See you at the club!
We are up and running face-to-face bridge at the club. Both a Limited and Open game begin at 12:30 every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Please join us and say hello to old friends and make some new ones, too. The week’s schedule can be found at the bottom of this email.
Charity games are scheduled May 17, 26, 28 and 31 to benefit the Grassroots Fund, which helps support our area's participation in a variety of events, including Grand National teams, and North American Pairs. Next month we begin North American Pairs qualifying games.
Board of Directors report
Pamela Gorbics reports:
The SPBC Board of Directors held an emergency session to discuss mask requirements and a policy regarding unvaccinated players attempting to play in club games.
All players who have completed a vaccine series against Covid-19 are no longer required to wear facemasks, with the exception that if a player at a table requests masks be worn while at their table, whether an EW or NS pair, masks will be required for that round.
Players are required to have a completed Covid-19 vaccination series to attend in-person club games. If it is found that a person is playing without such a vaccine, that person will be removed from play, asked to leave, and, if possible, a player will substitute for them the remainder of the session. No refund will be given, as this requirement for vaccine has been publicized. Although we cannot ask for proof of vaccine, once a player makes a statement they have not completed the required vaccination series, they will be prohibited from play until they state that they have completed such.
Silver Lining Week on-line
Silver points will be available for on-line games only from May 24 through May 30. You will earn double regular club masterpoints and all awards will be silver.
New convention card
The ACBL is working on a new convention card. You can see the current draft and lots of comments at
https://bridgewinners.com/article/view/new-acbl-convention-card-draft.
The ACBL is also working on the creation of a simpler card for limited games.
Bridge trivia
Answers to last week’s questions
- You get two bites at the apple on Mosher defense to 1NT. Seventy-some years ago, Mosher, named after its "inventor" Bob Mosher, is a defense to the opponents' 1NT opening. 2C shows clubs; 2D shows diamonds; and two of a major shows the suit bid!
However, in some parts of the English-speaking world, Mosher is the same as the Woolsey defense: Double is a long minor and a four-card major; 2C shows the majors; 2D shows one major; 2 of a major shows 5+ in the bid suit plus a 4+ card minor.
- Pearson Points is a valuation method used to decide if it is worth the risk to bid or pass in fourth seat after Pass-Pass-Pass. Don Pearson's method is to add your high card points to your number of spades. If the total is fifteen or more, open otherwise pass.
- The Beer Card is the seven of diamonds. Informally, some play that if your seven of diamonds wins the last trick of a hand then your partner must buy you a beer. Usually there are rules attached, such as you need to make the contract, too. The idea of a beer card started with the game of Skat in which the D7 is the lowest ranking card in the lowest ranking suit.
Questions for this week
The ACBL Open Convention Chart places requirements on certain opening bids. Since our club uses the Open chart in our Open games, it is important to understand these requirements.
- The Convention Charts (and there are four) all use the term "Rule of N" where N is a number. Examples include Rule of 17, Rule of 24, etc. How do you determine if your hand meets, for example, the Rule of 17?
- What are the requirements to open 1NT under the Open chart?
- What are the potential ramifications for opening 1NT on a hand that does not follow the requirements?
Word of the week
Chicane
Definition: Void usually in trumps
Example: When declarer leads trumps and you have a chicane, your discard shows attitude.