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Newsletter 2025 02
Newsletter February 2025

From the President's Desk

   

Tonight, I am preparing for the "State of the Club" address at tomorrow's Annual Meeting.  It has been one whole year since I was elected by the Board of Directors to the position of President.   I didn't understand how much time and energy goes into running a bridge club and my hat is off to all of the previous volunteers who came before me.  After tomorrow, there may be another at the helm, but I wanted to express my gratitude to all of you who have supported me in my crazy ideas to make the club experience inviting.  It takes a village to make the club successful and I will be recognizing the many volunteers we have!  I hope you came to the meeting because we had great things to share about the club.  One recent development was the 49er Game that Carol McCord wanted to start.  We had the first game on January 19th, and we had 6 full tables!  I truly expected this would be like the 299er game, slow to start but building momentum over the next year, however, this shows there is a need for the beginners to have a safe place to practice their new skills.  Way to go Carol!  Maybe until next month.... Janice Rush

Lessons with Julie Halperin

CONTROL  STEPS OVER 2C OPENER

When you open 2 Clubs, it is often a bid based on loser count.  If you know your partner's points are in controls, it is often more useful than knowing the point count.  This is an option to finding out about your partner's controls

after your 2 Club opener.

Ace = 2 controls

King = 1 control

Control Responses

2 Diamonds = 0 or 1 controls (i.e.-0 or 1 King)

2 Hearts = 2 controls (i.e.-2 Kings or 1 Ace)

2 Spades = 3 controls (i.e.-1 Ace and 1 King)

2NT = 3 Kings

3 Clubs = 4 controls

Second Negative

  •   Many people play that the cheapest 3 bid will be a second negative.  It is usually a minor suit except when the 2 Club opener bids 3 Diamonds as their suit.
     Then the second negative is 3 Hearts or 3NT (partnership agreement)
  •   After a 2nd negative, occasionally the contract may fall short of game.  The partnership should bid until 3 of a major or 4 of a minor.
  •   This is not applicable after a 2NT opener or 2NT rebid, since you have a clear idea of the openers shape and strength.

Opener's responses

  •   The 2 Club opener will make their second bid as usual to describe their hand. 
  •   Then either partner may take control of the bidding to investigate for slam.

 

Play Bridge with Thomas

A Grand Hand
Thomas Rush, PlayBridgeWithThomas@GMail.Com


 

Here is a hand from the Monday January 20 game at Bridge Club of Houston that I found interesting because it's got a few very important bidding themes:

One pair found a grand slam, several pairs stopped in 6H, and one only made it to game thanks
in part to interference by the opponents.

Without interference, I suggest that the auction should go like this playing 2/1:
1H 2D
3H 7H
1H: An exceptionally good 1H opening, but still a 1H opening in 2/1
2D: Sets a game force, can support hearts later
3H: A rarity! Opener's jump rebid in his suit in a GF auction shows a solid suit (no losers opposite a singleton in partner's hand with normal breaks). It also sets hearts as trump so P can cuebid or use 4NT to ask for Key Cards. In game-forcing auctions, we don't jump to show extra points, but something like a solid suit is quite important. Note that some only show a one-loser suit with the jump, which I consider to be an inferior agreement.
7H: North can count to 13 tricks in hearts with no quick losers – South's solid six card (or longer) heart suit, North's six diamond tricks, and the spade ace. Should diamonds not split, surely South can ruff a club or two in dummy, or a diamond or two in his hand to get to 13 tricks. If you are playing in a much stronger game, like one of the national events at the NABC tournaments, you might want to see if you can get to a very reasonable 7NT contract instead:
1H 2D
3H 4NT

5D 7NT
1H, 2D, 3H: as above.
4NT: North can count to 13 tricks in hearts with normal breaks – South's solid six card heart suit, North's six diamond tricks, and the spade ace. So why ask for key cards? Simply this: if South has the club ace, we can place the contract in 7NT rather than 7H, and beat all the 7H pairs if playing a pairs (match-point scoring) event. In a team game it makes no difference, so stick with 7H.
5D: Zero or three key cards but must be three since the AK of hearts are known. North knows
that the third key card must (looking at North's two aces) be the club Ace.
7H: North can count to 14 and so bids the grand slam in NT for the top match-point score.
At the table…
Some pairs got a 2S overcall to make their life a bit more difficult:

With South as dealer, the auction started out:
1H - (2S) and North was under a bit of pressure early. I wouldn't suggest West make that 2S overcall (for whatever my opinion is worth), as good opponents will find a penalty double too often for comfort - on this hand, -800 is possible, and on other hands it could be even worse.
One possible auction with the overcall is:

1H - (2S) - 3S - (P)
4NT - (P) - 5H - (P)
5N - (P) - 7H (all pass)

The 3S cuebid shows a limit raise or better in hearts. A jump to 4H would be preemptive. 4NT is the keycard ask; 5H shows two key cards without the trump Queen. I don't believe North should show his void; while typically bidding 5NT over 4NT shows two key cards with a useful void, how does North know his void is useful? How is South to know that North is showing a void in clubs, and not spades?

5NT confirms all key cards and asks about kings. Once again, North counts tricks before he worries about kings. North thinks: "South has the three key cards I don't have, since 5NT is always a try for a grand slam and guarantees all the key cards. Therefore, South must have at least the AKQ hearts, especially since I could have bid 3S with only three. So we've got five heart tricks, six diamond tricks, and the two black suit aces. That's 13 tricks, and we can score a club ruff or take the spade finesse if we don't have 13 top tricks for some reason. Therefore I's accept partner's grand slam try and bid 7H."

