Hello Josee ,



After the end of the NABC some downtime at our cottage was called for. My mother came from Québec city and stayed with us for two weeks; my husband had a big birthday on August 3rd, and both our sons and their families joined us over the August Long Weekend for some precious family time with 4 generations sharing a smallish space! Wonderful but hectic times! As much as I love my mom, it is difficult to avoid some small tensions - you know the mother -daughter typical ones. It was early afternoon one day, and I said to mom what do you think of a good hamburger with coleslaw for dinner? She agreed heartily saying that is such a cottage meal and she hasn't eaten a hamburger in years! Fast forward a few hours, and she started expressing doubts: "I wonder if I will be able to digest the beef tonight. My stomach isn't what it used to be. We probably should eat earlier so it doesn't sit in my stomach all night long. "Yes Mom". I heard myself say over and over again during her visit. The best one was when she wrapped her arm around my waist, and commented in surprise "Oh!!! You got some padding there!" "Thanks Mom I Iove you too. When do you go back to Québec city again?"

September marks the start of the school year, and with this the return of bridge lessons and playing opportunities for you. Time to think how I can best help you this Fall in achieving your goals. See below my Fall Schedule.

Douglas Jordan and I have decided to give a go to the Gentle Bridge Game on Thursday evenings. First game on Thursday October 17^th. Scroll down for more details. It will be such an enriching experience for the newer players.

Congratulations to Barbara Seagram for winning the Book of the Year Award! If you have not purchased a copy yet, do so! It is a game changer!



Enjoy the rest of this newsletter! As always please let me know your thoughts and ideas. I love hearing from you.

✨ MY NEW FALL SCHEDULE ✨

ALL IN PERSON LESSONS!

Location: Armour Heights Presbyterian Church

 105 Wilson Ave, Toronto

Spots are filling up fast! Secure your place now before it's too late!

- FREE LESSON -

Tricks and Trumps

Do you have friends who are curious about learning to play bridge? They see you talking about it incessantly, but can’t quite get what the big deal is? Likely they are unsure if that is the game for them. So here is what you can tell them!  They can try bridge for FREE with no conditions attached! All I ask is that they give me 90 minutes for them to play bridge. All hands on. No theory! Just PLAY!!! - Did I mention it is free too ? 

DATE: Tuesday September 24^th 6:30 to 8 pm

PRICE: 100% FREE!!!! 

A special Bonus, sign up for the 8 week beginners series on September 24^th, immediately receive Barbara Seagram Bridge Basics Book and take advantage of a reduced course price of $220 (vs $240).

Basics Beginners Bridge Series

Over the course of 8 weeks, you will learn all the basic elements of the game of bridge: how to take tricks, how to work with a partner, how to open the bidding in a suit and in No Trump, how to respond, how to compete, and much, much more. During each lesson you can put theory into practice by playing bridge hands, right from the very first lesson! Ready to join the fun? Enroll now to secure your spot, and let the bridge adventure begin. Here are more in-depth details:

DATES: Tuesdays starting on October 8 (for 8 weeks)

TIME: 6:30 to 8:30 pm.

PRICE: $240. Includes taxes, Barbara Seagram Basic Bridge textbook, PDF of PowerPoint presentations and online recordings.

Register and pay by September 24^th and pay only $220! 

Intermediate I Bridge Series

Bridge Basics Graduates, Take the Next Step

Are you ready to take your bridge journey to the next level? Whether you're feeling a bit rusty, and need a refresher or you've recently graduated from Bridge Basics lessons, the Intermediate I Bridge Series is your ticket to a renewed sense of excitement and skill in the world of bridge. Dive deeper into the basic foundation of bridge, solidify your bidding and playing skills.

DATES: Wednesdays, starting on October 9th, (for 7 weeks)

TIME: 1 pm to 3pm

PRICE: $210. Includes taxes, Barbara Seagram Intermediate I textbook, PDF of PowerPoint presentations and online recordings.

Bid And Play – The Next Level! 

Do you want to solidify your slam bidding, feel confident on when and how to interfere in the opponents’ bidding? Think preempts, Michaels cuebids, Unusual No Trump. Are you clear when to balance? Know when to pass your partner’s Takeout Double? Do you know how to execute a true cross ruff or a loser on loser play? Perhaps and end play is what is required to make your contract. What about partner’s signals? Do you pay attention? Do you choose your discards carefully? 

If these questions resonate with you, then join me for a 4 week series of Bid and Play where you will bid and play 8 different hands each session based on these concepts and more. You can sign up for the whole series (thus a bit of a discount) or register for one or more individual sessions.

