Take A Sunday Trip to Swiss Teams
There's still time to plan to spend Sunday afternoon, March 25
at the Unit
Swiss Team matches at the Y. Join in playing in everyone's favorite
bridge
event at 1 p.m. Take a minute to phone Kevin O'Leary at 650/948-0562
to
make a reservation and for further information. The regularly
scheduled
pair game is canceled.
Greenberg-Bingham Win Unit Pro-Am
The Pro-Am partnership of Sherie Greenberg and Ann Bingham topped
37 other similar pairings at the Unit game, held Sunday, March
25 the Y. They just edged out Kevin O'Leary and Qing Yang. The
players with fewer than 300 master points chose partners in a blind
draw of the pro names. The list of players finishing in the overalls
is on page 2.
The evening's festivities began with over 20 players learning
the fine points of defense from Unit Gold Life Master, Don Rothschild.
and continued with a pot luck, with loads of good food for everyone.
Thanks! Merci! Gracias!
No matter how you say it, Jackie Matthews and her staff at the
Presidents' Day Regional at the Clarion Hotel were most appreciative
of the Palo Alto Unit's help at the tournament. Our members were
the primary volunteers for hospitality and partnerships. Lorna
Corbetta, Ethel Worcester and Pat McFerren were equally grateful.
Thanks also go to Duane Coleman, who spent many hours dissembling
and moving the Bridge Center tables from the professional storage
site to his garage, so that the Unit can save the money spent
on the storage.
Unit Board Meeting Notes
The information, which follows, is a summary of the March 7 meeting.
This was the annual membership meeting as required by the Unit
bylaws. No member submitted any issues for discussion.
President Al Pagin presented Alan Templeton with a Past President's
pin and a statement of appreciation for his service in a difficult
time.
The Unit will request the Palo Alto newspaper to feature a weekly
bridge column. Anyone, who would like to contribute, please notify
the Board.
The Board will send a letter to the City of Palo Alto requesting
their help in finding a permanent site for a bridge center.
The Board requested the Kibitzer to include a form for the convenience
of members to register for the telephone and web site lists. (See
the Winners Circle page.)
Leads-Fourth or Third/Fifth? By Ernst Jacobi
When I came to America about 6 years ago, practically everyone
in the Palo Alto Bridge Club played 4th best in every situation.
Most of my partners now play 3rd best against suit and 4th best
against NT contracts. The following article explains the reason:
Fourth Third/Fifth
92 92
Q85 Q85
952* 952*
K965 K965
J9652 J9652
Q96532 Q96532
K965432 K965432
When leading 4th best, you would play the same card if you lead
from a 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 card holding. In suit contracts this is
a deficiency as it lacks exactness. With 3/5 leads, you would
play the lowest card if you have a 3, 5 or 7 card holding. If
you have 4 or 6, you always play the 3rd best. You usually know
from the bidding whether your partner has 4 or 6 cards in the
suit.
*If partner has bid the suit, always play the 2. If he didn't
bid the suit, it depends on your partnership agreement.
With the lead of the 4th best, partner uses the Rule of 11.
11-A-B = C
A = Value of the lead card
B = Number of visible cards higher than the lead card
C = Number of higher cards in declarer's hand
Lead against NT
a) N/S play 4th best
AT862
KJ3 75
Q94
North leads the S6 against 3NT and West takes the Q with his K.
South knows by the Rule of 11 (11-6-3=2) that West has two higher
cards. He knows also that the remaining higher card in the West
hand cannot be the Ace, because North would have lead the J from
JT8 (the lead from a sequence has priority!)
With the Ace in the North hand, South must play spades when he
gets in (though the distribution is not clear).
b) N/S play 3/5
The distribution is clear; West must have an uneven number of
cards after the bidding-probably 3 and not 1 or 5.
West can have all 3 card combinations which exclude a sequence
in North, therefore also AKJ, AKT and KJT, so that South doesn't
know if he has to return spades when he gets in.
Lead Against A Suit
N/S play 3/5
AT983
32
QJT2
K5
K54 Q6
QJ7 AKT9865
7654 AK
QT2 A6
J72
4
983
J98743
East plays 6 Hearts after intervention from North with Spades.
South leads the 2 of Spades. North knows that South has three
and not four spades and therefore he safely plays the ten spot.
East must give up one Spade and one Club trick: Down 1.