Note that in several of the above auctions, North might consider bidding 7NT instead of 7H, since from his perspective, there is a chance that there could be a diamond ruff at trick 1. Certainly, when N knows that his side has all the aces, he would pull a Lightner Double of 7H to 7NT, since the Lightner double is very likely to identify that leader's partner has a void, probably in diamonds. (A Lightner Double of a slam contract is named after Theodore Lightner. It is a lead-directing double that calls for an 'unusual' lead when the opponents have bid strongly to a slam contract - that is, it does NOT apply when the opponents are sacrificing. The hierarchy of lead choices goes like this: Lead dummy's first-bid side suit if one was bid, else, lead declarer's side suit if one has been bid, else, make some other unusual lead (never the suit bid by doubler) such as leader’s longest suit, hoping to give third hand a ruff. If your partner makes a Lightner Double, consider what suits he might have doubled for lead earlier, but didn't in making your decision of what to lead. Also, when partner does not make a Lightner Double, consider the lack of a double when choosing your lead. Note: You might not always set a slam contract because of your Lightner Double; so you lose an extra 200 or 300 points; the win comes when you set a contract that would have made without the double.)

What a grand hand!

Thomas Rush is a bridge teacher who lives in the Houston area and specializes in coaching partnerships to make them more effective in club and tournament play. He welcomes your comments on this article, as well as submissions of interesting hands or ideas for future columns. Contact him at PlayBridgeWithThomas@GMail.com

 

Carol's Corner by Carol Wilson

I've been wondering why some bridge players succeed beautifully and others do not - at all. I've also been wondering about ways to increase our "duplicate bridge community" and find more members - hopefully younger than I am. I finally decided that "fear of failure" might have something to do with it. As I reviewed a recent interview Dave Rubin did with Tony Robbins, I realized it was indeed relevant, so I'd like to share some thoughts and hope you enjoy reading this.

If you don't remember Tony Robbins, just do an Internet search, because he's all over it (official site is www.tonyrobbins.com). When he first came on the scene, he was sort of a lifestyle coach who was hired to go to companies and professional teams to try to get them "fired up" about something and improve their play and teamwork. He quickly became a Gazillionaire and I even heard he had bought a home in Fiji and maybe an entire island over there somewhere. And he’s STILL a Gazillionaire, with 114 active companies that are doing $8 Billion annually.

He says that 96% of us fail to achieve success and the #1 reason is that we hold ourselves back because of disappointments from the past. (Could "disappointments from the past" include that bridge hand you misplayed or misbid several rounds back and now it’s affecting everything you do for the rest of the game?)

Robbins says it all boils down to FEAR. Maybe it's that we are not "enough." We don't "have enough," or we are not good enough or not rich enough or not thoughtful enough or not lucky enough or whatever "enough" it may be. So we fail because we just don't get our hopes up, when "hope" is what should motivate us in the first place! Robbins says our fear of failure keeps us from succeeding.

I then saw that it might be relevant to players who feel more comfortable in the limited games, such as the 299er room, than in the open games against all those perceived vultures.  I try to encourage players to get out there and play in the open game instead of the limited games. Those who don't agree with me tell me that they can't win any points in the "big game," but they have a chance in the 299er section. And they've got a point. It's like looking for that first job without any experience. So that's a slippery slope, but is getting points worth the risk of getting into bad habits by playing against limited players?

But we were all there at some point! We all had to get into the "big room" and let good defenders help us to learn how to play a hand better. And ALL of us want to help those we can - just as somebody helped us along the way. So say "Goodbye" to FEAR!

Coming Attractions

 

WEBSITES

TOURNAMENTS IN UNIT 16  
BCOH Website February 1-2 Austin NLM Sectional
Unit 174 Website February 3-9 Max Levit Lone Star Regional
District 16 Website February 6-9 Ajijic Valentine Sectional
District 16 Calendar February 12-14 Puerto Vallarta St. Valentine's Sectional
ACBL Website February 25-March 2 San Miguel Regional 
  February 27-March 1 Bridge Academy of West Houston Sectional
  March 1 San Antonio I/N Sectional
  For Later Events see District 16 Calendar  

For Newer Players

Lessons, Lessons, Lesson & Practice, Practice, Practice

Beginning Bridge with Susan Banks-Johnson and Andrew Remson

Jan. 4 - Apr. 27, 2025, 9:30 am at the club
$130 for the course
For more info:  BridgewithSusanandAndy@gmail.com, 281-651-6550

0-50 Bridge Game, every Sunday at 1:30 PM for $5
For more info:  BridgewithCarol@gmail.com, 936-650-8180

Lessons with Julie every Tuesday at 9:30 AM

 

In Person at the club:

  • Mentor Games                                  2nd & 4th Tuesdays @ 10:30 AM
  • 299er Games                                    Every Saturday at Noon
  • I/N Game less than 1000                  Fifth Tuesday of any month, check the calendar

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
  • Open Game                  Every Thursday @ 7:00 PM         
  • 0-20 Game                   2nd Saturday @ 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                                                         

F2F Open Pairs at the club: Online Open Pairs (BBO:
Monday @ 11:55 AM   Thursday @ 7:00 PM
1st & 5th Tuesday @ 10:30 AM  SE Carolina Club of Clubs
Wednesday & Friday @ 10:30 AM   
Saturday @ 12:00 PM
Swiss Teams
 3rd Tuesday @ 10:30 AM   

Special Events at BCOH in February 

  • February 14 at 10:30am:    
    Valentine's Day Club Membership game, bring a snack to share
  • February 22 at 11:15am:     
    20 Table Saturday, Lasagna at 11:15am, game at noon
  • March 1 at 11am:                 
    Dolores Aquino Emerald LM Party, BBQ at 11am, game at noon, ACBL Popup Game

 

 

 

 

 

Editor's Desk

                      DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS TO MARCH 2025 NEWSLETTER IS FEBRUARY 15!

Memories from January