Participants who have taken Intermediate 2 course most suited for these sessions.

DATES: Wednesdays, October 16, October 30, November 13 and November 27.

TIME: 10 am to 12 pm

PRICE:  $120 for all 4 weeks or $35 per session. Included will be a PDF of each hand with bidding, playing, opening lead and defence details. 

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED

To register, please contact Josée at mjhammill@rogers.com. For any questions, feel free to reach out via email or call 416-300-9140.

Payment: Once registration confirmed, please send payment by etransfer to mjhammill@rogers.com or by cheque mailed to 1717 Avenue Road, Suite 418, Toronto, Ontario, M5M 0A2. 

Space is very limited – Don't be left out! Reserve quickly for this amazing opportunity.

NEW GAME IN TOWN!

Thrilled to announce the start of a new weekly supervised game for 0-20 MP players

WHEN: Thursday evening beginning October 17^th

6:30 pm prompt start.

WHERE: Armour Heights Presbyterian Church, 105 Wilson Avenue

WHAT: A gentle bridge game for players with 0-20 MP. Volunteers will be on hand to answer your bidding questions. Hand of the week analysis with tips on bidding and playing the hand.

A partner will always be guaranteed if you do not have one already.

HOW MUCH: $12 – includes playing 12 boards, hand of the week analysis, volunteers', coffee, tea and cookies. Playing experience in a gentle environment is priceless !

No pre-registration required. No commitment required. We only ask that you are on site by no later than 6:10 pm.

If you have taken some lessons but are worried about playing bridge in a club, this opportunity will ease all your hesitations! You will be hooked after just one week! 

Your director Douglas Jordan, our wonderful volunteers and myself are looking forward to having you join us this FALL.

If you would like to be added to our Evening Gentle Bridge Game newsletter, please email me at mjhammill@rogers.com. You will receive periodic updates.

See you on October 17^th!  

TORONTO NABC SUMMER 2024

Two years of preparation, 10 days of fun, 600 tables of GRINs (Gold Rush and Intermediate/Novice) players, smiles everywhere, and one very very pleased and tired GRINs committee chair. I just cannot tell you how thrilled I am with the many players (both local and from further away) who attended the GRINs games during the Toronto NABC.

It was wonderful to see many of my current and past students participating. If you won Masterpoints during the NABC, congratulations! If you didn’t, but still enjoyed the experience, I celebrate you! Thank you for trusting me when I told you it would be a fabulous time. Didn't you enjoy the free lessons and the Speaker Series? How about my special maple toffee candies? Not bad huh?

I’d like to quote of my students “ There is a lot of energy and excitement playing in this tournament, it’s been a wonderful experience! “ This summarizes it all so perfectly !

When I go to an NABC, it is of course to play bridge and try different events at different levels. But it is more the social aspect of it all that brings me back. I typically meet one or two new people over the course of the 10 days with whom I expect to stay in touch, and I always look forward to seeing them again at a future tournament. One day I was asked if I would be available to play with a man from Washington State who was looking for a partner. It is always a bit stressful as you don't know how they will behave at the table. What they know and how many masterpoints they have is not that relevant to me. It is their table presence. Are they kind to me when I make a mistake (and boy did I make many !!!). Were they pleasant to the opponents and the directors? Did their face remain inpartial no matter our result of the hand? I definitely hit the jackpot this year. Kind, smart and calm, he put me right at ease, and we had some excellent results as a by product of this positive energy. Oh...and keep this to yourself, but the fact that he was very good looking didn't hurt one bit! :) Also speaking of meeting new people, I got to put a face on a name of one of my most supportive students. I was so thrilled to meet her ! That's why I love NABCs!!!



Thank you to those of you who volunteered to make this event a resounding success! Last I heard the turnout for the whole NABC was the best since Covid . Please share your experience with me if this was your first tournament. I would love to hear more.

DID YOU KNOW THAT? BRIDGE FUN FACTS

The Bridge Player’s Guide to Breaking Records (and Hearts)

Every bridge player knows the thrill of having all the points you need, only to watch them vanish like smoke in the wind. Eddie Kantar thought he had seen it all — until he found himself staring at a hand that could make even the most seasoned player question their life choices. Buckle up, because this is the story of how Eddie set a record that no one, especially him, ever wanted to break.

I teach my beginners that if both hands are balanced they should be in three notrump if they have 25-32 points. I tell them that even though most books say that they need twenty-six, after I am through teaching them how to play the hand, they will be able to make three notrump with at least one point less.

