.

The same basic principle applies if you hold the Q9x over dummy's J, or the ATx or AJx over dummy's Queen or King.

Remember that we have been discussing defense against No Trump here. When defending a suit contract, the need to take tricks right now may make it more important for you to play your highest card immediately (the right play depends on the contract, the auction, the rest of your hand, your partner's lead proclivities, and…well, it's complicated!  

We will take a look at another common and interesting case next month.  In the meantime, will you be looking for times when it's right for third hand to do something other than play high?

Spotlight:  The Millers!

Hugh and Catherine Miller have been loyal supporters of BCOH for 15 years-ever since they moved back to Houston from overseas assignments! We see them at the tables, chairing tournaments, helping with food, and just whatever needs to be done (Catherine is an 'unofficial photographer' and responds to email inquiries; Hugh is a former board member regular, regular mentor at the mentee game, and they have chaired a few 499er tournaments.) Another longtime member suggested we spotlight this outstanding couple, and we think it's a great idea!

They met in September 1974 when she was a graduate Math student at Ole Miss (University of Mississippi in Oxford), where Hugh was a new Assistant Math Professor (but she was not in any of his classes). Hugh's Ph.D. was from the University of Alabama and the rivalry football game was coming up and sold out (except for students). Hugh 'invited himself' (per Catherine) to dinner with her and her roommate, and Catherine and Hugh enjoyed the evening a LOT! On the way out the door, Hugh asked Catherine, 'Are you a Christian?' Catherine replied 'Yes.' Hugh added, 'Would you like to go to the game?' Catherine replied 'Yes.' And so . . . they married in June of 1976 and began their world travels with Hugh's work in the oil and gas industry that included 9 years in Cairo and 12 years in London.

Before their life overseas, they lived in Houston 1976-79 and Tulsa 1979-81. In Tulsa, Catherine started bridge lessons (Hugh had played in college) with 'a little old ladies’ group'. When they moved back to Houston in 1981, Hugh took a liking to a bridge game at Ponderosa, where they lived, but after playing once, Catherine said, 'I'll never play again!' In 1989 they were off to Cairo, where a couple of years later, friends asked if she knew bridge, as they needed a fourth. Then she and Hugh became involved with a couples group using Chicago scoring. In 1998 they moved to London, and Catherine began playing a lot more bridge.

She played with a casual group and at the International American Duplicate Bridge Club that was held at the Young Chelsea Bridge Club premises, where they had a weekly game awarding ACBL MPs. She also played in a game at the Texas Embassy Cantina. They also often played in an evening Friday game at the Young Chelsea Bridge Club premises, where many UK bridge pros played frequently. In 1999 she joined the ACBL and Catherine and Hugh started attending bridge tournaments in the U.S. with friends in team games, racking up MPs at regionals such as Houston, Orlando, Dallas, Gatlinburg, Las Vegas sectionals, and a few nationals. No English tournaments offered ACBL points, other than those weekly black points, but Catherine earned her 300^th in London to make Life Master.

Hugh retired in 2010 and says, 'Catherine retired in 1980, but was always very active with charity work. Catherine has 4,388 MPs and mainly plays with Hugh. Hugh has 4,508 and says he finally has more black points than gold! For decades they had more gold than any of their friends, because they went to so many tournaments and played in team games. Hugh's advice to gold point seekers is to attend regional and higher tournaments and play in team games, NOT Pairs! That’s where you can get plenty of gold MPs.

Catherine and Hugh have been married for 48 years and have no children. Catherine's mother is a healthy 981/2 and lives by herself in Senatobia MS! (We think she probably passed on those great genes!)

As a meaningful side comment, Hugh offered this: 'When I interviewed for the position of Assistant Professor at Ole Miss, the Chairman asked if I played bridge. I said I did, and he said, 'There's a game tonight, and I need a partner.' So I went, and...'

We think its a good example of bridge contributing to some kind of life-changer. Hats off to our Spotlight for October 2024: Hugh and Catherine Miller!

Coming soon... Twenty Table Saturdays game
October 19, 2024

There will be an OPEN GAME and a separate 299er GAME!

 A delicious catered meal will be provided by Bridge Club of Houston at 11:15 with the games starting at Noon.

Please register on the BCOH website for the game that you would like to play in so we can get a good estimate of the amount of food we need.

For Newer Players

In Person

          Lessons with Julie                  Tuesdays @ 9:30 AM

          Mentor Games                        2nd & 4th Tuesdays @ 10:30 AM

          299er Games                           Monthly, September games on September 2, 7, 14, & 28.  Check the BCOH website calendar for up-to-date information!  Contact Kas Rangan at 539-210-1333 for info or a partner.  

Online at Choose Houston! (BBO)

          Mentor Games              1st & 3rd Mondays @ 7:00 PM

         2nd Saturday (1-20) @ 9:00 AM (usually)

BBO Virtual club games

When you play on BBO, we ask that you play in SE Carolina or Choose Houston games whenever possible.

Choose Houston has an open game every Thursday at 7 p.m. and a mentor/mentee game on the first and third Mondays at 7 p.m.  To be a mentee, a player must have fewer than 300 masterpoints and must pay for their own entry as well as the entry of their mentor.  If you need a mentor or wish to mentor someone, please contact Mike Linkins via Email:  mlinkins@swbell.net.

The BCoH home page has a link to SE Carolina's website and a schedule for Choose Houston games.

And always check the BCOH Website for more!

    Regular Club Game Schedule                                                         

BCOH Specific October Events

                     October 1-5                          District Royal STaC

                 October 15-22                      Club Appreciation (5% Gold Points)

                    October 19                           Twenty Table Saturdays - Club Appreciation Game (Maximum points)!   Click here for more info and to register

                    October 29                           Limited Pairs - ACBL Club Membership

                    October 30                           Halloween Party - Club Appreciation (5% Gold Points)

                 Newsletter submissions for November

                                due October 15.