N/S plays 4th best
Again, the lead is the 2 of Spades. North doesn't know if South
has three or four Spades. If he has J762, East has the Q (or J)
bare (and say, one more little club) and the play of the ten would
be fatal. East makes his bare honor, finesses the ten of clubs
and brings the slam home. In this case, North must put in the
Ace to defeat the slam. This works not only with the lead of a
2, but also with the lead of a 3 or 4, because in 90% of the cases,
the residual low cards are visible to your partner.
Conclusion
The 4th best lead gives more qualitative hints about the suit,
3/5 more exact limits about the distribution. Therefore, the lead
of the 4th is better at NT contracts, and the lead of 3/5 is superior
at suit contracts.
Cres' Corner by Cres Cole
You're in 6S with the JH opening lead.
A J 8 7 K Q 10 9 x x x
Q x A x
A 10 9 K J x
J 10 9 5 A
1. Do you play the QH? Why?
2. What is your plan?
As usual, there are different ways to play the hand. In this case, one way is better than 99% sure to succeed.
The plan: Play the CA and then ruff the other 3 clubs in your hand using dummy's trumps as entries. When that is done, lead your other heart. Whoever wins the heart has to give you a ruff and a sluff or a free diamond finesse. 6S making ? Well done!
Getting back to question #1 ? Does it matter? Probably not, in this case. But your only chance to make 7 (that very desirable overtrick) is to play the Q on the 1st trick. If the Q wins, you are guaranteed to make 6. Now you have to guess the diamond finesse to make 7, unless the CK and Q both fall in the first three rounds of clubs.
What is important in this hand is that your trumps in dummy are high enough for you to get there 3 times. If dummy's trumps were A K 3 2, you wouldn't be able to play it as I suggested. Now you would probably want to save the HQ and hope the opponent with the HK had only 3 clubs to begin with. If that's not the case, you still have a guess for the diamond finesse.
Player Advancements
The ACBL February 2 printout , shows that the following players have moved up. Congratulations!
Junior Master (5 MP) Carole Parker
Club Master (20 MP) Dwight Aitchison
Regional Master (100 MP) Bernadine Donoghue, Kathleen Kelly, Eleanor
Miller, Mary O'Malley
NABC Master (200 MP) Jack Bridges
Life Master (300 MP) Michael Heymann
Winners Feb 25 Unit Pro-Am (9.5 Tables)
Ann Bingham-Sherie Greenberg
Qing Yang-Kevin O'Leary
Mary O'Malley-Patricia Chambers
Franklin Gonzalez-Carla Davis
Irene Price-Alice Arnold
Alan Cummings-Patricia McFerren
Sympathy
The Unit Board and members extend their sincere condolences to the sons, their families and friends of Ruth Kanning, who passed away in February.
Newcomers
A warm welcome to new Palo Alto Unit 503 member Bernard King. Hello, to Qing Yang who has transferred into our Unit.
Upcoming Events:
Unit Swiss Teams Sunday, March 25 at 1 p.m. at YWCA
Sectional, Friday, March 30 at Masonic Temple, San Jose
GNT, Flight B, March 31-April 1 at Masonic Temple, San Jose
Club champ. Monday, April 2, at 11 a.m., Bridge Mix
Club champ. Tuesday, April 3 at 7 p.m., Tuesday Night BC
Club champ. Thursday, April 5 at 12:30 p.m., Thurs. Afternoon
BC
Sectional, Friday, April 6 at Center Plaza, Modesto
Club champ. Saturday, April 7 at noon, One Club
Open Pairs, Sunday, April 8 at 1 p.m., Sunday Afternoon BC
Charity game, Monday, April 9 at 11 a.m., Bridge Mix
Club champ. Tuesday, April 10 at 12:15 p.m., Alpine BC
Charity game, Tuesday, April 10 at 7 p.m., Tuesday Night BC
Charity game, Thursday, April 12 at 12:30 p.m., Thurs. Afternoon BC
Open Pairs, Friday, April 13 at 12:30 p.m., Friday Morning BC
Charity game, Saturday, April 14 at noon, One Club
Sectional, Friday, April 20 at Iron Horse School, San Ramon
Membership game, Sunday, April 22 at 1 p.m., Sunday Afternoon
Bc
Membership game, Friday, April 27 at 12:30 p.m., Friday Morning
BC
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*Includes lesson and hand records with analysis. Lessons are no longer offered before the Cotton Club on Wednesday nights. |
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