Getting back to the real world, we have all seen 3NT contracts come home with twenty-two or so combined points if there is a long suit, or if one opponent has too many high cards and must make some critical discards. On the other side of the ledger there are those 4333 hands that face each other with the defenders mockingly resisting every effort the declarer makes to bring in nine tricks despite a combined count of 27-28 high-card points.

My own personal record, and one I have not bragged about too often, is going down in three notrump with twenty-nine points between the two hands and no unstopped suit. It wasn’t easy, you understand, but after a couple of finesses lost, and a couple of other suits didn’t break, and I misread the end position, I managed to wind up with only eight. This happened seventeen years ago, and until the following deal I felt secure that twenty-nine would be my limit.

Playing in friendly rubber game not long ago, I dealt myself and the table this layout:

My partner, who had witnessed some of my previous notrump adventures over the years, cautiously raised me to game with his balanced twelve. Quickly and confidently, I won the spade in my hand and led the king of clubs. When West discarded a spade, the play slowed down to such an extent that my partner finally asked me if I was all right.

In fact, I was in a mild state of shock. Knowing that I now had only eight sure tricks, instead of being able to think about the best way to secure nine, all I could think was: “Kantar, you have thirty-one points between these two hands. For God’s sake, figure something out or you will never live this one down.”

Ever so daintily I crossed to the heart king and led a low diamond. East played the six. Still on top of my game, I stuck in the eight, knowing, just knowing that the nine would appear. It did. West got out with a spade and East discarded a heart (he should have thrown a club) and I won on the table.

Could this really be happening to a great player like me? At least, I had formulated a plan (I was going to have to tell my partner something after this hand was over). If I could somehow strip East of his red cards I could duck a club and force East to lead away from his queen of clubs; then this hand would just go down as another tough struggle, but not too tough. (Fifteen minutes had already elapsed.) I led a second diamond from the table and ducked East’s queen. East returned a heart and once again, I realized I had a problem. This was the actual end position, just one card removed from what I thought it was:

In the actual position I can win the ace of hearts, cash my dia- mond and spade winners, and toss East in with a low club. East cashes a diamond, upon which I throw losing hearts from both hands, but is finally forced to lead away from that queen of clubs for my ninth trick. However, I thought that East had one more heart and one less diamond. If that is the case I cannot win the ace of hearts and cash a spade because East will then have a heart to get to West’s spades.

If my idea was right, I could make the hand thus: duck the heart, win any return, cash my spade, heart and diamond winners, and then duck a club. Furthermore, if I was wrong and the cards were as they actually were, West would have to win the heart return and play specifically a diamond - or else I would still make the hand on a funny squeeze.

To make a long story a bit sadder, I ducked the heart and West shifted to a diamond. Now there was no way. I was finished. Down one worth thirty-one points between the two hands. Did I have a new record? I would have to wait until Guinness’s next book came out.

In the meantime, I am advising my classes that they must have at least twenty-seven high-card points between the two hands to have a fairly good chance at three notrump.

From Classic Kantar - A Collection of Bridge Humor, by Eddie Kantar

CALLING ALL CANADIAN BRIDGE PLAYERS

PLEASE HELP OUR CANADIAN WOMENS TEAM RAISE MONEY FOR REPRESENTING CANADA IN ARGENTINA LATER THIS YEAR

Lesley Thomson, Lynda Wynston, Roisin O'Hara, Barbara Shnier, Hazel Wolpert and Ina Demme

won the Canadian Women's Team Championships this year.

This gives them the right to represent Canada in Argentina. The Canadian Bridge Federation pays their entry fee but very little more. They have to each raise approximately $6,000.00 for this trip: Air, hotel and meals.

They are selling raffle tickets and would be so grateful for your support.

You can etransfer ANY amount of money and your name will be entered into the draw as many times per your donation amount.

The draw will be held on 27th September, 2024.

They are very trustworthy and you will be notified if you win.

We have known each of them for 30+ years.

PRIZES ARE:

$300.00 gift certificate to Four Seasons Hotel Toronto

A game with one of the members of the team, either in person in Toronto or online so that anyone in Canada can support this cause.

Five free plays at Ina Demme & Friends game on Fridays at Temple Sinai: 210 Wilson Ave.

Bridge books by Barbara Seagram

TICKETS ARE: 1 for $10.00 3 for $20.00 or 10 for $50.00

Etransfer to Roisin O'Hara

oharar39@gmail.com

PLEASE GIVE YOUR TEL NO. & EMAIL ADDRESS

when you do etransfer

ANY AMOUNT IS APPRECIATED.

PLEASE HELP THESE WONDERFUL LADIES

BARBARA SEAGRAM WINS ABTA's BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024

Barbara receiving the award. 2024 Intermediate BOOK OF THE YEAR (American Bridge Teachers’ Association)

BRIDGE: THE MAGIC OF DEFENSE

This book is loaded with practice hands galore, quizzes, tips and many concepts you need to take your game to the next level.

Buy one for your partner, since I know you don't need it!

Available in our online store and we will ship!

You can order the book by emailing Barbara at barbaraseagram@gmail.com

Or Canadians may buy online through Barbara’s store at https://store.barbaraseagram.com

Americans can buy online at: https://storeus.barbaraseagram.com

“SQUEEZE ME, BUT NOT LIKE THAT!” – THE MOVE THAT’S ANYTHING BUT A HUG

We all love a nice squeeze – that warm, comforting hug from a friend that makes you feel safe and appreciated. Picture two people, arms wrapped around each other, sharing a moment of pure joy and friendship. Now, imagine a different kind of squeeze, one that happens at the bridge table – and it’s not quite as cozy!

In bridge, a "squeeze" can leave the "squeezed player" feeling anything but comfortable. This kind of squeeze is a neat declarer maneuver where the player is forced into an impossible situation, having to give up a trick no matter what they do. And here, instead of a warm embrace, it feels more like being caught between a rock and a hard place, watching helplessly as your options slip away one by one.

Let's see a squeeze deal commented by Eddie Kantar. I'm sure you'll enjoy this gem:

BIDDING COMMENTARY: How often does one have a 23 point hand facing a strong 1 NT opening bid? With at least 38 HCP between the two hands, 7 NT must be bid.

PLAY COMMENTARY: As declarer, the first order of business is to count sure tricks. You have 12, three in each suit. The next order of business is to separate (in your mind) threat suits from non-threat suits. Don't get scared.

A non-threat suit is one that, no matter how many cards they discard in that suit, you can't get an extra trick. Look at your hearts and spades. They are both non-threat suits. No matter how many spades or hearts the opponents discard, you will still take three spade tricks and three heart tricks. Period. Are you with me? Hang in there.

A threat suit is a suit where a discard in that suit might produce an extra trick for you. Look at dummy's diamonds. Look at West's diamonds. If for some reason West discards one diamond, dummy's fourth diamond becomes a winner. Look at your clubs. Look at West's clubs. If West discards a club, your 4th club becomes a trick. Voila. Clubs and diamonds are threat suits.

PLAY COMMENTARY #2: When you have all the tricks but one with two threats suits hanging around, the key is to play the non-threat suits first. Do it! Play your spade and heart winners. If you do, West has to make one, just one, eensy teensy discard. If he discards a diamond, dummy's 4th diamond is high, if he discards a club, your 4th club is high. You've just squeezed West to a pretzel by playing your non-threat suits first!

So, next time you experience a squeeze at the table, remember – while it may not feel like a friendly hug, it's still a masterful move that represents the real art of the game. And who knows? Maybe you'll be the one doing the squeezing next time!

WINTER COACHING WITH JOSÉE

If you or you and your partner are considering online coaching sessions this winter, I’d love to hear from you. Winters are typically quieter on the teaching front so I will have more time to help you.

We can discuss your specific goals, and tailor a plan that best addresses your needs, whether it’s focusing on your bidding, defense, declarer play, or enhancing your partnership strategies. There are many ways we can approach this so if this might be something you want to explore, just reply to this email.

DAILY QUIZZES ON BBO

Exciting News from BBO!

There's a new feature on Bridge Base Online: daily quizzes designed to test your knowledge and sharpen your skills, and they are a fantastic way to challenge yourself and stay on top of your game.

Every day, you’ll find a fresh set of questions waiting for you, each one crafted to help you learn, grow, and have fun. This is your chance to see how your skills stack up and discover new strategies to enhance your play.

Ready to get started? Head over to BBO, in this link: Quizzes - bridgebase.com

FLINT HAS BEEN ADOPTED! 🏰 🐈

It took over two months for Flint to find his furever home. A nice young man, owner of a big 3 storey home, finally met with Flint’s approval! I’m told Flint is loving being the King of the Castle!

Please visit www.northtorontocatrescue.com

There are so many ways you can help this very special place.

DO YOU HOLD AN ACBL GUEST MEMBERSHIP?

If so, remember that this expires after 120 days. If you let it lapse you will lose the opportunity to renew for a year at half the regular price. Make a note in your daytimer so this does not happen to you!